Chapter 605: The Great Edo Tensei Battle (part 3)
Minato Namikaze's gaze narrowed!
He wasn't surprised by why Mangetsu Hōzuki acted that way; he didn't need to guess to know that Mangetsu Hōzuki had definitely fallen under a Genjutsu, most likely the work of Obito Uchiha.
What made Minato Namikaze grave was the mistaken feeling he had just experienced.
The sensation in that instant couldn't have been wrong; Mangetsu Hōzuki definitely intended to attack him.
So why did he suddenly abandon the attack on him and choose to commit suicide instead?
Did he anticipate that I would dodge? So he gave up on attacking me?
Minato Namikaze's mind raced. Mangetsu Hōzuki, the Second Mizukage, and Ao had all made errors together.
The killing move from Mangetsu Hōzuki that he had sensed suddenly vanished, replaced by a choice to commit suicide.
Suddenly, Minato Namikaze turned his head to look at Fugaku Uchiha.
"A dōjutsu that can predict the future?" Minato Namikaze muttered to himself.
His first reaction was to notify everyone in the Allied Forces, but after a second thought, he didn't do so.
At this time, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata had also dealt with the four Jinchūriki on the Iwa side.
The four were: Yugito Nii, the previous Two-Tails Jinchūriki, the previous Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, and Ning Minazuki.
By this point, the battle results were that the Iwa side had lost nine Edo Tensei bodies, while the Alliance side had only lost four.
The Alliance side was completely dominant, yet they couldn't find it in themselves to be happy, because Mangetsu Hōzuki had died in battle.
This was the first living person to die on the Alliance side.
Iwa had lost Edo Tensei bodies; no matter how many 'died', it wouldn't hurt them.
But the Alliance had lost a living person, and the future of Kirigakure had dimmed once again.
Just then, the Little Katsuyu on Kakashi's shoulder spoke anxiously, "Hokage-sama, the Second Tsuchikage is ambushing the reserve team."
The reserve team Little Katsuyu mentioned included the Red Eye ninja and many other elite Jōnin of Kiri, mostly Edo Tensei bodies.
Of course, besides the Edo Tensei bodies, there were also some living elite Jōnin from Kiri.
Kakashi looked to the opposite side and found that the Second Tsuchikage, Mū, was clearly still there.
At this moment, Mito Uzumaki, who had also received the notification from the Little Katsuyu on her body, hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard the Second Tsuchikage has a ninjutsu that can split his body."
"He must have split himself in two to fight on two fronts."
After a pause, Mito Uzumaki added, "I heard Tobirama say that after the Second Tsuchikage uses this special fission technique, he will be unable to use Dust Release."
Kakashi recalled for a moment, and indeed, Mū hadn't used Dust Release for a long time.
Mito Uzumaki was right. Aono Shinichi and the others analyzed that someone was monitoring the battle here remotely, so they sent the Second Tsuchikage, Mū, to search for enemies in the surroundings.
Mū possessed the Fission Jutsu, allowing him to leave the battlefield silently without being detected.
Mū also possessed sensory ninjutsu and invisibility capabilities, making him very suitable for reconnaissance.
Sure enough, after circling the area, Mū found the Alliance's elite Jōnin hiding in the dark.
Mū used the Dustless Bewildering Cover to approach the Red Eye ninja from behind.
The Red Eye's dōjutsu was unique, but it didn't include 360-degree vision without blind spots, so he didn't detect the invisible Mū approaching.
Then, he was taken out by Mū in a single strike.
However, Mū didn't know sealing jutsu, so he merely incapacitated the Red Eye ninja.
Originally, after dealing with this Red Eye ninja, Mū intended to return. He didn't think much of the remaining Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Without even their swords, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen weren't considered by Aono Shinichi and the others as bargaining chips that could influence the outcome of the battlefield.
But when Sakura said that the Alliance had sent Kakuzu and the previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Yagura Karatachi, to help, Aono Shinichi changed his mind.
Minato Namikaze and Kakashi didn't come over, which meant the Alliance just wanted to drive Mū away.
They probably considered that Mū could fly and turn invisible, making him difficult to deal with.
Aono Shinichi planned to open up a smaller battlefield here to weaken the Alliance's combat power.
Meanwhile, the battle on the main battlefield didn't ease up because of the departure of Kakuzu and the previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki.
After a brief delay, both sides collided again immediately.
In the melee, Minato Namikaze suddenly used the Flying Thunder God Technique to bring Kakashi to Naruto's side.
Under the puzzled gazes of Kakashi and Naruto, Minato Namikaze extended two fists.
Naruto and Kakashi looked at each other, then also extended their fists to bump against Minato Namikaze's.
The next moment, the three exchanged glances, nodded to each other, and then rushed toward the Iwa side together.
On the other end, Sakura's expression shifted. She used Fugaku Uchiha's dōjutsu to predict the scene a few seconds later.
So, Sakura went with the flow and shifted the target of her Edo Tensei bodies to the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki, Fū, and the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Ao.
Natsuki and Yakumo Kurama controlled very few Edo Tensei bodies now; they were trying their best to cooperate with Sakura.
However, just as Sakura and the others tried to repeat their old trick and use prediction to deal with the Alliance again, a change occurred.
The instant Sakura moved people away, Minato Namikaze also acted.
According to Minato Namikaze's analysis, stopping Fugaku Uchiha's dōjutsu was impossible.
But Minato Namikaze felt that although Fugaku Uchiha's dōjutsu could predict the future, there was one thing it couldn't predict: the dōjutsu itself.
For example, Fugaku Uchiha could see someone's behavior under normal circumstances. However, after seeing this behavior, Sakura would make tactical adjustments.
Fugaku Uchiha could not see this process of Sakura making tactical adjustments.
In other words, Fugaku Uchiha's dōjutsu couldn't judge any actions taken based on these tactical adjustments.
Minato Namikaze's subsequent actions were initiated using Sakura's tactical adjustment as the signal.
This way, they could perfectly avoid Fugaku Uchiha's dōjutsu.
Of course, if Fugaku Uchiha could quickly use his dōjutsu to predict the future again after Sakura acted, that would be a different story.
But Minato Namikaze wasn't worried about this, because by then, even if Fugaku Uchiha saw something, it would be too late for Sakura to deploy troops.
So, seeing the Iwa side make a move, Minato Namikaze suddenly changed direction with Naruto, and the two of them rushed toward the semi-Tailed Beast transformed Kinkaku and Ginkaku together.
Before this, under Kakashi's arrangement, Kushina Uzumaki and Mito Uzumaki were the ones fighting Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
All four were Nine-Tails Jinchūriki (or possessed Nine-Tails chakra), and their fighting styles were similar. Although Kinkaku and Ginkaku were at a disadvantage, they couldn't be taken down easily.
But Minato Namikaze and Naruto suddenly intervened at this moment.
This small battlefield magically turned into a battlefield of six Nine-Tails chakra users.
And at this time, Minato Namikaze and Naruto didn't attack Kinkaku and Ginkaku directly with ninjutsu or Tailed Beast tails.
Both of them communicated with the Nine-Tails inside their bodies simultaneously; they intended to use the Nine-Tails chakra within them to influence the Nine-Tails chakra within Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
This was something Minato Namikaze learned when Yagura Karatachi helped the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Ao, break the Genjutsu earlier.
Seeing this, Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki, who were originally fighting, did the same thing as Minato Namikaze and Naruto.
The next moment, the Nine-Tails chakra inside the four of them combined forces to interfere with Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
Subsequently, the originally thick Tailed Beast chakra cloaks on Kinkaku and Ginkaku immediately began to shake violently.
Almost simultaneously, Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki intensified their attacks.
The two swung their Tailed Beast tails, whipping Kinkaku and Ginkaku ruthlessly.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
After a flurry of strikes, the Tailed Beast chakra on Kinkaku and Ginkaku dissipated like foam in an instant.
Then, Riori Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki acted simultaneously, immediately controlling Tailed Beast chakra to bind Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
Seeing the two restrained, Minato Namikaze stepped forward quickly, preparing to cast a Genjutsu.
Just then, Hinata in the distance suddenly shouted a warning: "Everyone be careful, Lord Second has disappeared!"
Hinata had been keeping an eye on Tobirama Senju's movements. The Third Mizukage, who had been marked with a Flying Thunder God coordinate by Tobirama Senju, had also been staying by her side.
Because only Hinata could restrict Tobirama Senju's Flying Thunder God.
Hearing this, Minato Namikaze paused, pulling out a kunai to guard against Tobirama Senju who might appear at any moment.
But after waiting for two seconds, Tobirama Senju did not appear.
So Minato Namikaze hesitated no longer; he immediately cast a Genjutsu, preparing to finish off Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
The battlefield situation was unpredictable, and the Iwa ninja didn't give him time to hesitate.
Regardless of where Tobirama Senju went, dealing with Kinkaku and Ginkaku was his main task right now.
Besides controlling Tobirama Senju to execute missions, Sakura also moved the people she could mobilize to attack the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki, Fū, and the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Ao.
Among them, Fū was targeted by Hanzō, the Fourth Raikage, and Darui.
A single round of attacks from the three directly dazed Fū.
Hanzō was even more ruthless this time; he directly released the poison of the Salamander from his body.
Hanzō didn't expect the Salamander's poison to kill Fū quickly, but it could at least prevent the living members of the Alliance from approaching to support.
When Sakura and the other two arranged manpower, they focused on the Alliance's Edo Tensei bodies, entangling them so they wouldn't have a chance to act.
Those living humans were left entirely to the Salamander's poison!
Sure enough, seeing this scene, everyone in the Alliance felt a chill in their hearts. The poison in Hanzō's body was something even Hanzō himself feared.
However, the next scene directly exceeded Sakura's expectations. Several living members of Konoha suddenly reached into their ninja tool pouches, took out some antidote pills, and ate them.
After eating them, they didn't forget to give some to the Kiri ninja beside them.
Fū, who was being targeted by Hanzō and the other two, swallowed a handful of antidote pills.
It wasn't the first time Hanzō had used his poison; he had used it once during the Joint Chunin Exams in Konoha.
Therefore, Konoha had long since configured an antidote specifically for it.
So, although the living members of the Alliance were delayed a bit by taking the antidote, they didn't retreat.
After taking the antidote, they extended a helping hand to Fū, just like those Edo Tensei bodies.
At this time, the numbers on both the Iwa and Alliance sides were about the same.
Minato Namikaze and Naruto, four people in total, were dealing with Kinkaku and Ginkaku. On the Iwa side, three people were besieging one, and the remaining number of rescuers and blockers was roughly the same.
However, in terms of average strength of the remaining people, the Alliance side was completely superior.
The strongest three on the Iwa side were the Third Raikage, Mū, and Tobirama Senju.
But the Third Raikage's Edo Tensei had already been dispelled, Tobirama Senju was absent, and the Second Tsuchikage Mū was split in two, unable to exert his full strength.
On the Alliance side, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Hinata could each fight multiple opponents.
Kisame was also stronger than most on the Iwa side.
If the living members of the Alliance had been forced back by Hanzō's poison, Iwa would definitely have the advantage, but unfortunately, Sakura miscalculated here.
The Salamander's poison didn't achieve the expected effect, and the Alliance's rescue efforts far exceeded expectations.
On the Iwa side, Sakura had Itachi Uchiha fight desperately just to stall Sasuke. This was Aono Shinichi's tactic.
Psychological attack. Sasuke might not use his full strength when facing Itachi Uchiha, even if it was just an Edo Tensei body.
For this reason, Sakura appropriately relaxed the suppression on Itachi Uchiha's consciousness, allowing Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke to exchange a few words.
And Sasuke didn't disappoint Sakura. He didn't actually care much about Fū's life or death. Perhaps he knew Iwa was stalling for time, but he still took the bait.
However, this was the only place on the entire battlefield that was favorable to Iwa. The Iwa side had no way to deal with Kakashi and Hinata's offensive.
The Alliance, occupying the advantage, still gave Fū enough support.
Sakura failed to take down Fū, but she wasn't anxious. She had another target: Ao!
Under Sakura's arrangement, there was only one person dealing with Ao: Shisui Uchiha.
Although Shisui of the Body Flicker was strong, it was impossible for him to take down Ao in a short time.
Therefore, the Alliance didn't pay much attention to this battle.
Shisui Uchiha didn't use Genjutsu this time. Like the others, he seemed to be entangling Ao to prevent him from supporting Fū, simply using Body Flicker and Taijutsu to fight Ao.
When everyone's attention was attracted by the battle at Fū's location, the light around Shisui Uchiha dimmed, and three people suddenly appeared.
These three were Tobirama Senju, the other half of Mū, and Kakuzu.
Just then, Kakashi received a message from the slug: Tobirama Senju went to support Mū.
Kakashi was a bit puzzled when he heard this, because right after the slug said this, it added: Tobirama Senju and Mū have already dealt with the previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki.
Kakashi knew Tobirama Senju was formidable, and the previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki and Kakuzu might not be his match.
But this defeat was too fast!
Two against two, how long had it been since Tobirama Senju went over? One was taken out so quickly?
At this time, Minato Namikaze, Naruto, Mito Uzumaki, and Kushina Uzumaki on the Alliance side hadn't even finished Kinkaku and Ginkaku yet.
Bear in mind that Minato Namikaze was using a trick to deal with those two.
Moreover, the previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki had many elite Kiri Jōnin assisting in the battle.
The disadvantage of Kakuzu and the previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki shouldn't have been that obvious.
But soon, Kakashi's confusion was resolved. Little Katsuyu sent accurate news again.
The Edo Tensei Kakuzu suddenly rebelled. Somehow, he suddenly became uncontrolled.
Kakuzu broke free from the control of the Kiri caster and stabbed the previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki in the back.
The previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki was defenseless and was directly hit by a combination ninjutsu from Kakuzu behind him, suffering heavy injuries on the spot.
Then, with the cooperation of Mū and Tobirama Senju, he was successfully sealed.
Then Tobirama Senju didn't give Kakashi and Minato Namikaze a chance to rescue; he directly finished off the previous Three-Tails Jinchūriki with a Genjutsu.
It turned out that when Kakuzu was absorbed into the Kamui dimension by Obito Uchiha earlier, he was controlled by Shisui Uchiha's Kotoamatsukami.
However, that wasn't the best time for Kakuzu to jump ship immediately. So, according to the plan of Aono Shinichi and the other two, Kakuzu temporarily lurked within the Alliance camp.
Kakuzu didn't act against the controller's requirements.
That hidden controller was also using Edo Tensei to fight for the first time really, and he hadn't encountered a situation like Kakuzu's before.
Although he found it a bit strange, seeing that he could still control Kakuzu to fight as before, he didn't say anything.
However, Kakuzu's rebellion no longer needed Little Katsuyu's notification, because he had already attacked Ao together with Tobirama Senju.
Seeing this, Kakashi couldn't care less about the opponent in front of him, nor about the danger at Ao's location. He flashed and appeared beside Ao.
Kakashi didn't dare to delay; any slower and the Flying Thunder God mark on Ao might be removed.
Tobirama Senju and the others weren't surprised by Kakashi's reinforcement.
As soon as Kakashi appeared, he saw a blade light slashing towards his face. It was Shisui of the Body Flicker's attack.
Kakashi didn't have a chance to take Ao away directly, so he dodged with a flicker.
At this moment, Kakuzu blasted over with several consecutive ninjutsu.
Poor Kakashi; he had just appeared when he was driven away from Ao by a round of aggressive attacks from Shisui Uchiha and Kakuzu.
At this moment, Kakashi suddenly sensed that the Flying Thunder God mark on Ao had vanished.
Then Mū and Kakuzu used long-range ninjutsu to pin down Kakashi, while Tobirama Senju and Shisui Uchiha teamed up to deal with Ao, who was already heavily injured.
And at this time, Minato Namikaze had just finished dealing with Kinkaku and Ginkaku. He just freed his hands to support Ao, but there was no Flying Thunder God mark left.
The others in the Alliance were still entangled in the battlefield where Fū was, some distance away from here.
Seeing that Ao was about to be finished off by Tobirama Senju and Shisui Uchiha.
Suddenly, Tobirama Senju felt a massive suction force on his body.
His body flew uncontrollably towards the direction of the Alliance forces.
He glanced sideways and discovered that the culprit was none other than Hinata.
So Hinata's eyes also had gravitational ninjutsu. She hid it really deep, waiting all this time for him to reveal a flaw?
Seeing Hinata, Sakura, who was controlling Tobirama Senju, suddenly felt something was wrong.
She immediately controlled Tobirama Senju to try and leave using Flying Thunder God, but the next second she panicked.
Because the Flying Thunder God malfunctioned at this instant.
Tobirama Senju struggled all the way, but he was still sucked to Hinata's side.
Seeing this scene, everyone in the Alliance knew the moment to seal the victory had arrived.
All Edo Tensei bodies disregarded everything else and cooperated with Hinata to attack Tobirama Senju.
Realizing the bad situation, the Iwa ninja also took action one after another. They similarly disregarded everything else and launched attacks on the Alliance ninja.
They hoped the Alliance would give up besieging Tobirama Senju to reduce losses.
But the Iwa ninja's plan was destined to fail. Their attacks were directly ignored by the Alliance.
Even when Hiruzen Sarutobi and the White Fang were blown up by Iwa attacks before Tobirama Senju fell, the Alliance didn't change their tactics in the slightest.
Tobirama Senju was only a beat slower than the two of them before he was cut in two by Sasuke's Susanoo.
Then Sasuke immediately cast a Genjutsu on Tobirama Senju. Sasuke's Genjutsu level wasn't high, but with the enhancement of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Tobirama Senju still succumbed.
Under the control of Sasuke's Genjutsu, Tobirama Senju formed the seals to release the Edo Tensei.
This counted as the biggest loss for the Iwa side since the start of the war.
Of course, Iwa didn't come away empty-handed. Knowing the situation was irreversible, Sakura seized the opportunity to have Fugaku Uchiha and Obito Uchiha use Genjutsu to finish off Hiruzen Sarutobi and the White Fang.
It was just that this gain was too small compared to the loss.
Moreover, before Sasuke attacked Tobirama Senju, Itachi Uchiha also had his Susanoo blown apart by him.
Sasuke also followed up with a punch that exploded Itachi Uchiha's body.
However, Itachi Uchiha used Izanagi at the last moment, sacrificing a Mangekyō Sharingan to escape doom.
On the other side, because Tobirama Senju was sucked away, the Iwa plan to besiege Ao also fell through.
Shisui Uchiha alone couldn't kill Ao before Kakashi broke through the support of Mū and Kakuzu.
However, there was also good news. Ao wasn't an Edo Tensei body after all. His injuries were real; he couldn't recover quickly like an Edo Tensei body.
At this moment, although Ao was alive, he had actually lost his combat capability, and the Alliance side still had to distract themselves to take care of him.
After a round of fierce chaotic battle ended, both sides separated tacitly again, planning for a brief standoff.
During the separation process, Kisame immediately ordered his subordinates hiding somewhere through the slug on his body: "Quickly notify the Anbu to release Kakuzu's Edo Tensei."
While the Alliance made moves, the Iwa side wasn't idle either.
Kakashi, who had just fought a dozen rounds with Mū, Kakuzu, and Shisui Uchiha, suddenly heard a voice that was both familiar and strange.
"Kakashi!" The source of the voice was Obito Uchiha.
The voice contained too many emotions: nostalgia, surprise, resentment, and disappointment.
"Obito!" Kakashi responded while turning his head excitedly.
He judged that this voice was definitely uttered by Obito relying on his own will, absolutely not controlled by someone else.
Sure enough, when Kakashi looked at Obito Uchiha, he immediately saw those complex eyes.
Only, the overly focused Kakashi didn't see a huge dark pot beside Obito Uchiha.
Of course, even if Kakashi saw the pot at this time, it would be too late.
Because his body was already flying towards that pot at an extremely fast speed.
While flying over, Kakashi seemed to hear a voice: "Careful, that's the Sage of Six Paths' tool, the Amber Purification Pot."
Before Kakashi could react to what the Amber Purification Pot was, he was sealed by Obito Uchiha.
Among the Sage of Six Paths' tools obtained from Kumo, the only one that caught Ishiro's eye was this Amber Purification Pot.
After Aono Shinichi and the other two carefully studied the functions of the Amber Purification Pot, they felt this thing was very suitable for dealing with Kakashi.
But this thing couldn't be used right at the start. Kakashi had rich combat experience and wouldn't be easily fooled.
They had to wait until he had been fighting for a long time and his attention was diverted elsewhere to use it.
Sure enough, when Kakashi had become accustomed to Obito Uchiha being controlled by others, this sudden move immediately caught him off guard.
This sudden scene directly stunned everyone on the Alliance side.
Even when Kakuzu's Edo Tensei body was dispelled by the caster shortly after, they didn't react.
Kakashi might not be the strongest in the Alliance, but he was the Alliance's de facto commander.
No one expected that Kakashi, who possessed the Flying Thunder God and whose strength allowed him to fight at least three opponents at once, would be dealt with so easily.
And without any warning beforehand!
The Alliance side couldn't accept it, but on the Iwa side, Sakura and the other two weren't surprised at all.
This was originally what they had planned beforehand.
So after Obito Uchiha sealed Kakashi with the Amber Purification Pot, he directly stored the Amber Purification Pot into the Kamui dimension.