The first wave of attackers—
Fifteen hundred Kirigakure shinobi.
Not a single one managed to reach the two-hundred-meter mark.
Those who stopped in place to use ninjutsu and resist Konoha's Fire Release were trapped where they stood by endless Phoenix Sage flames, unable to move.
Those who ignored everything and charged forward lost the cover of Water Release. One by one, they were struck by the dense rainstorm of fire, collapsing along the road of their charge and becoming piles of burning bonfires.
There were also Kirigakure shinobi who were so terrified by death that they lost their minds and dared to turn back.
Naturally, they were caught by the bloodline clan shinobi serving as supervising troops and beheaded as traitors.
At this moment, the chaos on the battlefield only intensified.
The shouts of killing, screams, orders to attack, the crackling of flames, and the hiss of steam from clashing Water Release and Fire Release echoed into the sky.
Flames and all kinds of Water Release collided again and again, bursting into clouds of white steam. Dense mist created by the Hidden Mist Technique drifted everywhere.
Everyone's sight and hearing were severely weakened.
Kirigakure shinobi on the battlefield could no longer receive any orders.
Kirigakure's upper ranks had completely lost control.
The only thing they could do was capture and execute retreating Kirigakure shinobi—
Then send even more shinobi into the battlefield.
Konoha's side was also heavily affected.
The Uchiha had no idea whether their ninjutsu hit anything. They couldn't see whether any Water Release attacks were flying toward them either.
But that didn't matter.
The Uchiha were only following their squad leaders' orders, continuously firing Phoenix Sage Fire at fixed locations.
Whether they hit enemies or not was irrelevant.
Besides, they were all crouching in their individual pits.
Each pit was three meters deep. A shinobi standing inside couldn't even expose his head above the ground.
There was no need to worry about being hit by Water Release.
If some Water Release actually managed to hit a single-person pit—
Then heaven wanted you dead.
No one could save you.
For this battle, Kirigakure's upper ranks had gathered a full nine thousand shinobi.
An operation of this scale couldn't possibly be hidden from the enemies on the battlefield.
Konoha shinobi and Kumogakure shinobi had both followed.
At this moment, they too were drawn in by the fierce, clamorous battlefield.
Who knew how many reconnaissance shinobi saw this terrifying and incomprehensible scene?
Some even began doubting their lives.
Why could less than a hundred Fire Release users suppress two or three thousand Water Release users so badly that they couldn't advance a single step and suffered heavy casualties?
Was the principle that Water Release countered Fire Release wrong?
On the battlefield, Fire Release clearly extinguished when it met Water Release.
Yet the overall situation was that dense Fire Release was suppressing Water Release that likewise filled the sky.
The great battle also attracted true top-tier shinobi.
Konoha's Cold Lord, Orochimaru.
And Kumogakure's Third Raikage.
Almost at the same time, they both saw the secret behind Fire Release's advantage.
It was not that Fire Release countered Water Release.
It was that order and discipline crushed chaos and disorder.
Konoha's shinobi unit had strict discipline and a tight formation. They used the exact same Fire Release, continuously and evenly scattering it over Kirigakure's heads.
Kirigakure's shinobi, on the other hand, were in complete chaos.
Each acted on their own. The Water Release techniques they used varied wildly, and the interference between them was even greater than their resistance against the flames.
Only scattered Water Release attacks could counterattack toward Konoha's side.
Yet Konoha's shinobi were hidden in deep pits.
Scattered water bullets and water columns posed no threat at all.
Orochimaru and the Third Raikage each mentally placed their own subordinates into the battlefield, replacing Kirigakure's shinobi and Konoha's shinobi respectively.
And they discovered—
If defending, their forces could not match Konoha's strict, continuous coordination.
If attacking, they could not do better than Kirigakure.
Both couldn't help drawing in a cold breath.
They confirmed the strength of this Konoha unit.
After that, the two men's moods became completely different.
Orochimaru was delighted.
After all, this was a unit under his command.
Whatever secrets it had, Uchiha Yoru didn't even need to tell him. He could casually obtain them.
With Konoha's endless resources and manpower behind him, if he copied several elite shinobi units like this, both his future and Konoha's future would become highly promising.
Orochimaru chuckled.
There was no one around him, so he laughed especially freely, revealing a strong inhuman quality.
"Uchiha Yoru… last time, I thought he resembled the Second Hokage."
"Now, he looks even more like him."
"No matter how you look at it, the Tiger Unit represents the future direction of shinobi military corps."
"Konoha has once again stepped ahead of the shinobi world in system design."
"Good."
"Very good."
Unlike Orochimaru, the Third Raikage's mood was filled with both worry and joy, tangled in contradiction.
Konoha had opened an entirely new path in the construction of shinobi units.
Just like when the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, created the shinobi village system.
With so many resources and outstanding shinobi, Konoha might very well lead the world by decades again.
There was no need to even consider the distant future.
As long as this model spread, Kumogakure would be easily suppressed by Konoha in this war, recreating the absolute dominance of forty years ago.
When would Kumogakure's future come?
When could they surpass Konoha and become the number one shinobi village?
The Third Raikage looked deeply toward the center of the battlefield and asked,
"Does anyone know anything about this Konoha unit?"
The staff officers surrounding him quickly racked their brains, searching through everything they knew related to Konoha.
But soon, everyone shook their heads.
As their representative, Dodai stepped forward and answered the Raikage's question.
"Raikage-sama, we have not received any intelligence related to this unit."
The Third Raikage did not seem angry.
He said calmly,
"Then focus on collecting intelligence on this unit."
"Activate our spies. Gather information at any cost."
He turned to Dodai and said,
"I believe Kumogakure's elite unit should look like this."
"So do everything possible."
"Collect the most detailed intelligence."
"If anyone can obtain this unit's selection criteria and specific training methods, no matter who they are, I will reward them heavily."
"Dodai, tell everyone in the intelligence department."
"As long as they get it, every participant will receive an S-rank mission record."
"Everyone."
"I understand, Raikage-sama. I'll issue this priority mission to everyone."
"No. You still don't understand enough, Dodai."
The Third Raikage pointed toward the center of the battlefield and said seriously,
"Look."
"A shinobi unit of only a few dozen people can suppress enemies twenty or even thirty times their number."
"This is too great a change."
"It is as important as forty-three years ago, when Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara founded Konoha."
"Any force that fails to keep up with the changes of the era will be eliminated by the rolling tide of history."
"The Uzumaki clan of the Land of Whirlpools relied on their strength. Not only did they establish an independent country, they also created a one-clan shinobi village."
"No matter how strong that village was, it was no different from the ninja clans of the past."
"They could not absorb outstanding people from among civilians."
"That meant they lacked a foundation."
"Look at that cheap little Kusagakure."
"We destroyed them. Iwagakure destroyed them. Sunagakure and Konoha both did it too."
"And yet they rebuilt every time."
"There is also Amegakure."
"During the last war, it was repeatedly trampled by the three Great Shinobi Villages. How many times was Amegakure broken through?"
"And yet each time, they repaired the buildings and continued to exist."
"No matter how strong Hanzo is, he cannot compare to the entire Uzushiogakure."
"Then why could they rebuild?"
"Because they had large numbers of civilians and civilian shinobi."
"Those who could enjoy peace and stability inside a shinobi village, those who could continuously provide civilian shinobi—"
"They are the foundation of a shinobi village."
"Not us high-level shinobi."
"Any force without that foundation cannot survive the tide of the era."
"That is why after the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed and Uzushiogakure was ruined, it could never rebuild."
"It disappeared completely."
The Third Raikage sighed.
"Now, look."
"A new trend of power has appeared."
"One that can change the balance between shinobi villages and create an era gap."
"Kumogakure absolutely cannot miss it."
"Otherwise, we may vanish from history just like Uzushiogakure."
"Now do you understand your responsibility?"
"We understand, Raikage-sama!"
Only then did the Third Raikage nod in satisfaction.
He looked once more at the battlefield locked in fierce combat and frowned.
"Very impressive."
"But not enough people."
"At least fifty short."
"That leaves the center relying on coverage from both sides."
"As long as Kirigakure continues attacking, they'll eventually pass through the gap in the center."
"How do they plan to deal with that?"
…
Kirigakure's shinobi were being beaten too miserably.
When their counterattacks became increasingly disappointing, they instinctively began using Hidden Mist Technique to shield themselves.
After the Kirigakure shinobi hid inside the thick fog, they could no longer see the flames filling the sky.
Nor could they see the flames landing not far from them.
Even the screams of other shinobi grew quieter.
The clamorous battlefield suddenly became quiet.
All of this made the Kirigakure shinobi feel at ease.
It gave them the illusion that Hidden Mist Technique had truly protected them.
So they focused even harder on using it—
Until several Phoenix Sage flames, guided by fate, happened to strike their bodies, knocking them to the ground and burning them into human-shaped bonfires.
The Uchiha of the Tiger Unit were only following orders, continuously attacking fixed locations.
Whether there were enemies there or not—
They didn't care.
So whether Hidden Mist Technique was present or not—
Naturally, it made no difference.
Those who should die—
Still died.
The illusion made more and more shinobi use Hidden Mist Technique.
The fog grew thicker and thicker.
Kirigakure's upper ranks quickly went from being unable to see the battlefield clearly to being completely blind.
They didn't know what was happening at the front line.
They only knew that close combat with Konoha still had not begun.
To win, they could only pour in shinobi without regard for cost, attempting to crush Konoha through absolute numerical superiority and open a path to victory.
Any shinobi knew that killing a shinobi with C-rank Fire Release was an absurd lie.
Truly lethal Fire Release techniques were all B-rank.
Therefore—
The screams at the front line.
The complaints.
All of them were fake.
They were attempts by the small clan shinobi and civilian shinobi to deceive their commanders, hoping to retreat and avoid danger.
Not a single Kirigakure commander realized that the shinobi at the front were suffering terrifying slaughter and enormous casualties.
They stubbornly believed that the shinobi who rushed to the front were not dead.
They were merely attacking passively.
Some might even be pretending to be dead in a corner.
It wasn't as if such things had never happened.
Among the civilian shinobi at the bottom of Kirigakure, pretending to be dead was actually a very common trick.
The upper-level shinobi despised this greatly.
But that was only because they didn't understand.
The reason was very simple.
The money wasn't enough.
For the same mission standard and the same mission difficulty, Kirigakure civilian shinobi completing wartime missions received only one-fifth of the bonuses paid to Konoha or Kumogakure shinobi.
Although all Kirigakure shinobi received the same official rate, the shinobi from great clans received subsidies from their clans. Their total income was not lower than shinobi from other villages.
Civilian shinobi had no clans.
Where would their subsidies come from?
Small clans had no money to subsidize their own shinobi either.
After all, money didn't fall from the sky.
What made people most dissatisfied was this—
The money the great clans used for subsidies was not earned by themselves.
Nor was it profit from their industries.
It was skimmed from the military funds allocated by the village.
It was the same trick as the armies of the late Ming dynasty.
Commanders intercepted eighty percent of military funds and used it to subsidize their own direct household troops.
As for the soldiers at the bottom—
As long as they didn't starve to death, that was enough.
There was no wall in the world that didn't leak wind.
Especially inside a shinobi village.
How could so-called secrets like this stay hidden for forty years?
The small clans and civilians had known long ago.
Of course they weren't willing to fight hard in war.
Pretending to be dead was already a fairly gentle method.
Those with real tempers had long since defected.
Although becoming missing-nin was even more dangerous, they might actually earn more money than they did as Kirigakure shinobi during wartime.
No wonder Kirigakure was the main source of wandering ninja.
Just like French generals, none of the commanders from the three great bloodline clans went forward to take even one look.
They simply issued orders for the lower-level shinobi to go die.
But by sheer accident—
As lives continued piling up, the safe route within the dense flames was discovered.
At last, Kirigakure shinobi passed through the fire coverage area from the front and entered within one hundred fifty meters.
There were quite a few of them.
Several hundred.
Uchiha Yoru stood precisely at the gap in the fire coverage.
Seeing that Kirigakure shinobi had broken through, he blew the copper whistle again, signaling the Tiger Unit members on both sides to shift their fire back.
The entire frontal direction would be left to him.
Then he formed hand seals and pressed his hand to the ground.
A radial summoning array spread out.
Summoning Technique · Rika-chan, Come Here.
Miwa Masayo answered the summons.
She arrived with a bright smile.
"I knew you'd need my help at this time, nya. I'm already prepared, nya."
Yoru smiled as well.
"Nekosuke didn't come. You deliberately stopped him?"
"Nya. Isn't one cat sage enough, nya?"
"Hahaha. Enough. More than enough."
"Really, nya? Yoru, for the Cat Castle's sake, I didn't let Nekosuke come with me. You won't blame me, nya…"
"I won't. Of course I won't."
"Rika-chan, your thinking was correct. I was the one who misjudged this."
Yoru lifted Miwa Masayo and placed her on his right shoulder, explaining seriously,
"I overestimated how much risk the Cat Castle could bear, and underestimated my own position and strength."
"Now that I've reexamined it, I realized I overestimated the harm that great fame might bring."
"And I also greatly underestimated the impact of fighting alongside two cat sages from the Cat Castle."
"I'm sorry, Miwa Masayo."
"It's fine, it's fine, nya."
The tabby cat's eyes curved happily.
She rubbed her head hard against her servant's cheek again and again.
"Yoru, I'm very happy you figured it out—and that you don't blame me for acting on my own, nya."
Yoru laughed loudly.
"Rika-chan, how could I blame you for acting on your own?"
"Not only was your decision right, it prevented a mistake that would have caused me enormous harm in the future."
"And even if you were wrong, so what?"
"Rika-chan, you came here yourself to face Kirigakure's army with me."
"We'll fight side by side."
"I'm very happy."
"Nya. You and I are Dao companions, nya. We should fight side by side, nya!"
"Right."
"Rika-chan, you are my Dao companion."
Suddenly, the roars of Kirigakure shinobi interrupted the two sages' heartfelt exchange.
They rushed toward Yoru, carrying the smell of smoke and flame—
Some even still had fire burning on them.
Weapons raised.
"Kill————!"
Yoru's eyes became incomparably sharp.
He looked at the enemies with killing intent in his gaze, cold metallic words forcing themselves through his teeth.
"Gather natural energy for me."
"Cover me."
"Let's work together and set a great fire."
Miwa Masayo stood up.
She jumped from his shoulder to the top of his head, gathering fire-aspected natural energy with all her strength and concentrating it in her mouth.
Yoru clasped his hands together.
He mobilized the natural energy inside his pathways, squeezed massive amounts of Fire Release chakra from the cells of his body, and gathered it between his hands.
Orochimaru stared in surprise at the tabby cat that had suddenly appeared.
He recognized her.
A cat sage from the Cat Castle.
And he recognized that she was gathering power—
Power he could not sense.
"Natural energy!"
He guessed it almost instantly.
Then, with a swish, he pulled two paper talismans from his robe.
One was the natural energy testing paper sent by Sunagakure from that nature sage.
The other was Orochimaru's imitation.
Sure enough—
The imitation natural energy testing talisman rapidly changed color, proving that a high concentration of natural energy had gathered nearby.
When the color change ended, Orochimaru carefully placed the two talismans together.
Then he smiled.
"Good."
"That nature sage isn't Uchiha Yoru."
"Finding a rival inside Konoha isn't easy."
"If Uchiha Yoru were Konoha's enemy, that would be far too regrettable."
After speaking, Orochimaru carefully preserved the newly changed talisman, preventing it from fading or changing further in the future.
Then he wrote seven words on it—
Cat Castle, Miwa Masayo.
And carefully put it away.
At that moment—
A pillar of flame soaring into the sky illuminated the entire battlefield.
Even Orochimaru, watching from such a distance, could feel the radiant heat traveling across the air.
He looked toward the battlefield in shock.
Uchiha Yoru and Miwa Masayo atop his head had blown forward at the same time.
The enormous flames they released swallowed more than a hundred Kirigakure shinobi charging toward them, then rolled forward with unstoppable force.
Orochimaru stared blankly.
Only after a long while did he mutter,
"How is this Uchiha Tobirama?"
"This is clearly the legendary Uchiha Madara."
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> [email protected]/SorenSwiftTL (replace @ with a)