Sensing the heavy mood in the tent, Namikaze Minato hurriedly added:
"But there's no need for everyone to be too anxious. Aside from that first appearance, the Third Raikage has never used any kind of space–time ninjutsu again. So either that jutsu was cast on him by someone else, or it has serious limitations—maybe it can only be used for repositioning, not actual combat."
Only then did the assembled ninja quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
Uchiha Feiyu, however, knew very well that the Third Raikage himself didn't know any space–time ninjutsu. The reason he'd suddenly appeared inside Konoha's main camp should have been thanks to Heavenly Transmission (Tensō no Jutsu), a special space–time technique of the Hidden Cloud.
Heavenly Transmission was a unique Cloud technique that allowed the caster to launch an object at near–light speed toward a predetermined point—
Of course, "near–light speed" was obviously an exaggeration, but at the very least it should have reached several hundred times the speed of sound.
Otherwise, there's no way only a handful of ninja could withstand being sent with that jutsu; any ordinary shinobi hit by Heavenly Transmission would simply be burned to ash by friction alone.
Since Konoha had no intel on Heavenly Transmission, it was understandable that Minato had reached the wrong conclusion.
"Still, when you think about it, that combo is insane…
Just Heavenly Transmission the Third Raikage straight into our camp to blow up the middle, then send the rest of the army charging in… no wonder Konoha's Cloud front got completely wiped out.
A guy whose strength is almost on par with the Eight-Tails appearing right in the middle of camp—who's supposed to defend against that?"
Minato was terrifying, and Flying Thunder God slaughtered "glass cannon" ninja with ease—but Raikage bloodlines never took the normal route. They were among the rare true "tanks" in the shinobi world, berserker brutes whose style naturally countered Minato's high-speed assassin type.
If Minato mowing down ordinary ninja was like cutting grass, then trying the same thing on the Third Raikage was like tickling him. Whether it was a little kunai or a Rasengan, none of it posed any real threat to that Lightning Chakra Mode armor.
Likewise, the Third Raikage had no real way to pin Minato down. But inside a military camp, he didn't need to beat Minato. He just had to rampage freely—killing everyone else—and that alone was enough to plunge the entire camp into chaos.
It was just like the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha in the original history.
Minato wasn't actually afraid of the Nine-Tails. In a fair, isolated fight, he might even have had better odds. After all, besides Flying Thunder God, Minato was a master of sealing jutsu.
But if the two of them really went all out in the middle of Konoha, then by the time the fight was over, the village would basically be a smoking crater.
At the end of the day, someone like Minato who wielded Flying Thunder God was perfect for killing, not for holding a defensive line.
Aside from the Third Raikage, the Cloud's A–B Combo had also come to the front. But compared to the Raikage, Minato's appraisal of them was much lower:
"The A–B Combo is strong, but as long as the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki doesn't fully transform into the complete Tailed Beast form, I should be able to hold both of them off by myself."
"So right now," someone summarized, "our only true problem is the Third Raikage?"
"But even knowing all his intel, actually dealing with him doesn't seem easy at all, does it?"
"Is that guy really even a ninja? I heard the Third Raikage once fought the Eight-Tails in close combat. He's basically a compact tailed beast, right?"
The jōnin in the tent discussed it for a while, then turned as one to look at the two people in the room who might be able to match such a monster—Uchiha Feiyu and Orochimaru.
Feiyu noticed their stares and immediately raised both hands in a "don't look at me" gesture, going full salted-fish mode:
"Don't look at me…
The foundation of my White Fang sword style is Lightning Release stimulation. Even Hatake Sakumo, using this approach, was a whole level below the Third Raikage. I'm even worse off than he was."
"If I run into the Third Raikage, I definitely can't beat him. I might be weaker than Minato against that guy. At least Minato's Flying Thunder God is faster than him; I might not even be able to match his speed. If I bump into him, even escaping might be hard!"
Watching his "cheap disciple" push all responsibility away this cleanly, Orochimaru's molars itched. Unfortunately, he didn't have Feiyu's shamelessness, and as the overall commander of the Konoha force, he couldn't very well be the first one to say "we can't win" or this battle really would be over before it began.
Seeing all the other ninja in the tent staring at him with hopeful eyes, Orochimaru felt his scalp go numb. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and say:
"Fine… once we reach the battlefield, I'll do my best to keep the Third Raikage occupied."
Whether he could actually hold the man off was another matter altogether.
But Orochimaru had more life-saving methods than most could dream of. Even if he couldn't defeat the Third Raikage, he was very confident that his own life would not be in danger.
If not for that, with how much he valued his own skin, he would never risk himself for the sake of "keeping up appearances." He only agreed because he knew that, while the Raikage was terrifying in a straight fight, it was very difficult for him to truly threaten someone like Orochimaru, who possessed a vast arsenal of forbidden jutsu.
"Excellent. In that case, all our problems are solved. Let's all go get some sleep—we'll probably reach the battlefield tomorrow!"
Uchiha Feiyu clapped his hands lightly and spoke with a bright smile, leaving everyone else exchanging looks.
Orochimaru sighed helplessly.
"We haven't solved half of our problems, and you're already talking about going to bed?"
"Besides… if I am holding off the Third Raikage and Minato is tying down the A–B Combo, who exactly are you planning to fight tomorrow?"
Feiyu chuckled.
"Fight who? I'll just kill Cloud ninja, whoever's in front of me. As long as the Third Raikage and the A–B Combo don't come knocking, my kill rate won't be much slower than Minato's."
Orochimaru nodded. He didn't argue.
Uchiha Feiyu liked picking on soft targets and avoiding hard ones, but in one respect he absolutely surpassed Minato—and even most other Konoha jōnin.
He was ruthless enough.
If it hadn't been for the shock of Konoha's disastrous defeat, and his desire to delay Cloud's advance into the Land of Fire, Minato would never have slaughtered eight hundred enemy ninja in three days.
For Feiyu, on the other hand, as long as his power was sufficient, even if you asked him to wipe out the entire Hidden Cloud Village, he wouldn't so much as blink. He might even be in a pretty good mood while doing it.
Within the whole of Konoha, aside from Uchiha Feiyu, there were probably only Orochimaru himself and Shimura Danzō who had that kind of cold-blooded psychological profile.
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