Yin Release-Sun-Chasing Fierce Wolf!

"Thirty kilometers straight ahead, a squad of Stone Hidden Ninjas is rapidly approaching. At least three of them have Chakra levels reaching Jonin stage, with around thirty Chunin and Genin."

Kannabi Bridge.

Namikaze Minato pressed his fingers against the ground, closed his eyes, and spoke in a low voice.

Chakra Sensing Technique.

The Flying Thunder God was an extremely complicated technique, far more difficult to learn than ordinary S-rank ninjutsu.

If Minato had used the time he spent learning the Flying Thunder God Technique to develop a Kekkei Genkai, he might well have succeeded.

But that would have been putting the cart before the horse. The Flying Thunder God Technique was far stronger than most Kekkei Genkai.

However, the prerequisite for learning the Flying Thunder God Technique was powerful sensory ability.

Minato had no authority to teach the Flying Thunder God Technique, but he had taught Kagami Uchiha the Chakra Sensing Technique as well.

Kagami Uchiha's current sensing limit was ten kilometers, far inferior to Namikaze Minato's.

That was talent.

"It seems the news of Lord Orochimaru attacking the Land of Wind has already spread." Minato's expression was solemn. "I wonder how the battle is going on his side."

"Don't worry, Minato. Lord Orochimaru can handle it." A masked man wearing sunglasses spoke from within the team.

Aburame Shibi.

Besides Minato, Kagami, and Fugaku, there were four Leaf Jonin and Xuanhuo, who possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

They were Aburame Shibi, Chojiro Akimichi, Nara Suzaku, and Yamanaka Inoichi.

Nara Shikaku was serving as the supreme commander on the eastern front. Otherwise, the current Ino-Shika-Cho would have been gathered here.

Aside from Xuanhuo, everyone present had a deep relationship with Minato. They had voluntarily joined this dangerous operation.

The Third Shinobi War had only just begun, yet most of the village's core strength had already been charmed by Minato. It would be bizarre if Orochimaru's vote of confidence among the Jonin could win.

"There are only thirty kilometers left. They'll appear soon. How should we deal with them?" Fugaku asked gravely, his arms folded.

"Should we negotiate?" Nara Suzaku asked. He had handled all communication with the ninjas along the way.

His mind was somewhat inferior to Nara Shikaku's, but his specialty was diplomacy.

Minato frowned slightly and looked at Kagami Uchiha.

The two seemed to share a tacit understanding and exchanged a smile.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Kagami."

"Oh."

Kagami Uchiha shot forward in a burst of speed, his voice carrying back. "Xuanhuo, follow me."

"Understood!"

Watching the two figures dash away, Fugaku looked at Minato in confusion.

"Did you just give any orders?"

This eight-man team had no clearly designated captain, but everyone tacitly acknowledged Minato's leadership. Only he could link them all together.

The warmth had vanished from Minato's eyes, replaced by a trace of coldness.

"At this point in time, a Stone Hidden team like this can only be the advance force sent to investigate the Konoha battlefield."

"We must annihilate them. Perhaps that will buy me a little more time."

After hesitating for a moment, Chojiro Akimichi still asked, "They might... be carrying out some other mission, right?"

"Even if they are,"

Minato said indifferently, "we still can't let them pass."

"The Western Front's defenses are weak right now. That's a fact. We can't let them confirm it."

"At the very least, we have to keep the main battlefield here. We can't let the battlefield reach the Land of Fire."

Unlike when he carried out missions with them in peacetime, Minato had occasionally let his emotions influence him back then.

But this was war.

Sunagakure had already gone to war with Konohagakure!

Orochimaru, Hiruzen, and Minato all had the same goal.

To end the war in the Land of Wind as quickly as possible and prepare for the battles that followed.

Unlike the Third Hokage, who still hoped the Shinobi War could be delayed, Minato and Jiraiya had wandered the Ninja World carrying out missions and had known for a long time that this great war was unavoidable.

Then they would start the war elsewhere whenever possible!

It was better for other countries to suffer than for the Land of Fire to suffer.

Minato was kind and amiable even toward ordinary villagers, but no outsider had ever called him a good person.

Gripping his specially made Kunai tightly, Namikaze Minato ordered, "Kagami has my Flying Thunder God Kunai on him. He'll lead the attack. We'll follow and prepare to provide support."

"Shibi, Suzaku, Chojiro, Fugaku, each of you choose a direction and form an encirclement."

"Don't let a single one of them escape. Understood?"

"Understood!"

The five of them quickly split up, but...

Why was Kagami leading the attack?

Not only Fugaku, even Shibi and the others didn't understand.

Namikaze Minato offered no explanation. They would know soon enough.

As Kagami Uchiha hurried forward, his hands rapidly formed Hand Seals and gathered Chakra. Xuanhuo did the same.

During their two years at the Ninja Academy, Kagami Uchiha had trained under Shenhuo, and Xuanhuo had often been there as well.

The two had developed considerable rapport, and it was precisely during that period that Xuanhuo had been thoroughly convinced by Kagami.

He was an unparalleled genius. Being able to serve as his subordinate was something to be thankful for!

The presence of the Stone Hidden Ninjas was drawing closer and closer. Kagami could already faintly sense them.

Closer...

A little closer.

When figures finally appeared in his field of vision, Kagami Uchiha slammed both hands onto the ground.

"Earth Release—Yellow Spring Swamp!"

They were still nearly a thousand meters away. That group had no Sharingan and couldn't see Kagami Uchiha and Xuanhuo.

The suddenly appearing Yellow Spring Swamp caught them off guard. The earth abruptly turned into a mire. Apart from a few wary people who leaped into the air, dozens had their feet trapped in the swamp and slowly sank downward.

"What technique is this?!"

"Yellow Spring Swamp! With a range this large... could it be Jiraiya?!"

It couldn't possibly be Sarutobi Hiruzen, could it?!

Powerful techniques often carried distinct personal trademarks. For example, when people saw a white-haired man wielding a Chakra blade, they would instinctively think of White Fang.

Although Iwagakure excelled at Earth Release, their large-scale Earth Release techniques were basically shaping techniques that altered the form of the earth.

Techniques that changed the nature of the land belonged to Konoha's secret inheritance.

The Second Hokage's techniques had all been placed into the Sealing Arts. Konoha's ninjas possessed complete elemental coverage and distinctive techniques because of Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The Third Hokage, who could skillfully combine ninjutsu of five different attributes and was known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," was no joke.

Sarutobi Hiruzen could almost be said to represent the limit a non-Kekkei Genkai User could reach. He had no weaknesses in any area, and even in his fifties, he could beat the prime Orochimaru to death.

If he hadn't softened at the final moment, Orochimaru would never have been able to defect.

"Calm down! Don't struggle violently! I'll save you! Oishi, Yugan, stay on guard!"

A Jonin formed Hand Seals and constructed huge rocks above the swamp as footholds, beginning to rescue his comrades one by one.

"Earth Release—Four-Seal Earth Flow Wall."

Boom...

Thick earthen walls rose on all four sides of the enormous swamp.

"Oishi! Smash it!"

"Got it!!"

A burly Iwagakure ninja covered his arm in rock and shattered one of the Earth Flow Walls with a punch.

Bang!!!

Stone and earth exploded outward as smoke billowed everywhere.

Amid the smoke, Oishi saw two eerie red gleams.

"What bad luck. You happened to hit the one-in-four chance."

Kagami Uchiha's lips curled slightly upward.

Whoosh!

Xuanhuo leaped into the air. The Chakra he had accumulated surged wildly through his throat.

"Fire Release—Great Fire Annihilation!!"

Flames surged like waves, roasting the air.

"Earth Release—Earth Flow Wall!"

When it came to Earth Release, the Stone Hidden Ninjas were the experts.

Oishi had just shattered one Earth Flow Wall, yet he swiftly constructed another, tearing down the old one and rebuilding a new one.

Fire and earth had no particular advantage or disadvantage against each other. Xuanhuo's Great Fire Annihilation was powerful, but it still wasn't enough to break through an Earth Flow Wall created by a ninja of the same level.

At that moment, a trace of coldness suddenly entered the space that had been scorching moments before.

Feeling the icy, sinister aura beside him, Xuanhuo's heart burned with excitement.

That was it!

Such pure, such profound darkness!

This was the man I had chosen!

Kagami Uchiha placed his right hand over his left and thrust them forward as if he were holding a gun.

This did not belong to any of the twelve Hand Seals.

"This is... you little brat, did you even steal the Ten Shadows Technique?!"

A huge shadow condensed before Kagami Uchiha, forming one enormous, pitch-black wolf after another.

Each Black Wolf was the size of a calf. They continued multiplying until there were dozens of them.

The pack radiated an ominous Yin aura.

Within their pupils...

Were unmistakably crimson Sharingan!

Kagami Uchiha gritted his teeth and clenched both hands, a bloodthirsty, excited smile spreading across his face.

"Go tear flesh apart..."

"Yin Release—Sun-Chasing Fierce Wolf!"

The pack swept forward like a raging black storm, their howls shaking the heavens.

The earth trembled, and the stench of blood spread through the air.

The wolves bathed in flames as they shattered the earthen walls.

They were like a black cloud bearing down on a city!