Battle Against the Shinigami

With the remaining "half of the Kyubi" suppressed by Ryo, no accidents occurred as Minato sealed it within Naruto.

Minato looked at the clueless Naruto, and then at Kushina who was in tears next to him, and smiled bitterly. He wished that he could stay with them, but he know that it was impossible.

He walked to his wife's side with whatever power he had left in him, and hugged her silently.

At this time, Ryo could clearly perceive that Minato's Chakra and vitality were at the point of exhaustion. They were being absorbed by the Shadow of the Shinigami behind him, and now all that was left was his soul.

At this moment, Ryo opened his Mangekyo and shouted: "Minato, look here!"

Minato let go of Kushina, and looked back at Ryo, and the latter immediately used his Jutsu, taking away Minato's soul from the claws of the god of death!

Just as Minato's soul was about to enter the Ice World, it was strongly pulled by the Shinigami's Shadow, which wanted it to pull it back to him.

Ryo was shocked. He had speculated that the shadow didn't have its own will, but did not expect that its instinctual actions had such a force.

Nevertheless, Ryo wasn't about to give up, opening Ice World, and controlling its endless ice and snow to flood into the shadow.

As the Shinigami's shadow was somewhat in a soul-like state, the Ice and Snow which was composed of Spiritual power had a certain impact on it.

Under its effects, the lower half of the Shadow was frozen, and its pulling force exerted on Minato soul was significantly weakened.

The small Kyubi inside Kushina, being a special being himself, could clearly perceive Ryo's battle.

After some hesitation, Kurama decided to tell Kushina: "Kushina, relax your spirit, and use power to perceive the kid and the Shadow of the Shinigami!"

Kushina had no mind to listen to the Kyubi. At this moment, she was completely immersed in the pain brought by Minato's death.

Kurama helplessly sighed, and then guided her consciousness towards the ongoing battle.

Soon, in her consciousness, she could see the battle between her disciple and the Shadow of the God of Death over her husband's soul.

Perceiving such an unimaginable scene, Kushina was somewhat confused: "Kurama, what's going on?"

The Kyubi shook his head and replied: "I have no idea, but from the looks of it, the kid is trying to capture Minato's soul. This brat may actually have a way to save Minato!"

When she heard the Kyubi, light instantly shined within Kushina's dim eyes. There was actually a straw of hope she could hang on to as she watched Ryo going through this battle.

The whole thing gradually evolved into a tug-of-war, with Ryo's Ice and Snow temporarily gaining the upper hand.

Ryo then had the idea of making his power explode out of the Ice World, freeze the entire Shadow, and take away Minato's soul.

But Korin stopped him: "Stop Ryo! Can't you see? This shadow has begun to absorb your Ice and Snow!"

Ryo was once again surprised! Like Korin said, the Ice and Snow around the Shinigami began to melt little by little, just to be absorbed by it.

He immediately closed the Ice World. The Shinigami's pulling force was stronger than what he anticipated, and being that it absorbed Chakra and Vitality, it started to pull his Spiritual Power-composed Ice as if it was Minato's. For a moment, Ryo had no idea what to do.

"Korin, what should we do now?"

"You can only persist! The Shinigami's shadow had already absorbed all of Minato's Chakra and vitality. He is already dead, and this resistance you're putting should not be happening. If you persist for long enough, you shall be victorious!"

Ryo nodded, and he could only follow Korin's advice. To his surprise, she was right!

A few long minutes later, the Shinigami's pull was weakened by a lot, and it even began to get more and more translucent.

Ryo used all his force, and pulled Minato's soul away, getting it directly into the Ice World, which he then immediately closed. The tug of war finally ended.

The Shinigami could no longer perceive Minato's soul, and with nothing to pull, it could only remain in place.

In a short while, it began to dissipate from bottom to top, until it disappeared all together.

Ryo was finally relieved, and he then entered the Ice World, examining Minato's soul.

He found that it was seriously damaged by the tug of war and the summoning of the Shinigami that occurred. However, Ryo had lost too much of his Spiritual Power tonigh, and had no way of helping Minato repair his soul.

All he could do was controlling the Ice around him into an igloo, in which he put Minato's soul to protect it.

By the time Ryo returned from the Ice World, the 3rd and Orochimaru arrived to the scene.

Hiruzen looked at Minato's cold corpse, and in an instant, he looked many years older.

He had always had high hopes of Minato. Although the two had their fair share of political disagreements, the 3rd had always believed that Minato was the best Hokage that Konoha could have.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Kushina!" He muttered. Then, he could only push through his sorrow. He turned around to Orochimaru, and said to him: "Orochimaru, go help Jiraya."

He then left as well to support Sakumo. As he left, Kushina ran to Ryo's side, who knew what she wanted to ask about. He hid nothing, explaining the whole situation to her.

When hearing that there was a chance to resurrect Minato, Kushina could no longer hold herself, and she fainted on the spit.

Ryo made a Shadow Clone that picked Naruto, while he picked up Kushina. All four teleported to her place.

After putting the mother and son in bed, he went back to the battle scene, just to find Minato's body being watched by three of the Anbu.

"Hold on, Ryp! There's something wrong with Minato's body!" Ryo was about to pick up Minato's body, but Korin stopped him.

Immediately, he examined the body, but he found nothing wrong.

"Ryo, when you took Minato's soul from the Shinigami, the latter couldn't take anything attacked to it. The Kyubi's soul and Chakra are still in his body!"

As she was speaking, red Chakra began to ooze out of Minato's body, and he gradually stood up!