Fierce Battle

Orochimaru was strong—strong enough to rank among the very best at the Kage level—but even he could not fight three Kage-level opponents at once. Being able to withstand two Kage-level fighters head-on for a short time already placed him at the absolute pinnacle of the Kage level.

As for three, perhaps Pain could manage it.

But Yahiko was not dead yet, so Pain had naturally not been born.

Orochimaru's plan was for Shikun Mitarashi to transfer Pakura away, trading one of their pieces for one of the enemy's.

Rasa had Gold Dust protecting him, and Chiyo had Puppets at her side. Only Pakura might be caught off guard and transferred away by the Flying Thunder God.

He would handle the remaining Chiyo and Rasa himself.

Minato Namikaze was now strong enough to interfere in Kage-level battles. Orochimaru hoped he could keep several of Chiyo's Puppets occupied. If he could transfer them far away, then no matter how skilled Chiyo's puppetry was, she would not be able to control Puppets from several kilometers away.

The transferred Puppets were not incapable of returning to the battlefield without Chiyo controlling them. The Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu surely bore Chiyo's summoning marks, but Chiyo would still need to find an opening to summon them back.

But that would be difficult. Rasa was no match for Orochimaru at all. Bombarded continuously by Orochimaru's high-powered ninjutsu, he could only keep condensing Gold Dust into shields to block the attacks.

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

Orochimaru's firepower suppression was now all-encompassing. After using one ninjutsu here, he could use Flying Thunder God to transfer to another position and continue bombarding them, forcing his enemies to defend against attacks from multiple directions.

Rasa was in a very passive position. If he and Chiyo had joined forces, they might not have been suppressed so badly by Orochimaru. But Chiyo had lost two Puppets from the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu, which greatly affected her, and Minato Namikaze was waiting nearby for an opportunity, leaving Chiyo constrained at every turn.

Still, Chiyo and Rasa managed to stabilize their footing.

Chiyo opened her mechanical arm and released waves of poisonous smoke, preventing Minato from approaching. She then manipulated her Puppets to fire countless Senbon at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was forced to halt his ninjutsu and use Flying Thunder God to evade.

At last, Chiyo had bought Rasa a chance to catch his breath.

"Magnet Release: Golden Sand Wave!"

Massive amounts of Sand Iron gathered in the air, then surged toward Orochimaru.

Orochimaru continuously unleashed combined Fire Release and Wind Release ninjutsu. High-level Fire Release burned relentlessly under Wind Release's enhancement; even Gold Dust would melt, then be blown away by the impact carried by the Wind Release.

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

Meanwhile, Shikun Mitarashi kept using the Flying Thunder God Technique to hold Pakura back.

Pakura's Scorch Release was immensely powerful. Even Orochimaru would not dare take a direct hit lightly, and Pakura could control multiple fireballs at once. Her attack range was not small.

Shikun Mitarashi had no particularly effective countermeasures. He specialized in Lightning Release, followed by Water Release.

It was not that Lightning Release could not be used for defense, but its results were not very good.

He had tried defending with Water Release, but unfortunately, while his Water Release was more than enough against ordinary Jōnin, he was fighting Pakura now. One Scorch Release: Steaming Murder directly evaporated it.

For now, Shikun Mitarashi could only rely on Flying Thunder God to evade, seeking an opportunity to find a flaw before launching an attack.

Ninety-nine percent of shinobi had high offense and low durability. Pakura was no exception.

So she did not dare lower her guard either. Whether it was Shikun Mitarashi's Lightning Release or swordsmanship, both were quite formidable and posed a certain threat to Pakura. Thus, she became entangled with Shikun Mitarashi.

In terms of top-tier combat power, Konohagakure held a certain advantage.

But on the main battlefield, even with Manda's assistance, the outnumbered Konoha Ninja still fell into a disadvantage.

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

But the war had broken out too suddenly, and he had not had time to do it.

"Minato, go help the others. I alone am enough here."

Seeing his side being suppressed, Orochimaru spoke to Minato Namikaze. Then, with a sweep of both hands, he threw out countless Snake Shuriken.

Rasa had fought Orochimaru for a while now. With the eyesight of a Kage-level fighter, he had figured out that Orochimaru's space-time ninjutsu required coordinates to be used. He immediately unleashed countless Gold Dust particles toward the Snake Shuriken.

But the results were minimal. Once those Snake Shuriken landed, they returned to their normal snake forms and hid themselves away.

"Orochimaru-sensei, but..."

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

"It's fine. I'm confident. And as long as I'm here, they won't—and won't dare to—carelessly divert their attention to other battlefields."

Orochimaru swept his sleeve, extended his long tongue to lick the corner of his mouth, and looked at Rasa across from him.

Kekkei Genkai Users were excellent experimental materials. Orochimaru truly coveted Rasa's body.

Minato Namikaze nodded. A flash of golden light followed, and he headed to the main battlefield to help.

"Orochimaru, you really are rather arrogant."

Seeing Orochimaru planning to face two opponents alone, Chiyo was angered, though she could not help feeling impressed.

Orochimaru had grown stronger than when they last fought on the Amegakure battlefield. He was probably not far behind Hanzō and the Third Hokage now.

"But I'm telling the truth, aren't I? Go ahead and try interfering elsewhere."

Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and taunted them.

Rasa refused to believe it. He split off a stream of Gold Dust, intending to interfere with another battlefield.

The result was that Orochimaru's barrage of high-powered ninjutsu left him dazed and disoriented. He had no choice but to draw the Gold Dust back and strengthen his own defense.

As time passed, Orochimaru could not be everywhere at once. The scales of battle gradually tilted toward Chiyo and Rasa, yet the two of them could do nothing to Orochimaru.

It could not be helped. Flying Thunder God was simply that overpowered.

Flying Thunder God truly was overpowered. Minato had now turned into a Yellow Flash, constantly darting across the battlefield. Every second, Sunagakure shinobi were killed by Minato. This not only eased the battlefield situation, but also greatly raised the morale of the Konoha Ninja.

This was the might of a Kage-level fighter on the battlefield when no opponent of the same level was there to restrain him.

Minato was still a step short of the Kage level, but in terms of slaughtering enemies on the battlefield, he was likely stronger than quite a few Kage-level fighters.

After this battle, Minato's reputation in the Shinobi World would likely rise dramatically.

Given the chance, every force outside Konohagakure would surely try everything possible to eliminate him.

Even Orochimaru had not been this ferocious at Minato's age. Yet Orochimaru was already this terrifying now; if Minato Namikaze were given time to keep growing, he would likely become, at the very least, another powerhouse like Orochimaru.

Without any surprises, Minato would definitely receive a bounty on the underground black market. The reward would probably have to exceed Asuma's Thirty-Five Million Ryo at minimum. After all, Asuma was merely an Elite Jonin, still below the Kage level.

In the Naruto Databook, Kakashi's score was 68 and Asuma's was 65. At most, Asuma was simply a relatively powerful Elite Jonin.

That Thirty-five million ryo was probably boosted by his family background, with quite a bit of premium attached. After all, he was the Third Hokage's biological son.