Naruto rebirth! Xenoverse!

Chapter 61: Betrayal on the Cliff!

Minato's blue eyes shifted from their usual warmth to something far colder as he assessed the three Stone jōnin arrayed against him. The grey-haired leader, Ishida Roku, gripped his wind-enhanced sword with white knuckles. Gozu's massive frame was tense with anticipation, his hammer held ready for another devastating strike. Tetsu clutched his multiple blades, blood still seeping from the electrical burns on his arms.

"You've never faced me when I'm truly serious," Minato had said, his words hung in the air like a death sentence.

"Impossible," Roku whispered, but his voice carried the hollow ring of a man trying to convince himself of something he knew wasn't true. The evidence was right before his eyes—the perfectly placed strikes, the supernatural speed, the casual dismissal of their coordinated assault.

"Attack together!" Roku roared to his companions, desperation lending strength to his voice. "All of us, now! It's our only chance!"

The three Stone ninja launched into their final, desperate gambit. Roku's wind-enhanced blade carved deadly arcs through the air whilst Gozu's hammer came down with earth-shaking force. Tetsu's thrown knives created a deadly constellation around Minato's position, each one aimed to limit his escape routes.

For any other opponent, it would have been overwhelming. For the Yellow Flash, it was merely Tuesday.

"You should have run when you had the chance," Minato said quietly, his voice carrying the finality of an executioner. "That was your mistake."

What happened next would be spoken of in whispered tones throughout the Hidden Stone Village for years to come—a cautionary tale about why their leaders had issued flee-on-sight orders for the Yellow Flash.

"Flying Thunder God Sequential Steps!" Minato called out, his voice echoing with absolute confidence.

FLASH—

The first teleportation brought him directly behind Tetsu, the lean shinobi's throwing knives still hanging in the air where Minato had been standing moments before. The blade that pierced Tetsu's heart was so quick, so precise, that the man didn't even have time to register pain before the light faded from his eyes.

FLASH—

Before Tetsu's body had even begun to fall, Minato appeared beside Gozu's massive frame. The hammer-wielder's enhanced reflexes allowed him to detect the movement, but his massive weapon was simply too unwieldy to respond in time. Minato's kunai found the gap beneath his armpit, sliding between ribs to pierce the heart, taking another out with a quick swipe of his weapon.

FLASH—

Roku spun desperately as golden light exploded behind him, his wind-enhanced blade carving a deadly arc through the space where Minato should have been. But the Yellow Flash was already gone, appearing directly in front of the Stone leader with a kunai poised at his throat.

"You wanted to know how much chakra I had left," Minato said conversationally, his blade unwavering against Roku's neck. "The answer is more than enough."

Roku's eyes were wide with a mixture of terror and disbelief. In the space of three heartbeats, his companions had been eliminated with such precision that it seemed almost casual. The legendary speed he had heard whispered about in intelligence briefings was beyond anything he had imagined possible.

"This... this is why they told us to run," Roku whispered, his voice barely audible. "This is why the Tsuchikage himself said to avoid you at all costs."

"Your leader is wiser than you were," Minato replied, his blue eyes reflecting no mercy. "Perhaps next time the Stone will remember that some warnings exist for good reason."

"Wait," Roku gasped, his sword falling from nerveless fingers. "I surrender! I can provide intelligence about our operations, about—"

"You lost the right to surrender the moment you threatened children under my protection," Minato said simply.

The final flash of golden light was almost anticlimactic. Roku's body crumpled to the cliff road beside his fallen companions, three of the Stone's finest jōnin eliminated in less than ten seconds by the eighteen-year-old prodigy who would one day become the Fourth Hokage.

Minato stood amongst the bodies, not even breathing heavily from the exertion. His specially marked kunai lay scattered around the battlefield like discarded toys, each one a testament to the web of death he had woven around his enemies.

This was the Yellow Flash. This was why entire villages trembled at the mention of his name.

But even as Minato secured the battlefield, a different kind of nightmare was unfolding further down the cliff road.

Saki Ishikawa clutched her wounded right arm against her body, bright crimson blood seeping between her fingers where Kōzaru's claws had found their mark. Her elegant composure had shattered completely, replaced by the raw fury of a injured predator.

"You little animals," she snarled, her green eyes blazing with murderous intent. "I'll carve you up piece by piece! Every last one of you will die screaming!"

Despite her injury, she moved with the fluid grace of a jōnin-level combatant, her good hand gripping a kunai. The wound had disrupted her concentration enough to free Team 15 from her genjutsu, but it had done nothing to diminish her physical capabilities.

"Stay behind us," Kōzaru told the three survivors, his enhanced senses tracking Saki's every movement. Yuki and Riku flanked him, their hackles raised and their fangs bared as they prepared for another assault.

"She's still dangerous," Aotaka warned, his lightning-enhanced blade crackling with electrical energy as he channelled his chakra through it getting serious right off the bat.

"Then we finish this quickly," Tatsuma said, his hands already forming the seals for his shadow clone technique. "Before she can regroup or try another genjutsu."

But Saki was already in motion, her speed impressive despite her wounded state. She feinted toward Kōzaru before spinning at the last moment, her kunai aimed directly at Aotaka's exposed flank.

"Lightning Style: Static Force!" Aotaka called out, electricity erupting from his body in all directions.

[Chakra: 116/156 → 96/156]

But Saki twisted impossibly in mid-air, her jōnin-level agility allowing her to avoid the worst of the electrical discharge. Her foot connected with Aotaka's chest in a devastating kick that sent him flying backwards through the air.

"Aotaka!" Tatsuma shouted as his teammate crashed against the cliff wall with bone-jarring force, his enhanced Senju constitution the only thing preventing serious injury.

Saki's follow-up was immediate and vicious. She spun toward Kōzaru, her kunai aimed directly at his throat in a killing stroke designed to end the fight in a single move.

"Beast Mimicry: All-Fours Jutsu!" Kōzaru called out desperately, his body transforming as he dropped low to avoid the deadly blade.

[Chakra: 137/167 → 107/167]

The kunai whistled over his head, missing by mere millimetres, but Saki's expertise showed as she immediately adjusted her grip and brought the weapon down in a vicious overhead strike.

"Now! Fang over Fang!" Yuki and Riku launched themselves at Saki's flanks, their transformed bodies spinning with destructive force, taking advantage of her open position.

But the genjutsu specialist was ready for them. Despite her injured arm, she managed to jump back, her feet landing firmly on the very edge of the cliff road. Below her, the two-hundred-metre drop yawned like an open mouth, but her balance was perfect despite the precarious position.

"Is that all you have?" she taunted, her breathing slightly laboured but her voice still carrying that unsettling musical quality. "Three little academy graduates and their pet dogs?"

"We're not academy graduates anymore," Tatsuma said quietly, his shadow clones forming around him in a defensive formation. "We're shinobi of the Hidden Leaf."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

[Chakra: 122/222 → 47/222]

Three clones materialised, immediately spreading out to surround Saki's position. But the genjutsu specialist just laughed at the display.

"Still relying on tricks," she said, her green eyes gleaming with malicious amusement. "Let me show you what real power looks like!"

She raised her hands her fingers weaving through a complex series of seals despite her precarious position on the cliff's edge. The air around her began to shimmer with chakra, and Team 15 felt the familiar disorientation that marked the beginning of another genjutsu.

"She's casting another illusion!" Kōzaru warned, his enhanced senses detecting the fluctuations in her chakra. "Everyone look out!"

"Too late!" Saki screamed, her technique reaching its climax. "Genjutsu: Hell's Nightmare Realm! I'll drag you all into the deepest—"

Her words were cut short as a barrage of kunai suddenly erupted from the forest behind Team 15. The weapons hit Saki with pinpoint accuracy, punching through her chest and abdomen in a coordinated assault that left her gaping in shock.

"What—" she gasped, her genjutsu technique dissolving as her concentration shattered. Blood bubbled from her lips as she looked down at the kunai protruding from her body.

Three figures emerged from the trees, their movements fluid and professional. They wore the distinctive headbands of the Hidden Cloud Village, and their gear spoke to serious combat experience. There was an unsettling, predatory glint in their expressions, something that suggested these weren't reinforcements coming to anyone's aid.

"Saki Ishikawa," the apparent leader said, a tall man with spiky yellow hair and cold blue eyes. "The Crimson Mirage of Stone. Such a shame to see a legend brought so low."

"Raikiri," Saki whispered, recognition dawning in her green eyes even as her life blood poured from her wounds. "But... but we were working together! The alliance between us—"

"Was never real," Raikiri interrupted with a cold smile. "Did you honestly think we would share power with Iwa? You were useful for gathering intelligence and weakening Leaf forces, nothing more."

One of his companions, a lean woman with short black hair, stepped closer to the cliff edge. "The medical supplies, the convoy routes, the information about Leaf's capabilities—thank you for doing all the hard work for us."

The third Cloud ninja, a massive man with arms covered in lightning-pattern tattoos, chuckled darkly. "Iwa ninja are so trusting. It almost makes me feel bad about betraying you."

"Almost," he added with a cruel grin.

Saki's eyes blazed with fury despite her fatal wounds. "You... you used us! Everything we sacrificed, everyone we lost—it was all for your benefit!"

"Welcome to the reality of war," Raikiri said with mock sympathy. "Did you think the Hidden Cloud became one of the Great Five by playing fair?"

"Now shut up and die!" He yelled with casual cruelty, he stepped forward and kicked Saki's wounded form. Her balance, already precarious on the cliff's edge, finally gave way. She plummeted toward the rocky riverbed below, her scream of rage echoing off the stone walls until it was swallowed by the distance.

"And that," Raikiri said, dusting off his hands with theatrical satisfaction, "concludes our alliance with the Hidden Stone."

The three Cloud ninja turned their attention to Team 15 and the survivors huddled behind them. Their expressions shifted from casual cruelty to focused predation, The gaze of hunters who had just locked onto their true prey.

"Now then," Raikiri said pleasantly, his hand moving to the sword at his back. "You three children have caused us quite a bit of trouble. But more importantly, you're carrying exactly what we came here for."

His gaze shifted to the medical supplies and the three survivors. "Those supplies will fetch an excellent price on the black market. And those civilians—well, they have information in their heads that certain interested parties would pay handsomely to extract."

"You want to get them?" Kōzaru growled, his claws extending as Yuki and Riku flanked him. "You'll have to go through us first."

"Three academy brats against jōnin-level opponents?" the female Cloud ninja laughed. "This should be amusing."

"We need to move fast," the massive Cloud ninja added, his eyes darting toward where the sounds of Minato's battle had suddenly fallen silent. "The Yellow Flash will be coming for us next, and even we don't fancy those odds."

Raikiri drew his sword, lightning crackling along its edge with far more intensity than anything Aotaka could produce. "Nothing personal, children. But you're standing between us and a very profitable operation."

Team 15 found themselves facing a new nightmare. Three jōnin-level opponents whose coordination and experience dwarfed anything they had faced before. Behind them, three wounded civilians who couldn't protect themselves. And somewhere in the distance, Minato was too far away to reach them in time.

The cliff road stretched before them, offering no cover and no escape. Below lay a two-hundred-metre drop to certain death. Above them, three of the Hidden Cloud's finest prepared to demonstrate exactly why their village was feared throughout the shinobi world.

"Form up," Kōzaru said quietly, his enhanced senses tracking the approaching enemies. "Protect the survivors. Whatever happens, we don't let them pass."

"Understood," Aotaka replied, his lightning-enhanced blade casting eerie shadows in the afternoon light.

"Together," Tatsuma added, his remaining chakra gathering for one final, desperate gambit, his shadow clones taking a defensive position around them as they drew the giant shuriken from their backs.

The Cloud ninja began their advance, their movements coordinated and professional. But Team 15 stood their ground, three young warriors ready to face the storm.

After all, they were shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. And they had promises to keep.

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