Haseo's move wasn't flashy or anything—it was just a simple feint.
But the effect was impressive. It was as if they had completely thrown off Mist's balance.
After leaving the Fire Country coastline and entering open waters, Konoha forces hadn't traveled far when Haseo ordered them to turn northward, effectively slipping into the blind spot of the Land of Hot Springs like a shadow in its shadow.
Under normal circumstances, if Mist had conducted proper reconnaissance, they would have definitely noticed something off. But who gave them the chance to investigate thoroughly?
The appearance and so-called "interference" by Haseo's Shadow Clone was merely meant to manipulate Mizukage's thinking: with such large-scale obstruction happening and slowing down our progress, clearly Mist must be in grave danger!
The Fourth Mizukage knew with certainty that Haseo not only could, but definitely would do it again.
He remembered all too well the devastating attack Haseo had previously launched on Mist Village—one still fresh in every Mist ninja's memory. Mist simply couldn't afford another destructive assault.
Therefore, the Fourth Mizukage rushing back for defense was inevitable. However, considering how widely Mist forces were scattered across the Fire Country at this moment, this sudden crisis left no time for the enemy to calmly regroup their entire army.
As expected, Mist's invading force within the Fire Country would inevitably split into two halves.
What remained afterward was relatively simple—determining which of these two big "meals" should get eaten first. In the end, Haseo decided to first turn around and deal with the remaining Mist forces inside the Fire Country. Not because it was anything complex—the main course should always come last, while the Mist ninjas left behind here were ultimately easier targets.
Even though after division, each portion of Mist's military still outnumbered Konoha's weakened army, the key difference now lay in quality: Konoha possessed elite warriors like Haseo, while Mist had absolutely nobody capable of matching him evenly.
Moreover, with the Mizukage gone, the command system within Mist forces would certainly fail to maintain its previous precision and efficiency.
Mist may have held the numbers, but Haseo was simply unstoppable. When a high-tier combatant could freely roam across the battlefield, his side truly possessed initiative and battlefield superiority.
This so-called numerical advantage was nothing more than empty flab, with no muscle to back it up.
While the enemy might have endless grunts, Konoha had heroic units on its side—a description that proved perfectly fitting at this moment.
By the time the Fourth Mizukage fell for the trick and rushed back to Mist, Konoha's main force had already reversed course from the open sea ahead of time. Their timing was precisely calculated. At this point, the Mist ninja remaining in the Fire Country had just barely managed to assemble into organized large squads.
So before they could retreat, they were blocked off.
Ever since the war began, the second major battle between Konoha and Mist started with both sides caught off guard.
The Mist side was bewildered because Konoha's Large Squad, which they had assumed had already arrived at the Land of Water, suddenly appeared right in front of them without any warning. The Konoha side was equally confused too… well, who the hell even knows where the hell I came from or where I'm going next?
However, psychologically Konoha wasn't that troubled because Haseo would quickly explain what they should do next. The Mist side, however, found themselves in a real bind.
Moreover, the two sides weren't matched in momentum. Once Konoha's forces returned to the coastline, Haseo immediately erected an enormous, lengthy, and towering Earth Flow Wall along the shoreline without hesitation. It was effectively telling the enemy that the following fight would be like "catching fish in a barrel."
While the Mist forces still looked shocked, Haseo pointed his Long Blade forward and led the ninja behind him into an offensive against the enemy.
Even though the invading Mist unit entering the Land of Fire had been split in half, the number of troops remaining within Fire Country still totaled about three thousand strong—almost completely assembled. Therefore, numerically speaking, Mist still had twice the strength of Konoha.
One thousand five hundred versus three thousand—complete annihilation was definitely not possible… Of course, just thinking such a thing would be ridiculous. In normal situations, even imagining victory when outnumbered two to one was already wishful thinking—how much more so for total annihilation?
But actually, if both sides really clashed here head-on, maybe such an outrageous goal could indeed be achieved.
Yet that sort of thinking was overly idealistic. Although the Mist side was somewhat reckless right now, they hadn't truly lost their minds. Eventually, they'd surely try to flee—after all, with 1500 men, capturing 3000 was simply impossible; they'd definitely manage an escape.
If you can't even complete a full encirclement, there's no point talking about executing a wiping-out operation. So it made more sense to keep things realistic—Haseo's plan was focused on inflicting as many casualties as possible.
Though life cannot be exchanged directly, Konoha previously lost a certain number of lives, and now Mist should lose at least the same number. Only then could things feel "balanced," allowing everyone to calm down and proceed with the war in what might generously be called a "civilized and respectful manner."
The difference was that Mist had inflicted fifteen hundred casualties with their original six thousand against only three thousand. Now, Haseo intended for Konoha's fifteen hundred to inflict at least fifteen hundred casualties on the remaining three thousand—such a target could never be considered modest by any means for Haseo and the Konoha team he led. That kind of thinking definitely sounded overconfident.
Somewhere between ambitious and downright reckless.
Haseo personally charged into the enemy ranks without pause, using wide-range Ninjutsu continuously. To accomplish his objective, he even activated the Nine-Tails' chakra again—an ability he hadn't used in quite some time.
With seemingly endless chakra reserves, rapid casting speeds, and relentless attack frequency, how was the enemy supposed to deal with such a phenomenon once it appeared on the battlefield?
Wielding both Water Release and Fire Release techniques simultaneously, occasionally summoning wind and thunder as well—this wasn't just another ninja; this guy was basically a mage, more like a walking spell cannon… no, scratch that—a full-on spell turret.
Closing in and launching an attack seemed like a good idea, but the problem was that Haseo's melee combat abilities were no laughing matter.
Wave after wave of Mist fighters attempted to take down Haseo in mid-range combat, yet one by one they only ended up getting themselves killed.
The battle raged for more than six hours, going on until the afternoon. By that time, there were no Mist ninjas left standing on the battlefield—well, some did manage to escape.
Pursuit was out of the question; after such an intense battle, not only were the Konoha ninja utterly exhausted, even the Nine-Tails, boasting limitless chakra, had been put through the wringer for half a day and was nearly drained.
All wide-area attacks came with the issue of tremendous chakra (energy) waste. From the perspective of energy utilization efficiency, Haseo's attack style was practically the most inefficient kind possible.
But saturation strikes aimed precisely for this effect. Who cares about wasting resources? In one second flat, he'd throw everything he had just to hit you right in the face with it.
And right after that "attack," came an additional service: "mopping-up."
Truly lived up to the name of "one-stop, full-service."
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