Ox Talisman (Part 2)

"This is going to be tricky..."

Minato furrowed his brows, scanning his surroundings. While the individual Shadow Ninja were not particularly strong, they possessed the advantage of sheer numbers.

If he were alone, he could easily resort to his "Flying Thunder God" to drag out a war of attrition, but he was currently escorting three children and a defenseless civilian.

The Shadowkhan had no intention of giving Minato time to devise a strategy; they pulled out more spherical objects, though this time, each was inscribed with the character for "Explode."

"Paper bombs! Scatter!"

The moment Minato's words left his lips, flames erupted into the sky, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris that obscured everyone's vision. Minato cried out "Oh no!" and immediately flashed back to Dayuan's side, only to find the spot empty.

Dayuan, having been seized by a Shadow Ninja, was wise enough to raise his hands high. With a harmless expression, he spoke up, "Big brothers, I know you guys have it rough. How about this? I've got some cash in this bag—it's not much, but it should be enough for you and your crew to eat, drink, and have a good time for a few days."

Mistaking the uniform-clad Shadowkhan for a massive band of mountain bandits, Dayuan immediately pulled several stacks of banknotes from his pack to beg for mercy.

The Shadow Ninja, however, ignored him entirely. One of them held an instrument—a four-sided pillar with dragon heads pointing in the cardinal directions at the top—and scanned Dayuan's entire body. Finally, the ninja shook its head and turned its gaze toward the cargo wagon.

?

Dayuan, seeing bandits who weren't interested in money for the first time, was filled with question marks. Could it be... that these bandits preferred his cargo over cash?

But he was only transporting daily groceries and spices! Could it be! Their mountain stronghold had run out of ingredients to cook!

Yes! That must be it!

Dayuan felt incredibly clever.

The resentment of being robbed faded significantly. He was unharmed, he hadn't lost any money, and it was just a bit of cargo—no big deal!

"Mr. Dayuan! Are you alright?!"

The Shadowkhan had barely left when Minato arrived.

"Oh! Jonin Minato! I'm fine. Those bandits don't seem to be after my life, just looking to snatch some cargo."

On the other side, by the carriage that had lost its horses, the Shadowkhan "scanned" the various bundles of cargo until the eyes of the strange dragon-shaped object in their hand lit up.

It was an old-looking wooden box, and hidden inside was... a stone carved with the image of an ox head.

"That is... the Ox Talisman!"

Having witnessed the power of the Rooster Talisman firsthand, Minato recognized it instantly. Adhering to the principle that the Shadowkhan must never obtain the talisman, he lunged forward in a flash, his kunai poised to pierce the Shadowkhan's chest in an instant.

But in the next heartbeat, the sharp kunai was easily caught between the opponent's fingers, and the steel blade actually shattered?!

As the Shadow Ninja's sandbag-sized fist swung toward him, Minato retreated and dodged repeatedly, shouting to the others behind him, "Quickly, escort Mr. Dayuan to a safe place!" Then, side-stepping another attack, he seized the moment the opponent overextended and launched a Rasengan—

"What?!"

Instead of being blown away or dissipating into black smoke as expected, the Shadow Ninja threw a heavy punch. The mere wind pressure from the strike distorted Minato's face, and he felt an invisible, crushing force bearing down on him.

--Whoosh!

Minato immediately used the Flying Thunder God to blink to a safe position. The spot where he had been standing, along with the earth, roots, trees, rocks, and everything else in sight, was obliterated and pulverized by the sheer force of the punch.

"Such immense power!"

Minato's eyes widened as he looked at the devastated landscape. With power of this magnitude, perhaps only Tsunade, renowned for her strength among the Sannin, could compete!

(PS: This was Minato's own assumption.)

"So... this is the power represented by the Ox Talisman...?"

Strength, like speed, was one of the five basic attributes of a ninja. To say strength was useless would be wrong, after all, everyone in the Ninja World was a glass cannon.

But Minato held to one principle: the Shadowkhan must not get the talisman. Even if the authenticity of Shendu remained to be seen, this talisman was part of Dayuan's cargo, and it could not be lost.

Even by the rules of the ninja, the danger of this mission had far exceeded a C-rank, and they could choose to abandon it, but Minato saw that all three of his students wore expressions of defiance.

It made sense; they had finally left the village for a C-rank mission, only to find the job wasn't what they were told, and now they were supposed to fail? Who could take that?

Obito even stubbornly insisted on helping Teacher Minato slaughter his way through the Shadowkhan's encirclement. It was Kakashi, who viewed "ninjas must follow orders" as the golden rule, who held Obito back, saying expressionlessly, "Teacher Minato's order was for us to escort Mr. Dayuan to a safe place..."

"Are you just going to watch Teacher Minato face those black-clad ninjas all by himself?!"

Obito's face flushed red. Placing his comrades above all else, he clearly couldn't understand Kakashi's rigid mindset.

Just as the two were at each other's throats and ready to brawl, Rin, the peacemaker, stepped in to smooth things over.

The two "Hmph'd," turned away with haughty attitudes, and muttered at each other: "I won't lower myself to the level of an idiot (a dead last)!"

Meanwhile, on Minato's side, knowing he couldn't face the enemy head-on, he could only dodge repeatedly, trying to find an opening amidst the attacks that could easily destroy the terrain.

However, the Shadowkhan didn't seem interested in a prolonged fight. After testing the power of the Ox Talisman, the surrounding Shadow Ninja swarmed in, effectively shielding the one holding the Ox Talisman from Minato's line of sight.

"No... I can't let him take the talisman...!"

With a great leap, Minato vaulted off the shoulder of a Shadow Ninja and threw two kunai in succession.

The second kunai struck the first, sending it flying a great distance. Minato immediately used the Flying Thunder God to blink right in front of the Shadow Ninja holding the Ox Talisman and swung a punch.

Such an attack naturally couldn't turn the Shadow Ninja into black mist, and the opponent didn't even bother to dodge. Empowered by the divine strength of the Ox Talisman, it simply threw a light punch, forcing Minato to abandon his attack and retreat nearly a thousand meters away.

"Cough, cough..."

The fist had only grazed his clothes, yet it sent Minato crashing heavily to the ground. Fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured, just looking a bit disheveled.

"Retreated, have they...?" Minato slowly rose to his feet, brushing the dust from his clothes. Although he hadn't managed to secure the Ox Talisman, it wasn't as if he had come away empty-handed.

He focused his mind, closed his eyes, and carefully sensed the surroundings. "The location of the Flying Thunder God mark is..."

The punch Minato had thrown moments ago wasn't intended as an attack. After all, he wasn't a fool; he knew he wasn't a taijutsu specialist, and trying to match the immense strength of a Shadow Ninja would be nothing more than asking for a beating.

That swing had been purely to plant a Flying Thunder God mark.

However... the location of this Flying Thunder God mark left Minato feeling somewhat bewildered.

According to his perception... it seemed the headquarters of the Shadowkhan did not exist within the Ninja World.

"A different dimension, perhaps...?"

"Uncle advises you best not to attempt entering the Shadow Kingdom."