The battlefield on the northwestern border.
The Third Kazekage floated in midair, looking down as he glanced at the young blond man.
He was considering how to pull out this "nail," and Minato Namikaze, facing him, was considering the same thing.
Minato raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his temple and looked up at the Kazekage.
This is tricky.
His opponent remained in midair, refusing to come down, standing atop a vast cloud of Iron Sand like a moving fortress.
Minato clenched his fists.
The Kazekage's Iron Sand is too troublesome. I have to keep him occupied!
I can't let him free to sweep across the battlefield, or the shinobi from my village will suffer terrible casualties...
As he thought, a thunderous rumble suddenly came from the other side of the battlefield.
Minato snapped his head around and froze for a moment.
On the battlefield nearby, a gigantic "ball of flesh" was rolling along.
Nara Shikata and the heads of the Yamanaka and Akimichi clans had used their "martial soul fusion skill," the Human Bullet Yo-Yo!
Using his clan's secret technique, the Akimichi clan head had curled his entire body into a gigantic ball.
Nara Shikata, meanwhile, used the Nara Clan's secret shadow technique to control the direction the "giant ball of flesh" rolled.
The Yamanaka clan head had her eyes closed, using the Mind Body Transmission Technique to relay the positions and movements of every enemy on the battlefield to the other two.
Thus, the Human Bullet Yo-Yo rumbled toward the Land of Wind shinobi formation, crushing everything in its path like a steamroller.
If Hatake Sakumo saw this, he would surely exclaim:
Isn't this the damn combo Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji used during the Fourth Shinobi World War in the anime?
But the three of them hadn't invented the Human Bullet Yo-Yo. It was an old specialty the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans had used together for generations, so it was no surprise that the three clan heads could use it now.
Under Shikata's control, the Akimichi clan head's Human Bullet Tank rolled back and forth across the battlefield at astonishing speed. Wherever it passed, Land of Wind shinobi were sent flying in droves, either killed or injured.
It left the ground cleaner than a plow.
Rasa, the Third Kazekage's disciple, was only in his early twenties, an age when tempers ran hottest.
Seeing his side's formation thrown into disarray by the "giant ball of flesh," his youthful face flushed crimson, and veins throbbed at his temples.
"What the hell are all of you doing?!"
Rasa shoved aside two Sand shinobi blocking his way and strode forward. His hands formed hand seals at lightning speed, and a furious shout burst from his throat:
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Flow!"
Rasa waved both hands, and a vast wave of gold dust surged out, spreading across the yo-yo's path.
His plan was simple: once the "giant ball of flesh" rolled onto the gold dust, it would sink, trapping the whole thing fast inside.
But he had still underestimated the three of them working together.
Just as the giant ball of flesh was about to roll onto the gold dust, Nara Shikata pulled with his shadow...
The Human Bullet Tank suddenly bounced twice an instant before hitting the gold dust. With two heavy thuds, it "flew" straight over the patch of gold dust.
Then it slammed straight into another Sand shinobi formation.
Rasa froze where he stood, watching the "giant ball of flesh" hop right over his carefully laid gold dust trap.
"How is that even possible?"
After looking away, Minato vanished from where he stood in a flash of golden light.
When he reappeared, he was standing beside a Flying Thunder God Kunai not far from the Third Kazekage.
To keep the Third Kazekage occupied, Minato spoke up:
"Third Kazekage, let me see what you're capable of."
Perhaps worried that his lack of seniority and reputation would make his opponent ignore him altogether, he hurriedly added:
"Remember, the man who defeats you is Minato Namikaze!"
With that, Minato flung several Flying Thunder God Kunai from his ninja tool pouch, sending them flying straight toward the Third Kazekage in midair.
But the Third Kazekage merely hovered there with his eyes lowered, without even moving his head.
He reacted neither to Minato's words nor to the kunai thrown at him.
Not until the Flying Thunder God Kunai were almost upon him...
Whoosh!
The Iron Sand around the Third Kazekage surged up, pulling the Flying Thunder God Kunai toward it like a magnet.
Although the Third Kazekage knew nothing about the Flying Thunder God Technique, after exchanging a few moves with the blond just now, he had already figured something out...
The blond could appear out of nowhere beside his kunai, so his technique most likely used the kunai as "coordinates."
So this time, the Third Kazekage took special care to guard against it. As soon as the kunai appeared, he used Iron Sand to draw them away, never letting them come close to him.
The Iron Sand that had absorbed the kunai churned in the air, clacking as it rearranged itself. It formed a sharp Iron Sand spear, with the kunai embedded inside.
Its tip pointed straight at Minato on the ground, and it shot down at him.
Minato had originally intended to escape with Flying Thunder God.
Golden light had already flashed around him for an instant, but just before he vanished, he abruptly stopped.
No.
A thought flashed through his mind: if he vanished into thin air, and the Kazekage decided he was too hard to catch, what if his opponent went straight to breaking the formation instead?
I have to make him think I'm a target he can reach.
"All right."
Minato gritted his teeth and concentrated all his chakra in his palm.
A Rasengan lit up in his hand.
He looked up, fixed his gaze on the Iron Sand spear stabbing down from above, and charged toward it instead of retreating.
Boom!
The Rasengan collided with the Iron Sand spear, unleashing its powerful rotational force in an instant. The spear was knocked flying with a bang and fell apart in midair.
Minato had blocked the attack. But that was all.
The moment the Iron Sand scattered, it gathered again under the Third Kazekage's control, forming weapons of all kinds that stabbed at Minato from different directions.
Minato held back from using the Flying Thunder God Technique. He performed several backflips in succession, dodging this way and that, barely avoiding the attacks.
He was breathing slightly hard and muttering to himself, This is tricky.
He's staying up in the air, and whenever I throw my kunai at him, his Iron Sand pulls them away. I can't get anywhere near him. How am I supposed to fight him?
Minato stared at the mass of Iron Sand in the sky, turning the problem over in his mind. Suddenly, an idea clicked, and even his steps grew lighter.
That's right.
He had been thinking about how to get close, but he had forgotten: if the Kazekage's Iron Sand could pull his kunai away, why couldn't he turn that around and use it as a springboard?
Minato quickly pulled several more Flying Thunder God Kunai from his ninja tool pouch and threw them at the Third Kazekage in midair.
Sure enough, before the kunai reached the Kazekage, the mass of Iron Sand beside him whisked them away.
And the moment the kunai were pulled away, Minato turned into a streak of golden light and vanished into thin air.
When he reappeared, he was beside the Iron Sand that had pulled the kunai away, only a few dozen feet from the Third Kazekage.
Minato flipped his left hand, producing another Flying Thunder God Kunai, and threw it straight at the Third Kazekage.
The Third Kazekage separated a mass of Iron Sand to act as a "magnet," pulling away the newly thrown kunai, while shaping the Iron Sand beside Minato into a spear and thrusting it at him.
But Minato flickered and vanished into thin air once more.
When he reappeared, he was standing on the Flying Thunder God Kunai that had just been pulled away.
He kicked off, using the kunai and Iron Sand for leverage, and shot straight toward the Third Kazekage in the air!
A Big Ball Rasengan rapidly formed in his palm, humming.
"Take this!"
The Third Kazekage's eyelid twitched, and his back went rigid. The Flying Thunder God Technique was too troublesome!
With no time to think, the Third Kazekage waved his hand, and a vast sheet of Iron Sand flew over like a thick blanket, blocking the space between him and Minato.
Boom!
Minato drove the Big Ball Rasengan down hard, smashing it squarely against the Iron Sand shield.
In an instant, the Big Ball Rasengan's destructive rotational force erupted wildly.
A hole was smashed straight through the Iron Sand shield, and the Third Kazekage himself was sent flying by the terrifying rotational force!
The Third Kazekage had remained in midair ever since arriving on the battlefield.
The pride he had maintained as the "strongest Kazekage" was smashed to pieces by the Rasengan at that moment. He plunged straight into the ground.
Rumble.
A thunderous crash sent a vast cloud of dust billowing into the air.
If Hatake Sakumo saw that power, he would surely complain:
Look at this-is that reasonable? Is one Big Ball Rasengan as powerful as an S-rank ninjutsu?
In the dust, the Third Kazekage pushed himself off the ground and slowly stood, his knuckles cracking as he clenched them.
How is that possible?
When did the Iron Sand defense in front of me become so brittle?
Fortunately, although the Iron Sand shield had been broken through, it had blocked the Big Ball Rasengan's direct strike and the impact that followed.
The rotational force had mostly carried him down with it, and his injuries were not serious.
The Third Kazekage raised a hand, and vast masses of Iron Sand gathered on either side of him, forming two triangular wings. With a powerful flap, he flew back into the air.
Looking down at the young man who had vanished after landing that blow, he regarded him seriously for the first time.
"Minato Namikaze, was it?" the Third Kazekage said, each word distinct. "You've succeeded in making me angry."