Chapter 352: Ninshu Reinforcements
"Uh..."
Staring in disbelief at the ground beneath his feet, Shisui took a long moment to come back to his senses.
That Ninshu powerhouse—the enemy who had forced the three of them into a desperate struggle—was dealt with so easily by Anko?
Shisui didn't believe for a second that the enemy they just faced was any weaker than the Ninshu woman they had fought previously. That was exactly why he was reacting so strongly.
In the end, Shisui could only attribute it to Anko's Sage Mode being a hard counter to the enemy, and the fact that they had indeed become much stronger.
Keenly sensing the shock on Shisui's face, a smug smile appeared on Anko's lips. With a dramatic toss of her hair, she said nothing and simply strutted forward.
Seeing this, Shisui had no choice but to follow. The war was far from over.
Iwa Command Center.
"What?!"
Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, nearly jumped out of his chair upon hearing the report—if his bad back hadn't stopped him.
He couldn't believe that the Ninshu man, who had acted so arrogant and invincible, had been taken out so quickly. And the one who did it was Kyosuke's student—his junior by several generations.
While worrying about the flow of the battle, Onoki also began to think that perhaps the Ninshu wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Since the Ninshu member had failed right out of the gate, the pressing question was whether to continue the attack on Konoha.
Onoki hadn't really wanted to attack Konoha at this time anyway; he had been forced into it. Now, the idea of quietly withdrawing his troops began to surface in his mind.
As for the so-called "Anti-Konoha Alliance," he viewed it as nothing more than a bad joke.
Leaving aside whether they could actually destroy Konoha, even if they did, the moment they occupied the Fire Country, the alliance members would turn on each other. It would devolve into another war instantly.
If that was the case, why should he, Onoki, wade into these muddy waters? Instead of smashing his head against Konoha's wall, he figured it would be better to use this opportunity to settle old scores with the Cloud Village.
Just as Onoki was about to act on these restless thoughts, a group of people bypassed the camp guards and appeared directly before him.
They were the reinforcements sent by the Ninshu.
Frontal Battlefield.
Uchiha Shisui had assumed that with the death of the Ninshu member, the Iwa forces' desire to attack would diminish. To his surprise, not only did they press on, but the Tsuchikage, Onoki, appeared on the battlefield personally.
Helpless, Shisui and Anko rallied their troops and engaged the enemy once more.
"Earth Style: Rock Forest!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Dozens of massive rock arms erupted from the earth, overturning the soil and grasping toward the Konoha troops, attempting to crush them in their stony grip.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Lightning Style: Earth Flash!"
Facing a jutsu cast by the Tsuchikage himself, the elite Konoha ninja gathered together and instantly unleashed a barrage of varied ninjutsu.
Floating in the air, Onoki watched as his massive rock arms were shattered one by one. He finally realized just how terrifying the average strength of the current Konoha ninja had become. In previous wars, unless a top-tier powerhouse intervened, his jutsu would never have been dismantled so easily by rank-and-file troops.
This realization solidified the cunning old Tsuchikage's resolve. He wanted to let the other villages exhaust Konoha's strength. But... the unexpected arrival of the Ninshu reinforcements dashed his plans.
"Sigh." Onoki sighed silently. He looked toward several figures rushing from the distance and smiled cryptically. "Let this old man witness the true power of the Ninshu. I hope you're stronger than that previous useless fool."
With that, Onoki flew away toward the rear, completely ignoring Shisui and Anko, who were on high alert on the ground.
"What is that old geezer doing? Just leaving like that?" Anko, who had painstakingly entered Sage Mode, was furious that her target had flown away before she could strike. She vented her anger on the unfortunate Iwa troops nearby.
Watching Anko rampage through the enemy lines as if entering an uninhabited land, Shisui's mouth twitched. He prepared to seize the opportunity to expand their advantage, but seven figures unexpectedly blocked his path.
"Uchiha Shisui. You who have turned your back on your ancestors' commands... we are here to purge you personally." The leader spoke self-righteously, and then, without waiting for a reply, led his companions in an attack on Shisui.
Initially, Shisui didn't think much of them. But as soon as they exchanged blows, he realized he was wrong.
Each of these seven possessed Kage-level strength. Although Shisui could defeat any single one of them, fighting all seven at once was a different story.
More importantly, these seven coordinated perfectly, using a variety of bizarre and unseen ninjutsu. For a time, Shisui was forced onto the defensive, taking a beating until Anko noticed the situation and rushed over to rescue him from the encirclement.
"...Who are these people? I've never heard of the Hidden Stone having so many experts of this level," Anko grumbled, looking at the group unwillingly. She and Shisui retreated into their own formation.
It was clear they couldn't expand their victory today. Although both Anko and Shisui wanted to crush the Stone forces directly, Kyosuke's orders were strictly to "stall and harass." So, they had to temporarily withdraw.
It wasn't just Shisui's army that was pushed back by unexpected Ninshu reinforcements; the battles on the Sand and Cloud fronts followed a similar pattern.
The Southwestern Army Corps, led by Uchiha Cho, had uprooted the Sand camp and was marching aggressively into the Land of Wind. However, Cho, the primary combatant, was stalled by a trio of newly arrived enemies.
These three also possessed Kage-level strength. Of course, even so, Cho was confident she could kill them. But what shocked her was that the enemies seemed to understand the Rinnegan's abilities perfectly—they even knew how to counter them.
Because of this, Uchiha Cho's advance was halted at the border of the Wind Country.
The Cloud front was the same. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had dominantly defeated Killer B, and Yamato, after assisting Might Guy, had beaten Yugito Nii into a critical state. Just as victory seemed within reach, Ninshu reinforcements arrived.
This time, it wasn't just a few powerhouses, but a small army of nearly fifty people.
Do not underestimate these fifty. Almost all of them possessed Jonin-level strength, and they unleashed a barrage of unheard-of Kekkei Genkai and strange secret techniques as if they cost nothing. For a moment, even Hiruzen was battered and covered in dust.
With the desperate fighting of this squad, Killer B and Yugito finally recovered enough to re-engage Hiruzen and the others.
Thus, the situation with the Cloud fell into a stalemate.