CHAPTER 278: CHAPTER 278: LET KAKUZU RUN FOR A WHILE

Kyoichi tossed Sasori to him.

Minato looked curiously at the oddly shaped paper bundle in his hands, as well as the various scattered remnants on the ground, and asked, "What happened here? And who’s this guy?"

"Sasori of the Red Sand."

Kyoichi threw out the name, then stretched lazily and extended his senses.

Kakuzu...

Heh, he’s quick.

In such a short time, he’d already run several kilometers away without the slightest intention of stopping to help. Maybe right now, Kakuzu was secretly wondering if someone might come to save him.

But...

Obviously, Madara wouldn’t lift a finger for him.

Minato examined the bundle. Good grief—this thing was a puppet, but somehow there were still signs of life inside.

A living puppet?

No...

It was more like Sasori had turned himself into an entirely unique form of life.

Researchers like him... absolute lunatics!

Minato quietly set the sealed bundle down, then glanced toward the direction Kakuzu had fled.

"That one—do we go after him? Or do we let him run for a bit longer?"

Kakuzu bore a Flying Thunder God mark. A man like him wasn’t just powerful—wherever he went, he was like a living beacon, impossible to miss.

However...

One had to admit, he was an unstable element. His secret techniques posed no small threat to others, and if they were going to eliminate him, now was the best time.

Kyoichi thought it over seriously.

If they let Kakuzu go, his current abilities meant he could pinpoint and teleport to him at any time. But the problem was, this guy didn’t seem like a core player...

At present, he looked more like a disposable errand man—someone who would never get close to Uchiha Madara’s real hideout, and maybe not even meet him in person.

Kyoichi suspected...

The one he might meet instead could be the Third Mizukage.

Still...

It was certain that Madara had a temporary base in the Land of Water.

If they could destroy that base, it would at least be a decent payoff.

After mulling it over, he said, "Let him run for now. I’ve used up quite a bit of energy—once we’ve all rested and regrouped, we’ll take care of him."

"All right. And what about Shirakumo Hayama and the others...?"

"Have them come here. Things are a bit complicated—we need to project strength."

Genji still owed him money.

Of course...

The main thing was that Kyoichi needed to see a clear stance from Kirigakure.

There were a lot of White Zetsu.

He had no intention of letting Konoha face them alone while the other villages just sat on the sidelines, only to possibly launch their own war when it was all over.

A crisis in the shinobi world should be everyone’s problem.

Otherwise...

What’s the point of dragging everyone into the mess?

Minato hadn’t become Hokage, and with Kyoichi taking on a lot of the grunt work lately, he’d been living quite comfortably—so comfortably, in fact, that his sharpness in these matters had dulled.

Still...

He knew Kyoichi had his reasons. Without saying anything, he returned the bundle to him and went to check on Kakashi’s condition.

"How’s Kakashi?"

"His injuries are healed, but there are still tiny iron-sand fragments I can’t remove yet. I’m working on it..."

Kurenai Yuhi’s forehead was beaded with sweat.

Fine particles like iron sand were extremely difficult for her to extract.

But...

Considering her teacher had just fought multiple battles, she couldn’t bring herself to ask for help, and so she was doing her best to finish the job—she’d already cleared the iron sand from one wound.

There were still plenty left.

Kyoichi glanced over but didn’t say "I’ll do it."

Aside from being slow... Kurenai was handling everything well, and she hadn’t reached her limit yet. This was good experience for her career as a kunoichi.

Minato opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it.

Kurenai was Kyoichis student.

If it were Rin, he might have said there was no need to push herself so hard—but then again...

He thought about it... his own teaching ability wasn’t that great.

At least in Konoha, the acknowledged teaching expert was Kyoichi, not Minato Namikaze. More often than not, Minato himself went to Kyoichi for advice.

So... best not to interfere.

It wasn’t until Kurenai’s face went pale and her stamina gave out, just as she was about to take a soldier pill and continue, that Kyoichi finally stepped in.

"You’ve done well up to this point. I’ll handle the rest."

Taking a soldier pill to keep going wouldn’t just drain chakra—it could also cost some of her lifespan.

No need for that.

Kyoichi wanted to train her, not destroy her.

The surgery wasn’t simple, but fortunately, Kakashi had avoided any vital areas—no major tendons or bones were damaged—only some remaining iron sand lodged inside.

All that was needed was to remove it.

He cut open the wound, carefully coating the iron sand with chakra, breaking it down, and then slowly drawing it out.

Minato and the others watched tensely.

In just a few minutes, Kyoichi was already using Mystical Palm Technique to close the wound.

"That’s it?" Minato asked in surprise. Kurenai had been at it for so long without finishing, yet Kyoichi had wrapped it up with ease.

"What else? Once you reach a certain level, many techniques can be adapted. Since the iron sand was created through Sasori’s ninjutsu, of course it can be broken down with ninjutsu—it just requires a lot of specialized knowledge and skill."

Kyoichi explained simply.

Kurenai looked thoughtful.

No wonder her teacher’s method felt so different—he was directly breaking down the iron sand into a chakra state, making it possible to draw it out with Fine Disease Extraction Technique by guiding the foreign chakra away.

But...

Breaking down iron sand...

That was no easier than physically removing it—in fact, it was far more difficult. Simply put, her teacher’s method was a high-level alternative, not something that could be widely taught.

Minato was thinking along other lines.

Breaking down iron sand was a reverse chakra nature transformation.

Very difficult!

But if used in battle, it could perfectly neutralize an enemy’s technique...

"Ahem, this is only really practical in cases like this." Kyoichi coughed lightly.

Breaking it down wasn’t easy—in truth, removing just those few grains had taken him several minutes. In battle, with more iron sand and longer times required, it would be exponentially harder.

And...

It worked here because iron sand was a tangible ninjutsu construct. Techniques like Fire Release or Lightning Release were basically impossible to neutralize this way.

So...

For now, it was nearly unusable in real combat.

Minato was a little disappointed, but he also knew developing new ninjutsu was never straightforward—there were always detours, and often the final application was nothing like what was originally envisioned.

"Let’s find somewhere to rest first."

Kakashi was still unconscious, and Jingyi had expended a lot of energy. If they went after Kakuzu now and something unexpected happened, it would be hard to deal with—plus, if they left, what about Shisui and the others?

Best to wait.

Kakuzu was already marked—it would be easy to track him down later.

And maybe...

He could lead them to Madara’s base in the Land of Water.

Kyoichi silently wished for it.

At the inn, Kyoichi and Minato sat down to discuss the situation in the Land of Water. Only then did Minato understand why Kyoichi had urgently called him to the front lines.

Uchiha Madara, the Third Mizukage, the Three-Tails’ jinchūriki...

Handling all of them at once was no easy task—and the most dangerous thing was their ability to control others.

As for why he hadn’t chosen Konoha...

That was simple.

The Byakugan!

Both Byakugan and Sharingan had perceptive capabilities—how could Madara, as a Sharingan wielder, not be aware of that?

"So what do we do next, staying here in the Land of Water?"

"The shinobi world works like this—without an external threat, everyone fights among themselves. But once there is one, cooperation becomes possible. I’m going to force Kirigakure to work with us."

Kyoichi said simply.

Minato pondered.

Cooperation...

The target was obviously Uchiha Madara.

No—there were also those strange creatures...

"There are a lot of them?"

"With the First Hokage’s cells’ regenerative ability, as long as you have the right cultivation equipment, producing a massive number of these special cellular beings is not difficult. Facing them alone would drain Konoha far too much."

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