Inside the Four Violet Flames Formation, the surviving Uzumaki had already lost half their hope.
Shigi Uzumaki shouted at Shikatoki’s shadow clone,
“Let us out!
We’ll fight them together!”
The other Uzumaki survivors immediately joined in.
Two ten-year-old children were risking their lives for them— and they were supposed to just stand here and watch?
The shadow clone remained calm.
“Quietly keep watching.”
“It’s not over yet.”
Minato struggled back to his feet and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Shikatoki remained seated on the ground, watching Raita approach.
Then he shouted,
“Minato!
Are you ready yet?”
Minato took a deep breath.
“Anytime.”
Hearing that, Shikatoki looked toward Raita and smiled.
That smile immediately gave Raita a bad feeling.
“Didn’t you want to see my ninjutsu?”
Shikatoki raised his right hand.
“Fine.”
“I’ll show you!”
“Arise!”
The chakra remaining in Shikatoki’s body was rapidly drained away.
Even the natural energy surrounding him was forcibly absorbed and mobilised.
One black shadow after another rose from the ground.
In an instant, both Shikatoki’s chakra and natural energy reserves were completely emptied.
Now— he was truly running on fumes.
“You think I was using nothing but monstrous strength for no reason?!”
“You think I fought all of you in close combat for fun?!”
Shikatoki laughed wildly.
“I was saving chakra and making sure my shadow touched every last one of yours!”
“Hahahaha!”
His expression became savage.
“Minato!”
“Don’t disappoint me!”
“Of course!”
The battlefield suddenly fell into an eerie silence.
Raita stared grimly at the surrounding shadows.
According to their intelligence, destroying one of those shadows would cause the original owner to suffer damage— followed by an illusion.
“Ignore the shadows!”
Hyō Yuki made an immediate decision.
“Kill Shikatoki Nara directly!”
“Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!”
Minato rapidly formed hand seals.
A massive swamp appeared beneath the battlefield.
At the same time, all of Shikatoki’s shadows deliberately clustered together.
“No!”
The enemy shinobi instantly realised something was wrong.
But it was already too late.
All the shadows were destroyed at once.
Every Kumogakure and Kirigakure shinobi present instantly fell under the Fear effect.
Minato’s expression hardened.
He squeezed every last drop of chakra from his body.
Just as Shikatoki had deliberately avoided using his techniques earlier to conserve chakra—
Minato had also been limiting how frequently he used the Flying Thunder God Technique.
All for this single moment.
One second.
That was all it took.
Within that single second—
Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique fifty-six times.
Fifty-six throats were cut.
Then— blood erupted into the air.
Minato finally came to a stop.
His vision blurred.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
“Shikatoki…”
“I can’t believe we actually pulled off such a crazy plan.”
Thud.
Minato collapsed.
Seeing that, Shikatoki finally relaxed.
His consciousness immediately faded as well.
Their shadow clones disappeared.
The Four Violet Flames Formation vanished with them.
Every surviving person stared at the battlefield in stunned silence.
They could only suck in a breath.
The scene before them was simply too insane.
The First Elder was the first to recover.
“Quick!”
“Stop standing around!”
“Save them!”
The Uzumaki immediately rushed over in a panic to check Shikatoki and Minato’s injuries.
At the same time— an ANBU squad accompanied by more than a dozen shinobi was rapidly approaching.
Leading them was one of Hiruzen Sarutobi’s trusted subordinates—
Owl.
“Hurry!”
“There were sounds of battle ahead!”
The group rushed onto the battlefield.
Owl shouted,
“We’re here!”
And then— silence.
The Uzumaki stared at Owl.
Owl stared back at the Uzumaki.
Then he slowly looked around at the corpses covering the battlefield.
“This…”
“These were all killed by those two children.”
Owl suddenly felt his mouth go dry.
He knew Raita and Hyō Yuki.
Both were elite Jōnin.
And besides those two, there had been numerous other Jōnin present.
Those two children had killed all of them?
That was insane.
Fortunately, Owl was someone who had seen plenty in his life.
He quickly moved over to Minato and Shikatoki and checked their conditions.
“Minato mostly has superficial injuries, but his chakra exhaustion is extremely severe.”
“Shikatoki has broken ribs…”
Owl’s expression changed.
“And why is his chakra depletion even worse than Minato’s?!”
“What kind of techniques did these two use?!”
Owl knew this wasn’t the time to satisfy his curiosity.
He immediately made a decision.
“You four!”
“Take these two back to Konoha immediately for treatment.”
“Move as quickly as possible.”
“The rest of you will escort the surviving Uzumaki back to Konoha!”
“Yes!”
Konoha.
Inside the Hokage Building—
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the report in his hand.
“Owl.”
“Are you certain you’re not joking with me?”
Owl nodded solemnly.
“I questioned every surviving member of the Uzumaki Clan.”
“Their accounts were identical.”
“Shikatoki used his modified Shadow Imitation Technique to completely immobilise the enemy.”
“Minato finished them with the Flying Thunder God Technique.”
“They said all fifty-six kills were completed within a single second.”
Even Owl couldn’t help sighing in amazement.
“Those two children are absolutely insane.”
Hiruzen took a deep drag from his pipe.
“How are they?”
“They’re still unconscious.”
“Their chakra reserves were depleted far too severely, and neither escaped without injuries.”
“Give them the best medical treatment available.”
Hiruzen gave the order without hesitation.
“Yes!”
The surviving Uzumaki were temporarily settled near the Senju Clan compound.
The Senju and Uzumaki had always maintained close ties.
Naturally, the Senju Clan had no objections.
Inside the hospital—
Kushina sat beside Minato’s bed.
Tears streamed endlessly down her face.
“Why haven’t these two idiots woken up yet?!”
Mito Uzumaki looked at the two children with a complicated expression.
The combined Kumogakure and Kirigakure assault had been swift and devastating.
With Konoha unable to provide substantial reinforcements, Mito had already prepared herself for the possibility that the Uzumaki Clan might be destroyed.
Even sending these two children had only been done in the hope that perhaps they could rescue one or two survivors.
Who could have imagined— the two brats would simply kill all the enemy shinobi themselves?
The more Mito looked at them, the more satisfied she became.
She wasn’t blind.
Of course she could see what was developing between Minato and Kushina.
Then Mito glanced at her own disciple— and suddenly thought of Tsunade.
“They’re only about ten years apart…”
Mito murmured.
“That doesn’t seem like such a large gap.”
Meanwhile—
“Achoo!”
Tsunade rubbed her nose.
“Is someone thinking about me?”
Minato finally woke up on the fourth day.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Kushina.
“Minato!”
“You’re finally awake!”
Kushina immediately started crying again.
Minato became completely flustered.
“K-Kushina, don’t cry.”
“I’m fine.”
Then he suddenly remembered something.
“Right!
What about Shikatoki?”
At the mention of Shikatoki, Kushina began crying even harder.
“Shikatoki still hasn’t woken up.”
Mito walked into the room.
“Enough.”
“Shikatoki is fine.”
“His injuries have already healed.”
“As for why he hasn’t woken up yet…
I suspect it has something to do with that power inside his body.”
“Grandma Mito.”
Minato greeted her softly.
“Is that really true?”
“Why would I lie about something like that?”
Mito’s words finally allowed both of them to relax.
Minato remained in the hospital for another three days before being discharged.
Shikatoki, however, didn’t wake until the tenth day.
The instant he opened his eyes, Shikatoki felt unbelievably comfortable.
There wasn’t even the slightest discomfort anywhere in his body.
He immediately climbed out of bed and stretched.
“Damn, that feels good!”
“You’re awake.”
Mito’s gentle voice sounded nearby.
Only then did Shikatoki notice her.
“Grandma Mito.”
“Long time no see.”
“How are the Uzumaki survivors?”
“They’re safe.”
“They’ve been settled near the Senju Clan compound.”
Shikatoki smiled.
Mito looked at him with complicated emotions.
Finally, she spoke softly.
“Shikatoki.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re my teacher!”
Shikatoki grinned.
“Your family is my family.”
“Grandma Mito, can I leave the hospital now?”
“I’ll have someone examine you first.”
Mito summoned a doctor.
Before long, Shikatoki’s examination results came back.
Everything was normal.
In fact— he was in excellent condition.
The moment Shikatoki walked out of the hospital, he saw Minato and Kushina.
Shikaku was there too.
So were Inoichi, Chōza, Gin, and Daidai.
“Shikatoki?”
Shikaku’s face lit up.
“You’re alright!”
His friends immediately surrounded him.
Shikatoki swung his fists a couple of times.
“I’ve never felt better.”
“I’m just starving.”
“So?”
“Who’s up for food?”
“Barbecue!”
Chōza Akimichi shouted.
“Akimichi Barbecue!”
“My treat today!”
“Eat as much as you want!”
“Big Bro Chōza is generous!”
At the Akimichi barbecue restaurant—
Inoichi raised his glass of juice.
“To Shikatoki and Minato returning safely!”
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
Meanwhile, in the Land of Lightning— the Third Raikage frowned deeply.
“What exactly happened in the Land of Whirlpools?”
“It’s been more than ten days!”
“We haven’t received a single report!”
“Father.”
The speaker was the young future Fourth Raikage—
A.
“Could Kirigakure have betrayed our forces and taken everything for themselves?”
The Third Raikage shook his head.
“I sent people to investigate.”
“The Kirigakure unit never returned either.”
“They’re investigating the situation as well.”
“Lord Raikage!”
A Kumogakure shinobi rushed inside without even knocking.
“Urgent intelligence!”
“This was sent back at great risk by one of our spies inside Konoha!”
The Third Raikage took the report.
Bang!
His chakra erupted violently.
He slammed the intelligence report onto the table— and the entire table shattered instantly.
“Those two damn brats!”
“Father!”
A looked confused.
“What kind of intelligence could make you this angry?”
He picked up the report from the ground.
After reading only a few lines, his expression changed to shock.
“Is this intelligence reliable?”
“Absolutely!”
“Minato Namikaze!”
“Shikatoki Nara!”
The Third Raikage’s heart practically bled as he spoke.
“They killed Raita and his entire elite unit!”
To destroy the Uzumaki Clan and seize their sealing techniques, Kumogakure might not have deployed a massive force— but everyone they sent had been an elite.
Raita in particular was an elite Jōnin who had long served as one of the Raikage’s personal guards.
And somehow— he had died at the hands of two children.
This operation had been a complete disaster.
They had failed to steal the treasure— and lost their strongest men in the process!
“Put bounties on both of them in the underground black market!”
The Third Raikage roared.
“One hundred million ryō each!”
A Kumogakure shinobi cautiously raised his hand.
“Lord Raikage…
Ōnoki has already placed a fifty-million-ryō bounty on each of them.”
“Then combine the bounties!”
The Third Raikage threw the intelligence report back.
“And sell this information to Kirigakure.”
“At least let us recover some of our losses!”
“Yes!”
Kirigakure was much farther from Konoha and had far weaker intelligence penetration there.
If they wanted to know exactly what had happened— they could only grit their teeth and buy Kumogakure’s intelligence.
Not long afterward, the Third Mizukage flew into a rage as well.
For a time, even Danzō on the Kirigakure front noticed something strange.
The Mist shinobi seemed unusually furious lately.
In the end—
Minato and Shikatoki’s bounties rose yet again.
Both were now worth—
250 million ryō.
And according to the Naruto world’s most exclusive unit of measurement—
Asuma Sarutobi’s thirty-five-million-ryō bounty— each of them was now worth more than seven Asumas.