A person in mid-air has nothing to exert force against, unable to adjust their balance for effective evasion or defense.
Minato was in the same situation.
However, enhanced by Sage Mode, his nerve reaction, physical speed, strength, endurance, and other physical attributes were significantly improved.
Watching the pursuing iron fist, his heart was as calm as water. Everything in his vision seemed to slow down, as if time had decelerated.
Time, of course, couldn't actually slow down.
But when concentrating all mental energy on one thing, his nerve reactions became sharper.
That was exactly Minato's state now.
Watching the iron fist swinging towards him as slowly as an old man practicing Tai Chi in a square, Minato extended his right hand, placing it on the cold metal fist.
Then, before the force of the iron fist could transfer to him, he exerted strength, using the iron fist as a pivot to perform a mid-air backflip, narrowly dodging past it by a hair's breadth.
And, he left a Flying Thunder God's mark on it.
Boom!
His vision returned to normal. The iron fist missed, striking the floor and causing the entire hall level to collapse.
Whoosh!
Flame jets erupted from the thrusters on his back and under his feet. Ryuji hovered in mid-air, turning around to throw another punch.
Minato was upside down, right hand pressing down with a Rasengan.
Seeing the Rasengan, the corner of Ryuji's mouth couldn't help but curve upward slightly. His fist opened, directly grabbing towards the highly compressed, spinning sphere.
This sudden change startled Minato. His eyes widened slightly, but he didn't alter his attack.
Fwoosh...
The expected violent collision didn't happen. The moment the steel hand made contact with the Chakra Sphere, it continuously absorbed it.
—Chakra Absorption Device.
Ryuji had installed this device in the palm of the armor, capable of absorbing non-elemental Chakra.
The originally fist-sized Chakra Sphere, upon contact with the steel hand, shrank like a deflating balloon until it completely vanished.
The steel hand continued forward, trying to grab the opponent's hand.
With the armor on, he had absolute superiority in strength. Once he grabbed the opponent's hand, the fight would be over.
But just at the moment he was about to grab it, Minato disappeared.
Sensors immediately detected the air flow within the room, informing the owner of the enemy's teleportation location at the first moment.
Without even looking, Ryuji raised his hand, aiming at the coordinates captured by the auxiliary device.
Vroom!
Accompanied by mechanical humming, the seams on the steel arm lit up with fiery red light. Blazing flames sprayed from the palm in the next second.
Though mechanically emitted flames, their principle wasn't that of a flamethrower. They were elemental chakra transformed by Ninjutsu inscriptions inside the mechanical arm. Their power was no less than a B-Rank Fire Release.
Not only did they instantly raise the temperature of the vast interior to 40 degrees Celsius, their ejection speed was also unparalleled, reaching the target almost instantly upon leaving the barrel.
The moment Minato, having teleported away with the Flying Thunder God Technique, appeared, flames surged towards his face. But his fastest attribute wasn't speed, but nerve reaction. Even a sudden attack like this couldn't catch him off guard.
What would be an absolute crisis for an ordinary person, he instead felt pleased by, activating Flying Thunder God Technique once more.
Bang!
The jet of flame blasted through the wall. At the same time, Minato appeared at the enemy's side, in his blind spot, a Rasengan already formed in his hand, ready to press it against the enemy.
But...
Snap!
The steel hand seemed to have foreseen it, appearing right there. The moment Minato appeared, it clamped around his neck.
As if Minato had delivered his own neck into the enemy's hand.
"It's over!"
Looking at Minato, who was having difficulty breathing and had exited Sage Mode, Ryuji declared victory.
"You made a mistake. You shouldn't have treated Armor as merely a weapon or suit of armor."
Armor was equipped with many weapons and functional devices, along with Ninjutsu inscriptions for all six basic natures. It was indeed an out-and-out killing machine.
But its most formidable aspect wasn't its inherent performance, but the auxiliary system, 'Armor', loaded onto the suit.
This auxiliary system wasn't a data software on a computer, but an artificial soul without autonomous consciousness, merely carrying combat memories, only reacting to enemies.
This artificial soul recorded all combat processes Ryuji had personally experienced or witnessed, including battles not yet occurred in the Shinobi World, even those not belonging to this world.
This resulted in its memories encompassing almost all elements of combat, capable of making optimal choices in any situation.
In other words, facing Armor, all tactical tricks were useless. Victory could only be achieved through direct, head-on confrontation.
But Armor's performance was extremely powerful. In the current era, only the Third Raikage possibly stood a chance of winning in a direct confrontation.
But that was merely a possibility.
Ryuji had never fought the Third Raikage, so he wasn't clear about his exact strength. He only speculated based on the anime portrayal... the opponent's Nin-Taijutsu might be slightly superior.
However,
Since he knew the opponent might win in a direct clash, Ryuji wouldn't be foolish enough to engage in one. And in terms of tactics, no one could outdo Armor.
This was also why Ryuji was so confident.
Because this era had no power surpassing the Kage-level.
Minato was indeed formidable, but he was merely the peak of conventional Shinobi. The technique and methods he mastered were also targeted at ordinary individual enemies.
Against ordinary people, his Body Flicker could achieve an instant kill on first encounter. Against experts, those unaware of Flying Thunder God's details would also likely be caught off guard.
But Ryuji was both an expert and knew his trump cards.
His Rasengan could be absorbed by the Chakra Absorption Device.
No, even without absorption, the Rasengan's power alone couldn't breach Armor's defense.
Based on this alone, Ryuji stood undefeated.
Moreover, Armor had recorded his future battles against the A-B Combo, against Obito, even against Six Paths Obito and Madara. It was intimately familiar with Minato's combat thinking, able to predict his actions a step ahead.
Through the link of the spiritual ocean, Ryuji could synchronize thoughts with Armor, acting without the slightest delay.
Of course, Armor wasn't without weaknesses.
Its size dictated it could only carry small Chakra Energy Storage Units. Even when fully charged, it only allowed for one hour of operation.
If using Ninjutsu, depending on the type and quantity, that would reduce to between twenty and five minutes.
If an enemy knew this and adopted attrition tactics, victory would be difficult.
For example, Minato... if he knew Armor could only last that long and used his speed to stall, Ryuji couldn't win.
But unfortunately, the one holding the intelligence advantage was Ryuji.
...
"Die!"
Looking at Minato struggling in his grip, a fierce light flashed in Ryuji's eyes. He exerted force, about to snap the neck.
Suddenly, the earth trembled.
Crash!
The top of the tower was pushed aside by tremendous force. A giant puppet head peered inside.
"All of you, just die!"