"You bastard!" A roared as he sprang to his feet, stomped hard on the ground, and charged at Setsuna like a tiger unleashed from its cage.
"Good!" Setsuna's eyes lit up. Since returning to the Naruto World, this was the first time he had met someone who could take his full-force blow head-on without suffering much damage. As expected of the future Raikage.
The two charged at each other like cannonballs. Electric serpents coiled around A's right fist as it shot toward Setsuna's face with a howling wind. Setsuna neither dodged nor retreated, throwing an equally violent punch at A's face.
Bang!
The dull thud of fists striking flesh echoed through the forest. Some of the more faint-hearted Hidden Cloud Village ninjas felt their hearts skip a beat, fearing A's neck had snapped.
Yet the two fighters were barely affected. Their heads tilted back slightly from the blows, then they immediately plunged back into battle.
Setsuna slammed a fist into A's abdomen. A's eyes bulged, saliva spilling uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth, but his abdominal muscles clamped tightly around Setsuna's arm as his fists rained down on Setsuna like a storm.
Setsuna was just as savage. He had no intention of pulling his arm free and instead repeatedly smashed his head into A's face. The sheer brutality of the battle left everyone holding their breath.
There were no flashy techniques, only collisions of fist against flesh.
Like two tireless mechanical puppets fighting, every strike even rang out like metal striking stone.
"Lightning Release Armor? Now this is more like it." Setsuna knew that A's previous ordinary Lightning Release Chakra Mode had not been his full strength. This Lightning Release Armor was his opponent's strongest form.
The stronger his opponent was, the more delighted he became, body and soul alike.
He had to admit that after staying in the Dragon Ball World for so long, he had picked up the Saiyans' bad habit of loving battle—though he was not quite as wild as they were.
While Setsuna was enjoying himself, A was having a far worse time.
"Where the hell did this guy come from?" The longer A fought, the more alarmed he became. His Lightning Release Armor consumed an enormous amount of chakra, yet his opponent could match him using nothing but pure physical strength.
At this rate, his chakra would soon be exhausted.
"This is bad. A is about to lose the upper hand." As A's cousin, Blue B understood A's condition well and immediately said to Killer B, "B, let's attack together."
"Fool, idiot, Konoha's idiot..." Killer B rapped as he drew his weapons.
However, at the very instant the two made their move, Blue B suddenly sensed danger. A massive octopus tentacle burst out behind him and knocked him away.
Almost at the same moment, a yellow flash appeared where he had just been, slicing through the tentacle.
"Flying Thunder God Formula? When?" Cold sweat streamed down Blue B's face. He had always thought they were hunting Minato Namikaze, never imagining that Minato Namikaze had somehow left a Flying Thunder God Formula on him.
"You should worry about yourselves first. My kunai might not be able to pierce A's defenses, but killing you would not be difficult." Minato Namikaze warned them with a kunai in hand.
"You think you alone can threaten over a hundred of us?" Blue B snapped coldly.
"This is not a threat. I am merely telling you the future that is about to happen. Try to stop me." The instant Minato Namikaze finished speaking, he appeared beside a Hidden Cloud Village ninja. Before the man could react, the kunai had already pierced his body.
"Damn it, stop!" Blue B roared, but Minato Namikaze's movements naturally did not stop because of his anger.
The next moment, Minato Namikaze appeared beside another Hidden Cloud Village ninja.
"Fool, idiot, the same move..." Killer B keenly watched his surroundings. The instant his eyes caught that yellow flash, he moved. Seven blades were clamped between various parts of his body as he rushed forward in a nimble, bizarre posture.
"B, calm down!" Blue B shouted. How could such a troublesome opponent leave such an obvious opening?
Hearing Blue B's shout, Killer B's heart jolted. Sure enough, he noticed a sizzling sound coming from the "Minato Namikaze" right in front of him.
"This is bad, an Explosive Tag!" Killer B was horrified and hastily twisted aside, but he was still blasted away by the Explosive Tag.
"B!" Seeing Killer B's condition, A's focus wavered.
Just as he was about to collide with Setsuna once more, A suddenly used Lightning Body Flicker, flashing to Setsuna's left and chopping at his neck with a hand blade.
Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop!
Setsuna seemed unable to react in time and took the hand blade squarely to the neck.
The Hidden Cloud Village ninjas who witnessed it all cheered, completely ignoring the danger that they could be assassinated at any moment.
"Haha, that Konoha ninja is dead for sure!"
"Lord A's move can even break the Eight-Tails' horn!"
However, Setsuna bent his upper body forward with the blow, dispersing its force, while his right leg whipped backward like a long lash and sent A flying hundreds of meters with one kick.
The smiles on the Hidden Cloud Village ninjas' faces instantly froze as they stared in disbelief.
"Honestly, I even went out of my way not to use any techniques while fighting you, and you started playing tricks." Setsuna stood and shook his head. He had wanted to enjoy that visceral, fist-to-fist thrill a while longer.
A rose to his feet again, but he was clearly in a much worse state than before. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, yet he had no time to care about his own condition and hurriedly looked toward Killer B, who had been blasted away.
On the other side, Killer B staggered to his feet. Half his body was stained with blood, but from A's perspective, at least his life was not in danger.
A sighed in relief, but his expression grew incomparably grim.
He had never imagined that he and over a hundred ninjas would be "surrounded" by two Konoha ninjas.
If they had only been facing one person, things would have been manageable. As long as he restrained that Taijutsu ninja, his subordinates could have drowned the enemy in ninjutsu.
But there was also the elusive Minato Namikaze. Every one of his subordinates feared for their own safety, leaving them unable to spare a hand to help him.
"This is the only way. Blue B, fire a signal flare and call for reinforcements." A practically ground the words out through clenched teeth.
Upon hearing A's order, Blue B also breathed a sigh of relief. What worried him most was that A might stubbornly hold on for the sake of his pride.
The signal flare shot into the sky, and Minato Namikaze's expression turned serious. "Setsuna, we may need to leave as well. The Third Raikage is definitely not someone easy to deal with."
There was another reason he did not say in front of these Hidden Cloud Village ninjas.
His chakra was nearly depleted again, and even his Soldier Pills were running out. If they did not quit while they were ahead, he would not be able to use Flying Thunder God to escape later.
"I know." Setsuna nodded. The Third Raikage truly was a troublesome figure. At the very least, even he was not confident he could withstand the combined ninjutsu assault of over ten thousand ninjas.
Of course, with Bukūjutsu, he would never let himself fall into such a situation.
"Even if we're leaving, we should leave them with a deep impression!" Setsuna smiled faintly. His tone was calm, yet it sent chills down the spines of the Hidden Cloud Village ninjas.