"Shit~"
Asuma cursed as a combination jutsu of Water Release and Wind Release rushed toward him. He immediately abandoned the masked creature he was grappling with to try and dodge.
But the jutsu was too fast. Asuma couldn't evade in time.
Seeing himself about to be engulfed by the compound jutsu, Asuma shouted loudly, "Lord Hokage, save me!"
Swish~
A flash of golden light streaked past, and just as the jutsu was about to hit Asuma, Minato saved him at the perfect moment.
"Asuma, are you alright?"
"Phew, that scared the hell out of me. I was almost done for! Thank you so much, Fourth Hokage-sama."
"It's fine. The reason I left Flying Thunder God marks on all of you was precisely for situations like this."
"Thanks again, Fourth Hokage-sama, but uh... could you put me down first?"
Hearing Asuma's reminder, Minato snapped back to reality and quickly set down Asuma, who he had just been holding in a princess carry.
"Ah, sorry about that, Asuma. Force of habit."
"It's fine."
After putting Asuma down, Minato immediately rushed toward Kakuzu's main body.
However, by now, a large number of black threads had surrounded Kakuzu's body.
It seemed that using Flying Thunder God in combination with a Rasengan sneak attack wouldn't work so easily anymore.
"What a hassle," Minato muttered, feeling the difficulty of the situation.
As an assassin-type ninja, Minato wasn't good at dealing with certain kinds of opponents.
The first type was someone like the Third Raikage, Ai—an indestructible tank.
In the original story, even the reanimated Third Raikage, summoned by Orochimaru and Kabuto, had a body so durable that Naruto's Wind Release: Rasenshuriken couldn't even damage it.
If Minato were to deal with the Third Raikage, his approach would likely be the same as Naruto's.
When the Third Raikage used his "One-Finger Nukite" attack, Minato would target the Raikage's elbow with a Rasengan, forcing him to strike himself and break through the so-called "strongest shield" of his body.
The second option might resemble Kakuzu's style, surrounding himself with black threads that cover every angle, leaving no opening for a fatal blow.
"Should I use that?"
Looking at Asuma and Kakashi's current situation, Minato pondered whether to use the power of the Nine-Tails or enter Sage Mode from Mount Myoboku.
Either the Nine-Tails' chakra or Sage Mode would drastically boost Minato's combat power.
There's no need to elaborate on Tailed Beast Mode—just a single Tailed Beast Bomb would be enough to send Kakuzu flying.
In Sage Mode, Minato could enhance his Rasengan with Senjutsu chakra.
No matter which mode he chose, Minato was confident he could defeat Kakuzu in a short amount of time.
However, Minato hesitated.
The Yin Nine-Tails wasn't on good terms with him. Forcing the Nine-Tails' power, as Kushina had done, might push their already fragile relationship to its breaking point.
Kind-hearted by nature, Minato wasn't fond of forcing the Yin Nine-Tails into submission.
As for Sage Mode, Minato wasn't particularly skilled at it. It took him too long to gather natural energy, and he couldn't afford to be disturbed during the process. Otherwise, all his efforts would be wasted.
With Kakuzu relentlessly attacking Kakashi and Asuma, Minato didn't feel he had the luxury of time to gather Sage chakra.
What if Kakashi or Asuma were endangered during that time?
So, Minato was feeling pretty conflicted right now.
"Minato, it looks like you're having a little trouble here."
Thankfully, things didn't stay complicated for Minato for long.
When Uchiha Fugaku led Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke over to him, Minato immediately knew the fight was about to end.
"Yeah, opponents like Kakuzu are a bit of a tough match for me."
"Oh? It seems this Kakuzu guy has some skills if he can make the Yellow Flash feel challenged."
You could tell Fugaku was extremely happy and relieved that he had managed to talk Itachi back with words.
Not having to fight his own son was definitely the best outcome.
Besides, at this moment, Fugaku knew he most likely couldn't beat Itachi anyway.
After all, his pair of Mangekyo Sharingan had been destroyed by Itachi after his suicide.
Since being revived, he had only just awakened the Sharingan again, and it was at the most basic one-tomoe stage.
Before taking action, he even went to Orochimaru specifically to get a pair of cloned three-tomoe Sharingan implanted.
He had done this in case he had to face Itachi in battle.
Though cloned Sharingan couldn't match the original in performance, three tomoe were still three tomoe—definitely stronger than one tomoe.
But Itachi's Sharingan was at the Mangekyo level. If they really fought, both Fugaku and Sasuke would struggle a lot.
Fugaku might still manage, using his combat experience to find an opening.
Sasuke, however, was a different story.
He wasn't yet the Sasuke from the original series who had been trained by Orochimaru for three years.
Even during that time, if Itachi hadn't held back, Sasuke wouldn't have stood a chance against him.
So, being able to avoid fighting my own son really feels great.
"Itachi, can you take him down?"
Hearing Fugaku's words, Itachi nodded calmly and replied in a steady voice, "No problem, Father."
"Then go."
"Yes."
Following Fugaku's command, Itachi began his assault on Kakuzu.
Meanwhile, Kakuzu, upon seeing Itachi and Fugaku standing together, immediately sensed that things were not in his favor.
He quickly unleashed a series of ninjutsu attacks, hoping to kill either Kakashi or Asuma in the chaos and make his escape.
Unfortunately, both Kakashi and Asuma were extremely vigilant against Kakuzu.
When faced with his explosive ninjutsu barrage, the two either dodged or defended using their own jutsu.
Though a bit disheveled, they managed to keep themselves alive.
"Uchiha Itachi, I knew I couldn't count on you!"
"Just wait! When I escape, I'm definitely going to report you to the leader."
"You traitor! You backstabber! You... emotionless, kidney-deficient jerk!"
As Kakuzu's insults grew more absurd, Itachi didn't bother arguing. He simply widened his eyes and cast Tsukuyomi.
"Welcome to my world. Here, everything—time, location, matter—is under my control."
"I hope you enjoy yourself during the next seventy-two hours."
In the Tsukuyomi illusion space, Kakuzu found himself restrained and fixed to a cross, just like Kakashi in the original story.
"You—"
Before Kakuzu could finish speaking, Itachi began the punishment.
A long blade, over a meter in length, appeared in Itachi's hand as he slowly drove it into Kakuzu's abdomen, inch by inch.
"Ahhh~~!"
"It hurts so much~~!"
"You damn Uchiha Itachi, I swear I'll never let you off!"
Amid Kakuzu's wails of agony, Itachi continued to stab him, one slash after another.
No one knew how much time had passed. Drenched in sweat from the relentless torture, Kakuzu instinctively asked, "How much time has gone by?"
"Hmm, just one second has passed. There are seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-nine seconds left."
"Impossible! I've been stabbed so many times already! How could it have only been one second? I don't believe it!"
"Why don't you look around?"
Hearing this, Kakuzu glared furiously at his surroundings.
"What?"
All around him, countless versions of himself and Itachi appeared, densely packed together.
"I told you, everything here is under my control."
"Surely you didn't think that one stab equals one second, did you?"
"The reality is, only after every single one of you gets stabbed will a second pass."
After saying that, Itachi ignored the stunned Kakuzu and stabbed him once more.
"Ahhhhhh~~~~!"
During the Fourth Great Ninja War, Minato could instantly enter Nine-Tails Mode and Sage Mode.
In my opinion, it's because of the massive threat posed by the Ten-Tails, which made the Yin-Kurama cooperate so willingly.
As for Sage Mode, even though Minato admitted he wasn't skilled in Senjutsu, I think it was because of his Edo Tensei state. With infinite chakra and an immortal body, he could instantly enter Sage Mode.
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