"Is that the legendary sannin? His strength is definitely above mine… but there's no need to fear the Sharingan. If I open the Curse Seal, I won't have to worry."
After hearing the Raikage's words, Ash glanced toward Orochimaru and Jiraiya, both standing behind Minato Namikaze.
"Hey, kid. Over here."
The Raikage's sudden shout pulled Ash's attention back. Ash nodded once, then walked directly to face Minato.
"You're… a missing nin?" Minato asked, puzzled. He hadn't heard of any Yun-nin of Ash's caliber. And the boy was wearing the rogue insignia of Amegakure around his neck.
"I'm a bounty hunter," Ash answered calmly.
"My job is to delay you for half an hour. What happens after that has nothing to do with me."
Minato, with his blond hair falling just over his brow, looked exactly as the stories described—bright, warm, almost gentle.
On the other side, the Raikage confronted Jiraiya, while Orochimaru faced the Raikage's brother, Killer B, the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails.
A jinchūriki was a living nuclear weapon—feared in every village.
And among them, those of Kumogakure were the strongest.
"Let me see it—the power of the 'Yellow Flash'. Don't disappoint me."
The moment Ash finished speaking, he vanished with Soru-like speed, disappearing completely from sight. Minato sensed movement only at the last instant—Ash had already appeared behind him.
So fast!
Minato's eyes widened as he re-teleported, avoiding the strike.
"So this is the Flying Thunder God Technique… It really is just like instantaneous movement. No wonder it's considered a gold-grade space ninjutsu—only 1.5 million attribute points to redeem."
Ash wasn't surprised.
The Flying Thunder God's speed rivaled Soru, but it had one decisive advantage—no travel path.
Soru, no matter how fast, left traces.
FTG was pure space-warping movement, just like a Pokémon's Teleport.
"That brat is matching Lord Fourth's speed! How did Kumogakure even find someone like him?!"
Jiraiya, holding off the Raikage on the other side, finally noticed Ash's movements and shouted in disbelief.
"Today is the day Konoha falls! Lightning Release: Liger Bomb—Level Thunder Smash!"
The Raikage gathered his Lightning Chakra until the air itself crackled, then charged toward Jiraiya with a chopping strike aimed at his skull.
"Rasengan!"
Jiraiya refused to back down. Chakra spiraled into his palm, and he slammed the Rasengan toward the incoming hand-chop.
BOOM!!!
The collision detonated the ground, sending shockwaves through nearby shinobi.
There was no denying it—the Raikage's Lightning Release always lived up to its reputation.
"At a time like this, you're still distracted?"
Ash blurred forward again, reappearing in front of Minato. He gripped his white ivory blade and swung it straight toward Minato's head.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The battlefield erupted once more.
The fire-infused bullet tore straight through Minato's head—
—or so it seemed.
With a burst of white smoke, Minato vanished, leaving only a splintered log behind.
"Substitution."
Ash's eyes narrowed. The instant the thought crossed his mind, he vanished with a Soru-like blur.
"—!"
The moment Ash left, Minato reappeared at the exact spot Ash had occupied seconds earlier, his kunai sweeping through empty air.
If Ash had hesitated even a heartbeat, he would have been cut down.
"Sharingan."
Landing lightly, Ash formed a half-seal. His Sharingan snapped open, scarlet tomoe spinning.
The Flying Thunder God left no physical trace—but every use of ninjutsu required Chakra.
And the Sharingan excelled at reading Chakra flow, making it ideal for tracking FTG activations.
"Sharingan?! You're from the Uchiha clan?!"
Minato's expression tightened.
Konoha's leadership was already in tense conflict with the Uchiha. If not for the ongoing war, the village might have already fractured.
Seeing a foreign shinobi with Uchiha eyes was alarming, to say the least.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Ash ignored Minato's shock. Chakra gathered in his chest, then erupted from his mouth as a massive sphere of flame.
"It's useless! Ninjutsu won't hit me."
Minato flickered out of existence, space folding around him as he teleported beyond the fireball's range.
Good.
That was the point.
Ash smirked.
"I've copied the Chakra signature of your Flying Thunder God…Now, every time you warp, the Sharingan will read the fluctuation before you arrive."
The Great Fireball wasn't meant to hit—only to force Minato to teleport again so Ash could lock onto the dimensional shift.
"Rasengan!"
Ash was still airborne from his earlier leap when Minato reappeared directly behind him.
In his left hand, Minato gripped a three-pronged kunai marked with Flying Thunder God formula, while in his right hand he formed a Rasengan and drove it toward Ash's back.
"So that's it…This guy placed his Flying Thunder God kunai around us before we even arrived."
Ash's eyes sharpened.
"Moon Step!"
With a burst of force, he kicked off the air itself, using the technique to evade upward at the last instant.
...
TN:
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