Ryou said to the two cats, "This is the first battle since we raised our army, and it concerns our morale! Who is willing to lead the vanguard?"
Fortune blocked Fish Ball and said, "I am willing to serve as the vanguard!"
Fish Ball gave a cold laugh and cut in front of Fortune. "Better to use someone who has actually fought a war! Lord, give me eight hundred cat soldiers, and within one day, I will surely crush the Alliance and kill their commander."
Ryou nodded to Fish Ball.
Fortune directly stepped on Fish Ball's head and pleaded with Ryou, "Give me three hundred troops, and within half a day, I will surely crush Minato and kill the Third!"
Fish Ball bit Fortune, who fell off Fish Ball's head in pain. Fish Ball continued to compete, "Lord, give me a hundred troops, and within half a day, I will surely eliminate the Shinobi Allied Forces!"
Fortune showed a fierce expression. "I'll take ten cats, and within an hour, I'll fight my way to the Konoha command post and kidnap Kushina to be the Lord's plaything!"
Fish Ball started fighting with him directly. "You think you're so damn impressive? If you're so capable, why don't you go deal with Minato by yourself as a single cat?"
"You think I don't dare? Fish Ball, I've put up with you for a long time!"
In the end, Ryou punished them both equally, throwing both Fish Ball and Fortune in front of Minato, making the two cats work together to deal with him.
If they couldn't stop Minato, they would be kicked out of the Five Heroes of the Clouds.
Before accepting Ryou's spores, Fish Ball was already a water-attribute cat and could stand steadily on the water's surface.
But Fortune couldn't. He usually focused on making money and rarely fought; his chakra control was unskilled, and he couldn't even stand on the water.
Fortune asked Fish Ball for help: "Fish Ball, save me! I'm no good with water!"
Fish Ball sneered, "If you die, I'll have one less rival!"
"You bastard!"
It was Minato who was kind-hearted enough to grab Fortune and toss him onto the opposite shore.
Fortune thanked Minato, "Thanks, Minato. I apologize for the bad things I just said about your Kushina. When the fight's over, I'll treat you to a brothel!"
Minato shook his head, feeling somewhat speechless.
He wanted to seriously stall for time, but the enemies were simply too ridiculous.
This war was far too casual.
Minato looked at the orange cat in front of him and put the Flying Thunder God Kunai he was holding back into his Shinobi tools pouch.
Ryou was looking down on him far too much!
Asuma felt he was capable again and ran out holding his Flying Swallow, shouting his request to fight: "Minato-senpai, how can we trouble you to deal with such petty thugs? Let me do it!"
Ebisu ran ahead of Asuma: "Asuma, let me handle such minor characters! I am a Shinobi aspiring to be an elite private tutor."
"Little orange cat, kneel and surrender, and I shall spare your life!"
Ebisu and Asuma ran ahead of Minato to snatch the military merit, both wanting to show their faces in front of the Shinobi Allied Forces.
In a place like this, as long as you could show your face, it would be something to brag about later.
"Back when your grandfather was on the battlefield..."
Fish Ball looked at Asuma and Ebisu and snorted coldly, "You green brats, why come to the front lines just to throw your lives away?"
"Come forth! Ibuse!"
Fish Ball bit his paw and activated the Summoning Jutsu.
Mifune froze for a moment, lowering the arms he had crossed over his chest. "Ibuse? Did I hear that right?"
With a bang, a cloud of smoke exploded, and then a giant Salamander appeared in the middle of the river.
Its skin was dark gray and thick, its body bloated and sturdy.
Its limbs were as thick as pillars, planted firmly in the river water, and its belly was a large expanse of loose, deathly white soft flesh.
The Salamander Ibuse—Hanzo's Summoned Beast.
Just by standing there, Ibuse emitted a suffocating sense of pressure.
Ebisu and Asuma's expressions instantly turned dull.
An orange cat had actually summoned Hanzo's Salamander?
Fish Ball stood on Ibuse's head, completely ignoring Ebisu and Asuma, looking instead at Minato.
"Yellow-haired brat, today I shall slay the general, seize the flag, and trample you!"
At the same time, Fortune also activated the Summoning Jutsu.
What he summoned was very small, like a speck of dust compared to Ibuse's massive size.
It was just a red scorpion.
Seeing this, Ebisu and Asuma wanted to pick on the weak link and said to Minato, "Minato-senpai, we'll go deal with that calico; you deal with this ugly orange one!"
Fish Ball hissed, "You dare call me ugly? You deserve to die!"
Minato ignored them, instead pulling out a Flying Thunder God Kunai and watching the suddenly appearing red scorpion warily.
Ibuse's pressure didn't affect Minato in the slightest; to Minato, Ibuse's giant size was just a target.
All he had to watch out for was Ibuse's poison mist.
But the suddenly appearing red scorpion made Minato feel pressure.
Though this scorpion was small, it had an unbelievable amount of chakra, and a murderous aura lingered around it.
This was Sasori, who had signed a contract with Ryou to become his Summoned Beast.
Fortune had relied on the spores in his body to summon him from the laboratory in the Hidden Rain Village.
Sasori had just been experimenting on a White Zetsu in the Hidden Rain Village and was a bit dazed to be suddenly transported between two opposing armies.
But after seeing the crowd opposite him clearly, he analyzed that this was the Shinobi Allied Forces, and they were already preparing to attack the Hidden Rain.
Hmph! A motley crew of useless Shinobi!
Sasori felt disdain for the alliance of the five great Shinobi Villages.
Because insects are still insects no matter how many there are; trying to defeat Madara by stacking numbers would be difficult!
Moreover, Sunagakure was currently under Ryou's control.
The Shinobi Allied Forces could face a mutiny at any time!
Fortune warned Minato: "Minato, this is Sasori, be careful!"
Minato frowned. Sasori, Sunagakure's genius puppet designer—wasn't Sasori supposed to be a person? How did he mutate into a scorpion?
Ebisu and Asuma couldn't deal with either of them and could only retreat dejectedly.
Mifune frowned slightly. "Hanzo's Summoned Beast, and Sasori... Uchiha Ryou's two Shinobi Cats are not to be underestimated!"
"And I thought they could only hiss!"
Mifune reminded the Third Hokage: "Hokage, the poison of the Salamander Ibuse was modified by Hanzo; it's no different from Hanzo's own poison."
"Currently, only two people in the Shinobi World can cure it: one is Tsunade, and the other is Granny Chiyo."
"Have Minato pull back!"
The Third Hokage shook his head. "No need. With Minato's speed, Ibuse's poison mist cannot catch him. What Minato needs to be wary of is Sasori."
"I heard from Granny Chiyo that Sasori turned the Third Kazekage into a Human Puppet; I expect the Fourth Kazekage Rasa has also been turned into a Human Puppet by him."
"Minato's Flying Thunder God requires Kunai to move, and Kunai are made of steel, which will be countered by Magnet Release."
Jiraiya said, "Minato doesn't rely entirely on the Flying Thunder God. He has Senjutsu and can become a Sage."
The Third Hokage felt relieved upon hearing this.
The Salamander Ibuse, Sasori, the Human Puppets of the Third Kazekage and Fourth Kazekage...
The Third Hokage suddenly realized that Ryou's foundation was already so deep; he was no longer just an upstart who had suddenly gained great power.
Danzo felt it was a waste. "That evil Uchiha, why give such good things like Ibuse and Sasori to two stupid cats? It's truly enviable!"
Indeed, people like them only gained great power through bitter cultivation of Ninjutsu.
But two Shinobi Cats could stand on equal footing with them just by their master's rewards. Was this what it meant to stumble into the imperial family?
In the direction of the Choza squad.
Sakumo looked at Sasori's form through his mask. "Is that Sasori?"
"..."
No one responded.
Duy scratched his head in confusion. "Sasori... Could it be that this isn't a code name, but that this person really is a red scorpion?"
"Granny Chiyo is a scorpion spirit!"
The highest-level situation Duy had seen in his life was opening the Eight Gates to fight the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist; the rest of the time, he had remained a Genin doing missions to find stray cats and dogs.
Choza shook his head. "Sasori is a person, and Granny Chiyo isn't some scorpion spirit. Sasori probably looks like that because he touched human taboos and transformed himself into a scorpion's form."
After his analysis, Choza looked at Sakumo. "Sakumo, I remember you were the one who killed Sasori's parents?"
Sakumo nodded. "His parents were Elite Jonin of Sunagakure. At the time, Konoha and Sunagakure were enemies. For the sake of the Village, I couldn't let them go."
"It's a pity. If it weren't to avoid exposure, I would be very willing to step onto the field and duel Sasori."
"Granny Chiyo once said that I was the one who cut away Sasori's childhood."
"I am sorry!"
He was only sorry; he couldn't regret it. On the battlefield, it was kill or be killed.
Sakumo's battlefield would never be as silly as this!
Suddenly, something strange happened where the Third Hokage and the others were located.
A message came from Shikaku at the headquarters—the Second and Third Units have reached their designated positions!
The Third Hokage was heartened; now they could implement Plan B.