AB Combo

Meanwhile, at the Kumogakure camp ten kilometers away.

Dust billowed into the sky as Kumogakure's main force split into smaller units under A's orders, racing toward the Land of Iron to provide support.

At the front of the camp, four tall figures stood against the gale.

The muscular A stood in the center.

Beside him, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, twisted his body without a care for anyone watching, his hands marking out a strange beat as an oddly rhythmic verse tumbled from his mouth.

"Yo! Big bro, hear my flow, no need for woe! Little Eight warned me inside my head, yo!" Killer B adjusted his sunglasses, his comical delivery carrying a grave undertone. "Seven little mice are heading our way! Their leader's Chakra burns like a golden flame! That's Minato Namikaze, Konoha's Yellow Flash, damn it! Yo!"

"Minato Namikaze..."

A clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking sharply.

Angry lightning danced over his body, and his voice rumbled like low thunder. "Those Konoha flies really did catch the scent of rotting meat. They want to pin us down here while Dad's surrounded."

Behind him, the agile Rael and the cold-faced Ran En stepped forward together, murderous intent radiating from their bodies.

"B, Rael, Ran En!"

A growled, and Lightning Release Chakra erupted across his skin. Blue currents covered his entire body like armor. "Nothing can go wrong with the main force's retreat. If Minato Namikaze cuts off our rear, it's all over. The four of us will stop them!"

"Yes, sir!"

Rael and Ran En answered in unison.

Killer B pulled off a flashy backflip, drew the short sword on his back, and followed with a strange laugh:

"Cut off their track, no way to Konoha and back! Oh yeah!"

Four figures tore through the air like thunderbolts, racing straight toward Minato Namikaze.

"Stop!"

Minato Namikaze suddenly raised his right hand in a crisp, forceful tactical signal.

The six moving behind him froze in place. An eerie silence settled over the entire forest, with only the occasional distant rumble of thunder warning of the approaching storm.

"They're here. Everyone, spread out as planned and prepare for combat!"

The moment the order came, the air grew taut. Kakashi Hatake and Asami Ri exchanged a glance, then lowered their centers of gravity in unison, watching the path ahead with hawklike eyes.

"Byakugan!"

"Sharingan!"

Veins bulged around Hyuga Shin's eyes as he locked onto the approaching Chakra; blood-red tomoe appeared in Uchiha Tekka's eyes and slowly spun.

At the rear of the group, Obito kept Rin Nohara close behind him as they quickly withdrew to a concealed patch of high ground.

Though Obito's breathing was rapid, his gaze remained fixed ahead. This was his first time taking part in a confrontation at this level.

Boom!

A savage bolt of lightning ripped straight through the bushes ahead, and four burly men landed firmly with overwhelming force.

At their head, A was wreathed in blue lightning so dense it seemed solid. His oppressive presence made the Chunin there catch their breath.

Killer B stayed at his side like a shadow, with the cold-eyed Rael and Ran En behind them.

"You Konoha brats," A thundered, his steel-needle beard trembling slightly, undisguised fury filling his voice. "You rats who only know how to hide in the shadows—are you that eager to die?"

Facing pressure that would have left an ordinary ninja weak at the knees, Minato Namikaze slowly stepped forward, placing himself before all his subordinates. His hair stirred in the static, but his voice remained calm:

"Lord A, at a time like this, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to stay here a little longer."

"Stay here?" A laughed in fury. His Lightning Release Chakra surged, and the ground beneath his feet cracked under the pressure. "Perfect. Our last fight never settled anything. This time, we'll finish what we started!"

"B! With me! We'll kill this guy first!"

"Yo! Big bro leads the charge, Little Eight roars loud! We'll take every Konoha life in the crowd! Yeah!"

Before he finished speaking, A became a blue afterimage, moving so fast that deafening sonic booms erupted through the air.

Killer B followed close behind, the short swords on his back flashing free and tracing bizarre arcs.

Facing a joint assault from the strongest brother duo in the shinobi world, Minato Namikaze's eyes sharpened. A specially crafted Flying Thunder God Kunai was already gripped in his palm.

"Spread out! Carry out your assignments!"

At Minato's sharp command, a golden flash and blue thunder crashed together in the center of the forest clearing. The resulting shock wave snapped the massive trees around them in an instant.

"B, surround him from both sides!"

A roared, and his Lightning Release Armor flared violently. The blue currents almost solidified into a physical suit of armor.

A vanished in an instant.

To Asami Ri and the others, that was no longer "movement." He was simply too fast to see, disappearing from where he stood and leaving only a trail of afterimages.

The next second, A appeared directly in front of Minato. Three lightning-wreathed fingers pressed together like a blade, their point aimed straight at Minato's heart.

"Three-Finger Nukite!"

At the same time, Killer B spun like a top, Seven Short Swords whirling between his joints to form a deadly steel lotus that sealed off every escape route.

Yet the instant those fingers were about to touch his skin, Minato Namikaze abruptly vanished.

"Over here."

A cold voice sounded behind A. A golden afterimage darted back and forth between the specially crafted kunai in the air.

Minato was in no hurry to counterattack. His figure flickered through the woods, every landing accompanied by the precise throw of another kunai.

"Flying Thunder God Technique!"

"It's useless!" A spun around and accelerated again, turning into a blue thunderbolt as he smashed through the afterimage Minato had left behind. "As long as I'm faster than you, your technique means nothing!"

"Big bro, watch your feet, yo!"

Killer B gave a sudden, strange shout. Several enormous octopus tentacles sprang from his back and swept across the ground like iron whips, trying to clear away all the Flying Thunder God Kunai scattered around them.

Minato's gaze darkened slightly. He knew he couldn't meet them head-on.

The instant the two attacks converged, he flung open his right hand. Azure Chakra rapidly compressed and spun in his palm, condensing into a highly unstable sphere of light.

"Rasengan!"

Minato's figure streaked through the air in a golden flash.

Using a kunai lodged in a tree trunk as his destination, he moved around to A's flank.

The Rasengan slammed toward A's shoulder with a piercing shriek, intended to forcibly disrupt the circulation of his Lightning Release chakra.

Boom!

A neither dodged nor retreated, relying on his Lightning Release Armor to take the Rasengan head-on.

Though a small crack tore through his armor, his assault did not slow in the slightest. His left hand hooked back with the motion, reaching precisely for Minato's neck.

"B, now!"

"Coming, damn Yellow Flash! The strongest combo, yo!"

Killer B put away his short blades, and a dark-red Tailed Beast Cloak erupted around him. Acting in perfect harmony, the brothers charged simultaneously from the left and right, their arms crossing toward Minato between them.

"Double Lariat!"

In that instant, the air seemed compressed to its limit by those two terrifying forces, twisting under the pressure.

To the onlookers, three streaks of gold, blue, and red slammed together.

Just as their arms were about to crush his neck completely, Minato's fingers lightly touched A's lightning-covered chest.

A tiny trace of a formula settled there unnoticed.

Flying Thunder God!

Whoosh!

The golden flash vanished by a hair's breadth. A and Killer B's killing blows slammed into each other, and the resulting shock wave uprooted the massive trees around them.

Minato reappeared on a broken tree ten meters away, breathing hard. A patch along the edge of his flak jacket had been scorched by lightning, but his expression remained frighteningly calm.

"That was dangerous..." Minato wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, his burning gaze fixed on the figures ahead. "But the mark is in place. From now on, neither of you is getting past this line."

A touched the Flying Thunder God Formula on his chest, his expression terrifyingly dark. "Yellow Flash... you really are a difficult man to deal with."

The three figures once again became streaks of light too fast for the naked eye to follow, launching into a race of life and death through the Dense Forest that exceeded the limits of human reaction.