Chapter 636: Everyone Comes In Together

Fate had a funny way of arranging things.

Sometimes, no coordination was needed at all.

The moment Namikaze Minato saw Kakashi back at the encampment covering one eye and preparing to activate Kamui, he immediately adjusted his plan.

He left behind a shadow clone to keep running forward while his real body abruptly reversed direction and charged straight at Naruto, who was pursuing him from behind.

Naruto immediately suspected a trap when he saw his father rushing toward him.

But he didn’t retreat.

His goal had been to trick Minato into entering the Kamui dimension in the first place.

Who was the hunter and who was the prey was still very much up for debate.

Naruto simply threw a punch.

He used only the raw strength of his ordinary Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and Minato, wrapped in his own Nine-Tails cloak, blocked it head-on.

The instant their fists made contact—

Minato activated Flying Raijin.

“Flying Raijin: Mutual Instantaneous Revolving Technique!”

That was right.

Minato had just used by himself the same technique he had originally performed together with Tobirama during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Honestly, there was nothing particularly strange about that.

The technique itself wasn’t terribly difficult.

What it required was another person capable of Flying Raijin—

and, more importantly, someone clever enough to think of using it this way.

Tobirama obviously qualified.

And although Minato might not know the forbidden Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, he certainly knew the ordinary Shadow Clone Technique.

A clone was more than enough to serve as his partner for this trick.

Flying Raijin: Mutual Instantaneous Revolving Technique.

Also known as—

manual Amenotejikara.

The moment Minato touched him, Naruto felt the scenery around him change.

He didn’t even have time to understand where he had been moved.

And that exact instant was what Minato had been waiting for.

Back at the encampment, Kakashi had been eating with several members of the Akimichi clan.

The Akimichi were the kind of people who ate both quickly and in huge quantities.

Kakashi, meanwhile, ate slowly while reading a novel between bites.

So even after everyone else should have finished, the group was still there together.

Normally, that wouldn’t have mattered.

Unfortunately, today Naruto had poisoned both the food and the water with Orochimaru’s laxative.

The Akimichi had consumed enormous amounts.

Not only was the medicine extremely potent, but the sheer dosage they had taken was horrifying.

Compared to an ordinary shinobi—

even compared to what had happened to the three jinchūriki earlier—

their situation was on an entirely different level.

Some of the Akimichi became so delirious that they even activated the Expansion Jutsu.

Kakashi, faced with a disaster not unlike what his real-world counterpart had once experienced, had no choice but to use Kamui to warp the incoming flood into the Kamui dimension and save himself.

And that—

was exactly what Minato had been waiting for.

The shadow clone responsible for coordinating the Flying Raijin exchange had already disappeared.

The real Minato grabbed Naruto, who had just been swapped into position, and plunged straight into the incoming torrent.

Kakashi’s Kamui absorbed both of them along with it.

Minato showed no fear whatsoever.

It wasn’t as though this was his first time being swept through something like this.

Naruto, on the other hand, suffered considerably more.

Still, the thought that this at least meant his main mission had succeeded allowed him to endure it.

“Hm?”

After warping the entire mess away and escaping the scene, Kakashi suddenly felt something was off.

There had been some unusually large objects mixed in with what he had just sent into Kamui.

About the size of a person.

What were those?

Could the Akimichi clan’s Expansion Jutsu enlarge shrimp too?

…

Inside the Kamui dimension, Obito had been waiting for quite some time.

The moment he confirmed that Naruto had reached the front lines, he entered Kamui and stayed there, waiting for Naruto to bring Minato in.

And the very first thing Minato did after arriving with Naruto—

was activate every Flying Raijin formula he had previously left on Konoha’s buildings.

Those marks had originally been planted so Minato could act as a master of time management and sneak into people’s homes whenever he wanted.

Now he used Flying Raijin: Guiding Thunder to redistribute everything that had entered with them evenly throughout the village’s buildings.

That way, the smell clinging to them wouldn’t be concentrated enough to attract the rampaging Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.

Sure enough—

because Isshiki was fused with Teuchi, a professional cook, his sense of smell was exceptionally sensitive.

The instant the foul wave entered the Kamui dimension, Isshiki charged straight toward Minato’s position.

Fortunately, Minato’s combat instincts were razor-sharp.

He had already planned for this before entering.

In an instant, he scattered the entire mess across every corner of the village.

They were safe.

Why “they”?

Wasn’t Dark Naruto supposed to be Minato’s enemy?

Of course he was.

Now that Minato had made up his mind to seal Dark Naruto away, he would have been perfectly happy to see Naruto and Isshiki kill each other inside Kamui.

The “they” Minato was thinking about referred to—

himself, Rōshi, and Han.

That was right.

At the final moment, Minato hadn’t only brought Naruto into the Kamui dimension.

He had also teleported the unconscious Rōshi and Han inside from a distance.

After all, this world’s Namikaze Minato always put himself first.

He had entered Kamui without warning Kakashi and had no idea when he might get another chance to leave.

Food and water weren’t a problem.

An entire Konoha had already been transported into the dimension, and plenty of supplies remained inside the buildings.

But this place was unbearably lonely.

How was Minato supposed to deal with that?

Simple.

Bring Rōshi and Han along to keep him company.

“At last, you took the bait, Namikaze Minato.”

Obito appeared wearing his mask, looking just as he had on the night of the Nine-Tails’ attack.

“You?!”

Minato recognized him instantly.

This was the man who had once taken away some of his precious “equipment” and deprived him of part of life’s joy.

A grudge like that would never be forgotten.

“I didn’t expect Naruto’s dark side to be working with you too…”

Minato frowned.

Then suddenly froze.

“Wait. Why are you here?”

“Heh.”

Obito reached up and removed his mask.

His true face was revealed.

“You—?!”

Minato’s eyes widened.

“That’s right.”

Obito grinned smugly.

“Didn’t expect that, did you?”

“You—”

Minato squinted at him.

“Who the hell are you with that messed-up face?”

“…”

Obito’s expression cracked.

“Naruto! Do it!”

“No problem, Uncle Obito!”

Naruto appeared directly behind Minato.

“Magnet Release: Rasengan!”

“What? You’re Obito?!”

Still reeling from the revelation, Minato hurriedly turned and crossed both arms to block Naruto’s Rasengan.

His Nine-Tails cloak prevented any real damage.

But Naruto’s Magnet Release Rasengan had never been about raw destructive power.

Its true purpose—

was sealing.

Minato watched in horror as intricate sealing formulas began spreading from his hands and crawling down his arms.

“What did you do to me?!”

His voice rose sharply.

Was this karma?

Back when he had been trying to become the Fourth Hokage, Minato had placed Flying Raijin formulas on so many people that he had effectively branded them all and ruined their chances of ever qualifying for certain official positions.

And now—

he was finally the one being marked.

But Minato soon discovered that his karmic punishment did not stop there.

A strange, intense pain suddenly surged through him.

His legs gave out.

And he dropped to his knees.