The Late Flash Never Late

River Country.

A country sandwiched between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.

Though it was also affected by ninja wars, unlike its neighboring Land of Rain, its vast territory and strategically unimportant location gave it relatively long periods of peace.

Most importantly, River Country had not established a ninja village!

As a result, there were many rogue ninja within River Country.

So the mission Kushina had accepted seemed perfectly normal at first glance.

Yet when Kushina arrived at the mission site, she was somewhat dumbfounded.

The mission site was a village. This was a rogue ninja hideout?

With her doubts in mind, Kushina infiltrated the village.

Only then did she learn that the rogue ninja truly were still there—but they were also protecting the village.

Of course, without those rogue ninja, the village would have been overrun by other bandits.

So the claim in the mission report that a group of rogue ninja had occupied the village was clearly just an excuse.

The village probably refused to pay taxes to River Country's nobles, so they had issued a mission to crack down on the rogue ninja.

After gathering some information, Kushina prepared to act and locate those rogue ninja.

On a hill far outside the village, atop the crown of a large tree.

Minato Namikaze, wearing the Whirlpool Mask, watched Kushina's movements from afar.

Kushina herself had demanded it—Minato was not allowed to interfere.

Perhaps it was her pride at work too. She was, after all, competing to become the next Hokage. How could she simply dump a Rank A Mission on Minato?

The rogue ninja were inside the village, in a large courtyard. According to the information Kushina had gathered, there were nearly fifty of them.

"That really is quite a lot." Kushina could not help feeling irritated. Fifty rogue ninja—how long would she have to kill for? And what if they all ran away? No, she needed to assassinate a few of them first.

When Kurama noticed the two ninja standing guard at the courtyard entrance, he assessed them. Hmm, two genin.

The ninja inside were probably around the same level as well. At most, their leader might be powerful.

Kushina dealt with those two genin with ease. Two golden chains lashed out and wrapped around them, binding them tightly before they even had time to react.

Two shuriken slit their throats, and Kushina quietly slipped into the courtyard once more.

The moment Kushina entered the courtyard, Minato's expression changed outside the village, and he rushed toward it at top speed.

Because he could no longer sense the Flying Thunder God mark on Kushina.

What did that mean?

There was a formation there!

Why would a small village have a formation?

There was no way it had not been set up to deal with ninja who accepted the mission!

Kushina, who had entered the courtyard, also immediately sensed that something was wrong and tried to retreat, but the formation had already activated.

"Don't waste your strength. This formation allows entry but not exit." A grim-faced Scarface Man stared coldly at Kushina Uzumaki, then glanced at the masked "subordinates" around him. The fear in his eyes was once again forcibly suppressed.

Over the past month or so, he had no idea how many times those masked bastards had taught him a lesson.

Once Kushina realized she could not leave, her expression turned cold as well.

"What, was this an ambush specifically for me?"

"What a joke! No matter who accepted the mission, if they came looking for trouble with me, they had better be prepared to leave their life behind!"

The Scarface Man drew his long blade and pointed it at Kushina Uzumaki. "Get her!"

The dozen or so Masked Men behind him charged at Kushina with great speed.

Just as Kushina was about to counterattack, she saw Masked Men in the distance launching ninjutsu attacks at her.

Without hesitation, the Tailed Beast Cloak immediately enveloped Kushina.

At that moment, light flashed across the ground beneath Kushina's feet, and a huge character for "Seal" appeared.

The Tailed Beast Cloak was instantly restrained.

More than a dozen golden chains shot out from behind Kushina, stopping all of the ninja who had rushed toward her.

"Didn't expect a little bitch like you to have so many tricks. What a loss!" The Scarface Man was still putting on an act, completely unaware that he was already dead.

Kushina's mission target was him, and the group of Masked Men certainly would not leave any survivors afterward.

At that moment, more than a dozen ninjutsu attacks slammed into Kushina's Tailed Beast Cloak.

Though the Tailed Beast Cloak protected her from being seriously injured on the spot, the bombardment still made her body convulse. If not for the Sealing Jutsu technique, she would have been blasted away long ago.

Kushina formed hand seals, intending to sever the sealing technique on the ground.

Then another enormous character for "Seal" appeared above Kushina's head.

This immediately caused the Chakra within Kushina's body to stagnate for a moment, while the Adamantine Sealing Chains outside her body shattered inch by inch.

More than a dozen Masked Ninjas charged toward Kushina the instant the Adamantine Sealing Chains vanished.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After several clashes of metal, a Masked Man in a black robe and a Whirlpool Mask held Kushina in his arms, used a kunai to block several nearby attacks, and retreated to the side.

Minato had arrived just in time this time.

Had he been any later, Minato would have found Kushina dismembered.

The expressions beneath the Masked Ninjas' masks immediately became quite colorful.

Who could have expected such an accident to occur at such a critical moment?

"Since another fool who isn't afraid of death has come, then die together! Hahaha! Boys, get them!"

Naturally, Scarface Man had no idea what difference there was between Minato, this Masked Man, and the group of Masked Ninjas.

Scarface Man: Everyone's wearing masks, what's there to fear?

Masked Ninjas: You dead man, can't you just quietly wait to die?

The moment Minato Namikaze entered the courtyard, he immediately sensed that space in this place was restricted and that Space-Time Ninjutsu could not be used.

However, Minato Namikaze was not worried in the slightest. So what if Space-Time Ninjutsu could not be used?

I still have Sealing Jutsu!

Sealing Anju earlier might have been a bit excessive, but this Sealing Jutsu was very effective!

Minato Namikaze's Hand Seals flew. "Behold, the Invincible Tailed Beast Nemesis, Light-Dark Sovereign, Invincible Sealing—Yin-Yang Sealing Bind!"

Several Black Chains shot from his hands toward the nearby Masked Ninjas.

After several ninjas were bound by Minato Namikaze's Sealing Jutsu, they fell stiffly to the ground.

Meanwhile, a new wave of ninjutsu bombardment from the more distant Masked Ninjas had already arrived.

But with a turn of Minato Namikaze's hand, several more Black Chains split off and formed a fishing net, which came crashing down over them. The ninjutsu bombardment was immediately snuffed out.

As soon as the sealing character appeared on the ground, before the sealing character overhead could appear, Minato Namikaze turned his hand again. The Black Chains plunged directly into the ground, and the sealing character immediately dimmed before quickly dissipating.

At that moment, the explosive blasts of Exploding Tags suddenly rang out within the courtyard.

Scarface Man was the first to be caught in the blast, followed by several Masked Ninjas who had been sealed by Minato Namikaze and could not move, and then Minato Namikaze and Kushina.

Minato Namikaze was somewhat helpless. He had no good way to deal with this kind of explosion; even Yin-Yang Sealing Bind could not defend against it.

Fortunately, the Exploding Tags blew apart the courtyard, and the Sealing Jutsu within was naturally destroyed as well.

Only then was he able to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to take Kushina away.

P.S. Thanks to the reader for the 100 Qidian Coins donation.