Meanwhile, Yuzhen and Kakashi had successfully escaped from the capital of the Land of Wind.
As a cautious person, Yuzhen had prepared for this mission well in advance.
He had carved a Flying Thunder God formula outside the capital long ago.
The location was obvious: it was where the other team was.
When Sasori attacked, he had taken Kakashi with him.
Using the Flying Thunder God, he had returned them both here.
Sasori of the Red Sands was probably...
feeling pretty speechless right about now.
Yuzhen smugly congratulated himself.
But he quickly put the thought aside.
Once back at camp, he and Kakashi knew the mission came first.
They immediately went to meet Akimichi Choza.
"Senior Choza, how are things? Did Senior Shibi and the others bring back the daimyo and his son?"
"Everything went smoothly. Everyone's back except Minato."
At that, Uchiha Yuzhen was a little confused.
They had already secured their targets.
Shouldn't Namikaze Minato have been able to
break free of the Kazekage's pursuit with ease?
Everyone else had returned safely to camp.
The only one missing was Minato, the man known as the Yellow Flash.
Had something unexpected happened?
With that thought,
Yuzhen turned to the others and said:
"Everyone knows I can use the Flying Thunder God."
"Minato-sensei's situation is unclear, so I'll go check on him!"
Hearing Yuzhen's suggestion,
Akimichi Choza's chubby face grew serious.
"All right, Yuzhen. Go find out what's going on over there, right away!"
The Konoha Ninja present had no better option.
This was the best choice!
They all knew just how mobile the Flying Thunder God was.
Especially since
they had just seen it for themselves.
Uchiha Yuzhen and Kakashi had appeared in camp out of nowhere.
With a technique like that,
unless he stayed behind with no intention of surviving,
there was little chance anything could happen to him.
After getting their answer, Uchiha Yuzhen wasted no time.
He flashed out of sight,
vanishing from the camp.
Yuzhen reappeared
in the city.
With a few quick leaps, he reached the place where Namikaze Minato and the Third Kazekage had fought.
As soon as he entered the area,
the sight before him left Uchiha Yuzhen stunned.
Namikaze Minato was fighting Sasori of the Red Sands.
That wasn't what surprised him.
What surprised him was
the Third Kazekage, dressed in a black cloak,
lying nearby, his body mottled purple and blue.
The discoloration made it clear to Yuzhen
that the man had been poisoned.
In that instant,
Yuzhen worked out what had happened.
Of the three people present, only one used potent poison.
There was no doubt about it.
Sasori was the only one skilled in that art.
So...
the Third Kazekage's collapse
had to be Sasori's doing.
Yuzhen wasn't surprised.
In the original story, Sasori had assassinated the Kazekage around this time, too.
It made sense that he'd struck now.
At that moment, both fighters noticed Yuzhen's arrival.
Minato raised his eyebrows, his expression growing more relaxed.
He called out to Yuzhen:
"Yuzhen, check on the Third Kazekage first!"
Minato was deeply worried about the Kazekage's condition.
He hadn't expected this mission
to run into a Sunagakure internal conflict.
While Minato had been fighting the Kazekage,
Sasori had snuck up from behind and attacked him with a poisoned weapon!
Minato couldn't accept that outcome.
If the Kazekage died during this mission,
he didn't need to think twice: whether or not Sunagakure uncovered the truth,
they would pin the blame on Konoha.
Minato understood the state of the Ninja World.
If something like that happened, war would be inevitable.
That was why he had kept Sasori occupied until now, hoping the situation might still turn around.
Now, the chance he'd been waiting for had arrived.
As soon as Yuzhen appeared, he called out and sent him to check on the Kazekage.
Yuzhen didn't waste a moment.
He flashed over to the Third Kazekage.
Fortunately, Minato had blocked every one of Sasori's attacks.
Yuzhen reached
the Third Kazekage's side without difficulty.
Seeing the unconscious Kazekage, he immediately crouched to examine him.
"This doesn't look good." After finishing his examination, Yuzhen muttered.
He looked up and hurriedly called to Minato:
"Minato-sensei, the Kazekage's condition is bad. If we don't treat him, he'll be dead in ten minutes."
"Then, Yuzhen... take Lord Kazekage to our camp and have the medical ninja do everything they can to save him!"
"Yes, sir!"
Uchiha Yuzhen acknowledged the order, hoisted the Third Kazekage onto his shoulder, and prepared to leave the battlefield.
Sasori couldn't stand by and let that happen.
He had gone to great lengths to seize the chance to ambush the Kazekage.
And it wasn't just about the hatred he harbored.
After completing his research on Human Puppets, he had long coveted the "strongest" Kazekage!
"You'll never take the Kazekage!" he roared, throwing himself into the fight.
One of his extra mechanical arms produced a scroll.
With a bang!
A huge number of puppets appeared out of thin air.
[Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets]—full power!
This was nothing like his earlier fight with Yuzhen, when he had used only a hundred puppets!
Now, with desperation driving him, Sasori had brought out everything he had!
More than three hundred puppets spread their mechanical hands wide.
They lunged at Uchiha Yuzhen and the Third Kazekage.
Minato, watching from a distance, could only sigh in frustration.
All his finishing moves relied on high mobility, and against the hundreds of puppets Sasori had brought out,
there was little he could do without a technique that could clear the field.
In a panic, he could only flash from place to place, using the single-target Rasengan to destroy as many puppets as he could.
Uchiha Yuzhen was facing the full force of Sasori's attack.
Seeing what was coming, he was about to use the Flying Thunder God to escape
when he remembered something that could spell disaster.
The Flying Thunder God was a space-time technique.
It didn't demand the same level of physical toughness as Kumogakure's Heavenly Transfer Technique.
But even so, the Third Kazekage—whose body was full of poison—couldn't endure it.
For the Third Kazekage, the Flying Thunder God,
a technique that required extraordinary neural reflexes,
would be fatal.
There was no way around it. While examining the Third Kazekage,
Yuzhen had discovered that the poison was neurotoxic!
"Tch, what a pain!" Uchiha Yuzhen clicked his tongue. With no other choice, he used the Body Flicker Technique of the Uchiha Style
to dodge Sasori's attacks.
Just then, the unexpected happened.
A few Sand Ninja appeared at the edge of the battlefield.
To them, it looked as though a Konoha ninja had captured their Kazekage.
Meanwhile, Lord Sasori was desperately trying to "rescue" him!
They shouted:
"Damn Konoha ninja! Let go of Lord Kazekage!"
"What good is shouting? Use a jutsu and stop him!"
The Sand Ninja snapped into action, all of them using Wind Release Ninjutsu.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several cutting, high-impact wind techniques rushed toward Yuzhen from the front.
Caught between enemies in front and behind, with a paralyzed man in tow,
Yuzhen felt more pressure than ever before.
Suddenly, among the puppets pursuing him from behind,
one of them changed.
Its body suddenly stretched out!
The elongated body caught up with Yuzhen in an instant.
The puppet swung its arm.
A blade pierced the Third Kazekage on Yuzhen's shoulder.
"Damn it! I let my guard down!" Yuzhen's face twisted with anger.
The Kazekage was as good as dead now.
In that case...
Don't blame me for being ruthless!
Before you continue