Chapter 285: Chapter 285: Still Want to Fight? We’ll Just Trade Bases!
The two faced each other.
Although there was an age gap, the Third Raikage did not dare to underestimate the young ninja before him. Namikaze Minato. Though not as good as Ryoho Kyohiko, he was also a rare genius in the world. It was precisely because of these two that Konoha had a situation comparable to the invincibility of the past. These two... were simply the Senju brothers of yesteryear. One in the light, one in the dark, holding up Konoha. When this ship left, it was guarded by Kyohiko’s clone, and upon its return, Namikaze Minato rushed over.
From this, it could be seen that this ship was of great use to Konoha! It was for this reason that Konoha was wary of the Cloud and Mist Villages’ power at sea, so they didn’t dare to take the sea route and planned to land here. But the other party hadn’t expected that they would also be planning to visit Konoha at this time.
What a coincidence. It’s a good thing it was a coincidence! A trace of determination flashed in the Third Raikage’s eyes. Attack! This was their only chance to turn the tables. Otherwise, even if they could ransom Killer Bee back, they might have to pay a painful price. That would be something the Cloud Village couldn’t bear. Thinking of this, the Third Raikage no longer hesitated.
"Minato, since you’re here, you can give me a ride. We’ll go to Konoha together to save some trouble."
"But you and I haven’t seen each other for a long time. I’m curious to see how much your strength has improved. Why don’t we spar first?"
After speaking, he didn’t wait for Namikaze Minato to answer—in an instant, he was beside Minato, lightning bursting from between his fingers. The Third Raikage’s speed was pushed to the limit in an instant. In the blink of an eye, the "Four-Fingered Thrust" had already been unleashed.
Crackle!
The sound of dense lightning exploding. If this finger hit, even if it didn’t kill, it would cause a severe injury.
However, the moment his finger struck, Namikaze Minato’s figure disappeared from his spot. The next moment. Splash! The sound of water breaking was heard.
Water? The Raikage turned and slashed, but behind him was a special kunai. This kunai could be used as a springboard for the Flying Thunder God, but at this moment, Minato did not teleport over. Instead—his hands grabbed the Third Raikage’s feet.
A huge force instantly came from below. The Raikage’s Lightning Release Armor erupted, chakra spreading outwards. Then, with a stomp of his foot, the water waves exploded. But at this moment, the kunai also exploded. Seven of them. Each one could be Minato’s landing point.
The Third Raikage’s palm was like a knife, instantly sweeping horizontally around him. The stronger the attack, the bigger the opening. A normal ninja would not dare to do this, but the Third Raikage was fearless. He had the strongest armor and was not afraid of ordinary attacks, even Minato’s Wind Style: Rasengan—in such water, how could Minato use Wind Style? Unless he was crazy!
But the moment he swept, the kunai split from one to two, from two to four... in the blink of an eye, they had turned into seventy or eighty.
The next second. Swish!
A golden light flashed around. A flash bomb?!
The Third Raikage immediately knew something was wrong and instantly enhanced his entire body’s defense, but the next second—Boom! Boom, boom, boom! A series of explosions sounded around him. Exploding tags!
Explosions and seawater rose and fell around him, obscuring everything. The Third Raikage couldn’t help but smile. Even the Eight-Tails’ Tailed Beast Bomb couldn’t harm him, let alone some mere exploding tags. He was completely fearless. In fact...
"Namikaze Minato, are you out of tricks? To actually come up with such a ridiculous move."
The Third Raikage jumped out of the explosion with a body flicker.
However, the moment he jumped out of the explosion, the Third Raikage’s pupils shrank. This is? What ninjutsu is this?
He looked at the distance in astonishment—in Namikaze Minato’s hand, a special Rasengan like a fan had appeared. At this moment, Namikaze Minato smiled faintly.
"Raikage-sama, your Lightning Release Armor is indeed an invincible defense. I’m afraid only Wind Style ninjutsu in the world can break it. So..."
He raised the Spiraling Blade in his hand. The Rasengan in the middle was very small, while the surrounding blades were the length of ordinary kunai. This was his most familiar attack range. And the purpose of this jutsu—was not to smash people with the Rasengan, but to use the powerful wind blades condensed from it to cut the opponent’s body. It was a blade of extreme sharpness!
Not far away, when A saw this ninjutsu, his pupils instantly shrank, and his heart skipped a beat. Besides the Third Raikage, he was the one in the Cloud Village who knew the Lightning Release Armor best. He knew very well that no matter how strong the Lightning Release Armor was, it still had to follow the basic laws of ninjutsu and couldn’t avoid being countered by Wind Style. The Raikage wasn’t afraid of Wind Style before only because the opponent’s Wind Style was too weak. But this jutsu of Namikaze Minato’s, even from such a long distance, he could still sense the powerful force on it. This jutsu was by no means ordinary! And A had already understood. Why did Minato throw so many exploding tags when he knew his father wasn’t afraid of them? It was to cover up his gathering of chakra to use this jutsu.
And now, it was a matter of who could dodge and who could hit!
"A-sama, that jutsu..."
"Trust in Raikage-sama!"
Although A was worried in his heart, he knew that at this moment, he absolutely could not show any signs of worry.
The Third Raikage was indeed very wary. He realized that Namikaze Minato’s Wind Style ninjutsu was in a similar situation to his Four-Fingered Thrust—an ultimate ninjutsu that combined nature transformation and shape transformation. This kind of ninjutsu was very terrifying. Even his Lightning Release Armor might not be able to withstand it! The Third Raikage’s face was grave.
The next second, in an instant, Namikaze Minato had already moved first. Not with the Flying Thunder God, but with the simplest Body Flicker Technique. But a simple technique, when practiced to the extreme, was also very terrifying. Just like now... Minato’s figure was like a yellow flash of lightning. An ordinary person’s eyes couldn’t see his movement trajectory at all.
The Raikage’s speed was also extremely fast. Bang, bang, bang! The two had already exchanged several blows in the air with taijutsu. After the initial wariness, the Third Raikage quickly adapted to the new combat rhythm. The two attacked and defended against each other, each exchange extremely dangerous.
But, who knows how many exchanges it was, just as the two figures separated, Minato’s hand suddenly swept over. The Raikage quickly dodged. But the next second, Minato’s hand tilted slightly, and the Spiraling Blade’s chakra suddenly erupted. The three blades instantly extended by an inch.
Tch!
The figures separated. The Third Raikage’s wrist was dripping with blood, his face filled with wariness. Just a scratch had directly broken through his defense and injured his body. And he had never expected that Minato’s Spiraling Blade could be extended again! Fortunately, the Lightning Release Armor had blocked for a moment, plus he had dodged in time. Otherwise, his hand might have been cut off at the wrist at this moment.
What a terrifying jutsu! The Third Raikage had thought he had already overestimated it, but he hadn’t expected that the power of this jutsu still exceeded his imagination. If it were his son... he might have lost a hand in that instant.
The two faced each other again.
Namikaze Minato chuckled lightly.
"Raikage-sama, do you want to continue the spar?"
The Third Raikage was silent for a moment. Then, he laughed.
"It’s just a spar. It’s enough to stop at the point of contact. If someone is really hurt, I’m afraid it will hurt the harmony between our two villages."
"You are right."
Namikaze Minato smiled, but did not put away his Spiraling Blade. Instead, he maintained this ninjutsu, keeping his confrontational stance with the Third Raikage.
Then, he took out a scroll.
"Unfortunately, I still have some special chakra storage prepared. If you plan to continue sparring, I can still accompany you to the end."
Special chakra? The Third Raikage glanced at it, becoming even more silent. Without a doubt, that was Tailed Beast chakra. With Minato’s ability, controlling a part of the Tailed Beast’s chakra was a piece of cake. If they really fought... he wouldn’t get any advantage. This was the most direct deterrence. Any rhetoric or means was not as strong as showing one’s strength, especially when dealing with the Cloud Village.
Namikaze Minato narrowed his eyes. As long as the Third Raikage didn’t dispel the chakra on his body, he would not release this jutsu. And—
"But it seems to me that the gentlemen from your village still have the intention of sparring. By the way, my ship is carrying some goods from the Land of Snow. I wonder what’s on your ship?"
"Hahaha, some gifts for you, and goods for trade with various countries. Let’s forget about the spar."
The Third Raikage understood what Minato meant and immediately dispelled the Lightning Release chakra.
Indeed. He could certainly kill a ship full of Konoha people and destroy their plan, but Minato’s Flying Thunder God was also terrifying. With the ability of the Spiraling Blade, he could also kill everyone on that ship until only A was left, and even A might not survive. It was just a matter of trading bases. But the price the two sides had to pay was completely different. Konoha’s side was just a small team. Their side, however, was almost all ninjas. If both ships were destroyed, the Cloud Village’s losses would only be greater.
Since both sides had the ability to threaten the other, the best result was—to shake hands and make peace. The Third Raikage first dispelled the chakra on his body.
Namikaze Minato smiled and pressed on the water surface. The chakra in his hand dispersed, turning into a hurricane that erupted outwards. Boom! A small-scale tsunami appeared. This was a small warning.
The next moment, Namikaze Minato smiled and bowed.
"Since we are all going to do business, why don’t we do our own things first? When everyone is done, you can come to Konoha, and we will definitely treat you well."
"Alright, it’s a deal then."
The Third Raikage answered with a smile.
Namikaze Minato nodded lightly, then disappeared from his spot with a Flying Thunder God. The Third Raikage also left with a body flicker. The two families each returned to their ships, as if nothing had happened before, just a very normal spar.
But on the ship.
"Minato-senpai!"
"I’m a little injured, it’s not a big deal. You can just help me treat it."
Namikaze Minato rolled up his sleeves.
On his arm were several scratches, all from being grazed by the Four-Fingered Thrust.
"The Raikage’s Four-Fingered Thrust, as expected of the strongest spear!"
He sighed softly.
Shikaku and the others were far away and didn’t know what had happened specifically, but based on the situation of their separation...
"You must have hit the Raikage as well, right? Otherwise he wouldn’t have retreated so easily."
"His wrist was cut by my blade."
Namikaze Minato nodded.
"No wonder he retreated."
Yuhi Kurenai was suddenly stunned, and then a look of pleasant surprise appeared. The wrist was very close to the artery. Compared to the scratches on his arm, the Third Raikage’s situation was obviously more dangerous.
Namikaze Minato shook his head.
"Our speeds are both very fast. It’s about the same if we hit each other once. So as long as it’s not fatal, it doesn’t count as a success."
"The fact that you can hurt him, and have the ability to kill him, changes the nature of things," Nara Shikaku said with a smile. Like the Raikage’s fighting style, whether one could break through his strongest armor was crucial. Minato had done it!
He sat on a bench on the deck.
"Just now, I was really a little worried that the Raikage would act stubbornly. These people never know what rationality is."
Shikaku was not afraid of Onoki, because Onoki had a brain and would weigh the pros and cons before doing things. But the Cloud Village... they consistently didn’t consider the consequences. It was like that in the past, and it was the same now. The Third Raikage was only a tiny bit more rational than the others. In essence, there was not much difference—the fact that he had wanted to snatch Kushina back then was the best proof.
On the side, Yuhi Kurenai helped Minato treat his injuries. Minato endured the pain.
"After we land, will we unload the goods here too?"
"All of them."
Shikaku nodded.
He looked to the south.
"Our people happen to be coming over this time. They’ll take the things away at the same time. Although going by sea requires less manpower, the danger will be greatly increased."
"If this continues for a long time, our cooperation with the Land of Snow won’t be very convenient either."
Namikaze Minato frowned. The location of the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water could cut off the northern sea route. It wouldn’t be so easy for them to obtain the resources of the Land of Snow. For the Land of Fire, this was not good news.
Nara Shikaku nodded in deep agreement. Then, he narrowed his eyes.
"It’s not that there’s no way!"
"What way?"
"There is a great river from the Land of Waterfalls to the Land of Grass, which leads directly to the sea. As long as we get the consent of the Land of Waterfalls, we can borrow this waterway."
The Land of Lightning plus the Land of Water was indeed difficult to deal with, but the Land of Lightning was out of reach of this bay in the Land of Waterfalls. Only Iwagakure, that would be much easier to deal with. And—at present, there was indeed an opportunity.
Namikaze Minato’s eyes lit up.
"Kakuzu?"
"That’s right! As long as we can deal with Kakuzu, there will definitely be no problem on the Land of Waterfalls’ side. As for the Land of Grass..."
A sharp glint flashed in Nara Shikaku’s eyes.
"If they don’t agree, we’ll build a river and connect the river in the north of the Land of Fire. Although it will take some manpower and resources, it’s not impossible to do."
"That’s a way."
Namikaze Minato nodded, then thought for a moment, took out a scroll, a brush, and ink. "I’ll write a rough idea to Kyohiko and see what he says."
"Mm."
Shikaku nodded.
He thought for a moment.
"No matter what, we have to catch Kakuzu anyway, or at least get rid of him. The Land of Waterfalls is just a bonus."
"It’s a pity. Even if we can kill Kakuzu, the Jinchuriki probably can’t be saved."
Minato sighed.
Behind Kakuzu was Madara and Kirigakure. Plundering the Tailed Beast was their most direct goal. After getting it, it would definitely have been moved away and couldn’t be in Kakuzu’s hands. To put it bluntly, Kakuzu was just a mercenary, nothing more.
As for that "rogue-nin" Kurosuki Raiga—obviously, he hadn’t really betrayed, but had sided with Madara who controlled the Mizukage. The so-called rogue-nin was just to fool the world.
However, thinking of this, Minato’s eyes suddenly lit up.
"Kurosuki Raiga, we can hunt him as well. He’s a rogue-nin anyway. What can Kirigakure say?"
"We can, but Kyohiko probably hasn’t found any clues," Shikaku answered. That Zetsu’s hiding ability was indeed very amazing. At present, only Kyohiko could sense the other’s presence within a certain distance. In this situation, how to find Kakuzu and Raiga was a difficult problem.
Namikaze Minato said.
"Both of them have their own flaws. If we start from their flaws, we can still catch them sooner or later..."
"But we don’t need to worry. Based on my understanding of Kyohiko, he should already be on it."