Chapter 412: The Opening of the Fifth Great Ninja War
The time of peace passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had gone by, and the third round of the Kirigakure joint Chunin Exam was held smoothly.
The Mist had arranged the examination hall for the third round outside the village, on the shore of a huge natural lake. From this arrangement, it was clear that they were on guard against Kumogakure. An environment rich in water vapor was of great help to the Mist ninja; this could also be considered Kirigakure's chosen battlefield for a potential war.
The Fourth Raikage was not late; in fact, he arrived before the exam officially began.
The seats for A and Kisame were on the highest level of the examination stands, one on the left and one on the right. The two seats were separated by about fifty meters, even farther than the positions of the Tsuchikage and Kazekage during the exams previously held by Iwagakure.
Kisame was already waiting in his seat but did not rise to greet A.
Furthermore, one could see that there were obvious sealing runes in the middle of their two seats. A glanced at it and knew there was an invisible barrier here. This barrier was naturally aimed at him. Although it couldn't possibly stop him, it could buy Kisame some time.
After taking his seat, A said to Kisame with a blank expression, "Mizukage, your preparations for this Chunin Exam are truly thorough."
Kisame grinned. "You flatter me, Raikage. I wonder how much confidence you have in your Kumo ninja this time."
A still did not look pleased. "Rest assured, Mizukage. The performance of our Kumo ninja will not disappoint you."
Neither of them were talkative ninja, and A was a brute who would absolutely use his fists rather than his words. So, after probing each other with a couple of sentences, they quickly fell silent.
Soon, the third round of matches officially began.
The Iwagakure representative, Megumi, sat on the second level of the stands, on the other side of Kisame, separated from A.
The matches proceeded quickly. Megumi saw her and Kawakita's disciples take the stage one after another, with some wins and some losses. But overall, their performance was quite good. However, her mind was not focused on the examination hall; most of her attention was on the situation around the stands.
The next moment, the ever-vigilant her noticed that in the internal passage of the arena, a ninja was approaching the highest platform—the location of the two Kage—at extremely high speed.
To disturb the two Kage at this highly anticipated moment, the intelligence this person carried must be a major event concerning the safety of the entire village.
Without much guessing, Megumi, who had long been mentally prepared, knew that Kumogakure had finally chosen to go to war.
She gave a set of hand signs to the contestants' preparation area. After receiving a response, she silently left her seat and retreated into the passage behind the stands. And in the contestants' area, the six Iwa candidates, regardless of the attention of others, left together.
Soon, Megumi had rendezvoused with her and Kawakita's six disciples.
"From now on, you will stay by my side, ready to fight at any time. The target is Kumogakure," Megumi said to the six with a serious expression.
The six nodded and replied in unison, "Understood."
Long before the third round had begun, the six had noticed Megumi's unusual behavior and had all been mentally prepared.
On the highest platform, after listening to the Anbu's report, Kisame calmly turned his head to look at A and said, "Raikage, I think you should explain the matter of your five-thousand-strong army suddenly advancing deep into my Land of Water."
A also turned his head, his face as resolute as ever. The chakra throughout his body began to stir as he said, word by word, "My explanation is this: Kumogakure officially declares war on Kirigakure!"
As soon as his voice fell, both sides, who had long been ready, immediately launched their ninjutsu. The two elite jonin-level guards behind them also quickly launched their attacks. One of Kisame's elite jonin guards directly activated a pre-arranged barrier.
"Lightning Release Armor!"
"Water Style: Water Formation Pillar!"
A's movements were very fast, and he was the first to attack, but he was slightly delayed by the barrier. The defensive effect of this barrier was not bad; under the control of the elite jonin, it actually managed to block a wave of A's attacks. It took two consecutive attacks from him before it shattered.
After the barrier between him and Kisame was broken, what greeted him was an entire wall of water. From his perspective, it was a water wall of enormous range. But from a bird's-eye view, one would find that it was an incomparably thick pillar of water. The giant water pillar pushed horizontally, directly sending A and his two guards several hundred meters away.
Also pushed away were parts of the stand's structure, but although the highest level was damaged, it did not affect the levels below. Clearly, the Mist had been well-prepared when building this stand.
The guests from various countries in the stands below only heard the sound of a huge wave crashing against a reef coming from above. The next moment, when the sound came again, its source was already several hundred meters away from the stands, right above that giant natural lake.
Having seized the initiative and pushed A over the lake, Kisame himself immediately followed, arriving at the lake's edge.
"Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" Aided by this huge natural lake, the speed at which Kisame cast the jutsu this time far surpassed the time he had used it during Yagura's self-destruction. The next moment, the entire lake was enveloped by a giant world of water.
Two large-scale, high-consumption ninjutsu right from the start. As a taijutsu ninja, A had not expected Kisame's ninjutsu to be so exaggerated, and he instantly lost the initiative. His Lightning Release taijutsu was superior in its unparalleled speed, but Kisame had created a combat environment that was very unsuitable for him to display it.
"It seems I've underestimated this Fifth Mizukage," A said to himself.
He had already been separated from his two guards, but this was also good. Without any burdens, it was more suitable for him to perform.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Stream Net!" With A at the center, a large amount of lightning, using Kisame's Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave as a medium, rapidly spread in all directions.
A was not a sensory ninja, but he felt that to deal with him, Kisame alone was definitely not enough. Seeing these thorough preparations, a large number of Mist ninja were probably already surrounding him. The Thunder Stream Net, with the help of the Water Release, would work perfectly.
However, he had overthought it. He had still underestimated Kisame. There were many Anbu surrounding them to provide support, but none of them entered the Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave.
Kisame had decided to hold off A by himself. These Anbu were here just in case. Their purpose was twofold: to prepare for a rescue and to provide Kisame with chakra.
So, this massive move of A's mostly hit empty space. The only ones hit were Kisame and the four guards of the two Kage. Kisame didn't care about this scattered attack at all; Samehada easily helped him heal.
"Water Style: Great Shark Bullet Technique! Water Style: A Thousand Eating Sharks!"
Within his own water jutsu's range, Kisame could clearly sense A's position. Knowing that he would not gain any advantage in close combat, he had started with large-scale, high-consumption ninjutsu from the beginning. His plan was to wear A down to death.
The battle on the examination ground had erupted suddenly, but Kirigakure was not in a panic. The well-prepared Mist had immediately sent their pre-assembled army in the direction of Kumo's main force. Although it was also an invasion during the Chunin Exams, the Mist was not as foolish as Konoha in the original story, not thinking of repelling the enemy from the outside, but instead engaging in street fighting from the start.
The Kirigakure army successfully intercepted the Kumo army a dozen kilometers away from the village.
In Kumo's plan, A was to kill Kisame at the first opportunity, or if that wasn't possible, to tie him down. He had thought that with a sudden blow and the Mizukage unable to free himself, the Mist's reaction would definitely be a step slower.
But he had clearly thought wrong. Not only had the Mist assembled a large army in advance, but the commander had also been arranged long ago, not needing the Mizukage at all.
Conversely, it was Kisame who was going to tie down A.
As long as they defeated the Kumo army, the Mist could turn back and besiege A. In this regard, the Mist were professionals; this was how the Third Raikage had been killed by them.
...
And while tens of thousands of ninja were clashing on Kirigakure's side, Konoha was not calm either.
As early as ten days ago, ninja with ill intentions had begun to infiltrate the vicinity of Konoha. And unlike Kumo's large-scale army, the ones who came to Konoha were all high-end ninja. The number was not large, but their strength was great, so the patrol ninja on Konoha's periphery had not discovered them at all.
However, just because the patrol ninja hadn't discovered them didn't mean the Konoha high command hadn't. In fact, they had long since smelled the scent of danger and had formulated a series of contingency plans. Fortunately, the experts lurking on the periphery seemed to have not forced their way in yet. At least in the past ten days, the barrier team, which had been operating at full capacity, had not sounded any alarms.
Ishiro stood on the outskirts of Konoha, a position directly opposite the Hokage Rock. Looking at the five giant carved faces at the end of his vision, he smiled lightly.
He had already entered Sage Mode, clearly prepared for a great battle.
Just now, through the shark summons, news had come from Kirigakure: Kumo had made its move.
So, Ishiro chose to ignite the powder keg of Konoha at the same time.
"Sōkai, it's been six years since you left Konoha. This is your first time back. How do you feel now?" Ishiro asked the Sōkai beside him.
That's right. On this trip, besides bringing the Gedo Statue fragment, he had also brought Uchiha Sōkai. It was just that because a great battle was imminent, the three Tailed Beasts had not come out of the fragment.
This was their agreement. Ishiro had come in a personal capacity to help the Uchiha clan—no, it should be to help Sōkai. After the matter was over, Sōkai would peacefully be an Iwa-nin. Although his strength was still weak now, Ishiro had still brought him along.
Sōkai did not make a sound. He looked at the somewhat unfamiliar Hokage Rock, silent.
Of course, he had seen it before, but he had no impression of it from this angle. He remembered that in his impression, he had only seen it from the side. That's right. The Uchiha clan had long since been driven to a corner by the Konoha high command.
And at that time, there were only three heads on the monument. All the clansmen had hoped that their clan head's face could be carved up there. But now, there were five heads, and still no Uchiha.
"I am about to act. I am going to make your Uchiha clan walk the path of betrayal themselves. Will you hate me?" Ishiro asked in a low voice.
Sōkai shook his head and, looking at the Hokage Rock, said, "Master Ishiro, you were right. The Konoha high command has been unjust to the Uchiha clan."
"We are one of the founders of Konoha, yet Konoha refuses to give us the glory we deserve, instead suppressing and ostracizing us at every turn."
"Rather than wait for death, it's better to fight with all our might. We Uchiha have no cowards who fear death."
Ishiro nodded. "Alright then. Let's begin."
After speaking, he took out a scroll and released a signal into the sky.
This was, of course, not a signal for an attack. Only Ishiro and Sōkai had come from Iwagakure. The other ambitious people lurking outside Konoha would not listen to his command either.
His signal was for the intelligence ninja inside Konoha.
Many people saw it. In the Hokage's building, Tsunade and Hiruzen Sarutobi, prompted by the Anbu, came to the rooftop and saw it. Kakashi, dressed as an Anbu beside Tsunade, naturally also saw it.
The faces of the three were not good. Although they didn't know the meaning of the signal flare, Tsunade still gave the order at the first moment: full alert, prepare for battle.
In the Root base, although Danzō did not see the signal flare with his own eyes, he received the intelligence from his subordinates.
He quickly gathered them and looked at one of them. "Kinoe, are you ready?"
This ninja, who knows which in the line of "Kinoe" he was, quickly responded, "Lord Danzō, I am ready."
Danzō nodded with a blank expression and began to wait for further intelligence.
On the outskirts of Konoha, Rasa's party also saw the signal flare.
"Has it begun?" Ryosuke, beside Rasa, said. "Master, do we make our move now?"
Rasa shook his head. "No rush. Let's see the Tsuchikage's move first."
(End of Chapter)
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