"Kumo has retreated?"
Listening to the message from Inoichi on the outskirts of the command camp, Shikaku was momentarily stunned.
What on earth had happened?
The Kumo shinobi had come with such aggressive momentum, yet they had retreated in less than ten minutes?
They had not even finished organizing how to respond to this Kumo attack yet.
Tsunade, however, fell silent.
This definitely had something to do with that kid Seiryū.
If anyone understood Seiryū's strength best, it was her, since she often sparred with him.
That kid was a freak. She did not even know how strong Seiryū really was anymore.
He would come up with a new Ninjutsu every now and then, so it was impossible to judge where Seiryū's limits were.
Tsunade let out a breath and said to Shikaku, "It must be something that kid Seiryū did. The commotion from earlier was likely caused by him. I'm afraid those Kumo shinobi were scared out of their wits by his slaughter."
Once he saw blood, Seiryū would become a different person. Extremely cold and ruthless.
Shikaku fell silent.
He naturally guessed it might be related to Seiryū, but it was just too unbelievable.
How much time had even passed?
"Shikaku, did you already have a plan for this? The Kumo shinobi attacking from the north, northeast, and west have all been routed, and the Kumo shinobi in the east have also begun to withdraw."
Inoichi's voice echoed in Shikaku's mind. He relayed the general intelligence he had gathered, his tone filled with deep astonishment.
What kind of countermeasure had Shikaku taken to thwart the Kumo shinobi's attack in such a short time? It was truly hard to imagine.
"Come back first. I'll explain the details to you later. We need to hold an emergency meeting!"
Shikaku did not know what to say to that, so he only said this.
The Kumo shinobi had invaded from four directions this time, only for three of them to be routed and the other to withdraw. Seiryū had single-handedly thwarted Kumo's attack!
Was this really just a kid under twelve years old?
Based on her understanding of Seiryū's personality, Tsunade made a deduction. "What exactly is the situation? What did that kid do? Don't tell me he killed them all, did he?"
After a second of silence, Shikaku rubbed his temples and said, "Pretty much. The Kumo shinobi from three directions were routed and likely wiped out."
Tsunade rubbed her temples. "That's his style."
"It wasn't a complete wipeout."
Seiryū had returned using the Flying Thunder God Technique and happened to hear these words. He said truthfully, "I killed all the Kumo shinobi invading from two directions, which probably scared them off. By the time I arrived at the third direction, they had already retreated."
"I didn't let them off, but after one round of attacks, a few dozen still managed to escape."
This time, Seiryū had killed five or six hundred people. Adding those he had killed before, he had unlocked the Thousand-Man Slayer title. Unfortunately, the system did not make a ding sound.
Tsunade and Shikaku both fell silent.
They had just been discussing how to deal with this Kumo attack and had not even reached a conclusion yet. The whole thing had ended so abruptly.
And looking at Seiryū, there was not even a trace of blood on him, let alone any injuries. Clearly, killing so many people was just a trivial matter to him. He had not even been serious. Shikaku found this unbelievable.
"If you wanted to, those few dozen people wouldn't have been able to run, would they?"
Tsunade was quite calm. This kid was a monster. He had mastered all sorts of strange Ninjutsu, all of which were extremely lethal. Numbers really did not mean much in front of Seiryū.
She then looked at Seiryū and said, "Did you let them leave on purpose?"
"Can you not understand me so well?"
Seiryū glanced at Tsunade sideways. This bad woman understood him too well, didn't she?
Indeed, if he wanted to, those few dozen people would not have escaped. At most, it would have taken one more round of attacks. The reason he let them flee was mainly to find out where Kumo's command camp on this front line was located.
Among the few dozen people who escaped, some had been marked with the Flying Thunder God Seal. This would make it easy for Seiryū to find their lair and slaughter them!
Courtesy demanded reciprocity, after all!
War was merciless. Different stances meant they were destined to be enemies, and since they were enemies, Seiryū would not show mercy.
Tsunade thought of something and said, "You want to go to their command headquarters? To completely wipe out Kumo's deployment here?"
"Sort of. They can attack our command headquarters, so we can naturally attack theirs."
"Didn't the Third Hokage want us to hit Kumo hard?"
Seiryū curled his lips into a smile. "Breaking through Kumo's front line here, is that hard enough?"
"The only uncertainty is whether there are any powerhouses stationed on this Kumo front line, and whether the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki or the Third Raikage's son are here."
"Of course, if they are, that would be even better. We'll wipe them all out together!"
Hearing these domineering words, Tsunade and Shikaku fell silent again.
After a pause, Shikaku said, "Previously, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, and the Third Raikage's son, A, were indeed on this front line, but they haven't appeared for a long time. They may have headed to other battlefields."
"That is why the Third Hokage sent Minato to perform other tasks."
"It's also possible that Kumo only organized this attack because they knew Minato was not on this front line."
Shikaku had already formed some conjectures through various details. This Kumo attack was clearly well-prepared. It had happened precisely when Minato was dispatched to another front line to perform tasks. This could not be a coincidence.
And don't forget, before Seiryū arrived here, he really did not know this place was under surveillance.
"Oh."
Seiryū only nodded. He would know once he followed the Flying Thunder God Seal to take a look later.
Besides, with Kumo's temperament, after suffering such a huge loss, they would definitely not let it rest.
"Shikaku, there is urgent intelligence. The Kumo attack from the north has already. Uh."
At this moment, Hizashi rushed in, lifting the tent flap. Halfway through his sentence, he saw Seiryū here, which made him swallow the words he was about to say.
Why was Seiryū here?
Wasn't he on the north side just a moment ago?
When did he get here?
Seeing Hizashi's expression, Shikaku understood his intention, so he said, "I have already learned everything from Inoichi and Seiryū. Thank you for your hard work, Hizashi."
Hizashi, a shinobi possessing the Byakugan bloodline, was stationed on the northern outskirts of the camp. He had clearly come to explain what had happened.
This was Shikaku's previous order. Any anomaly had to be reported to him immediately. However, he had already learned everything from Inoichi and Seiryū.
"Uh, right."
Hizashi just nodded. Wartime intelligence was of the utmost importance. Shikaku, the commander-in-chief of this battlefield, needed to know everything. That was why he had rushed here immediately. This was his duty, after all!
Afterward, all the key figures of Konoha on this front line gathered together to discuss how to deal with Kumo from then on.
Meanwhile, on the other side, at Kumo's command headquarters.
As the commander of this front line, the Kumo Jonin Dotai, who was deeply trusted by the Third Raikage, had also received the message from the front line.
Despite his steady personality, after seeing the details, his fists clenched tightly.
He said through gritted teeth, "We didn't even see the enemy's shadow, yet our attack was repelled, and we even suffered five or six hundred casualties?"
"Are you sure this information is true?"
After scouts discovered the location of Konoha's command camp on this front line, he had started preparing this meticulously planned, sure-to-succeed attack.
And it had been dismantled by Konoha just like that?
They had even suffered heavy casualties, with five or six hundred people killed!
He had only ordered the attack on Konoha's command camp half an hour ago. Now, news of the rout had already arrived.
How could he not doubt the authenticity of this information?
The Kumo shinobi responsible for reporting trembled because of Dotai's anger, but still said truthfully, "This is the information relayed from the front line. It cannot be wrong."
Dotai fell silent.
Then, suppressing the anger in his heart as it turned into deep dread and vigilance, he gritted his teeth and said, "Go investigate. Find out what exactly happened!"
It was too unbelievable.
It would be one thing if this attack had simply failed. Konoha's strength was also extremely strong, and it was not that easy to take down.
But what angered him was that so many people had been lost, and the people on the front line did not even know who had done it!
There was hardly any relevant intelligence. This was too unreasonable!
What exactly was going on?
What was still hidden within Konoha's command camp?
That attack, like ten thousand arrows firing at once, capable of causing large-scale damage, was it Ninjutsu, or some kind of special ninja tool or weapon?
If they did not investigate this clearly, how could Kumo dare to organize the next attack?
They would even have to worry about Konoha using that weapon or that Ninjutsu to attack Kumo in return.
The lethality of an attack where they did not even know whether it was Ninjutsu or a weapon was too terrifying. Numbers simply could not play much of a role in the face of such an attack!
The intelligence they had on Konoha was too scarce, which was very bad for them.
"Yes!"
The shinobi replied and hurried away.
A moment later, two other people walked into the tent. It was none other than the Third Raikage's son, A, and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B!
With light yellow hair combed back, a Kumogakure forehead protector tied around his forehead, a goatee, and dark skin, the Raikage's son, A, looked very grim. He looked at Dotai and asked, "What exactly happened? The front line was routed, and there were hundreds of casualties?"
Wearing a bandana forehead protector, a white scarf around his neck, and sunglasses, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B also looked grave.
His tone was rapping, but it contained hidden anger. "Fool! Bastard! Damned Konoha, to cause our people such heavy losses, it's truly unforgivable!"
This large-scale attack on Konoha's command camp had actually resulted in such an unexpected turn of events.
They had suffered hundreds of casualties!
This was the largest casualty count for Kumo since the war began!
Looking at the two who had arrived, Dotai took a deep breath, then said in a deep voice, "The specific situation is still unclear, and the reason for such casualties hasn't been investigated yet."
Taking another deep breath, he spoke again, his tone extremely grave. "I suspect this might be a plot by Konoha. They may have intentionally exposed the location of their command camp and waited for us to walk right into a trap."
Thinking about it now, the exposure of Konoha's command camp was too suspicious. How could it have been discovered so easily by their Kumo scouts?
A reasonable deduction was that this should be a plot by Konoha.
It was likely a plot aimed at waiting for them to walk into the trap themselves!
Otherwise, this situation could not be explained at all!
Hearing this, A snorted coldly. "A plot? Any plot is useless in the face of absolute power!"
"If you had let us go together, this situation absolutely would not have happened!"
"We might have even already crushed Konoha's command headquarters!"
He and Killer B had originally been going to act together. But they were stopped by the commander, Dotai, who said it was not time for them to make a move yet.
The other party was too cautious!
However, A also knew that being cautious on the battlefield was not wrong. It was just that this time's casualties truly made him angry, so his words still carried some lingering fury.
Dotai fell silent.
When a plan failed, any words or excuses sounded pale and powerless. For this rout, he, the commander, could not shirk his responsibility!
"Hoo."
Exhaling, A did not continue to say much about this matter. He still respected Dotai very much. After all, he had been their former examiner.
Otherwise, A would not have listened to his command before.
It was just that A could not swallow this. His eyes filled with a cold look as he said, "With so many casualties, it's impossible to pretend it didn't happen!"
"This time, I will act together with B. Whether it's a plot or whether Konoha has powerhouses stationed there, we will defeat them!"
The implication was clear. They had to hit Konoha hard to vent this anger!
Otherwise, he would not feel satisfied!
He was inherently hot-tempered and advocated force. He believed there was nothing that could not be settled with a pair of fists. Now that Kumo had suffered such a big loss, he naturally would not sit idly by. He had to retaliate!
"Let's go, B!"
Without waiting for Dotai to reply, A called out to Killer B beside him, and the two walked out of the tent.
"Wait, don't be careless. It's best to clarify the situation first before doing anything."
Dotai quickly chased after them, but saw that the two had already gone far away.
His heart sank, and he could not help but curse inwardly.
Damn it, why is this kid's personality still so impulsive?
A had great talent and amazing strength, and he had great prestige within Kumo. He was very likely to be the next Raikage. It was just that his personality was too impulsive. He had been like this since he was a child.
Rashly attacking Konoha again without investigating the specific situation would very likely lead to suffering!
One was the son of the Third Raikage, potentially the future Fourth Raikage. The other was the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, a perfect Jinchuriki who could perfectly utilize the power of the Tailed Beast.
Their status and identity within Kumo were extremely high, and their importance to Kumo could be imagined.
If anything were to happen to these two, that would be trouble!
Kumo might even become unstable because of it!
They were in a time of war now. Any change could lead to unforeseeable events later.
Such things must absolutely not happen!
Therefore, Dotai also made some countermeasures, mobilizing troops again and starting to take action.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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