Kushina, she...
Just as the Hidden Cloud Village Jonin was about to unleash his jutsu-
Shhk!
The faintest sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out.
The Hidden Cloud Village Jonin abruptly froze, then lowered his head in disbelief.
He saw the bloodstained tip of a kunai protruding from the front of his throat.
That kunai's design... it was unmistakably one he had just thrown.
One of those the blond kid had deflected into a nearby tree!
When?! How?!
A wheezing rasp escaped his throat as the ferocity in his eyes swiftly gave way to confusion and the stillness of death.
His body swayed, then pitched forward onto the ground. He twitched twice and went still.
Minato Namikaze stared wide-eyed at this sudden, utterly inexplicable reversal.
A figure seemed to materialize out of thin air, landing lightly on a branch of a large tree nearby.
The newcomer wore dark casual clothes. His white eyes stood out clearly in the dusk as he calmly looked at Minato.
"For an academy student, you did well to hold out against a Jonin this long, and even force him to use two jutsu."
Tianyi's voice carried little fluctuation, but there was a reassuring note of approval in it.
"Leave the rest to me."
Minato recognized him as the powerful senior from the Hyuga Clan who had been the subject of so many rumors in the village lately.
Hyuga Tianyi, known as the Ghost of the Ninja World.
Relief washed over him. As the willpower keeping him upright slackened a little, intense pain and dizziness from blood loss surged over him.
Still, he nodded firmly, pressing his left hand over the wound in his right shoulder as blood streamed between his fingers.
Tianyi looked toward the direction where the Hidden Cloud Village ninja had disappeared,