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Minato's breath came shallow and fast, not from exhaustion but from pressure. The battlefield had collapsed into chaos... dust, lightning, and screams weaving into one deafening blur. His Flying Thunder God technique, normally flawless, was shackled. Dodai's rubber traps had stolen most of his kunai, swallowing them into sticky bulges spread across the ground. Each mark became less useful as Dodai corralled them together, forcing Minato's range into predictable clusters.
He had only a handful left... three-pronged kunai strapped to his thigh, and a few scattered seals etched hastily onto nearby trees. They glowed faintly in his vision, lifelines in a storm. But lifelines cut short. Each teleport risked cornering him into a trap. And towering before him, framed in arcs of blinding lightning, was the Third Raikage.
The Raikage moved with terrifying speed for his bulk, each step gouging the earth. When his fist came down, it wasn't a strike... it was a natural disaster. The very air tore apart, pressure flattening shinobi unlucky enough to be nearby. Minato dodged, flickering across the field, but his rhythm faltered. His mind screamed about Kushina, about the vanished mark, about the yawning absence where her chakra should be.
The Raikage's fist grazed his shoulder, and pain ripped across Minato's body. His flak jacket shredded. If it had landed clean, he would already be dead.
"You're fast," the Raikage said, voice like thunder, "but speed without resolve is wasted." He lunged again, faster this time, the ground splitting in his wake.
Minato appeared above him, kunai raised. His strike barely scraped across the cloak of lightning armor. Sparks spat, useless. The Raikage's laughter boomed.
"You can't pierce me, Yellow Flash! You'll die tired!"
Minato landed light but stiff, sweat beading his brow. His options dwindled. His eyes flicked once more to the trees where his seals waited, but the Raikage noticed. He smirked. "I see your anchors. Obvious. You're running out of ground."
Dodai shouted from the flank, his hands still weaving chakra into thick rubber bulwarks. "Raikage-sama! His range is almost gone. Press him harder... he can't keep running forever!"
The Raikage cracked his knuckles. His entire body glowed brighter, lightning armor roaring as if the sky itself poured into him. He raised one finger... the spearhand technique that legends whispered about.
Minato's instincts screamed. If that strike landed, nothing... not seals, not kunai, not even his reflexes... would save him.
The Raikage lunged, the killing blow arcing forward. And then the world shook.
Something slammed into the Raikage's gut with a sound like a tree splitting apart. A black staff, impossibly long, stretching from nowhere, hit with enough force to send even the Raikage flying hundreds of meters back.
The lightning-armored titan skidded across the battlefield, boots carving trenches into the soil. He came to a halt, exhaled once, then straightened. His eyes flicked down to the point of impact. Not even a bruise.
He smirked. "It tickles." His neck cracked as he rolled his shoulders.
Minato blinked in shock. His golden hair whipped in the wind as he turned to see who had intervened. There, standing tall in his black battle armor, the Sarutobi crest gleaming across his chest, was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. His eyes burned, sharp as ever, and in his hands rested a black staff... the Monkey King Enma, transformed into his legendary adamantine weapon.
Enma growled in a gravelly voice, "You cut it close, Sarutobi."
Hiruzen's lips curled into the barest smirk. "I have arrived on time."
Relief hit Minato like water after drought. He bowed his head briefly, the weight in his chest lifting. "Hokage-sama." His voice steadied, soldier to commander. "I can't sense Kushina. My Flying Thunder God link... it was cut off. She isn't dead… but sealed. They took her."
Hiruzen's gaze hardened instantly, his hand tightening around Enma. His chakra surged, a storm that rolled across the battlefield. He stared at the distant Raikage with murder in his eyes.
"You've taken something that belongs to Konoha," Hiruzen growled. His voice cut through the chaos, steel wrapped in fury. "And you will return it."
--
The Third Raikage's booming laughter rolled across the battlefield like thunderclaps.
"So it was a success. Just like the little one said." He turned his head toward Young Ay, who had been hovering with Dodai, both staring wide-eyed at Hiruzen's arrival.
"Ay," the Raikage commanded, "fall back. Rest. Be ready to intercept that boy if he runs. You're not needed here."
Young Ay clenched his fists, pride stung. "Father, I can... "
"Now," the Raikage snapped, his voice brooking no argument.
Ay bit his lip but obeyed, stepping back beside Dodai, who quickly reinforced their position.
The Third Raikage's focus returned to Hiruzen, lightning sparking hotter, brighter, alive with killing intent. "I have to thank Ohnoki for me, Sarutobi." His lips twisted. "Now it's my job to snuff him out, and you with him."
The lightning armor doubled in intensity, his muscles swelling with chakra. Every hair on the battlefield stood on end from the static.
"This time," the Raikage rumbled, "I fight to kill."
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Hiruzen spun Enma once, the staff lengthening, solid and unyielding. "Then test me," he said, voice calm despite the storm. Minato fell in beside him, kunai ready. His golden hair swayed, his eyes clear again. The Hokage's presence steadied him, anchored him. He wasn't alone.
The Raikage roared and charged, his speed tearing through the earth like a bolt of living lightning. Minato vanished, teleporting across the battlefield to intercept from behind. His kunai slashed for the Raikage's exposed side and was deflected by a twitch of the Raikage's lightning-coated elbow. The sparks seared at Minato's cheek, forcing him to teleport again.
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A/N: I see a lot of you are giving power stones...Dk what they are for but assuming it is your way of liking the story...
Thank you for all the Power Stones