Chapter 343: Zero Tails Goes Berserk; Namikaze Minato: Protecting You Is a Teacher's Responsibility! [HN]

“Roar!!”

A nonhuman roar tore through the air, accompanied by the harsh sound of twisting metal.

A huge, twisted dark monster broke through the roof of the Sky nin base and rose into the air.

It was Zero Tails, which had been incompletely awakened.

It had no fixed form and was composed of flowing dark sludge.

A frightening dark red light radiated from the core at its center.

The violent Natural Energy that originated from Sasori but had been amplified without limit formed a tangible pressure that covered the entire battlefield.

“All personnel, abandon your current targets and focus on evading! This is not an opponent you can handle!”

Minato’s voice spread across the battlefield through the communication tags.

His tone was calm, but there was an unprecedented seriousness within it.

His figure flashed like golden lightning, and he had already appeared directly in front of Zero Tails.

‘Let’s test it first.’

Minato took out a specially crafted kunai and threw it forward.

His figure disappeared at the same time.

“Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder!”

A black energy shockwave from Zero Tails was precisely redirected by Minato, exploding into a cloud of smoke and dust among the distant mountains.

However, Minato’s brows furrowed slightly.

He could feel that transferring this strange energy consumed an unusually large amount of Chakra.

“Rasengan!”

The next moment, he appeared on Zero Tails’ flank.

The shining sphere of Chakra slammed heavily into Zero Tails’ body.

However, the Rasengan, which was powerful enough to shatter rock, only caused the dark energy on Zero Tails’ surface to ripple slightly.

The strange energy quickly neutralized and devoured it, making the effect almost negligible.

“Ninjutsu… is almost useless?”

Minato’s heart tightened.

He immediately retreated, avoiding several enormous tentacles sweeping toward him.

The tentacles smashed into the ground, leaving deep trenches as broken stones flew everywhere.

“Leaf Strong Whirlwind!”

Might Guy roared as he rushed over.

He turned into a green whirlwind and kicked one of the tentacles.

However, it felt like he had kicked extremely tough rubber.

Most of his strength was absorbed, while the recoil instead left his blood and Chakra churning.

Apart from Guy, Obito’s Great Fireball, Kakashi’s attempted Lightning Cutter, and the Fire Style and Water Style attacks from the other Konoha ninjas all sank into Zero Tails like stones falling into the sea.

At most, they caused minor damage, which was instantly repaired by the dark energy.

Zero Tails let out a furious roar.

Countless eyes simultaneously locked onto the nearest target, Namikaze Minato.

Its enormous body displayed a speed completely inconsistent with its size.

Its dense tentacle attacks came down like a storm, while the core continuously fired dark energy bullets, launching indiscriminate bombardment.

Minato’s body reacted instinctively.

He pushed the Flying Thunder God Technique to its limit.

Golden light flashed wildly across every part of the battlefield, and each time he appeared, he barely avoided another attack.

Occasionally, he used his kunai to block an attack, but the tremendous force left his arm numb.

While moving, he continued searching for the core’s weakness.

However, the force field formed by the strange energy was like an indestructible barrier, preventing him from getting close.

The battlefield fell into a stalemate for a time.

But Minato knew that the Flying Thunder God Technique consumed a tremendous amount of Chakra.

If he kept defending, he would eventually lose.

“I have to find a way to attack it effectively…”

Minato’s eyes sharpened.

While moving at high speed, he keenly sensed that whenever Zero Tails mobilized the violent energy within its core for attack or defense, its resistance to pure physical attacks and ordinary Ninjutsu reached its peak.

However, during the flow of that energy, there seemed to be an extremely tiny and unstable gap.

‘Natural Energy… Perhaps I can try it.’

A thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

He used the Flying Thunder God Technique once again to evade a deadly combined attack and appeared beside one of the prearranged kunai.

This time, he did not attack immediately.

Instead, he clasped his hands together in front of his chest and slowly closed his eyes.

‘What is Water Gate Sensei doing?’

Kakashi, who was below, was startled.

“Water Gate Sensei!”

Obito shouted anxiously.

Zero Tails obviously would not give Minato time.

The red light of its core flashed violently, and an even thicker stream of energy suddenly blasted forward.

Just as the energy stream was about to swallow Minato, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Orange red markings once again appeared around his eyelids.

The Chakra surrounding his body became immense and filled with the aura of Natural Energy.

Sage Mode was activated!

“Sage Art: Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder!”

This was no longer a simple spatial transfer.

The Guiding Thunder Technique infused with Sage Chakra radiated dazzling light and actually forced the dark energy stream to change direction.

“It works!”

Minato’s spirit lifted.

Zero Tails seemed to sense the threat.

It let out an even more furious roar, abandoning every other target as all its tentacles attacked Minato.

Like countless giant serpents, they moved in from every direction and sealed off all his possible escape routes.

“Sage Art: Rasengan!”

Minato did not retreat.

Instead, he advanced.

His figure instantly disappeared and appeared directly in front of Zero Tails’ core.

The sphere in his hand was no longer the ordinary blue Rasengan.

It was a Sage Art Rasengan radiating a soft white light, with Natural Energy flowing within it.

“Boom!!”

The Sage Art Rasengan slammed heavily into the force field surrounding Zero Tails’ core.

This time, it was not easily devoured like before.

The two powerful forms of Natural Energy collided and annihilated each other violently.

Blinding white light intertwined with dark energy, producing a harsh sizzling sound.

The force field around Zero Tails’ core shook violently.

For the first time, obvious cracks appeared.

Zero Tails let out a painful shriek, and its enormous body fell backward.

“Success! Water Gate Sensei!”

“That’s great!”

“As expected of the Yellow Flash, Lord Namikaze Minato!”

“…”

The Konoha ninjas below erupted into thunderous cheers.

The atmosphere of despair was swept away.

Minato pressed his advantage.

With Sage Chakra supporting him, his speed became even faster and his perception even sharper.

“Sage Art: Spiraling Serial Spheres!”

Golden light flashed repeatedly through the sky.

Every time Minato appeared, a Sage Art Rasengan slammed into Zero Tails’ core force field or the base of a tentacle attempting to stop him.

Zero Tails’ dark energy seemed to have encountered its natural enemy before Sage Art.

It was continuously broken apart.

One tentacle after another was blasted apart, while more and more cracks appeared in the core’s force field.

Zero Tails’ aura weakened at a visible rate, and the light within its core also began flickering unstably.

The balance of victory seemed to be shifting toward Konoha.

Just as Zero Tails was about to be completely suppressed and defeated by Minato, something suddenly changed.

Zero Tails’ pale eyes simultaneously turned blood red.

It abandoned all defense and attack.

Its enormous body began to shrink inward to its absolute limit, like a black hole compressed to its extreme.

A force of attraction ten times more terrifying than before suddenly appeared.

Broken stones, fallen trees, and even the remains of some Sky nin were forcibly dragged toward it and disappeared into the ultimate darkness.

“Not good! Is it going to self destruct?! No… this is…”

Minato’s perception in Sage Mode allowed him to sense an even more dangerous and concentrated energy being born within the core.

“It’s burning its own source and all the energy it absorbed… It’s preparing a final attack!”

Minato instantly understood Zero Tails’ intention.

This was not self destruction.

It was concentrating all its power to unleash an attack beyond its limits.

The power of this attack was enough to erase the entire mountain range, along with all the Konoha ninjas, from the map.

“I have to stop it! Before it finishes charging, I need to destroy the core!”

A look of determination flashed through Minato’s eyes.

His Sage Chakra boiled throughout his body as he prepared to launch his final assault.

However, he was still one step too late.

The core of Zero Tails, compressed to its absolute limit, suddenly stopped shrinking.

For an instant, time seemed to freeze.

The next moment, an extremely fine yet unimaginably condensed beam silently shot out from the core like the gaze of the Grim Reaper.

It produced no tremendous sound.

Yet wherever it passed, space distorted into ripples, and even the light was swallowed.

Its target was not Minato.

It was the Konoha support forces below, who had gathered slightly after believing victory was within reach.

This attack was too fast.

It was too condensed.

Its range might not have been large, but the destructive energy contained within it was enough to instantly vaporize everything along its path.

Even the shockwaves would be enough to destroy the entire area.

“No!!!”

Kakashi, Obito, Rin, Guy, and everyone else felt the deathly aura that seemed to freeze their souls.

Yet their bodies became rigid from extreme fear, leaving them unable to move.

Minato’s pupils shrank to the size of needles.

His calculations were completed within one thousandth of a second.

Flying Thunder God was not fast enough to transfer everyone at the same time.

He could not even completely transfer such a highly condensed attack.

Defense?

Any known defensive technique would be useless before it.

The only way…

‘I can only transfer the attack itself!’

Minato’s figure moved.

He did not attack Zero Tails’ core.

He did not try to defend.

Instead, he poured all of the Sage Chakra in his body into the Flying Thunder God Technique without holding anything back.

Just before the black beam touched the Konoha ninjas below, a golden light moved faster than it should have been able to and precisely blocked the beam’s path.

It was Minato.

He spread both hands.

A Flying Thunder God formula instantly appeared before him.

It was no longer a flat mark, but a three dimensional, rotating spatial vortex.

Black tadpole like characters faintly flashed around it.

“Flying Thunder God: Extreme Guiding!”

The black death beam slammed into the golden spatial vortex created by the Flying Thunder God sealing transfer.

There was no explosion.

There was no loud sound.

There was only a frightening hum as space was forcibly torn apart and distorted.

Minato’s entire body trembled violently.

A trace of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

Maintaining this technique placed an enormous burden on him and nearly drained all of his Sage Chakra.

The black beam was forcibly redirected and guided by the spatial vortex.

It curved along a strange trajectory and shot toward the distant, uninhabited horizon.

Several seconds later, an oppressive explosion finally echoed from an extremely distant location, as though it had come from another space.

Zero Tails’ ultimate attack, which had concentrated all of its power, had been transferred by Minato using the Flying Thunder God Technique in a way that surpassed common sense.

It had been an extremely close call.

After releasing that attack, Zero Tails’ enormous body immediately became weak.

The light of its core dimmed to the extreme, like a dying flame in the wind.

Clearly, it could not launch another attack of this level in a short period of time.

Minato was in no better condition.

Sage Mode was forcibly deactivated.

His Chakra was almost completely exhausted.

His face was as pale as paper, and he swayed dangerously in the air.

“Lord Minato!”

The people below had been pulled back from the edge of death.

Seeing the golden figure in the sky, still standing tall despite swaying dangerously, they erupted into cheers filled with relief and concern.

Minato forced himself to hold on.

Looking at the dying Zero Tails below, he knew this was his final chance.

He struggled to form hand seals again.

This time, they were the seals for a sealing technique.

‘I can’t give it another chance… I’ll use this to end everything!’

A huge scroll flew out of his ninja tool pouch.

It unfurled in the air, covered with the unique sealing runes of the Uzumaki Clan.

“Sealing Jutsu: Adamantine Sealing Chains!”

The Adamantine Sealing Chains had been prepared in advance by Uzumaki Sango because she was worried about Minato.

Several chains formed from Chakra and glowing with a faint golden light extended from his scroll.

They moved like living serpents and instantly wrapped around Zero Tails’ illusory body and its dim core.

Zero Tails let out one final unwilling cry and struggled desperately, but it was already at the end of its strength.

The golden chains tightened further and further, forcibly compressing and separating its enormous energy and consciousness.

“Seal!”

With Minato’s low shout, the last trace of Zero Tails’ existence was completely pulled into the huge sealing scroll.

The scroll automatically closed.

The runes on its surface flashed several times before finally becoming calm.

It slowly fell from the sky, and Minato reached out and caught it.

The sky became clear once again.

The suffocating pressure and dark energy completely disappeared.

The surviving Sky nin watched their final hope being sealed.

They looked at the golden flash of Namikaze Minato standing in the sky like a war god.

Their final will to fight completely collapsed.

They threw down their weapons and fled in all directions.

The battle was finally over.

Minato slowly descended from the sky.

His steps were somewhat unsteady.

Kakashi and Obito, who had already been waiting nearby, immediately stepped forward and supported him from either side.

“Minato Sensei! Are you all right?”

Rin also immediately ran over.

Green Medical Chakra light appeared in her hand as she placed it against Minato’s body.

Her face was filled with worry and lingering fear.

“I’m fine… I just used too much Chakra.”

Minato looked at the disciples gathered around him.

He looked at the Konoha comrades in the distance who had survived despite their injuries.

A tired yet deeply relieved smile appeared on his pale face.

“Everyone… is safe. That’s wonderful.”

“Teacher! You were way too reckless just now!”

Obito’s eyes were red.

He shouted with both excitement and lingering fear.

“Ah…”

Minato smiled gently and rubbed Obito’s spiky hair.

“Protecting you is a teacher’s responsibility.”

Might Guy stood nearby with tears in his eyes and raised his thumb.

“Lord Minato! This is what it means to burn with youth! That was so cool!”

Kakashi said nothing.

However, the hand supporting Minato’s arm tightened considerably.

His eyes were filled with relief and deep respect.

Minato turned his head and smiled at Kakashi.

“Kakashi, did you find the data?”