After a brief exchange, both sides stood in a tense standoff once more.
Rasa stared intently at Namikaze Minato, his mind racing as he tried to devise a way to capture or land a hit on him.
"The only way is to attack from his blind spot during his assault, without him noticing..."
"Or to surpass his reaction speed."
Rasa pondered but soon frowned.
"I can't catch him—it's impossible!"
Then, his gaze shifted to Hoshita Shūichi.
If he couldn't target Minato directly, he would use his subordinate as a Breakthrough.
"Pakura, Matō, focus all your attacks on that brat!" Rasa ordered.
Pakura and the others immediately understood—this was their strategy to break through Minato's defenses by targeting Shūichi.
None of them felt any guilt about ganging up on a younger opponent. They simply nodded in agreement.
On the opposite side.
Shūichi Acutely noticed Rasa's gaze and whispered, "Minato-sensei!"
Minato, with his wealth of experience, had already noticed.
Moreover, he understood Shūichi's unspoken suggestion.
A decoy!
After all, it's just a shadow clone!
Among the Sand ninja, two of them retreated with the severely injured jonin Minato had taken down earlier, moving out of the battlefield where the Flying Thunder God kunai were scattered.
Shūichi glanced at them, remaining vigilant.
He didn't believe for a second that those two Sand jonin would simply stand by and watch.
At that moment, Matō, the jonin standing behind Rasa and Pakura, sprang into action, charging forward with a kunai in hand.
Rasa and Pakura also attacked simultaneously—Rasa manipulated iron sand, forming countless needles that rained down like a storm, while Pakura's Scorch Release fireballs curved around from both sides, aiming for Shūichi and Minato's rear.
Shūichi observed all of this calmly. With just two hand seals, he spat out a thin line of fire that rapidly expanded into a massive dragon-shaped flame.
Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu!
The fiery dragon engulfed the incoming iron sand needles, melting them into molten droplets that fell harmlessly to the ground.
As the flames dissipated, a barrage of shuriken whistled through the air—launched by Matō, who was still advancing.
Minato responded by throwing his own shuriken with pinpoint accuracy, intercepting Matō's projectiles mid-air.
Meanwhile, the Scorch Release fireballs closed in from behind.
Shūichi and Minato dodged in unison.
Rasa raised his hand, sending waves of iron sand surging toward Minato, unleashing a relentless assault.
Shūichi had no time to check on Minato now—he was locked in combat with Matō, all while evading the two Scorch Release fireballs.
He was being pushed back!
Matō, a seasoned jonin, was already formidable, and with the added threat of Scorch Release, Shūichi could only rely on his heightened reflexes and concentration to hold his ground.
However, the Scorch Release fireballs were the most troublesome.
Even when sliced apart by his Azure Flame Skyblade, they would simply reform. The only effective counter was to blast them apart with a Rasengan.
Suddenly, Matō retreated to form hand seals, and the frequency of the fireballs' attacks increased, leaving Shūichi no room to counter.
Though Shūichi could also use the Rasengan, he deliberately held back.
His instincts proved right.
Matō completed his seals and exhaled—a violent gust of wind erupted, engulfing the entire battlefield, including Rasa, Pakura, and all the Flying Thunder God kunai.
Minato, who had been dodging Rasa's attacks, suddenly appeared beside Shūichi. Before the storm could reach them, their figures vanished once more.
Rasa shielded himself with iron sand, his eyes locked onto the flickering yellow light.
Good, he hasn't retreated!
A smirk crept onto Rasa's face.
Pakura dispersed her fireballs, forming a circular wall of flames to protect herself.
Outside the battlefield, the two jonin tending to the injured also began forming hand seals.
Wind Release: Great Net Jutsu!
One after another, they unleashed the same technique, creating razor-sharp, expansive nets of wind that swept across the battlefield as Matō's wind technique began to wane, ensuring continuous, unrelenting attacks.
Rasa, now shielded save for his eyes, watched the storm-ravaged battlefield and thought, "In this situation, the only way to survive is to flee."
If Minato chose to escape, it would be disappointing, but it would at least confirm critical intelligence about his teleportation technique—whether it was high-speed movement or space-time ninjutsu.
However.
Unbeknownst to them, Minato and Shūichi had already appeared behind the two wind-release jonin.
The seasoned Sand ninja sensed the danger too late. Sweat beaded on their foreheads as they turned their heads slightly, only to meet their doom.
Minato slammed a Rasengan into one, while Shūichi cleaved the other apart with his Skyblade.
Thud!
Boom—!
One was bisected; the other was crushed into the earth.
The two Sand jonin died without uttering a sound.
Matō, standing outside the storm's range, turned and stared in disbelief. "How...?!"
As the winds died down, Rasa and Pakura lowered their defenses and turned to the rising dust. Their faces twisted with shock and frustration.
"He can place markers on people!" Rasa realized instantly, his gut twisting with anger.
Two encounters, three losses!
At that moment, Shūichi's body dissolved into smoke.
"A shadow clone?!" Matō exclaimed.
This meant Minato hadn't needed to "rescue" Shūichi at all.
Their entire plan had been anticipated and exploited through an information gap.
"The Sand Village should never have provoked Konoha," Minato said coolly. "Please relay that to the Third Kazekage."
With that, he vanished.
Silence engulfed the battlefield.
After a long pause, Rasa looked up at the moon and said, "Pakura, destroy all those marked kunai."
Pakura nodded silently, directing her Scorch Release fireballs to melt each kunai one by one.
The thought of taking them for study never crossed their minds—tampering with Minato's markers was far too dangerous.
As the shadow clone's memories returned, Shūichi and the others halted.
True to expectations, Minato soon reappeared.
"Rest for half an hour before continuing," he instructed.
Kurama Sanyō let out a relieved laugh. "Looks like we won't have any pursuers."
Minato smiled. "Even so, stay alert."
Shūichi, however, was lost in thought: After this battle, the name "Yellow Flash" will surely spread across the ninja world.
Fame is built on the bones of the fallen.
The Yellow Flash, the White Fang of Konoha, the Killer Bee of Kumo—all of them...
Shaking off his musings, Shūichi said, "It's been a while since we had a proper meal. I'll hunt some game."
Minato agreed but added, "Shisui, go with him."
After a meal of roasted rabbit, the team set off again, reaching the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers by dawn. They then skirted southeast, circling north before arriving at River Valley Town.
Konoha had stationed ninja here, making it the operational hub for their campaign against the Land of Rivers.
To Shūichi's delight, he spotted Kakashi among them.
"Kakashi, when did you get here?" he greeted.
"Last night," Kakashi replied before adding, "The village is still sending reinforcements. The front lines must be rough."
Shūichi grinned. "Nah, I didn't come from the village—I just returned from the front."
Kakashi blinked in surprise.
Before he could respond, Sanyō called out, and Shūichi patted Kakashi's shoulder. "Gotta go. If you head to the front, be extra careful—especially of Sand's puppeteers."
With that, he hurried off, rejoining Minato as they pressed onward, arriving at the Konoha-Sand Confrontation Front by noon.
The commander here was none other than Hatake Sakumo!
Seeing Minato and the others, Sakumo smiled warmly. "Minato, your efforts have been invaluable."
Minato humbly replied, "You flatter me, sir. We only did our duty."
Sakumo, familiar with Minato's modest nature, chuckled before turning to Shūichi. "Shūichi, thank you for guiding Kakashi."
Shūichi was taken aback but quickly said, "You're too kind, sir. Kakashi has helped me just as much. We're friends exchanging knowledge, nothing more."
Sakumo's admiration for Shūichi grew. "If you ever need guidance in swordsmanship, don't hesitate to ask."
Shūichi's eyes lit up with excitement. He bowed deeply. "Thank you, sir! I won't hold back!"
This was no time for false modesty.
Afterward, Minato attended a jonin briefing to share intel.
Shūichi and the others waited nearly an hour before Minato returned.
"We'll be splitting up now," Minato announced, catching them off guard.
"From here, Shisui, you three will escort the wounded back to River Valley Town. Once there, Shūichi, you'll join the medical team."
He then addressed Uchiha Shisui and Kurama Sanyō: "As for you two, you'll be temporarily reassigned to other squads until the mission concludes."
Shūichi understood immediately—Minato would be engaging Sand's elite forces, and having them along would only hinder him.
Sanyō, however, sighed in relief. "For a second, I thought you weren't our squad leader anymore!"
Minato patted his shoulder. "Stay sharp on missions."
"Don't worry, Minato-sensei! We will!" Sanyō vowed with a grin.
Soon after, Shūichi's team escorted a group of wounded back to River Valley Town.
Before they could even catch their breath, Shisui and Sanyō were summoned by a middle-aged ninja.
Shūichi, now assigned as a medic, was quickly swamped with work.
As more wounded arrived from the front lines and healed Konoha ninja returned to battle, Shūichi grew acquainted with more of his comrades.
His exceptional medical skills earned widespread recognition, especially after word spread that he had trained under Tsunade.
Over time, he became known as "Tsunade-hime's apprentice, one of the Legendary Sannin."
Shūichi neither confirmed nor denied it.
After all, he had trained under Tsunade.
If others misunderstood, that wasn't his problem.
Read advance chapters here:
patreon.com/CNBLUE