"…Ugh…"
Rasa raised a hand to clutch his throat. He felt a cold wind pouring into his body, steadily draining away his strength.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two sharp sounds cut through the air as two black-robed puppets shot forward from the left and right toward Namikaze Minato.
These were Elder Chiyo's trump cards—two puppets created by her grandson, Sasori of the Red Sand, named "Father" and "Mother."
Minato's figure flickered and vanished instantly from where he stood, effortlessly dodging the charge of Father and Mother.
However, Chiyo had never intended to defeat Minato with this attack in the first place.
Her goal was simply to force him back.
With a swift motion of her fingers, she controlled the two puppets to turn around. Father and Mother lifted the collapsing Rasa and carried him back to Chiyo's side.
At this moment, blood was already gushing from Rasa's neck.
His face quickly turned pale, and even his pupils began to grow dim and unfocused.
"Guards! Defensive formation!"
Elder Chiyo shouted sharply.
Immediately, dozens of Sunagakure shinobi rushed over and surrounded both Chiyo and Rasa in a tight protective circle.
Chiyo did not waste a single second.
As she issued orders, she crouched beside Rasa. Two clusters of green chakra light ignited in her palms as she pressed her hands against the wound on his neck.
She began performing the Mystical Palm Technique (Shōsen Jutsu).
Minato's attack had been far too sharp.
If Rasa had not shifted backward slightly at the critical moment, his head would likely have been completely severed.
But precisely because the cut was so clean, the wound itself was extremely smooth and shallow, damaging only a thin layer of tissue.
That actually made medical treatment much easier.
The principle behind the Mystical Palm Technique was to stimulate the cells around a wound, greatly accelerating regeneration to rapidly close injuries.
In less than ten seconds, the bleeding stopped.
After a little more than a minute, the wound on Rasa's neck had completely healed.
However, although the injury had closed, Rasa had already lost a massive amount of blood.
His condition was still extremely dangerous.
Yet in the current situation, Chiyo had no time for further treatment.
Under the protection of the surrounding Sunagakure shinobi, she quickly retreated from the battlefield with Rasa.
Meanwhile, on the other side—
Kushina Uzumaki, who had already withdrawn from her partial Tailed Beast Transformation, stormed onto the walls of Kikyō Mountain Fortress with a face full of anger.
She glared at Shikaku Nara and demanded:
"Why did you stop Minato and me from continuing the attack? We clearly had the absolute advantage! If we had just fought a little longer, we could've finished off that old woman from Sunagakure and the Fourth Kazekage!"
Shikaku did not appear offended by Kushina's tone. He calmly replied:
"And then what?"
"And then?" Kushina blinked for a moment before answering matter-of-factly.
"Then we press the advantage and wipe out all the enemies, obviously!"
Shikaku sighed.
"That's not how wars are fought."
Kushina clearly didn't accept such a vague explanation.
"If that's not how wars are fought, then how are they fought?"
Shikaku looked somewhat helpless, but patiently explained:
"Right now, our shinobi and the enemy's forces are completely entangled in close combat. Using large-scale destructive ninjutsu to quickly eliminate them is practically impossible."
"And if we kill the Fourth Kazekage Rasa and Elder Chiyo at this moment, there are two possible outcomes."
"First—"
"The enemy army loses morale and collapses entirely."
"But the Allied Shinobi Forces already has no morale left. They're already retreating. So the chances of that happening are very small."
"Based on a shinobi's mindset, the second outcome is far more likely."
"They would launch a desperate counterattack."
"Cornered beasts fight the hardest. Even rabbits bite when pushed too far—let alone ninja."
"If we push them into absolute despair, we might instead ignite their fighting spirit."
He continued calmly:
"Right now we hold a certain advantage, but in terms of numbers, it's still six thousand versus ten thousand."
"If those ten thousand shinobi decide to fight to the death, how many comrades are you prepared to sacrifice to win this war?"
"Four thousand?"
"Five thousand?"
"Or six thousand?"
"You must remember that their ten thousand troops come from three different villages—Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure."
"The risks are shared between them."
"If those ten thousand casualties are split between three villages, that's only about three thousand losses per village."
"But if Konoha loses six thousand shinobi just to annihilate them…"
"Did we really win that war?"
"Or did we lose it?"
He concluded:
"So we absolutely cannot corner them and force a death match."
"As long as they still believe they have a chance to survive, they will keep retreating and scattering."
"And we can then use our superior positioning to gradually eliminate their forces piece by piece until they're completely wiped out."
"This is the heartland of the Land of Fire."
"We have plenty of time to slowly devour them."
"For now, all we need to do… is keep our fangs in them."
Kushina listened with a confused expression.
She didn't fully understand everything Shikaku had said.
But even so, she could vaguely sense that his reasoning made sense.
She stopped arguing about the matter.
Instead, she crossed her arms and complained again:
"Fine, let's say you're right about that. But why does Minato get to keep fighting and chase the enemies, while I have to stay here on standby? I'm not weaker than him!"
She had been eager for battle ever since finally being allowed to leave the village.
And now the fight had barely begun—she hadn't even had enough fun yet.
Shikaku replied:
"It's precisely because you're stronger than Minato that I called you back."
"In the battles ahead, I need a powerful shinobi to hold the central command position and deal with any unexpected developments."
"Minato is only chasing down small fry."
"But you'll be dealing with the enemy's strongest fighters."
"Your role is far more important."
"HAHAHAHA!"
Kushina burst into laughter, her grin stretching almost to the back of her head.
"Kid, you've got good judgment! I really am much stronger than Minato! If that old Third Hokage hadn't stopped me from fighting before, I'd definitely have an even more impressive nickname than him!"
Shikaku helplessly shook his head.
What he had just said was half true and half a lie.
In reality, he had mostly said it to appease Kushina.
Whether Minato or Kushina was stronger was another matter entirely.
The real reason he had recalled her was to ensure the safety of the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
The battlefield was unpredictable.
If something caused Kushina to lose control of the Nine-Tails, the consequences would be disastrous.
Shikaku then turned to Inoichi Yamanaka .
"Inoichi, tell everyone to focus on eliminating the enemy's active combat forces."
"And notify Chōza Akimichi as well."
"Have the defenders on Hill No. 1 fight while gradually withdrawing."
"Don't hold the line stubbornly."
"Our priority is to inflict casualties."
"Leave them an escape route and let them break through."
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