Ever since Obito activated his Mangekyo, this was the first time anyone managed to counter Kamui.

Minato’s Rasengan was extremely powerful, and it immediately destroyed Obito’s transplanted arm.

Obito jumped away, making distance with Minato. When he looked at his figure, he suddenly felt very familiar to him, but he couldn’t have clear memories.

Immediately, he shook his head, chasing away all these distracting thoughts and changing back to the cold and ruthless masked man.

“Going against you is worse than going against an army. So illusive, a moment of carelessness would…” Obito wasn’t through when he found Minato standing directly before him.

He was shocked, and immediately realized that he was marked by Minato back when he was hit by the Rasengan.

“[Contract Seal]? Trying to separate the Kyubi from me?!”

“Kurama was never yours!”

“Worthy of your title, Yondaime! Inflicting Injury upon me and separating me from the Kyubi… But you think this is over? I already knew that Ryo Yamanaka has the Mangekyo Sharingan; do you think I wouldn’t prepare for such a thing?”

Minato’s face grew gloomy as he heard those words, and the masked man disappeared in front of him.

For Konoha’s sake, Minato chose not to track him. He could feel that the masked man wasn’t lying, and he had to go back to Konoha to deal with the Kyubi’s problem.

In Konoha, Ryo and the 3rd, who arrived later, joined forces to drive the Kyubi out of the village. Now, they two were working together to deal with it.

Ryo’s Ice Colossus and the 3rd’s Enma couldn’t beat the Kyubi. For now, they could only try to drag him, and not let him destroy the village.

Ryo was perceiving the battle between Minato and Obito for what he felt was an eternity, until the latter’s Chakra finally disappeared. However, for some reason, the Kyubi’s behavior did not seem to change, which made Ryo feel very frustrated.

The 3rd was older, not nearly in his best shape, while Sakumo and Jiraya were still stuck dealing with Sasori and Kakuzu. As for Orochimaru, he was still catching the white Zetsu.

Fortunately, Ryo’s Ice Colossus could be sustained indefinitely with the support of Korin’s Natural Energy. Otherwise, Konoha might have had to become the battlefield.

On the shadowy rocks, Minato looked at the devastation left in Konoha with an aching heart.

Ryo sensed his location, and immediately established a telepathic link with him: “Ni-san, did you deal with the masked man?”

“Yes! But the Kyubi seems to be still under some sort of Genjutsu. I don’t know what method the masked man did use, for I have already used a [Contract Seal] to sever his link with the Kyubi!”

“What are you going to do, Ni san? Perhaps you should support Jiraya san and Sakumo san first, as they could help us deal with the Kyubi. Or maybe…”

“No, that would be useless! Ryo, you’ve been fighting Kurama for some time now; you must already know! We can’t beat him, even together, and with its endless Chakra stores, we’d end up exhausted and lose!”

Hearing Minato, Ryo fell into silence, for he had to admit that this was true.

“Ryo, I intent to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, seal half of the Kyubi’s Chakra within myself, and then seal the rest within Kushina to save her life.”

Hearing that, Ryo answered immediately: “No! There must be other methods. Ne san is in no trouble, the Kyubi left her some of my Chakra, and with Korin’s help, she’s no in no danger at all. If we deal with the Kyubi, you will be able to reunite.”

“Ryo, I am the Hokage! Kushina and Naruto are my family, but so is everyone in the village! It is my responsibility to protect anyone, so stop trying to persuade me!”

Minato immediately popped up before Ryo, and then brought him and Kurama to the Forest of Death!

“Ryo, please help me by keeping the Kyubi under control. I will bring Naruto, and if Kushina is truly fine, I’ll let him become the Kyubi’s Jinchuriki!” After saying that, Minato disappeared again.

Ryo was extremely frustrated with Minato’s choice, muttering to himself: “A fool! HE’S A FOOL!”

Worst of all, he couldn’t stop him. Minato was too fast, teleporting all over the place. A second later, Minato popped up with Naruto and Kushina in the Forest of Death. For once, the Yellow Flash’s speed was drawing him nearer to death!

Kushina’s face now looked rosy after recovering from the Kyubi’s extraction, and she also had enough strength to start a great argument!

As she learned of Minato’s plan, she immediately objected. She as an Uzumaki knew better than anyone that the use of this technique meant eminent death for Minato. With that in mind, she would never agree of his plan.

However, her words seemed to be directed at a brick wall; they weren’t making a difference. For the first time, in both Manga and this life with Ryo around, Minato ended up on top in a quarrel with Kushina!

The new mother’s tears could not be stopped. She could understand why Minato was choosing this way, but that did not mean in any way that she was going to support it.

“Ryo, help me suppress the Kyubi!” As Minato finished his words, the Shinigami’s shadow came to him.

As Ryo’s Ice Colossus was holding back the Kyubi, the latter could feel the eminent threat of the technique that had just been used, and tried to struggle its way out.

As for Minato, he did not flinch upon seeing death hovering above his shoulders. Immediately, he split the Kyubi’s Chakra and soul into two, pulling out the Yin Half of Kurama out of his body!

With half his Chakra and soul gone, Kurama shrunk substantially. With this, Ryo and the 3rd should be able to defeat him.

After using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Minato was left extremely weakened. However, he gathered enough of his power to summon the sealing desk, and asked Kushina to place Naruto upon it.

Everyone was devastated; Kushina couldn’t help but weep, her tears ever flowing. Ryo was helpless, overwhelmed with fury and pain. All of a sudden, he could hear: “Ryo! I have good news for to tell you!”

Immersed in his sorrow for the loss Minato, he said to Korin: “What good news? What good new could there be?”

“It’s that the technique being used by Minato evokes a shadow that does not have a will of its own. It’s a mere projection Ryo!”

“What does that even mean?” Ryo could not understand what Korin meant.

“It means that you can save Minato’s soul like you did to Yahiko’s, and then find an opportunity to resurrect him!

Hearing Korin’s words, Ryo’s eyes shined brightly, for he now had a way to save the man closest to being his older brother.

In fact, Orochimaru’s cloning technique was getting more mature every day, and with his extra research on vitality, the resurrection of Minato was very likely to be possible.

Thinking of this, Ryo released his Spiritual Power, and confirmed that all around Minato, there was no fluctuations of Spiritual Power. This mean that Korin’s idea was correct, and that whatever Minato had summoned, it was only a projection.