Guessing Lantern Riddles

"Lord A, Lord Bee, over here!"

The AB Brothers of Kumogakure arrived at the location where Yuhara had been fighting not long ago. Or rather, after the enemies Yuhara hadn't dealt with reported the situation, A and Bee, who were searching everywhere for the Yellow Flash, rushed over.

Then they saw an exaggerated metal "Dandelion."

Glistening threads were interwoven across the ground and between the trees, securing the object in place. The extremely low temperature caused each thread to be covered in fine dew... If it weren't for the fact that a person with a blown-off head was stuffed in the center of this thing, and their body was also shattered into pieces, anyone would have said it had an artistic flair.

"Is this the enemy's jutsu?"

A asked this, while reaching out to gently touch a thin thread. His hand's skin was easily cut open.

After he covered his palm with Lightning Release, fully prepared for defense, he pulled hard again. This time, the metal wire, thinner than a strand of hair, first let out a mournful cry, and then was forcibly snapped by him.

The metal wire was extremely tough and sharp, but that didn't mean it was indestructible. However, A still took its danger seriously, because under normal circumstances, if tearing force were applied to these wires, the ninja's body would definitely be cut before the wire itself.

"Yes, Lord A, at that time..." The ninja then described the battle situation to A.

"To be able to use such a powerful jutsu, yet pretend to be unable to fight back at first? What a sinister guy..." A, a straightforward ninja, disdained such shameless sneak attacks. "Hey, Bee, can you pull out Toroi?"

Cold sweat beaded on Killer B's forehead. He took a step back as if startled, "Little Eight's fear, Infinity, Octopus's legs, Slicing!"

Octopuses are naturally afraid of such thin, long, net-like objects. Moreover, the Eight-Tails is not a Tailed Beast known for its physical strength. In fact, the Eight-Tails's characteristic is its powerful regeneration ability... Yuhara's "Mercury Lamp" could definitely cut through the Eight-Tails's body in a relatively easy manner.

"What a useless guy!"

A habitually complained about his unreliable brother, but he soon noticed Killer B's abnormality.

Killer B was retreating step by step, while his eyes kept darting towards a large tree to his body's right. When A noticed where his gaze was directed, he subtly nodded.

Given the tacit understanding between the brothers, A instantly understood what Bee was trying to convey.

Someone was currently hiding in that large tree, silently observing their actions.

What followed was A, who had been discussing a strange ninjutsu just a moment ago, suddenly erupting. Intense Lightning Release covered his entire body, and then he leaped high into the air, smashing a fist into a certain spot on the large tree!

"To hide so close by! Yellow Flash, you're underestimating us too much!"

The person hiding there, secretly peeking, was Minato Namikaze, who was acting alone. Although the AB Brothers' movements were incredibly sudden, Minato wouldn't be hit by a single blow.

Minato's figure disappeared from the tree. Then, A's entire arm sank into the tree trunk where he had been standing. After that, Minato's figure reappeared on the ground.

"Wait, I..."

Minato wanted to ask what the Kumogakure side intended, but the Kumogakure brothers didn't give him a chance to speak.

Killer B directly began his "transformation." Although this perfect Jinchuriki wasn't in his most perfect state yet, he couldn't afford to worry about that now.

"Tailed Beast Transformation, Self-Determination, Yellow Flash, you won't escape!"

The battle between the two future Kage began again.

And this time, the battle became even more difficult for Minato Namikaze. Although he was very strong, he was only specialized against humanoid creatures, not Tailed Beasts... When it came to dealing with Tailed Beasts, the Yellow Flash was not as skilled as one might imagine.

Furthermore, Minato Namikaze couldn't retreat directly, as he had to consider the possibility of these two enemies attacking the Konoha camp directly...

Kumogakure's Muscle Brothers VS Konoha's Flying Thunder God Hokage, this scene seemed to have appeared somewhere before.

While the strong individuals on both sides had already begun to engage, the main forces of Konoha and Kumogakure remained stationary. On one hand, those fighting couldn't spare the time to transmit information; on the other hand, the current state of high alert on both sides was, after all, a "misunderstanding." It happened too suddenly, and neither side was fully prepared for a decisive battle in a short period. Moreover, neither side could afford the consequences of failure, so both commanders were very restrained, adopting a stance of passive defense rather than active offense.

In this situation, Yuhara, who had just obtained new ninjutsu, had no opportunity to train and practice. Even he had to be ready to join the battlefield at any moment.

In Yuhara's impression, although one-on-one battles and team duels between ninjas were exciting, large-scale group warfare among ninjas... honestly, it was unsightly.

This was because ninjas were not inherently weapons for large-scale frontal combat.

Furthermore, the efficiency of ninja group combat was not high. Forget modern warfare; imagine throwing a regiment of Konoha ninjas onto the Western Front of World War II... they probably wouldn't even make a ripple.

The energy projection of a ninja regiment was negligible. The combat effectiveness of a regiment of ninjas was even less than that of a Karl mortar.

Of course, this was at the current stage. Later, ninjas would also develop all sorts of strange chakra weapons.

Regardless, firepower was the true justice... From this, one could see that everyone harbored a Deidara within their hearts.

The massive chakra reaction soon attracted the attention of both Konoha and Kumogakure. They noticed the battle, but...

Both sides still maintained restraint.

It wasn't until several hours later that the battle-worn Yellow Flash returned to the Konoha camp.

The battle was declared over, and the result seemed to be another draw.

The Eight-Tails had caused significant trouble for Minato Namikaze, but regardless, since he was able to return to the camp safely in the end and no Tailed Beast Balls or the like were flying around, the outcome of this matter was acceptable.

Minato Namikaze seemed to have brought problems and solved them, and also seemed to have neither brought problems nor solved them, truly "Schrödinger's Gate."

After this, the tense atmosphere between the two sides continued for several more days before gradually easing. As the saying goes, "Strike while the iron is hot, then enthusiasm wanes, and finally, it is exhausted." A decisive battle seemed unlikely to happen.

So...

What on earth happened during this period?

It was utterly inexplicable.