Chapter 179: The Mist Ninja's Resolve
Kyosuke, who was in a hurry to leave the battlefield, did not know what was happening behind him. Otherwise, who knows what he would have thought.
While speeding along, Kyosuke suddenly noticed a few figures not far ahead, also rushing toward him.
"Kiyoshi Mitarashi? Why is he on the battlefield too?" Kyosuke thought for a moment, and then he figured out the reason.
After all, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had suddenly attacked the third battlefield. Kiyoshi Mitarashi, as the commander-in-chief, was afraid that something unexpected would happen to today's battle, which was why he had risked coming to support them.
Although he hadn't arrived at the most intense moment of the battle, his arrival still made Kyosuke breathe a sigh of relief.
He came closer, and Kiyoshi Mitarashi glanced at Kyosuke. Seeing that he had no obvious wounds, he asked with a sigh of relief, "How is the situation? Where are the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?"
With a slight smile, Kyosuke patted the sealing scroll on his waist and said, "Now they should be called the Five Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."
"Are you saying?" Kiyoshi Mitarashi's eyes lit up when he heard his words.
Kyosuke nodded to confirm his guess, and then said with a serious expression, "I sensed Yagura's presence on the battlefield before. We should now think of a way to deal with him."
"As the Mizukage, he would actually take such a risky action. Could it be that the Mist ninja have already sensed our intentions?" Kiyoshi Mitarashi heard Kyosuke's words, subconsciously frowned, and then gave a look to a Hyuga clan member beside him.
The latter nodded slightly, and with a circulation of chakra, he directly activated his Byakugan. But he carefully searched for a long time, but did not find the existence of Yagura and the others. For this, he couldn't help but look at the equally strange Kyosuke with a puzzled expression.
"Strange, how could they disappear?" No matter how Kyosuke guessed, he could not have guessed that Yagura, as the Mizukage, would actually be so scared by the non-existent "Hiruzen Sarutobi" that he would retreat back to the camp.
The few of them discussed for a long time with great puzzlement. In the end, they could only send a squad to continue to search for Yagura's tracks, and then the group returned to the main battlefield together.
At this time, the battle was basically over. Although the remaining members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were still fighting fiercely, the numerical disadvantage between the two sides was already there. No matter how powerful their means, in the end, they could only helplessly choose to retreat.
With that, the situation on the third battlefield was completely reversed.
The Kaguya clan's clan head, Gen Tetsu Kaguya, had died in battle, and the clansmen he led were basically all dead. The remaining Mist ninja units, without a leader, were powerless to resist the morale-boosting Konoha army. After leaving behind more than a hundred corpses, they fled back to the camp in disgrace.
This battle, which was of great importance and could even rewrite the entire Land of Whirlpools battlefield, thus came to an end.
After leaving the necessary security personnel, Kyosuke and the others returned to the camp to rest.
For the next three months, the Eastern Army successfully opened up the situation on multiple battlefields.
Kyosuke and Hiashi Hyuga led the spare forces and directly pushed back the Minazuki clan by ten kilometers. Although Minazuki Saya's strength was great, she could not withstand the combined forces of Kyosuke and the other.
If it weren't for the fear that the Mist Village might send reinforcements, Kyosuke could have directly driven them into the sea.
Meanwhile, the situation on the battlefield against the Hozuki clan was the same. Although the overall strength of the Hozuki clan was higher than the other two clans, the Eastern Army, which had consolidated the numerical advantage of two battlefields, still managed to defeat them head-on.
In an instant, the Mist ninja's situation became precarious.
According to Kyosuke's estimation, combined with the situation in the original story, it probably wouldn't be long before the Mist would choose to retreat.
After all, from the very beginning, the Mist had started the war with the idea of picking up a bargain. They did not have the same idea of fighting to the death as the Sand. Seeing that Konoha was not as weak as they had imagined, it was a matter of course to retreat. At least, that's what Kyosuke thought.
But what he didn't know was that it was precisely because of his existence that someone else had intervened in the original course of the war, thus turning it toward an unknown outcome.
At this time, in the camp on the front lines of the Mist, Yagura, as the Mizukage, was in a rage.
Thump! He kicked over the desk in front of him, and Yagura angrily swept his gaze around, looking for something else he could smash.
Although there were many high-ranking Mist ninja in the tent, in the face of the furious Mizukage, not to mention trying to persuade him, they didn't even dare to breathe.
After a long while, when Yagura's anger had mostly subsided, a middle-aged man in an important position finally said slowly, "Lord Mizukage, please calm down. The top priority now is to discuss the next course of action. Should we stop here or..."
Hearing this, Yagura also lowered his head in thought. Although his appearance and personality seemed like a child's, it did not mean that his thinking was also so childish.
In fact, he understood better than anyone that from the current situation, with the Kaguya clan being crippled and the Minazuki and Hozuki clans also being seriously injured, this sudden war was basically a lost cause. So, he also had the intention of withdrawing his troops.
The reason he had just erupted was not because of the failure of the war, but because he, as the Mizukage, had actually been so scared by the distant Hiruzen Sarutobi that he had not dared to personally go to the battlefield for three whole months. If it weren't for the fact that Konoha's spies had confirmed that the Hokage had not left the village, he would probably still be in the dark.
What made him even angrier was that this matter had been spread by someone. Yagura could already imagine how the various clans in the village would be slandering him, this Mizukage, in their hearts.
He rubbed his head, and just as Yagura was preparing to follow the middle-aged man's words and announce a temporary retreat, the man suddenly spoke again.
"Before Lord Mizukage makes a decision, I have a piece of good news to announce."
"...At this point, what else can be considered good news?" Yagura asked, looking at him with curiosity, waiting for his so-called good news.
A strange look flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes, and then he said in an extremely low voice, "The 'mission' you gave me before has been successfully completed."
"Mission?" Yagura muttered to himself, and then his eyes suddenly widened. "Are you saying, the jinchuriki?!"
"That's right," he said in a decisive tone. He then beckoned with his hand, and a rather unremarkable young man walked in from outside the tent.
In an instant, the gaze of the crowd in the tent was focused on the young man.
Seeing this, the corner of the middle-aged man's mouth curled up slightly. He pointed at the young man and said in a loud voice, "The Three-Tails, Isobu, is now sealed in his body."
Yagura walked forward, placed his hand on him, and after a moment of sensing with his eyes closed, he finally nodded in confirmation.
Seeing that their Mizukage had confirmed this matter, the crowd all's expressions were filled with joy.
However, a hint of hesitation unexpectedly flashed across Yagura's face.
He waved his hand to dismiss the young man, then looked at the middle-aged man and asked, "You chose to announce this matter now. Are you planning to..."
In fact, without the man answering, the crowd had already understood his meaning. It was nothing more than using the advantage of the jinchuriki to win this war.
Although the young man had only just become a jinchuriki, they didn't expect him to be any main combat force. As long as he could be controlled to release the Tailed Beast's power in the Eastern Army, the Mist ninja unit could then swarm up and completely solve the enemy.
But Yagura's concern was here. It had to be said that at present, no village had directly used a Tailed Beast in this war. So, Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchuriki had not been deployed. Once their Mist started this precedent, it was inevitable that Konoha, in retaliation, would also choose the same means to strike them.
At that time, who in the entire Mist Village could stop the rampaging Nine-Tails?
Yagura voiced his concerns, and after a brief discussion, the crowd seemed to feel that this was indeed the case. They looked at each other, and for a time, the atmosphere in the tent became oppressive again.
They had finally found a way to win, but because they were wary of the enemy's strength, they did not dare to use it. Even these battle-hardened Mist high-ranking officials couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated.
"Useless," the middle-aged man despised the crowd in his heart, and then he spoke again. "You can't say that. You know, Konoha is currently under attack from three sides. Even if they can release the Nine-Tails, it's not certain who they will use it against."
"Not to mention, as long as we don't push them too hard, I think Konoha is not willing to see a situation where both sides are destroyed. After all, in terms of losses, the Sand and Cloud have brought them more."
Hearing his words, Yagura, although he did not directly agree, the idea of retreating in his heart had already begun to waver.
"Perhaps, we can really give it a try," the moment this thought arose in his heart, Yagura couldn't help but feel a bit restless.
He recalled the many subordinates who had died tragically on the battlefield, and his own anger at being fooled. Yagura closed his eyes in thought for a moment, and then he slammed his hand on the armrest of his chair.
"Very good. Since we now have the hope of victory, then let's fight again. Let the Konoha trash see the strength of our Mist ninja."
Seeing their Mizukage speak, the expressions of the crowd in the tent were shaken, and then they all stood up and shouted, "That's right! Let the Konoha trash see our strength."
The middle-aged man looked at the emotional expressions of the crowd, and a very strange smile appeared on his lips.
"Uchiha Kyosuke, how will you deal with this?"
For a while after that, Kyosuke and the others suddenly found that the Mist ninja had not withdrawn their troops as they had expected. Instead, they had directly gathered their remaining forces, a look of a decisive battle.
Although Kyosuke was a bit puzzled by their intentions, he didn't pay too much attention to it. Since the Mist were unwilling, then he would just beat them into submission again.
With that, a decisive battle that would affect the entire situation in the Land of Whirlpools was about to begin.
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