On the Cloud Village side, the team was led by the ninja duo known as A and Killer B. As for Konoha, Namikaze Minato, already appointed as the commander, urgently led the vanguard troops toward the front.
That very day, Minato arrived at the border alone at an astonishing speed. Relying on the Flying Thunder God Technique, he instantly killed dozens of elite Cloud Village ninja. His strength was widely acknowledged to be at Kage level, and the title "Yellow Flash" had begun to spread.
"Namikaze Minato… his strength is actually at Kage level?"
"The Flying Thunder God Technique…"
Akashō narrowed his eyes. Setting aside Minato, who had risen to fame in a single battle, the Lightning-Fire battlefield was clearly another field of ripe targets.
Moreover, geographically speaking, the Lightning-Fire battlefield was the closest to his current position on the Earth-Fire battlefield.
"Looks like the next phase of my objective will need to change."
...
"Do you think Kokushibo and that… what's his name, Bertholdt, will come again?"
Inside a large tent in the Konoha camp, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio were gathered together eating breakfast.
"Maybe."
Nara Shikaku glanced at Akimichi Chōza, who was wrapped in bandages and stuffing food into his mouth in large bites.
"But I don't think the chances are very high."
"Why?"
"No particular reason. Just a feeling."
At that answer, Yamanaka Inoichi's mouth twitched slightly.
"A feeling? Shikaku, you're not someone who believes in vague instincts like that."
Shikaku let out a sigh. "When dealing with those two, whose appearance and thinking are both far beyond normal, our usual ways of analysis won't work. We can only rely on intuition."
"If you want a reason, Kokushibo's first piece of intel came from the Wind-Fire battlefield. He caused chaos in the Sand Village camp there before disappearing. But in less than half a month, he showed up at the Earth-Fire battlefield—and brought a new figure with him."
"Following that pattern, after stirring up both sides at the Earth-Fire battlefield, they'll likely head to the next battlefield… and may even gain new… members."
"And the closest battlefield to us right now is the newly ignited Lightning-Fire battlefield. If they have intelligence sources, they'll most likely head there. If not, then they'll probably go to the Wind-Water battlefield."
Inoichi nodded thoughtfully. "I see…"
"By the way, do you know if Kokushibo has any other title?"
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Inoichi replied, "Moon Sword Demon?"
Shikaku shook his head.
"Your attention's been completely taken by what Kokushibo has done. You didn't notice that in the intel, there was another title listed before that."
"Twelve Demon Moons, Upper Rank One."
Under Inoichi's stunned gaze, Shikaku frowned deeply.
"We've all faced Kokushibo up close. Inoichi, do you remember anything unusual about his six eyes?"
Inoichi thought back and suddenly said, "His eyes seemed to have the characters 'Upper Rank' and 'One' written in them!"
"Exactly. That's likely a marker of his identity—or a symbol."
"Behind him, there must be a powerful organization hidden beneath the surface. That Bertholdt, who can transform into a giant the size of a tailed beast, is very likely also one of the so-called Twelve Demon Moons. And their seemingly random, meaningless actions must be hiding some unspeakable secret."
It took Inoichi a while to digest everything Shikaku had said.
"But that Bertholdt… I don't remember seeing any markings in his eyes."
"Who said it has to be in the eyes?"
Shikaku calmly continued, "And based on my guess, the monstrous form Kokushibo showed us is likely, just like Bertholdt, a manifestation of some kind of power. His true form is probably an ordinary human, just like Bertholdt."
"And in Bertholdt's Colossal Titan form, did you ever get a clear look at his eyes?"
Inoichi was left speechless. "Well… the giant was far too tall. You couldn't see its eyes clearly at all…"
"Come to think of it, this kind of transformation ability is almost like a jinchūriki."
Shikaku took a sip of tea.
"As if either Kokushibo or Bertholdt is any weaker than a jinchūriki."
"True enough."
Inoichi scratched his head. "Then shouldn't this hypothesis of yours be reported to the higher-ups as soon as possible?"
"The intel has already been sent."
Resting his chin on his hand, Shikaku continued,
"I already predicted where Kokushibo and Bertholdt would go under both scenarios—whether they have an intelligence source or not. If my prediction hits, it'll confirm whether there really is an unknown organization behind them."
"But honestly, there's no need to worry too much. After a battle of that scale, it's not just Konoha—every major village and force in the ninja world will know about Kokushibo and Bertholdt."
"There are no shortages of smart people in the other villages. They'll be able to deduce quite a bit of what I just analyzed."
"In a full-scale ninja war like this, those two will become an extremely unstable factor."
"The major villages won't just sit back and ignore them. At the very least, they'll secretly send people to investigate their identities and motives."
"Of course, there will also be fools who don't know their place and try to recruit them. As for how that'll end…"
Shikaku smirked faintly. "Having dealt with them, you can probably guess."
After listening carefully, Inoichi couldn't help but smile.
"They'll probably get a harsh lesson from those two lunatics."
"Heh."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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