The Yellow Flash Returns!

With nothing but a marked kunai, Minato Namikaze could use it as a coordinate and appear there in an instant.

He had completely transcended the concept of "speed." This was pure teleportation based on a fixed spatial coordinate... If there were any weaknesses—not that they could really be called weaknesses—they were probably the specially marked kunai and the sudden air resistance caused when a human shape abruptly appeared in space.

A person took up about 0.05 cubic meters. When one suddenly appeared, they occupied space that had previously been filled with air, forcing it outward and causing a slight disturbance.

That disturbance was the only warning an enemy could sense at the instant Flying Thunder God activated!

Minato appeared beside Nohara Rin without the slightest hesitation. The moment he materialized, one hand flung a Flying Thunder God kunai. A flash of dark light cut through the night, accompanied by a brief whoosh that rang out and vanished.

At the same time, Minato caught another kunai in his other hand, gripping it with the blade behind his fist. Without moving from his spot, he hooked his arm inward!

The blade traced a fierce streak of dark light.

It had moved only about ten centimeters when Minato vanished. The next instant, he flashed into existence in front of a Rock Ninja.

The kunai that had just carved its path through the air sliced across the Rock Ninja's neck, then continued flying until it reached the back of another Rock Ninja.

Meanwhile, Minato's other hand caught the kunai that was about to strike the Rock Ninja whose throat had been cut.

A flash!

Once again, a flash of dark light.

The Rock Ninja here had all been cut down, leaving only corpses on the ground. Uchiha Kin thought, The Yellow Flash... He really lives up to the name...

He isn't just quick to react in battle. His grasp of the situation and his ability to anticipate his opponents are extraordinary. In practice, every time he uses Flying Thunder God, just like now, he's already begun his move before throwing the marked kunai.

By the time he appears in front of his enemy, the technique is already halfway through its execution.

Zero-frame startup... Flying Thunder God... For now, he still needs marked kunai. But if he takes it a step further and figures out how to place the mark directly on an enemy with a casual touch, that'll be truly terrifying.

At the thought, he couldn't help glancing at Obito... That guy was the "lucky one" who'd been marked so casually.

Even after all those years, the mark hadn't disappeared. That was just absurd!

Minato asked, "Kin, how are you?"

"I'm all right. Just some minor injuries... I should be grateful the Rock Ninja weren't particularly strong individually. Otherwise, you might have found nothing but my corpse!" Uchiha Kin said with a rueful sigh.

Uchiha Kin then told Minato's team the story he'd prepared, offering the following explanation for why he'd been out there:

The two of them had been near the camp when Hyuga Ken opened his Byakugan while fooling around and spotted a group of Rock Ninja sneaking about.

So the two of them followed, but the Ninja Bee of the Kamizuru Clan discovered them, and the Rock Ninja came after them. Hyuga Ken had said, "You're a Medical Ninja, and you're important to the Hidden Leaf Village. Take the intel back. I'll draw them away."

As for what had happened to Hyuga Ken after he "drew off the pursuers," Uchiha Kin said he didn't know. He simply left out Uzumaki Mikayo and the other Rock Ninja.

He briefly described how he'd outwitted the Rock Ninja.

"So you were the one who set off the Explosive Tags?" Minato asked.

Uchiha Kin said, "They didn't dare make any noise... Otherwise, I wouldn't have been a match for them."

If the Rock Ninja had been alive, they would surely have been furious and accused him of twisting the truth. But they were dead, so whatever Uchiha Kin said became the truth.

Kakashi glanced at Uchiha Kin without saying a word, merely thinking that he was being far too modest. From the way Uchiha Kin had handled his kunai just now, anyone who wasn't blind—either in the eyes or in the heart—could tell how skilled he was.

At least, when it came to ability, he seemed more reliable than a certain Uchiha teammate of his...

Still, Kin had also killed the Rock Ninja in an instant, so Kakashi couldn't judge how strong they had been.

After thinking it over for a while, he said, "Then this group of Rock Ninja must have been an elite unit."

Then Minato raised a question: "What were they doing here?"

"No idea!"

"Who cares what they were doing?" Obito said. "They're all dead now. As long as they're dead, that means we've foiled their plan."

Everyone was speechless... Though, well, it did sort of make sense.

The five of them returned to camp, where Uchiha Kin was questioned by the commander. Kin repeated the same story he'd told Minato, then went back to rest.

Jasmine and Golden Chrysanthemum came to visit him. "Captain, we're so glad you're all right." "It's all that Hyuga Ken's fault. The captain wouldn't have gotten into trouble if it weren't for him."

"Enough. He was still my teammate once. This isn't his fault..." Uchiha Kin talked with them for a while before sending them away. Then he began to plan things through in his mind—

The "Byakugan" he'd planned to obtain had been successfully acquired, and he'd gotten two more than expected.

His plan had never originally involved "killing Hyuga Ken." As long as Hyuga Ken didn't try to kill him, Kin would still have been willing to work with him. He might even have helped him while pursuing his own goals.

Unfortunately, Hyuga Ken had tried to kill him, so Kin had no choice but to take two extra pairs of Byakugan.

Now that he had the "Byakugan," he could begin the second step of his plan!

The crucial step:

Three-Tails!

That was right. Uchiha Kin's target was the Three-Tails.

Rin... I'm truly sorry! Uchiha Kin sighed inwardly. If he could, he wouldn't sacrifice anyone.

But under the threat of the slaughter that awaited his clan, he didn't want to die, and that made sacrifices unavoidable.

He could only apologize in his heart. But I'll do my best to keep you alive. Replacing a heart isn't difficult for me. It's just that, from then on, you probably won't be able to appear before the Hidden Leaf shinobi...

After going over his plan once more, he thought about Minato's bizarre Flying Thunder God and instinctively wondered:

If I were facing Flying Thunder God, how would I deal with it?

Retreat!

The moment the air beside me suddenly stirs, retreat in the opposite direction without hesitation.

That seems to be the only way to survive...

At the same time, a group of Hidden Leaf shinobi—four squads, sixteen people in all—began searching the forest where Uchiha Kin and the Rock Ninja had fought.