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Just as Hozuki Gengetsu was full of ambition, waiting for the main force to arrive so he could immediately retaliate, a Hidden Mist ninja, who had been monitoring the town, returned with bad news—the defenders on the city walls had suddenly vanished, and after a period of observation, not a single person was seen.
Upon hearing this, Hozuki Gengetsu was first puzzled by what Sarutobi Hiruzen was up to, but then he realized something and quickly led his men to investigate personally.
A group of Hidden Mist ninjas lay in wait in the woods not far from the town, staring at it in surprise. The Konoha ninjas who usually monitored the area were gone. Fearing a possible ambush, they waited for their commander's orders before deciding whether to enter and investigate.
After a while, Hozuki Gengetsu rushed over and said to everyone, "Don't just stand there watching. Go and see what's going on."
With that, Hozuki Gengetsu personally led an elite squad cautiously towards the town. Even after the sensory ninja assured them it was safe, Hozuki Gengetsu did not let his guard down. He used his family's secret Water Gun technique to shatter the city gate. Seeing the gate crumble so easily, he couldn't remain calm.
For a city, the gate holds a crucial position. Once it cannot be defended, the enemy can march straight in, which is nothing short of a disaster for the defenders. Therefore, gate defense has always been a top priority, yet now it was easily shattered by Hozuki Gengetsu. This was undoubtedly abnormal.
Hozuki Gengetsu immediately rushed into the city. Everything before him was eerily quiet. Aside from discarded weapons, food wrappers, pottery, and other debris, there wasn't a single person. An expression of disbelief appeared on his face as he ordered the others to search the city for any remaining people.
Although he said that, Hozuki Gengetsu felt he already knew the answer. Ninjas operate with high efficiency, and soon they informed him of the town's situation. As Hozuki Gengetsu expected, the entire town was deserted, not only the defenders but also the civilians.
"What's going on? They actually abandoned the town here. What exactly are they planning?" Hozuki Gengetsu couldn't understand the enemy's thinking. Facing an enemy army superior in numbers, defending with a town was the correct measure, but he had never heard of directly abandoning a city and leaving.
In Hozuki Gengetsu's mind, he only thought the Konoha ninjas were assisting the Land of Whirlpools in resisting the enemy. He hadn't considered that the Konoha Hidden Village intended to evacuate the people of the Land of Whirlpools entirely. If he had understood this, he would have comprehended Sarutobi Hiruzen's actions. They were going to abandon the entire country anyway, at most using the town as a temporary defensive stronghold, but they couldn't stay in the town indefinitely.
When the civilians within the town had been evacuated to the rear,
Sarutobi Hiruzen planned to leave, otherwise, they would face a large-scale enemy army. Whether they could hold them off was one thing, but even if they could, he wouldn't choose to do so because it would be meaningless. Trying to retreat later would only put them in a passive position.
Therefore, Sarutobi Hiruzen used his individual presence to deter the enemy, then slowly withdrew the samurai defenders from the town. Once the samurai had moved a certain distance, the highly mobile ninjas immediately retreated, quickly leaving the town and leaving an empty settlement for the enemy.
The enemy was suspicious and couldn't immediately grasp their objective. By the time they truly confirmed the town had been abandoned, Sarutobi Hiruzen had already led the ninjas to a safe distance from the town, allowing them to calmly plan their next move.
Hozuki Gengetsu was initially confused by the enemy's actions, but when he changed his way of thinking, he vaguely guessed their true objective, causing his heart to pound. If the enemy truly intended to take the Uzumaki clan away, then their strategic goal for this mission would be a complete failure. Once the Uzumaki clan entered the Konoha Hidden Village, the two would truly become one entity, rather than the Konoha Hidden Village and the Land of Whirlpools.
Thus, Hozuki Gengetsu intended to immediately pursue them and prevent further retreat. Although those around him also sensed the gravity of the situation, they tried to persuade Hozuki Gengetsu that it would be best to wait for the main force to arrive before giving chase.
During these days, the Hidden Mist ninjas had personally witnessed Sarutobi Hiruzen's power. The number of Konoha ninjas was not large, but under the leadership of Sarutobi Hiruzen, they had blocked their attacks. In this regard, although Hozuki Gengetsu, as their leader, was also very powerful, he was not as formidable as Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Hozuki Gengetsu's expression was grim, but he had to admit that his confidant made sense. Their casualties were severe, and morale had plummeted after multiple failed attacks. Chasing them under these circumstances would likely not yield any valuable results, but watching the enemy retreat without action could mean missing a crucial opportunity.
"Where is the main force now?" Hozuki Gengetsu asked.
"I heard the vanguard is almost here, but the samurai army is still behind," a confidant immediately replied.
"Hmph, only our Hidden Mist ninjas are trustworthy. Samurai are always slow and only useful when a large number are assembled," Hozuki Gengetsu sneered.
The Hidden Mist ninjas shared the same opinion of samurai. As the status of ninja villages rose, and ninjas inherently surpassed most samurai in individual strength, they naturally looked down on these samurai who required human wave tactics to contain a ninja village. However, mockery aside, the sheer numbers of samurai still posed a significant threat and remained a force not to be underestimated, though this didn't stop Hozuki Gengetsu and others from verbally mocking them.
Fortunately, the samurai who were originally here did not hear Hozuki Gengetsu's words. Of course, even if they had, they would have been helpless.
Hozuki Gengetsu glanced into the distance and said, "We'll wait for the vanguard to arrive, then immediately set off in pursuit. If we wait for those slow samurai, the enemy might have already left this country!"
The ninjas' mobility was indeed extraordinary. Places impassable for large samurai armies were like flat ground for small groups of ninjas. About three hours later, the vanguard of the Hidden Mist Village arrived. Leading this force was an elite jonin from the Yuki clan within the Hidden Mist Village, named Kessho.
The Yuki clan was the family of the young boy named Haku, skilled in the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai. This was not the pseudo-Ice Release found in the Land of Snow, but a true Kekkei Genkai. Although in the later generations of the Hidden Mist Village, it was almost wiped out due to the Fourth Mizukage's policy of rejecting Kekkei Genkai, the Yuki clan was currently flourishing, a prominent family alongside the Hozuki clan in the Hidden Mist Village. Meishu Bar
"Hmm? Gengetsu, where are the people from the Land of Whirlpools?" As someone from the same village, Kessho naturally knew Hozuki Gengetsu, and their relationship was quite good normally. He first greeted him, then, seeing Hozuki Gengetsu and his group still in the town, he asked in surprise.
"The enemy abandoned the city and fled," Hozuki Gengetsu said, a hint of resentment in his voice. The enemy avoiding battle undoubtedly caused great trouble for his retaliation, but since things had come to this, he couldn't just complain. He explained the current situation to Kessho, stating that they should hurry and intercept them.
"I heard the opponent is that Sarutobi Hiruzen. I didn't expect him to be so powerful," Kessho said, looking at the bandages wrapped around Hozuki Gengetsu, subtly noticing burn marks. His heart immediately trembled. He didn't have much understanding of Sarutobi Hiruzen's strength, but he was very clear about Hozuki Gengetsu's power.
"Indeed, he is the biggest problem. One person can replace a thousand soldiers. As long as we can take him down, their few remaining people will be nothing but paper tigers, easily pierced," Hozuki Gengetsu recalled Sarutobi Hiruzen's continuous ninja attacks from earlier, a scene like a raging storm that completely prevented the army's power from being utilized.
"Even Sarutobi Hiruzen can't hold out against so many of us. He is human, after all, not a god. No matter how strong he is, there will be a time when his strength gives out," Kessho said.
"The two of us will go together. At the very least, we can tie him down for a while, and then…" Hozuki Gengetsu didn't need to finish; the other person understood his meaning.
As long as the difference in strength wasn't a huge gap, several Jonin could handle a Kage. With good luck, they might even win. Hozuki Gengetsu had personally fought Sarutobi Hiruzen and knew that in a one-on-one fight, he would definitely lose. But if he brought Kessho, a Jonin, and some well-coordinated Chunin, they could tie down Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Once Sarutobi Hiruzen, the biggest enemy, was tied down, the rest would be negligible. Even the elites of the Konoha Hidden Village wouldn't be able to make waves against overwhelming numbers. Even if they couldn't take down Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately, how long could he last fighting alone after his comrades were dealt with one by one?
Hozuki Gengetsu thought that if they could kill Sarutobi Hiruzen in this war, even if the Uzumaki clan escaped, the Hidden Mist Village's sacrifice of lives wouldn't be in vain. A genius like Sarutobi Hiruzen was rare, appearing only once every few decades. Losing such a person would be a massive loss for the Konoha Hidden Village.
On a direct battlefield, Sarutobi Hiruzen alone could provide strategic value. While several Jonin could delay or even defeat Sarutobi Hiruzen, there was usually no such opportunity on a direct battlefield, as he wasn't alone but had many comrades behind him, making his actions more flexible.
But now, with only a small number of Konoha ninjas by his side, while he himself supported the entire situation, and the enemy Hidden Mist Village was numerous and powerful, such a good opportunity lay before them; no one would choose to give it up.
In other words, even with significant sacrifices, if Sarutobi Hiruzen could be permanently kept here, it would be worth it. This way of evaluating value was common among these high-level ninjas; even sacrificing a life to trick an opponent into using a powerful ninjutsu was acceptable.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go quickly. Hopefully, those guys are still en route. If they've already entered the town, then it's no different from before," Kessho said.
"You don't need to tell me," Hozuki Gengetsu chuckled, then began issuing orders, reorganizing the troops, and immediately setting out. As for the samurai army, they would have to wait until they were fully assembled before catching up with the Hidden Mist ninja forces.
Although he could only wait in place, Hozuki Gengetsu wasn't doing nothing. He dispatched a reconnaissance squad to track the enemy's movements, leaving markers along the way. With these, Hozuki Gengetsu and his group quickly caught up, without wasting time in the investigation process.
Upon seeing the dispatched reconnaissance squad, Hozuki Gengetsu asked if they had any new intelligence. The squad replied that they had located Sarutobi Hiruzen and his group, but the terrain ahead was much more complex, making the investigation very difficult, which was why they had waited for the main force to arrive.
Hozuki Gengetsu looked ahead and saw a small forest with intricate and difficult terrain, a perfect place for ninjas. Setting up some traps here could delay everyone's progress, and if an ambush were laid, it would be a fierce battle.
"Do you think Sarutobi Hiruzen might be ambushing us here?" Kessho asked at this moment.
"If it were me, yes. Compared to their main objective, sacrificing some people to stay here is completely worth it. I just don't know if Sarutobi Hiruzen himself will stay," Hozuki Gengetsu said.
"Then it depends on the strength of the forces Sarutobi Hiruzen is leading. You've fought them, what do you think?" Kessho asked again.
"I don't know. Sarutobi Hiruzen performed too exceptionally. I can only say that the basic quality of those people is acceptable; at least they won't hold anyone back," Hozuki Gengetsu said.
"Then that's troublesome. According to my intuition, Sarutobi Hiruzen is very likely to set an ambush here. Don't forget, they still have Uzumaki clan ninjas with them. This is the Land of Whirlpools' home ground; they are very familiar with it, and we are not. Plus, the terrain ahead is very suitable for ninja combat," Kessho said.
"You have a point. It seems we need to be careful," Hozuki Gengetsu said, reaching out to touch his burned skin. Even with medicine and the Water Transformation Secret Technique to cool it down, Hozuki Gengetsu could still feel a stinging sensation, tormenting his nerves.
This feeling had accompanied Hozuki Gengetsu for a long time, making his emotions somewhat irritable. He somewhat hoped that Sarutobi Hiruzen really had an ambush in the forest, so he could openly fight Sarutobi Hiruzen and make him taste the humiliation he had suffered.
Thinking this, Hozuki Gengetsu took a deep breath, waved his hand forward, and led everyone into the forest. Inside the forest, the lurking ninjas had already noticed the enemy's arrival and began secretly relaying messages, preparing for battle.