Under the cover of night, two figures vanished and reappeared in the air, repeating the action.
"Brother Minato, let me handle it. You rest for a bit."
"Alright."
Just as Minato was about to throw another Kunai, Ren raised his hand to stop him. The wings on his back reappeared and flapped, carrying both of them at a steady speed through the night sky.
They had been constantly using Flying Thunder God to travel, and while Minato had a considerable amount of Chakra, saving even a little was better than none, especially since there would be a battle soon.
A quarter of an hour later, Ren's expression suddenly turned serious. Within his sensory range, a large number of Chakra fluctuations had appeared. It seemed they had returned.
Within a few breaths, the two heard a din of shouting and killing approaching from afar. After crossing a hill, what greeted their eyes was a vast plain.
Countless Ninja, wearing different headbands and clothing, were frenziedly attacking enemies around them. Their nerves had grown numb from the constant slaughter, and they mechanically raised their Kunai only to bring them down again.
If injured, they persisted. If they couldn't hold on, they collapsed. They might be rescued in time by a teammate, or they might be struck in a vital spot by a stray Kunai or Shuriken in the next moment.
This was the ever-changing battlefield. You never knew what would happen next; you could only do your best to survive in this meat grinder.
"Let's go, Ren."
As soon as he spoke, Minato suddenly vanished, only to reappear next to a Kunai on the ground, where he promptly cut down an enemy.
"Yellow Flash!"
Minato's reappearance immediately drew many gazes. Even Ay and Killer B, who were in the midst of fierce combat, stopped and shifted their attention to him.
"Lord Minato!"
As soon as Minato landed, a whooshing sound was heard, and Uchiha Ken appeared beside him, his blood-red Sharingan open, looking at the former and speaking respectfully.
His Sharingan wasn't just for show; as soon as the two returned to the battlefield, he sensed their presence and immediately withdrew from his fight to return here.
"You've worked hard, Ken."
Minato nodded slightly to him, then scanned his surroundings before his gaze returned to Ken, and he said in a deep voice.
"Ken, issue the order: retreat!"
Their mission this time was originally to rescue Ren. Now that the objective was complete, there was no need to continue fighting.
"Yes!"
Soon, the Konoha Ninja received the order to retreat and began to disengage from the enemy, regrouping into formation to prepare for withdrawal.
"Hmm? What's going on?"
Meanwhile, as they watched the Konoha Ninja orderly retreating in the distance, Ay and Killer B's moods were not the same.
Because Kumogakure and Konoha had similar objectives this time, and also shared a common enemy, the Cloud Ninja and Konoha Ninja subconsciously combined their strength to deal with the Stone Ninja during the battle.
So now, when Killer B saw the Konoha army retreating, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Under the pincer attack from both sides, their casualties were high. If only the Cloud Ninja remained, their Stone Ninja would instantly feel a great reduction in pressure.
Ay's face, however, grew darker. The strength of the three major armies was roughly similar. Now that Konoha was suddenly retreating, the five thousand Cloud Ninja they had dispatched would simply be unable to break through the Stone Ninja's defenses.
Thinking of this, Ay instantly felt a surge of confusion. Since they had already dispatched a large army here, it must have been to rescue that Ren brat. But now, they were going to turn back even before breaking through the first line of defense. Were they abandoning that brat?
"Damn it!"
After much thought, Ay still couldn't understand. Thinking of his father, who was still deeply surrounded, he instantly felt a surge of exasperation.
In his frustration, he directly transformed into a bolt of lightning and charged out, angrily throwing a punch at Minato in the distance!
"Hmm?"
Ay, in mid-charge, suddenly narrowed his eyes. He saw something fall from the sky onto the ground in front of him, kicking up a large cloud of dust. Before he could even react, a colossal crimson palm swung out from within, colliding with his outstretched fist in mid-air with a resounding crash.
A powerful shockwave emanated from their center, instantly sweeping away the floating dust in the vicinity.
"Hmm?"
Ay retreated, looking at the figure that emerged in front of him, a hint of surprise on his face.
As the dust dissipated, what met his eyes was a monster completely dark red. He subconsciously looked towards its tail, and before he could make out the exact number, the monster's almost tangible Chakra faded away, revealing a human figure.
"Hmm? Why are you here?!"
Seeing the other's face, Ay's eyes widened instantly, and he blurted out in disbelief.
"Tsk, you're really getting worse with age, Ay."
Ren stood up, looking at the ghost-stricken Ay opposite him, and scoffed.
"You bastard!"
Ay didn't bother wasting time now and spoke directly with irritation.
"Where's my father?!"
"How should I know? Go find him yourself."
Ren had no intention of helping the other party. He rolled his eyes and turned to leave. Seeing this, Ay instantly flew into a rage, transforming into a bolt of lightning and charging back towards him.
"You're not going anywhere until you explain!"
The intelligence he had received earlier stated that both his father and Hoshimi Ren were surrounded by the Stone Ninja army. Yet now, the latter had suddenly appeared here, alive and well.
In Ay's opinion, Ren must know something. What he desperately needed now was to understand his father's current situation.
"I don't know!"
A hint of impatience flashed in Ren's eyes. Without turning his head, he threw out an Exploding Tag, then began to form hand signs silently.
Seeing Ren throw out an Exploding Tag and thinking he could stop him, Ay felt insulted. In his fury, he chose not to dodge, swinging his fist directly at the white light glowing on the Exploding Tag.
"Boom!!"
A loud bang echoed in the air, and the bursting black smoke, mixed with a few sparks, spread outwards.
"Hmph!"
Ay, in the black mist, glanced at the small wound on his palm, then a look of disdain appeared in his eyes. Just as he was about to accelerate out of the black smoke to continue his attack, a scene caught in his peripheral vision instantly changed his expression drastically.
At the location where the Exploding Tag had just exploded, dozens more Exploding Tags had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and they continued to appear in the air, scattering around and surrounding him.
"Damn it!"
Seeing this, Ay immediately prepared to speed up and rush out of this area, but it was already too late.
Under his horrified gaze, dozens of Exploding Tags around him instantly lit up with white light, then exploded simultaneously. A sound and black smoke, many times larger than before, rolled out and directly covered an area of several tens of meters around him.
Ren glanced sideways at the black smoke, then continued walking forward, separating his hands, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Young people being so irritable is not good.