Eyes met.
Minato's left hand condensed a Rasengan the size of a washbasin, meeting Akatsuchi's rock fist.
"Aaaah!!!"
Akatsuchi roared.
Boom.
Akatsuchi's left hand swung horizontally, his kunai aiming straight for Minato's vital neck.
"Die!"
As if losing strength, or perhaps feigning evasion of Akatsuchi's advance, Minato leaped backward with effort, lightly tossing his Flying Raijin kunai into the air.
Akatsuchi, who had already seen through the Flying Raijin Technique, didn't pursue but instead opted to strike at the Flying Raijin kunai.
Everything seemed to unfold like a pre-written script.
Two Veigar clones appeared, blocking Akatsuchi's fist and kunai.
Bang, bang.
Before the two Veigar clones could even act, Akatsuchi destroyed them, but this also caused his movements to falter.
"Danger..."
Akatsuchi hadn't anticipated such a turn of events, and he was greatly alarmed.
Whoosh.
Minato's figure vanished, then reappeared like a brilliant golden light condensing.
Big Ball Rasengan.
Boom.
Akatsuchi, completely open, couldn't dodge. He took Minato's attack head-on, his chest a bloody mess, sliding back over thirty meters before he finally managed to stand firm.
It wasn't over, not yet.
Akatsuchi, a ninja who specialized in Earth Style, possessed exceptionally strong defenses, allowing him to endure Minato's Big Ball Rasengan and still remain standing.
Whoosh...
A Flying Raijin kunai was released from his hand once more, flying towards Akatsuchi.
In Akatsuchi's eyes, which flashed with panic, Minato's voice echoed in his mind.
"It's over."
This time, Minato remained standing in his original spot. It was Veigar who appeared before Akatsuchi.
Akatsuchi, unwilling to fall into eternal darkness, still struggled to retaliate, swinging his kunai horizontally once more.
Slash.
The kunai bit into flesh, slicing across Veigar's abdomen, leaving a wound stretching across his navel, blood splattering.
However, Veigar didn't even flinch despite being wounded. His calm, unruffled eyes revealed an intense and concentrated killing intent.
The Shinigami Blade swung down in a diagonal slash.
Slash.
Pain contorted Akatsuchi's face, now frozen in place.
Thud.
Akatsuchi, who had been diagonally cut in half from the shoulder by Veigar, collapsed onto the ground, his face a mask of agony and contortion.
Akatsuchi, the newly promoted Kage of the Iwa-nin Village, died during this mission.
"Veigar."
Minato appeared beside Veigar, looking at Akatsuchi's corpse and calling out softly, a hint of worry in his tone.
"I'm fine."
Shaking his head, Veigar looked down at his abdomen.
Senjutsu: Ultra-Fast Regeneration Technique.
The deep wound visibly healed at an astonishing rate until it vanished, leaving only a faint red mark on Veigar's abdomen.
Dispelling his Death God Mode, Veigar crouched beside Akatsuchi's corpse.
"Sensei, I'll take these bodies back to Konoha."
"You take those supplies to the front lines."
"You'll need them."
Minato knew how beneficial Veigar's decision was for him. If the Konoha ninjas on the front lines received these supplies, which originally belonged to the Iwagakure, it would drastically reduce casualties.
"Thank you."
Minato sincerely thanked Veigar.
Half an hour later, after everything was handled, Veigar and Minato left the Kannabi Bridge, where over two hundred Iwa-nin had died, and returned to the cave where Kakashi and Rin were.
Two figures, one large and one small, appeared at the cave's entrance, slightly blocking the light. A vigilant Kakashi stood in front of Rin, intently watching the cave entrance.
Behind Kakashi, Rin, upon seeing Minato and Veigar's faces, immediately shouted with joy:
"Sensei! Veigar!"
"You're back!"
Kakashi also breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Minato and Veigar.
"Rin, Kakashi."
"Nothing happened, right?"
Kakashi shook his head and replied, "No."
An hour later, after discussion and rest, Veigar and Minato, Kakashi, and Rin parted ways.
Veigar headed towards Konohagakure with a scroll filled with sealed heads, while Minato took the supplies to the battlefield front lines.
"This war will be over soon."
Gazing towards the front lines, Veigar continued his journey.
On his way back, Veigar was less rushed, taking three or four days to return to Konoha.
At the same time, the first news he heard in the village was that of victory in the war.
Two days prior, the war against the Iwagakure on the front lines broke out. Led by Minato, numerous Konoha ninjas successfully annihilated over two thousand Iwa-nin, securing victory in the war in one fell swoop.
That's right, it wasn't Jiraiya who led the Konoha ninjas to victory, but Minato Namikaze.
Veigar could figure out exactly what had happened even with his toes.
"Finally, victory! The war is ending!"
"This damn war, it's finally over. Waaah..."
"Hero! Minato-sama is the village's hero!"
"Thanks to Minato-sama, we were able to defeat the Iwa-nin this time."
...
Along the way, Veigar heard these words most often from the villagers.
Minato had gained immense prestige with the victory of the final battle, his popularity skyrocketing.
Just as Veigar was heading to the Hokage Residence, Hiruzen received a piece of intelligence that greatly shocked him.
Holding the intelligence scroll, Hiruzen gravely looked at the Anbu ninja from the Intelligence Division, who was kneeling before him. With a hint of questioning, he asked in a deeply solemn tone:
"Is everything stated in this report true?"
Before Hiruzen, the captain of the Intelligence Division, responsible for intelligence gathering, transmission, and reporting, an Anbu ninja codenamed Jinyo (Swift Hawk), had also seen the report. He, too, replied gravely and solemnly:
"Lord Third, this intelligence was sent back by a spy who had been undercover in the Iwagakure for ten years, at the cost of his life."
Although Jinyo didn't explicitly state whether the intelligence was true or not, he implicitly affirmed its authenticity.
If it weren't true intelligence, if this intelligence weren't so critical...
Why would a spy who had been undercover for ten years transmit it back, even at the cost of his life?
Both Hiruzen and Jinyo knew that such a spy, who had remained undiscovered for ten years, was a huge loss for the village.
"His family, his descendants, will all receive the highest-grade condolence payments. His name will be engraved on the Memorial Stone."
Jinyo's face beneath his mask instantly lit up with wild joy upon hearing Hiruzen's words. Wasn't that exactly why he had spoken that way?
"Thank you, Lord Third. I will personally make the arrangements."
The principle of "buying the bones of a dead horse at a high price."
Hiruzen understood it, and Jinyo understood it clearly too.
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TN: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon —— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]