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"Doton! Tsuchi Umeru no Jutsu!" (Earth Release: Earth Burial Technique)
Both Minato and Kushina were quickly being pulled underground by the Iwa shinobi.
What was once solid ground turned into something akin to a quagmire, making it impossible to break free.
The timing of the Iwa shinobi's attack was perfect, catching them off guard just as they had relaxed.
The two were dragged deeper, until only their necks and heads remained above ground.
Desperately, they reached out, trying to escape.
But it was futile.
As the air around them grew tighter—
"Boom!" "Boom!"
Both of them transformed into smoke, leaving behind only two burning explosive tags.
"Boom!!"
The ground was blown open, creating a massive crater.
The Iwa shinobi emerged from the debris, covered in blood.
He had been played by two chūnin.
At that moment, a small toad opened its mouth. Despite its small size, out came a massive arm, followed by Minato's body.
He then pulled Kushina out as well.
"Gama Inezumi no Jutsu!" (Toad Concealment Technique)
The two finally turned to look at the severely injured jōnin.
"Didn't expect your plan to work," Kushina said, surprised that they had managed to injure the Iwa shinobi to this extent.
From the very start, they had placed shadow clones outside, while hiding inside the stomach of the toad.
The bodies moving outside were merely to set a trap.
The shadow clones that appeared later were the real threat; everything else had been a decoy.
The whole plan was designed to make the Iwa shinobi overlook the possibility that they were hiding nearby.
Despite being covered in toad slime, Kushina was satisfied with the result.
"But now, the real fight begins."
Minato's kunai gathered wind chakra, forming a long blade.
"Breath of Wind."
Kushina's hand also formed a blade of water.
"Breath of Water."
These were techniques that Gin had specially left for them.
After all, they were his teammates.
Because of Gin's butterfly effect, many things had changed.
He wasn't sure if the two would survive long enough for the events to play out as they should.
Though death was still inevitable.
"First Form: Dust Whirlwind Slash!"
Minato rushed at high speed toward the Iwa shinobi, leaving spiraling wind blades in his wake, tearing up the ground behind him.
The blade of wind struck the Iwa shinobi.
"First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
Kushina followed closely behind, delivering a clean horizontal slash with her water blade.
One attack was ferocious, the other calm.
Both sliced through the Iwa shinobi's body.
Slashes appeared on his neck and chest.
He looked down at his body, disbelief in his eyes.
"I… I lost to… Konoha brats!?"
He was a jōnin of Iwa—how could this be!?
Even in his final moments, he couldn't believe it, but his body collapsed, powerless.
Before Minato and Kushina could catch their breath, more figures appeared in the distance.
"Looks like we won't be getting any rest," they sighed simultaneously.
...
The battle continued for three days.
Eventually, the Konoha shinobi managed to repel the Iwa forces.
When Minato and Kushina saw Jiraiya again, he was covered in wounds, his entire body bandaged like a mummy.
"I'm really not that badly hurt," Jiraiya said, glancing at the village's medical-nin.
The medic-nin, dressed in a nurse's uniform on the battlefield, had flaxen hair tied in twin pigtails, large black-framed glasses, and smooth legs that kept drawing Jiraiya's gaze.
"Thwack!"
A medical report slapped onto the only visible part of Jiraiya's face—the eye. The medic-nin calmly took back the report.
"Extensive burns, three broken ribs, a fractured arm, internal organ damage—if that's not serious, then no one is seriously injured," the medic-nin said coldly.
Jiraiya gave a sheepish smile at her words.
The three powerful jōnin from Iwa hadn't been easy to deal with, but they hadn't gotten off easily either—one had died on the spot, and two were heavily injured.
That's why the Iwa forces had retreated.
Jiraiya turned to look at Minato and Kushina.
They weren't in great shape either. Minato's arm was in a sling across his chest, and his body was covered in bandages. Kushina's long hair had been reduced to short strands, and she sat in a wheelchair, being pushed by Minato.
The three shared a glance.
"Sigh."
They all sighed at the same time.
"Tragic" didn't even begin to describe their situation.
The medic-nin flipped to another page, this time detailing their battlefield accomplishments.
Minato and Kushina had taken down a jōnin, a special jōnin, five chūnin, and countless genin.
Looking at the records, the medic-nin almost lost her composure.
Such accomplishments were rare among chūnin.
And these two weren't even twelve years old.
Unbelievable.
She glanced at a certain inappropriate ninja whose eyes once again drifted toward her legs.
"Jiraiya-sama, if you don't control your eyes, I will inform Tsunade-sama."
That made Jiraiya quickly avert his gaze.
Tsunade's fists were not to be trifled with.
"And Jiraiya-sama, Kirigakure has declared war on Konoha. This is intel from three days ago."
As a medical-nin not required to be on the front lines, and one of the first medics trained by Tsunade, she was also responsible for gathering intel on the battlefield.
Jiraiya's usual playful smile vanished.
Though his face was bandaged, it wasn't hard to tell.
The medic-nin still felt Jiraiya harbored inappropriate thoughts, so she used the report to shield her smooth legs.
Jiraiya couldn't keep up the act anymore. He pointed a trembling finger at the medic-nin.
"You're too much!"
Did she really think he was that kind of pervert?!!
The medic-nin and Kushina both gave him a look of disdain.
Jiraiya slumped back into the wheelchair.
Forget it. Let the world burn.
His reputation couldn't be saved.
However…
"So, Kirigakure has declared war."
That left only Kumogakure without any signs of movement.
If the Cloud village joined the fight, the war would escalate even further.
Jiraiya wondered if the village could withstand it.
...
At the same time…
A scouting team sent to investigate Kumogakure's movements had just arrived in the capital of the Land of Iron.
Gin followed in the footsteps of the White Fang.
The streets were filled with people carrying swords, many of them in armor, hurrying about.
It was rare to see civilians like in other cities.
The White Fang explained, "The Land of Iron is even more stringent in its rules than the Land of Fire. Civilians aren't allowed to roam the streets freely."
The current hierarchy of the ninja world consisted of nobles, shinobi, and civilians.
However, the power of the shinobi had greatly diminished the authority of the daimyo. While the nobility's power was still unquestioned, the warrior class, which was supposed to stand alongside them, had become equal to civilians.
Civilians feared the strength of the warriors, but not their status.
In the Land of Fire, it wasn't uncommon for a group of civilians to beat a down-and-out samurai to death.
But the Land of Iron was different.
In the Land of Iron, the daimyo still held concentrated power, which elevated the status of the samurai. Here, a samurai could kill a civilian without facing any consequences, while a civilian could be executed for offending a samurai.
"What a bunch of leftover garbage," Gin said disdainfully.
Whether it was the Land of Iron…
Or the entire daimyo system in the world of Naruto.
(End of Chapter)