"It's the Flying Thunder God!"
How is that possible? How can he use the Flying Thunder God?!
Minato Namikaze stared at his opponent in utter shock. It was unmistakably the Flying Thunder God technique. The man had teleported to the kunai he himself had thrown into the wall.
And yet, in the next second, he vanished again. He just disappeared.
An intense feeling of danger washed over Minato. Without thinking, he instinctively activated the Flying Thunder God, teleporting to another location. The instant he left, Uchiha Nagi's sword slashed down where he had been standing.
It was the kunai I was carrying…
Minato gave a bitter smile. It only took a moment of thought for him to understand. He never imagined that the three-pronged kunai in his own ninja pouch would become the coordinates for his opponent's Flying Thunder God.
Uchiha Nagi wasn't going to wait for him to speak. In the next second, he activated the Flying Thunder God again, teleporting behind Minato and slashing down with his sword. This time, however, Minato blocked it with a kunai.
"Heh heh, not bad, right? You like to fly behind people and stab them in the back, don't you? How does it feel to have someone fly behind you?" Uchiha Nagi said with a grin.
Minato, ever since learning the Flying Thunder God, had never thought to modify the formula on the kunai. That was why he and the Second Hokage could share the same marked kunai. The reason was simply that no third person had ever learned the space-time ninjutsu. He never expected to be tripped up by Uchiha Nagi today.
Uchiha Nagi's Mangekyo Sharingan ability was to "see through and analyze the principles of how things work." It could be weak, but its potential was also limitless. After analyzing the formula on the Flying Thunder God kunai and watching Minato teleport several times, his copy of the technique had gone from ten percent complete directly to one hundred percent.
Compared to a jutsu like Shikotsumyaku, which required a bloodline, this space-time ninjutsu, reputedly the most difficult in the ninja world, had no such requirement and was surprisingly easy to copy.
However, after an initial moment of panic, Minato immediately calmed down. He took out most of the Flying Thunder God kunai he was carrying and threw them out, scattering them in every corner.
Akimichi Choza and Aburame Shibi then witnessed an incredible scene.
Two figures—one with golden hair, like a golden flash, the other with black hair, like black lightning—flickered back and forth among the tall buildings of Roran. One second they would clash blades here, the next they would exchange blows over there.
Finally, in a shower of sparks from a fierce exchange, Uchiha Nagi gained the upper hand for a round. He used his Nichirin Blade to slice off Minato's mask and a lock of his hair, which fell to the ground.
Minato then used the Body Flicker Technique to leap to an empty space where there were no Flying Thunder God kunai.
"What? Giving up? Or just don't want to fight anymore?" Nagi smiled. With his Mangekyo, his dynamic vision was stronger than Minato's. If he lost now, despite also having the Flying Thunder God, it would be a huge embarrassment.
Minato smiled back. "The reinforcements are coming. Let's decide this with one move, win or lose."
He then formed another Rasengan in his hand, but this one was bigger.
"Great Ball Rasengan!"
Having had the most exhilarating fight of his life, Uchiha Nagi also wanted to end it. At the end of the day, his hatred was for Danzo and the Third Hokage. He didn't feel the need to kill Minato. And who knew who would kill whom? Let's not forget, Minato still had the Reaper Death Seal.
"Huuu… Sun Breathing, Third Form: Raging Sun."
Out of respect for his opponent, Uchiha Nagi used his strongest technique, Sun Breathing. Its power was in a different league from the ordinary Breathing Styles. As long as he only used one move and didn't sustain it for too long, the side effects would be negligible.
He then swung out a deep crimson, horizontal arc of flame directly at Minato's large Rasengan. Before he struck, he mentally scanned his surroundings. There were no Flying Thunder God kunai anywhere. He didn't have to worry about this guy pulling a fast one and flying behind him like he did with Obito.
Just as their two ultimate moves—one a flaming blade, the other a large blue sphere—were about to collide, Minato suddenly vanished from in front of Uchiha Nagi. In the next second, a large Rasengan slammed heavily into his back.
Uchiha Nagi: "…?!"
How did he get behind me? There are no Flying Thunder God kunai around here!
A huge explosion kicked up a massive cloud of dust. Minato wiped the sweat from his brow, looking mentally exhausted. He didn't have the Mangekyo Sharingan. The ultra-high-speed teleports required him to focus his eyes and senses intensely. So, although their teleportation battle had only lasted a short while, it had taken a huge toll on him.
He had never imagined that fighting someone else who could use the Flying Thunder God would be so disgusting. Now, he finally understood.
What was even more disgusting was that his opponent was using the same space-time formula as him. No, when I get back, I have to modify the Second Hokage's formula. I need to make my own exclusive one.
"Minato, are you alright? Is he dead?"
Akimichi Choza and Aburame Shibi rushed over, standing by Minato's side with concern.
"I'm fine. Don't let your guard down. He's not dead."
Clap, clap, clap—
A round of applause echoed from within the smoke. Then, a piece of the mask that Nagi had just cut in half was tossed out.
"Flying Thunder God: Level 2. Truly worthy of Minato Namikaze. To secretly inscribe the Flying Thunder God formula on your own mask, then intentionally let me get the better of you so your mask would be cut and fall to the ground."
Uchiha Nagi dusted himself off and walked out. A chakra skeleton now enveloped his entire body—the Uchiha clan's absolute defense, Susanoo. The Great Ball Rasengan's power was immense; it had smashed a multitude of cracks into the skeletal Susanoo.
Crack, crack—
A large, dense swarm of puppets descended from the sky, raining down chakra cannons from the buildings above.
Nagi looked at the puppet army and knew it was time to end this. "I lost today's match. The next time we meet, I won't lose to you."
He turned and left with the Body Flicker Technique, leaving behind a sentence that shocked all three of them.
"Oh, wait, there won't be a next time. Minato Namikaze, if you don't want to die with your wife on the night of the Nine-Tails attack, then you'd better work hard to change history. Hahahaha!"
The moment Nagi left, the massive swarm of puppets surged forward. These weren't the ordinary puppets of Kankuro or Sasori. Powered by an infinite supply of chakra, Mukade had equipped all of them with chakra cannons.
Uchiha Nagi left in a cheerful mood. As for the conflicted Minato, whether he would seal his own memory or, because of Nagi's words, keep it and try to change history—that had nothing to do with him.
Change history? Let the floods rage, what's it to me? It's your lives, you two can decide for yourselves.
At the same time, this was an experiment he wanted to conduct. The later stages of the Naruto story had been ruined by the release of Boruto. In Boruto, time travel became as easy as eating a meal, and space-time ninjutsu became rampant.
What was even more absurd was that an Otsutsuki named Urashiki had tried to go back in time to kill Naruto, only to be instantly killed by Naruto in his one-tailed cloak mode.
How ridiculous. An Otsutsuki who could fight against the Rinnegan was one-shotted by a main-world Naruto in his one-tailed Nine-Tails mode? How weak must the people of the future world be? Uchiha Nagi thought about it for a long time and concluded that it was most likely a parallel world. Because the power levels at the end of the original series were world-destroying, it was impossible for them to become so weak just because they had a bunch of kids. The only explanation was that the people in Boruto were just that strong to begin with, and when they came to the main world, they were beaten like dogs.
But that time machine, the turtle, was quite interesting. He didn't know what it was made of, but it possessed such massive energy that it could transport people through time. The Ryumyaku, even after being sealed by Minato for over a decade, had only accumulated enough energy for one round trip.
As Nagi walked back to reunite with Kimimaro and Yukihime, he also thought about the Ryumyaku. Mukade had traveled back six years, but it had taken him a full six years to absorb the Ryumyaku's power into his own body. However, the moment Sara severed the Ryumyaku, he immediately became a plant without roots and withered away. That meant the power of the Ryumyaku could be used, but…
Shaking his head, Nagi had no desire to spend the rest of his life as a mountain king in Roran. Even if he had infinite chakra, what was the point if he couldn't leave? He would just be a prisoner.
But sealing a Tailed Beast inside himself? Nagi shook his head again. He didn't like the idea of having a sentient creature locked inside his body. What if he was getting intimate with his girlfriend one day? Wouldn't it be secretly watching? Besides, Black Zetsu, Nagato, and their group were definitely going to collect the Tailed Beasts. He wasn't confident he could take on Nagato, even an exhausted Nagato. His Rinnegan was truly powerful. The Rinnegan was the pinnacle of power in this world, and he was still far from it.
"Speaking of which, I wonder if I can copy the power of the Rinnegan…" Uchiha Nagi touched his own eyes. If he could copy Nagato's Six Paths abilities, that would be game-breaking. However, based on his deductions, it was likely similar to the Shikotsumyaku. Even if he copied the Six Paths abilities, he wouldn't be able to use them without the Rinnegan.
"Hey, you're back! Are you alright? We heard a huge battle just now. Were you fighting someone?"
In a civilian house, Yukihime and Kimimaro looked at the disheveled Uchiha Nagi with concern.
"I'm fine. A bit messy, but I wasn't injured." Nagi smiled. In fact, it was Minato who had gotten a cut on his shoulder. And he had stripped Minato's life-saving Flying Thunder God technique down to its underwear, even copying the Flying Thunder God: Level 2.
That old schemer!Ptooey.
They had agreed to a head-on duel, but he had secretly added the Flying Thunder God: Level 2 formula to his own mask. If Nagi hadn't been prepared with his Susanoo on standby, that Great Ball Rasengan might have taken half his life. No, it might have killed him on the spot.
"It's getting late. We'll rest for the night and head back tomorrow." Uchiha Nagi looked at the time outside. The sky had already darkened.
Tomorrow, he would go kill Mukade, freeing the Ryumyaku's power from its imprisonment. The repulsive force of time would then naturally send them back to their own world.