Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 176 Minato Namikaze's Arm Is Severed

Hideyoshi gritted his teeth, clenched his fist, and slammed it heavily against the tree beside him. The immense force caused his fist to bleed, but he seemed to feel no pain.

"My children... my children, I watched them being kidnapped right before my eyes."

After recounting everything that had happened, he threw another heavy punch.

"I should have chased after him! I should have chased after him first!"

Aburame Shisei pressed down on his shoulder with considerable force: "Now is not the time to regret."

He pointed towards the canyon: "They're still alive. The ritual needs living children; corpses are useless. There's still time."

Hideyoshi picked up the fallen scythe. His injuries had healed, and even his dislocated hand had been put back in place by Shisei Aburame.

"Let's go," he said, and the two of them headed toward the cave together.

However, they had only walked less than a hundred meters when a yellow flash suddenly appeared from the side, blocking their path.

Minato Namikaze stood on a rock, his golden hair gleaming slightly in the moonlight, his blue eyes fixed on Shisei Aburame. He held a kunai in his right hand, and a small toad, no bigger than a palm, perched on his left shoulder.

"Senior Shiraki, please wait." He spoke, his voice surprisingly calm, clearly not blinded by hatred.

He took a deep breath and continued, "I want to know, why did you kill my master?"

"I don't believe that Shiraki-senpai is the kind of person who would extend hatred beyond the battlefield."

Minato Namikaze continued, his tone devoid of anger, only genuine confusion, "And I've heard that you never kill indiscriminately, never torture prisoners. You're not the kind of person who would harm innocent people because of battlefield grudges."

"I really can't understand what reason you would have given to kill my master. He wasn't your enemy; he just... just wanted to stop you from killing."

Upon hearing this, Hideyoshi's eyes instantly turned red.

"To stop the killing?"

"What right do you people of Konoha have to stop him from killing?"

He grabbed his scythe and swung it fiercely at Minato Namikaze. Minato leaped back quickly, the scythe grazing his chest and carving a deep furrow in the ground. Shards flew, striking Minato's face and leaving several bloody gashes.

"By what right!" Hideyoshi roared, sweeping his sword across the room again. "Where were you when those cultists were slaughtering our village?"

Minato Namikaze dodged again, but was nearly struck by the blade. He frowned, not understanding why this complete stranger harbored such intense hatred towards him.

"Where were you when those children were crying and calling for their mothers?" Hideyoshi slashed with his third sword, followed by his fourth.

"Where were you when those children were being sacrificed and pressed onto the blood-soaked ground?"

"I don't know." Minato Namikaze tried to explain, but Hideyoshi didn't give him a chance.

"It's you! It's you who hindered us!" Hideyoshi roared, swinging his scythe wildly. "You've caused even more people to die in this disaster! Do you even know our village has been destroyed?!"

Upon hearing this, Minato Namikaze was startled. Although it was just a few words, he could roughly guess the cause and effect.

Just then, Shisei Aburame made a move.

He simply raised his hand, his fingers slightly spread. Azure wind instantly condensed at his fingertips, transforming into five sharp wind blades that shot towards Minato Namikaze!

Wind Release: Sage Art: Five-Finger Wind Slash.

Minato Namikaze instinctively dodged to the side, but the wind blade was too fast, almost grazing his cheek.

The little toad on his shoulder trembled in fright at the sudden attack and slipped.

"Croak!"

The little toad fell off Minato Namikaze's shoulder and flailed its limbs frantically in the air.

The wind blades were already upon it; it had closed its eyes, thinking, "Quack, quack, my life is over!"

"Little toad!" Minato Namikaze didn't have time to think, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique and disappeared from the spot.

The next second, he appeared beside the little toad and pulled it into his arms.

Just as he was about to disappear again, it was too late; the cyan wind blade slashed past him.

With a very soft sound, his right arm was severed at the elbow. The severed arm tumbled a few times in the air before landing on the ground.

Blood gushed from the broken wound, staining the rocks beneath their feet red.

Minato Namikaze groaned, his face instantly turning pale. He glanced down at his severed arm, then looked up at Shisei Aburame.

Aburame Shisei's expression remained unchanged, his gaze as calm as if he were looking at a stone.

"You wanted to know the reason, didn't you? This is the reason."

The gentle breeze in Shisei Aburame's hands began to gather once more. He was now curious to see which family the chosen one would be born into without Minato Namikaze.

Actually, there was a speculation on the internet before: it doesn't matter who conceived the child, as long as it came out of Kushina Uzumaki's belly, it is a child of destiny.

Minato Namikaze's pupils dilated slightly. The other party was actually preparing to kill him, and without any explanation!

He swiftly dodged, grabbed the severed arm from the ground with his left hand, and vanished in a flash before the next attack could arrive, along with the toad and the severed arm.

-

Twenty kilometers away.

The three people who were hurrying along the mountain path suddenly felt a spatial fluctuation, and a figure appeared out of thin air and crashed heavily in front of them.

"Watergate!"

Akimichi Choza exclaimed in surprise and immediately stopped in his tracks.

The other two quickly surrounded him. At this moment, Minato Namikaze lay in a pool of blood, his right hand severed at the elbow, blood still seeping from the cut. Fortunately, in his intact left hand, he tightly gripped the severed arm and a small, unconscious toad.

Nara Shikaku quickly retrieved a tourniquet and bandages from his ninja tool pouch. "Choza, use your chakra to stop the bleeding! Ichio, be on alert!"

Akimichi Choza quickly squatted down and covered Minato Namikaze's severed wound with his huge hands, releasing chakra to forcibly stop the bleeding.

Nara Shikaku quickly bandaged the area above the severed arm and then took out ice from the roll to wrap the severed arm.

"He's still alive." Choza Akimichi breathed a sigh of relief, but his expression remained grave. "But this arm..."

"Let's save our lives first." Nara Shikaku sealed the severed arm with a sealing scroll and carried it on his back. "We must get back to Konoha as soon as possible."

Nara Shikaku looked at the unconscious Namikaze Minato, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

"Fortunately, he brought his arm back. If he hadn't, his ninja career... would really have ended there."

"I'll carry him on my back." Choza Akimichi gently placed Minato Namikaze on his back. "Shikaku, you're the fastest, you go and deliver the message first."

Nara Shikaku nodded, quickly formed hand seals, and disappeared into the night using the Body Flicker Technique.

The remaining two exchanged a glance and sped off towards Konoha.