Trump Card 2
Minato Namikaze was also in a bad situation. With the help of the Special Kunai Minato Namikaze, it wouldn't have been difficult for him to get close to Ikura, but he couldn't stop someone from interfering with him from above using S-rank Ninjutsu.
Whenever Minato Namikaze throws his Special Kunai at Ikura, Yichen absorbs the Kunai.
That's how powerful an instantaneous S-rank Ninjutsu is. Besides deflecting all the Kunai, Yichen even had the ability to interfere with Minato Namikaze's own actions.
Even after Ikura finally completed the Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet Ninjutsu, Minato Namikaze was still unable to get completely close to Ikura.
As the barrage of bullets rained down on him, Minato Namikaze realized he had missed his best chance to kill Ikura.
As a barrage of earth-based projectiles rained down on him, Minato Namikaze made a thought and vanished from the sight of Yichen and Ikura.
Seeing Minato Namikaze retreat, Yichen and Ikura should have breathed a sigh of relief, but because they didn't know when or where Minato Namikaze would reappear, they not only didn't relax, but became even more vigilant.
After a while, seeing that Minato Namikaze had not reappeared, the two gradually relaxed.
In that brief moment, Ikura had teetered on the brink of death countless times.
Ninjutsu- based ninjas are truly powerless against Minato Namikaze; once he gets close, they are almost certain to die. Meanwhile, the Flying Thunder God can easily help Minato Namikaze get close to his opponents.
Yichen was incredibly grateful to Nagato. If it weren't for Nagato's selfless help in teaching him the S-rank Ninjutsu, Banshō Ten'in, Ikura would have been finished today.
Similarly, Yichen was also very scared at this moment. He hadn't reported Minato Namikaze's ability to use the Flying Thunder God Minato Namikaze God Technique to the village because he was afraid of not being able to explain the source of the information. Now, he had almost caused a disaster.
Taking a deep breath, Yichen drew away the Special Kunai Banshō Ten'in Tenshin that Minato Namikaze had left behind, moving it away from Ikura. Only then did Yichen have time to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
Ikura and Yichen exchanged a glance, with Yi Chen giving Yichen a grateful look before adjusting their mindset and charging forward again.
The battlefield is now divided into three sections. In the very center are the vanguards of both sides, numbering approximately two thousand, who are engaged in a chaotic melee.
The main forces of both sides were positioned on either side of the battle zone.
The Iwa Ninja main force was blocked by Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze, and was now much farther away from the front lines of both sides than the Konoha side.
After retreating, Minato Namikaze had already entered the battle zone of the vanguard and was reaping the lives of Iwa ninja at a terrifying speed.
Ikura had to go and provide support, even if Ikura didn't have a good solution for the chaotic Ninja Army.
Because they had at least Wind Release: Breakthrough Minato Namikaze's blockade on one side, while on the other side, they were Jiraiya blocked by Jiraiya.
After seeing that Ikura had left, Yichen did not follow. Now that Ikura was on guard against Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God, it would no longer be so easy for Minato Namikaze to succeed.
Of course, it's hard to say how much of a role Ikura can play after he's gone, given his constant vigilance against Minato Namikaze Flying Thunder God technique.
Meanwhile, after so much fighting, Yichen was worried that Han might lose control and needed to keep an eye on him.
Looking up, the battle between Han and Jiraiya was completely different from what was happening here.
Han, who draws upon the power of the Tailed Beast, has a wide-ranging and aggressive fighting style, while Jiraiya, as Ninjutsu- type ninja, is also skilled in long-range, wide-area attacks.
Therefore, the battle between the two had a wide-ranging impact, giving people the feeling that it could destroy the world at any moment.
However, precisely because Jiraiya used long-range offensive and defensive tactics, the main force of the Iwa ninja was also able to participate.
Jiraiya's attacks were often blocked by the Combination Ninjutsu of the main Iwa Ninja main force.
Similarly, Jiraiya had to be wary of sneak attacks from elite ninja in the Iwa ninja force.
Therefore, although Han, in his Partial Tailed Beast Transformation, was far inferior to Jiraiya in terms of raw strength, the Iwa ninja held the upper hand.
This is why even Kage-level experts cannot act with impunity. If Jiraiya didn't have a large force behind him today, the Iwa ninja would have already changed tactics and prepared to surround Jiraiya here.
As for why there wasn't a large force helping Yichen and Ikura when they fought against Minato Namikaze, it was mainly because everyone was focused on rescuing the wounded.
In addition, Minato Namikaze's fighting style made everyone feel like they couldn't exert their full strength.
When Yichen abandoned Ikura Jiraiya arrived at Jiraiya's flank and rear, intending to cut off Jiraiya's retreat, Jiraiya realized it was time to retreat.
The giant Toad that Jiraiya had summoned earlier had already disappeared, so it was easy for Jiraiya retreat. He used a large-scale Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld to sever the connection with the Yichen Iwa ninja, and then charged towards Yichen while simultaneously using the Wild Lion's Mane Technique to interfere with Yichen.
Yichen was naturally not afraid of this long-range attack Ninjutsu and easily blocked it with Porcelain Release, but Yichen did not dare to actually stop Jiraiya.
This separated the main force, and Yichen wasn't sure if he could hold Jiraiya until Jiraiya arrived.
"Earth Release - Earth Splitting Palm"
"Earth Release - Earth Style: Useful Change"
After a while, the main force used dozens of Ninjutsu to finally deal with the Swamp of the Underworld that Jiraiya had used to block them.
However, by the time they reached the spot where Yichen had been, Jiraiya had already vanished.
After Yichen Jiraiya, Yichen rushed to meet up with Ikura.
If Ikura were to be targeted by Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze, the master and disciple duo, Yichen believed that Ikura would be instantly defeated.
Fortunately, Yichen flew in a straight line, and his speed was faster than Jiraiya's.
"Ikura, Jiraiya is here. Tell everyone to retreat."
Ikura glanced at the positions of his main force, then at the Konoha main force so close by, nodded, and immediately gave the order to retreat to the Iwa ninja vanguard.
However, the vanguard forces of both sides are now embroiled in a chaotic battle, making a retreat difficult.
Moreover, the Konoha ninjas recognized their advantage and fought with all their might to stop them.
Furthermore, with Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze overwhelmingly defeating the weaker opponents, the Iwa ninja's retreat could practically be described as a rout.
The vanguard force, which numbered over a thousand, dwindled to just over a hundred men when Yichen and Ikura fled back to the main force.
The rest were either killed earlier or overwhelmed by the later Konoha main force.
Even so, it was only because Yichen used Porcelain Release and Banshō Ten'in lure out his opponent from time to time, and Ikura used Area of Effect Ninjutsu to create a threat, forcing Jiraiya to stop him, that he was saved.
In the first round of battle, the Iwa ninja suffered a crushing defeat, losing over Jonin in total, while only managing to kill a couple hundred Konoha ninja.
Of the two strongest fighters on the Iwa ninja side, Han has already unleashed the power of Tailed Beast, and no one can predict how long he can hold out.
Another of the strongest fighters, Ikura, was almost instantly killed by Minato Namikaze.
Yichen thought that Saka would choose to retreat at this point, since the Iwa ninja had already shown their determination and had achieved their goal of holding back Konoha's main force.
But Saka didn't do that; Saka chose to force it.
When Ikura and Yichen returned to Saka's side and explained the situation, Saka was only slightly surprised by Ikura's ordeal and Minato Namikaze's difficulty before hesitating again and repeating the order to attack.
What followed was a chaotic battle between the two armies, but this battle was different from the previous skirmish between two thousand men on each side.
The previous battle between the two thousand forwards was a close contest, testing individual abilities and at most teamwork, which is not what the Iwa ninja are good at.
Now, the main forces of both sides are clashing, Iwa ninja are using group Ninjutsu to counter the energy blasts, which is precisely what the Iwa ninja excel at.
In such an Area of Effect Ninjutsu, close-combat Kage Level like Minato Namikaze have very little impact. While powerful ranged attackers like Jiraiya and Ikura are important, their importance is significantly reduced.
Although Yichen didn't understand Saka's strategy, he agreed with his tactics. Floating in the air, Yichen didn't participate in the group battle; he was replenishing his food and restoring his Chakra.
Yichen had expended a lot of energy in the previous battle, and with the real battle still to come, he felt that conserving his strength now would allow him to play a greater role later.
Konoha's strength lies in the individual power of its members, as well as the unique abilities of its various ninja clans.
However, in the current Area of Effect Ninjutsu and ninja tools, Konoha has not sent out its most elite ninja clan members. These are Konoha's trump cards, and they will be of great use to them.
Similarly, the Iwa ninja's elite Explosive Unit squad has not yet made a move.
These two elite units are not only life-saving forces in critical moments, but also forces that deliver a fatal blow when the enemy reveals a weakness.
Yichen observed the Konoha ninja's formation, but unfortunately, he couldn't pinpoint the location of the Konoha ninja clan members.
As the large-scale group Ninjutsu continued between the two sides, Yichen's brows furrowed deeper and deeper. This was because the Iwa ninja were beginning to fall into a disadvantageous position, Jiraiya once again demonstrated his strength.
It can be said that Jiraiya is worth two thousand ninja soldiers.
Jiraiya's rich combat experience allowed Jiraiya to seize various opportunities. Jiraiya a lone individual, he could flexibly support different battlefields. Moreover, his solo movement made him more agile, unlike the Iwa ninja who required teamwork and unified command to execute Ninjutsu.
Therefore, the situation on the battlefield began to become increasingly unfavorable for the Iwa ninja.
Yichen glanced down at where Han was. Han was still resting. The Five-Tails hadn't gone out of control during the recent outburst, which meant the Five Elements Sealing Jutsu was indeed effective. However, Han was still young and couldn't fully utilize the power of the Tailed Beast yet. Whether he could fight again was still a question mark.
Han seemed to sense something, looked up at Yichen, and then shook his head slightly.
It seems Han is unable to participate in the war, otherwise the Iwa ninja would have to risk the Tailed Beast out of control.
This is a battlefield, Yichen wasn't sure if the out-of-control Tailed Beast could be successfully retrieved.
"What should we do?" Yichen's mind raced, trying to think of a way to break the deadlock, but after all, this was Yichen's first time participating in a large-scale war, and he had too little experience.
Even after Saka used his last trump card, Yichen still couldn't come up with a way to break the deadlock.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" A series of explosions immediately pulled Yichen's thoughts back to the battlefield.
Looking down, one could see large clusters of Kakkō appearing on the Konoha side's lines at the edge of the battlefield.
Saka did not use the Explosive Unit for defense, but instead chose to use it for offense when they were clearly at a disadvantage.
To be honest, this surprised not only Yichen, but also the Konoha Command Center. They had been guessing where the Iwa ninja Explosive Unit would appear, but no one expected that the Iwa ninja would still be thinking of attacking at this time.
Because the Explosive Unit chose a rather unconventional Wind Release: Breakthrough, Konoha was unable to spare any resources to intercept them. As a result, the Iwa ninja on that side managed to break through Konoha's defenses.