A blinding white light pierced through the forest, turning everything in its path to dust.
The defense line of Konoha ninjas was being steadily reduced.
The Iwagakure army pressed forward, and no matter how desperately they resisted, it was futile.
Onoki hovered in the air, looking down at the retreating Konoha ninjas below, feeling a surge of excitement.
The once formidable and fearsome Land of Fire's Konoha was finally about to fall at his feet. He wished the ancestors of both Iwagakure and Konoha could witness this, see who now controlled the fate of the shinobi world!
Suddenly, a massive staff burst from the ground, shooting straight toward his position.
Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared at the treetop.
"Why stubbornly resist, Sarutobi? Must I kill all the Konoha ninjas before you can understand the situation?" Onoki sneered.
The only response was an extending staff sweeping toward him.
Onoki's expression turned cold as he waved his hand, summoning countless rocks that appeared out of nowhere and attached to his arm, successfully blocking the staff's strike.
"Ahhh, So stubborn!"
His body continued to rise, reaching a height that the ninjas below could hardly reach.
Onoki pressed his palms together, and between them appeared a transparent white cubic energy mass.
Just as he was about to unleash his technique on the Konoha ninjas below, a flash of light suddenly shot up from below.
It was a kunai.
Onoki glanced at it and dodged with a slight movement.
The kunai continued upward, and suddenly Onoki heard the howling of wind.
A golden-haired young man inexplicably appeared there, holding a brilliant blue chakra sphere in his hand.
Startled, Onoki immediately directed the transparent crystal between his hands to release a beam of white energy toward the man.
This Dust Release technique scattered even the clouds in the sky.
He didn't know if he had hit his target, but at least it would force him to retreat.
While Onoki was still in shock, a strangely-shaped kunai was thrown at him slowly. Whether intentional or not, this kunai flew so slowly that one might doubt it could harm anyone.
Onoki suddenly noticed some words on the kunai.
Flying Thunder God!
In that brief moment, Onoki realized something and quickly changed his hand signs.
"Earth Style: Hardening Technique!"
"Rasengan!"
The blue high-density chakra sphere slammed into Onoki's lower back, the tremendous impact knocking him from the sky.
The full-body hardening prevented injury from this attack, and he soon stabilized himself after falling a short distance, but the impact aggravated an old injury in his back, causing waves of discomfort.
Space-time ninjutsu...
This was his first encounter with the Yellow Flash, though he knew the man had caused tremendous trouble for his ninjas.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Minato Namikaze were two troublesome enemies.
Onoki didn't engage further and descended to the ground.
His goal was victory in this war; there was no need to risk combat with a young, powerful opponent.
Meanwhile, after striking the Tsuchikage, Minato saw his opponent disappear into the forest.
"Shikaku, can you tell me the Tsuchikage's position?"
"Shikaku? Inoichi?"
Receiving no response, Minato frowned and rushed toward the sensory unit's position.
Shikaku's team had indeed been attacked.
Positioned in the rear with minimal defenses, the few enemies who had bypassed the front lines far exceeded their defensive capabilities.
The communication equipment had been destroyed, with several large batteries sparking after being hit by rocks.
Shikaku had no choice but to abandon his command duties and join the fight.
This caused the already disadvantaged Konoha ninjas to suddenly panic. Without Shikaku's guidance, they faced Iwa ninjas attacking from all directions.
Minato's figure flashed across the battlefield like a golden streak of light. Wherever he passed, numerous Iwa ninjas were instantly beheaded.
He quickly reached Shikaku's position, seeing them surrounded by dozens of Iwa ninjas. He pulled out a shuriken from his lower back and threw it with force.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
A single Shuriken instantly multiplied into a rain of shuriken, blotting out the sky as they poured down on the enemy.
There was nowhere to escape, no time to perform techniques. Many Iwa ninjas perished in this deadly shower of weapons.
Minato continued moving at high speed without stopping, leaving countless golden afterimages in his wake as he slaughtered all remaining Iwa ninjas in the vicinity.
Shikaku collapsed on the ground. Though he hadn't fought much, he felt unprecedented exhaustion.
Minato approached them after finishing off the enemies.
"Shikaku, Inoichi, how are you holding up?"
Shikaku heard the slight panting in Minato's voice, still noticeable despite his attempts to suppress it.
"Minato, you look tired," Shikaku said softly, glancing at the damaged equipment nearby.
Except during his youth, Shikaku had never seen Minato show any sign of fatigue.
No matter how strong the enemy or how difficult the mission, he always handled it with ease.
Minato examined the smashed large instruments and asked Shikaku and Inoichi, "Can it still work?"
Inoichi mumbled, "Without the equipment, my chakra can no longer be used for Mind Transmission or sensory relay. It's over, everything's over..."
Minato just stood silently, gripping his kunai tightly.
Besides Shikaku's group, no allies could be seen here. How many Konoha ninjas remained elsewhere?
How could they possibly change this situation?
A thousand thoughts flashed through Minato's mind, while an indescribable feeling spread within his heart, a mixture of sorrow, anger, and unwillingness to accept defeat.
Blood flowed across the ground, soaking Shikaku's clothes as he sat there.
"Going to die, we're all going to die..." he kept muttering.
Inoichi's mind was in disarray, his gaze unfocused, blood continuously trickling from his nose no matter how often he wiped it away.
Another wave of Iwa ninjas charged forward but hesitated in fear upon seeing the scattered corpses of their comrades and Minato standing there.
Massive explosions sounded in the distance, accompanied by rising and falling screams of agony.
Flames spread through the forest but were quickly extinguished by Water Style techniques, followed by dense flying rocks shattering trees.
Several Iwa ninjas were pursuing a Konoha ninja who could only flee in panic across the battlefield.
In his confusion, the kunai he threw veered wildly toward the sky before he was caught by another group of Iwa ninjas and had his throat pierced.
Minato also saw a child no more than twelve or thirteen years old. The child's companions had likely all perished, leaving him clutching a kunai with a lost, helpless expression.
He wanted to save the child, but before he could act, the boy was struck in the head by a flying rock...
Minato's heart grew ice-cold.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a red firework exploded in the sky above the forest.
The firework detonated over an extremely wide area, bursting into eye-catching sparks and points of light, particularly striking amid this apocalyptic scene.
Where did that firework come from... Was it Fire Style?
The thought flashed through Minato's mind.
BOOM!
Another one shot up into the sky from a different direction.
This time he clearly saw it was indeed a firework. The red glow attracted everyone's attention, even the nearby Iwa ninjas stopped to watch.
"A signal..."
"It's a signal flare!"
Shikaku's voice suddenly sounded beside him. He stood up from the ground, his bloodshot eyes gleaming with light.
Hearing this, Minato felt his heart skip a beat. He widened his eyes as an absurd idea arose in his mind.
He asked, "Is it an Iwa signal flare?"
But Shikaku shouted, "It's ours! It's ours! Our signal flare!"
"What does the red signal mean today? Inoichi, what's the meaning of the red signal?"
He asked Inoichi in a hoarse voice. The usually calm and rational man now felt his mind wasn't working properly.
Inoichi was also muttering, "Yesterday red meant retreat, yellow meant begin execution, green meant mission complete, today... today..."
Minato looked at the red light in the sky and murmured, "Mission complete."
'What mission... whose mission?'
Suddenly, a voice sounded in Inoichi's chaotic mind: "Is that Lord Inoichi?"
Hearing this voice, he momentarily lost himself.
"Fui..."
"Is it... Fui?"
Shikaku quickly asked, "Yamanaka Fui?"
Yamanaka Fui was a young member of the Yamanaka clan who had gone to the Land of Wind with Orochimaru's team.
The voice in Inoichi's mind continued.
"Lord Inoichi, we've arrived. Reinforcements are here!"
"Wh... What..."
Inoichi's expression twisted, unclear whether from joy or sorrow, tears or laughter.
He stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs, nearly hysterical, wanting his voice to spread across the entire battlefield.
"Lord Orochimaru has returned!"