Whoosh!
As Minato rushed out of the woods into the clearing at the foot of the mountain, he stopped abruptly and immediately took a fighting stance. Almost the instant he emerged from the woods, he spotted the mysterious figure standing calmly in the distance.
Minato examined the tracks on the ground. The larger footprints must have belonged to this mysterious figure.
"Who are you?" Minato called out. "Where is Xue Ge?"
Madara looked at the wary Minato and spoke in understanding. "I see. Someone from Konoha? It seems your people know how important that brat is, too."
So it really was Xue Ge! Having confirmed his suspicions, Minato advanced a step at a time. "Could you tell me where that child is? I'm taking him back."
"No. You cannot take him." Madara's voice was cold.
If Xue Ge chose Konoha himself, Madara could accept that. But for someone from Konoha to try to take Xue Ge away right under his nose was a little too presumptuous.
The moment he finished speaking, Madara tilted his head aside. A kunai sliced through his cloak and shot past him. Minato narrowed his eyes at the sight.
From the outset, he had sensed a faint, intermittent pressure from this mysterious figure. He was certain this man was no ordinary person, but his reactions were astonishingly fast. He had reacted almost the instant Minato raised his hand-
This man is strong.
Madara glanced at the kunai embedded in the ground some distance behind him and fell silent for a moment.
"Attacking already? Fine. I have no desire to waste words on a dead man anyway," Madara said flatly.
Then he looked at Minato and formed the Tiger seal with both hands.
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
An instant later, Minato saw a surging tide of flames erupt from Madara's mouth, blanketing everything in sight. The scorching heat cracked the ground wherever it passed!
This Fire Release-
His eyes widened. Majestic Destroyer Flame was only a B-rank ninjutsu. What was this power?!
Flying Thunder God Technique-
The flames of Majestic Destroyer Flame swept through every stretch of forest for miles around, leaving nothing but scorched earth. Billowing black smoke darkened the sky.
Madara gazed at the vast, cleared expanse without the slightest stir of emotion. Finishing an ordinary jonin with a single ninjutsu was already giving him more than enough respect.
Just then, a sudden sense of danger struck!
Sensing killing intent behind him, Madara whipped out a kunai and turned, holding it before his chest. A Rasengan slammed into the blade, scattering countless metal fragments. Minato stared intently at Madara, seemingly trying to make out his face through the shadows.
"Hmph!" Madara activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan and twisted the kunai in his hand to deflect the Rasengan. Then he slammed a palm against Minato's arm and thrust a wooden spike straight at his chest with his other hand.
With the motion-tracking vision of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Madara saw Minato's figure blur for an instant. The spike that should have pierced flesh struck empty air instead, and Minato's presence reappeared in the distance.
That technique...
Memories surged through Madara's mind, and his killing intent skyrocketed.
"Flying Thunder God Technique!" he roared. "So you're one of Tobirama Senju's men!"
Madara could never forget Flying Thunder God. His younger brother Izuna had died to Tobirama Senju's Flying Thunder God Slash.
Overwhelming killing intent engulfed Minato, instinctively making his hair stand on end. He had never encountered killing intent like this in all his time as a ninja.
In the blink of an eye, Madara burst toward Minato at astonishing speed, unleashing ninjutsu in rapid succession.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Song Technique! Fire Style: Majestic Demolisher Flame!"
Another sea of flames blanketed the area. Minato immediately activated Flying Thunder God and escaped its range.
He had left quite a few Flying Thunder God Marks in the forest earlier. Although Madara's Majestic Destroyer Flame had destroyed many of them, a handful remained scattered about.
Before Minato could catch his breath, Madara had already located his new position, as though he had foreseen it.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Flame Technique!"
A crimson fire dragon soared through the sky and plunged toward Minato. Only then did the earlier Majestic Demolisher Flame and Dragon Flame Song Technique crash into the mountainside.
The violent explosions instantly destroyed hundreds of meters of rock. Flames splashed out in every direction, burning the deep-green mountain wilderness a blazing red.
This Fire Release-!
Minato watched with his heart pounding. The strongest Fire Release user he had ever seen was the Third Hokage, but as far as he knew, even the Third's Fire Release could not produce power like this.
And his opponent had unleashed these techniques with only a few casual hand seals. His mastery was terrifying...
Minato activated Flying Thunder God again to evade the fire dragon. The moment he teleported to another mark, Madara Uchiha was already looking his way.
As Minato raised his head and met his gaze, a scarlet light pierced his mind. In an instant, the world before his eyes seemed to turn upside down, becoming a sea of blood-red.
Genjutsu!
Minato disrupted his own chakra and broke free of the genjutsu in an instant. But that brief delay was enough for the flames to reach him!
He used Flying Thunder God once more to evade the attack, but this time he did not escape unscathed. The outer side of one arm was badly burned, its skin charred black.
"Ugh..." He clutched his arm in pain. Watching Madara, who had not immediately pursued him, his expression grew graver.
Proficient in Fire Release, powerful taijutsu, reactions no slower than mine, and he can easily block a Rasengan... A single genjutsu caught me. Even though I broke free immediately, the fact remains that I couldn't stop it.
This mysterious ninja's overall strength far surpassed that of a jonin. His power was utterly overwhelming. Who was he?
Minato's mind raced. This man had identified his Flying Thunder God Technique at a glance, and almost all the Fire Release techniques he used belonged to Konoha. Flying Thunder God was one of Konoha's secret techniques. Could this ninja be a Konoha renegade?
"Ninjas who use Flying Thunder God really are slippery." Madara folded his arms across his chest and looked coldly at Minato. "Unfortunately for you, I'm destroying your Flying Thunder God Marks one by one, while you can't so much as scratch me. How much longer can you keep running?"
Madara finally began to take Minato seriously. The boy's speed and combat instincts were decent enough.
Listening to his opponent's utterly emotionless taunts, Minato took a deep breath and flicked both hands. Eight kunai immediately appeared between his fingers.
He recalled how his teacher, Jiraiya,
and the Third Hokage had once praised his talent for Space-Time Ninjutsu. Faced with this crisis, Minato decided to stake everything on a tactic that had previously existed only in his mind.
Crisis was opportunity. Facing the strongest opponent he had encountered since becoming a ninja, Minato's potential was drawn out to its fullest.
The next instant, he hurled eight kunai in completely different directions.
"Hmm... hmm?!"
Madara's eyes widened in surprise.
As he threw the kunai, Minato became a flash of light, darting constantly between all eight blades. Each stop beside a kunai lasted less than the blink of an eye, yet every time he stopped, he hurled more kunai in several directions.
Within mere seconds, nearly a hundred kunai whirled through the air. Minato flickered around Madara like a golden flash, searching for an opening to strike with a Rasengan.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Flame Technique!"
A fire dragon swept away the kunai in one direction. Yet mere seconds after it passed, more kunai filled the gap.
"I see. You're using these kunai to perform Flying Thunder God..."
Watching the golden figure flashing through the air, Madara realized that this ninja was probably not Tobirama's successor.
His fighting style was entirely different from Tobirama's. Tobirama had relied mainly on Water Release. This ninja merely happened to share one of his techniques.
And from the look of things, this ninja's mastery of Flying Thunder God was even greater than Tobirama's.
"Interesting!" Madara's interest was finally piqued. "You're faster than Tobirama Senju. I see. Let me find out just how capable Konoha's jonin are these days!"
"Dance with everything you have!"