Naruto : Minato back to the past

A few hours later, the Konoha troops had retreated about ten kilometers and were taking a temporary rest. The atmosphere was heavy, and the morale of the Konoha ninjas was low. It was understandable—retreating hurt their dignity as ninjas more than death itself. The truth was, they had failed, and it was a thorough defeat.

In less than an hour of fighting, over 300 Konoha ninjas had died, many of them falling to the puppeteer troops of the Sand Ninja. Tsunade, Orochimaru, Hatake Sakumo, and Hyuga Tenki, the four leaders of the Konoha forces, gathered to discuss their next move. It was Tsunade, with her fiery temper, who had called them together.

Normally, Tsunade would need time to cool down before she could think rationally, but now there was no time to waste. They discussed only one topic: the reason for the failure of their large-scale operation. The conclusion was clear.

The Sand Ninja puppeteer troops had caught the Konoha forces off guard. While the Konoha ninjas had reacted quickly, the deadliest factor was that the ninja tools wielded by the Sand Ninja puppeteers were all coated with poison. The poison was so potent that even a scratch from these tools meant certain death for the Konoha ninjas.

The key to winning or losing against the Sand Ninjas lay in neutralizing this poison. As they discussed this, the three leaders turned their gaze toward Tsunade.

"Is there any way to detoxify the poison?" Hyuga Tenki asked. This level of poison had likely been created by Chiyo of the Sand Ninja Village, and Tsunade was their best hope of finding a countermeasure.

Tsunade frowned and replied, "Detoxifying this poison isn't easy, especially one of this nature. I'll need to study its toxicity and composition before I can provide an answer."

The others nodded in agreement. Hatake Sakumo then suggested, "Let me take a team back to the battlefield to see if we can find a sample."

Without a sample of Chiyo's poison, they had no choice but to return to the battlefield in search of one.

"Haha, since they dared to use poison, they've probably taken precautions. The Sand Ninja Corps is likely cleaning up the battlefield as we speak," Orochimaru noted, his snake-like pupils narrowing. Chiyo was too cunning to leave such evidence behind.

"Even if there's only a slim chance, we have to take it. Otherwise, the next encounter won't go any better," Hyuga Tenki said, voicing what they all knew.

Tsunade nodded and added, "Then we'll wait until nightfall."

The battle had just ended, and the Sand Ninja Corps might still be clearing the battlefield, so it was best to proceed cautiously.

Meanwhile, in another part of the sand, a temporary tent had been set up to provide shelter from the sun. Inside, Minato, who had fainted earlier, lay unconscious. Mikoto, Nawaki, Uchiha Yoruki, and Suzuka stood watch over him.

In the tent, Minato slowly regained consciousness. His vision was hazy, and the bright light caused him to squint as he adjusted to his surroundings.

"Where am I?" Minato wondered aloud, still disoriented. A familiar voice answered from behind him.

"Haha, you're finally awake."

Minato turned around abruptly, and a very familiar figure stood before him. The figure had yellow hair that gleamed under the light, blue eyes like sapphires, and wore a divine robe embroidered with fire cloud patterns. The words on the back of the robe stood out clearly—"Fourth Hokage."

It was Minato himself!

"Seeing my younger self, this is a strange feeling," the older Minato said with a faint smile.

The younger Minato also smiled awkwardly and replied, "It is for me too."

"How is it that we're meeting like this?" Minato asked in surprise. The soul in front of him had been severely damaged, and it should have been impossible for them to meet.

"You overused the Nine-Tails' chakra, causing your body to nearly collapse. You almost died. This situation is similar to what happened to me back then," the older Minato explained. He didn't fully understand the situation either, and Minato's appearance here was unexpected.

"Oh," the younger Minato responded, his attention suddenly drawn to an immense power above him. He looked up and saw large black lines covering the entire white space above. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was the seal he had created. The power emanating from it was the chakra of the Nine-Tails.

However, Minato didn't sense any consciousness within the chakra.

"Is this the power of the Nine-Tails sealed inside me?" the younger Minato asked, beginning to grasp the situation.

The older Minato nodded and then narrowed his eyes slightly. "It's because of this protection that I was able to travel safely through time and space without disappearing."

"It actually protects you?" the younger Minato asked, surprised.

"Originally, the Nine-Tails and I should be mortal enemies, but perhaps because of the Shiki Fuujin, even if the Nine-Tails doesn't want to, this chakra will still protect me," the older Minato explained. The Shiki Fuujin was the ultimate sealing jutsu of the Uzumaki clan, and though Minato knew how to use it, he had never fully understood its complexities.

Even Kushina, who hailed from the Uzumaki clan, didn't know all the details of the Shiki Fuujin.

"What does it feel like to travel through time and space?" the younger Minato asked curiously.

"I don't know," the older Minato admitted. But he studied the expression of his younger self, knowing that they were two sides of the same coin. The two Minatos smiled at each other, both recognizing the curiosity in the other's eyes.

"It seems you're also interested in studying this power," they said in unison. The ability to travel through time and space could bring unimaginable changes to the ninja world and even the entire world if understood and harnessed.

However, even the Sage of Six Paths, the founder of the ninja world, might not have possessed such power. The Flying Thunder God technique, which Minato excelled at, was merely the most basic space-time ninjutsu, allowing for instantaneous teleportation.

But if they could glean insights from this power of time and space travel, even if they couldn't fully master it, they could potentially advance the Flying Thunder God technique to levels beyond what its creator, the Second Hokage, had ever imagined.

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