Konoha's next generation had truly come into its own.
Watching from the corner of her eye, Chiyo was filled with a mixture of shock and bitter resentment. There was Minato, who had only just mastered the Flying Raijin yet was already weaving the technique and his tactics together seamlessly to toy with a Jonin. Then there was Hatani, with his bizarre ability to absorb Wind Style and return it in kind.
Konoha had taken significant losses in this war, but look at what had emerged: the White Fang, whose blade had finally flashed with a cold light that intimidated the Three Great Nations; the young Sannin; the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio; and now these two previously unknown Namikaze brothers.
With a constant surge of talented young shinobi, Konoha's future remained secure as the undisputed leader of the Five Great Hidden Villages.
This was precisely why she hadn't opposed the Third Kazekage's shameless decision to tear up a peace treaty less than two weeks after signing it. Konoha's potential for growth was so immense it was almost suffocating.
To protect Suna's future, they had to use the most brutal means possible to snap Konoha's "future" before it could fully manifest.
It was a pity Hatani couldn't read minds, or he would have been tempted to scoff.
Don't you know Konoha has a fine tradition of internal strife? You don't need to throw away your lives trying to stop them; the village elders will do half the work for you in a few years.
"Three Treasure Suction Crush!"
Chiyo, a veteran who had survived the era of the Senju brothers and the prime of Hiruzen Sarutobi, didn't know the decline that awaited the future Leaf. Driven by the resolve to leave Minato and Hatani's corpses here even if she died in the process, she used a combo from her fifth and eighth puppets to briefly force Sakumo back before unleashing her strongest area-of-effect technique.
Puppets number four, six, and nine stood in a triangular formation. A violent tornado erupted out of thin air, exerting a massive suction force designed to drag Minato and Hatani into its center.
Anything caught in the vortex of the Three Treasure Suction Crush lost all control—even puppets being manipulated by chakra threads were rendered useless. A human caught in that gale wouldn't even be able to stand, let alone weave hand seals.
Unfortunately, the Flying Raijin required no hand seals.
Feeling the pull, Minato immediately triggered the jutsu and blinked to Hatani's side. As a dedicated brother, the very first thing he had done upon mastering the technique was place a formula on the Blink Dagger Hatani had given him for practice.
As for Hatani himself, the wind was effectively useless against him.
No matter how violent the tornado appeared, or how much it seemed capable of swallowing the world, the moment the gale touched Hatani, it became as gentle as a soft spring breeze.
Furthermore, Sakumo Hatake wasn't about to let the formation continue its rampage.
With his white tantō wreathed in lightning, Sakumo precisely severed the steel wires of the chain-sickle puppet combo. With another fluid strike, he cleaved through the dual-wielding puppet. Cloaked in crackling electricity, he appeared behind the three puppets forming the vortex in a flash.
Chiyo realized his intent and frantically dispersed the three puppets, narrowly avoiding a lethal strike from Sakumo's blade. However, with the formation broken, the suction vanished.
Flash!
The moment the tornado dissipated, Minato vanished again, reappearing instantly behind the Suna ninja with the fan.
"Damn it! Since when?!"
The ninja's eyes went wide. He had meticulously checked the perimeter and confirmed there were no marked kunai nearby. The bells of impending death rang loud in his mind.
There was no time for seals. In a panic, he partially unfurled his giant fan to use the metal ribs as a makeshift shield for his back.
Clang!
The sound of metal on metal echoed as the fan's frame caught the kunai, though the blade still pierced a hole through the fabric. The man didn't stop to mourn his damaged tool; he immediately used a Body Flicker to retreat.
Hatani, for once, didn't feel frustrated that Minato was "stealing his kill."
Usually, "denying a man's path to gold is like killing his parents," but Hatani's mind was elsewhere. He was pondering a disturbing inconsistency.
Minato had debuted the Flying Raijin on the battlefield only this morning. How did this Suna ambush team already know about it? How had they prepared a counter-strategy so quickly that they nearly caught Minato off guard?
Suddenly, a meta-joke from his previous life flashed through his mind.
In the world of Naruto, if a mysterious jutsu appears, assume Tobirama Senju invented it. If something terrible happens and you don't know who's responsible, just blame Danzo.
That was it. How could he forget the "Scapegoat Shadow"?
But did Danzo really hate him and Minato that much? Or was it...
A bolt of realization struck Hatani like lightning. His eyes widened in pure shock.
"Minato!"
Remembering a specific event from the original timeline, Hatani roared at his brother, who was currently calculating his next move against the fan-user.
"The Hokage! Quick, get to the Third!"
Minato froze for a heartbeat before his pupils contracted in terror. He didn't know if Hatani was just guessing or if his bizarre sensory abilities had picked up a new threat, but he didn't wait to find out. In a flash of yellow, he was gone.
"Sakumo-sama! This is just a diversion! The Third is in danger! Forget these guys!"
Hatani knew Chiyo had already lost three puppets and was struggling to split her focus; there was no way she could pin Sakumo down now. Hatani let out one more roar before activating Windrun and sprinting toward Hiruzen's position.
Sakumo's face turned deathly pale. He abandoned his patient dismantling of Chiyo's puppets and spun on his heel. Wreathed in blue-white lightning, he blurred into a streak of light, racing after Hatani.
Phew...
Watching the three Konoha shinobi vanish in an instant, the fan-wielding ninja let out a long, shaky breath.
Too terrifying.
He had thought that even if they couldn't complete their objective, three Jonin—including Chiyo—could at least stall the Hokage's group for several hours to buy time for the village's main operation. He never expected that despite their prior intel, they would lose a teammate almost instantly to Minato's ghostly speed. He himself had come within a hair's breadth of death.
As for the youngest one... while he wasn't as oppressive as Minato, that eerie ability to absorb ninjutsu was even more unsettling. The unknown was always the greatest source of fear.
Nearby, Chiyo was busy collecting the wreckage of her broken puppets, her heart pounding with a sense of relief.
Sakumo Hatake truly was the "Fang" of the Leaf. The moment she had diverted even a fraction of her attention to the two boys, he had dismantled three of her puppets in succession. If the fight had continued, she might very well have joined her son and daughter-in-law in the Pure Land today.
Yet, amidst her relief, a question nagged at her.
Is there someone else actually handling the assassination of Hiruzen Sarutobi?