The remaining members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist looked at the fallen Funano Konishi, then at Minato Namikaze standing beside the corpse. Each of them couldn't help but swallow nervously.
Since the establishment of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, they had faced many troublesome—sometimes even unbeatable—ninja. But never before had one of them actually died. Even against overwhelming enemies, they had always managed to retreat safely.
But now, for the first time, one of the Seven Swordsmen had fallen—and it had happened within just a few exchanges. The remaining six felt a chill run through them.
Given their cruel personalities, they didn't feel any sorrow for their fallen comrade.
What truly frightened them was the strength and terrifying methods Minato had displayed.
Without saying a word, the six of them subtly moved closer together. After the previous exchange, they all understood one thing clearly:
None of them could fight Minato alone.
As the strongest among the first generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Suikazan Fuguki was the first to act.
Ninja Art: Needle Senbon
Fuguki's orange-red hair suddenly grew longer and hardened instantly. Countless fine strands shot toward Minato like a storm of senbon.
At the same time, the other five quickly regrouped beside him.
Facing the incoming barrage of hair needles, Minato calmly formed hand seals.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
A powerful gale roared forward, scattering the hair senbon and continuing toward the six swordsmen.
Biwa Jūzō and Suikazan Fuguki stood at the front, raising their massive swords to block the wind for everyone behind them.
Behind them, Raiga Kurosuki swung the Lightning Blades: Kiba.
A bolt of lightning suddenly descended from the sky toward Minato.
Lightning Release: Thunderbolt
As the fastest of the five elemental releases, Lightning Release was ideal for sudden attacks. With the help of the Lightning Blades: Kiba, Raiga could even guide natural lightning using lightning-attribute chakra.
Minato remained completely calm as the lightning crashed down.
He vanished instantly with the Flying Thunder God Technique, easily avoiding the strike.
But the lightning did not disappear after missing its target. Instead, it continued to rage around the six swordsmen.
Clearly, through the previous exchanges, the remaining members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had already figured something out.
Minato's space-time ninjutsu required teleporting through marked kunai.
So Raiga immediately used Lightning Release to destroy the kunai scattered around them.
However, Minato had faced opponents who figured out this weakness before.
Without any hesitation, he pulled several more kunai from his pouch and threw them forward while forming hand seals.
Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique
The thrown kunai multiplied instantly, turning into a rain of blades that filled the sky.
As the kunai rained down toward the six swordsmen, Minato himself turned into a golden flash and rushed toward them.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of them.
Standing at the front, Munashi Jinpachi reacted immediately.
He swung the Blastsword: Shibuki, its blade wrapped with explosive tags.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A chain of violent explosions erupted.
But when the smoke cleared, Minato was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, he appeared calmly on a nearby tree branch.
By this point, the six swordsmen had completely lost the arrogance they had shown at the beginning. Each of them stared toward Minato with tense expressions.
"Hey… how is this blond ninja's space-time ninjutsu so ridiculous?" Kuriarare Kushimaru muttered.
He had originally assumed that so-called space-time ninjutsu was simply an advanced Body Flicker Technique.
But Minato's mobility was simply outrageous.
There was no delay in activating Flying Thunder God, and every appearance was unpredictable. The only way to anticipate his movements was by tracking where the kunai landed.
And to make matters worse, Minato's individual strength was stronger than any one of them.
Even if the six of them could barely withstand his attacks together, maintaining such intense concentration for too long would inevitably lead to a fatal mistake.
Hearing Kushimaru's complaint, Biwa Jūzō couldn't help but respond.
"I told you all to be careful with this ninja earlier, but none of you listened! Now that Funano is dead, we're in an even worse situation."
Their leader, Suikazan Fuguki, immediately cut them off.
"Enough arguing! Since when did the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist become so fragile?"
"Everyone focus. Use your signature techniques and show this Konoha ninja what we're capable of!"
As he spoke, Fuguki rapidly formed hand seals.
Ninja Art: Hiding in Mist Technique
This was the signature technique of Kirigakure—the infamous Silent Killing method.
A thick mist rapidly spread across the battlefield.
In this environment, the strength of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen could be fully unleashed.
Within moments, the dense mist completely obscured Minato's vision.
Ordinary ninja might panic after suddenly losing their sight.
But Minato was clearly not an ordinary ninja.
His sensory ability was extremely sharp—otherwise he could never have mastered a space-time ninjutsu like Flying Thunder God.
Although the mist blocked his sight, it was far from the illusion-based battlefield techniques created by Hōzuki Mangetsu using the Giant Clam, which could interfere with perception.
In Minato's senses, the chakra signatures of the six swordsmen remained clear.
Inside the mist, Kuriarare Kushimaru secretly spread specially crafted steel wires across the ground, forming a defensive web.
The moment anyone stepped into the barrier, he would immediately detect it.
Minato chose not to rush forward.
Even though he could sense their chakra, the mist still limited visual information. On a battlefield where situations changed every second, even the smallest mistake could become fatal.
So Minato formed a seal and created a Shadow Clone.
He decided to let the clone scout ahead first.
The Shadow Clone flashed forward like a streak of golden light.
The moment it stepped into Kushimaru's wire barrier, Kushimaru sensed it immediately.
He violently swung Nuibari, and countless steel wires burst from the ground.
Longsword Ninja Art: Earth Spider Stitch
The web of wires instantly tightened the moment the clone entered, slicing cleanly through its ankles.
But at that exact moment—
"Boom!"
A sudden explosion erupted.
When Minato created the Shadow Clone, he had secretly attached several explosive tags to its back.
The moment it was attacked, the tags detonated.
The explosion engulfed all six swordsmen in flames.
At the critical moment, Suikazan Fuguki reacted instantly.
He activated the Water Prison Technique, creating a sphere of water that enveloped everyone just before the flames arrived.
The explosion collided with the water prison, canceling each other out.
The water shattered into countless droplets that rained down, soaking the six swordsmen.
Just as Minato prepared to seize the opportunity to attack—
A voice suddenly echoed through the mist.
"Ah… we meet again, Minato-kun."
Hearing the voice, Minato immediately stopped.
At the same time, a very familiar chakra signature appeared within his perception.
Asuka slowly emerged from the thick mist, walking toward the remaining Six Ninja Swordsmen.
After realizing that the Hidden Mist forces might have fallen into a trap, Asuka had rushed toward the battlefield without stopping.
In fact, he had already arrived before Funano Konishi was killed.
When he sensed Minato's chakra confronting the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, he chose not to interfere immediately.
He had never had a good impression of the first generation Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Especially Suikazan Fuguki, who was close to Kaguya Daisuke and had never gotten along with him.
Who knew whether the other swordsmen might also develop hostility toward him under Fuguki's influence?
Moreover, in Asuka's future plans, each of the Seven Ninja Swords had its own use.
If Minato could eliminate a few of them first, Asuka would gladly watch it happen.
So instead of interfering, he first helped the other Kirigakure forces while keeping part of his attention on the battle between Minato and the Seven Swordsmen.
But after witnessing the miserable state of the six remaining swordsmen following Funano Konishi's death, Asuka knew it was time to act.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen could suffer casualties—
But they absolutely could not all die here.
Otherwise, Asuka would have no way to explain it afterward.
So he finally stepped forward and spoke, stopping Minato's next move.
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