[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Sea, Year 42.
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Another part of Kiri's forces was destroyed the next moment, as the explosion consumed yet another section of the fleet's ships.
"Damn it! How did we let this happen again?!" the Mizukage shouted, watching more ninjas jump into the water to try to find Minato again, right after the explosion ended.
"My lord, we didn't find anything! He disappeared. I think it was just a clone. What should we do, Mizukage-sama?!" one of the ninjas said, bringing a report.
The Mizukage clenched his teeth and looked at the ships. He had already lost almost 20% of his strength before even reaching the Uzumaki. How could they continue like this?!
"Listen, everyone! I want all ships separated from each other and to keep a safe distance, so the enemy will have a harder time attacking us again, understood?!" he shouted, as he began to move the ship, ordering the others to spread out, making it harder for any other attack like that jutsu to hit them.
The other fleets didn't fare any better than Kiri's fleet, while Minato had an even easier time fighting on the water due to the lack of so many talented water-style users.
Suna lost approximately 23% of its forces, Iwa lost 18%, and Kumo lost 20%.
Because he had more advantage over the other fleets, Minato managed to sustain his clone long enough to emerge from the water after launching the Rasenshuriken. He quickly engaged in battle above the water with all the ninjas attacking him the moment he appeared, continuously striking his enemies one by one as he advanced from ship to ship, attacking any Kiri ninja while they shouted curses at him and tried to kill him.
But even for a clone, he was far superior to ordinary ninjas.
In Iwa, everyone immediately saw Minato Namikaze using the remaining chakra he had left, continuing to attack one by one, leaping into the air after escaping an enemy jutsu, drawing his simple sword, channeling chakra into it, and taking position to use the same Kenjutsu he had used against Kiri.
Once ready, he unleashed a slash that shot through the ships, blowing one of them apart and shattering it into countless pieces, while men screamed, some being cut down and killed before they could even make a sound, falling into silence.
Some immediately moved away from the affected area, trying not to meet the same fate as their comrades.
Minato's sword began to crack at that moment, being just a simple weapon like all the ones the clones had taken. He prepared to defend against the next attacks as he was falling through the air, but before he could do anything, the space around him began to shine, forming a cube of light.
Despite the situation he was in, he only sighed—he didn't show anger or grit his teeth, he simply accepted his fate, for he no longer had chakra to teleport and escape. His gaze only rested on the one who had cast the jutsu—an Oonoki floating in the air, glaring at him with rage before activating his jutsu midair.
The next moment, the Tsuchikage activated the jutsu and the entire space within the cube shone brightly. Minato should have been turned to dust when the light dissipated, and there was no longer any sign of the clone.
The Tsuchikage kept his gaze fixed in midair, checking if Minato had truly vanished.
"That was a clone…" he muttered in frustration. "It was just a clone…" He clenched his teeth, realizing that all his efforts and losses had been caused by nothing more than a copy of Minato.
"Stay alert! Don't let him launch another attack!" the Third Tsuchikage shouted to the troops.
On Suna's fleet, Minato was dodging golden sand on one of the ships, while several other puppets were raised by other ninjas, firing contaminated trackers. He tried to evade them, using mainly the simple sword to defend himself from the attacks.
"Damn brat! You'll pay for what you did to the Kazekage!" one of the ninjas snarled.
"You should've thought about that before thinking you could ambush me in your desert. You're too foolish if you think I started all this. Remember: it was you. So don't play dumb!" Minato said calmly, dodging another attack like a rain of kunai; he quickly swung his arm with the sword, deflecting all of them and moving out of their path.
While he was in the air, the Golden Sand finally reached him, grabbing his feet. He quickly slashed it with his sword, but many grains still clung to his leg and pulled him down before he could react. Without all his abilities active, the clone was soon captured, being covered by sand and enclosed in the infamous sand coffin. Rasa extended his hand toward him, furious.
"You will die here, Minato, for what you did to Suna's former Kazekage…" Rasa said, spitting out the words in rage. "I know you're just a clone, but listen to my words and pass them to your original!" he finished, tearing out the words with frustration.
"You've achieved nothing, Suna. If this is what you expected to accomplish with your attack on Uzushiogakure, the only thing you'll find is the death of all of you!" Minato replied, still covered in sand, staring at Rasa.
"Say that after we've finished all of you!" the next moment, Rasa clenched his hand, and the sand tightened until the man exploded into smoke.
"He was just a clone after all…" one of Suna's men looked at his fallen comrades scattered across the ships — and there were also those who had simply turned to dust amidst the explosion.
"Remember! Never doubt our strength!" another older man replied to the young member of Sunagakure.
Rasa was frustrated; that certainly didn't help the morale of his men, who were becoming increasingly shaken.
"Listen — we won't let just one enemy attack shake us. Stay alert! Now, strengthen our defenses on the sea, we can't allow him to keep launching these attacks. Separate the ships!" Rasa exclaimed, trying to boost morale and contain the damage caused by Minato's attacks.
Minato looked to the side after leaving more than twelve Kumo ninjas dead to the north, before being hit directly by an enemy's punch; there was an explosion of smoke, and the Raikage himself, cloaked in his mantle, emerged from the clone's smoke before landing on the deck of one of the ships, gazing in frustration at the turbulent sea caused by the Rasenshuriken explosion that had gone off underwater before Minato appeared in the air to face more and more ninjas still recovering from the last Rasenshuriken attack.
"Separate the ships as well!" exclaimed the Raikage, who had the same idea as the others, in case Minato appeared again launching more attacks like the previous ones; that way, the damage would be smaller with the ships spread farther apart.
Even so, all four fleets maintained their position ahead; now that they were there, they couldn't retreat, so they placed several ninjas in the sea to protect the ships, where they had the advantage. All three fleets, except Kiri's, made efforts with some water- and even earth-style users helping with the defense, giving them a better chance in underwater combat.
Meanwhile, explosions continued echoing everywhere, and the people of Uzushiogakure heard the sounds from afar, still with no ships appearing on the horizon.
"Minato's giving them a hard time, dattebane!" Kushina said excitedly, clenching her fist with a bright smile as she looked out at the sea from the top of one of the abandoned houses in the Uzumaki clan's village. There were no civilians or people unable to fight besides Uzu's ninjas, as everyone else had been kept in hiding, waiting for the place to soon become a battlefield.
"At this rate, he'll defeat all four nations that face him," said Mikoto, also smiling, her dark eyes fixed on the sea, waiting for the enemy to come.
"I don't think so, Mikoto…" Kushina replied, now looking at her with a more serious tone. "Minato isn't omnipotent. He just launched eight Rasenshurikens in such a short time, Mikoto. You know that must be exhausting, even with the enormous amount of chakra he has and with the help of Sage Mode. Still, he needs to use his mental focus each time he casts that jutsu," Kushina explained.
"But we can't let Minato do all the work. We're his companions, and the thousands of Uzumaki are also here to protect their land. We'll do our part — we can't leave everything to Minato," added the Uzumaki.
"Beautiful words," murmured Mikoto, landing near them as she watched Tsuna approach, the blonde seeming to have heard their conversation.
"You're right. Minato can't do everything alone — that's why we're here, isn't it?" said the brunette, and the two nodded in agreement.
"Where's Hanabi?" Mikoto asked.
"She's making the final preparations with the wind users."
At that moment, they felt a distortion in space at the center of the village: Minato appeared.
He quickly spoke with the clan leader, reporting what his clones had done and what they had seen so that the leadership would be informed. After speaking with the leader, he went over to where his girls were.
"Hello, Minato's clone," Kushina said, looking at him, already knowing he wasn't her original Minato.
"Hello, lovers of my original," said the clone with a smile.
"Lovers? No one here is a lover except that Uchiha…" Tsuna grumbled, huffing.
"Well, I may not be the original, but I know his intentions. After all this chaos, when everything's over, you'll all marry him, won't you? So it won't be long," the clone shrugged.
"I hope so," admitted Kushina, blushing, while Tsuna crossed her arms and Mikoto touched her belly carrying Minato's first child.
"Anyway," the clone continued, "I managed to reduce the enemy forces to four-fifths, but I can't keep launching S-rank jutsus as frequently now as I did with the Rasenshuriken… It won't be as efficient and will be even more exhausting. As long as they don't discover all the sea seals and the seals we placed on the stones ourselves, I'll keep sending clones to delay them. My original is still monitoring the situation from the sky, and I'll remain there until I have to act."
"Minato doesn't need to do everything. All the forces are here to fight together, aren't we?" said Mikoto.
"I know, but my original wants to ease as much of the pressure as possible when they begin to approach the island." Minato's clone turned his attention forward, as the three women also looked ahead.
The ships were beginning to appear one after another rapidly, forming lines. And it wasn't just there — in every direction they looked, all the Uzumaki to the north, south, east, and west could see the vessels approaching.
All the enemy ninjas had hatred in their eyes and even greater fury for having lost so many comrades — the four nations advanced with the full strength of their fleets. They wanted revenge. After what Minato had done, none of them could accept losing their men without even managing to stop the culprit.
"Be ready! All teams!" shouted Masaki Uzumaki in the center of the village, as several leaders began to approach him.
"Well, I have to prepare the Uzumaki for the water jutsu," said Tsuna, leaving the area, while only Mikoto, Kushina, and the clone remained. But the clone was already preparing to depart as well.
"I'll be going then. The original will send messages through the clones if you need anything. Meanwhile, he's up there, watching everything from the sky," the clone said before disappearing.
Meanwhile, the original Minato continued observing from the sky just as the clone had said. He could see the four fleets of ships drawing closer and closer to Uzushiogakure.
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