"You do not seem surprised by my appearance, Rei Kaguya."
Looking at Rei Kaguya, whom he had already brought away from Kannabeyama Stronghold to the battlefield Konoha had chosen in advance, yet who showed no surprise at all, Minato Namikaze flashed backward and frowned slightly.
Before Kushina Uzumaki arrived, he began exchanging words with Rei.
"I am not the kind of dead last who could not even learn basic intelligence analysis at the Ninja Academy. I still remember very clearly that an enemy will never take meaningless abnormal actions on the battlefield."
Rei Kaguya shrugged.
He reached back and touched the area on his back where Minato Namikaze had left a Flying Thunder God mark, then said lightly, "You were able to suddenly appear in front of me because of this mark, right? As expected of the Yellow Flash, hailed as the fastest shinobi in the world. Back then, I was wondering why you had to rush up and hit me barehanded before leaving. So it was for this purpose…"
"It seems that among the many rumors circulating about the Kaguya clan, quite a few are untrue."
Minato Namikaze gripped the Flying Thunder God kunai in his hand and stood together with Kushina Uzumaki, who had just been sent over by her own clone.
He spoke slowly. "I truly do not want to become enemies with a shinobi like you, Rei Kaguya."
"I also want to become companions with someone as incredibly convenient as you, Minato Namikaze~"
Rei Kaguya spread his hands with a regretful look.
"But there is no helping it. Who told me to be born in Kirigakure, and as a descendant of the Kaguya clan at that? Even if I chose to defect from Kirigakure right now, Konoha would never accept my surrender without taking any precautions…"
"That really is a pity."
"Yes. A real pity."
Rei Kaguya activated Dance of the Larch.
Sharp bone spikes grew from every part of his body.
At the same time, Minato took a stance with one hand holding a Flying Thunder God kunai in reverse grip while the other created a Rasengan. His gaze was heavy as he prepared to attack.
"Although I think Kirigakure will probably lose this war against Konoha, as for today's fight against you two, I feel I still have a fairly decent chance of winning. I wonder whether the two of you share even the tiniest bit of my…"
Boom!
Dust scattered. Grass blades flew.
Rei Kaguya stomped both feet into the ground and charged toward Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki with tremendous force that cracked the earth beneath him.
"…thought?"
"Rasengan!"
Minato Namikaze appeared above and behind Rei Kaguya in the blink of an eye, raising the Rasengan in his hand and smashing it down.
He intended to use the Rasengan's tremendous impact to disrupt Rei's balance in motion, creating an opening for Kushina's sealing techniques.
But unlike their previous exchange, Rei Kaguya was not struck directly by the Rasengan this time.
Instead, he controlled the bone spikes on his back and sealed every direct path of the Rasengan.
The spinning, roaring chakra tore through the bone spikes on Rei's back, but failed to truly affect his route.
In the blink of an eye, Rei Kaguya rushed out of Minato Namikaze's current attack range and raised his right hand toward Kushina Uzumaki not far away.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets."
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
Kushina clapped her hands together.
Restless, violent wind swept outward in all directions from her palms. Not only did it blow Rei Kaguya's Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets off course, it also provided assistance for Minato Namikaze, who had used Body Flicker to return to her side, to launch another attack.
"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
A massive shuriken was thrown from Minato Namikaze's hand, then rapidly transformed into a torrential rain of shuriken that covered every inch of land within a hundred-meter radius.
With the support of Kushina's Wind Release, their speed and cutting power erupted to an even more astonishing level.
Even—
"Dance of the Larch: Full Bloom."
Enormous white bone shields grew from Rei Kaguya's arms, blocking every shuriken fired at him from the front.
Even as tens of thousands of shuriken blasted the surface and sent bone fragments flying everywhere, it did not affect Rei Kaguya's footsteps as he continued charging forward with the shield raised.
"Tch. That defense is still as troublesome as ever…"
"I must complete the attempt to add nature transformation into the Rasengan as soon as possible… Otherwise, when facing this guy, I cannot even threaten him with my own strength."
While using the Flying Thunder God Technique to bring Kushina and himself to another Flying Thunder God kunai over a hundred meters away, Minato Namikaze made that decision in his heart.
And because of her absolute trust in Minato Namikaze, Kushina did not stop forming seals even while being moved by the Flying Thunder God Technique.
After landing steadily once more, she took a deep breath and shouted, "Adamantine Sealing Chains: Sealing Barrier!"
Under Kushina Uzumaki's enormous chakra output, five chakra chains expanded rapidly against the wind.
In the blink of an eye, they formed a massive golden cage around Rei Kaguya, who could not dodge in time.
Immediately afterward, the tips of the chains shot toward Rei Kaguya from every direction, intending to bind him tightly inside just like restraining a gigantic Tailed Beast.
"Hey, hey, hey. My chakra volume is only a tiny little bit larger than normal. Do not treat me with techniques meant for Tailed Beasts just because of that."
Rei Kaguya wore a deliberately troubled expression, while his body moved inside the sealing barrier like willow branches swaying in the wind.
His own body, tempered through countless trials and tireless training, together with the proficiency obtained from his clansmen through [First Strike], had created his current level-seven Kaguya-style taijutsu, a skill that would not fall behind even in Kage-level combat.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains, which were not particularly suited for dealing with humans to begin with, were quickly broken apart.
Only the outer barrier remained, attempting to suppress the flow of chakra inside Rei Kaguya's body.
"Do you have any other conventional moves left? If you do not use them soon, warm-up time will be over."
Rei Kaguya moved his neck while mouthing those words to the two people outside the barrier.
"Minato, I feel like I am having an illusion. Even if the two of us fight him together, it seems like we cannot really do much to him… That should be an illusion, right?"
Seeing that the sealing barrier she had spent so much effort setting up had basically failed to produce any effect, Kushina Uzumaki's expression instantly became extremely speechless.
She turned her head, wanting to hear a negative answer from Minato Namikaze.
Unfortunately, what she saw was Minato Namikaze wearing the same helpless bitter smile.
"It is not an illusion, Kushina… Although your sealing techniques theoretically counter enemies like Rei Kaguya, who possess enormous vitality, that counter has a prerequisite. Namely, that we can force him into a state where he cannot fight back."
"To be honest, unless my still very unpolished Sage Mode can work without any errors, relying on our own conventional methods probably will not be enough to seal him… Although he cannot do much to us either."
Kushina Uzumaki was instantly angered by Minato Namikaze's discouraging words. Her brows shot up, and her red hair fluttered.
"Hey, Minato! What kind of depressing talk is that, raising the enemy's confidence and lowering our own morale!?"
"Now, now, do not get angry first, Kushina…"
Minato Namikaze dodged his wife's iron fist while pleading for mercy.
At the same time, he took a sealed vial from his ninja tool pouch and applied its contents to his Flying Thunder God kunai.
Then he explained, "I am not the only one in the village who feels threatened by Rei Kaguya. Before I set out, Lord Orochimaru found me and provided this poison. He said it was a lethal toxin refined and extracted from Manda's venom. As long as I can create a wound, it should be able to immobilize Rei Kaguya for a while…"
"Then why did you not use it from the beginning?" Kushina Uzumaki pointed this out directly.
"Probably because…"
Minato Namikaze fell silent for a moment, then said with a firm gaze, "Because I wanted to try finding a way to defeat Rei Kaguya with my own strength. If he truly intends to become the Fourth Mizukage, as you said, Kushina, then as one of the candidates for Fourth Hokage, I must have the ability to defeat him alone."
"The Kage is a village's strongest and final defensive line. If an opponent appears who even the Kage of a village cannot handle, then how can the other shinobi who look up to that Kage gather the courage to resist that person's invasion?"
"Minato…"
"I am going. Cover me, Kushina."
Minato Namikaze disappeared faster than the blink of an eye.
But looking at his incomparably determined back, Kushina Uzumaki felt as though she had already seen the red-and-white haori printed with the words "Fourth Hokage" on Minato Namikaze's body.
What was rather annoying was that the man inside the barrier had also very synchronously put on the blue-and-white Mizukage hat and changed into a blue-and-white haori printed with the words "Fourth Mizukage."