As if responding to Obito's earlier muttering about Asuma,
later that same day, the latest intelligence arrived at Shakuka Town and was personally opened by Yuu as commander.
"The latest batch of reinforcements dispatched by Konoha has already departed the village under Yūhi Shinku's command… and Asuma is among them too?"
That was right.
Although Kirigakure's previous surprise attack had been successfully repelled, Konoha's various strongholds had suffered considerable losses as well, gradually creating manpower shortages.
It was only because Kirigakure had suffered equally devastating casualties and made no new moves that both sides had temporarily remained at peace.
When Yuu returned to the village last time, he had already requested additional personnel.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had verbally agreed.
However, Konoha was currently fighting on several fronts and lacked manpower everywhere, so mobilization required time.
Then the incident involving Danzō and Root delayed matters by several more days.
Only now had this group of reinforcements finally set out.
They were expected to reach the border within two or three days.
After Yuu announced the news to everyone in the stronghold,
morale soared.
The cooking team even added an extra chicken leg to everyone's dinner that night in celebration.
"This is great, Yuu!"
At a small folding table outside the tent, the group of teenagers sat together.
Kurenai sat close beside Yuu, speaking excitedly.
"I heard that besides Father, several members of the Hyūga clan are also coming with the reinforcements?
"With their Byakugan helping us, dealing with those Kiri ninja afterward will be much easier!"
"Yeah, yeah… Wait a second. Why do we have to wait for them?"
Obito immediately noticed her wording and became dissatisfied.
"Are you saying the Uchiha clan's Sharingan is inferior to the Byakugan?"
"Well…"
Kurenai was momentarily speechless.
Kakashi, sitting beside them, calmly said,
"If we're only comparing reconnaissance ability, then the Sharingan really is inferior to the Byakugan.
"After all, none of you can see the real body hidden inside the Hiding in Mist Technique."
Mm…
Kakashi had quite a lot of authority to speak on that subject.
More than ten years later, that exact weakness would leave him in an extremely miserable position against Zabuza.
He had been forced to deliberately expose an opening and let Zabuza cut him, then use the Eight Ninja Hounds to track the scent of his own blood through the dense mist.
Only then had he managed to pinpoint Zabuza's location and finish him with the Lightning Blade.
The entire process had been extremely dangerous.
If the person Gatō had hired hadn't been Zabuza but Hidan instead…
then Konoha's "Copy Ninja" probably would have been written out of the story during the Land of Waves arc.
At this moment,
Obito, who had already been annoyed, became even more worked up after hearing Kakashi.
"Hey, Kakashi, what's that supposed to mean? Are you deliberately picking a fight?"
"…"
Kakashi glanced at him with dead-fish eyes and ignored him.
"Hey! What kind of look is that… smug bastard Kakashi! Come fight me one-on-one!"
"Heh. Idiot."
Kakashi sneered and continued eating.
"You two really are close."
Rin said.
"Huh?!"
Obito nearly lost control.
But since Rin was the one who said it, he forced himself to calm down and tried to explain.
"W-Who's close with that smug bastard?! I just want to prove the power of the Sharingan to him…
"Rin, are you thirsty? I can go get you some water."
"No need."
Rin politely declined Obito's enthusiasm.
Then she turned toward Yuu with a smile and placed the chicken leg from her own bowl into his.
"Yuu, I ate a little too much at lunch, so I'm still not very hungry.
"I'll trouble you to finish this chicken leg for me, okay?
"Thanks."
"Huh?"
How did this suddenly involve him?
Yuu breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Rin's smiling face and sighed lightly.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony, Rin."
"Mhm, hurry up and eat. You need to be full if you want enough strength to keep training."
Rin smiled brightly, her eyes curving into crescents.
She looked gentle and almost indulgent.
Across from them,
Obito opened his mouth.
His face first turned bright red, then he deflated like a punctured balloon.
Although his intelligence stat was only two, Obito wasn't actually stupid.
Naturally, he could tell that Rin's attitude toward Yuu contained feelings far beyond the ordinary.
At this moment, Obito had a stomach full of things he wanted to say but couldn't get them out.
Even the chicken leg in his bowl no longer tasted good.
All he could do was glare sideways at Yuu and Kakashi while repeatedly stabbing his food with his chopsticks, as though using it to vent his dissatisfaction toward the two of them.
Yuu naturally noticed Obito's little movements.
But he paid them no attention.
Instead, he looked across the table toward Kakashi and the others.
"No extra training tonight.
"After dinner, everyone go back and get some proper rest.
"Deputy Commander Fugaku could send back information at any moment. Don't let training interfere with the war effort."
Although the current war situation had already deviated greatly from the original story, making it impossible for Yuu to predict everything through his knowledge of the plot, several things were certain.
First, this batch of Konoha reinforcements was traveling as a large force.
There was no way they could move completely unnoticed.
As long as Kirigakure had spies positioned between Konoha and the southeastern front, they would inevitably discover the reinforcements and infer both their destination and estimated arrival time.
Second, Kirigakure's purpose in circling around through the Land of Hot Water was to create a pincer attack along the southeastern front and use numerical superiority against Konoha.
If these Konoha reinforcements successfully reached the southeastern front and joined Yuu's forces,
then the foundation of Kirigakure's numerical advantage would disappear.
At that point, the pressure on Kirigakure would increase drastically.
Therefore…
regardless of what their original plan had been, Kirigakure would most likely make a move within the next few days.
And it would probably be an even harder battle than the previous one.
Yuu was confident in his own strength.
Unless Kirigakure deployed multiple Kage-level combatants, it was unlikely that they could pose a substantial threat to him personally.
But if the enemy's plan was truly thorough and they held a numerical advantage,
whether Yuu could guarantee everyone else's safety—especially Rin's—was far harder to say.
After all…
the greatest threat to Rin's life did not come from Kirigakure.
It came from an opponent who had yet to appear before Yuu even once—
"Will that old man take advantage of this opportunity to make a move?"
The image of a certain elderly Uchiha surfaced in Yuu's mind.
If Madara's plan still included some version of the Three-Tails Incident,
then this coming battle would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him to intervene.
Although Madara was no longer in his prime at this time and no longer possessed the Rinnegan;
although Yuu had been preparing for this day from the moment he decided to interfere with Rin's fate…
If he truly ended up facing Madara,
Yuu still wasn't completely confident that he could save Rin from him.
He wasn't even completely certain that he could guarantee his own survival.
After all,
he still hadn't mastered the Flying Thunder God.
Of course, if his only goal was to save Rin, the difficulty wasn't quite that extreme.
From Madara's perspective, killing Rin wasn't the only way to drive Obito into darkness.
And even in the original story, Rin herself hadn't necessarily needed to die.
She simply hadn't been able to choose the optimal solution…
"Well, there's no point thinking too much.
"Do everything I can and leave the rest to fate.
"No matter how you look at it, the opponent is just an old fossil from a previous era…"
Yuu exhaled softly.
"I'll win."
He bit into the chicken leg Rin had given him, a faint smile appearing on his face.
…
Crack—
A branch snapped beneath someone's foot with a low sound.
The location was a hill near the entrance to the miasma valley.
Uchiha Fugaku crouched beside a large tree, pulled aside the bushes, and stared at the gray-white mist filling the valley below.
Beside him, Uchiha Yashiro and Gekkō Shigure stood to his left and right, holding their breaths and carefully observing the area.
During the previous day and a half, they had already investigated three blind spots without rest.
This miasma valley was the fourth.
It was also the largest and most troublesome.
The terrain inside was simply too twisted and complicated.
Visibility was extremely low, and the area was filled with poisonous miasma and all kinds of toxic creatures, greatly hindering their infiltration and search.
However, along the way, Fugaku and the others had indeed discovered several traces suggesting recent human activity.
Broken branches and leaves.
Faint footprints left in muddy ground.
Carefully buried remains of campfires…
All of these signs suggested that their earlier hypothesis might actually be correct.
In other words—
the Kiri ninja really had circled around through the Land of Hot Water!
And they had quietly established themselves only a few dozen kilometers behind Konoha!
If this intelligence had never been uncovered…
then when the next battle began, Konoha would probably suffer a devastating surprise!
The thought made Fugaku's emotions surge with excitement.
"As expected of Yuu…
"To possess such astonishing insight that he could see through Kirigakure's scheme with nothing more than a map!
"Truly terrifying!"
"What a shame I didn't bring Itachi out of the village this time…"
Otherwise, if Itachi followed Yuu and learned from him throughout this entire campaign,
wouldn't the boy practically take off like a rocket?
Even Fugaku himself planned to properly ask Yuu for advice after returning.
He wanted to know exactly how Yuu had spotted those clues.
This kind of experience had to be carefully recorded.
It would definitely be useful next time!
Nearby,
Uchiha Yashiro, completely unaware of how much was going through his clan head's mind, leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"Clan Head, should we continue deeper?
"The miasma ahead is becoming extremely dense, and the terrain is narrowing.
"It looks like the path leads toward the center of the valley.
"If we encounter an ambush, I'm afraid…"
"…It's fine."
Fugaku thought briefly before answering.
"Follow Captain Yuu's earlier instructions.
"Reconnaissance comes first. Do not engage recklessly.
"Remain prepared to withdraw at any moment."
Although Fugaku had confidence in his own combat strength, he didn't believe he could compare himself with Yuu or Namikaze Minato.
If Kirigakure truly had a large force gathered inside the valley, then even if everyone in these two squads were jōnin, they would have absolutely no chance of winning through a frontal battle.
Besides…
Yuu had specifically told them to avoid fighting if possible.
Since the "smartest person," Yuu, had said so, there had to be a reason.
What people like Fugaku needed to do was simply follow instructions.
On that point, Fugaku understood his role perfectly.
Soon,
the two squads put on the masks they had prepared beforehand and continued deeper into the valley.
Their movements became quieter and more efficient.
Yashiro and the other Uchiha kept their Sharingan active as they constantly observed their surroundings.
After advancing roughly three hundred meters through the winding path,
Fugaku suddenly stopped.
He gestured for the others behind him to conceal themselves while turning his gaze toward a certain direction.
Through the mist over there, he had vaguely caught sight of a blurry human silhouette.
A trace of chakra flow had flashed past as well.
"That was…"
Several pairs of three-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotated, observing the same location from different angles.
Then—
Fugaku's pupils trembled.
Not far away, Yashiro saw the silhouette at almost the same time.
An excited expression immediately appeared on his face as he turned toward Fugaku.
"Clan Head, there really are people in this damned place!"
And judging by the situation,
it looked like they had caught a big fish!
There clearly wasn't just one ninja hidden behind the fog.
From what they could currently tell, this was probably a gathering point containing a substantial number of people!
"Shh—!"
Fugaku gestured for everyone to remain silent.
Then he lowered his voice and issued orders.
"Yashiro, prepare yourself.
"Find an opportunity to withdraw outside and send a signal to our comrades at the stronghold.
"What we discovered here is extremely important. Yuu and the others absolutely must know."
"Shigure, you come with me around the flank.
"We'll see if we can determine their numbers and deployment…"
Fugaku's gaze sharpened.
"This intelligence may become the key to launching an annihilation operation later!"
"Understood!"
Gekkō Shigure took a deep breath after hearing his name and formed the hand seal for Transparent Escape.
Together with Fugaku and several other jōnin, he moved forward again.
At almost the same time,
inside the valley,
two Kirigakure squads were traveling directly toward Fugaku's group.
They were preparing to leave the valley and gather intelligence on Konoha from outside.
Originally, there had already been people assigned to this task, and there were more than enough personnel.
However, because of that letter from "ANBU," Yagura had decided to be extra cautious.
He had therefore dispatched two additional squads to separately monitor developments around Shakuka Town and the direction of Konoha.
As the distance between the two sides gradually narrowed—
"Hm?"
Fugaku's heart suddenly jumped.
An indescribably subtle feeling of unease arose inside him.
On the other side, the Kirigakure squad leader also slowed his pace slightly.
He carefully stared into the mist ahead, confusion appearing in his expression.
Neither side could see the figures or faces hidden behind the dense fog.
Yet relying on combat instincts accumulated over many years,
both groups vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
Thus,
several people slowly reached toward the sword hilts or kunai at their backs.
Others raised their hands and prepared to form seals.
Pairs of eyes stared fixedly through the mist as both groups drew closer together, preparing to respond the instant anything happened.
Battle…
was about to erupt!
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 70 Chapters Ahead of Others!