The moonlight cast long, shifting shadows across the woods. Trees swayed lightly in the breeze, and five figures—three in the lead and two following—flashed through the forest.
"Cloud Village ninjas again," Minato Namikaze thought, his mind burning with annoyance. He knew that the Hidden Cloud was after Kushina, but he couldn't believe they were so persistent—sending ninjas to infiltrate the village again, clearly trying to snatch her, just like they had five years ago.
In a strange way, it was that incident five years ago that had brought him and Kushina together, making the Hidden Cloud their accidental matchmaker. But he thought it best to send this kind of "matchmaker" straight to meet the Sage of Six Paths.
The Cloud ninja leading the chase was also inwardly fuming: "That damned kid! An Anbu-level ninja who hasn't even seen real war dares to chase us this relentlessly."
Despite the insult, he had no intention of stopping to fight back.
First, this was the Hidden Leaf's territory. Since they'd been discovered, they needed to get out as fast as possible. Second, he honestly wasn't the guy's match. If the pursuing ninja hadn't been worried about Kushina's safety, the Cloud ninja would likely have been taken down in their first clash.
Just then, a figure jogged past in front of them.
"This is our chance!" The lead Cloud ninja used the Body Flicker Jutsu, appearing behind the passing figure and pressing a kunai to his neck, taking him hostage.
As expected, the two pursuing ninjas stopped in their tracks.
"It's him." Minato recognized Setsuna, the infamous "celebrity" of the Ninja Academy. He looked at the three Cloud ninjas holding the hostage and sharply chastised them, "Attacking a student from the Academy? Do you even count as ninjas?"
Beside him, Kushina fiercely shook her fist. "You pieces of trash! What can you people do besides take hostages?"
The lead Cloud ninja sneered. "Ha. A ninja is a weapon that will use any means necessary to complete the mission. Don't you even have that much resolve?"
He then looked at the youth he was holding hostage, who was half a head taller than him, and couldn't help but mock him. "He's still in the Ninja Academy at his age? A failure like this would be a waste of resources if he became a ninja. Maybe you should thank me if I just kill him now."
"Don't lump the Hidden Leaf in with the Hidden Cloud! Every person is important to our village!" Minato declared, his left hand secretly performing hand signs behind his back. If he could just summon a toad to subtly leave a Flying Thunder God seal on the enemy, he could eliminate them instantly.
"If everyone is so important, then get lost and let us leave," the lead Cloud ninja growled, applying a little pressure with his right hand. He wanted to draw a line of blood on the young man's neck—ideally making him cry and beg for mercy.
But as he pressed down, he froze. His kunai couldn't penetrate the skin. It was as if he was pressing against iron instead of a delicate neck.
At that moment, Setsuna suddenly asked, "Senior Minato, this isn't an exercise, is it?"
Minato wasn't surprised that Setsuna recognized him; after all, he was quite the star at the Academy back in the day.
Before he could answer, a Cloud ninja next to the leader laughed. "Has he gone numb with fear? Does he think this is still training?"
For some reason, the Cloud ninja holding Setsuna was suddenly overcome with a sense of dread.
"Heart Pounding Elbow!" Setsuna's left hand slid backward, and his elbow slammed into the Cloud Jonin's chest like a cannonball.
The clothes on the Cloud Jonin's back exploded outward, and a wave of compressed air propagated through him, snapping a tree—about the diameter of a large bowl—clean in half behind him.
"What was that... an Air Cannon!" Minato and Kushina's eyes widened. They couldn't believe a simple elbow strike could be so incredibly powerful that, even after passing through a human body, the resulting air vibration could break a tree.
As for the Cloud ninja who took the full force of the blow, his fate was sealed. His bones were shattered, and he slumped limply against Setsuna's back.
Setsuna whispered into his ear, not caring if he could still hear: "Taking a martial artist as a hostage is very dangerous. Next time... in your next life, don't do that."
The remaining two Cloud Chūnin snapped out of their shock. They looked at the scene as if they had seen a ghost, panicking and fleeing deeper into the forest.
Setsuna grabbed the Cloud ninja's boneless corpse and hurled it toward one of the fleeing men. He then leaped up and stood on the corpse's back, gliding through the air.
The slower of the two heard a whistling sound behind him and instinctively looked back. The sight made his soul flee—their leader had become an air-surfboard.
He couldn't dodge, was struck by his leader's body, and was torn into four pieces while still in the air.
The last remaining Cloud ninja saw his comrade's gruesome end and saw the gap between himself and Setsuna rapidly closing. Finally, anger overcame his fear. He stopped, turned around, and began making hand signs. "You damned lunatic! I'll fight you to the..."
However, he was only on his second hand sign when Setsuna caught up and kicked him to a literal explosion.
Silence fell over the woods. Minato and Kushina stared at the scene in shock. It felt as though their entire understanding of power had been rewritten. This kind of explosive strength might only be something the Third Raikage of the Hidden Cloud could achieve.
The thought that they had instinctively compared an ungraduated Ninja Academy student to the Third Raikage made both of them feel a sense of disbelief.
Setsuna calmly stepped away from the blood splatter, looking at Minato with "innocent" eyes. "Senior Minato, could I trouble you to take care of these invaders? I haven't finished my training for the day, and I need to get back to my night run."
Minato nodded reflexively. "Oh, right, sure. You go ahead."
Setsuna adjusted his breathing and continued running forward.
Only after Setsuna had left did Kushina look at Minato, her face a mask of shock. "Minato, are the graduation requirements for the Ninja Academy that ridiculous now? A genius like him can't graduate?"
Minato forced a wry smile. "It's because he has no Ninjutsu talent. He can't even use the most basic Three Body Jutsu. He just does the most grueling physical training every day. No one knew he had achieved this level of power in Taijutsu."
As he spoke, Minato mentally put himself in the position of that Cloud ninja. If he were the one being attacked, could he have completed his hand signs before Setsuna struck?
After a brief thought, Minato sighed to himself, "Looks like I'll have to develop a Jutsu that doesn't require hand signs. It would work perfectly with the Flying Thunder God Technique."
Kushina was also impressed. "That's the first time I've ever seen a Taijutsu ninja who is this strong. An average Jonin couldn't even manage to form a hand sign in front of him."
"Taijutsu users are indeed incredibly strong in one-on-one combat," Minato agreed, then added, "But their effectiveness is much lower in a large-scale war."
Looking in the direction Setsuna had gone, Minato remarked, "Regardless, I think I need to recommend to the Hokage that we change the Ninja Academy's graduation requirements."