Chapter 162: Minato's Fury! Combination Technique: Flash Dance Immortal Triple Slash!
"Am I too late?"
At this moment, when he was about to be dragged down with Ebizō—
Suddenly hearing such a greeting would likely be mistaken for sarcasm by someone unaware of the situation.
Fortunately, Tsukasa knew Minato Namikaze's personality and wanted to respond with: "No, you've arrived just in time."
However, due to being poisoned by Chiyo's carefully crafted neurotoxin, Tsukasa couldn't speak. Instead, because of his inability to control his facial muscles from the poison, and with his throat severed by Ebizō—
He could only open his mouth soundlessly.
At this moment, Minato Namikaze, who had rushed to the rescue, looked up and saw this scene—
Before him stood a pale-faced boy staring blankly at him.
Then the boy suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood. Like a drowning fish, his mouth opened wide, breathing rapidly, as if trying to say something, but due to his severe injuries, he was exhaling more than inhaling.
A gaping hole ran through his stomach, revealing his internal organs. A massive cleaver from Ebizō's left arm protruded from his neck, spurting exaggerated jets of blood from the wound.
It looked as if half his head had been cleaved off!
A normal shinobi suffering even one of these injuries would be unable to continue fighting.
Yet this boy, to buy him time, had risked his life to achieve this!
At that moment, the boy's hot blood splattered onto Minato's face as he appeared before him.
Minato was initially stunned, speechless with shock.
Then his expression quickly shifted—pity, grief, and a profound heaviness settling over his features.
"Am I too late again?"
Minato clenched his fists in anguish. The full moon in the night sky illuminated his half-shadowed face, now stained with his comrade's blood.
It felt as if a ferocious beast was tearing his heart apart.
Finally, he raised his head and stared intently at Ebizō—the instigator of all this.
A surge of uncontrollable rage suddenly erupted in his azure eyes!
At that moment, Ebizō, standing opposite Minato, truly wanted to curse!
His scalp tingled as he stared at the blond youth blocking his path, his heart trembling. The sudden intense killing intent radiating from Minato made his chest tighten.
Minato didn't know the truth, but Ebizō did. The Uchiha brat he'd nearly killed might seem badly injured, but given a chance to breathe, a completely new one would crawl out of his mouth.
That one Uchiha brat alone had almost driven him to a dead end. Now there was another threat—Minato, whose speed left him utterly helpless.
For a moment, Ebizō seemed to see the long-deceased Second Kazekage, his teacher, standing in the night sky, smiling and beckoning to him.
"Damn it!"
"I can't die here!"
Ebizō gritted his teeth, a sudden idea forming in his mind. He sneered at Minato:
"Namikaze Minato? This brat's still alive. If you want to save him, then—"
He stopped mid-sentence, abruptly releasing his grip on Tsukasa and, with a flick of his blade, tossed him away like a rag doll.
Then he raised his arm toward Minato and Tsukasa. The hidden compartments in his chest and hands opened, unleashing a dense barrage of poisoned senbon needles!
Blue flames erupted from the puppet thrusters on his back, the intense force propelling Ebizō a great distance. Upon landing, the old man immediately adopted a runner's stance and sprinted away without looking back.
Threat, ambush, escape!
Ebizō's movements were incredibly fluid, instantly turning the tide and buying himself precious time.
At that moment, the thousand-needle attack was about to engulf both Minato and Tsukasa in mid-air!
Minato's pupils contracted. His toes barely touched the ground—
He vanished instantly, reappearing mid-air to catch Tsukasa's shoulder, then teleported them both back to his initial Flying Thunder God marker within the barrier.
He gently supported the barely breathing Tsukasa, who was on the verge of death, laying him carefully on the ground. Deep regret filled his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Tsukasa. I'm late!"
Even though Minato had rushed to the scene via Flying Thunder God the moment he saw the signal flares, without a single moment's delay—
Seeing the half-dead Tsukasa still made him feel responsible.
Minato let out a heavy sigh, clenching his fist as he promised:
"I'll be right back!"
He looked up at Ebizō, who was charging fiercely toward the edge of the cracked, pale crimson barrier. His gaze sharpened.
"His goal is to break through this barrier and escape?"
"Looks like I've been lured away from the main battlefield."
Minato frowned, his gaze settling on Tsukasa, who lay on the ground, his face deathly pale like a candle flickering in the wind. He tightened his Konoha headband, twisted on his heel, and stepped onto the vast desert of the Land of Wind, his headband ribbons fluttering in the night wind.
"Bearing the last wishes of my comrades, protecting my home village, and defeating powerful enemies!"
"This is my duty as a shinobi!"
Minato took a deep breath, his azure eyes burning with righteous fury as he stared at Ebizō rampaging in the distance like a bulldozer. He said in a deep voice:
"I can't let him run rampant any longer!"
With that, Minato was about to give chase when a trembling hand suddenly grabbed his pants leg.
"Huh?"
Minato was startled and looked down.
The next moment, he saw Tsukasa—neck and face covered in blood, face deathly pale—raising his hand and opening his palm toward him, as if demanding something.
"Ku...nai..." he struggled to force the sound from his broken throat.
At this time, Minato was still young and hadn't yet developed the Rasengan. Tsukasa believed Minato could defeat Ebizō, but to actually kill Ebizō—who had transformed himself into a human puppet—Minato's current offensive power was still slightly insufficient.
Especially since, just as Ebizō threw him away, Tsukasa had spotted an uninvited guest approaching from afar with his Sharingan!
Outside the barrier, in the desolate desert at the edge of his vision, a man with short brown hair dressed in a black shinobi uniform was rapidly approaching through the sandstorm!
And this person was none other than the Fourth Kazekage—Rasa, whom Konoha had designated as their primary assassination target!
"You...you still want to fight?!"
Minato was immediately moved, looking at the half-dead Tsukasa with shock.
Tsukasa didn't speak—in fact, he couldn't speak anymore with his throat completely severed. He could only look at Minato with unwavering eyes.
Minato was silent for a moment, taking this as Tsukasa's dying wish. He thought briefly, then nodded, reached into his ninja tool pouch, and took out a special tri-pronged kunai.
He knelt down and, with trembling hands, grasped Tsukasa's hand, solemnly placing the kunai in his palm.
Then Minato said in a deep voice:
"Then please watch my back, Tsukasa!"
"This is our combined battle—"
"In that case, I'll name this technique—"
"Combination Technique: Flash Dance Final Farewell Slash!"
After saying this, Minato's eyes trembled slightly. Unable to bear looking any longer, he immediately turned his head and shouted:
"Ready? Here we go!"
In the next instant, Minato released his grip and instantly transformed into a yellow flash barely visible to the naked eye—
Charging toward his opponent with speed even greater than the thrust of Ebizō's puppet body!
The distance between them rapidly closed in mere moments!
At this moment, behind Minato—
Tsukasa finally regained control of his body as the neurotoxin's effects began to fade.
His current state was somewhat similar to when he'd been under Uchiha Setsuna's genjutsu, having to use his hands as feet and his feet as hands. Fortunately, this wasn't difficult for Tsukasa. After readjusting to his body's responses, he immediately manipulated himself to open his mouth wide.
Soon, a pale arm emerged from his mouth, tearing his old body apart.
A completely new and unharmed boy crawled out.
With half his body still stuck in his discarded form's mouth, Tsukasa looked at Minato, who had rushed forward without looking back. A black line of exasperation appeared on his forehead.
He spat out a complaint:
"What a terrible name!"
"Flash Dance Final Farewell Slash?"
He shook his head, grabbed the special kunai from his molted body's hand, and pulled out the Flying Thunder God kunai he'd initially placed as a marker from the sand.
He spread his fingers and gripped both kunai with one hand, then drew his Kusanagi sword with the other.
Tsukasa narrowed his crimson serpent eyes, looking at the fleeing Ebizō. A fierce grin spread across his face as he strode forward.
"Wrong!"
"This technique should be called—"
"Combination Technique: Flash Dance Immortal Triple Slash!"
End of Chapter 162
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