Chapter 412: The Land of Frost
Cee's Yin Release ability was far inferior to Ino's back then, but with the First Raikage's jade talisman in hand, plus the fact that the Cloud Village had been feeding the giant turtle for decades, they had a very deep bond.
The giant turtle heard Cee's call and responded to him. While its main consciousness fell into a long slumber, a part of its consciousness awakened. It carried the Cloud ninja, led by the Fourth Raikage and Killer B, deep into the sea, bypassing the Mist Village's multiple defense lines to launch a surprise attack on the completely unprepared village!
Not many Cloud ninja came, but they were all elites, and their objective was clear.
On the Island Turtle, the Fourth Raikage roared, "Two targets! One is Genpaku, the other is Chojuro! Capture them, and I can control the Mist Village! Move out!"
Three days after Konoha and the Mist formed their alliance, Mei Terumi personally led three thousand ninja to the eastern front. The Mizukage, with her jade-green eyes and long, curly red hair, attracted the attention of a large number of married and unmarried Konoha ninja.
The Fifth Mizukage was a bit like Ino, also using her bangs to cover her right eye.
However, compared to the hearty Tsunade and the sharp-edged Ino, Mei Terumi, with her pink lips, fair skin, and full figure, was undoubtedly more feminine.
Tsunade's seniority in the ninja world was much higher than Mei Terumi's, but considering that this was the current Mizukage, Tsunade still led the jonin out of the camp to welcome her.
Mei Terumi led the Mist ninja to form an allied army with Konoha. Facing Tsunade, she was very modest, calling her "senpai" with every other word. The two sides introduced their respective jonin to each other.
Ino saw Zabuza Momochi, who was tall but wearing an Anbu mask.
However, she did not see Haku, nor did she see Chojuro, who looked like Mei Terumi's son.
She asked, "Lady Mizukage, didn't Chojuro come?"
With her status as Tsunade's second-in-command and her recent fierce battle record, there was no problem with her asking this question.
Mei Terumi covered her mouth and smiled. "Little Sister Yamanaka, Chojuro is staying behind to watch over the Mist Village. If you miss him..."
Ino quickly waved her hands. Let's end this topic here. I'm not familiar with Chojuro at all.
Mei Terumi was a Mizukage, after all. Tsunade couldn't give her orders, and she had no intention of seizing power. She just had Gonbee represent her, leading two thousand ninja to join the allied army, while she herself led the remaining thousand or so ninja to the rear to handle logistics like distributing supplies and treating the wounded.
This woman was a bit neurotic, but when she wasn't talking, she was still quite ladylike. The wounded were all excited to see the Mizukage personally visiting them, and the morale of the allied army soared.
Under the leadership of Tsunade and Ino, the Konoha ninja gradually changed their defensive strategy and entered the attack phase. It took them three days to break through the Cloud's defense line and officially enter the Land of Hot Water, the country where the cat-and-dog war had taken place before.
To the north of the Land of Hot Water was the Land of Frost.
Geographically speaking, the mainland of the Land of Fire was not originally connected to the Land of Lightning. It was due to the great battle between Kaguya Ōtsutsuki and the Sage of Six Paths, which broke the southern continent and caused the sea level of the northern continent to drop. The land that was originally underwater slowly rose up, and with some plate collisions and displacements, the continents of the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning were connected.
The channel connecting the two sides was the Land of Frost, which was originally under the sea and had now risen.
This long and narrow country had the Land of Hot Water, a special barrier set up by the Land of Fire, to its southwest. It bordered the Land of Lightning to the northeast, and the other two directions were all sea. In a sense, the long and narrow channel of the Land of Frost separated the North Sea and the East Sea.
Due to the strength of the Cloud ninja, this narrow area had always been under their control. But if the Konoha ninja could occupy this channel, they could form a situation of "closing the door to beat the dog" against the Cloud Village.
Shikamaru advocated for a swift occupation of the Land of Frost to seize the initiative in the war, then force the Cloud ninja out of the war with one or two major battles, and finally mobilize the main army to fight the Rock in the west.
Ino had a different opinion. A ninja village war was not the same as a gang fight over territory. The national conditions, culture, and customs were all different. It wasn't as simple as Konoha defeating the Cloud Village to subdue the Cloud ninja. Unless one could reach the peak combat power of Naruto and Sasuke, it would take a considerable amount of time to beat them into submission. Shikamaru was being too optimistic.
She knew that the Akatsuki and Kara were still hiding in the shadows, watching the show. Not to mention the Cloud, just Konoha alone, if they launched a large-scale battle, the casualties would be very high. If Konoha's losses were too great, they would not have the strength to fight those guys hiding in the dark in the future.
Shikamaru believed in taking them down while they were weak, crippling the Cloud Village in one go and ending the eastern front quickly. This idea was not wrong in itself, but the two sides had different information and were considering things from different perspectives.
Tsunade sat in the middle without speaking. She was the final decision-maker and needed to synthesize all opinions before making up her mind.
In the end, she decided to follow Shikamaru's suggestion: crush the Cloud Village in one go, bear some sacrifices, and end the eastern war as soon as possible.
The next day, the allied army entered the long and narrow Land of Frost.
This country was flanked by cliffs, with the sea beyond the cliffs, and the interior was rugged mountain roads.
The population of the Land of Frost was very small. Before the war, the Cloud ninja had evacuated all the common people. All the Konoha ninja could find were thatched huts and old water vats and millstones.
Transporting supplies became more and more difficult, but thinking of being able to completely defeat the Cloud ninja, the morale of the army was still high.
There were many mountains, and the passages in some valleys were extremely narrow. The Cloud ninja held the checkpoints, and Ino's Wood Golem couldn't be deployed. She retreated to the rear, leaving the task of attacking to Tsunade.
They broke through five checkpoints in two days, gradually advancing deep into the heartland of the Land of Frost.
Ino felt that the Cloud Village shouldn't be this weak, but she didn't read any important information from the souls of the dead Cloud ninja. It seemed that this ninja village fought on pure adrenaline; once the excitement wore off, they wilted.
She felt uneasy and even personally went to fight the Fourth Raikage and Killer B for a few rounds, but still didn't notice any problems.
The Hyuga ninja in the army also reported that everything was normal.
Ino couldn't see any problems, so she could only assume that the Cloud Village was weaker than she had imagined, and with her joining, Konoha was stronger than in the original timeline. The combination of these factors had led to the current situation.
Tsunade led more than two thousand Mist ninja, including Gonbee, to attack fiercely at the front, while Ino and Shikamaru held the line.
Regarding Ino's worries, Shikamaru also made many guesses. He looked at the high cliffs on both sides and held up a finger. "The terrain here is very suitable for an ambush. Most genin find it difficult to maintain a stable chakra output in battle. Once the intensity of the battle increases, they can't adhere chakra to the soles of their feet like they normally would and climb such high cliffs."
Ino was the first to dismiss this guess. "The problem is, the Cloud Village's military strength is only so much. We've been to the Cloud Village. Their mobilization capacity has almost reached its limit. Can they arm another ten thousand ninja for an ambush? That's impossible."
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