A certain famous individual, who remained strong-willed despite his missing limbs, once said: Humankind cannot gain anything without sacrifice. But when one overcomes that pain, they will obtain a strong heart that never yields... a Fullmetal heart.
In a sense, the person who said this could be considered Hagoromo's cousin. But facts proved that this cousin was wrong. In most cases, even if a person makes a sacrifice, they won't gain anything.
Right now, Hagoromo could be described as refusing to leave the frontlines despite being heavily wounded. He was the very model of an aspiring young man working through his injuries without abandoning his post. Although the reason for his injury... well, regardless, this had to count as a workplace injury. Konoha would reimburse his medical expenses.
There was a tragic yet heartwarming fact: Konoha had health insurance... Thanks to Tsunade's advocacy, Konoha possessed a good medical system.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Minato asked Hagoromo again. After all, the boy looked like he was going to drop dead in the next second. Would verbally giving himself a few extra seconds of life actually work?
"No problem, but I'll leave the timing and distance completely to you, Minato-senpai," Hagoromo replied.
Speaking of which, unlike the original possessor of this ability who came with her own teleporting sidekick, Hagoromo had never coordinated with anyone else before. Therefore, his most important priority right now wasn't whether he could heavily injure the Eight-Tails, but to be a bit more careful, a bit more cautious, and a bit more insulated... and absolutely not electrocute Minato.
From Hagoromo's personal experience, ninjas were equally incapable of withstanding high-voltage electricity. When electrocuted, they would burn just the same, charring well-done just the same. They were no different from ordinary people in that regard.
Minato nodded, then shouted toward a spot not far away, "Choza, Shibi!"
Hearing Minato's voice, the two men, who were fighting two against four, swiftly forced their enemies back and turned to glance at Minato.
Minato signaled them with a hand gesture. Naturally, the two understood its meaning. Glancing at Hagoromo, who looked like he was putting on a piece of avant-garde performance art, they agreed that it was indeed time to retreat. The two nodded, indicating they understood.
In reality, the pressure they were under wasn't too immense, especially with Shibi Aburame's insect clouds providing continuous crowd control.
For his standard Railgun, Hagoromo's maximum rate of fire was eight rounds per minute, or sixteen rounds if dual-wielding.
However, due to electromagnetic interference and charging time, even when dual-wielding, he fired from both hands simultaneously, so the time interval remained the same. His first attack might be slightly faster, but from the second shot onward, considering the interval between rapid fires, the entire process of discharging, recharging, aiming, firing, and calibrating took over seven seconds.
If he blind-fired at his absolute limit, the speed might increase, but accuracy would plummet.
This was, after all, an ultimate move with maximum damage output; instant casting was genuinely impossible. No matter how much he compressed the time, it still required at least five seconds. When dealing with ordinary ninjas, the opponent might not even be able to weave a single hand sign in five seconds. But against ninjas like 'A' or Minato, five seconds might as well be a year.
Having decided on a retreat strategy, Choza and Aburame began converging, closing the distance between themselves. Meanwhile, Hagoromo had already extended one arm, clenching his fist to aim as arcs of electricity sparked across his limb.
Blood loss wouldn't temporarily affect his ability to use his powers. However, the oxygen consumption required by his brain's high-frequency processing during calculations was enough to worsen his current condition. Outwardly, this manifested as his face turning even paler, and within that pallor, there was a tinge of black.
Was it the aura of death? Was this coming of death?
Hagoromo's target was the Eight-Tails. It was the primary target to begin with, and given its massive size, who else would he aim at?
"B, this isn't good. That jutsu of his... I feel like I'm being targeted by a lethal threat." "Relax, Eight-O. Bro won't let him fire it." The Tailed Beast and its Jinchuriki were playing at telepathy.
From the start of the clash until now, 'A' had already memorized the locations of all of Minato's Flying Thunder God coordinates. No matter where his opponent instantly appeared after dodging his attack, 'A' could immediately launch a second strike—a fatal second strike.
The lightning in Hagoromo's hand grew brighter and brighter. He signaled to Minato that he was ready. Minato supported Hagoromo with his right hand while drawing another Flying Thunder God kunai with his left. Naturally, 'A' wasn't going to let Hagoromo get his way. Anyone could sense the threat of the thing in his hand, so 'A' preemptively launched an attack!
His fist appeared right before Minato's eyes once more.
It was the exact same routine as the previous strike, but the difference was that 'A' was ready to launch a second attack at any moment. No matter where Minato appeared, only death awaited him... assuming 'A' truly knew where he would appear. However, while Minato did indeed vanish from 'A's sight, he didn't appear anywhere within 'A's field of vision!
A person's vision always has blind spots, and in such extreme combat, there obviously wasn't time for 'A' to look around in a full circle. Unfortunately, he didn't have eyes on the back of his head, but that was a flaw in human anatomy, not a problem with 'A'.
There was one Flying Thunder God coordinate formula that 'A' absolutely had not discovered, because that formula was on his own back—branded there when Minato launched his very first attack against him. So now, Minato appeared right behind him.
The Flying Thunder God had indeed been activated, yet Minato, carrying Hagoromo, had only teleported a single body length away.
A single body length—that was the distance between life and death. In reality, it was entirely possible to instantly kill 'A' at this moment. While Minato couldn't break his defense, it would be a simple task for Hagoromo. Unfortunately, the big picture demanded that this future Raikage be kept alive.
Minato used the Flying Thunder God to appear behind 'A', then immediately threw the kunai in his hand straight toward the Eight-Tails. In the next instant, the two of them appeared right in front of the Eight-Tails. Less than five meters in front of Hagoromo's "muzzle" was that ox-horned head. Phase One of the Flying Thunder God linked into Phase Two—a hyper-speed surprise attack that even the combination of the Eight-Tails and its Jinchuriki couldn't react to.
Anyone who plays competitive games tends to pick up a habit of going for headshots, especially when the head is this massive... Hagoromo finally experienced firsthand what it meant to be hard-carried by a pro.
He just didn't know if the Eight-Tails and its Jinchuriki would actually die from a headshot. Anyway, Shukaku had been shot full of holes back then and turned out fine. Regardless... Railgun, fire.
But Hagoromo was overthinking it. Although the Eight-Tails didn't have time to react, there was, after all, another god of speed present on this small battlefield. 'A' closely followed Minato's footsteps, leaping high into the air in front of the Eight-Tails' chest. Because Hagoromo needed time to charge his shot, 'A's fist viciously slammed into the Eight-Tails' chest first.
He wasn't harming it; he was saving it. Worthy of a man who could brawl hand-to-hand with a Tailed Beast, the Eight-Tails was instantly knocked away. And only then did Hagoromo's attack arrive, slightly "late to the party."
Because of the Eight-Tails' displacement, its head had already shifted off-target, while the Railgun had already been fired. This misalignment resulted in Hagoromo only hitting the Eight-Tails' shoulder.
A massive chunk of octopus flesh instantly exploded outward. A spherical, clean-through hole was blasted between the Eight-Tails' shoulder and neck. Its head and arm seemed to be attached to its body by only a single layer of skin and flesh.
Ultimately, he didn't achieve his intended result. Although there was no time to conduct an accurate damage assessment right now, it seemed that no matter what, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki wouldn't be able to move freely for quite some time.
Based on chakra alone, all tailed beasts were chakra monsters, but the Eight-Tails was unique among them: it was exceptionally fleshy. Therefore, many people had sliced it before, and sliced it quite effortlessly.
Minato only took one glance before instantly teleporting from mid-air to stand in front of Choza and Shibi. He then placed his left hand on Choza's right shoulder, while Hagoromo placed his right hand on Shibi's left shoulder. And then, to the absolute shock of the Hidden Cloud ninjas... First, the Eight-Tails had seemingly been taken down, and right after, the Konoha ninjas vanished without a trace.
This was the Flying Thunder God. Regardless of how the battle actually went, when it came to making a clean getaway, no one could stop Minato.
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