Chapter 169: Trump Card 2
Minato Namikaze was not having an easy time either. Originally, with the help of his specialized kunai, it wouldn't have been difficult for Minato to get close to Ikura. However, he couldn't contend with someone constantly interfering from above with S-rank ninjutsu.
Every time Minato threw his specialized kunai towards Ikura, Ishiro would pull the kunai away.
An instant-cast S-rank ninjutsu was just that domineering. Besides deflecting all the kunai, Ishiro even had the spare effort to interfere with Minato Namikaze's own movements.
By the time Ikura finally completed his Earth Dragon Bullet ninjutsu, Minato Namikaze still hadn't managed to fully close in on Ikura.
Now, as a barrage of earth bullets rained down on him, Minato Namikaze understood that he had already lost the best opportunity to kill Ikura.
As a large number of earth bullets were about to hit him, Minato's thoughts raced, and his entire person directly disappeared from Ishiro and Ikura's line of sight.
Seeing Minato Namikaze retreat, Ishiro and Ikura should have breathed a sigh of relief. But because they didn't know when Minato would reappear, or where, instead of relaxing, they became even more vigilant.
After a while longer, seeing that Minato Namikaze hadn't reappeared, the two gradually relaxed.
In that brief moment just now, Ikura didn't know how many times he had hovered on the brink of death.
Ninjutsu-type ninjas were truly too powerless against Minato Namikaze. Once he got close, death was almost certain. And the Flying Thunder God technique could easily help Minato Namikaze get close to others.
At this moment, Ishiro was incredibly grateful to Nagato. If Nagato hadn't selflessly helped him learn the S-rank ninjutsu Banshō Ten'in, Ikura would have been finished today.
Similarly, Ishiro was also very scared in retrospect. Because he had been afraid of being unable to explain the source of his intelligence, he hadn't reported Minato Namikaze's ability to use the Flying Thunder God technique to the village. Now, it had nearly led to a disaster.
Taking a deep breath, Ishiro used Banshō Ten'in to pull away the specialized kunai Minato Namikaze had left in their original position, moving them far from Ikura. Only then did Ishiro have a moment to reach up and wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
Ikura and Ishiro exchanged a glance. After giving Ishiro a grateful look, Ikura adjusted his mindset and once again charged forward.
The battlefield was now in three segments. In the very middle were the vanguards of both sides, about two thousand people in total, engaged in a chaotic battle.
On either side of the melee area were the main forces of both sides.
Iwagakure's main force was being held back by Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze and was now much farther from their own vanguard than Konoha's main force was from theirs.
After Minato Namikaze withdrew, he had already charged into the vanguard engagement area and was reaping Iwagakure ninjas' lives at a terrifying speed.
Ikura had to go provide support. Even if Ikura didn't have a good way to deal with a chaotic army of ninjas, he still had to go.
Because their side had, at least, broken through Minato Namikaze's obstruction, while the other side was still being held up by Jiraiya.
After seeing Ikura leave, Ishiro didn't follow. Ikura was now wary of Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God technique, so it wouldn't be so easy for Minato to succeed anymore.
Of course, it was hard to say how effective Ikura could be while constantly guarding against Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God.
On the other side, Han had been fighting for some time, and Ishiro was also worried he might lose control, so he needed to go keep an eye on him.
Looking over, the battle between Han and Jiraiya was completely different from the one here.
Han, aided by the power of the Tailed Beast, fought with a wide-open and powerful style. Jiraiya, as a ninjutsu-type ninja, was also skilled in long-range, large-area attacks.
Therefore, their battle had a very wide impact, giving the impression of earth-shattering destruction at every turn.
But it was precisely because Jiraiya used long-range offensive and defensive methods that Iwagakure's main forces could also participate.
Many times, Jiraiya's attacks were blocked by the combination ninjutsu of Iwagakure's main forces.
Similarly, Jiraiya also had to divert his attention to guard against sneak attacks from elite ninjas within the Iwagakure forces.
So, although in terms of raw power, Han in his semi-Tailed Beast form was far inferior to Jiraiya, Iwagakure was the one with the upper hand.
This was also why Kage-level powerhouses couldn't just run rampant. If Jiraiya didn't have a large force behind him today, Iwagakure would have long since changed tactics and prepared to encircle and kill Jiraiya here.
As for why no large forces helped when Ishiro and Ikura were fighting Minato Namikaze earlier, it was mainly because everyone was busy rescuing the injured at that moment.
Plus, Minato Namikaze's fighting style gave everyone a feeling of being unable to exert their strength.
When Ishiro moved past Ikura and arrived at the rear flank of Jiraiya's battle position, intending to cut off Jiraiya's retreat, Jiraiya understood it was time to withdraw.
The giant toad Jiraiya had summoned earlier had long since disappeared, so it was simple for Jiraiya to retreat. A large-scale Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld directly cut off contact with the Iwagakure ninjas. Then, while rushing towards Ishiro's direction, he also used the Wild Lion's Mane Technique to interfere with Ishiro.
Ishiro naturally wasn't afraid of this one long-range attack ninjutsu and easily blocked it with Porcelain Release. However, Ishiro didn't dare to truly try and stop Jiraiya alone.
At this moment, the main forces were properly separated, and Ishiro wasn't sure if he could hold out until the main forces arrived, or if he would be taken down by Jiraiya before then.
"Earth Release: Splitting Earth Turning Palm!"
"Earth Release: Active Transformation!"
After a while, the main forces successively cast dozens of ninjutsu, finally dealing with the Swamp of the Underworld Jiraiya had used to block them.
However, by the time they reached Ishiro's previous position, Jiraiya was long gone.
Ishiro also rushed to rendezvous with Ikura after Jiraiya left.
If Ikura were targeted by the combined efforts of the master-disciple duo, Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze, Ishiro felt that Ikura would probably be instantly defeated.
Fortunately, Ishiro flew in a straight line and was faster than Jiraiya.
"Ikura, Jiraiya is coming. Tell everyone to retreat."
Ikura looked at the position of his own main force, then at the nearby Konoha main force, nodded, and immediately shouted the order for the Iwagakure vanguard to retreat.
However, the vanguard forces of both sides were already locked in a chaotic battle. How could it be so easy to withdraw?
Moreover, the Konoha ninjas also saw their advantage and were doing their utmost to obstruct the retreat.
In addition, with Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze slaughtering their way through with overwhelming strength, Iwagakure's retreat could actually be described as a rout.
In the end, of the vanguard force of over a thousand, only a little over a hundred managed to escape back to the main force with Ishiro and Ikura.
The rest had either been killed earlier or were subsequently overwhelmed by Konoha's main force.
This was only because Ishiro occasionally intervened with Porcelain Release and Banshō Ten'in, coupled with Ikura using large-scale ninjutsu to cover and threaten, forcing Jiraiya to block, that they were saved.
In the first round of engagement, Iwagakure could be said to have suffered a disastrous defeat, losing over a thousand ninjas while killing only one or two hundred Konoha ninjas.
And among Iwagakure's two strongest combatants, Han had already unleashed the power of his Tailed Beast, and no one could predict how much longer he could last.
The other strongest combatant, Ikura, was nearly insta-killed by Minato Namikaze.
Ishiro thought Saka would choose to retreat at this point. After all, Iwagakure had shown its determination, and the objective of tying down Konoha's main force had been achieved.
But Saka didn't do so. Saka chose to press on.
When Ikura and Ishiro returned to Saka's side and explained the situation, Saka was only briefly surprised by Ikura's encounter and Minato Namikaze's difficult nature before hesitating no longer. He repeated the order to attack.
What followed was a chaotic battle between the main armies of both sides. However, this chaotic battle was different from the previous skirmish between the two thousand vanguards.
The previous battle of two thousand vanguards was an intermingled fight, testing individual abilities and at most, small team cooperation, which was not Iwagakure's strong suit.
Now, with the main forces clashing, Iwagakure used massed group ninjutsu barrages, which was precisely their strength.
In this kind of large-scale ninjutsu exchange, a close-combat Kage-level like Minato Namikaze could play a very small role. And while powerful long-range attackers like Jiraiya and Ikura were important, their importance also decreased significantly.
Although Ishiro didn't understand Saka's adopted strategy, he agreed with his tactics. Ishiro, floating in the air, didn't participate in this group battle. He was replenishing food and recovering chakra.
Ishiro had consumed a lot in the previous battle, and the main fight was still to come. Ishiro felt that conserving strength now would allow him to play a greater role later.
Konoha's strength lay in individual skill and also in the unique abilities of various ninja clans.
But in the current large-scale exchange of ninjutsu and ninja tools, Konoha had not dispatched its most elite ninja clan members. This was Konoha's trump card, reserved for a greater purpose.
Similarly, Iwagakure's trump card unit, the Explosion Corps, had also not made a move.
Both trump card units were forces for saving the day at critical moments, as well as forces for delivering a fatal blow when the enemy revealed a weakness.
Ishiro observed the formation of the Konoha ninjas, but unfortunately, he couldn't at all confirm where those Konoha ninja clan members were.
As the large-scale group ninjutsu exchange between the two sides continued, Ishiro's brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Because Iwagakure was beginning to fall into a disadvantage. Jiraiya once again displayed his strength.
It could be said that Jiraiya alone was equivalent to a two-thousand-strong ninja army.
His rich combat experience allowed Jiraiya to grasp various battle opportunities. And Jiraiya, being alone, could flexibly support various parts of the battlefield. Moreover, acting alone was convenient, unlike Iwagakure's side, where casting ninjutsu each time required mutual understanding and unified command.
Therefore, the battlefield situation began to become increasingly unfavorable for Iwagakure.
Ishiro glanced down at Han's position. Han was still resting at this moment. In the previous outburst, the Five-Tails hadn't lost control, indicating that the Five Elements Seal was indeed effective. However, Han was still young and currently unable to fully utilize the Tailed Beast's power. Whether he could fight again was also questionable.
Han seemed to sense something, looked up at Ishiro, and then slightly shook his head.
It seemed Han couldn't participate in the battle anymore; otherwise, Iwagakure would have to risk the Tailed Beast losing control.
This was a battlefield. Ishiro couldn't be sure if a rampaging Tailed Beast could be successfully recovered.
"What to do?" Ishiro's mind raced, thinking if there was a way to break the deadlock. But Ishiro, after all, was only participating in a large-scale war for the first time and had too little experience.
By the time Saka deployed his final trump card, Ishiro still hadn't thought of a way to break the situation.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" A series of explosions directly pulled Ishiro's thoughts back to the battlefield.
Looking down, he saw large plumes of fire appearing within Konoha's lines at the edge of the battlefield.
Saka hadn't used the Explosion Corps for defense but chose to use them for offense when they were clearly at a disadvantage.
It had to be said, this move not only surprised Ishiro but also Konoha's command. They had been guessing where Iwagakure's Explosion Corps would appear, but no one expected Iwagakure to still be thinking of attacking at this time.
Because the breakthrough point chosen by the Explosion Corps was relatively remote, Konoha couldn't spare the forces to intercept them in time. As a result, Iwagakure ninjas on that flank actually broke through Konoha's defense line.
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