"Earth Release: Earth Burial Technique!"
The two were swiftly dragged underground by the Rock ninja.
The once-solid ground had turned into a quagmire, making escape impossible. The Rock ninja had struck at the perfect moment—when their guard was down—leaving them no time to react.
As they were gradually pulled deeper, the earth swallowed them up to their necks, then their heads. Desperately, they stretched out their arms, struggling in vain.
Then, as the air above the ground sealed shut—
"Poof!" "Poof!"
The two vanished in puffs of smoke, leaving behind only two burning explosive tags.
"Boom!!"
The ground erupted, leaving a gaping crater.
The Rock ninja crawled out, bloodied and battered. He had been tricked by two mere Chunin.
At that moment, a frog opened its mouth, and from its tiny throat emerged a massive arm, followed by the body of Namikaze Minato. He pulled Uzumaki Kushina out after him.
"Toad Concealment Technique!"
The two turned their attention to the severely injured Jonin.
"I can't believe your plan actually worked," Kushina remarked, surprised they had managed to wound the Rock ninja so badly.
From the start, they had left Shadow Clones outside while hiding inside the frog's stomach. The bodies moving outside were decoys, setting the trap. The real strike came from the clones that emerged later—everything else had been a setup to make the Rock ninja overlook the possibility that they were the real ones.
Aside from being covered in toad slime, Kushina was quite satisfied with the results.
"Still, the real fight starts now," Minato said, his kunai coalescing with wind blades, elongating into a sword.
"Wind Breathing."
Kushina, too, formed a blade of water in her hand.
"Water Breathing."
These were ninjutsu specially left for them by Kin. After all, they were his teammates. And due to the butterfly effect caused by Kin's actions, too much had changed—he couldn't be sure they'd survive to see the later events.
Even if death awaited them either way.
"First Form: Dust Whirlwind—Cutting Slash!"
Minato lunged at the Rock ninja with blinding speed, leaving spiraling wind blades in his wake that gouged the earth. The wind-forged blade slashed toward the Rock ninja.
"First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
Kushina followed close behind, her water blade striking horizontally.
One attack was fierce, the other calm—yet both passed through the Rock ninja's body.
Cuts appeared on his neck and chest. He looked down at his wounds in disbelief.
"I lost… to Konoha brats?!"
He was a Rock Jonin—how was this possible!?
Even in death, he couldn't accept it, but his body collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
Before the two could catch their breath, more figures appeared in the distance.
"Looks like we won't get a break," Minato and Kushina sighed in unison.
The battle raged for three days.
Finally, the Rock ninja were driven back by Konoha's forces.
When Minato and Kushina found Jiraiya, he was covered in wounds, bandaged up like a mummy.
"I'm really not this badly hurt," Jiraiya protested to the village-assigned medic-nin.
She wore a nurse outfit on the battlefield, her flaxen hair tied into twin tails, oversized black-framed glasses perched on her nose. Her smooth thighs kept drawing Jiraiya's gaze.
"Thud."
The medical chart smacked against the only exposed part of Jiraiya's face—his eye. The medic-nin calmly retrieved it as if nothing had happened.
"Extensive burns, three broken ribs, a fractured arm, internal organ damage—if this isn't serious, then there's no such thing as a severe injury."
Her tone was icy. Jiraiya chuckled awkwardly.
The three elite Rock Jonin hadn't been easy to deal with, but they hadn't walked away unscathed either—one died on the spot, and the other two were severely wounded. That was why the Rock forces had retreated.
Jiraiya turned his attention to Minato and Kushina.
They weren't in much better shape. Minato's arm was in a sling, his body wrapped in bandages, while Kushina's long hair had been cut short, and she was being pushed in a wheelchair by Minato's one good hand.
The three exchanged glances.
"Sigh."
Three sighs echoed in unison.
"Pathetic" didn't even begin to cover it.
The medic-nin flipped open another notebook, this one detailing their battlefield achievements.
Minato and Kushina had taken down one Jonin, one Special Jonin, five Chunin, and several Genin.
Even the medic-nin nearly lost her composure reading the record. Such feats were rare even among Chunin—and these two weren't even twelve yet.
It was downright unbelievable.
She shot a glance at the lecherous ninja whose eyes kept drifting toward her thighs.
Truly, like master, like disciples.
"Lord Jiraiya, if you can't keep your eyes to yourself, I'll have to inform Lady Tsunade."
That made Jiraiya reluctantly avert his gaze. Tsunade's fists were no joke.
"Also, Lord Jiraiya, the Hidden Mist has declared war on Konoha. This is intel from three days ago."
As a medic-nin who didn't need to fight—and one of Tsunade's first batch of trainees—she was also responsible for intel gathering on the battlefield.
Jiraiya's playful grin faded. Though it was hard to tell with all the bandages.
The medic-nin still felt his lingering gaze and used the medical chart to shield her thighs.
Jiraiya gave up. He weakly pointed at her.
"That's just mean!"
Was he really such a pervert!?
The medic-nin and Kushina both shot him identical looks of disgust.
Jiraiya slumped in his wheelchair.
Fine. Let the world burn.
His reputation was beyond saving.
But—
"The Hidden Mist has declared war, huh."
Now, among the Five Great Nations, only the Hidden Cloud remained silent. If they joined the fray, the war would escalate further.
He wondered if the village could withstand it.
Meanwhile, the two-man team sent to scout the Hidden Cloud's movements had arrived in the Land of Iron's capital.
Uchiha Kin followed White Fang through the streets. Most passersby carried swords, and many wore armor, hurrying along. Civilians, common in other cities, were few and far between.
White Fang explained, "The Land of Iron has stricter rules than the Land of Fire. Civilians aren't allowed to roam the streets freely."
In the current hierarchy of the ninja world, the order was nobles, ninja, then civilians. But because ninja power had grown so overwhelming, it had eroded the Daimyo's authority. While noble status was unchallenged, the samurai class—once their equals—had been reduced to the same level as civilians.
Civilians feared samurai for their strength, not their status. In the Land of Fire, it wasn't uncommon for civilians to gang up and kill a down-and-out samurai.
But the Land of Iron was different.
Here, the Daimyo's power remained absolute, and samurai were elevated in status. A samurai could kill a civilian without consequence, while a civilian who offended a samurai could be executed.
"What a rotten relic of the past," Kin sneered.
Whether it was the Land of Iron or the entire Daimyo system of the ninja world—
It's all garbage.
...
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(End of Chapter)