The scene returned to the present.
Sensing that someone had intercepted the attack launched by Kakuzu, who had been feigning death, against the Ino–Shika–Cho trio, Nagato, who was currently hovering above Konoha Hospital, slowly let out a breath of relief. Then he turned his attention back to the wounded around him.
When Konoha Hospital had exploded just now, Nagato had briefly sensed the chakra that had been entangled in a long battle with Shisui Uchiha. He had rushed toward Konoha Hospital at his fastest speed, but unfortunately, Obito Uchiha's target had been Kushina Uzumaki, who no longer had much combat strength left. A few seconds simply had not been enough for Nagato to arrive in time.
Unwilling to give up, Nagato tried several more times, but he still could not locate Obito Uchiha's traces. With nothing to show for his efforts, he could only temporarily set aside the pursuit and turn to helping rescue the many injured people inside Konoha Hospital.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
Precisely controlled gravitational force tore open the burning outer wall of Konoha Hospital, exposing the corridors and wards where wounded people lay helpless, unable to escape on their own.
After throwing the shattered outer wall toward a place where it would not affect anyone else, Nagato quickly rushed into the blazing third floor, preparing to rescue a medical-nin who had collapsed in the hallway and could not move.
The instant he entered the fire, the intense heat made Nagato instinctively wipe the sweat from his brow.
He reached the fallen medical-nin in several quick steps. Just as he was about to confirm whether the other party was still conscious, he saw that beneath the area blocked by the medical-nin's body, there was also a male infant who looked as if he had only been born not long ago, lying in swaddling clothes and crying weakly.
"…Another innocent child?"
Nagato subconsciously clenched his fists. The expression on his face turned stern and cold.
He bent down, carried the immobile medical-nin on his back, then carefully picked up the blond baby boy from the ground. After confirming that both of them still showed signs of life, he immediately rushed out through the torn-open outer wall with them and brought them before a medical-nin whose only visible injury was a bleeding forehead.
"More injured? Hah, you've helped a lot. Please place them over there first. I'll immediately—"
The medical-nin instinctively began arranging the order in which the wounded should be treated, but when the corner of his eye swept across the face of the injured person on Nagato's back, his entire expression froze.
Then he urgently had Nagato lay the man flat on the ground and began treating him without the slightest hesitation in using chakra.
"Haruto! Hey, Haruto! Wake up!"
The warm light of the Mystical Palm Technique healed some of Yamanaka Haruto's less serious injuries and also pulled his consciousness back from the depths of darkness.
Yamanaka Haruto blinked in confusion. In a broken voice, he said, "Kushina… where is she?"
"Kushina!? Why are you suddenly mentioning her name?" The medical-nin treating Yamanaka Haruto's expression changed. "Was she giving birth in the hospital today!?"
"No… she already… had the child…"
Yamanaka Haruto turned his head with difficulty, as if searching for something.
"I… seemed to be injured. I couldn't move… She found me and wanted to take me out with her… But then she suddenly disappeared. That child too…"
At that point, both Nagato and the medical-nin's expressions became extremely ugly.
The medical-nin picked up the blond baby boy, whose cries were gradually weakening, in shock and panic. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed another wave of chakra out of his body and tried to use the Mystical Palm Technique to treat injuries the baby might or might not have.
In a lost, helpless voice, he muttered, "Then… this child… could he be Lord Fourth's son? Damn it, damn it… Don't let anything happen. Please, don't let anything happen…"
Meanwhile, Nagato rose into the air without saying a word.
With anger on his face, he flew straight toward the direction where he sensed Minato Namikaze's chakra.
He had clearly gone out of his way to drive Minato Namikaze back to the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's side precisely so that when Obito Uchiha appeared, the other party, who specialized in space-time ninjutsu, could take the weakened Nine-Tails Jinchuriki away in time and prevent the Nine-Tails from falling into Obito Uchiha's hands.
But now?
Minato Namikaze had run off to the front line with confidence to deal with Kumogakure's Two-Tails Jinchuriki, while the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had been taken away by Obito Uchiha with no protection at all.
Nagato estimated that before Minato Namikaze could kill the Two-Tails, Obito Uchiha would bring the rampaging Nine-Tails back to Konoha and join the battle. With one mistake piling onto another, even Nagato did not know how this enormous gap was supposed to be filled.
"Minato Namikaze, you had better have left your Flying Thunder God formula on the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and you had better pray that when we get there, it is still not too late to save her…"
"Otherwise, everyone really will have wasted their efforts today!"
…
At the same time, inside the gradually collapsing ghostly blue barrier.
"Minato!? What are you doing!? Dodge!"
The Two-Tails' sharp claws tore through the air, sending a piercing sound into Minato Namikaze's ears.
Because of his companion's loud shout, he abruptly came back to himself and used the Flying Thunder God Technique at the final instant, avoiding the fate of being cut in half by the Two-Tails' strike.
But when his figure appeared again beside a Flying Thunder God kunai he had placed in advance, the glaring scarlet mark across his chest and abdomen made every Konoha ninja who had been expecting Minato Namikaze to end this battle feel their hearts leap in terror.
"Minato, what happened to you!? Why did you suddenly lose focus in the middle of battle just now!?"
After using the Partial Multi-Size Technique to land a heavy punch on the Two-Tails and prevent it from continuing its pursuit, Akimichi Torifu turned his head and shouted at Minato Namikaze, whose expression was deeply unsettled.
Facing the gazes of his companions, filled with both concern and worry, Minato Namikaze shook his head hard and said with a grave expression, "Sorry. I was distracted…"
"We can see that. The question is, what distracted you?"
As a veteran elite jonin who had served as part of the Hokage Guard since the Second Hokage's era, Akimichi Torifu's tone could not help carrying a trace of an elder's lecture.
In response, Minato Namikaze could only smile bitterly. Then he tightened his grip on the kunai in his hand and said without much confidence, "I do not know exactly what it is…"
"But for some reason, I keep feeling as if I have made an irreversible mistake. And that mistake will soon be magnified countless times over. That feeling has been wrapped around my heart."
Hearing Minato Namikaze say this, Akimichi Torifu, who had once experienced something similar during a mission, immediately furrowed his brows.
While guarding against the Two-Tails, which was climbing back up, he lowered his voice and confirmed with Minato Namikaze, "Do you have any clue? Regarding this mistake your instincts are warning you about?"
"The only possibility is that something happened on Kushina's side."
Minato Namikaze took a deep breath, feeling that intense unease continuously gnawing at his heart.
"But she already returned to Konoha's core area. There should not be such a problem…"
"No. Since your instincts are giving you this kind of unease, you should return to her side immediately and eliminate every factor that could be causing that feeling. You should not remain here in such an unsettled state."
"But the Two-Tails…"
"Leave it to me."
As Akimichi Torifu spoke, he took the Akimichi clan's secret medicine from his pocket and swallowed it.
His originally round body seemed to ignite from within and rapidly slimmed down. At the same time, his suddenly overwhelming chakra condensed into enormous butterfly wings behind him, and his aura soared into the sky. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was fighting the Five-Tails in another area, sensed the sudden change occurring here.
"Lord Torifu!? What are you doing!?"
Minato Namikaze looked at Akimichi Torifu, who had taken the forbidden secret medicine. Knowing how terrifying its side effects were, he instinctively asked.
Akimichi Torifu merely shook his head at him and said in a deep voice, "If I want to fight the Two-Tails, it is impossible without taking the secret medicine…"
"Go to Kushina's side. While I can still hold back the Two-Tails and prevent it from getting the chance to destroy Konoha, eliminate every factor that makes you uneasy."
"But…"
"No buts! Go! You brat, is this the time to waste words!?"
Akimichi Torifu shouted. He stomped hard, then charged toward the Two-Tails, which was watching them like a predator, carrying enough monstrous force to shake mountains.
Seeing that Akimichi Torifu had left him no room to choose, Minato Namikaze could only grit his teeth. While silently apologizing to Akimichi Torifu in his heart, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique and transferred himself toward the formula he had left on his wife.
And after Minato Namikaze transferred over, the first thing that entered his vision was a massive Tailed Beast Ball that was expanding and erupting, releasing endless light and heat like the sun itself.
…
"Rei? Why did you suddenly stop?"
The enormous ghostly blue barrier was already close at hand.
Rei Kaguya, who had originally been moving at high speed, suddenly stopped with a slight change in expression. Seeing this, Mei Terumi, who was moving with him, instinctively asked.
Rei Kaguya did not answer immediately.
Instead, he silently activated his Byakugan and looked toward Konoha Village.
A massive and sinister chakra source had appeared without warning in the direction of Konoha Village. Even from this distance, that unsettling crimson chakra clearly displayed the form of a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox raising its head and roaring toward the sky.
Looking at the Tailed Beast Ball gathering in the Nine-Tails' mouth, Rei Kaguya shook his head and sighed.
"Our Konoha friends really know how to make trouble for themselves."
"I hope I can still make it in time…"
"Dance of the Clematis: Divine Spear!"
A long, flexible spine whip let out a sonic boom as it tore through the air, lashing straight toward the demon fox that was gathering a destructive attack.
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