blogombal Chapter 304 Blocking the Door, Relocation
Chapter 304 Blocking the Door, Relocation
Chapter 304 Blocking the Door, Relocation
Konoha Camp, Central Command Tent.
The atmosphere in the tent was somber. Tsunade sat at the head of the table with a cold expression, while the many Jonin below her were frowning.
"Of the three pursuit teams, only one Jonin escaped. Since the start of the war, when have we ever suffered such a loss?"
You all fought very well in the previous battles, so don't let me down now.
Tsunade tapped the armrest of her seat with her index finger, making a "thump thump thump" sound that seemed particularly loud at that moment.
Seeing that no one could come up with a solution, and that Tsunade, who was at the head of the table, was about to lose her temper, Taichi thought for a moment and then stepped forward.
It's not that no one has come up with this idea; it's just that no one wants to talk about it or take responsibility for it.
"There are so many villages along the coast. Just counting those within 30 kilometers of the coastline, there are more than 500 villages. There are so many villages that it is impossible to defend them all by simply guarding them."
We can't let Kirigakure lead us by the nose. We must take the initiative and, just like before, intercept Kirigakure on the high seas.
Once Tai started, everyone else seemed to have their minds opened, and all sorts of useful suggestions were offered.
A dozen minutes later, a battle plan was formulated.
No one mentioned that implementing this plan would inevitably require the redeployment of ninjas for reconnaissance and defense, which would inevitably cause more villages to suffer from the ravages of Kirigakure.
After the meeting, everyone left the central military camp, except for Taichi, who was kept behind by Tsunade.
No one spoke in the tent; it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
After a long silence, Tsunade finally broke it.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Weren't you just eager to speak? Why aren't you saying a word now?"
Tsunade looked at Taiichi, who was standing there silently, and kept rubbing her right hand together, suppressing the urge to slap him.
"Why are you angry, Master?" Taiyi said, feigning nonchalance. "Of course, the suggestion just now couldn't have been made by you, Master. And the Jonin of each clan wouldn't dare to take on this responsibility, so naturally, it was up to me, as your disciple, to offer a suggestion."
"Bullshit!" Tsunade slapped the armrest of the chair, and the solid wood armrest shattered into two pieces.
"I need you to take the blame for me?"
If the old man has any objections, let him remove me as commander and see who else he can use.
"I see you've grown wings now, daring to rush headlong into anything without even considering the consequences—"
Tsunade launched into a tirade, giving Tai a thorough dressing-down.
After she finally finished yelling and seemed to calm down a bit, Taiichi took some tea that he had somehow gotten his hands on and served it to Tsunade like a lackey.
"Teacher, are you thirsty? Have some water to moisten your throat."
Tsunade chuckled at his cautious manner, but then realized she had lost her composure and quickly composed herself. She took the tea he offered and drank it down in one gulp, displaying the demeanor of a heroine.
Seeing that Tsunade was no longer so angry, Taiichi then revealed his true thoughts.
"Teacher, there's really nothing wrong with this. Unlike those families that have to maintain their family's reputation, I'm just an individual. It's just that my reputation is damaged. Would the village really punish me for something like this?"
At this point, Taiyi's confidence grew, and he no longer appeared as cautious as before.
"As ninjas, strength is fundamental. With my current strength, as long as I don't betray the village, even the Hokage can only speak to me politely."
These stigmas are completely irrelevant to me —
Tsunade stared at Taiichi, who had become so confident and radiant, and was momentarily mesmerized. In that instant, she seemed to see the shadow of her grandfather, Hashirama Senju, in Taiichi—both so confident and composed.
Perhaps this is the mindset of a top-tier ninja. Although Taiichi has not yet reached his grandfather's level, his mindset already bears a resemblance to his grandfather's.
Taiyi spoke for a long time without receiving a response, so he turned his attention back to Tsunade.
Only then did Taiyi realize that she was staring at him blankly. He was speechless. It turned out that his whole performance had been for a blind person.
Tsunade realized her lapse in composure and quickly composed herself, continuing Taichi's words: "Alright, since you have this ambition, then I won't worry anymore. Indeed, ninjas value strength above all else. As long as you don't care, what does it matter if the world is in chaos?"
After a heart-to-heart talk, the two reached a consensus, and Taiyi was finally able to leave the central army camp to begin carrying out his mission.
In the following days, Kirigakure quickly noticed the changes in Konoha. Although they still maintained defenses over those villages, the intensity of their defenses had clearly decreased.
Conversely, at sea, Konoha's extermination efforts were several times stronger. They even established simple outposts on islands as transit points, extending their influence to the open sea.
Under such a large-scale attack, not only were many of the Hidden Mist's men wiped out, but their camp was also found again.
Taiyi has been arranging for shadow clones to patrol around the Hidden Mist camp for the past two days. If they launch a large-scale attack, the camp will be notified immediately to make preparations in advance.
After several attempts, the Hidden Mist Village lost a large number of men and also discovered Taiichi constantly lingering outside the camp.
Unfortunately, they couldn't hit it or catch up with it, and could only sigh in vain.
As a result, although the losses were significant in the early stages, no more reports of village attacks came in after Taiichi had taken notice of the Mist Village camp.
Fog Concealment Camp.
This time, the atmosphere was somber on the Hidden Mist side. Although there were quite a few people in the tent, no one spoke. They were either looking down and counting on their fingers or deep in thought with their eyes closed.
Now that new supplies have arrived from the rear, the camp is no longer short of supplies, which should be a cause for celebration. However, new problems have arisen.
Their entire Mist Shadow unit was blocked at the door by just one person, and the worst part was that they couldn't do anything about it.
"They're all mute, why aren't they saying anything at a time like this!"
The Third Mizukage, seated at the head of the table, could not contain his anger and slammed his hand on the armrest of his chair, making a loud "bang" sound.
Yagura Karatachi was originally a confidant of the Third Hokage. Although he has been dismissed from his post, the relationship is still there. Naturally, he can't just watch his boss perform a one-man show.
"Although Matsushita Taichi is powerful, he is ultimately just one person. We have more people, so at worst we can divide our forces into several groups and create a false impression, which will definitely mislead him."
The Third Mizukage glanced at Yagura Karatachi, understood his intentions, and refrained from commenting on his thankless suggestion, simply nodding in affirmation.
Seeing this, the others knew they could no longer remain silent and began to express their own thoughts.
"Why do we have to stay out to sea? Why not just set up camp on land? It's so far from the mainland, and there's nowhere to hide on the vast ocean. That's why Matsushita Taichi can monitor the entire camp all by himself."
This was truly a brilliant suggestion. Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, recalling why they had chosen to set up camp on the open sea.
It seemed—it appeared—everyone's gaze turned to Yagura Karatachi and Asuka Minazuki, their eyes filled with sympathy and—doubt.
It was the two of them who suggested that, in order to prevent harassment from the main force of Konoha, and given the recent defeat of the army, they urgently needed to reorganize, so they moved the camp to the open sea.
In retrospect, this did indeed prevent the main force of Konoha from attacking, but it also restricted their own actions, allowing Konoha to keep an eye on the entire camp's movements with just Matsushita Taichi.
The Third Mizukage took a deep breath, calming his inner turmoil. Times had changed; the situation was just too rapidly shifting.
Before the incident, no one could have imagined that Matsushita Taichi possessed such an ability: flight, Flying Thunder God Technique, and Shadow Clone Technique. It was a perfect match for monitoring a fixed camp.
"What do you all think?" The Third Mizukage scanned the crowd, trying to see if they had any better ideas.
Everyone looked at each other, and in the end, they all agreed on one sentence: "We will obey the orders of the Mizukage."
"In that case, let's prepare to break camp!" With that, the Water Shadow stood up, walked to a large map hanging in the tent, pointed to a point, and continued, "While Matsushita Taichi is away tonight, let's set up camp here."
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing, and their faces immediately showed surprise.
That place is more than a thousand kilometers away from the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools, so it can be said that it is a completely different battlefield.
Seemingly noticing the puzzled looks on her subordinates' faces, the Water Shadow didn't wait for them to ask and began to explain on her own.
"This battlefield is now covered with Konoha's spies, making it difficult for us to land and set up camp. In addition, that sea area is closer to the Land of Wind, so we can also use them to draw some of Konoha's attention."
Although everyone felt that the Mizukage's explanation was somewhat far-fetched, it did make some sense. In addition, since the leader had already made a decision, their ninja instincts prevented them from raising any objections.
Taiichi was unaware of Kirigakure's decision. His shadow clones constantly hovered near Kirigakure's camp, and as long as Kirigakure didn't make any major moves, he wouldn't bother with it.
After all, he was just a shadow clone with limited chakra. Maintaining flight for an extended period was already difficult enough, and he didn't want to waste his limited life doing anything else.
Meanwhile, Taiyi's true form remained secluded in the camp, engaging in seemingly tedious training day after day.
If there's any change, it's that during this period, whenever Kai and the other two have free time, they shamelessly come to train with Taiyi.
Of course, this is something Taiyi is happy to see. Helping these friends grow better is something that benefits Taiyi from any perspective.
In the training field, screams of pain could be heard from time to time, which showed how hard Kai and his team trained.
However, none of this affected Taiyi's own efforts.
With shoulders relaxed and elbows dropped, waist and stance in perfect harmony, one can move with extraordinary power even within a small space.
With mind and breath in harmony, breath and intention in harmony, and essence, energy, and spirit united, Taiyi was now completely immersed in the training of advanced physical techniques.
Every punch and kick is an extension of will and mental strength, with every muscle in the body moving together in a coordinated and orderly manner.
At a certain moment, Taiyi threw a punch with all his might, and his entire body seemed to achieve a kind of unity. An indescribable feeling of comfort arose from within his body and then swept through his entire body like an electric shock.
A tingling, numbing sensation ran through his body, and once it subsided, Taiyi discovered a thin layer of oil seeping from his skin.
If you raise your hand and smell it, there's a faint fishy odor.
This—could it be the legendary cleansing of essence and marrow, though it looks like a severely weakened version?
Even so, it was still impressive. With his fists clenched, Taiyi felt a significant increase in power within his body and a genuine smile appeared on his face.
However, this smile was quickly overshadowed by an unusual feeling throughout her body; the greasy sensation was indeed not comfortable.
He formed a hand seal, and a swirling stream of water rose from his feet, quickly engulfing his entire body from bottom to top.
The rapidly rotating water flow was like invisible little hands, scraping away every bit of grease from Taiyi's body.
With a wave of his hand, Taiyi sent water carrying away the filth to the open space beside him. Taiyi changed his hand seal, and flames swirled around his body. In less than a minute, he was dry again.
Only then did Taiyi have time to look at his own panel.
[You have engaged in advanced physical training, and your related understanding has improved!]
Your physical skills have been upgraded, experience points +1.
Congratulations! Your advanced physical skills have been upgraded to Lv8 (1/9000)
Congratulations! After a long period of training, your Strength has increased by 1 and your Agility by 1.
It was truly a fruitful experience. Although Taiyi did not enter that special state where he could observe natural energy again this time, he was still very satisfied.
Every bit of growth in his physical attributes was laying a solid foundation for Taiyi's body. He believed that if his physical attributes reached a certain level, mastering natural energy would be a piece of cake.
The following day, when Taiyi's shadow clone reappeared above the Hidden Mist Camp, he immediately noticed that the island below was now completely empty.
So... has Kirigakure given up in the face of difficulties?
An unrealistic idea popped into Taiichi's mind.
He folded his wings and swooped down toward the island. As he approached the ground, he unfolded his wings again, and a whirlwind surrounded him, allowing him to land steadily on the ground.
Entering the abandoned camp, Taiyi carefully examined the remaining traces—cold charcoal fires, messy footprints,
And the leftover food.
All indications suggest that the Mist Ninja set off to evacuate shortly after he left yesterday; calculating the time, it has been 9 days since then.
Hours.
Taiyi didn't dare to be negligent. His shadow clone used Flying Thunder God Technique again to return to the camp. He didn't stop and headed straight for the central army tent.
At this moment, the central army camp was also extremely lively. In the past two days, apart from the ninjas on rotation, everyone in the camp had been running around at Tsunade's beck and call.
The staff officers in the camp were also extremely busy. Intelligence reports were collected and compiled into orders, which were then analyzed, deployed, and issued from their hands.
This entire team is the foundation upon which Konoha is able to accurately snipe the Hidden Mist ninja; it's not something that can be achieved by Taichi alone working hard on the front lines.
Meanwhile, our Commander Tsunade, in this environment where everyone is busy, is sitting comfortably in her special chair, watching her subordinates' busy work with great interest.
They euphemistically call it: giving them a stage to fully display their talents.
You know what, those few words really got his staff officers working like they were on steroids, giving them 200% of their usual enthusiasm, which really left Taiyi speechless.
At that moment, Taiichi rushed into the tent, immediately attracting Tsunade's attention.
"Lady Tsunade, the Hidden Mist's camp is empty, and their whereabouts are currently unknown!"