Updated: May 24 2014

8. Sixteen Down …

Minato had to get that necklace. If he used it, it would protect him from genjutsu, and Toru would lose his biggest defence.

The Genjutsu Master whistled loudly, and Minato knew what it meant; sure enough, a moment after, fifteen Rain shinobi showed up, dressed in the same blue uniform the intruder from earlier, the one Toru had called Naoki, had worn.

So that had been the initial plan; to lure him out on the meadow where fifteen of Toru's loyal soldiers waited to murder him. Luckily, Minato hadn't made it as far as to the middle of the meadow.

Minato quickly changed his plan. He could still win, but whatever he did, he had to avoid looking at the Genjutsu Master, even if he had to fight blind-folded. His first move was to throw a Hiraishin kunai at them; they too had learned to avoid it, but he managed to scatter them. He moved to the kunai and crouched. Palm to the ground, and a small push of chakra.

Two of them attacked with swords. He drew his own to block, and they pressed him backwards while they fought. They were skilled swordsmen who used techniques Minato had never seen before; it was often close call, but they didn't manage to give him more than small, barely bleeding cuts he doubted he would get scars from. He ducked when one of them tried to behead him – he used the opportunity – palm to the ground.

He managed to cut both of his opponents, and they backed off while two others attacked. They used neither swords nor any other weapon; they charged, ready to attack with pure strength. Minato adapted by withdrawing his swords, made a stance and read their movements; Minato ducked, placed his hands to the ground and kicked his legs up, aiming at the man's face; his jaw broke and he fell while Minato got up and gave the second opponent a punch underneath the chin on his way up; the man fell several meters backwards.

More of them attacked from different angles. Minato was just as surprised as them to see how well he could adapt to each of them. Swords, kunai, pure strength – he was only lucky all of them were short-range fighters – they moved around him on the large meadow, and every time Minato had the opportunity, he placed his palm to the ground.

Only when Toru decided to join the match did Minato have actual problems. Toru had so far been complaining about how fighting would "get him dirty", but apparently, he saw no other option than to fight; though Minato had no plans of letting him in. If he so much as glanced at him, it was all over.

So he had no choice but to fight blind-folded.

Minato activated his chakra and shaped it, before he turned three hundred and sixty degrees on the spot; all sixteen opponents, including the unconscious, were blown away by a wind the strength of a hurricane. While they stumbled to their feet, Minato pulled his forehead protector over his eyes. He could no longer adapt to all the styles; he had his four remaining senses to rely on only.

His concentration was on full when he drew both of his swords and could feel fourteen different chakras coming at him in a circle. He decided it would be unwise to stay in the middle of it, so he moved to the outside.

"How the hell did he do that?" he heard one of them say. "He didn't even throw a kunai!"

Minato took out two opponents with the element of surprise. His plan was not complete yet, he needed more seals on the ground to make sure that the outcome would be in his favour. He took control of the battle that followed and moved to places he had yet to place his seal. His ability to react was just a fraction slower with his eyes out of function, but it was enough to make it difficult for him.

When he finally had placed all the seals he needed, he needed more time. He activated his chakra again, and with a stronger hurricane, he got the Rain shinobi on further distance.

He had to be quick.

He pulled up his forehead protector again, pulled out a scroll from the weapon pouch tied around his thigh and cut his finger. Without looking up, he heard the twelve remaining opponents get up, and three of them were already on their way; Minato drew a red seal on the scroll, similar to the one the trap expert had used. It was large and complicated – he needed more blood and cut up another finger – he had to make it before the enemy was within reach -

He moved his head to let a kunai pass just when the seal was done. He placed his hand on the seal and activated it; fifty Hiraishin kunai shot up from the ground; all of his opponents were stabbed by three or four kunai each in their legs, arms, chest; one flew right past Minato's shoulder and he didn't even flinch. He pulled his forehead protector over his eyes again and threw himself into battle. He moved to the closest opponent, grabbed an available kunai and stabbed. He moved again. Only seconds passed before he had stabbed them all.

He straightened up. Next to him lay the body of a young woman, and he could sense the Genjutsu Master behind him. Minato had hit him in the spine and paralysed most of his body, but with the forehead protector still covering his eyes, Minato crouched next to him. Toru was breathing heavily and making rasped noises when Minato found the red-glowing necklace, pulled it off Toru and hooked it on his own neck.

"Th-that was … Fukuda's ..." he stammered. "How ..."

"Every time I placed my hand to the ground, I summoned a kunai," Minato said lightly while he pulled his forehead protector away. "In the end, I connected them to a seal based on Fukuda's original. Space-time-techniques are not the only weapons I've got."

He grabbed his sword.

"You shouldn't send a seal user into another seal user's territory."

With a sharp slash and a stream of blood, the young Genjutsu Master was dead.

Minato stood up and sighed. He had used a lot of his chakra on hiding the kunai underground and connecting it to the seal, and felt stiff and tired. With a simple hand seal, all the kunai except from one disappeared. He went to fetch it.

He was still dangerously far inside the enemy's country, and there could be someone nearby. At first glance he couldn't see anyone in the forest, so to make sure he was alone, he crouched and placed a blood-stained finger to the ground. All he needed was a little bit of chakra, and he would reveal the smallest of persons nearby.

He froze.

He couldn't count them, but one thing was sure. Around a thousand Rain shinobi were headed in his direction.

Earlier …

"What's going on, Hizashi?" Shikaku asked when his break companion activated his Byakugan and frowned.

"Something's disturbing the air," Hizashi replied. They were sitting near a watch post and had now and then checked Minato's fight against the single opponent. "Someone's thrown a genjutsu over a large area -" he looked around, "- and I can't see Minato anywhere."

"But you saw him twenty minutes ago," Shikaku said, looking at the paths they had in sight. "Shouldn't he be back by now?"

"Yeah, he should … But I can't see him anywhere, and chakra is covering the air. I'm sure it's genjutsu. You don't think he's in trouble, do you?"

Shikaku frowned. "Considering he went into enemy territory, he could be, not that I'm too worried about it … But this doesn't sound right."

They watched a little longer, Shikaku getting up to see if Minato appeared on a different path behind them, and suddenly, Hizashi made a surprised noise.

"What happened?" Shikaku asked, looking helplessly ahead of them.

"The genjutsu disappeared," Hizashi said. "Do you see him anywhere?"

"No, but whatever trouble he was in, I guess he just got out of it," Shikaku said. "He always does."

"Right," Hizashi said, not convinced. "You know what, I'm gonna go report this."

"You're right," Shikaku said and followed his comrade. "I've got a bad feeling about this too."

It was much worse than Minato had imagined. He was too far from his safe Hiraishin kunai at the border post in the Fire country to be able to move to them, but there was nothing he could do to get around the battalion in front of him. He had also spent a lot of his chakra on only sixteen enemies, who now seemed nice in comparison.

The only way he could get home was to fight his way through the battalion until he was close enough to Hiraishin his way out. He grabbed one of the Hiraishin kunai he had brought and used a clone to make way through the first line. Minato was their only target and he was easily surrounded, but he was also quick. The problem was, he was already tired, and he knew this was going to be a challenge he would have been better off without.

His clone was ultimately defeated, but Minato had in return defeated fifty of the battalion of a thousand men. He had to focus hard to stay sharp. Sixty down.

When he ducked to avoid being stabbed in the face by a kunai, another hit him in the shoulder. The pain was amplified by his already stiff body, but he didn't allow himself to stop – he grabbed the kunai, pulled it out and used it on a woman who was charging at him. The crowd tightened the further inside the battalion he fought, but to use the hurricane technique was not an option; he had to save what he could of chakra and work on strength alone. Eighty down.

Come on … he thought angrily when a large, heavy man forced him backwards. Why had Danzou sent him out alone? How could he receive tips of a single enemy, but miss a large battalion?

Two more. Four more. One hundred down. Nine hundred left.

His body was numb, but the pain became easier to ignore. If he continued like this, he could make it … Ten more.

He didn't have any other choice but to use the kunai cloning technique when a group of fifty attacked. He took out them all, but his chakra level was lowered drastically when he had to use it twice. He focused mainly on running; he could worry about the chakra when he absolutely had to.

He didn't know how long he had been fighting; ten minutes? Fifteen? He was back on a familiar path and had taken out two hundred and twenty men, but he was near exhaustion. His sight blurred, and even though he could hit the enemy with his attacks, he often nearly missed. Someone shouted that he had become tried, and his self-confidence dropped. He tried to deny that the blood on his mesh shirt was his own.

Two hundred and fifty down. He stumbled, kept running; he ducked, blocked; he was kicked and fell, but got up, bloody and kunai clenched in his hand, but the necklace swung around, seemingly unharmed -

The bracelet, he thought and sought it out with the other hand, and found it around his wrist. He found new hope. He killed another thirty.

Black spots began to appear before his eyes, and his legs threatened to collapse. For a moment, he was completely gone – he saw nothing, his body wouldn't respond, there was a sharp pain from something stabbing him in his already bleeding shoulder. A white-hot pain was blinding him and he felt like throwing up, but grabbed whatever had stabbed him – a sword – and pulled it out, and when he recognised where he was he knew he was so close to be able to transport himself to safety that he couldn't stand still -

He had run a few more steps when the sword was pulled out of his grip, and he turned, was kicked hard in the stomach and fell against a tree; he saw a woman wearing a mask and made a hand seal, the sword was shoved inside his stomach -

He had made it. He disappeared from the tree and fell against something that felt like a table. It failed beneath him and he felt his body hit the floor hard and painfully with it, the sword nagging in his wound and sheets of paper spreading around him and over him. Voices around him raised, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. The white-hot pain was blinding him again and everything around him seemed sedated. With a final attempt, he tried to push himself up from the floor.

Everything turned black, and he knew nothing more.