"You bastard!" A roared, standing up and stomping the ground before charging at Setsuna like a tiger released from its cage.
"Bring it on!" Setsuna's eyes lit up. Since returning to this world, this was the first time he'd encountered someone who could take his full-power blow head-on with relatively little damage, 'Truly worthy of a future Raikage.'
The two men shot towards each other like cannonballs. A's right fist, wreathed in crackling lightning snakes, whistled through the air aimed directly at Setsuna's face. Setsuna didn't dodge or evade, instead meeting the attack with an equally savage punch aimed at A's face.
Thud!
The dull sound of fists impacting flesh echoed through the forest, causing the hearts of some less resilient Kumogakure's Ninja to skip a beat, fearing A's neck might snap.
Yet, the two combatants seemed almost unaffected. Their heads snapped back slightly from the impact but quickly righted themselves as they plunged back into the fray.
Setsuna drove a fist into A's abdomen.
The hit made A's eyes bulge, and drool spilled uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth. But A sucked his abdomen in, trapping Setsuna's arm, and unleashed a flurry of punches like a storm.
Setsuna responded with equal ferocity, showing no intention of pulling his arm free. Instead, he repeatedly slammed his forehead into A's face. This brutal style of combat made everyone watching hold their breath.
There were no flashy techniques, only raw, bone-jarring collisions.
It was like two tireless mechanical puppets fighting, each impact even producing a metallic clang.
"Lightning Release Armor? Now we're talking." Setsuna knew the standard Lightning Release Chakra Mode from before wasn't A's full power. This Lightning Release Armor was his opponent's strongest state.
But the stronger the opponent, the more exhilarated Setsuna felt, both physically and mentally.
He had to admit, staying in the Dragon Ball World for so long had infected him with the 'bad habit' of loving a good fight, though he wasn't as recklessly overconfident as the Saiyans.
While Setsuna was enjoying himself, A was having a much tougher time.
'Where did this guy come from?' A grew more alarmed the longer they fought. His Lightning Release Armor consumed a massive amount of Chakra, yet his opponent was matching him using pure physical strength alone.
'If this continued, my Chakra would likely be depleted before long.'
"This is bad, A is falling behind." As A's cousin, Blue B understood A's condition perfectly. He immediately said to Killer B, "B, we attack together."
"You idiot, you fool, Konoha's bastards..." Killer B rapped as he drew his weapons.
However, the moment the two moved to act, Blue B experienced a sudden flash of insight, sensing imminent danger. A giant octopus tentacle burst from his back, propelling him away.
Almost simultaneously, a yellow flash appeared where he had just been standing, severing the tentacle.
"A Flying Thunder God's mark? When?" Blue B broke out in a cold sweat. He had thought they were the ones hunting Minato all this time. He never imagined the other party had managed to place a Flying Thunder God's mark on him at some point.
"You should worry about yourselves first. My kunai might not pierce A's defense, but killing you isn't difficult." Minato warned, holding a kunai.
"You think you can threaten over a hundred of us by yourself?" Blue B retorted coldly.
"It's not a threat. I'm just telling you the future that's about to unfold. Try and stop me." The instant Minato finished speaking, he appeared beside a Kumogakure's Ninja. Before the man could react, Minato's kunai was already piercing his body.
"Damn it, stop!" Blue B was furious, but Minato's actions naturally wouldn't cease because of his anger.
A moment later, Minato appeared next to another Kumogakure's Ninja.
"You idiot, you fool, the same move..." Killer B, observing his surroundings keenly, sprang into action the moment his optic nerves registered the yellow flash. He charged forward with agile and bizarre movements, seven swords gripped between various parts of his body.
"B, calm down!" Blue B shouted. How could such a troublesome opponent leave such an obvious opening?
Hearing Blue B's cry, Killer B's heart jolted. Sure enough, he noticed a sizzling sound coming from the 'Minato' right in front of him.
"Not good, it's an explosive tag!" Killer B was horrified and desperately twisted his body to evade, but he was still sent flying by the explosion.
"B!" Noticing Killer B's situation, A's concentration broke.
Just as he was about to collide with Setsuna again, A suddenly used Lightning Body Flicker, flashing to Setsuna's left side, and delivered a karate chop aimed at Setsuna's neck.
"Lightning Straight!"
Setsuna seemed slow to react, taking the chop solidly.
Witnessing this, the Kumogakure's Ninja all cheered, completely disregarding their own perilous situation, vulnerable to assassination at any moment.
"Haha, that Konoha's Ninja is done for!"
"A-sama's move can even break the Eight-Tails' horns!"
However, Setsuna simply used the momentum to lean his upper body forward, dispersing the force, while his right leg whipped backward like a long whip, kicking A and sending him flying hundreds of meters away.
The smiles on the Kumogakure's Ninja's faces instantly froze, unable to believe their eyes.
"Really now," Setsuna straightened up and shook his head. "I was deliberately not using techniques to fight you, and you resort to tricks."
He had wanted to savor the feeling of this raw, fist-to-flesh combat a bit longer.
A stood up again, but this time he was clearly more disheveled than before, with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. But he had no time to worry about his appearance, urgently looking towards where Killer B had been blasted.
Over there, Killer B staggered to his feet, half his body stained with blood.
But from A's perspective, at least he wasn't in mortal danger.
A breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart remained heavy.
He never would have imagined that he and over a hundred Ninjas would be 'surrounded' by just two Konoha's Ninjas.
Facing just one of them alone might have been manageable. If he could tie down the Taijutsu specialist, his subordinates could overwhelm the enemy with Ninjutsu.
But there was also the elusive Minato, who kept his men constantly on edge, unable to focus their efforts.
"There's no other way. Blue B, fire the signal flare for reinforcements." A practically spat the words out through gritted teeth.
Hearing A's command, Blue B also breathed a sigh of relief. His biggest worry had been that A might stubbornly persist for the sake of pride.
As the signal flare shot into the sky, Minato's expression turned grave. "Setsuna, we should probably leave too. The Third Raikage is definitely not someone to take lightly."
There was another reason he didn't voice in front of the Kumogakure's Ninja.
His Chakra was nearly depleted again, and he was running low on soldier pills. If they didn't withdraw soon, he wouldn't have enough Chakra left to escape using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
"I know." Setsuna nodded. The Third Raikage was indeed a formidable figure.
At the very least, he wasn't confident he could withstand a coordinated Ninjutsu assault from thousands of Ninjas.
Of course, with his ability to fly, he would never let himself get trapped in such a situation.
"Even if we're leaving, we should leave them with a lasting impression!" Setsuna smiled slightly, his tone calm, but it sent a chill down the spines of the Kumogakure's Ninjas.