After delivering his triumphant declaration, the masked man seemed genuinely curious about what kind of expression would cross Minato's face upon realizing the hopelessness of his situation.
After all, no matter how powerful someone might be, once they entered this isolated dimensional space, they would never be able to escape back to their own world.
However, Minato ignored his captor entirely and continued surveying the strange environment around him with analytical calm.
"So there really are other dimensions beyond the shinobi world," Minato mused internally, his scientific mind already working to understand the implications.
His inability to detect any chakra resonance from his Flying Thunder God markers confirmed that this space existed completely separate from the reality he knew. The technique that had served as his greatest advantage was now utterly useless.
Having personally experienced interdimensional travel through his rebirth, Minato didn't find the concept of alternate spaces particularly shocking in itself.
However, he was intensely curious about how these so-called dimensional pockets were structured and connected, though he couldn't determine those details from his current vantage point.
Whoosh!
Before him, the masked man's chakra began rising once again, condensing into the familiar form of Susanoo complete with its protective armor plating.
The ethereal construct took a defensive stance as its controller watched Minato with obvious wariness.
"Interesting..." Minato observed with genuine surprise at this unexpected behavior.
Even if the masked man had achieved complete mastery over Susanoo, maintaining the technique still required enormous expenditures of his own energy reserves.
His intangibility ability should theoretically provide superior defensive capabilities compared to Susanoo, so why was he choosing this more chakra-intensive combat method?
Flash!
Minato's eyes focused with predatory intensity, and his form became a streak of golden light as he rushed directly toward the armored construct.
Hum!
Chakra condensed rapidly in his palm, and by the time he reached Susanoo's position, his attack had already achieved full formation.
"Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan!"
CRACK!
Minato's technique struck Susanoo with tremendous force, but the impact only caused the construct to tremble slightly rather than suffering the devastating damage it should have sustained.
"Something's definitely wrong here," the masked man realized with growing confusion.
Minato's movement speed and technique execution were significantly below the crushing superiority he had demonstrated during their previous battle.
Even accounting for the chakra he had expended creating shadow clones to deal with both himself and Nagato, his current performance shouldn't have degraded to this extent.
Taking advantage of this apparent weakness, the masked man commanded his Susanoo to counterattack, and massive chakra chains shot forth from the construct's hands.
Minato dodged with evident effort, the chains passing mere inches from his position.
He managed to avoid the attack, but only barely—a level of performance that would have been unthinkable during their earlier confrontation.
"This is a shadow clone!" the masked man's expression shifted to shock as the truth became apparent.
High Above Konoha
BANG!
Just as the spatial distortions in the air subsided, one of the special kunai suspended in the gravitational field suddenly exploded in a cloud of transformation smoke.
The figure emerging from the dispersing smoke was the real Minato.
Minato had understood that he couldn't hope to stop both the masked man and the man in black simultaneously using only shadow clones, regardless of their enhanced quality.
So when he had sensed the masked man preparing to use his dimensional transportation technique, he had quickly transformed himself into one of the Flying Thunder God kunai he had thrown earlier.
He hurled another marked kunai upward through the air, and this time even his arm movement seemed strained and labored under the intense gravitational pressure.
Swoosh!
When he teleported to the rapidly ascending kunai once more, he finally raised his eyes and clearly saw the source of the catastrophic gravitational explosion.
"It's like an artificial black hole," Minato breathed, his eyes widening slightly with shock at the sight of the fist-sized black sphere that seemed to absorb all light that touched its surface.
However, the crisis should be manageable if he could simply destroy the gravitational source at its origin.
With his body positioned so close to the black sphere, even the slightest movements became incredibly difficult. When he attempted to raise his hand, he discovered that even forming basic ninjutsu had become nearly impossible under such pressure.
"In that case..."
Minato could sense that this gravitational black sphere possessed absolutely terrifying amounts of chakra concentrated within its small form.
There was no doubt that it had been created by the man in black during their previous battle, but what Minato still couldn't understand was how he had managed to accomplish this feat right under his nose without any apparent preparation.
At that moment, enormous quantities of sage chakra began condensing in Minato's palm with focused determination.
Hum!
Within moments, a special marking that resembled an intricate white jade carving had formed in his hand.
Once the marking was complete, he ceased channeling chakra into it. Without Minato making any additional movements, the marking began rising slowly through the air under the influence of the overwhelming gravitational pull.
Because the black sphere was positioned at considerable distance from the ground, the massive boulders and various debris attracted by its gravitational field had not yet reached this altitude.
Under Minato's focused observation, the marking was drawn inexorably toward the gravity-filled black sphere.
Thirty meters. Twenty meters. Ten meters.
Buzz!
At this critical distance, the black sphere began trembling slightly, as if sensing the approach of something fundamentally incompatible with its nature.
As the distance between the two forces continued to decrease, the air between them began vibrating with increasing intensity, and even the fabric of space itself started showing signs of distortion.
At that precise moment, a message suddenly reached Minato's consciousness through his connection to his shadow clone.
"So you've already been defeated?" Minato thought without any trace of surprise in his mental voice.
The shadow clone that the masked man had captured in the dimensional space possessed less than one-tenth of Minato's actual power and capabilities.
Whoosh!
After a few tense seconds, the space directly in front of Minato distorted once again, and the masked man emerged with eyes blazing with malicious intent.
At that same instant, the massive stone formations and debris that had been steadily rising through the air under the black sphere's influence suddenly stopped their ascent.
The masked man also felt the abrupt loss of upward gravitational force, causing his body to begin falling. He raised his eyes and witnessed the space immediately surrounding the black sphere becoming distorted to an extreme degree.
The distortion reached a critical threshold before suddenly returning to normal. When the spatial fluctuations settled, the black sphere had mysteriously vanished into the dimensional rift that Minato had created.
The masked man's gaze snapped toward his opponent with sudden understanding. This was the same technique that the Fourth Hokage had used to eliminate the Third Raikage—a spatial displacement attack of devastating precision.
Just as the masked man focused on Minato's position, the air directly in front of him seemed to vibrate with barely perceptible energy.
The invisible attack passed harmlessly through the masked man's form as his intangibility activated automatically.
"Using his phasing ability again..." Minato noted with slight frustration as he watched his natural energy attack penetrate through his opponent's incorporeal body.
Flash!
In an instant, Minato's figure vanished once more from the masked man's field of vision, using his superior speed to escape before a counterattack could be launched.
The masked man snarled with rage at being outmaneuvered again, his teeth grinding audibly in frustration.
With his Mangekyō Sharingan serving as the focal point, space twisted and drew him into the dimensional void as he prepared to continue the pursuit.
Minato materialized on a massive boulder that was plummeting through the air more than ten meters below his previous position. He turned and spotted the man in black hovering in the air behind him, having taken to flight to avoid being trapped on the ground.
"Even the Chibaku Tensei technique..." the man in black muttered, his expression grave beneath his concealing hood as he processed what had just occurred.
After realizing that the gravitational force had completely dissipated, he had immediately taken to the air. Remaining on the ground would have left him vulnerable to Minato's relentless assault patterns.
Throughout the sky above them, massive rocks and various objects that had been drawn upward by the gravitational technique were now falling back toward the earth in a deadly rain of debris.
This included everyone who had been caught within Konoha's boundaries when the technique was initially activated.
"Thank you, Minato," Kushina thought gratefully, having clearly sensed her husband's distinctive chakra signature during the technique's resolution.
Immediately afterward, murderous intent flashed through the eyes of Kushina, the Third Hokage, and the other Konoha defenders as they turned their attention toward Orochimaru and the remaining invaders who had brought such devastation to their village.