"Come out! Guillotine Drop!"
A raised his body high and performed a powerful downward kick, crashing heavily to the ground!
With a thunderous boom, the ground beneath A's feet, spanning tens of meters, cracked open, and Kaito's figure leapt out from the rubble!
"Lightning Straight!"
A pushed his lightning chakra mode to the extreme, his body flashing and vanishing in an instant. He didn't give Kaito a chance to react, appearing before him in the blink of an eye and delivering a powerful punch!
"Instant!"
Kaito's expression turned serious as flames erupted beneath his feet, and his body shot upwards in an instant!
Now's my chance!
A's eyes gleamed, and with a flash of brilliance, he pulled back the punch he had almost fully thrown, changing his attack mid-strike!
"Thunder Dance Chidori!"
A leapt high into the air, his hands crackling with electricity, forming a lightning blade!
Kaito's instantaneous movement was limited to a straight-line trajectory, which meant that once A closed the distance and he took his first step, Kaito couldn't alter his path before his second step!
This one moment could determine the outcome of the battle!
Boom!
A's electrified hand slammed into Kaito's waist, but to his surprise, no blood splattered as expected!
Kaito's figure once again exploded into a ball of flames!
"Fire Clone?!" A was momentarily stunned, but quickly dismissed the idea: "Impossible! This has to be his real body!"
Though Kaito exploded into flames again, this time the sensation was entirely different from before when it had been a fire clone!
And this time, even though Kaito's form exploded into flames, these flames showed no sign of dissipating; instead, his hand was trapped within them!
A trusted his instincts.
"Is it an illusion?"
A recalled Kaito's identity.
The Uchiha clan was notorious for its mastery of genjutsu. Their Sharingan could trap opponents in illusions with just one direct gaze!
This game-changing ability even led to the saying in the ninja world: "When facing an Uchiha ninja one-on-one, always flee!"
While not an absolute rule, it certainly spoke to the power of the Uchiha's genjutsu!
After all, in battle, it was inevitable that your eyes would meet your opponent's!
In a one-on-one battle, a momentary lapse could lead to falling into genjutsu and being completely at their mercy!
But in a multi-against-one situation, Uchiha ninjas couldn't cast illusions on everyone at once—other ninjas could work together to break free, giving them a chance to win!
This was also one of the reasons why Kaito had left the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, to Minato!
While the Uchiha's Sharingan was a natural counter to tailed beasts, Killer Bee was a perfect Jinchuriki, which made him a formidable two-person team. It reduced the effectiveness of Kaito's genjutsu significantly!
A had never let his guard down when it came to Kaito's genjutsu. From the beginning of the battle, he had avoided looking directly into Kaito's eyes, focusing solely on his movements!
But if that's the case, when did I fall into an illusion?
If it's not an illusion, then how do I explain what's happening in front of me?
"This is elementalization!"
Just as A was deep in thought, Kaito's voice, with a hint of magnetism, whispered into his ear!
A instinctively turned his head, and his eyes met a pair of blood-red Sharingan!
Crap!
A's heart sank as his body froze, and in the next moment, his consciousness was trapped in a black-and-red void, his body nailed in mid-air by several large iron spikes, unable to move!
"Genjutsu: Shackles!"
Back in the real world, Kaito's form slowly solidified, pressing his hand against A's head to enhance the genjutsu's hold!
As expected, if you want to capture your enemy alive, genjutsu is the most useful tool!
From the moment A used his Guillotine Drop to convert his power into speed, Kaito had realized that A had caught onto part of his Fire Release chakra mode!
From the beginning, Kaito had no intention of killing A. He only aimed to capture him alive.
So, when A thought he had figured out Kaito's abilities and let his guard down, Kaito used elementalization to disrupt A's thoughts and seized the opportunity to cast an illusion!
Elementalization was a technique that transformed the body into natural elements, rendering it immune to attacks!
This ability was granted to Kaito by the Blaze-Blaze Fruit.
In the world of One Piece, natural-type Devil Fruits were considered nearly unbeatable!
Only those who had mastered Haki could touch the physical form of a natural-type Devil Fruit user. Those who couldn't use Haki weren't even qualified to fight them! (Note: the protagonist is an exception!)
Even when facing Haki masters, a natural-type Devil Fruit user could preemptively elementalize their body to evade incoming attacks!
Maybe because both Haki and chakra stem from physical power, Kaito found that elementalization didn't protect him from attacks that contained chakra!
But it was still useful for dodging attacks in advance!
Used properly, this ability could decide the outcome of a battle!
Just like now!
Kaito exhaled a long breath and closed his Sharingan, throwing the unconscious A over his shoulder.
In a series of flickers, Kaito took A back to where Minato's team was waiting.
The battle here had already been decided!
With A, the fast-moving ninja, no longer in the way, Minato's abilities were fully unleashed!
In the entire Hidden Cloud squad, the only one who could go a few rounds with Minato was Killer Bee. The rest of the Cloud ninjas were no match for him!
Let alone the rest of Minato's team, including Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Chouji, all of whom were elite Leaf Jonin!
With their support, Killer Bee didn't even have time to fully transform into his tailed beast form before Minato sealed him!
"Kaito!"
Minato and the others immediately noticed Kaito's arrival.
"I've temporarily controlled him with genjutsu, but for safety's sake, you should seal off his chakra!"
Kaito dropped A to the ground and said to Minato.
"Got it!"
Minato nodded, quickly forming seals with his hands, and five chakra flames ignited on his five fingers!
"Five Elements Seal!"
Minato crouched down and slapped his palm onto A's belly, leaving five hook-shaped symbols on his abdomen that sealed off his chakra!
Minato wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up. "I used too much chakra to seal Killer Bee, so for now, I can only use the Five Elements Seal to disrupt his chakra flow!"
"While the Five Elements Seal can't completely sever his connection to his chakra, he won't be able to perform any jutsu now!"
"That's enough!" Kaito nodded and said, "We'll add the final restraints once we return to the village!"
"With that, the war will be over!"
Kaito said, a slight smile forming on his face. Minato and the others also looked relieved.
This war had lasted nearly eight years, and it was finally coming to an end!