Chapter 171: It Was All Missing-nin Anonymous
The question Nara Suzaku asked voiced everyone's thoughts. Though they could deduce the general situation from current circumstances, since Hiruko as a firsthand witness stood before them, asking directly was the fastest way to clarify matters.
Hiruko's gaze swept across everyone present, and he answered frankly, "I was probably the target of an assassination attempt."
So it really was an assassination attempt!
Expressions of understanding appeared on everyone's faces, but immediately after, confusion arose because Hiruko's answer included the somewhat vague and uncertain word "probably."
Kimeki Koto asked directly, "Hiruko, what do you mean 'probably' an assassination attempt? I don't quite understand what you're saying."
"Because it doesn't make sense."
Hiruko frowned, his expression grave. "Koto, you all should have seen it too, right? The attacker's appearance was C, the Supreme Commander of the several thousand Cloud ninja confronting us. Do you think someone of that stature would infiltrate our camp alone to attempt an assassination?"
Kimeki Koto blinked and answered instinctively, "No."
"Exactly! As an army's Supreme Commander, abandoning thousands of subordinates to infiltrate an enemy camp alone and assassinate the enemy commander... how could any rational person do such a thing?"
"Indeed, something's off."
Kimeki Koto followed Hiruko's line of reasoning and found Hiruko completely correct—this situation was definitely abnormal.
Unno Ikkaku also frowned deeply. "If that's the case, then someone impersonated C to attack the Hokage Advisor, aiming to provoke conflict between us and the Cloud ninja?"
Hiruko didn't answer directly, but instead said, "There's another troubling issue—that assassin appeared in every way to be C himself. Ritsu, well, the Hyuga Clan Head's Byakugan detected no flaws whatsoever... Ritsu's pursued quite far!"
His topic suddenly shifted at the end.
While everyone was still thinking, he turned his gaze toward Aburame Shikuro, whose sunglasses and high collar concealed most of his face, and decisively ordered, "Aburame Shikuro, take extra personnel and quickly go support the Hyuga Clan Head."
"Yes, Hokage Advisor."
Aburame Shikuro, standing by like part of the background, acknowledged the order.
He was a genuine man of action. He immediately mobilized three squads that had rushed over for support, but Hiruko felt this insufficient. He summoned Hyuga Arima and others, stubbornly assembling a full ten squads to follow Aburame Shikuro in supporting and intercepting Ritsu.
No one thought much of it—they simply assumed Hiruko was worried about Ritsu. A master worrying about his student wasn't strange, and bringing more personnel was indeed an extra precaution.
Come to think of it, the Hyuga Clan Head's appearance seemed somewhat strange!
Earlier, whether they'd seen incorrectly or what, Ritsu's head appeared to have grown horns—when Ritsu had returned to camp earlier, Hiruko had personally gone out to receive him, so they hadn't yet encountered Ritsu's changed form face-to-face.
However, they all suspected they might have seen wrong. Moreover, with Hiruko present, it wasn't convenient to discuss the Hyuga Clan Head's condition. They could only temporarily suppress all doubts and focus attention on the trouble at hand.
After Aburame Shikuro and the others rushed off in the direction Ritsu had departed, Hiruko finally rubbed his temples, exhaustion showing on his face. He looked at everyone. "Where were we just now? I remember—"
"Hokage Advisor, you were just saying that no matter how one looked at it, the attacker was C himself."
"Right. I'm not a sensory ninja, so it's not strange I can't see problems. But Ritsu's Byakugan also detected no issues whatsoever. So right now my mind is complete mush. I can't determine whether the Cloud ninja's Supreme Commander truly went mad, or whether someone is provoking conflict between us and the Cloud ninja."
Deep distress colored Hiruko's face.
Kimeki Koto and the others exchanged glances, equally confused by Hiruko's words, losing their sense of direction. Their gazes unconsciously converged on Nara Suzaku.
Inuzuka Tsume simply asked directly, "Suzaku, you're the smart one. Your brain works better than all of ours combined. What do you think is really going on?"
The corners of Nara Suzaku's mouth curved upward as he became the center of attention. "The information is somewhat limited, but I still lean toward the Hokage Advisor's latter guess. You all should still remember the incident from some days ago when Uchiha Torajiro's patrol squad was attacked, right?"
Everyone nodded in unison. Though they hadn't participated at the time, they'd naturally learned about it while stationed at the front lines. With this reminder, the quick-thinking ones were already making connections.
Nara Suzaku continued, "At that time, Missing-nin Anonymous controlled the Cloud ninja nicknamed 'Lightning Beast' to fight against the Hokage and the Hyuga Clan Head. Now the Cloud ninja Supreme Commander C was very likely controlled by Missing-nin Anonymous to infiltrate our camp and attempt to assassinate the Hokage Advisor. Furthermore... the great fire on the Cloud ninja's side may have involved a similar situation!"
Gravity settled on Kimeki Koto's face. "Suzaku, are you saying the Cloud ninja side also suffered an attack—one launched by Konoha ninja?"
Nara Suzaku nodded heavily. "Nine chances out of ten."
This was his deduction based on current circumstances and available information. He guessed that nine times out of ten, Missing-nin Anonymous was causing trouble behind the scenes, aiming to provoke war between Konoha and the Cloud ninja. As for what benefit this brought Missing-nin Anonymous... most likely factors like revenge.
Hearing this, Unno Ikkaku asked, "If that's the case, how should we respond next? Should we send an envoy to communicate and negotiate with the Cloud ninja?"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's gazes turned in unison toward Hiruko.
Hiruko remained unhurried, thinking that Nara Suzaku's mind truly worked quickly, while also privately sighing that Ritsu's luck was good—tonight's seemingly rash actions had instead hit the mark perfectly, smoothly pinning blame on Missing-nin Anonymous.
He frowned and pondered for a moment before saying, "We know Missing-nin Anonymous is real, but the Cloud ninja may not believe our explanation. They might even suspect we're staging this... Moreover, we still don't know exactly what happened on the Cloud ninja's side. The urgent matter is clarifying what situation the Cloud ninja are facing."
"Only after determining what actually happened with the Cloud ninja can we decide whether to make further contact with them, and if so, to what extent."
This reasoning was entirely sound. Konoha's current situation was dangerous but ultimately safe—Hiruko the Hokage Advisor was unharmed, so they could consider communicating and negotiating with the Cloud ninja without burden or pressure.
If the Cloud ninja side also escaped danger, then negotiations shouldn't be difficult. But if the Cloud ninja suffered losses... then they shouldn't hold any hope for negotiation or communication. Better to honestly prepare to face war!
At that moment—
A sudden change occurred in the distance.
A gigantic wooden figure as towering as a mountain range suddenly rose among the forest, striding toward the Cloud ninja camp.
Witnessing this scene, everyone stood dumbfounded.
Nara Suzaku cried out in shock, "What—what is happening? What is the Hyuga Clan Head doing? Going any further reaches the Cloud ninja camp! Hokage Advisor, what exactly is—"
"Follow me!"
Hiruko charged forward, taking the lead.
A group of trusted subordinates nearby rushed to follow. Kimeki Koto, Unno Ikkaku, and the others exchanged glances, then hurriedly followed Hiruko as well. Nara Suzaku felt something was wrong but didn't have time to think quietly given the current situation. Gritting his teeth, he could only hastily follow.
Meanwhile, the Cloud ninja had descended into complete chaos.
Rewinding time a few minutes—the Cloud ninja on watch first saw their Supreme Commander C sprinting toward them at full speed. Before they could make sense of the situation, Hyuga Ritsu's figure also came into view, those white eyes so conspicuous. This was a Konoha ninja chasing down Commander C!
Thus the Cloud ninja fired signal flares indicating they were under attack. Simultaneously, shuriken and kunai flew toward Ritsu. Pale bones emerged from Ritsu's shoulders, elbows, back, and knees—his entire form became a human-shaped weapon. He easily twisted his body, deflecting all shuriken and kunai coming from different directions.
At the same time, he didn't forget to retaliate. His Byakugan had already pinpointed every Cloud ninja's location. He unleashed Eight Trigrams Empty Palm strikes one after another. The vigorous, heavy palm force impacts sent Cloud ninja flying backward, coughing blood, barely clinging to life.
But he left them all alive. He still needed these Cloud ninja to tell their superiors he'd arrived pursuing C, not attacking for no reason. At this point, "C" had already vanished quietly into the trees amid the chaos. No Cloud ninja noticed "C's" disappearance—the Cloud ninja who arrived later after seeing the signal flares only witnessed Ritsu rampaging violently.
Nothing more needed to be said. The facts stood before their eyes. Those damn Konoha ninja had actually struck first!
The Cloud ninja's warlike culture made their combat readiness first among the Five Great Shinobi Villages. If Konoha didn't possess top-tier Kekkei Genkai and numerous ancient clans with top-tier secret technique inheritances, plus civilian ninja constantly producing geniuses, allowing Konoha to always maintain a solid advantage in high-end power—otherwise, they might not necessarily surpass the Cloud ninja.
At this moment, these Cloud ninja demonstrated their exceptional combat readiness.
After discovering that dense volleys of ordinary kunai and shuriken had no effect on Ritsu, they immediately switched to explosive tags, attaching them to kunai tails and igniting them. They threw the kunai at the appropriate moment so that when the kunai reached approximately two meters from Ritsu, the explosive tags at the tail ends would detonate.
In fact, they timed the distance excellently. The kunai exploded about two meters from Ritsu, and explosions completely engulfed him in smoke and fire.
Unfortunately—
"Smoke without injury" was inscribed in the shinobi world's underlying logic—the more magnificent the smoke and flames, the more negligible the effect. Ritsu exemplified this. He possessed many methods to resist explosive attacks: Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation, Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall, Water Release: Water Formation Wall... he could even generate solid bone layers beneath his skin to resist explosive damage.
But Ritsu chose a more aggressive response.
Wood Release: Wood Human Technique.
He summoned a wooden figure fully forty meters tall, terrifying as a wrathful guardian deity. Standing atop the Wood Human's head, he drove it to boldly attack the Cloud ninja camp ahead. One kick sent an enormous gap through the mountain fortress's wall.
Even though this wall had been reinforced by Cloud ninja proficient in Earth Release and equipped with defensive barriers, the Wood Human's size was so massive—in the shinobi world, size often directly correlated with destructive power. A Wood Human of such colossal proportions kicking through the Cloud ninja's reinforced walls wasn't surprising at all.
Shattered stones scattered like cannonballs throughout the mountain fortress. Unlucky Cloud ninja struck by the debris had their bodies torn apart on the spot, dying instantly. Even hitting buildings caused walls to break and pillars to collapse. In just an instant, the Cloud ninja camp became a scene of devastation.
Dodai's eyes were threaded with blood vessels. Watching this, fury nearly consumed his rationality entirely, but he ultimately restrained himself. Getting angry now served no purpose.
"Xi, you and the others relay orders immediately—chunin and genin retreat at once! Jonin provide rearguard!"
Dodai issued the retreat order at the first opportunity.
They had no choice but to retreat. Supreme Commander C's whereabouts were unknown. Deputy Commander Troy was already dead. Though he as an envoy dispatched by the Raikage held high status, he ultimately wasn't the legitimate commander. Moreover, he didn't fully understand the frontline camp's detailed situation—he simply couldn't command effectively.
Furthermore, facing a Wood Human as tall as a mountain range, Dodai's fighting spirit was low. He understood clearly how terrifying and difficult such massive opponents were to handle. Only two relatively good methods existed to deal with this situation.
Either dispatch a top-tier expert like the Raikage to battle, or send a jinchuriki who could similarly transform into a colossal being to fight.
But unfortunately, the frontline camp possessed neither the conditions nor ability to employ either method. If C were alive, perhaps leading numerous jonin, they'd have fighting power. But Dodai knew he lacked such capability—he couldn't handle this kind of giant. The only response measure available now was retreat, controlling casualties as much as possible to the minimum.
As long as people lived, losing defensive lines didn't matter—they could just reclaim them when reinforcements arrived.
But if people were completely killed off, hurting their village's vitality, then even if reinforcements came later, they might not be able to push the battle lines back and drive the Konoha ninja out of the Land of Frost.