Rescue Operation, Seven

In the night sky, a large patch of dark, inky clouds drifted in from the horizon, obscuring most of the already sparse starlight. Then, it began to gradually engulf the bright full moon, and the clear moonlight slowly dimmed, soon plunging the mountains and forests below into complete darkness.

Without the moonlight, it was truly pitch black; all you could see was darkness, so dark that it was difficult to distinguish front from back, left from right. You could only rely on your ears to listen to the wind, the rustling of grass, and the whispering of insects burrowing in the ground to find your way.

"Damn! It's so dark."

Otoha started cursing as soon as he opened his mouth. He had been careless and his foot had caught on a tree branch, almost causing him to fall headfirst into the tree. Luckily, he activated his Sharingan in time, which allowed him to move freely again.

"Katsuki, where are the Cloud Ninja?" Minato asked softly.

At this moment Katsuki Hand Seals and closed her eyes, monitoring the movements of the three Chakra opposite her. The three opponents were moving very fast; even without the moonlight, they were still rushing back and forth at an extremely fast speed.

"Minato, Otoha, come with me."

Katsuki beckoned to the two and they began to move to the right front, intending to avoid the approaching Cloud Ninja. Their goal was to rescue Kushina, not to fight here.

However, after they changed direction, the three Cloud Ninja also began to change their direction of advance. Katsuki Shin sank down, knowing that she would not be able to get rid of these guys without a fight. There must be a sensory ninja among the Cloud Ninja.

He himself could use Mind's Eye of the Kagura to conceal his aura and evade the detection of enemy Sensory Ninjutsu, but Minato and Otoha could not conceal their auras.

"The enemy has sensory ninjas; let's confront them head-on!"

With a sigh, Katsuki drew her short sword. The surroundings were still pitch black, and she couldn't even see the sword in her hand.

[Enhanced Vision], activated.

His dark eyes suddenly narrowed to the size of a pinhole before returning to normal. However, his vision had undergone a radical transformation. The veil of mystery had been lifted from his dark world, and he could clearly see every blade of grass and tree around him. Although the colors were dim, like watching an old black and white movie, it was far better than fighting blindly in the dark.

"Damn it, these damn Cloud Ninja... It's so dark, thank goodness I have my eyes open, otherwise I wouldn't even be able to see the road, how could I fight?" Otoha cursed and brandished his katana, adjusting his muscles.

He has only recently awakened his Sharingan and is still in the adaptation period. He needs more training to fully unleash Sharingan power.

Furthermore, once he awakens the Sharingan, he can learn the Uchiha's Genjutsu. The Uchiha Clan's three great techniques are: first, Fire Style, from which the name "Fire Fan Clan" originates; second, Shurikenjutsu, where the clan has Shuriken to an unparalleled level; and third, Genjutsu, where the Sharingan's Genjutsu is unmatched in the Shinobi World, surpassing all other ninja villages.

Genjutsu is the most difficult to master.

The Uchiha's Genjutsu is all contained within their eyes; one can only train in it once the eyes are awakened, unlike Fire Style and Shurikenjutsu, which can be trained even without awakening the eyes.

"Minato, are you sure you can do it?" Katsuki turned around and glanced at Minato.

In this pitch-black environment, without good eyesight, movement would be severely restricted.

"It's alright, my hearing is working fine."

Katsuki saw Minato close his eyes, his Kunai flying up and down, the blue light rubbing against each other at an extremely high speed, yet without making a sound.

His pupils contracted. In just two days, had Minato's Wind Release skills become so terrifying? His mastery of nature transformation had already reached a high level, approaching perfection.

He truly deserves to be called the most outstanding genius!

"Watch out, they're here. Heh, these guys are really arrogant, they don't know how to restrain themselves at all."

The crackling sound of electricity was particularly jarring in the night forest, and three bright arcs of light flashed as they rushed over.

"Katsuki, be careful of that guy in the straw hat, he's Jonin." Otoha saw the three Cloud Ninja, his black Tomoe eyes swirling like wheels, and when he saw the Cloud Ninja in the straw hat, his killing intent burst forth.

Ninomiya Hao's sacrifice was due to the man in the straw hat and the burly man with thick eyebrows.

"... It's those two little brats from before! I can't believe you didn't die and even managed to catch up. That's amazing... Hmm, another reinforcement, and another little guy!"

Using the flashes of electricity from his longsword, Araki could clearly see the faces of Katsuki and the other two.

"Since they escaped, why didn't they just go back to Konoha? They just came here to die. They really don't know how to cherish life."

They weren't planning to ambush and kill Katsuki and his group. The previous chase had shown that someone in Katsuki's group possessed Sensory Ninjutsu, so a surprise attack wouldn't be very effective. Besides, Araki was still very confident in his own strength, even though the previous battle had taken a toll on him and he wasn't at his peak right now.

Katsuki and the others weren't planning on ambushes or anything like that. The three of them weren't weak, but they weren't particularly strong either. Splitting up to ambush would only weaken their own strength, and they weren't good at ambushes either.

Just as Araki is confident in himself, Katsuki is also quite certain of his own abilities.

Although he was quickly defeated in his previous encounter with Dan Katō, he gained some understanding of the strength of Jonin. If he were to use all his trump cards and launch a surprise attack, he would still have a chance of winning. Besides, he still has two helpers now!

One is the future Fourth Hokage... at least there's a high probability, a genius among geniuses, a true freak among ordinary people.

One was an outstanding disciple of the Uchiha Clan, who had a Futatsudomoe eye from the moment he opened his Sharingan. In the Shinobi World, Kekkei Genkai are basically linked to strength. Among those of the same rank, those with Kekkei Genkai can usually crush those without bloodline limits, with Minato being an exception.

With these two helpers, the three of them working together, I don't believe they can't take down a few Cloud Ninja.

"Minato, Otoha, you two take care of the two on the side. I'll hold off the one in the straw hat first." Katsuki spoke rapidly, thin arcs of electricity crackling on the short sword in his hand, as he pounced first.

"Little guy, you've got guts."

Araki, with a leisurely adjustment of his straw hat, brandished his long sword, sending arcs of electricity, each as thick as a chopstick, leaping across the air. His imposing Katsuki, and just as Katsuki was about to reach him, he slashed out diagonally...

[Foot Strength Enhancement - Jet]

When there were still ten meters between Katsuki and Araki, the muscles in his legs contracted and twitched abnormally, suddenly bursting out with astonishing power, and his forward speed suddenly increased by 40%.