Chapter 415: Flames of War Everywhere
Obito naturally saw an Anbu rushing towards him very quickly.
He subconsciously wanted to activate Kamui and leave; he had no desire to get entangled with a Konoha ninja.
However, just as he was about to disappear, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of the white hair behind the figure's mask. The Kamui that was about to be activated was immediately terminated.
At the same time, along with the effect of Kamui, all of Obito Uchiha's rationality also disappeared.
...
The border of the Land of Earth and the Land of Waterfalls.
Kitsuchi was leading a ninja army of two thousand, intending to cross the Land of Waterfalls.
His goal was to traverse half the ninja world to support the Mist. Of course, supporting the Mist was just an excuse. Kitsuchi's real goal was to cut off the retreat of the Kumo army and take the opportunity to weaken them.
In Iwagakure's pre-war meeting, Ishiro had said that regardless of whether Konoha could survive this time, its fall from grace was inevitable. Not only would Konoha lose its position as the hegemon of the ninja world, but it might even lose its title as the number one hidden village.
At that time, the only ones who could compete for the top spot would be Kumogakure, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure.
So, if they could weaken Kumo through this battle, Ishiro would not hesitate in the slightest.
Kitsuchi had been ordered to cut off Kumo's retreat route. His planned route was through the Land of Earth, Land of Waterfalls, Land of Iron, Land of Rice Paddies, and Land of Hot Water.
However, just as Kitsuchi was preparing to enter the Land of Waterfalls, he was intercepted.
A Konoha ninja army of about fifteen hundred stood in the way of the Iwa army.
Kitsuchi looked silently at the Konoha army before him for a long time, then suddenly broke into a brilliant smile.
...
In the Land of Water, in a mountainous area a dozen kilometers from Kirigakure, the Kumo army and the Kiri army were in a standoff.
No, the two sides were not in a standoff. They had broken into a great battle as soon as they met.
Tens of thousands of ninja from both sides had spread out, slaughtering each other in this vast mountain range.
"Darui, this can't go on. The Mist was prepared. We're caught in a melee with them, and the losses are too great," a female Kumo-nin named Shiya said to Darui.
Darui looked at her, then at Yugito Nii. "The Mist was prepared. They chose a melee from the very beginning, considering that we might deploy Killer Bee or Yugito."
"They are familiar with the terrain and are backed by their village. We can't win a battle of attrition against them. Yugito, it's your turn."
"Mm." Upon hearing this, Yugito directly left the temporary command post.
Before long, wrapped in a large amount of blue chakra, she charged into the warring mountains. The commotion she made naturally attracted the attention of all the ninja in the area.
Seeing this, the morale of the Kumo-nin soared. But the Kiri-nin did not panic. Long before the war had started, their commander had said that if Kumo deployed a Tailed Beast, someone would deal with it.
Sure enough, the half-Tailed-Beast-transformed Yugito hadn't been rampaging for long before she was sent flying by a giant earth dragon.
The one who had intercepted her was none other than Ikura.
The half-transformed Yugito's body was not large. After being hit squarely by Ikura, her body directly lost its balance. After the earth dragon came a water dragon. By the time she had stabilized her form, she had already left the core area of the battle.
Ikura's attack was naturally also seen by Darui and the others.
Shiya said to him, "I will go help Yugito."
Darui sighed. "Let's go together. That person is Iwagakure's advisor, Ikura. The Mist is very well-prepared. Even if we go, we might not be able to gain an advantage."
"Watch for my signal later. If it's not possible, we won't get bogged down with them. I'll hold them off here, and you go to support Lord Raikage."
Shiya hadn't expected Darui to be thinking of retreating so soon. But she was not the commander; he was. So, she could only nod.
The two of them quickly moved towards Yugito's direction.
Unsurprisingly, the Kiri side was not idle either. Two figures were also approaching Yugito and Ikura.
Both sides discovered each other at almost the same time, then simultaneously changed direction and clashed.
The ones who had come over from the Kiri side were Mei Terumī and Mangetsu Hōzuki.
After a brief exchange, Mangetsu said to Mei with a grin, "I'll take the lightning user. You take the other one." The Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique was most afraid of lightning, so he chose the other person.
Mei, however, nodded gravely. "Be careful. If I'm not mistaken, the markings on that person's face are the marks of a sage."
That's right. This female Kumo-nin named Shiya was currently in Sage Mode.
After establishing contact with Mount Myōboku, Kumo had, at a great price, finally managed to grasp some of the conditions for practicing Sage Art. This great price was the lives of Kumo ninja, one after another.
In the end, Kumo had finally produced a ninja who could barely enter Sage Mode: this Shiya.
Mangetsu's playful expression slightly faded. He sized up Shiya for a moment. "Don't worry. All those markings on her face mean her mastery of Sage Art is also average."
"Instead of worrying about me, you should be worrying about our Lord Mizukage. He's facing the Fourth Raikage."
Hearing this, Mei did feel a little worried. She, Mangetsu, and Kisame were all Quasi-Kage. But Kisame was a dark horse who had appeared out of nowhere. Originally, during Yagura's "Bloody Mist" rule, the only three with a real hope of becoming the Fifth Mizukage were Minazuki Gyō, herself, and Mangetsu. As a result, due to Ishiro's meddling, the position had been snatched by Kisame. Minazuki Gyō had voluntarily withdrawn from the competition after causing heavy losses to the bloodline clans. But she and Mangetsu were not very convinced by Kisame.
However, for this defense against the enemy, Kisame had proposed to hold off the Fourth Raikage by himself. This matter still earned a bit of admiration from these two chosen ones. They both knew that their chances of surviving a one-on-one confrontation with the Fourth Raikage were almost zero. But Kisame had dared to face him alone.
After mentioning Kisame, both of them lost interest in chatting.
"Lava Release: Lava Globs Technique!" A large patch of lava was spat out from Mei's mouth, rapidly attacking Darui and his partner.
Facing this attack that they knew they couldn't touch, the two immediately used body flicker to distance themselves from the lava. But in doing so, they were also forced to separate.
"Water Style: Water Gun!" Mangetsu raised a large sword and charged at Shiya. On the way, he also extended a finger and launched a ninjutsu at her.
After dodging his ninjutsu, Shiya also raised her sword and clashed with him. Both were close-combat ninja and skilled swordsmen. The two of them fought back and forth, inseparable.
Mei and Darui, on the other hand, were the opposite. Both were ninjutsu-type ninja. They bombarded each other with large-scale, long-range ninjutsu, and the scene was exceptionally brilliant. And both were Kekkei Genkai users; their destructive power and casting speed were far beyond that of ordinary people.
To avoid involving their teammates, the two fought farther and farther apart.
Thus, the battlefield on the Kiri side had formed four fronts.
The first was the melee of the main armies. The two sides were entangled with each other, and there was no longer any systematic command. It had completely devolved into a slaughter between individual squads.
The second was Yugito and Ikura. Not having chosen a full Tailed Beast transformation, she was being completely suppressed by the Kage-level Ikura.
The third was Mei and Darui. Their battle was the most spectacular.
The last was Mangetsu and Shiya. Their close-quarters battle was the most dangerous. Every clash was a life-and-death crisis.
On the other side, on the lake by the Chunin Exam hall, the battle between Kisame and A was still in a phase of attrition.
Kisame's ninjutsu was very monotonous. Its only characteristic was that it was big, dumb, and crude. But it was precisely this kind of large-scale attack that was most effective against A. The chakra-filled water world environment restricted his speed. The continuous large-scale attacks gave him no chance to escape its range.
His two subordinates had long since been killed by other Mist ninja. And on the periphery of the water world, there were many Mist elites helping Kisame plug any gaps. Once A showed any sign of breaking out, they would launch a joint attack. Their attacks, like Kisame's initial Water Formation Pillar, were not aimed at killing, but purely to push A back into the center of the water world.
If this trend continued, the battle between Kisame and A would come down to who had more stamina. A's chakra amount was less than Kisame's, but Kisame's consumption was far greater than A's. So, the final outcome was still hard to say.
...
While the Kirigakure side was in a stalemate, Bella, who was in command of Iwagakure, received new intelligence.
She summoned the only Kage-level combatant left in the village: Han.
"Han, Kumo's Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, is about to enter the Land of Earth's coastline. You will go and intercept him," she told Han, showing him the intelligence from the sharks.
Han looked at the report, then left with a communication Anbu squad.
Killer Bee, leading some Kumo elites, was approaching the Land of Earth from the sea. Their target was likely Iwagakure itself. However, his movements had been spotted by the shark colony that Iwagakure had placed in the sea. Thus, the scene of Bella dispatching the Anbu.
After Han left, Bella was a little worried.
Iwagakure had developed rapidly in recent years, but facing the escalating war, it still seemed a bit stretched.
"Shinya, the village's defense is on you. This is the village's most vulnerable time. You must not slack off," Bella said to Shinya Matsutani, who had been temporarily recalled to strengthen the village's power.
Shinya nodded. He also knew the gravity of the situation. After agreeing, he went to inspect the village's defenses. He, who could enter Sage Mode, was now the only barely presentable combat force in the village.
At this time, if another Kage-level expert were to launch a sneak attack on their home, Iwagakure would be in real danger.
After Shinya left, Bella said to an intelligence ninja, "Contact Lord Third. Tell him the situation and have him be ready to return as reinforcements at any time."
"Yes." The Anbu immediately went to send the message.
Bella stood alone at the window of the Tsuchikage's building, looking out at Iwagakure, feeling a great deal of pressure.
There were eight members of Iwagakure's high command.
Ishiro, the Tsuchikage, was in Konoha.
Kitsuchi, the head of the Tsuchikage's support team, had led a large army to the border of the Land of Waterfalls.
Among the advisory council, Ōnoki and Kawakita were away and had not returned. Megumi and Ikura were in Kirigakure. Saka had also led a large army south to guard against Sunagakure.
She was the only one left in the village's high command.
Guarding Iwagakure alone, and not known for her combat prowess, Bella felt immense pressure.
(End of Chapter)
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