Chapter 577: If You Can Do It, Go For It
"It seems Iwagakure places great importance on those spies," Jiraiya said as he turned to examine the area.
At the time, they had been in a hurry to rendezvous with the support force and prepare the ambush, so there had been no time to interrogate the White Zetsu. They had simply assigned two Ninja to escort them to a hidden location for detention.
Even so, Jiraiya had never expected Iwagakure to find them and rescue them within just a few hours.
That speed was practically absurd.
Within a few short hours, it should have been impossible to even confirm that a spy had been exposed.
After all, the nature of espionage itself made frequent contact too dangerous.
Yet not only had Iwagakure learned that the spies were compromised, they had even managed to recover them at lightning speed. The whole thing left Jiraiya baffled.
Iwagakure simply should not have had enough time to act.
Before the ambush officially began, they definitely could not have known the spies were exposed. Otherwise, the Iwagakure Ninja Force would never have walked straight into the trap Mugetsu had prepared.
But if they only found out during the ambush, then rescuing them so quickly was still far too efficient.
"Then again, something like that is simply too terrifying on the battlefield. Iwagakure is probably terrified that Konoha might develop something similar," Jiraiya said with a sigh.
If not for Mugetsu's ability to sense malice, then even if Jiraiya knew about the White Zetsu in advance and faced them again, he still would not have had any good way to deal with their sabotage.
A Transformation Technique that could even fool sensory Ninja was simply too underhanded.
"We can only hope the Village finds a way to counter it once the intelligence is reported back," Minato said, worry flickering in his eyes.
If Konoha could not come up with a solution, then Mugetsu would likely have to remain with the forces fighting Iwagakure for a very long time, at least until peace talks with Iwagakure began.
"I hope everything goes smoothly," Mugetsu said, putting on a concerned expression, though inwardly he remained as calm as still water.
That was because he had known about this for a long time, and even his Shadow Clone had already played a role in it.
Mugetsu did not want Konoha to obtain White Zetsu.
For him, Konoha learning that Madara was still alive was actually a good thing.
The reason he did not want White Zetsu to fall into Konoha's hands was because of White Zetsu themselves.
On the surface, White Zetsu seemed like little more than weak intelligence tools. In reality, they were treasure troves.
Their bodies were full of Hashirama cells, and in the Ninja World, that was no different from priceless treasure.
More importantly, the Hashirama cells inside White Zetsu were not ordinary Hashirama cells. They had been cultivated by Madara using the Gedo Statue.
If Konoha obtained White Zetsu, then with Danzo and Orochimaru in the Village, part of those bodies would inevitably fall into their hands.
And once Danzo and Orochimaru started researching them, even Mugetsu might not be able to keep the situation under control.
That said, even though Mugetsu had already acted, the unconscious Konoha Ninja had not been his doing.
Before his Shadow Clone moved, two White Zetsu disguised as Konoha Ninja had already acted.
Mugetsu had no intention of letting Konoha obtain White Zetsu, but he also had no intention of letting White Zetsu escape. After they knocked out the two guarding Konoha Ninja, his Shadow Clone appeared, killed all five White Zetsu, and sealed the bodies inside a scroll.
Hashirama cells really were an excellent thing.
In the original story, Obito had possessed only an ordinary Mangekyo Sharingan, yet with Hashirama cells, he had been able to use its abilities without suffering side effects.
If Shisui and Obito awakened their Mangekyo Sharingan in the future, and if Mugetsu's envisioned Yang Release training still failed to solve the Mangekyo problem, then these White Zetsu would become extremely useful.
…
Konoha Village.
Hokage Building, Hokage's Office.
When Hiruzen received the intelligence sent back by Mugetsu and saw that Konoha had utterly crushed a two thousand strong Iwagakure Ninja Force, surprise and delight appeared on his face.
This result had far exceeded his expectations.
Originally, Hiruzen's hope had only been that the support unit would help recover the disadvantage and allow Konoha to hold Iwagakure to a stalemate.
But the moment he continued reading and reached the intelligence regarding White Zetsu, his expression changed drastically.
After finishing the report, Hiruzen immediately ordered the Anbu outside the door to summon the high ranking officials for a meeting.
"This is the latest intelligence from the front line. Read it first," Hiruzen said in the conference room.
After speaking, he placed his pipe in his mouth, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled a cloud of white smoke, worry visible on his face.
Seeing that expression, the other three officials could not help but start speculating wildly.
"Could it be that the Land of Grass forces suffered another crushing defeat? Good. Then Hiruzen will have no excuse not to use Orochimaru," Danzo thought to himself as he picked up the report in front of him.
Konoha suffering defeat on the Land of Grass battlefield was obviously bad news for the Village.
But for Danzo personally, it was not entirely a bad thing.
When he had learned that Jiraiya had been thoroughly beaten by Iwagakure and reduced to leading his men in scattered retreat, Danzo had been secretly pleased.
That defeat would leave a serious stain on Jiraiya's reputation and create an opportunity for Orochimaru.
Yet when Danzo read the line, "Our forces achieved a great victory over the Iwagakure Ninja Force, killing more than sixteen hundred enemies," a question mark almost appeared over his head.
He reread it several times to confirm that he had not misread it.
It really was a great victory.
Danzo frowned slightly. Konoha had won a major victory, yet Hiruzen still wore that expression. Was he deliberately trying to mislead him?
Only when Danzo reached the part about the Iwagakure spies did he finally understand Hiruzen's concern.
Konoha had indeed won, but the methods Iwagakure had displayed were enough to make anyone uneasy.
"There is actually a Transformation Technique like this, one that can even deceive sensory Ninja," Homura said, his expression also turning serious after reading the report.
Minato had been able to see White Zetsu's potential on the battlefield, and these high ranking officials had all lived through several wars as well. Naturally, they too could see just how dangerous White Zetsu's abilities were.
"It truly was unexpected. No wonder the force under Jiraiya was beaten so badly before," Hiruzen said as he stroked his small beard.
Earlier, when he had first received the news that Hiromi Sarutobi had become a spy, Hiruzen had spent an enormous amount of effort investigating. In the end, however, he had found almost nothing useful.
He had thought Hiromi was simply too good at hiding.
Now he realized the truth was that there had never been anything wrong with Hiromi in the first place.
Seeing Hiruzen subtly making excuses for Jiraiya's defeat, Danzo opened his mouth to retort, then closed it again.
Because when they had previously met to choose the commander of the support force, Danzo had strongly recommended Orochimaru. Looking at the current result, however, the commander could only have been Mugetsu.
With White Zetsu acting as spies for Iwagakure, anyone other than Mugetsu would probably have failed to defeat the Iwagakure Ninja Force.
"It was very farsighted of you, Hiruzen, to appoint Mugetsu as commander of the support force. Otherwise, what would have come back would not have been a great victory, but very likely another great defeat," Homura sighed.
If Mugetsu had not possessed the special ability to sense malice, expose the spies, and then use the situation to create a counterattack plan, then the Konoha forces would not even have been able to hold Iwagakure back, much less defeat them.
They were already outnumbered, and with spies hidden in their midst, the situation had practically been hell difficulty.
"This was also an unexpected blessing. But Mugetsu truly is the most capable Ninja of the new era," Hiruzen said with a smile.
He really had not expected Mugetsu to achieve such a great victory. The reason he had refused to deploy Orochimaru in the first place had simply been because he was worried Kumogakure would take advantage of the situation.
Danzo felt increasingly irritated as he listened.
Mugetsu was clearly a Ninja from Root, an outstanding talent he himself had trained. How had this become one of Hiruzen's achievements?
Danzo suddenly felt as though the leeks he had painstakingly grown had been secretly harvested by someone else in the middle of the night.
"Since Iwagakure suffered such a crushing defeat, why not use the war as leverage and force them to hand over the intelligence behind those spies?" Koharu suggested.
"Judging from the current report, those spies are most likely products of some kind of human experimentation. If we can decipher the technology behind them, then our own intelligence Ninja will become unstoppable in future wars."
If you can't beat something, then join it. Since traditional intelligence methods were becoming outdated, then Konoha should update as well.
Danzo glanced at Koharu in surprise. He had not expected her thinking to align so neatly with his own.
That sort of sinister technology absolutely belonged in Konoha's hands.
"Exactly. We should send more forces and use this opportunity to push directly into the Land of Earth and attack Iwagakure Village itself," Danzo said in full support.
Hiruzen shook his head.
"That is too risky. If Kumogakure takes the opportunity to launch a major offensive, the consequences will be disastrous."
Although Kumogakure might not necessarily attack Konoha, and might instead choose to strike at Iwagakure, Hiruzen was unwilling to gamble. The consequences of losing that gamble would be far too severe.
"Hiruzen, your constant hesitation is exactly what will make Konoha weak!" Danzo retorted, unconvinced.
If Konoha made every invader pay a terrible price, then who would still dare start a war against Konoha?
This time they had killed more than sixteen hundred Iwagakure Ninja. If they used the momentum to march through the Land of Earth as well, the deterrent effect would be enormous.
"You only look at the benefits. If Kumogakure and the Hidden Mist use the opportunity to strike, can you solve that problem?" Hiruzen asked sternly, tapping the conference table with emphasis.
Did Hiruzen not understand that this was a chance to completely suppress Iwagakure? Of course he did.
But the risk was too great.
Since Konoha had been founded, war had always been kept outside the Village. Enemies could at most enter the Land of Fire, but they had never been allowed near Konoha itself.
Hiruzen had no intention of becoming the only Hokage who allowed Konoha to be dragged into the flames of war. That would be a humiliation too great to bear.
"If Konoha truly fell into danger, I would naturally lead troops into battle myself," Danzo said, still pressing his point.
"This is not about whether you would go. It is about whether you are capable of handling the enemies who would come," Hiruzen replied.
Danzo was certainly a capable Ninja, but only to a degree. He was not stronger than the Sannin, nor stronger than Mugetsu.
"Why are you so certain I could not handle them?" Danzo snapped back.
In any case, Kumogakure had not yet launched an attack, so he might as well boast now.
"Since you are so confident, then you will take command of the Iwagakure front. First, take some forces and thoroughly probe Iwagakure Village's intelligence," Hiruzen said coolly.
"Not now. I have many other matters to deal with," Danzo refused on the spot.
It was not that he was unwilling to fight, nor that he feared death. He truly had other priorities.
He was still trying to uncover the truth behind Sōsuke's sage inheritance and looking for a way to get the Rinnegan.
"If you are willing to lead the attack yourself, then go. If not, stop talking about invading Iwagakure," Hiruzen said indifferently.
Hiruzen's firm attitude caused Koharu to abandon the proposal as well. Of the four officials present, her combat strength was the weakest. On top of that, after becoming an administrator, she had neglected her training and grown even weaker.
Danzo remained displeased, but this time he did not continue arguing.
There was no way he would personally go himself.
If he died in the Land of Earth, it would not just be his loss. It would be Konoha's loss.
"A full scale invasion of the Land of Earth is unnecessary. But we do need to probe Iwagakure's attitude," Homura said as he pushed up his glasses with his left hand.
So far, Konoha and Iwagakure had each won one major battle on the Land of Grass front.
Overall, Iwagakure had suffered heavier losses, but Konoha had not escaped damage either. With the other major villages still watching them like wolves, Homura believed caution was necessary.
Hiruzen nodded. He had also been considering sending Ninja to make contact with Iwagakure Village.
Konoha's current overall position was simply too unfavorable. They had to make peace with at least one major village and secure an alliance.
"In that case, we should immediately recall Hayate Mugetsu to Konoha. Those Iwagakure spies are too dangerous. If they infiltrate Konoha itself, the consequences would be severe," Koharu said.
If Konoha had decided against attacking Iwagakure, then Mugetsu, who was currently the only one capable of identifying those spies, should naturally be brought back.
"Exactly. It would be best to use some excuse to gather a large number of Ninja together and let Mugetsu conduct a broad inspection," Homura said, sharing the same concern.
Although the high ranking officials were all powerful themselves, if an Iwagakure spy disguised themselves as one of their family members and then struck, there was always a chance something could go wrong.
"I will contact the Land of Grass forces after the meeting," Hiruzen agreed.
Besides eliminating any spies that might have already slipped into Konoha, Hiruzen also wanted Mugetsu to teach this Ninjutsu and have it formally recorded in Konoha's Ninjutsu Library.
In principle, Konoha did not force its Ninja to surrender their techniques unless they were inhumane forbidden Jutsu.
But this was a special situation. To put it plainly, it concerned Konoha's very survival, so extraordinary circumstances required extraordinary measures.
Hiruzen believed that Mugetsu, who carried the Will of Fire, would understand.
Naturally, he also would not expect Mugetsu to teach it for nothing.
Once the matter of Iwagakure was discussed, the meeting gradually moved on to rewards and commendations.
After all, no matter how dangerous the situation still was, this had ultimately been a great victory worth celebrating.
Mugetsu, as the architect of the counterattack, the one who had slain numerous enemies on the battlefield and injured a Jinchuriki, was unquestionably the greatest contributor. Jiraiya and Minato could only rank behind him.
After the meeting ended, Danzo immediately summoned his Root subordinates and ordered them to establish contact with the Root personnel stationed near the front.
"Even if the targets were rescued, there may still be tissue left behind after the battle," Danzo thought to himself.
If he could obtain and study the Transformation Technique those spies used, Root would become the strongest intelligence organization in the entire Ninja World.
And when that day came, with Root's help, Konoha would defeat every other village, and even Hiruzen would no longer have any excuse to keep Root restrained.
.....
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