Village Founding Clan, Kage Authority Special Permit!

"Shwoosh—!"

The three-pronged kunai carved a lightning-like line through mid-air, hurtling toward the vanguard of the suicide squad.

The piercing whistle of wind and the tangible sense of mortal danger made the man instinctively sidestep, twisting his head to trace the kunai's origin.

The next instant, a streak of gold folded into a zigzag, like a leaping flare, sweeping across the center of his vision.

The combat instincts honed through countless battles and rivers of blood now moved as sluggishly as a convalescent's, and compared to the blonde-haired youth before him, they seemed like a slow-motion reel.

In his eyes, shifting from ferocity to terror, the young man's hand—relying on a Body Flicker Technique pushed to its absolute limit and lightning-fast reflexes—actually caught up from behind, snatching the thrown three-pronged kunai mid-flight and tilting its blade with a slight angle.

At this moment, the Iwagakure suicide soldier could no longer stop his momentum.

Their forms crossed.

Blood sprayed into the air, gushing from the nameless Iwagakure suicide soldier's neck, arcing in a crimson curve.

Only a fleeting pause.

Namikaze Minato, stepping across the wall, continued his stride on the cracked brickwork, the sole of his foot erupting with chakra as tangible as flame, sending gravel flying.

The golden figure vanished again.

The most basic Body Flicker Technique, in the hands of this son of a commoner, unleashed functions far beyond its original design parameters.

Even the most ordinary ninja could use it to cross a dozen meters in a second, but in his hands, it was further enhanced—yet its application shifted from the open forests and plains of the battlefield to the narrow, cramped, crowded corridors of a building.

The resulting effect was naturally tenfold, a hundredfold amplified!

Wind.

Gale!

All the Konoha ninja charging toward the breach in the Hokage Building's outer wall, trying to block these intruders storming the vital stronghold with their own valor, seemed to share the same illusion.

A flickering golden light, swifter than flame and thunder, flashed between them at a speed the naked eye could not track.

Brief and lethal crossings left the foremost suicide soldiers no time to react; the moment their vision caught that glint of gold, they had already stepped into death.

"Damn it!"

Only the last Iwagakure suicide soldier rushing through the breach reacted, cursing the instant the first flower of blood bloomed, but his hands had already completed their hand seals the moment he charged in.

"Earth Release: Earth Shore Return!"

The sweeping golden light paused for a split second before the ground turned to stone and sprang up as a wall, then the figure spun through mid-air like a shuriken, landing with a 'thump' on the earthen barrier that had suddenly risen between them.

The three-pronged kunai, laced with Wind Release chakra, buried itself deep into the wall, leaving a hole that pierced straight through but failing to break it entirely.

Beneath his mask, Namikaze Minato's brow furrowed slightly.

The suicide squad leader, staring at the Wind Release chakra kunai that had carved a gash across his cheek, felt cold sweat trickle down his back.

But a man bold enough to lead a suicide squad into Konoha on a mission—how could he lack courage?

Even under the crushing weight of life and death, his hands maintained their steady, methodical hand seals.

"Earth Release: Earth Rising Spears!"

Before Namikaze Minato could circle around the wall, the ground beneath his feet had already been turned to soft mud by the sudden infusion of chakra.

The next moment, a dozen stone pillars rose without warning from the earth, one after another thrusting toward him, punching straight from the third floor to the fourth.

The blonde figure leaped back repeatedly, but the cramped space left no room for further evasion.

"Fall back!"

Unable to interfere in time, the veteran jonin guarding the Sealed Archive's entrance waved a broad hand, shoving the gathered clerical staff away.

These personnel handling paperwork in the Hokage Building were mostly chunin-level, and due to their long absence from the battlefield, they only served as a hindrance here—a massive interference for a high-speed ninja like Namikaze-kun.

In that trivial gap, the Iwagakure suicide soldier charged recklessly toward the Sealed Archive's door, tearing open his outer coat to reveal the Explosive Tag Seals covering his body like tadpoles.

Deep in his eyes burned nothing but fanaticism.

"Die!"

But just as his entire chakra reserve was about to flood into that explosive-tag vest—

Sahara Mizu suddenly turned his head, those blue eyes slanting toward the breach outside.

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

A roar erupted.

A crimson dragon-shaped flame, as if painted in ink strokes, surged endlessly through the breach they had blasted, flooding the corridor.

Blazing impact and searing heat merged into one, supported by surging chakra, slamming into the walls reinforced with multiple Sealing Barriers, then splitting and rolling toward both ends of the hallway.

In an instant, it swallowed the Iwagakure suicide soldier about to detonate his seals.

The Fire Release chakra, refined to its extreme and reaching thousands of degrees, ignited everything it touched—human flesh, clothing—the moment it made contact.

The ruined seal lost its function, crumbling into a pile of black ash.

The Iwagakure suicide soldier stared at this scene with unwilling eyes, his whole body wracked by the agony of extreme heat as he collapsed against the Sealed Archive's door, slowly burning into a charred skeleton.

Sahara Mizu watched quietly as the diverted flames, controlled with precise chakra manipulation, were confined between himself and the earthen wall across from him.

The blazing flames, having burned their target to death, also died down by more than half within a few seconds.

"Swoosh—"

Several figures clad in Konoha combat uniforms, with the Uchiha red-and-white War Fan clan emblem printed on their vests, appeared in the center of the corridor through the gap in the Hokage building's outer wall.

At the lead was a female ninja with her jet-black hair tied into a high ponytail, a tall, slender figure, and an expressionless demeanor.

In her eye sockets, two pitch-black tomoe were embedded in crimson pupils, slowly rotating with the flow of Yin Release Chakra, sweeping across everyone's faces like icy blades.

"Everyone present."

"Don't move a muscle!"

With just this one command, whether it was Sahara Mizu, Namikaze Minato, or the guard Jonin, the movements of everyone present froze on the spot.

Because everyone there saw the armband on their shoulders.

The Uchiha Police Force.

Village Founding Clan, Kage Authority Special Permit!

They killed those the Anbu couldn't kill, they controlled those the Anbu couldn't control!

The extent of the Uchiha Clan's current power and influence was plain to see.

The lead female ninja's voice was cold and hard, her gaze indifferent, as she brazenly swept her Sharingan over everyone present.

Though she appeared to be around the same age as Sahara Mizu and the others, her actions were cautious and seasoned.

Even with the enemy confirmed completely annihilated, she hadn't let down her guard for a moment, searching for any trace of suspicion that might remain among the crowd.

However, just as that sharp and decisive female ninja turned her head, her crimson pupils reflected Sahara Mizu's figure.

The girl's step involuntarily faltered.

A flicker of astonishment crept into her originally ice-cold, indifferent eyes, and a trace of panic couldn't be suppressed on her originally cool and stern face.

As if she had been seen in an embarrassing state by someone she cared about very much.

She nearly failed to keep her work-mode facial expression in check, blurting out:

"Mizu?"