Fubuki braced for the impact, her body coiled and ready, but the expected fist never connected.
Instead, a deafening CRACK echoed through the room as something heavy slammed into the stone wall with bone-shattering force.
The fatty's massive frame flew backward like a ragdoll, his head whipping around from the punch. Bones audibly snapped—ribs fracturing under the blow, his shoulder dislocating with a sickening pop.
He hit the wall hard enough to leave a crater in the plaster, then slid down in a heap, eyes rolling back as unconsciousness claimed him. Blood trickled from his split lip and temple, his fat body twitching once before going limp.
Fubuki opened her eyes to see Minato standing beside her, his hand still extended from the punch, chakra faintly crackling around his fist. The Flying Raijin mark on her thigh had flared to life moments earlier, allowing his instantaneous arrival.
His blue eyes were calm but sharp, surveying the scene with the detached efficiency of a man who had seen far worse.
"You know how to make a heroic entrance, don't you?" Fubuki said, a wry smile tugging at her lips despite the tension. She glanced at the unconscious fatty, then back at Minato, relief mixing with admiration in her voice.
Cha Hae-In, still crouched behind Fubuki, stared in wide-eyed confusion. The man had appeared from nowhere—a yellow flash of light, like lightning striking indoors. One moment the fatty was lunging; the next, he was a broken heap against the wall.
Her torn dress clung to her bruised skin, and she instinctively pulled the remnants tighter around her chest and hips, trying to cover the exposed flesh from the earlier assault. Her heart pounded; who was this stranger who had just ended the threat with one casual strike?
Minato's gaze shifted to Cha, taking in her disheveled state—the ripped clothing, the bruises blooming on her arms and legs, the way she shrank behind Fubuki like a cornered animal. Understanding dawned in his eyes. The fatty had been forcing himself on her; Fubuki had intervened to protect the girl.
A flicker of cold anger crossed his face, quickly masked by his usual composure. He recognized the signs of violation all too well from the brutal realities of war and conquest.
Fubuki noticed his lingering look and stepped slightly in front of Cha, her tone firm but not unfriendly. "Look, you're making her uncomfortable."
Minato nodded once, his expression softening just enough.
"Understood. I am going. I still have this castle to conquer." His voice was calm, almost casual, as if storming a besieged stronghold was just another item on his list.
Without another word, he turned and left the room, the yellow flash of his Flying Raijin technique vanishing as quickly as it had come.
Fubuki turned to Cha, her voice gentle but steady. "Let's wait here until everything is dealt with."
Cha's voice trembled as she peeked out from behind Fubuki's protective stance. "What did he mean when he said that he still had to conquer the castle?"
Fubuki's smile returned, this time laced with a hint of pride and dark satisfaction. "Oh, aren't you an intelligent woman? Noticing such things even in your condition." She paused, meeting Cha's wide eyes directly. "It sounds exactly like what you heard. He's going to conquer the castle."
Cha's breath caught. The pieces clicked into place amid her fear and shock. "Is he from the Leaf Village? You have betrayed the Daimyo and helped him in his attack?"
Fubuki's expression didn't waver. "Yeah. He is the leader of that village who has invaded the capital. Yeah, I had."
Minato materialized outside the castle walls in a burst of yellow light, the Flying Raijin seal on Fubuki's thigh still humming faintly in his mind. The air was thick with smoke and the distant screams of battle.
Before him stood his most elite strike team—twelve hand-picked shinobi, masked and cloaked in black, each a master of assassination, infiltration, and silent death.
They were the tip of the spear for this final push, trained to sow chaos in minutes and clear paths for the main army.
Minato's blue eyes swept over them, his voice low and commanding. "The castle is the key. We create a distraction inside—kill as many defenders as possible, fast and quiet where we can, loud where it serves us. Draw their forces inward so our main army can breach the walls and gates. Let's get this over with."
The twelve nodded in unison, their eyes hard with loyalty and bloodlust. They split into three teams of four, melting into the shadows like wraiths. Minato himself joined one team, his speed and Hiraishin making him a force multiplier.
Team 1: The Barracks Wing
The first team slipped through a servant's entrance, using genjutsu to mask their presence as they moved through dimly lit corridors. In the barracks, off-duty Royal Army soldiers slept or gambled, unaware of the invasion creeping closer.
One assassin crept behind a snoring guard, kunai flashing in a precise arc across the throat. Blood sprayed in an arterial arc; the man woke with a wet gurgle, hands clawing at his neck as life drained away in seconds. The body was dragged into a shadow, hidden behind a cot.
Another soldier stirred at the noise. Before he could shout, a second shinobi materialized from the darkness, hand clamped over his mouth while a blade slid between his ribs. The guard's eyes bulged in terror, his struggles weakening as blood bubbled from his lips. "Wh… what…" he gasped before going limp.
The team moved methodically, room by room. A third soldier tried to raise an alarm, but a Wind Style jutsu silenced him mid-shout, a compressed blade of air severing his vocal cords. Bodies piled up—dozens in minutes—creating a trail of corpses that would panic any reinforcements.
The smell of fresh blood and voided bowels filled the air, a grim marker of their passage. One by one, the barracks fell silent, their defenders eliminated before they could organize.
Team 2: The Patrol Corridors
The second team ambushed a roving patrol in a narrow hallway. One shinobi unleashed a subtle genjutsu, making the five guards see phantom enemies in the smoke.
Confusion erupted—"What the hell is that? Allies or foes?"—as they swung at illusions. From the shadows, kunai flew, striking throats and eyes with lethal accuracy.
Blood misted the air; one guard screamed as a blade pierced his lung, collapsing in a heap.
A surviving soldier fought back, swinging his sword wildly. The team countered with coordinated jutsu—a combination of Earth Style to trap his legs in mud and Fire Style to engulf him in flames.
His agonized screams echoed as he burned, the stench of charred flesh joining the chaos. Within moments, the patrol was dead, their bodies left as warnings. The team pressed on, sabotaging a side gate mechanism to allow the main army easier entry.
Team 3: The Central Courtyard and Gates (Led by Minato)
Minato team hit the heart of the defenses. He used Hiraishin to appear behind key officers, Rasengan spheres detonating in explosive bursts that shattered armor and bodies.
One commander was bisected mid-command, his dying scream cut short. The team struck like lightning—silent kills in the shadows, then loud distractions.
To draw forces inward, Minato unleashed a large-scale combination jutsu: multiple shadow clones combined with a massive Fire-Wind vortex that roared through the courtyard, incinerating guards and setting structures ablaze.
The inferno created panic—soldiers screamed as flames consumed them, others fled toward the inner castle, abandoning outer walls. "The enemy is inside! Fall back!" echoed through the halls.
With the gates sabotaged and defenders pulled away, the main rebel army—led by Fugaku's forces from the west—breached the outer defenses. Shinobi and defected Royal soldiers poured in, overwhelming the thinned lines.
Room by room, the castle fell: armories seized, command posts overrun, the Daimyo's remaining loyalists cut down in brutal close combat. Blood slicked the floors; the air filled with the sounds of dying men and the clash of steel.
Minato coordinated from the chaos, his speed allowing him to reinforce weak points. "Press the advantage. The castle is ours by dawn."
By the time the sun threatened to rise, key sections of the castle were under rebel control. The old regime's last strongholds crumbled under the weight of Minato's strategy—distraction, infiltration, and overwhelming force.
Fubuki's preparations inside had aligned perfectly, turning the protected sanctuary into a trap for the old order
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