After all, he still needed to keep this hostage card to exchange for money.
"How are things over there?"
Xuan Zhe turned toward the other end of the battlefield.
Half a li away.
On the muddy ground, Hatake Sakumo let out a long breath and sheathed his blade.
Then he bent down, picked up the unconscious Ōnoki, whose eyes had rolled back, and clicked his tongue.
"This old man really is ruthless."
Compared with when he later fought Edo Madara, when he already had one foot in the grave.
Although Ōnoki was already getting on in years now, with little chance of his strength improving any further.
His stamina and chakra were far more plentiful than they would be then.
Especially that Dust Release, which reduced anyone it touched to atoms. It was truly troublesome.
Hatake Sakumo had gotten his first taste of being stymied, and his expression looked rather sour.
"Lord Tsuchikage!"
"Lord Raikage!"
Ōnoki's son Kitsuchi and the Third Raikage's aide Dodai shouted at the top of their lungs, their faces changing with anxiety as they watched their leaders being held down.
Minato Namikaze flashed his harmless smile. There was a natural gentleness about him that made people lower their guard, and his words were perfectly polite.
"Don't be nervous, Lord Kitsuchi. We have no intention of taking the Tsuchikage's life."
How sincere those words were, however, depended on whether he lowered the Flying Thunder God Kunai held against Kitsuchi's neck.
"Shut up!"
Tsunade was nowhere near as patient. She raised her leg and delivered a vicious kick, sending Dodai face-first into the mud.
Jiraiya watched from the side, the corners of his mouth twitching despite himself.
More than half the shinobi in the Iwagakure and Kumogakure armies could still fight.
But with their Kage and their deputies