The Land of Waves was an inconspicuous small island nation in the ninja world.
Located directly east of the Land of Fire, it was separated from the mainland by only a narrow strait. Its territory was small, its population sparse, and its daimyō so poor that he simply could not afford to maintain ninja or a ninja village for self-defense.
During the ninja wars, it was like a frail young girl—any burly man could come over and bully her at will.
Facing the surging advance of Kirigakure, the Land of Waves had no power to resist and lay flat, becoming one of Kirigakure's bridgeheads for its invasion toward Konohagakure.
The people and the daimyō of the Land of Waves: What could we do? We were desperate too!
The Konoha front line resisting Kirigakure lay in the direction of the Land of Waves.
In the forest, Makoto sat cross-legged atop the crown of a large tree, carrying out his daily training.
Ever since he had refused Snake Uncle's assistant invitation that night, it had not been long before Team Three began frontline garrison duties. By today, one and a half months had quietly passed.
The current Orochimaru was not that petty yet. He would not make things difficult for a team just because Makoto had refused him. Each squad's garrison location rotated once a week, and there was no difference compared to the other teams.
There was no need for him to assign a certain-death mission to Makoto's team to let him witness the deaths of his companions. There was no need at all—death was like the wind, always accompanying ninja. It would arrive suddenly when you were not paying attention, without requiring deliberate arrangement.
Just like how he could never have imagined that during a simple team-leading mission, his own disciple Nawaki would step straight into an explosive tag formation trap.
Nawaki: "…" Is this ever going to end?
In the ninja world, death was as common as eating or drinking, gradually numbing people to it. Orochimaru was always very patient with those he took an interest in. What he sought was heartfelt acknowledgment and voluntary allegiance from others.
He was particularly skilled at abducting children. The children of the ninja world—no matter how strong they were—always had minds like blank sheets of paper, ready for him to paint with his own colors.
Over the past month and a half, Makoto had come to understand just how little these Kirigakure lunatics played by common sense. They would always suddenly attack from some direction, stir up chaos, and after drawing out the Konoha defensive line's redeployments, if they saw they couldn't gain any results, they would retreat immediately.
It looked blind and random, but Konoha had long since learned through interrogating some Kirigakure ninja—including that female captive—that this was simply a straightforward feint tactic.
By forcing Konoha to shift the strength of its defensive line, they created weak points, then arranged elite squads to slip into the interior of the Land of Fire to complete their own missions.
Even knowing it, they still couldn't ignore it, because a fake attack could switch to a real breakthrough at any time.
The defending side was always passive. In order to reverse the situation, Konoha ninja were also working hard to find a way to break the deadlock.
Unfortunately, their immediate superior Orochimaru was obsessed with human experimentation and had no interest in this. If he had even half the initiative he'd shown back when opposing Sunagakure, the state of the battle might have been different.
A small number of people felt that this Hokage's disciple seemed to be deliberately dragging out the timeline of the standoff between both sides, but there was no evidence.
Acting commander Uchiha Fugaku, on the other hand, was full of passion and eager to achieve merit and build a career. It was just—how should one put it about this guy? If he truly had deep scheming and outstanding strategy, he wouldn't have led his own clansmen into a ditch.
A typical case of usually standing aside and smoothing things over, only to throw his life on the line for the family at a critical moment.
…
Makoto didn't know whether it was because the tailed beast chakra on the eastern front was overly active, but starting half a month ago, his training in white natural energy entered a deeper level of the second stage.
Now he didn't need sleep to enter an awareness-body state. As long as he meditated in stillness, he could draw natural energy into his body, all the way until reaching his body's daily limit of endurance.
Similar to Hashirama clapping his hands and instantly entering Sage Mode.
However, he didn't have a Sage face pattern. His only distinguishing feature—the silver mark on his forehead—was also covered by the Konoha forehead protector, so ordinary people couldn't see it.
What differed from the Sage Mode of the three great sage regions was that he wasn't absorbing a specific type of natural energy and combining it with his own chakra in a fixed ratio, but instead directly absorbing white natural energy to continuously strengthen his physical body and spirit.
When there were enemies, he fought. When there was nothing, he quietly trained—like today.
All of a sudden, Makoto, who was in the middle of training, opened his eyes and looked toward the north.
A distress signal flare was rising slowly.
Gekkō Kumomi, who had jumped up onto the treetop, took a glance and asked, "Makoto, what's going on over there?"
"Six Kirigakure ninja—two standard chūnin squads."
Each ninja team along the defensive line was not very far apart from the others, and they naturally all fell within Makoto's steadily expanding range of perception.
Kumomi drew his ninja blade and issued the order: "Team Three, move to provide support."
Hearing this, Makoto ended his training and, together with Gekkō Hayate and Uzuki Yūgao, rushed toward the location where the signal flare had risen.
As for whether the gap in the defensive line left behind after their departure would be exploited—that was not something the four of them needed to worry about, because there was still a second defensive line behind them.
A distance of several kilometers was very close for ninja and did not take much time at all.
When the four of them followed the sounds of battle and arrived, they saw three young Konoha ninja relying on the dense forest terrain to stubbornly resist the Kirigakure ninja's assault.
On the ground, some Kirigakure ninja had used Water Release, forming a large, shallow lake that created an environment advantageous to them.
Nearby, there was also an area filled with thick mist. The area was not large, but the Konoha chūnin squad had already leapt out of the mist-covered zone and was retreating toward the second defensive line while fighting.
Only a fool would struggle with Kirigakure ninja inside dense fog. By retreating to the second defensive line, they could join forces with companions arriving from the left and right, forming a three-pronged encirclement against Kirigakure.
From another direction, three more Konoha ninja arrived as well. Together with Kumomi's team, they immediately launched an attack.
The ones originally stationed here were a chūnin team. One young man had wrapped his forehead protector around his head like a headscarf, forming a ninja-cap style, but worn backward. Facing two Kirigakure ninja alone, he nimbly evaded enemy attacks in the forest while senbon flew from his hands and mouth as if they cost nothing.
This was Shiranui Genma. A chūnin squad that had rushed in from farther north joined his battle, and together with him began to surround and attack the two Kirigakure ninja.
Another ninja, dressed similarly to Genma, but with the steel plate of his ninja cap facing forward and wearing dark glasses, was Ebisu. He was facing only one enemy. Although at a disadvantage, he was not in disarray, trading blows back and forth.
Hayate and Yūgao quickly joined in, creating a three-on-one situation.
The remaining one was naturally the taijutsu expert Guy, also fighting two Kirigakure ninja by himself. One of them was dressed in an archaic and peculiar style and appeared to be a taijutsu-type ninja as well. With a crazed expression, he was engaged in close-quarters combat with Guy, while his companion provided support from the side, darting in to slash whenever an opening appeared.
The two of them had no coordination at all and even interfered with each other. The Kirigakure ninja with the archaic appearance and crazed expression sometimes even struck his own companion.
Guy avoided any fatal areas. Although the remaining wounds left him covered in blood, they did not affect this rare beast as he poured out his youthful passion.
Yelling at the top of his lungs, he kept hammering his opponent's face with Konoha Whirlwind and Great Whirlwind.
Kumomi used the Body Flicker and appeared in the midst of the battle. With a jōnin joining in, the situation reversed in the blink of an eye. When Might Guy saw this, his fighting spirit immediately burned even hotter.
Only five Kirigakure ninja? Where was the other one?
Makoto used the Body Flicker and appeared behind Ebisu. This lecherous fellow was weaker than his two companions. After receiving help from Hayate and Yūgao, his tension had eased, and he neglected the danger coming from behind.
Clink, clink, clink, clink!
On the surface of the water behind Ebisu, a smooth mirror appeared, from which a spray of transparent, crystalline senbon shot out.
Earth Release: One-Horn Great Wall
Higashino Makoto, who had appeared behind Ebisu, extended his left hand flat. Chakra sprayed out from his five fingers, instantly forming a massive, earth-yellow, semi-transparent shield that blocked all of the crystalline senbon.
This was another defensive instant-cast ninjutsu developed by Higashino Makoto. Its principle was the same as One-Horn Tranquility, but it was infused with Earth Release chakra, making use of its hardness and stability to specifically block damage from sharp, piercing weapons.
Water Release: One-Horn Tranquility, on the other hand, was infused with Water Release chakra, using the flowing nature of water and its flexible tensile force to block the energy of ninjutsu, as well as the accompanying impact and compressive damage.
Of course, ninjutsu was fixed, but people were not. Their uses were not limited to defense alone.
Hearing the commotion, Ebisu turned his head to look and cried out in his mind, Lucky—saved!
However, he looked at Hayate and Yūgao in front of him, wildly slashing at the enemy with their blades, and then looked at Makoto.
"…"
Were juniors these days all this ferocious?
Makoto did not have time to worry about Ebisu for the moment, because he had discovered an unexpected surprise.
He fished a senbon out of the shallow water at his feet. It was transparent and crystalline, icy to the touch, and emitted faint strands of cold air.
Ice Release?
Really interesting!
Makoto felt the urge to stick out his tongue and wash his face with it, but he restrained the impulse. He was a proper ninja—he could not imitate a pervert like Orochimaru.
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