As time passed, the more the enemy on this side pinpointed his location, the more specifically they targeted him in the battle. Similarly, the Leaf Village, relying on its powerful fighting strength, was rapidly eliminating the Sand Village forces around him.
As the situation developed, Yuji, using his slight positional advantage, wanted to cause as much disruption to the Leaf Village as possible before pulling out, but the difficulty of doing so was increasing with every passing moment.
He had become a marked target. In the eyes of the Leaf Village ninja around him, he was extremely conspicuous. The Leaf Village had even dispatched a specialized pursuit team specifically to prevent him from continuing to disrupt their battlefield.
Even if they couldn't land effective attacks or deal meaningful damage to him directly, they could at minimum buy time for those actually capable of dealing with him to converge on his position.
The Sarutobi clan, the Shimura clan, the Yamato clan, and the Aburame clan had all been successively touched by his poisonous hand throughout the engagement.
"Almost time."
Sensing the danger and pressure around him building rapidly, he knew he absolutely had to retreat now.
Otherwise, his life would be in danger.
At this moment, the Leaf Village army, through sheer fighting strength, had completely established a stable foothold in the forest and snatched back a sliver of initiative from the Sand Village.
This demonstrated that in response to his infiltration, the Leaf Village was capable of deploying even more cautious and precise countermeasures going forward.
What if Hiruzen himself came to capture him?
This was Leaf Village territory. The situation would be extremely unfavorable. Moreover, although he felt he could fight against a Kage, this was not a one-on-one situation.
And the person most likely to come was Hiruzen, one of the Five Kage, the most comprehensively powerful and combat-experienced among them.
Kage were not equal in strength or fighting style. For someone like Hiruzen, the more Yuji thought about it, the more genuinely dangerous that matchup felt.
Being old was not a weakness. They had lived to a ripe old age, and that meant something real.
Even in a one-on-one fight on neutral ground, the chances of winning against the Third Hokage were pitifully small.
While fighting Orochimaru, the more he had compared himself against that level of opponent, the more he had recognized certain inadequacies in his own fighting style.
Those inadequacies were exactly the kind of openings that Hiruzen could exploit as targets. The Third Hokage's understanding of his Blood Release techniques, as described by Minato from their earlier engagement, would certainly be considerable by now.
And although Yuji had some information about Hiruzen from his memory of the original story, he would never dare claim to know him completely.
Hiruzen was known as a Ninjutsu Sage. He was proficient in and could skillfully deploy an extraordinary variety of jutsu in battle, meaning his fighting style could shift and vary in ways that were difficult to predict or prepare for.
He was fundamentally different from the Third Kazekage, who had been powerful but relatively focused in his approach. Hiruzen had no such limitation. And at this point in time, the Third Hokage's strength was undoubtedly above Orochimaru's, without the age-related weakening that would come later.
Furthermore, even Orochimaru, who had single-handedly orchestrated an elaborate plan to destroy Konoha and nearly killed Hiruzen in the process, had only succeeded to the degree he did because the old man had harbored lingering affection for his former disciple and shown a moment of softness.
But Yuji was not Orochimaru. Hiruzen would not give him that same hesitation. Not for a single moment.
Whoosh.
He accelerated and drove toward the Sand Village's side of the battlefield.
The Konoha ninja pursuing him and the units closing the encirclement he ignored entirely. Retreat was the only priority.
He had not gone far when someone from Konoha's side slammed directly into his path, closing the distance faster than he was moving and attempting to cut him off.
Among the Konoha army, aside from Namikaze Minato, only one person possessed this kind of capability.
After the battlefield situation had come somewhat under control on Konoha's side, Minato had received word and immediately moved to intercept.
"Oh."
Seeing his old opponent again, Yuji's expression shifted into something close to amusement.
He immediately pushed his Blood Release output higher, covering his body in a fully solidified armor layer. Facing Minato at this moment, he was genuinely calm.
Because he knew clearly that with Minato's current attack output, breaking through his defenses was simply not possible.
Bang, bang, bang.
The two exchanged blows briefly in the air. But Yuji maintained his high-speed movement from start to finish, not engaging Minato directly and not giving him proper opportunities to close the distance.
He even allowed some of Minato's strikes to land on the armor without slowing down.
Minato read through it immediately. He understood that he posed no decisive threat to Yuji in this exchange.
His intent had shifted entirely to hindrance and delay, occupying Yuji long enough for nearby Leaf Village squads to converge and complete the encirclement.
Yuji was not going to allow that.
"Useless."
"You cannot stop me."
Compared to the high-speed movement Yuji was maintaining through the forest, leaping between trees without pause, Minato was like a plaster stuck to his back. He followed closely, not far behind, unable to close the final gap.
Yuji turned his head and smiled.
The Flying Thunder God Technique, to be continuously activated, also required certain prior conditions. Ideally, the space and battlefield needed to remain relatively fixed for a period of time.
But in a situation of high-speed displacement like this, continuous activation was even less efficient than simply running. With his current capabilities, there were not many ways for Minato to adapt effectively during the pursuit.
"This battle will be won by us," Minato said calmly.
"Where exactly are we even now? You are far too confident." Yuji stared at him as the surrounding forest rapidly blurred and receded behind them both.
"It is not overconfidence. It is simply the truth. Consider your own side. The Hidden Sand Village occupied this forest area early and made preparations. But you should also recognize that Konoha has now advanced into the controllable battlefield area that the Sand Village initially planned around. Winning this great battle is only a matter of time."
Minato spoke with complete composure.
In this game of chess, all tactics and preliminary calculations ultimately served only as supporting moves. What decided everything in the end was direct confrontation.
And on that measure, Konoha's battlefield performance had completely overshadowed the Sand Village. Even Yuji's solo infiltration into the Konoha army's formation had produced a certain impact, but it was far from enough to change the overall situation.
"I have to admit your strength has impressed me," Yuji said. "But you do not seem to have a deep understanding of the broader battlefield picture."
"If it were the Third Hokage saying what you just said, I would not dare dismiss it. But it seems you have at least one weakness, and that is your understanding of the bigger picture."
A beat of silence.
"Your instincts are still one point short of where they need to be."
The mocking tone continued without pause.
Then he lowered his voice slightly. "Do not be in such a hurry. The real show has only just begun."
Minato's expression changed at those words.
After a few more exchanges, Minato stopped and landed on a tree trunk. Several other Konoha ninja slowly approached from behind.
"No need to continue the chase. The enemy has been driven away. Pressing further forward would bring us into the Sand Village's main position. Too dangerous."
Minato raised his hand to stop his companions, watching Yuji disappear into the tree shadows, and spoke in a low voice.
"Inform the Hokage that behind their current position, the Sand Village army likely has tactical arrangements and plans waiting."
Remembering Yuji's parting words, Minato added the warning immediately.
"Understood."
One person in the group nodded and they prepared to move.
On the other side, just as Minato was about to send that information to Hiruzen, Hiruzen had already sensed something wrong through his seasoned battlefield instincts. The Sand Village's army formation was shifting.
The entire border region was quite vast. Even with the combined armies of both villages concentrated in this forest area, a typical battle usually saw the main engagement concentrated in a specific zone rather than extending across the entire border.
But now, facing the overwhelming offensive pressure of the Leaf Village's army, the Sand Village's main force had dispersed into smaller independent combat squads with the clear intention of spreading beyond the current main battlefield.
This undoubtedly expanded the scope of the engagement. At the same time, the forces of both armies became even more dispersed, no longer concentrated in one area. Most critically, the Leaf Village had to pursue the enemy, because this was Land of Fire territory. The battle would not end until the enemy was repelled or driven out entirely.
"Once the battlefield expands in area, the situation on the field will evolve into a state of scattered engagements and maneuvering between individual squads.
A large number of uncontested zones will appear throughout the area, unaffected by the fighting in any given moment.
For both sides, grasping the overall situation at any given point becomes increasingly difficult. Intelligence gathering and transmission, including coordination between each team, will also become impossible to achieve in real-time."
Hiruzen took a deep breath.
The Sand Village was aiming to inflict damage while accepting proportional losses in return. Although the Sand Village army would also be affected by the expanding and fragmenting battlefield, there was no doubt that the greater disruption would fall on Konoha, which had only just secured a slight advantage.
The Sand Village's sudden shift in formation had immediately destroyed that fragile control Konoha had established.
It also made Hiruzen recognize even more clearly that the Sand Village's commander in this battle, that young man named Shimizu, was genuinely not a simple opponent.
...
STONESZZ
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