For a brief moment, everyone seemed to be watching idly, like clueless onlookers munching on watermelon.
Minato Namikaze was small for his age, physically tiny. His opponent, however, bore the signature large build of a Kumo shinobi. The stark physical contrast and clear imbalance in combat power made this fight seem utterly absurd—as if it were actually an even match.
First off, nobody recognized who this boy ninja was; they could only tell he belonged to Konoha. Second, as the battle progressed, the Kumo shinobi appeared to be getting overly excited.
A mission? An escape plan? A noble death?
No—did someone who couldn't even beat an elementary student deserve to think about such profound questions?
Right now, the most important thing for the Cloud ninja was simply to kill the person in front of him. That was his life's purpose. Nothing else existed in his eyes.
Even though he was already completely surrounded by Anbu and Uzumaki shinobi, he either didn't notice or simply didn't care.
"Lord Haseo… Is this Kushina? Is she alright?"
Haseo himself had been one of the onlookers when Ka-jin approached him.
The chaos in the Uzumaki District had lasted for a while, plenty of time for Ka-jin to return from Mito Uzumaki's side.
"She should be fine… maybe a little overexcited," Haseo instinctively tried to downplay his Kinjutsu. Did he really mean that she was simply "overexcited"? Kushina wasn't just a child who had accidentally sipped from an adult's cup.
"All the other intruders except this one have already been taken care of. You've arrived at just the right moment. That kid is nearly out of energy. Go ahead, capture the enemy."
Haseo didn't want to finish this weakling off himself, thinking the fight unworthy. Instead, Haseo passed the job to Ka-jin. In his eyes, Ka-jin was nothing more than a living "immobilization jutsu"—his sole purpose was to lock enemies down.
As for Minato's fight, being able to hold his ground for a while didn't mean he could keep going forever. Eventually, the gap in pure combat strength would show itself... A pre-Genin child couldn't possibly hope to match the power of an elite Cloud shinobi. If that were possible, would Cloud shinobi dare come messing around in Leaf territory?
Minato wouldn't be strong enough to defeat thirty-year-old enemies until he turned twelve at least.
"Yes, Lord Haseo."
Ka-jin nodded without hesitation.
After receiving Haseo's orders, he immediately rushed toward the two-man battlefield and unceremoniously interrupted what had been a honorable 1v1 duel between real men.
Poor Kumo shinobi—one second away from achieving his life goal, the next second he found his opponent changed on him. Then suddenly—he couldn't move anymore. Ka-jin was a highly skilled Uzumaki shinobi specializing in Binding Curse Techniques, and the effects he applied were hard controls.
When black, segmented Cursed Seals began crawling up the Cloud ninja's body, that meant he had lost all ability to move. Now, he couldn't even commit suicide if he wanted to.
After seeing Ka-jin succeed, Haseo finally approached this "fragile item." He had to admit—sometimes killing an enemy was dead easy, but taking one alive? That was the real challenge, especially for someone like Haseo, who preferred quick and decisive combat.
This Kumo shinobi was as fragile as a delicate blossom, ready to wither at the slightest touch. So careful handling was required when capturing him… Hmm, even his frame looked like a willow branch—light and breakable.
At this moment, fury burned in the eyes of this Kumo ninja. They had agreed... Well, actually, nobody had ever promised he had to fight alone. When you're losing, calling for backup is perfectly normal. What's wrong with pulling off a surprise attack? Can that really be called dishonorable?
First, Haseo hoisted the blood-soaked Minato Namikaze into the air. After a brief check, he found that although Minato bore many wounds, none were fatal… Unless, of course, Haseo kept holding him up and let him bleed out.
Weird… This kid was covered in wounds, the battle had been brutal, so why wasn't there even a scratch on his face?
"Lord Haseo…"
Shortly after, the Anbu squad leader arrived as well.
Haseo gave a nod, easily understanding the other's meaning. Without making things difficult for the squad leader, he immediately said plainly, "Take him away. Interrogate him thoroughly and try to extract more intelligence."
Torture and interrogation are best left to professionals. The Kagenami simply lacked experts in that field.
The squad leader secretly exhaled in relief. Once you got used to Lord Haseo's various quirks (?!), you'd realize he was actually quite approachable.
Normally, as the leader of the Kagenami, Haseo should have claimed the prisoner for his faction first—this was a matter of internal competition among Konoha's factions—but he didn't. He handed the captive directly over to Anbu without a hint of concern.
"What about the remaining fifteen? Were they confirmed dead? Gather all the bodies for counting. Don't let yourselves get fooled again."
Haseo then reminded them carefully—it was clear he worried the Anbu might mess things up once more.
"All confirmed killed, though... We'll double-check immediately," the squad leader replied more cautiously, since if any escapees truly remained, the consequences would be dire for him personally.
Haseo had eliminated three enemies, Black Cat took out one, and an entire unit had been dealt with by Uzumaki shinobi and Anbu operatives. The numbers matched up perfectly.
"Lord Haseo, exactly who is this child who fought alongside the enemy just now?" the squad leader then asked about Minato Namikaze.
A mere primary school student showing up at the heart of such an invasion definitely warranted further investigation.
"This? You don't need to worry about him. Leave him to me."
Saying so, Haseo gave Minato Namikaze a casual shake—making the blood drip faster from his wounds.
Haseo himself didn't know why this guy had appeared here. There was no red hair scattered across the ground this time. Anyway, there was no need for Anbu to investigate Minato—nothing useful could be found regardless.
The original Minato Namikaze had a solid chance of quickly rising into Konoha's upper ranks by resolving the Kushina incident, but obviously, he wouldn't get that opportunity this time… Fortunately, Haseo had always been keeping a close eye on him, and truthfully, Haseo could more or less be considered part of Konoha's leadership.
Of course, this kind of attention could also be seen as extremely unfortunate.
Minato stayed silent—he knew this wasn't the time to voice his thoughts. Right now, he could do nothing but hang there like a toy in Haseo's grip.
"Anbu, hurry up and interrogate them. Ka-jin, you handle cleaning up the scene and tallying up the damages and casualties. I'll head to Konoha Hospital first with these two kids."
After calming things down and issuing instructions for follow-up actions, Haseo decided to leave—it was already time to get Kushina to the hospital.
Though come to think of it, he should probably worry more about Minato's condition. After all, the kid had open wounds and was still losing blood.
But what's a little blood loss when you're young? It's not like it's a bad thing, considering how rarely he'd end up injured once he got stronger… Well, meaning once Minato got stronger, he wouldn't get hurt much at all.
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