Battle Progress

The news about Minato killing dozens of Rock Ninjas in that ambush spread everywhere. All the Ninjas on the Lightning Country Battlefield knew about it.

But in fact, most were also skeptical about it as well. Even a Kage shouldn't be able to kill a group with that many Jonins in just an instant.

When it comes to Rock Ninjas, Onoki issued an order that all his troops could not accept: "If on a mission, you happen to encounter Minato Namikaze of Konoha, give up your mission and retreat immediately. You will not be penalized for doing so!"

However, this order was deemed confidential by the 3rd Tsushikage, and the Rock did not publicize the shameful order they received.

Quickly, the Ninjas began to appreciate Onoki's reasoning, as Minato became the main harvester of souls in the following few battles.

"If you encounter Minato without escaping as soon as you do, you will never get a chance to survive!"

That was the sentence circulating around the Rock Camp.

In countless battles, Konoha's Yellow Flash made his power recognized time and again. Some even said that he had already surpassed all 5 Kages.

While Minato's name was ringing through the Lightning Country, Ryo and the 3rd Mizukage's battle started.

Victory and defeat for both camp depended entirely on the outcome of their match-up.

In terms of brute strength, Ryo was far from the 3rd Mizukage, but his Lighting and Ice were suited perfectly to restrain him. One could never speculate the result of their battle.

Ryo's method of dealing with the Mizukage was using the Denjiki Rasengan to create an electromagnetic field, thus limiting the 3rd's Hydrification. Then Ryo relied on his Ice Release to cope with him in that weakened state of his.

The 3rd's Mizukage was plagued with Ryo's tactics that were able of restraining all of his usual techniques. He could only fight at 70% of his power and could not beat Ryo.

This way, the battle between the two was locked in a stalemate, and days went on until June of year 45.

Continuous warfare had its heavy toll on all 5 countries, including Konoha.

Therefore, most of Ryo's promotion was promoted to the rank of Chunin, including Might Guy, after a Chunin Exam.

Might Duy's horrific strength when he opened the 8th Gate of Death made the top of Konoha reconsider their views on Taijutsu specialists, and thus led to Guy's promotion.

Ryo had been leading the troops of the Wave Country Battlefield for over half a year at that point. The only Kage Tier Ninjas on both sides had no way to beat each-other, and balance between the two sides did not change that much.

Over the course of those six months, dozens of battles took place between the two camps, ranging for all out battles to small skirmishes. Ryo had to face the 3rd Mizukage no less than twenty times during that period.

With his "free" training, Ryo accumulated a lot of combat experience, and his strength greatly improved. However, he was still in no position to take out the Mizukage.

Despite the battlefield being in such a stale state, Ryo wasn't anxious at all. Facing the 3rd Mizukage, his strength is steadily increasing.

Unlike Ryo, the Mizukage was concerned with the way things were going. With every single battle, he could feel Ryo's progress compared to the previous time they met.

This made him really anxious. If this carried on, Ryo should soon be able to overcome him.

On top of that, the Hidden Mist Village was in the critical time of passing over the power of the Sanbi. Neither Yagura nor the Sanbi Jinchuriki could leave the village.

The village had no high tier Ninjas to support this battlefield, and that made the Mizukage even more anxious.

At that time, Ryo had no time to pay attention to the Mizukage's movements, because Jiraya was coming to the Wave Country battlefield!

On that day, Ryo was supposed to meet Shikaku Nara who had been taking care of the camp management for a long time. However, as soon as Shikaku sat down, Ryo disappeared into a cloud of white smoke.

Shikaku Nara had been thinking for a long time that Ryo was being lazy and ditching his responsibilities.

And this incident wasn't the 1st one, Ryo's had long been eccentric.

However, it didn't take Ryo long to come back. He had been brought via Reverse Summoning to Mount Myoboku by Fukasaku, who went on and returned to the camp along with him and Jiraya via reverse summoning once again.

It actually took Shikaku a while to wrap his mind around what happened, as he looked at the three in shock.

"Jiraya Chan, Ryo Chan, I'll go back to Mount Myoboku. Ma is waiting for me to have breakfast."

"Okay, sorry for the trouble boss."

"Goodbye Fukasaku Sama"

After Fukasaku left, Ryo directly asked Jiraya: "Jiraya san, what brings you to the Wave Country? And why are you in such a hurry that you resorted to Reverse Summoning?"

"Well, Sarutobi Sensei asked me to help you deal with the 3rd Mizukage, so that you could then go to the Lightning Country and join forces with Minato to deal with the 3rd Raikage."

"The 3rd Raikage himself joined the battle?!" Ryo was so surprised that he had to ask.

"Well, his son and the Hachibi Jinchuriki lost to Minato, so he decided to go to the battlefield himself." Jiraya explained.

Ryo recalled the scene from the Anime, where Minato faced the man to be 4th Raikage along with his brother.

He relied on his speed and actually managed to beat A, and during the battle, he left a Flying Thunder God Seal on B. During the second round of attack, he managed to teleport behind the Hachibi Jinchuriki and placed a blade near his neck, while the latter managed also to quickly point his blade at Minato's abdomen.

In the end, neither side wanted to make a sacrifice.

"Hey kid, you're being rude here! I'm talking and you're already distracted." Said Jiraya helplessly as he saw the wandering look on Ryo's face.

"Sorry, sorry… I remembered a few things about Minato nii-san." Ryo was embarrassed and scratched his head.

"Alright. Now kid, have other questions?" Jiraya got used to Ryo wandering away, so he didn't bother asking him about those memories.

"Yes, I do Jiraya san. Is it really okay for you to leave the Wind Country battlefield?"

"Not long ago, our forces and the Rock Ninjas attacked the Sand at the same time. In result, Rasa and Chiyo were seriously injured, and the rest of their ranks suffered really heavy losses. There won't be anything big happening at their side any time soon."

"So, why don't you just go support Minato Nii-san directly?"

"It's because of the Lightning Chakra Mode of the 3rd Raikage. You also have that technique, so you know how much defense it can grant. The 3rd Raikage is also extremely fast. This isn't really my type of match-up."

Ryo nodded, and said he was right. Indeed, in this situation, sending Ryo is the best choice.

"Well kid, tell me whatever you've gathered on the 3rd Mizukage. Their secrecy is too tight for me to know something of value."

Ryo explained to Jiraya all he knew through his long experience fighting the 3rd Mizukage, and gave him a detailed explanation about his powers and fighting style.

So with that being done, the two worked out a plan to apply tomorrow, in order to take care of the 3rd Mizukage once and for all.