"No, no, no, I absolutely didn't mean to look down on you."
High in the sky, Onoki floated with his arms crossed, staring down at the golden figure trapped inside the Earth Release prison.
On his wrinkled old face was an expression of complete confidence.
"It's just that you're not the Raikage, and you don't have his physique, so all of us here are completely enough."
"Hehe, your Flying Thunder God cannot get you out, can it?"
His smile faded. "Enough talk, let us begin."
As his voice fell.
Hundreds of Iwa shinobi formed hand seals at the same time.
"Earth Release, Rock Shelter Collapse."
"Earth Release, Stone Slab Coffin."
Rumble.
The rock ceiling above Minato shattered, and countless massive boulders fell from the sky, crashing toward him.
And the moment the rocks broke away, fresh stone immediately regenerated to fill the gaps.
There was no chance to slip through.
At the same time, the ground collapsed beneath him, forming a giant growing pit.
The sky was falling and the earth was sinking.
This was a true killing cage, a net from every direction.
Facing this overwhelming destruction, Minato turned into golden light and vanished from the spot.
Flying Thunder God.
He reappeared at the far end of the stone cage.
But the falling rocks above and the sinking earth below followed him instantly, attempting to bury him once again.
Golden light flashed repeatedly.
Minato began to jump rapidly through the confined space.
Each teleport avoided a fatal blow by mere inches.
But his expression grew more serious.
Continuous spatial jumps consumed chakra at a frightening rate.
And Iwa's attacks came endlessly, wave after wave, giving him no time to breathe.
If this continued, he would eventually be exhausted to death.
"It is pointless, Minato." Onoki's voice echoed again. "Your Flying Thunder God depends on jumping to spatial coordinates on your marked tags."
"This Earth Release prison was designed specifically to counter it, and it includes a barrier that disrupts space."
"You cannot sense your coordinates outside anymore, can you?"
"Just surrender. Stop struggling."
Minato ignored the psychological taunt.
Surrender? Impossible.
A Kage does not surrender.
But Onoki was correct.
When Minato used the Flying Thunder God just now, he felt his connection to the kunai he had marked outside had been cut off.
His mind raced for a solution.
Force his way out?
Without breaking the Earth Release prison, that was impossible.
The only way was to locate the weak point of the technique and escape using Flying Thunder God.
But where was it?
Minato's eyes scanned the surroundings like a hawk.
He dodged at high speed while analyzing every node of the barrier.
Then.
His gaze locked onto Onoki.
Any large-scale barrier must have a core.
And the caster usually controlled it directly.
If he could take down Onoki or disrupt him, the entire cage would collapse.
He had to try.
A sharp gleam flashed through Minato's eyes.
He stopped retreating and instead charged straight toward the position beneath Onoki.
No one noticed the layers of explosive tags that Minato had quietly planted earlier, hidden in the cracks of the rock wall during the chaos.
"Trying to reach this old man?" Onoki instantly understood Minato's intention. A disdainful sneer formed on his face. "Naive."
He brought his hands together, and a translucent white cube of destructive power condensed in front of him.
"Let me show you the power that surpasses everything."
"Dust Release, Detachment of the Primitive World Technique."
Buzz.
A blinding white light shot out.
The deadly cube raced forward at extreme speed. Even the air distorted in its path.
Onoki did not hold back.
He knew probing attacks were useless against someone like Minato.
Either do not attack.
Or kill in one blow.
So he struck fast.
And ruthlessly.
He blocked every forward path.
However.
Facing a technique that could disintegrate anything.
Minato did not dodge.
He charged straight toward it.
In his right hand, a spinning blue chakra sphere formed.
Rasengan.
"Hm? Not dodging?" Cruelty flashed in Onoki's eyes.
To him, Minato's action was suicide.
However.
Just as the Rasengan was about to collide with the Dust Release.
Minato vanished again in a flash of gold.
He used the Rasengan as cover to activate the Flying Thunder God.
Boom.
The white beam struck the ground silently.
A perfectly smooth circular pit appeared, as if something had erased the earth away.
Onoki's expression changed.
Not good.
Minato never acted without purpose.
His target was never Onoki.
It was... Onoki looked down instinctively.
A golden flash appeared near the rock wall.
Where Minato had planted the explosive tags earlier.
He had returned to the starting point.
At that moment, the Rasengan in his hand had spun to maximum size.
"Great Ball Rasengan." Minato roared and slammed it into the wall.
Rumble.
The wall cracked under the enormous force.
A heartbeat later.
The explosive tags hidden inside were ignited by the Rasengan's chakra flow.
Boom.
A massive explosion erupted, far stronger than any previous blast.
A violent shockwave, mixed with burning debris, ripped through the prison.
The Earth Release cage trembled violently and cracks spread everywhere.
The barrier squad maintaining the formation faltered for a split second.
Now.
Minato's eyes shone.
He sensed his Flying Thunder God marker again.
Faint, but usable.
Golden light burst forth.
Seizing the instant the barrier weakened, Minato teleported out and disappeared into the flames.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)