Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya fell into Roshi and Han's trap and were now surrounded by Roshi, Han, and three Iwa Ninja Jonin.
Since Roshi and Han, as Jinchuriki, intended to participate in the battle, they would pose a great threat to the Konoha Ninja in the Land of Grass. Therefore, Minato Namikaze decided to try and stop Roshi and Han here.
Minato Namikaze threw two Flying Thunder God Kunai at Roshi and Han respectively.
The armor on Han was not ordinary armor but a specially made steam armor, capable of unleashing powerful force through steam bursts.
Because of this, Han earned the title'Steam Ninja'.
Han used Chakra to unleash steam through the holes in his steam armor, directly blowing away Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Kunai.
The Flying Thunder God Kunai thrown at Han was blown away by steam, while the Flying Thunder God Kunai thrown at Roshi was already extremely close to him.
However, Minato Namikaze did not use the Flying Thunder God Technique to instantly move to the Flying Thunder God Kunai's location.
This was because Roshi was covered in magma-like flames, clearly a defense against Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique for close-range sneak attacks.
Roshi quickly formed hand seals.
"Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Technique!"
Multiple magma balls shot out from Roshi's mouth, attacking Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya.
Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya dodged them by flashing aside.
These magma balls had immense power, and ordinary Ninjutsu could not withstand them at all.
After Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya dodged, the magma balls hit the ground.
The ground immediately exploded into a large pit, and magma splattered everywhere, igniting all the surrounding trees.
Han moved at this moment.
Han utilized the steam armor on his body to unleash incredibly fast speed, charging towards Jiraiya, and delivering a flying kick to Jiraiya.
Due to Han's extreme speed, Jiraiya could only cross his arms to block.
Han kicked Jiraiya's arms, sending Jiraiya flying.
Jiraiya did a 360-degree spin in the air, landed gracefully, and patted the footprints on his arm: "Not bad at all."
However, Jiraiya was not as relaxed as he appeared; that kick from Han earlier had made the muscles in Jiraiya's arms tremble slightly, and they were certainly bruised.
Han snorted, "Jiraiya, can you only talk tough?"
Han once again utilized his steam armor, charging towards Jiraiya with incredible speed.
Roshi's gaze also turned towards Jiraiya.
In Roshi and Han's eyes, although Minato Namikaze was their primary target to eliminate in their mission, compared to Jiraiya, Jiraiya was the one they wanted to deal with first.
After all, Jiraiya was a Ninja from their era; in their view, Minato Namikaze was just a fledgling rookie.
Roshi intended to team up with Han to deal with Jiraiya, then let the three Iwa Ninja Jonin handle Minato Namikaze.
Just as Roshi was about to charge forward, a uniquely shaped Kunai embedded itself not far in front of him.
In an instant, Minato Namikaze appeared in a cool pose at the Kunai's location, looking at Roshi with overflowing fighting spirit: "Your opponent is me!"
Minato Namikaze threw several Flying Thunder God Kunai towards Roshi, then instantly moved to one of the Flying Thunder God Kunai, thrusting it towards Roshi's neck.
With a "ding" sound.
Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Kunai failed to pierce Roshi's neck, as if it had struck hard rock.
Roshi swung his arm, smashing towards Minato Namikaze.
Minato Namikaze instantly moved to another Flying Thunder God Kunai, skillfully dodging Roshi's attack.
Minato Namikaze looked at the Flying Thunder God Kunai in his hand, a part of which had melted from the high temperature, and frowned deeply.
Roshi had been continuously activating his Lava Release Chakra Mode, with high-temperature lava coiling around his entire body. Anything it touched would melt, and it also enhanced his defense. The Lava Release Armor possessed both offensive and defensive capabilities.
Roshi's mobility was not strong, but aside from mobility, he was all-around: high defense, high attack, and his Lava Release Ninjutsu had an extremely wide attack range.
If Minato Namikaze couldn't break through Roshi's defense, no matter how fast he was, he wouldn't be able to do anything to Roshi.
However, Minato Namikaze had to stop Roshi and the other three Iwa Ninja; he couldn't let Roshi harass Jiraiya, and then he needed to find an opportunity to cooperate with Jiraiya.
Minato Namikaze continuously used the Flying Thunder God Technique, instantly moving to harass and prevent Roshi from approaching Jiraiya.
Roshi was also greatly annoyed by Minato Namikaze's harassment and wanted to release Ninjutsu to attack Minato Namikaze, but Minato Namikaze's speed was too fast; as soon as the Ninjutsu was released, Minato Namikaze was already gone.
The other three Iwa Ninja Jonin continuously used Earth Release Ninjutsu to alter the terrain, harassing Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya.
Minato Namikaze was not much affected, but Jiraiya was not as comfortable.
After Han kicked Jiraiya away earlier, he once again burst out steam to increase his speed and kicked towards Jiraiya.
Jiraiya used Ninja Art: Needle Jizo, hardening his silver long hair with Chakra and wrapping it around his entire body.
If Han dared to kick over, his foot would be pierced through.
However, Han's steam armor was incredibly tough; kicking Jiraiya's hardened, sharp hair had no effect at all.
"Needle Hell!"
Jiraiya launched his hardened hair like senbon, firing them densely towards Han.
The steam armor on Han's body erupted with intense steam, blowing away the hardened hair Jiraiya had shot out.
Jiraiya took the opportunity to distance himself from Han.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
The instant Jiraiya created distance, he formed hand seals, held Chakra-refined oil in his mouth, and while spitting it out, used Fire Release Ninjutsu to ignite it, blasting it towards Han as a Flame Bullet.
The holes on the left side of Han's steam armor erupted with steam, propelling Han rapidly to the right, dodging Jiraiya's Flame Bullet.
In the intervals of their back-and-forth offense and defense, Jiraiya glanced at Minato Namikaze's side.
Minato Namikaze was holding back Roshi, but it was just holding him back. As long as Roshi maintained his Lava Release Chakra Mode, it would be very difficult for Minato Namikaze to inflict effective damage on him.
However, while holding back Roshi, Minato Namikaze managed to kill one Iwa Ninja Jonin.
Roshi now finally understood why the mission emphasized prioritizing Minato Namikaze. Although he could withstand Minato Namikaze's attacks, that was because he had Lava Release and also had an endless supply of Chakra from his Tailed Beast to maintain his Lava Release Chakra Mode, making it impossible for Minato Namikaze to find an opening.
Other Ninja facing Minato Namikaze's speed were simply no match; they couldn't even release Ninjutsu before being killed.
Even if the other two Iwa Ninja Jonin helped, it wouldn't be of much use, and they might very likely be killed by Minato Namikaze.
So Roshi told them to retreat further and not approach easily, to prevent Minato Namikaze from unexpectedly killing them.
Roshi's eyes were grave, filled with killing intent as he looked at Minato Namikaze not far away. This Minato Namikaze posed too great a threat to their Iwa Ninja; he had to find a way to kill Minato Namikaze!
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