"That figure… is that the Yellow Flash of the Leaf—Namikaze Minato?!"
The massive form of Akimichi Tōdō had already captured everyone's attention, but as his body rapidly shrank, nearly everyone noticed that brief glint of golden light—and the Three-Tails missing its charge.
The sight sent chills through the Kirigakure forces. With most of the intelligence gathered, Yuki Kiyomi was already preparing to report back.
"Permission to retreat," Yoru ordered calmly, slicing Sarutobi Shinnosuke away with a single blow. "Also… hand over that brat."
"Yes, Lord Yoru."
Yuki Kiyomi tossed Hatake Kakashi to Yoru. The moment he caught him, Sarutobi Shinnosuke surged forward again.
"You're not going anywhere, Yuki Yoru!"
Three identical shadows rushed in from different angles, hands moving in a blur of hand signs mid-air.
The next instant, a glowing emerald-green chakra barrier shimmered into view from the southeast, southwest, and northwest. The three barriers connected—forming a perfect triangle that enclosed Yoru completely.
"Three-Seal Barrier!"
An S-Rank barrier technique.
"Lord Yoru!" Kiyomi called out anxiously.
But inside the glowing seal, Yoru's expression remained calm. "Everyone, fall back beyond the perimeter of Higashimatsuyama. Don't worry about me."
"This situation is far beyond what we anticipated. Konoha's battlefield strength is far greater than expected. A single Tailed Beast isn't enough to turn the tide. Take this intel back."
"…Understood, Lord Yoru."
Yuki Kiyomi clenched her teeth but turned and vanished with the rest.
Seeing this, Shin'nosuke prepared to order a pursuit—only for the supposedly impenetrable barrier to suddenly tremble.
"You didn't really think a barrier cast by your shadow clones could hold me, did you?"
Yoru tilted his head and casually dropped Kakashi to the ground, then sat on him like a chair.
"This seat has a perfect view," he said. "Now kindly stop doing anything stupid. You're going to ruin the upcoming show."
"Show…?"
Shinnosuke didn't understand. Why would someone of Yoru's level allow themselves to be sealed, unless they were plotting something? His eyes followed Yoru's gaze—and all he saw was Minato battling the Three-Tails.
Could it be… he was after intel on the Yellow Flash?
"You'll pay for your arrogance, Yuki Yoru!"
"Heh."
"ROAR!!"
The Three-Tails let out a thunderous bellow. Its lone eye, hidden beneath thick layers of armor-like shell, locked onto Minato instantly.
Its massive tails smashed in all directions as it surged forward—but just then, a massive toad dropped from the sky and slammed down on its back, pinning it to the ground.
"The Three-Tails? Again? And from Kirigakure?!" Gamabunta grumbled, sword in hand. "I'm not cut out to fight beasts like this, Minato."
"You just need to drag it out of the camp's radius," Minato replied coldly. "I'll take it from there. But we can't let the battlefield get caught in the crossfire."
"No problem. Oh—and after this, you really should pay Mount Myōboku a visit. Jiraiya…"
"I know."
The moment his teacher's name came up, Minato's eyes darkened. Sensing the mood, Gamabunta fell silent, then swung his massive blade down onto the turtle's shell.
The blade clanged, leaving only a faint white scratch.
"Definitely a tough shell…"
But before Gamabunta could follow up, the Three-Tails suddenly coiled tightly and curled inward.
Sensing danger, the toad leapt away—and at that moment, the beast began to spin like a wheel, hurling itself at Gamabunta's position at high speed.
"That's enough, Bunta!"
"Didn't do much this time. Sorry, Minato."
Just before impact, Gamabunta disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The missed attack sent the Three-Tails into a further frenzy. Failing to detect Minato's presence, it instead aimed at the densest cluster of Konoha ninja and raised its head.
A terrifying mass of chakra particles began to converge before its mouth—a full-scale Tailed Beast Bomb.
Fear spread across the Konoha forces like wildfire. That kind of attack wouldn't just kill the people—it would vaporize the entire Higashimatsuyama stronghold.
But just as the Tailed Beast Bomb reached critical mass, a dense array of Flying Thunder God marks appeared in mid-air, forming a swirling seal that warped the space around it—slowly swallowing the deadly sphere of chakra.
"He's already mastered Flying Thunder God to this level?"
Yoru's eyes narrowed.
It's already late Year 48. In the original timeline, Minato dies in Year 51. That's only two or three years away.
And in that time, Minato still had to handle Kage duties during the day and… make Naruto at night.
Even Naruto, with Uzumaki lineage and a Tailed Beast, nearly collapsed from exhaustion during that "process." For an ordinary human like Minato?
In other words, his current strength is almost equal to how strong he'll be during the Fourth Shinobi War—he's just missing half of the Nine-Tails.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Yoru's expression sharpened.
The Tailed Beast Bomb that had just been absorbed—was now reappearing above the Three-Tails' head!
With no time to react, the beast was engulfed by its own devastating energy.
The skies lit up like a second sun. The shockwave from the blast obliterated the surrounding forest and flipped the massive Tailed Beast onto its back.
The battle was over.
Its chakra receded. The Tailed Beast form could no longer be sustained.
Minato shielded his eyes from the blast, but his intent to kill did not waver.
In that brief instant during the transfer, he had marked the Three-Tails with his seal—and now that the chakra had subsided, the seal had shifted to the host.
That was all he needed.
As the energy cleared, Minato vanished in a golden flash.
At that same moment—
A figure wrapped in gnarled, bone-white vines finally arrived at the battlefield.
And beneath Yoru's seat, Hatake Kakashi slowly opened his eyes.
Confused. Dazed. Just barely beginning to wake up.
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin