He reversed his grip, lowering the blade until the tip angled toward the earth. With his other hand, he raised the seal of confrontation, fingers steepled with a deliberate calm that belied the tension knotting the air.
In that instant, his Reiatsu burst outward, golden, blinding, overwhelming. It slammed against the presence beyond the Garganta like a tidal wave against a cliff, space itself trembling under the clash.
The ground shattered beneath his feet, a spiderweb of fractures racing outward in all directions, dust pluming skyward.
Minato spoke no words.
But war had begun.
---
BANG!
A monstrous fist slammed into the ground where he had stood, stone exploding into debris. Minato's body blurred, backflipping onto the cracked wall of a half-toppled building. He crouched low, blade reversed and ready, his cold blue eyes fixed on the Hollow that had tried to crush him.
The beast loomed, massive arms flexing with grotesque strength. Its mask was jagged, primitive, and its bulk shook the ruined street beneath its steps.
Minato's expression hardened.
'Incredible strength. But that's all there is to it. Slow. Sluggish. No agility.'
He moved.
A golden flash split the air as Shunshin propelled him forward. In less than a heartbeat, he was before the Hollow's mask. His blade gleamed in an arc of deadly precision.
SLASH!
Steel bit into flesh. Blood burst outward in a spray as Minato cleaved across its thick neck. Another flash of gold carried him meters away, cloak fluttering. He rose into a crouched stance, eyes narrowing at the sight.
The Hollow was still standing.
Its wound knitted before his gaze, flesh hardening, bone pulling taut across the shallow scar. A guttural roar shook the ruins, a sound filled with hatred and hunger.
It slammed its arms into the ground in savage frustration, earth buckling under the force.
'Durability like metal. Regeneration. That cut should've torn a man in half. And that mask, different… sharper. Evolution?'
Minato's eyes widened slightly as realization struck. But the thought vanished with the next quake...
CRASH!
A boulder the size of a house fell toward him. The ground shuddered violently as the impact birthed a mushroom cloud of dirt and rock.
But only a log of wood lay crushed beneath the stone.
Golden light shimmered across the street. Minato stood unharmed, several meters away, blade already in hand.
The Hollow's head twisted sharply, tracking his Reiatsu. Its roar split the air.
Minato stepped forward, grip tightening. Then he blitzed. No shunshin this time. Only raw speed, his body honed and empowered by pure Reiatsu.
The Hollow's tail lashed outward, a grotesque whip ending in a bony spike. It came for his head with lethal force.
Minato grit his teeth and slipped sideways, the spike grazing his cheek. Cold eyes narrowed further. But the tail wasn't finished.
It circled back, twisting like a serpent with its own will, stabbing toward his back.
Minato vaulted midair, twisting into a corkscrew, agility carrying him just beyond its deadly reach. He landed in stride, five meters from his target.
The Hollow raised both titanic arms, slamming them together in a hammer strike.
BOOOOM!
The street crumbled, collapsing into a crater beneath the force. Shards of stone and dust exploded outward.
But a golden flash streaked across the horizon.
SLASH!
His blade cleaved without resistance, splitting through the Hollow's mask and tearing through its skull.
Minato landed in silence, crouched low, cloak settling around him. Behind him, the Hollow's head erupted in gore, its body collapsing before disintegrating into ash that drifted into the wind.
The head. Always the weak point. Hollows aren't so different from beasts after all.
His eyes scanned the broken battlefield, cold and sharp, even as he rose to his feet.
---
The old man finally stumbled onto the field. His breath hitched as he saw the lone figure standing amidst ruin. Minato's aura bled outward, suffocating in its intensity, yet it was cold, lonely.
A wolf, the old man thought numbly. A wolf who walks alone through blood.
---
Minato barely had time to inhale when his instincts screamed.
CRACK!
A metallic spear erupted from the ground, aimed for the back of his skull. His body moved without thought, sidestepping with precise grace. His eyes narrowed as he sensed it. A faint, lurking Reiatsu slithering beneath the earth itself.
The centipede Hollow. I saw it before. It's tracking me through the ground… sensing the excess Reiatsu I'm leaking.
But before his plan could even form, the ground convulsed.
RUMBLE!
Dozens of spear-like protrusions tore upward, shredding the earth, piercing toward him with lethal speed.
Minato moved. Sidestepping, vaulting, corkscrewing, flipping, each motion a blur of impossible agility. He navigated the forest of death with precision, blade flashing only to deflect what he could not dodge.
Landing atop a cracked wall, he crouched, eyes scanning sharply.
'It'll keep hunting as long as my Reiatsu touches the ground. I can't fight it there.'
The earth exploded.
A serpentine head burst free, the Hollow's massive body uncoiling from beneath the ruins. Its grotesque eyes locked onto him. Its spear-arms shot outward like arrows, shrieking through the air.
Golden light flashed. Minato vanished before impact.
His form blurred into motion, reappearing atop a treetop. He steadied his breath. His window was narrow.
'Midair. The one place Reiatsu doesn't touch the ground. If I mask it there with transformation jutsu, maybe…'
But his instincts screamed again.
A spear whizzed past his cheek. He flipped backward, crashing lightly to the ground. Smoke exploded outward, swallowing his form.
Then, his Reiatsu vanished.
The Hollow froze, scanning. Its titanic body fully surfaced, segmented coils writhing, eyes swiveling. Its metallic arms flexed, spearing out to probe.
Then it saw him.
Minato crouched low in midair, feet braced as though he stood on solid stone, his golden aura faint but steady.
The Hollow hissed, launching projectiles like a storm of arrows.
Minato dove. Blade cocked back. His figure blurred in descent.
The Hollow's arms skewered through his chest.
But his body dissolved into smoke.
A clone.
The Hollow's grotesque eyes widened. Too late.
Golden light erupted at its flank.
A rock at its side shimmered, poofed into Minato. His blade was already drawn, reversed grip tight.
SLASH!
Steel, empowered by blazing Reiatsu, carved through mask, bone, and flesh.
The Hollow's head exploded in a crimson spray, its body convulsing before disintegrating into drifting ash.
---
"One more to go…"
Minato's head turned sharply. His cold eyes locked onto the final Hollow, the last one.
It stared back through the cracks of its mask, a predator's patience, its posture mocking.
Minato inhaled slowly. The air trembled with his quiet Reiatsu flare. He lifted his blade horizontally, coiled like a spring, his other hand forming the seal of confrontation once more.
Silence.
A full minute stretched. Breath against breath. A canyon of stillness before the storm.
Then..
BOOM!
Golden light erupted as Minato vanished.
The Hollow reacted instantly, arms snapping outward like serpents. Dozens writhed toward him, slashing and stabbing, a net of death.
But Minato was faster.
His blade ripped through limbs with brutal efficiency, arcs of gold tearing them apart like paper. Air pressure alone blasted dust into storms behind him.
Five meters from its mask, he flipped midair, descending in silence, twin-handed stab cocked downward.
Dozens more arms shot upward, weaving a net. They converged..
But his figure burst into smoke.
A clone. The Hollow's eyes widened. Realization struck. Golden light flashed behind it. It twisted violently. But Minato was already there. His true form, blade in reverse grip, swung in a deadly arc toward the side of its mask.
But this one was fast.
Its Reiatsu exploded, cold, suffocating, hateful. More arms burst from its back in grotesque bloom, intercepting his strike.
BOOOOOOM!
The shockwave ripped through the battlefield. Earth split apart, pillars of stone uprooted. Dust and debris swallowed everything.
Minato reappeared, crouched low atop a shattered pole, golden aura flickering like fire, breath steady.
His eyes narrowed. The Hollow had changed.
Gone was its humanoid shell. Now it towered, insectoid and nightmarish. A warped, segmented body rose, arms jointed into mantis-like claws. Its torso remained mockingly feminine, bare flesh stretched against bone-white chitin. Its mask split to reveal serrated mandibles grinding in hunger.
The shriek it released shook the ruins.
Minato tightened his grip on the hilt. No more feints. No deception.
The real battle was about to begin.
---
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