Fierce Battle

No matter how strong Orochimaru was—already at the top tier of Kage-level fighters—he still couldn't fight three Kage-level opponents at once. Holding his own against two for a short time was already the peak of what a Kage-level could achieve.

As for three, maybe Pain could manage that.

But Yahiko wasn't dead yet, so naturally Pain hadn't been born.

Orochimaru's plan was for Mito Uzumaki to teleport Pakura away, effectively trading one piece for another on both sides.

Rasa had his Gold Dust for protection, and Chiyo had her puppets nearby. Only Pakura might let her guard down enough to be caught by the Flying Thunder God Technique.

The remaining Chiyo and Rasa would be his to handle.

Minato Namikaze's strength was now enough to interfere in Kage-level battles. Orochimaru hoped he could tie up several of Chiyo's puppets. If he could teleport them far enough away, even Chiyo's puppet mastery couldn't control puppets from several kilometers out.

Puppets teleported away without Chiyo's control couldn't return to the battlefield on their own. The Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu surely had Chiyo's summoning mark on them, but she'd need an opening to summon them back.

But pulling that off would be difficult. Rasa was no match for Orochimaru at all; he was constantly bombarded by high-power ninjutsu and could only keep condensing Gold Dust into shields to defend.

She had to assist Rasa, or he would definitely lose.

Orochimaru's firepower suppression was now all-encompassing. He could use a jutsu here, then teleport to another position with the Flying Thunder God and keep bombarding, forcing his enemies to defend against attacks from multiple directions.

Rasa was on the back foot. If he and Chiyo had teamed up properly, they might not have been so suppressed by Orochimaru, but losing two of the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu hit Chiyo hard. Plus, Minato Namikaze was lurking nearby, waiting for an opening, making Chiyo fight with one hand tied behind her back.

Still, Chiyo and Rasa managed to steady their footing.

Chiyo opened her mechanical arm, releasing waves of poison smoke that kept Minato from getting close, while her puppets fired countless Senbon at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was forced to stop his jutsu and use the Flying Thunder God to dodge.

That finally bought Rasa a moment to catch his breath.

"Magnet Release: Golden Sand Wave."

A massive amount of Gold Dust gathered in the air, then surged toward Orochimaru.

Orochimaru kept unleashing combined Fire and Wind Release jutsu. High-level Fire Release, boosted by Wind Release, burned continuously—even Gold Dust would melt, and the impact from the Wind Release would blow it away.

With Minato's help, Orochimaru successfully suppressed Rasa and Chiyo.

On the other side, Mito Uzumaki was constantly using the Flying Thunder God Technique to keep Pakura occupied.

Pakura's Scorch Release was devastatingly powerful. Even Orochimaru wouldn't dare take a direct hit, and she could control multiple fireballs for attacks with a wide range.

Mito Uzumaki had no good countermeasures. His specialty was Lightning Release, with Water Release as a secondary.

Lightning Release wasn't completely useless for defense, but the effect wasn't great.

He'd tried using Water Release to defend, but unfortunately, his Water Release was fine against ordinary Jōnin. Against Pakura, though, it was directly vaporized by a single Scorch Release: Steaming Murder.

Now Mito Uzumaki could only rely on the Flying Thunder God to dodge, looking for an opening, hoping to spot a weakness before attacking.

Ninety-nine percent of ninja hit hard but had low durability. Pakura was no exception.

So she didn't dare be careless either. Mito Uzumaki's Lightning Release and swordsmanship both had considerable skill, posing a real threat to her. Thus, Pakura ended up tangled in a stalemate with him.

At the high-end combat power level, Konoha held a certain advantage.

But on the main battlefield, even with Manda's help, the outnumbered Konoha ninja were still at a disadvantage.

Manda's venom and fuel were limited. Orochimaru had planned to carve a sealing scroll's seal into his body to connect to the venom sac, greatly increasing his endurance in that regard.

But the war had erupted suddenly, and he hadn't had time.

"Minato, go help the others. I can handle this alone."

Seeing his side being suppressed, Orochimaru said to Minato Namikaze, then waved both hands, throwing out countless Snake Shuriken.

Rasa had been fighting Orochimaru for a while. With a Kage-level's insight, he realized Orochimaru's space-time ninjutsu needed coordinates to use, so he immediately released a flood of Gold Dust toward the Snake Shuriken.

But the results were meager. Those Snake Shuriken turned into normal snakes upon landing and hid themselves.

"Orochimaru-sensei, but..."

Minato Namikaze hesitated. He knew how strong the two enemies before them were.

"It's fine. I'm confident. And as long as I'm here, they won't—and don't dare—make any rash moves or divert attention to other battlefields."

Orochimaru flicked his sleeve, extended his long tongue, and licked the corner of his mouth, staring at Rasa across from him.

Kekkei Genkai users made excellent experimental subjects. Orochimaru was honestly quite tempted by Rasa's body.

Minato Namikaze nodded, then a flash of golden light appeared as he went to help on the main battlefield.

"Orochimaru, you really are arrogant."

Seeing Orochimaru intend to fight two-on-one, Chiyo was both irritated and impressed.

Orochimaru's strength had grown again since their last battle in Amegakure. Now he was probably not far off from Hanzō or the Third Hokage.

"But I'm telling the truth, aren't I? Feel free to try interfering elsewhere."

Orochimaru taunted, sticking out his tongue.

Rasa didn't believe it. He split off a portion of his Gold Dust, trying to disrupt another battlefield.

The result was that Orochimaru blasted him dizzy with a barrage of high-power ninjutsu, forcing him to recall the Gold Dust and strengthen his own defense.

As time passed, Orochimaru was ultimately stretched thin. The balance of the battle kept tilting toward Chiyo and Rasa, but the two of them had no way to deal with Orochimaru either.

No helping it—Flying Thunder God was just that broken.

Flying Thunder God really was that broken. Right now, Minato had become a golden flash, constantly weaving across the battlefield. Every second, a Sunagakure ninja fell to his blade. This not only relieved the pressure on the front lines but also massively boosted the morale of the Konoha ninja.

This was the power of a Kage-level fighter on the battlefield when no opponent of equal rank was there to restrain them.

Minato was still a step away from Kage-level, but when it came to harvesting enemies on the battlefield, he was likely stronger than a fair number of actual Kage-level shinobi.

After this battle, Minato's reputation in the ninja world would surely skyrocket.

Given the chance, every faction outside of Konoha would do everything in their power to eliminate him.

Orochimaru hadn't been this ferocious at the same age. But Orochimaru was already terrifying enough as he was. If they let Minato Namikaze keep growing, he'd probably become at least a second Orochimaru-level powerhouse.

Barring any surprises, Minato would definitely end up on the underground black market's bounty list. His price would likely be at least higher than Asuma's. After all, Asuma was just an Elite Jonin, not quite Kage-level.

According to the Naruto Databook, Kakashi's stat was 68, Asuma's was 65. Asuma was at most a fairly strong Elite Jonin.

That thirty-five million ryo bounty was probably inflated by his family background—there was a fair bit of markup, since he was the Third Hokage's biological son.