Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26773508-20150729045448/@comment-26773508-20150813101955

AsianReaper wrote: Also maybe all the Doton users skilled enough to do so were busy fighting and resting in between. Yeah sounds reasonable, with Minato going around killing hundreds of Iwa nins in a matter of seconds it wouldn't be a real surprise. However, since the Kannabi Bridge was critical for the supply line of invading Iwa nins, it seems reasonable to suppose that Iwa sent several missions to recapture the area to build a bridge again. I suppose Konoha had troops stationed there, which is why they failed.

Actionmanrandell wrote: You got to realize they were in the Midst of a war. one can't simply stop fighting a war to build a bridge. its not like modern times where they have specially trained units who do nothing but build bridges and Earth release can create temporary constructs but not permanent constructs when chakra fades from such constructs they will eventually fall apart

an earth release user would be able to create temporary bridges for others to build permanent bridges

another factor you must consider is that the bridge was supposed to be pretty big and it spanned a deep ravine

just creating a bridge in an instant isn't going to work not when you are being attacked on all sides on top of that the lesson tought in naruto is that the new generations generally surpass the older ones with that being said its entirely possible that Earth release users back than couldn't create as large of earth constructs

in the end its not a plot hole Yes, it's not a plot hole if Konoha had troops stationed near the bridge site. If not, then it should be quite easy for a group of Iwa nins to collaborate and use doton jutsu to build a structurally strong and stable bridge with all the necessary support structures. Yamato raised well-designed and structurally stable wood houses in an instant after Pain destroyed Konoha, although that consumed quite a bit of chakra. So it's quite possible that Iwa had shinobi who could build such structures, as they don't seem to be that difficult to pull off if done in collaboration.

Of course, all such attempts would be useless if Konoha had stationed troops there. But we also have to remember that Konoha was critically low on manpower during the 3rd War, and the main reason Konoha won was because of Minato's hiraishin. So we have at least some reason to suspect that Konoha might not have been able to station its troops near the ravine due to lack of manpower. Stationing troops there might compromise Konoha's performance in other battlefields. But since the Kannabi Bridge was so critical to Iwa and Konoha, I suppose our default assumption should be that Konoha did deploy troops there, as it is basic strategy. Hence the Kannabi Bridge is most likely not a plot hole.