"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Evidently, Minato Namikaze had not yet learned how to infuse nature transformation into his Rasengan by the time of his death, so he couldn't use the Rasenshuriken. Instead, he used his S-rank ninjutsu, the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. Another reason was that Naruto had already tried using the Rasenshuriken on Mukade, and the effect was less than satisfactory—it had been swallowed without so much as a burp. A physical attack seemed to be more effective.
Tens of thousands of shuriken struck Mukade's giant puppet body, shattering its outer shell and scattering broken limbs and parts everywhere. The ground was littered with broken components and various wires.
Mukade was furious, but he remained unfazed. His body was shattered? He would just reassemble it. An infinite amount of chakra gushed out, and countless chakra threads shot out from his core, grabbing the surrounding parts and rapidly pulling them back into the giant puppet to reform it.
However, someone had no intention of giving him the chance to reassemble.
"Destructive Death—Annihilation Type!"
A figure appeared before Mukade's puppet, whose shell had not yet fully reformed, and swung his sword, unleashing hundreds of air blades.
The powerful, sharp blades of air struck Mukade's incomplete puppet body, shattering it once again.
"The core… where is the core?" Uchiha Nagi narrowed his eyes, searching everywhere.
As talented as Mukade is, can he be more talented than Sasori? Even Sasori couldn't completely transform himself into a puppet; he still had to preserve a human core. The same must be true for him. The only difference was that he had turned his core into something like a Wi-Fi receiver, allowing him to absorb the Ryumyaku's power from a distance without limit.
"Found it! There!" Uchiha Nagi's eyes flashed. From Mukade's chakra core, tens of thousands of chakra threads were being released, pulling the puppet parts back into the body to reassemble it. The Sharingan could see those chakra threads clearly. The Byakugan could have as well, but unfortunately, there was no Byakugan here. The Aburame's insects were supposed to be the natural enemy of chakra threads, but unfortunately, when the energy was too overwhelming, even fire could overcome water.
Aburame Shibi looked helplessly at his swarm of insects. Each one was round and bloated, lazing aboutmotionless. They had eaten their fill of Mukade's chakra and were now stuffed. It was the first time in his life he had ever encountered such a situation. Aburame Shibi became the first to withdraw from the battlefield.
"Destructive Death—Leg Type: Flying Planet Thousand Wheels!"
Uchiha Nagi rapidly approached Mukade's chakra core and began frantically severing its chakra threads. Mukade, likely sensing the danger, became even more furious. To protect his core from being harmed by Nagi, he unleashed a massive wave of energy, a shockwave that forcibly sent Nagi flying. He then used his chakra threads to quickly control one of the large cannons and fired a chakra blast at the airborne Nagi.
"Over here!"
A yellow figure quickly leaped out, throwing a three-pronged kunai—a Flying Thunder God marker.
Although Nagi had his Susanoo ready as a backup, it was better to save energy if he could. He directly activated the Flying Thunder God, using Minato's marker to dodge Mukade's chakra cannon.
Crack, crack—
Mukade, by a hair's breadth, completed his reassembly once again, forming another giant puppet body.
"Hahahaha! So close, so close! Aren't you disappointed? You almost managed to hit my core!" Mukade laughed wildly. If his core was hit, his immortal body would be kaput.
The arrogant Mukade once again made his puppet body larger and thicker. He feared death more than anyone and knew that he was, in fact, a novice, which was why he deliberately made his puppet so large. Sasori wouldn't do that. The larger the body, the larger the target, and the harder it is to dodge enemy attacks. But with the inexhaustible chakra of the Ryumyaku, this weakness seemed insignificant.
"Huh?! Wait, the puppets, where are my puppets?!"
Just as Mukade was about to enlarge his puppet again, he suddenly realized there were no more parts in the factory. The puppets were all gone.
He focused his eyes and saw, in the distance, hundreds of little blondies, each carrying a puppet, running out of the Land of Roran.
Pfft—
Mukade nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. He had never seen such a dishonorable tactic.
"You! Don't run! Stop right there, you bastard!"
Mukade panicked. He stopped tangling with Nagi's group and started running after Naruto. Without the puppet parts, he couldn't maintain his so-called "immortal body." As the battle wore on, his body would get smaller and smaller until only the core was left, and then a single kunai could finish him off.
As Mukade tried to chase Naruto, Minato shouted to Choza, "This is our chance! Stop him!"
Akimichi Choza nodded, took out a box, and popped a colorful pill into his mouth. "Alright, watch this…"
"Aaaargh!"
After swallowing the colored pill, Akimichi Choza's chakra surged. He used the Expansion Jutsu again, growing as large as Mukade, and stood in his way, blocking him from leaving.
"Get out of my way, you bastards!"
Minato took this opportunity to shout to the real Naruto, "Naruto, use your Rasenshuriken now!"
Naruto scratched his head. "But I've used the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu a few times. My chakra is a little low."
Minato said, "I'll help you."
He then went over and helped Naruto form the Rasengan, the two of them working on one together, making it bigger and bigger.
Nagi looked at Mukade's mountain-like body and said, "That's still not enough. His body is too large. The outer shell is enough to block most of the damage from the Rasenshuriken. We have to break through his defense and let the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken hit his interior."
Minato asked, "Do you have a way?"
Nagi didn't answer, but just gave a mysterious smile and threw a Flying Thunder God kunai onto Mukade's back. Mukade was still fighting Choza head-on, so a single kunai stuck in his back was less than an itch; he didn't even notice.
Swoosh—
With the Flying Thunder God, Uchiha Nagi instantly teleported onto Mukade's back.
"Of course. The most direct method is to smash him to pieces."
Monstrous Strength Fist…
BOOM!
With a massive explosion, Mukade's enormous body was blown apart by a single punch from Uchiha Nagi's left hand, leaving a giant crater.
With her Monstrous Strength Fist, Tsunade could send even Gamabunta's short sword, which looked like it weighed dozens of tons, flying with one punch. Mukade's puppet body was nothing in comparison. Of course, it also depended on the force the user put out. One ton of force and ten tons of force were both the Monstrous Strength Fist. Nagi used about seventy percent of his strength in this punch, directly smashing a huge crater in Mukade's back. He then changed positions and delivered another punch.
BOOM!!
After this second punch, Mukade was completely stunned. His puppet body was shattered by just two punches?
"Now, Naruto!"
"Go! Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"
The Rasenshuriken, humming with the sound of wind pressure, flew rapidly into Mukade's puppet body. Just before it hit, Nagi had already teleported away with the Flying Thunder God.
"Aaaargh!"
Within the giant puppet body, Mukade wailed in agony. This time, he couldn't swallow Naruto's Rasenshuriken. It was a direct hit. The wind-nature chakra inside it continuously destroyed everything it could, eventually reaching Mukade's core—the human part of his body he used to absorb the Ryumyaku's chakra. Although he had modified himself into a half-human, half-puppet, his brain ultimately couldn't be replaced by machinery. The wind jutsu directly destroyed every cell in his brain.
Mukade lost control of the Ryumyaku energy he had absorbed. His body erupted in a white light. He was going to explode.
"Not good! He's lost control of the Ryumyaku energy in his body! He's going to explode!" Aburame Shibi roared.
"With such massive energy, if it explodes, half of the Land of Roran will probably be destroyed. If it's powerful enough, maybe the whole country will be gone," Uchiha Nagi said calmly.
"No! I have to stop him!" Naruto, hearing this, became anxious. Red Nine-Tails chakra flared around his body, and he was about to charge forward, but a hand held him back.
"Let me," Minato said with a smile.
Swoosh—
With a Flying Thunder God, in the next second, Mukade's self-destruction happened—but outside the Land of Roran.
"Hey, hey, where's the tall blondie? He didn't get blown up, did he? I still have things to ask him!" Naruto said anxiously.
"He's not dead…" Before Nagi could finish his sentence, a yellow figure appeared in front of Naruto again, having perfectly completed the task of moving Mukade.
"That's great! We got him!" Naruto said happily.
Minato smiled. Mukade was defeated, but the mission wasn't over. There was still one last step…
"You… what are you trying to do?! Ah… Naruto!"
A pleasant female voice cried out. Naruto reacted quickly and ran towards Sara, only to see Aburame Shibi and Akimichi Choza about to destroy the Ryumyaku.
The Ryumyaku wasn't that easy to destroy. Otherwise, they wouldn't have needed someone with the queen's bloodline. It had its own defensive sealing formula, powered by the energy of the earth itself. No one could destroy those formulas. However, if the Ryumyaku was severed, it became much easier. Sealing or destroying it was simple. And just now, to support Naruto, Sara had temporarily cut off the Ryumyaku. If the surrounding formulas weren't destroyed or sealed, she just needed to restore the Ryumyaku after a while.
"Stop! What are you doing?!" Naruto spread his arms, blocking their path to Sara.
"Naruto, this is our mission. Please move aside. Besides, Captain Yamato, who came here with you, also said that the future Land of Roran is a desert. You'll be changing history if you do this," Aburame Shibi said gravely.
Yamato also silently shook his head at Naruto. When they had arrived, the Land of Roran was indeed already a desert. The destruction of this small country was an inevitable part of history.
Naruto looked at Choza and Shibi, who were intent on destroying the Ryumyaku, and then at the silent Minato. The little bit of goodwill he had developed for this tall blondie vanished like an extinguished lamp.
After a moment of gloomy silence, Naruto raised his head with a determined smile.
"I'm sorry. I promised Sara that I wouldn't let anyone harm the Land of Roran. That's my ninja way. If I can't keep my promises, how can I become the future Hokage?"