Village Founding Clan, Kage Authority Special Permit!

"Whoosh—!"

The three-pronged kunai cut a lightning-like line through the air, shooting toward the suicide squad member charging at the front.

The piercing whistle of the wind and the tangible sense of mortal danger made him instinctively shift his footing and turn toward the kunai's point of origin.

The next instant, a continuous golden zigzag abruptly appeared, streaking across the center of his vision like a leaping flare.

The skills honed through countless battlefields and bloodshed seemed sluggish and difficult at that moment, like those of a rehabilitation patient. Compared to the blond young man before him, he seemed like a slow-motion image.

As the ferocity in his eyes gradually turned to terror, the young man's hand, relying on an extremely swift Body Flicker Technique and high-speed reactions, somehow moved after him yet arrived first. It caught the thrown three-pronged kunai in a reverse grip, its blade tilting slightly.

At that moment, the Iwagakure suicide squad member could no longer stop his charge.

Their bodies passed each other.

Blood sprayed from the neck of the nameless Iwagakure suicide squad member, scattering in a crimson arc through the air.

There was only the briefest pause.

Namikaze Minato, stepping sideways across the wall, continued to tread over the cracked bricks. Chakra burst beneath his feet like tangible flames, sending fragments of stone flying.

The golden figure vanished again.

The most basic Body Flicker Technique, in the hands of this commoner's son, displayed capabilities far beyond its original design.

Even an ordinary ninja could use this movement Ninjutsu to cross more than ten meters in a second. In his hands, it had been further enhanced, yet its range of application had shifted from broad battlefields like forests and plains to narrow, enclosed, crowded corridors.

The resulting effect was naturally amplified tenfold, a hundredfold!

Wind.

Gale-force wind!

Every Konoha Ninja who had charged bravely toward the breach in the Hokage Building's outer wall, attempting to use their own valor to stop these suicide squad members who had invaded a vital stronghold, seemed to experience the same illusion.

Golden flashes swifter than raging fire and thunder leaped among them at a speed completely beyond the naked eye's ability to follow.

The brief, lethal exchanges gave the leading suicide squad members no time to react. Almost the instant their eyes caught that flash of gold, they had already stepped into death.

"Damn it!"

Only the last Iwagakure suicide squad member entering through the breach reacted. He cursed the instant the first flower of blood bloomed, but his hands had already completed their Hand Seals the moment he rushed inside.

"Earth Release: Earth Shore Return!"

The streaking golden light paused briefly just before the ground petrified and rose into a wall. The figure leaping into the air spun rapidly like a shuriken, and with a bang, both feet landed atop the earthen wall that had suddenly risen between them.

The three-pronged shuriken wrapped in Wind Release Chakra sank deeply into the wall, leaving a hole that pierced through the entire structure, but it failed to break through completely.

Beneath his mask, Namikaze Minato frowned slightly.

The suicide squad captain stared at the Wind Release Chakra kunai that had cut a wound across his cheek, cold sweat streaming down his back.

But how could a suicide squad member daring enough to lead a team into Konoha on a mission lack courage?

Even beneath the crushing pressure between life and death, his hands continued forming Hand Seals with orderly precision.

"Earth Release: Earth Rising Spears!"

Before Namikaze Minato could circle around the wall, the ground beneath his feet had already been transformed into soft mud by chakra suddenly poured into it.

The next instant, more than a dozen stone pillars bulged from the ground without warning, stabbing toward him one after another and piercing straight from the third floor to the fourth.

The blond figure leaped backward repeatedly. The space was too narrow for him to keep maneuvering.

"Fall back!"

Unable to interfere in time, the seasoned Jonin guarding the entrance to the Sealed Archive swept his arm wide, driving away all the office workers gathered nearby.

Most of these personnel handling paperwork in the Hokage Building were only at Chunin level. Moreover, having been away from the battlefield for too long, they could only have the opposite effect here. For a high-speed ninja like Namikaze-kun, they were an even greater hindrance.

In that negligible opening, the Iwagakure suicide squad member immediately charged recklessly toward the Sealed Archive's doors. At the same time, he tore open his outer clothes, revealing Explosive Tag Seals spread across his body like tadpoles.

His eyes were filled with fanaticism.

"Die!"

However, just as all the chakra in his body was about to pour into the vest covered in Explosive Tag Seals—

Sahara Mizu suddenly turned his head, his azure eyes shifting toward the outside of the breach.

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

A roar erupted.

A crimson dragon-shaped blaze, its entire form seeming to be outlined in ink brushstrokes, surged ceaselessly through the breach they had blasted into the outer wall and into the corridor with force no ordinary person could withstand.

The scorching impact and intense heat blended together. Supported by surging chakra, they slammed into the wall reinforced with multiple Sealing Barriers, then split and rolled toward both ends of the corridor.

In an instant, it completely swallowed the Iwagakure suicide squad member who was about to detonate his seals.

Refined to the utmost limit and reaching several thousand degrees, the Fire Release Chakra ignited his body and clothing the instant it came into contact with them.

The damaged seals naturally lost their effect and collapsed into a mass of black ash.

The Iwagakure suicide squad member watched unwillingly as this happened. Wracked by the searing agony, his entire body slumped against the Sealed Archive's doors, gradually burning into a charred skeleton.

Sahara Mizu watched quietly. The diverted Fire Release was controlled with extremely precise chakra manipulation, kept within the space between him and the earthen wall opposite him.

Within seconds of killing its target, most of the raging flames died down.

"Whoosh—"

Several figures wearing Konoha combat uniforms, their vests emblazoned with the red-and-white Uchiha War Fan crest, entered the center of the corridor through the breach in the Hokage's outer wall.

At their head was a tall female ninja with long black hair tied in a high ponytail and an indifferent expression.

Within her eye sockets, two black tomoe rested against scarlet pupils, slowly turning with the circulation of Yin Release Chakra as they swept over everyone's faces like cold blades.

"Everyone present."

"Don't move!"

With just that command, Sahara Mizu, Namikaze Minato, the guard Jonin, and everyone else present froze in place.

Because everyone present saw the armbands on their shoulders.

Uchiha Police Force.

Village Founding Clan, Kage Authority Special Permit!

They killed those the Anbu could not kill, and controlled those the Anbu could not control!

The Uchiha Clan's current power was plain to see.

The leading female ninja spoke in a hard voice, her gaze indifferent as she brazenly swept her Sharingan across everyone present.

Though she appeared to be around the same age as Sahara Mizu and the others, she handled matters with caution and experience.

Even after the enemy had been confirmed annihilated, she did not lower her guard in the slightest, searching the crowd for every possible trace of suspicion.

But just as the decisive female ninja turned her head and Sahara Mizu's figure was reflected in her red pupils—

The girl's steps halted.

A flicker of astonishment appeared in her formerly ice-cold eyes, and a trace of panic could not help surfacing on her originally cool, solemn face.

It was as though someone she cared deeply about had seen her in an embarrassing state.

Even the expression she maintained for work nearly broke as she blurted out:

"Mizu?"