Immediately afterward, Minato began showcasing his Flying Thunder God slaughter technique.
In an instant, Flying Thunder God kunai filled the battlefield sky, flying everywhere without any discernible pattern.
Meanwhile, Minato continuously flashed beside one Kumogakure ninja after another, effortlessly slitting their throats with his kunai and instantly taking their lives.
Not a single one of them could survive even one exchange against him.
"Damn it! How dare you!!"
Seeing this scene, A's eyes nearly split apart from rage.
The tiny bit of goodwill he had just developed toward Minato instantly vanished, replaced entirely by intense hatred and contempt.
"If you've got the guts, then continue fighting me head-on! What kind of ability is it to run around bullying weaker people?!"
A roared furiously while continuously chasing after Minato.
However, with Minato possessing the Flying Thunder God Technique, his appearance points were completely unpredictable and always shockingly unexpected, leaving A exhausted from constantly rushing around.
Meanwhile, the Kumogakure ninja suffered miserably.
In barely a dozen breaths of time, more than ten Kumogakure ninja had already been killed by Minato through clean throat slashes.
"Damn it! Stop right there!!"
A was completely enraged.
With his combat power fully unleashed, he relentlessly pursued Minato while continuously launching powerful attacks in an attempt to force him to stop.
Yet none of it had any effect whatsoever.
In the end, although still somewhat unwilling, A could only grit his teeth and furiously order:
"Retreat! Withdraw immediately!"
Then he gathered the Kumogakure ninja around himself and personally covered their retreat while remaining on guard against Minato launching further attacks.
"What a pity."
Seeing this, Minato also gave up continuing the assault.
With a flash, he appeared dozens of meters away directly opposite A and calmly watched as the Kumogakure forces gradually retreated.
"Minato Namikaze, just you wait! I, A, will remember today's humiliation! Next time, I'll definitely make you pay for this!"
From far away, A's furious roar echoed across the battlefield.
Minato merely smiled faintly, completely unconcerned.
On the battlefield, it was a life-and-death struggle.
Any means necessary were acceptable.
He did not think he had done anything wrong.
"Still… A really is tough. His defense is absurdly strong. And he's only the Raikage's son. Just how terrifying must the defense of the Third Raikage—the so-called strongest shield—actually be?"
"Looks like I really need to develop even stronger and more destructive offensive ninjutsu."
On his way back, Minato could not help falling into thought.
This clash had already exposed his shortcomings.
His speed was more than sufficient.
But his offensive power was lacking.
Against opponents like A and the Third Raikage, he could only restrain them but could not truly injure them.
That was extremely frustrating.
Afterward, Minato went around supporting several other surviving Konoha squads, defeating the Kumogakure pursuit forces before finally arriving at the defensive line on the border of the Land of Fire to regroup with Shikaku and the others.
However, after arriving, Minato quickly frowned.
"Strange… where's Killer B? Earlier, it was clearly him coordinating together with A. Why didn't I see him afterward?"
"Also, the Third Raikage himself seems to have already returned to Kumogakure instead of personally remaining on this battlefield?"
Minato's expression became thoughtful.
"This is somewhat strange. It seems Kumogakure may still have plans we don't know about."
Suspicion arose in Minato's heart.
However, there was too little useful information available right now. No matter how much he guessed, he could not figure it out.
So he simply stopped thinking about it and directly said to Shikaku:
"Shikaku-senpai, you should continue commanding the camp here. I'll simply remain as high-end combat power stationed on the frontline. We'll wait until Sakumo-senpai and the others arrive, then see what arrangements the Hokage-sama makes."
Minato estimated that the Third Hokage would most likely appoint Sakumo as the overall commander here.
Whether in terms of qualifications, experience, or strength, Sakumo was more suitable than either Minato or Shikaku.
"That works too."
Shikaku naturally had no objections.
However, he still asked somewhat worriedly:
"But transferring both Sakumo-senpai and Akira-kun over here… will the eastern battlefield really be alright?"
He knew the eastern frontline had achieved a major victory because of Akira, heavily damaging Kirigakure.
In fact, Kirigakure had practically retreated into a defensive posture and no longer showed signs of launching another offensive.
But the premise behind all of this was the deterrence created by Akira and Sakumo remaining stationed there.
Before finding a method to deal with the two of them, Kirigakure would naturally not dare act recklessly.
"That's something I'm worried about too."
Minato nodded somewhat concernedly.
"But this was the Hokage-sama's decision, so I can't interfere."
"I heard the Uchiha clan dispatched quite a large number of ninja to reinforce the eastern battlefield. They should probably arrive soon."
"With them as reinforcements, even if Akira-kun and Sakumo-senpai leave, Kirigakure probably won't dare become too reckless, right?"
Even if they did, the Uchiha clan certainly was not weak.
"I hope so."
Shikaku nodded.
However, judging from his expression, it was obvious he did not truly approve of the Third Hokage's approach of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Although the Kumogakure battlefield was indeed critical, transferring either Sakumo or Akira alone from the eastern battlefield would already have been sufficient.
Yet the Third Hokage had deliberately transferred both of them over.
There was clearly a serious problem with that decision.
Combining that with Minato's earlier mention of the Uchiha clan being sent to reinforce the eastern battlefield, Shikaku instantly understood everything.
Internal political struggle.
Even at a moment this dangerous, Konoha's upper leadership—including the Hokage himself—was still engaged in internal power struggles.
It was utterly incomprehensible.
Unfortunately, what could he say?
He could say nothing.
After all, the Ino-Shika-Chō alliance remained one of the staunch supporters of the Hokage faction.
All he could do was helplessly watch everything unfold.
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