Barehanded Through the Barrier

At the heart of Blackwater Marsh, gray-black poisonous miasma churned.

The stench of rotting leaves mixed with muck assaulted the nose. Each step sent bubbles gurgling up.

The bodies of dozens of Konoha Ninja lay scattered all around.

The Hidden Leaf defensive line that had once held the Land of Hot Water had been reduced to this narrow patch of ground.

Minato Namikaze knelt in the mud, his back against a broken stone pillar.

Mud coated his white jacket so thickly its original color was impossible to make out. His right arm hung at his side, blood dripping from his fingertips into the muck.

"Minato, can you still stand?"

A hoarse voice came from beside him.

Orochimaru leaned against a stone wall, his face even more haggard than usual.

A deep gash had been torn across his left shoulder. The flesh around it had turned a necrotic blue-purple.

Samehada had inflicted the wound.

Orochimaru coughed twice, black bloody froth spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"Three broken ribs," he said between coughs.

"I never thought those sword-wielding water freaks from the Land of Water would be so troublesome up close."

Minato wiped the rain from his face and gave a bitter smile.

"Lord Orochimaru, the formulas on all my Flying Thunder God Kunai have been destroyed."

"The Hidden Cloud has set up a Lightning Release Barrier around us. It's completely disrupting the flow of Chakra."

"I can't connect to any spatial coordinates now."

Thirty paces ahead, a curtain of purple lightning sealed off the entire clearing.

It was Lightning Release: Thunder Absolute Wall, erected by twenty elite Jonin from Kumogakure working together.

Dense bolts leaped above the swamp, enclosing the heart of Blackwater Marsh on every side.

"Don't bother looking for a way out, Yellow Flash."

A huge, heavyset