Chapter 278: Demonstration
"You dare to sit in such a situation? I ought to erase the lot of you with my Jinton(Dust Release) here and now..." remarked Onoki, his brows furrowed to their limits—his expression a textbook representation of hate.
"If you will sit down after, please, feel free," responded Minato, offering a curt, untroubled nod that left Onoki and the other Kage present more than a little confused.
"Minato-kun...?" muttered Hiruzen, his smile cramping and a tiny bead of sweat adorning the left side of his face as even he wasn't expecting that Minato would invite Onoki to attack.
"Everything will be okay," affirmed Minato, meeting Hiruzen's gaze with a clear-eyed smile—the type of smile reserved for those who believed in a power greater than their own.
"Tsk...you asked for this...!" exclaimed Onoki, the glowing cone between his hands increasing in size like an object being scaled within a modeling program. To his immense surprise, Minato, Hiruzen, and Jiraiya didn't try to evade. Instead, the trio closed their eyes as his Jutsu overlapped them and took effect, producing a white light that reduced everything within to its constituent, dust-like molecules.
"Were those Bunshin(Clones)...?" muttered Onoki, his jaw slack and expression one of abject disbelief as he and the remaining Kage eyed the large, perfectly smooth, cone-shaped hole his Jutsu had produced in the stony terrain.
"If so, they were very convincing..." said Genzo, one of the most talented Sensor types in his village, Kirigakure(Village Hidden in Mist). As far as he could tell, Minato, Hiruzen, and Jiraiya were their actual selves, but if that were the case, surely they would have dodged.
Before the four surviving Kage could continue chatting or fighting among themselves, their tension and vigilance increased as Minato, Hiruzen, and Jiraiya reappeared from flashes of golden light that briefly lingered, giving them the appearance that they were glowing.
"So this is how it feels to respawn..." muttered Hiruzen, giving himself a once-over and smiling appreciatively as he hummed, "It's very refreshing. The pain in my joints and the fatigue I've accumulated over the past week have completely disappeared."
"Curiously enough, it actually feels more refreshing each time," professed Jiraiya, flexing his hands open and closed as he explained, "Evidently, the procedure ousts poisons, toxins, and other damaging substances from the body and rejuvenates spiritual energy at the cost of mental energy, so it's an effective method to cultivate spiritual arts—supposing you can endure the mental strain of dying over and over again."
"Hooo? Is that so...?" hummed Hiruzen, habitually reaching into his inner pocket to produce and relight his pipe. Fortunately, respawning appeared to recreate everything on their person at their deaths, sparing himself and everyone present the indignity of his reappearing naked.