"Old friend… I can only rely on you now!"
Danzo gritted his teeth and formed hand seals.
"Summoning Jutsu: Baku!"
The next moment—
An enormous figure appeared.
It looked like a mammoth, with an extremely long, thick trunk, long and razor-sharp tusks, and fur of an exceptionally vivid orange color, though the fur on its limbs was a shade lighter.
The moment it appeared, it raised its trunk high.
A terrifying suction force erupted.
The Konoha shinobi around it, as well as the sand soldiers, were all affected.
Rasa's brow twitched.
"You like to suck things in? Then I'll make sure you eat your fill!"
A thought flashed through Rasa's mind.
At once, a huge amount of sand surged across the ground.
The Baku did not even need to inhale it—
The sand rushed toward its trunk on its own.
It poured violently into the Baku's nostrils.
Danzo, who had turned and fled the instant he summoned the Baku, suddenly felt that something was wrong. He instinctively looked back, only to see that Rasa was still not far behind him.
As for the Baku, it looked as though it had choked on something.
At the same time—
A white explosive egg dropped from high above and landed precisely on the Baku's position.
Boom!
A tremendous explosion rang out.
The Baku let out a shrill, miserable scream.
Suddenly, Danzo felt as though something had wrapped around his body. He looked down, and his pupils shrank sharply.
"The Thunder Blade!"
A streak of lightning traveled directly along the golden thread and onto Danzo's body.
The high-voltage current locked his body into a brief instant of stiffness.
At the same time, one of the sand soldiers caught up and thrust its spear viciously toward him.
Danzo used every ounce of strength he had to move his body.
Puchi!
But he only managed to avoid a vital point.
The tip of the sand soldier's spear still struck him, piercing straight through his shoulder.
Blood sprayed instantly.
Danzo's expression twisted in agony.
Another sand soldier rushed up.
Danzo gritted his teeth, drew out a kunai, and hacked savagely at the wound in his shoulder, forcibly freeing himself from the state of being pinned.
Otherwise, he would have had no way to evade the sand soldier's attack.
But just then—
Whoosh!
A golden figure suddenly appeared, intercepting the sand soldier that had been about to stab Danzo.
"Rasengan!"
The sand soldier was hit.
Bang!
Its entire body was blasted backward, and a huge hole appeared in the middle of it.
Namikaze Minato turned to look at Danzo.
"Danzo-sama, are you alright?"
Danzo: "???"
Danzo looked at his severed arm, still skewered on the sand soldier's spear. Then he looked at Namikaze Minato. Then he looked at the sand puppet Minato had blasted away.
For a moment, what rose in Danzo's heart was not the joy of being rescued from the brink of death.
Instead—
Namikaze Minato, you could have appeared earlier or later, but you just had to appear at exactly that moment. And since you had already appeared, why didn't you warn me? Was it intentional, or was it carelessness?
Danzo was deeply displeased.
Minato had intercepted that sand soldier before its spear could strike him.
That proved that he would not have been hit at all.
If so, then he never needed to cut off that arm in the first place.
If Minato had given him even the slightest warning, he would not have lost his arm.
But Minato had not said a single word.
"Minato, I… am fine."
Danzo suppressed himself for a long while, and in the end, all he could say were the words I'm fine.
Rasa sized up the newly arrived Namikaze Minato.
Short golden hair.
A sunny, cheerful appearance.
But Namikaze Minato's life could not truly be called sunny or cheerful.
The first half of it had been good.
But only the first half.
He had grown up in Konoha. He had met his future wife when he was young. He had also been taken in as the disciple of one of the Sannin, Jiraiya, and gained the summoning contract of Mount Myoboku.
He had learned the Flying Thunder God Technique created by the Second Hokage, and had personally developed the Rasengan by imitating the Tailed Beast Ball.
During the Third Great Ninja War, his performance had been exceptionally brilliant.
He had even earned the title of the Yellow Flash.
After the Third Great Ninja War ended, he smoothly inherited the position of Hokage.
His wife had become pregnant as well.
It was the height of his glory, the proudest and most triumphant moment of his life.
But at that very moment, Namikaze Minato stepped into the darkest period of his history.
The Nine-Tails' Rampage.
The village suffered catastrophic damage.
His wife died during childbirth.
He himself died after forcibly using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
And the son he left behind went on to endure an extremely dark childhood in Konoha.
While Rasa was observing Namikaze Minato, Minato was also observing Rasa.
A trace of admiration surfaced in his eyes.
Minato was well aware of Sunagakure's situation.
Under such terrible circumstances, facing Kirigakure's relentless pressure, and even with Konoha standing at the side as a threat, Sunagakure had still managed to endure without collapsing.
Not only had it not collapsed, but on the battlefield it had now gained a tremendous advantage over Kirigakure.
It had forced Kirigakure to ask Konoha for aid, and even for an alliance.
Hiruzen had discussed that matter with Minato before. After all, what Kirigakure had brought out was very closely tied to Minato himself, and Hiruzen also trusted him.
If one were to say that Sunagakure's changes were merely due to Rasa's political skill and military arrangements—
Then the destruction of the Hongsan Clan, along with the deaths of four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, proved Rasa's personal strength.
He was absolutely not what the shinobi world had once said he was.
Not the weakest Kazekage in history.
Not the weakest among the Fourth Kage.
Even though, at present, there were only two Fourth Kage—
Rasa and the Fourth Raikage.
There had even been people before who said Rasa was inferior to Pakura, and that if Sunagakure wanted a Kazekage, they might as well have made Pakura the Fourth instead.
But now, with his actions, Rasa had proven something to the entire shinobi world.
He was the most suitable Fourth Kazekage.
He could save Sunagakure.
He was the strongest Kazekage in history.
And among all the Kage of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, he could rank at the very top.
"Namikaze Minato, are you interested in joining my Sunagakure?"
Minato's expression froze.
Danzo's face beside him also stiffened. He stared suspiciously at Minato, and what he thought was—
Well now, Namikaze Minato. So you've been secretly colluding with other villages, have you?
Otherwise, why would he invite you the moment he sees you?
He certainly didn't say that to me.
"The Kazekage jests," Minato said. "I am a shinobi of Konoha. I will remain in Konoha for my entire life."
"You truly won't consider it?"
Rasa pointed at Danzo and said, "You just saved this old thing, yet he feels no gratitude toward you at all. There's even a trace of resentment in his eyes."
"If you return to Konoha, this old thing will definitely target you."
"You'd be better off joining my Sunagakure."
Minato raised a hand and refused.
"I could never betray Konoha."
"Is that so? What a pity. In that case, we'll settle it with our hands…"
Before Rasa had even finished speaking, four sand soldiers completely different from the ones before appeared.
"Sand Soldiers, appear!"
"Kill!"