Several hours later, the Konoha forces withdrew about a dozen kilometers and temporarily stopped to rest.
All the ninjas appeared solemn; the morale of the Konoha forces was low. This was only natural. Retreating hurt a ninja's pride more than even dying in battle.
But the truth was, they had failed—completely.
In less than an hour of battle, over three hundred Konoha ninjas had perished, many of them falling to Suna's puppet masters.
Tsunade, Orochimaru, Sakumo Hatake, and Hiashi—the four leaders—gathered together to discuss their next move. And it was none other than the hotheaded Tsunade who had summoned them for this discussion.
Previously, Tsunade would have needed some time to calm down before thinking rationally.
There was only one topic under discussion: the reason for their defeat in this large-scale formation battle.
And the conclusion wasn't hard to reach.
Suna's Puppet Master Unit had taken Konoha completely by surprise.
The Konoha ninjas responded quickly, but it didn't matter—every weapon fired by Suna's Puppet Unit was laced with deadly poison.
Any Konoha ninja touched by those poisoned weapons died instantly—an extremely ruthless toxin.
So the difference between winning and losing against Suna came down to whether they could find an antidote.
At this point, all three turned their gazes toward Tsunade without conscious coordination.
"Can you neutralize the poison?" asked Hiashi.
Poison of this level must have been created by Chiyo of Sunagakure. And currently, only Tsunade had a chance of countering Chiyo's toxin.
Tsunade frowned slightly before replying, "An antidote won't be easy, especially against such a powerful toxin. I'll need to study its toxicity and components before I can give you an answer."
The three nodded. Then Sakumo Hatake spoke, "Then allow me to take a team back to the battlefield and investigate."
They currently didn't have any samples of Chiyo's poison, so they could only return to the battlefield to search for clues.
"Huh, since they dared to use poison, they probably took precautions as well. By now, the Sand Ninja unit might already be cleaning up evidence..." Orochimaru narrowed his serpentine eyes. A cunning old fox like Chiyo wouldn't overlook such details.
"Even if there's only the slightest chance, we must go for it. Otherwise, the result will be just as bad the next time we meet," said Hiashi.
Everyone present understood this reasoning perfectly.
Tsunade nodded and said, "Then let's wait until nightfall..."
The battle had just ended, and Suna forces might still be scavenging the battlefield—they couldn't have gone far.
...
Meanwhile, at another location in the desert stood a temporary tent.
Constructed to shield from sunlight, Minato, who had lost consciousness, lay inside resting on the sand. Around the tent stood Mikoto, Nawaki, Yan Uchiha, and Junko Watanabe, standing guard, never leaving his side.
...
At this moment, Minato, who had been unconscious, slowly opened his eyes. The glaring light caused him to squint briefly.
Gradually, he adjusted to the brightness around him.
"Where am I...?"
Minato was taken aback when a familiar voice spoke from behind him.
"Hehe, you're finally awake."
Minato spun around abruptly. A figure unmistakably familiar stood before him.
Bathed in white light, the familiar blond hair and bright blue eyes of his younger self stood out clearly. The sacred robe bore flame-like cloud patterns, and on his back, those unmistakable words—Fourth Hokage.
It was himself!
"It's quite strange meeting my younger self," Minato chuckled softly.
The younger version of Minato awkwardly smiled too as he replied, "Same here..."
"How could we possibly meet?"
Minato exclaimed in shock. His younger self's soul had suffered grave damage, forcing it to latch onto his present soul. They shouldn't have been able to meet under any circumstances.
"You overused the Nine-Tails' chakra, bringing your body to the brink of collapse," explained Senior Minato. Truthfully, even he didn't entirely understand their current predicament. The appearance of this "Minato" was equally unexpected.
This place was deep within the spiritual realm. No matter how strong someone was, they shouldn't be capable of manifesting multiple forms inside their own soul.
"Oh," Minato responded absentmindedly, suddenly sensing an immense power. He quickly glanced upward.
Above his head stretched gigantic black markings that covered the entire white space. Upon closer inspection, they were clearly the Eight Trigrams Sealing Formula he'd cast long ago.
So this immense power must be the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Yet Minato detected absolutely no consciousness emanating from this vast amount of chakra.
"This is the Nine-Tails' power sealed within me?" Minato realized suddenly.
Senior Minato nodded, narrowing his eyes slightly as he continued, "Back then, it was precisely because of its protection that I could safely traverse through time and space without vanishing."
"It actually protected you?" Minato asked in astonishment.
"Originally, the Nine-Tails and I should have been absolute enemies. But perhaps due to the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, even if the Nine-Tails itself unwillingly complied, this chakra still protects me."
Senior Minato explained. The Dead Demon Consuming Seal was the ultimate sealing technique of the Uzumaki clan—an art he only knew how to use but had never studied deeply.
Even Minato found it intriguing—how exactly had the ancestors of the Uzumaki clan developed such a sealing method?
But not only him, even Kushina didn't know either.
"What does it feel like crossing through time and space?"
Minato asked. He had leaped across decades to inhabit his current self. Such power was truly beyond comprehension.
"I don't know."
Senior Minato bluntly replied. Still, observing the expression on the face of his youthful counterpart, he couldn't fail to notice what the young Minato was thinking—they were one and the same after all.
The two exchanged knowing smiles.
"Looks like you're just as curious about this power as I was!"
They spoke in unison, "If we could truly understand the principles behind this power that bends space and time—or even just touch upon it through some method—it could bring unimaginable change to not only the Ninja World, but the entire world itself.
Even the Sage of Six Paths himself likely couldn't have imagined such power.
Minato's Space-Time Ninjutsu—the Flying Thunder God—is merely the most basic form of spatial ninjutsu: space jumping.
But if someone could figure out how to tap into this space-time power, even without truly crossing dimensions, the Flying Thunder God Technique could still be refined into something far beyond what even its creator, The Second, had ever dreamed of..."
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