The Might of Hanba

A Desperate Escape!

At the critical moment, Minato Namikaze effortlessly neutralized the world-destroying attack.

Whether they knew Minato or not, after the joy of surviving washed over them, everyone felt a measure of gratitude toward him.

"What a terrifying monster. I suppose I owe you thanks this time, Minato Namikaze."

Kizaru stopped in midair, abandoning his attempt to flee.

"We meet again, Minato Namikaze. This time, we're even!"

Red-Haired also looked at Minato with approval.

Hearing their words of goodwill, Minato smiled faintly.

"Since you've both become Reincarnators, I assume you understand what I did back then. I apologize for the trouble."

The three exchanged glances, sharing the feeling of heroes appreciating one another. Minato had clashed with Kizaru and Red-Haired before, but there had never been a true blood feud between them. He had taken Red-Haired's arm, but now he had saved his life. The debt was settled.

In truth, the three simply disdained underhanded schemes and dirty tricks. Plenty of low-level Reincarnators resorted to all sorts of plots, even with the Main God's restrictions in place.

The battle continued.

Before anyone could say another word, Hanba launched its next attack.

The Flame Divine Dragon summoned by Hanba let loose another scorching breath, its searing torrent of fire sweeping across the world.

Faced with such a powerful, wide-ranging attack, everyone sprang into action, using their abilities to dodge.

The scene became an astonishing spectacle: the Flame Divine Dragon was like an enormous flamethrower, scorching everyone as they scattered in every direction.

That gave Hanba an opening. Its flaming claws lashed out, aiming straight for Deva Path Pain. It held a deep grudge against the man who had interrupted its attacks again and again.

Deva Path Pain couldn't match Hanba's speed, but his reactions were swift. He immediately unleashed a defensive technique.

"Shinra Tensei!"

But for once, Shinra Tensei failed to work as expected. Its tremendous repulsive force only checked the frenzied Hanba for an instant. Unlike Pain's usual opponents, Hanba wasn't sent flying! After that brief pause, it simply forced its way through the repulsion and kept attacking.

Just as Hanba's flaming claws were about to strike Pain, a kunai engraved with the words "Sword of Shinobi Love" shot past and reached his side.

A flash of yellow light, and Pain vanished.

Space twisted, and Minato and Pain appeared some distance away.

Pain turned and silently studied his junior. He had recognized Minato as soon as he appeared.

That signature Space-Time Ninjutsu could belong to none other than Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of the Ninja World.

Suppressing the complicated feelings in his heart, Pain said calmly, "I have a Sealing Jutsu that might work on this monster. But I'll need you to buy me some time."

At Pain's words, Minato's heart stirred. Was it that technique? Recalling what he had seen and heard in Amegakure, he nodded solemnly.

"We need everyone to buy us some time so we can try to seal Hanba!" Minato turned to the Reincarnators present and called out.

No matter which world they came from, none of the Reincarnators present was short-sighted. They understood that cooperation was their only hope of survival, and each used their abilities to hold Hanba back. In an instant, water, fire, light, and lightning intertwined in a dazzling display of energy.

Watching the scene, Minato smiled.

"Kurama, let's go!"

"Ha ha ha! Your old man's ready for another great battle!"

The Chakra Cloak around Minato rapidly expanded, then burst apart and fused against his body, transforming his appearance.

His face took on the aspect of a fox demon, and his ears grew long and pointed like a fox's. His hair exploded outward, growing to his waist. Behind him, nine fox tails danced and writhed like spirits in the flames. With a human body and fox tails, he looked like a Nine-Tailed Fox in mid-dance!

"Super Martial Form!"

Feeling the refined Chakra coursing beneath his skin and the power in his body, Minato was filled with confidence.

"Everyone, give it everything you've got! Leave the defense to me!"

Minato flickered from place to place, swiftly delivering a Flying Thunder God Kunai to everyone.

"I never thought the famous Yellow Flash had survived—and become a Reincarnator, no less."

The forces hostile to Konoha were probably the ones least happy to see Minato revived.

The one making this remark was Kitsuchi of Iwagakure. He shook his head with a bitter smile. Though the two were on the same side in this battle, he hadn't forgotten that during the Third Shinobi World War, Iwagakure had led an army against Konoha while Konoha was fighting the Cloud.

The one who had rescued Konoha from that crisis was the very Minato Namikaze standing before him! In that battle, Minato had struck the Iwagakure forces from behind and killed fifty of their elite jōnin in an instant.

From then on, the name Yellow Flash resounded throughout the Ninja World, and Minato became famous after a single battle! A tacit rule even spread among the great villages: if you encountered the Yellow Flash on a mission, you could abandon it on the spot.

"Minato Namikaze! Good. You're still alive! You and I still haven't settled who's stronger!"

Raikage A was certainly stubborn. During the Third Shinobi World War a few years ago, he and his younger brother, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B, had encountered Minato Namikaze.

At the time, neither Minato nor Ay had become the Kage of their respective villages, but both had already reached Kage Level and were active in the war.

In that battle, Minato had fought the two of them at once, facing the A-B Combo head-on. In the end, they had reached a draw.

Deep down, Ay respected Minato. He just refused to admit defeat.

But Minato didn't bother exchanging pleasantries with Ay or Kitsuchi. He ignored the burning battle lust in Ay's eyes, much to the Raikage's fury. Ay was practically itching to punch him.

In truth, Minato had eyes only for the battle at hand. He wanted to finish the mission as quickly as possible, return to the Ninja World, and bring his beloved back to life.

Back on the battlefield.

Orochimaru licked his lips and said to Kisame, Pakura, and the others, "Remember the Barrier Ninjutsu we discussed when we exchanged intelligence earlier? You should all have mastered it by now, right?"

Kisame grinned, baring his sharp teeth. "You mean the technique that requires four Kage-level shinobi? How could I not learn such a powerful and interesting technique?"

"Heh heh heh. Good. Pakura and Ay, join in too. Kitsuchi, go hold Hanba back for now," Orochimaru said, quickly laying out their plan.

Orochimaru, Kisame, Ay, and Pakura, all Third-Tier powerhouses, swiftly took their positions. Orochimaru and Ay were close to the middle of the Third Tier, while Kisame and Pakura had only just advanced from the upper ranks of the elite jōnin in the Second Tier.

The four Kage-level fighters spread out around the Flame Divine Dragon, taking positions at the corners of a square with the dragon in the middle. They swiftly completed their Hand Seals, and the Barrier Ninjutsu took shape.

"Four Red Yang Formation!"

Four pillars of red Chakra surged into the sky and joined overhead, forming a sealed, square barrier. Each side was like a defensive barrier cast at full strength by four Kage-level fighters!

The Flame Divine Dragon had been toying with everyone, but once it found itself trapped inside the red barrier, it felt deeply humiliated!

With an angry roar, the dragon gathered a terrifying mass of fiery energy in its mouth. A powerful torrent of fire blasted forth, sweeping around the barrier's four sides like a laser.

But once the Four Red Yang Formation was established, nothing could break it unless its power exceeded the combined strength of the four casters by several times. That was true whether the attack came from inside or out!

Besides, the Four Red Yang Formation was a fire-based barrier. The dragon's breath was immensely powerful, but its impact was greatly diminished when it struck the formation.

When the dragon realized it hadn't broken through, it flew into a rage and slammed headfirst into the barrier. The barrier's flames drove it back. As the dragon was itself made of fire, the flames barely harmed it, but it still couldn't break through the barrier's power.

On another part of the battlefield, Kizaru was giving it everything he had, using Devil Fruit Awakening until he became a superhuman being of light who seemed to arrive in an instant. Hanba was sick of being hounded at close quarters by Kizaru. Every time it struck him away, Shanks, with his Haki unleashed, stepped in with his Black Blade.

And whenever Hanba unleashed an explosive instant-kill attack, Minato teleported the target away, driving the monster into a frenzy.

After chugging two Small Life Potions on the sidelines to replenish his vitality, Nagato finally unleashed an extremely powerful Ninjutsu.

"Everyone, get clear!" Pain roared, his face contorted.

Everyone launched one last attack, then leaped away, leaving Hanba behind, furious.

"Chibaku Tensei!"

A black Chakra orb, dark enough to seem to swallow all light, flew from Pain's hand toward Hanba.

Hanba's face twisted with madness. Just as it was about to destroy the strange orb with a single blow, a terrifying pull seized it and dragged it skyward, trapping it in the space around the black sphere.

At the same time, the earth shattered. Countless rocks, sand, and gravel were dragged upward by the orb's tremendous pull, gathering around it.

Plants, rocks, mountain peaks, ravines—every feature of the landscape was torn apart, and everything was drawn toward the black sphere! Even countless drones watching from the shadows were swept up.

The Reincarnators retreated again and again, until they were several kilometers away and could just barely withstand the pull.

As they watched the Chibaku Tensei blot out the sky like a meteor falling from above, the Reincarnators had different thoughts.

Doflamingo, who had experienced the technique before, was filled with frustration and rage. With his current strength, neither his Devil Fruit ability nor his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception could do anything against it. If he faced it again, he would probably be pinned down by the technique all the same!

The others from the Ninja World were thinking, As expected of an A-rank Rinnegan exchange! Wasn't it 100,000 points and one A-rank bonus objective? Maybe a higher-level Sharingan costs fewer points? Seems worth looking into...

Gin Ichimaru, a Soul Reaper, was shaken too, but he still chatted with Mayuri Kurotsuchi with a smile.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, are these people from the same world as the Ryoka we met last time?"

"Yah ha ha ha! Exactly! But this shinobi must be one of the strongest in his world. Hee hee, those eyes would make excellent research material!"

Besides the Reincarnators taking part in the fight, the human leaders were also watching via satellite.

"Is it over?" Everyone watching held their breath, staring at the broadcast with tense anticipation.

Suddenly, a crack appeared on the surface of the enormous boulder. It quickly widened and spread, and countless fissures appeared across the sphere.

Blazing flames burst through the boulder, and a humanoid figure made of fire appeared high in the sky. It was Hanba!

The moment Hanba appeared, flames shot from its body toward everyone several kilometers away.

The attack covered too wide an area for Minato to rescue everyone. He could only teleport the nearest person, Pain, to safety.

Everyone else caught in the flames—the likes of Doflamingo and Orochimaru, along with two Soul Reaper captains—was gravely injured on the spot. Kitsuchi and Pakura, whose bodies were more fragile, were knocked unconscious and lost their ability to fight!

A sharp whistle came from behind Kizaru, and a claw slashed straight toward his back.

"Are you really going to ignore me?"

Shanks was clearly enraged. Griffin, wrapped in Conqueror's Haki as awe-inspiring as the heavens, slashed toward Hanba's head.

Hanba's claw and Shanks's slash struck at the same time. But Kizaru was pierced through the waist, and the strange corpse poison quickly spread through his body. His Awakened form vanished, and he collapsed in agony.

Fortunately, Minato rescued and teleported him away in time, saving his life for the moment. But the corpse poison was clearly extremely troublesome. With everyone wounded and little medical support available, it was nearly impossible to treat.

Pain reacted quickly, pulling out a bottle of Life Potion and pouring it into Kizaru's mouth. He was usually indifferent, and might not have helped if not for Minato.

But the Small Life Potion, despite providing pure vitality, could only suppress the poison in Kizaru's body temporarily. When its effects wore off, Kizaru's life would be in danger.

Turning his attention back to the battlefield, Hanba's severed head sailed through the air like a streak of dancing flame, leaving a beautiful trail behind it. Yet it didn't fall to the ground. Instead, it bizarrely lifted itself into the air.

"Ke ke ke ke!"

Hanba's head let out a strange laugh, turned in midair, then flew straight toward Shanks's neck.

Shanks's Observation Haki had already predicted this. Just as he was about to dodge, Hanba's limbs stretched like rubber and wrapped around his arms and legs, leaving him unable to move!

"Chomp!"

Hanba bit into Shanks's shoulder. It had aimed for his neck, but Shanks had desperately twisted aside and taken the bite in his shoulder instead. The result was much the same.

Hanba's head returned smoothly to its body. It grinned savagely at the writhing Shanks and the other wounded fighters, then threw its head back and let out a triumphant howl. Its eerie laughter carried an uncanny sonic attack, dealing a second wave of damage to everyone.

The Reincarnators fell to the ground, clutching their ears.

Everyone was close to despair. Even the resolute Minato couldn't think of a way out. Against Hanba, a monster that could fly, control fire, cause droughts, and wield poison, their successive battles had done little more than slow it down. They had failed to hurt it at all!

Yet Hanba didn't finish off the others. Ignoring them, it followed the Calamity Behemoth's instincts, heading south at a steady speed, along the path the drought would naturally take.

"It's finally gone! It's really gone!"

Doflamingo's body burned as though engulfed in flames. The strings inside him were constantly being burned away and regrown.

The others seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as well, grateful that the terrifying monster hadn't tried to wipe them all out.

Just as the Reincarnators thought they had escaped disaster, the meeting of human leaders watching through the satellite broadcast fell into complete silence!

At last, a voice broke the silence.

"Use a nuclear bomb. Whatever happens, we can't let this monster go unchecked!"

"Agreed!"

"Agreed!"

The human leaders unanimously approved the grave decision.

Before long, an intercontinental cruise missile carrying a high-yield hydrogen bomb launched from a military base in the Mediterranean, heading for a point in Hanba's path through Africa.

At the same time, the human leaders remembered to tell the Reincarnators to evacuate.

But when the Reincarnators heard that humanity planned to use its ultimate weapon, they stayed where they were, eager to watch. Hanba was already more than a hundred kilometers away, and they all agreed that was a safe distance.

Humanity thoughtfully set up a nearby screen so they could watch the broadcast.

Elsewhere, just as the intercontinental cruise missile reached its designated point, Hanba stopped in midair.

Its instincts warned it of a huge threat just ahead. But it had no true intelligence. Even though it sensed danger, it continued forward according to its fixed pattern.

Just as it started moving again, the enormous intercontinental cruise missile came down a few hundred meters ahead, trailing a scorching tail of fire!

In that instant, it was as if heaven and earth collapsed. It was like—

A thunderclap split the heavens,

A mushroom cloud rose a thousand peaks high.

The clouds and wind swept away the falling sun,

And demons fled in every direction.

The Reincarnators watching from afar were stunned by the terrifying nuclear blast. One after another, they wondered: Could I have survived that?

Few could confidently claim they could withstand a direct hit. But plenty believed they could escape before the bomb went off.

And what of Hanba, which had taken the blast head-on? Would it scatter and flee like the demons in the poem?

After endless light and heat, and a storm of dust, died away, visibility slowly returned—but there was no sign of anyone!

Had the Calamity Behemoth been destroyed?

"The mission didn't say it's complete. Don't jump to conclusions," Orochimaru said from nearby, his eyes bright with excitement.

As the smoke cleared, Hanba was nowhere to be seen. In its place was an enormous crimson cocoon!