After fighting single-Kamui Obito Uchiha once, Rei Kaguya had roughly figured out his current level of strength.
His sustained combat ability was extremely strong. He could face conventional Kage-level experts head-on without falling into a disadvantage.
However, his offensive methods were somewhat lacking, and he lacked decisive strategic abilities. In battles against experts of the same level, it was very difficult for him to personally land the strike that decided victory and defeat.
When facing opponents with special abilities like Kamui or Flying Thunder God, his lack of offensive methods made it easy for him to fall into the awkward situation of being able to see the opponent but not touch them.
Although, generally speaking, the opponent's attacks could only scrape him a little…
But being beaten all the time was very irritating!
And right now, this contest between Rei Kaguya and Minato Namikaze reflected both sides' respective combat styles extremely well.
"Flying Thunder God Slash!"
Clang!
Minato Namikaze's figure flashed past like a streak of flowing light.
He swung his special kunai, bringing a cold gleam with it as he slashed hard toward Rei Kaguya's neck.
But similar to the previous outcomes, the kunai in Minato Namikaze's hand cut through Rei Kaguya's skin, only to once again snap against the highly hardened bone membrane beneath.
As for Minato himself, he dodged Rei Kaguya's counterattack at the last possible instant and appeared elegantly beside another Flying Thunder God kunai.
"Ah. Still no good?"
Minato Namikaze looked at the seventh kunai in his hand that Rei Kaguya had broken.
On his handsome, sunny face, a rather troubled expression appeared.
As a shinobi whose tactical core was the Flying Thunder God Technique, and whose overwhelming majority of combat skills were focused on fighting humans, Minato Namikaze was somewhat lacking in destructive ninjutsu that could be used to forcefully break through hard defenses.
Although during the Third Shinobi World War, on Konoha's front against Kumogakure, Minato had recognized this weakness while fighting the brothers A, the Fourth Raikage, and Killer B, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. He had also begun developing a ninjutsu with tremendous potential and destructive power, the Rasengan, to compensate for that flaw.
But now, it seemed the destructive power of the initial version of Rasengan was still somewhat insufficient.
If he could add chakra nature transformation into it, then that Kaguya clan man opposite him probably would not be able to take five Rasengan head-on and still bounce around as if nothing had happened… right?
Looking at Rei Kaguya, who had only tilted his head slightly before the wound on his neck had almost fully healed, Minato Namikaze could not help clicking his tongue.
His understanding of the opponent's vitality deepened once again.
After a battle of such high intensity, three-quarters of his own chakra had already been used up. Yet aside from dust and a little blood, he could not even find one proper wound on the opponent's body.
With such terrifying vitality and chakra, no wonder he could use a Hiding in Mist Technique of that density to cover the entire forest and nearly annihilate Hyuga Munekata-senpai's entire squad.
"Hey, are we still going to keep fighting, Konoha's Yellow Flash?"
Rei Kaguya's sudden words interrupted Minato Namikaze's thoughts.
He frowned and looked with puzzlement at Rei Kaguya, who was retracting all the bone spikes on his body.
"You have already stalled enough time for those three lucky survivors, haven't you?" Rei Kaguya tilted his head, indicating that he knew Hyuga Munekata and the other two had already escaped the area covered by the Hiding in Mist Technique while Minato had been delaying him.
"Or are you planning to continue the mission they failed to complete?"
Minato Namikaze's gaze swept without a trace over two areas where the mist was gathering again.
The corpses of Honda Denjiro and Inoue Nobuhiko, the mission targets for Konoha's side on this trip, were lying in those two places in extremely unpeaceful postures.
When Rei Kaguya heard Hyuga Munekata mention the Flying Thunder God kunai, he had used the wide-area silence brought by the Hiding in Mist Technique to silently dispose of the paralyzed Honda Denjiro and the fleeing Inoue Nobuhiko, preventing them from truly being brought back to Konoha by Minato Namikaze and revealing intelligence they should not reveal.
And if the two defected Anbu that Rei Kaguya had killed before the battle even began were included, then all the mission targets Konoha needed had already been eliminated by Rei Kaguya.
This mission had basically failed completely.
Of course, if Minato Namikaze could capture Rei Kaguya and bring him back to Konoha, that could also count as another way of completing the mission.
In fact, because Rei Kaguya knew far more than Honda Denjiro and the others, Konoha would have to grant Minato more rewards and honor for overachieving in the mission.
However, after personally testing Rei Kaguya's tankiness, Minato Namikaze felt it would be better to abandon that idea.
If he could bring Kushina, who was skilled in sealing techniques, then perhaps there might be some chance…
So when Rei Kaguya proposed a ceasefire, Minato Namikaze only thought briefly before nodding and accepting his suggestion.
"It is indeed as you say. We no longer have any need to continue fighting to the death…"
"But the war between Kirigakure and Konoha has officially broken out. That makes me have to consider whether I should do everything I can to keep you here."
"Oh? Has the Third officially declared war on you?"
Rei Kaguya raised his brows, showing a somewhat surprised expression.
But immediately afterward, he rolled his eyes with some disdain at the serious-faced Minato Namikaze and spoke irritably.
"That's about enough, Minato Namikaze. Don't think I can't see how much chakra that technique you call Rasengan consumes… Just now, you used Flying Thunder God to switch positions so many times, and you even found chances to hit me with five Rasengan. How much chakra do you still have left? Is it enough to support you in finding a way to take me down? Don't you know that in your heart?"
Having his awkward situation of insufficient chakra exposed by Rei Kaguya, Minato Namikaze did not feel angry.
He only stared meaningfully at Rei Kaguya's bare upper body for a while before slowly saying, "I truly do not want to see an unkillable monster like you appear on the front line between Konoha and Kirigakure."
"Likewise. I also don't want to see the rule Iwagakure has, that they can directly abandon a mission without being punished if they encounter you, become something Kirigakure shinobi have to follow too."
Rei Kaguya casually replied to Minato Namikaze's words.
Then he sighed and began looking for the ninja tool pouch he had thrown aside earlier, preparing to take out a spare set of clothes from it.
But because of Rei Kaguya's reply, Minato Namikaze revealed a thoughtful expression.
"I do not want to see a difficult monster like you appear on the battlefield, and you also do not want to see me defeat your comrades by myself?"
"I see. So there is another way to reduce the damage you cause…"
"What are you muttering to yourself over there?"
Rei Kaguya took out a cloak sealed inside a scroll long ago and put it on, then looked up toward Minato Namikaze in confusion.
"If we're not fighting, isn't it better for everyone to just go home?"
"Sorry. For the sake of Konoha's eventual victory in the coming war against Kirigakure, I must do what I can."
The moment his voice fell, Minato Namikaze's figure vanished from Rei Kaguya's sight.
His body turned into a yellow flash, appearing with lightning speed above a Flying Thunder God kunai located in Rei Kaguya's blind spot.
Then he raised his right hand, on which a line of special characters had appeared, and fiercely struck toward Rei Kaguya's back.
Minato Namikaze did not expect this surprise attack to cause any substantial damage to Rei Kaguya.
He merely intended to leave a Flying Thunder God mark on the opponent's body, one that could not be erased. That way, during the coming war between Konoha and Kirigakure, he would be able to grasp Rei Kaguya's movements at any time and promptly transfer him away from the frontal battlefield between the two sides.
Smack.
Minato Namikaze's right hand successfully pressed against Rei Kaguya's back.
But the price was that his right hand was pierced through by a bone spike that erupted from the other man's spine.
"I was waiting for you—"
Bad!
Minato Namikaze's heart jolted.
He immediately activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, once again narrowly dodging Rei Kaguya's follow-up counterattack.
Then, through the Flying Thunder God kunai in Sarutobi Chizuru's hand, he returned to the side of the three wounded and covered their retreat away from the forest and the dense mist.
As for Rei Kaguya, he looked at the air before him, which had been cut apart by his hand blade and still carried a trace of Minato Namikaze's presence.
The corners of his mouth slowly curved into the smile of someone whose plan had succeeded.
"Hah. I didn't waste all that effort probing and pulling back and forth with you through words after all…"
"Didn't this finally let me stall until First Strike's cooldown ended and find a chance to deal damage to you first, Minato Namikaze?"