blogombal Chapter 297 A Bolt from the Blue
Chapter 297 A Bolt from the Blue
Chapter 297 A Bolt from the Blue
The battlefield was chaotic, filled with fighting, and ninjas would fall to the ground from time to time, never to rise again.
Blood splattered everywhere, limbs flew in all directions, and everyone stared intently at their opponents, their eyes bloodshot, fighting with abandon.
A kunai flew in from who-knows-where, perhaps dropped by Konoha, perhaps thrown by Kirigakure. There are many such stray arrows on the battlefield. In any case, this kunai crossed mountains and rivers and pierced Mizuki's shoulder without missing a beat.
The intense pain completely jolted her awake from her daze. Looking at the brutal battle around her, her long-suppressed rationality finally collapsed.
"Ah ah!"
A sharp scream escaped her lips. She cried out, clutching her head and crouching down, trembling as she cried, "Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I'm just a medical ninja! I surrender!"
Intense fear overwhelmed her, making it impossible for her to assess the situation around her.
She is currently behind the Mist Ninja and has not made direct contact with the Konoha ninja.
The Mist Ninja were also worried that these guys who had never been on the battlefield would cause problems, so they placed them in the rear to throw kunai and draw fire.
Despite all the planning, no one expected that these people would ultimately run into trouble.
With Mizuki's surrender, it was like a domino effect, triggering a chain reaction. Many of the medical and logistical ninjas who were with her suffered the same mental breakdown and surrendered, dropping their weapons.
With such a role model in place, the morale of the ninjas in battle immediately plummeted, and even the force of their counterattacks became lighter.
Fugaku, who was fighting on the front line, immediately saw an opportunity. With several loud shouts, he commanded the Konoha ninja to use this as a breakthrough point and quickly gained the upper hand.
With the victory secured at the lower level, the Konoha Chunin who had no time to maneuver immediately launched a support operation for the Jonin battlefield.
Normally, Chunin pose little threat to Jonin, but at this time, it is a true life-or-death crisis.
When Kirigakure's first Jonin was killed by Konoha's Chunin, the outcome of the battle was already decided.
Minazuki Asuka was not one to stick to her principles. After confirming that the battle was beyond saving, she immediately sounded the signal to retreat.
Ultimately, escaping offers a glimmer of hope, while staying means certain death.
The Mist Ninja desperately tried to break free from Konoha's clutches, even if it meant taking a few hard blows.
Taiichi and Yagura's battlefield was originally behind Kirigakure, and now that Kirigakure is retreating, Kirigakure ninjas are passing by them one by one.
This was intolerable for Taiichi. He was already exchanging ninjutsu with Yagura Karatachi, and now he was going all out, unleashing his ninjutsu indiscriminately in all directions, trying to kill as many Hidden Mist ninja as possible.
Yagura Karatachi naturally saw through Taichi's intentions. The battle had progressed to this point, and his guilt was undeniable. Now, he only wanted to preserve as much of Kirigakure's strength as possible.
Seizing an opportunity, when Matsushita Taichi on the other side released that bright golden flame again at just the right moment, he quickly formed hand seals.
Water Release: Water Mirror Technique.
The water flowed out of thin air in front of him, swirling and circling into a circle before quickly solidifying into a water mirror.
The water mirror was larger than him, and Yagura, who was standing behind it, had to use the iron staff in his hand to hook the top of the water mirror.
At this moment, Taiichi's figure was clearly reflected in the water mirror. As Yagura's iron staff shook behind him, the reflected Taiichi seemed to come alive and began to move on his own.
As it ran outwards, it began to form hand seals, completing them the instant it stepped out of the water mirror.
Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation Arrow.
Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation Arrow.
The two fire-style attacks collided, the bright golden flames clashing against each other, unleashing a power greater than 1+1=2.
A violent shockwave, centered on the point where the ninjutsu clashed, radiated outwards with immense force.
Taiyi and the mirror image were immediately blasted away by the shockwave. While in mid-air, Taiyi spread his wings and tumbled several times before regaining his balance.
The mirror image shattered completely, but since it was a disposable item, no one cared if it broke.
Those Kirigakure ninjas who were closer were not so lucky.
The scorching heatwave, mixed with a large number of bright golden flames, swept across an area of hundreds of meters like a rain of fire.
Many of the Mist Ninja who couldn't dodge in time were turned into fire people by this ninjutsu wave.
It's unclear who Yagura was actually helping by doing this.
However, the answer soon became clear: the ground, which had just been soaked by seawater, immediately began to boil with water vapor under such high temperatures, and a thick fog quickly spread around.
Moreover, through his chakra perception, Taiyi immediately detected four or five familiar chakra fluctuations. Then, the surrounding fog thickened even more, reaching a point where one could not see their own hand in front of their face.
The fleeing Mist Ninja plunged headlong into the thick fog, while the Konoha Ninja who were pursuing them hesitated to advance.
This is clearly a distorted and enhanced version of the Hidden Mist Technique. Fighting in a place like this is obviously not something the Konoha ninjas want to do.
Taiichi landed, and Fugaku and Hiashi caught up, but they both looked rather disheveled. Hiashi had many wounds on his body, indicating that the battle they had just fought was not easy.
"How's it going? Can we get around it?" Fugaku asked Hiashi Hyuga beside him, panting heavily.
Hiashi activated his Byakugan to its fullest extent, scanning his surroundings. However, due to the dense chakra interference within the Hidden Mist Technique, his Byakugan couldn't see clearly.
However, judging from the width of these two sides, they cover a range of at least two kilometers, not to mention how wide they are.
Hijika shook his head helplessly and said with regret, "By the time we went around them, they had already disappeared."
As he spoke, Hiashi couldn't help but look at Taiichi with resentment. He could see clearly that it was the clash of Taiichi's ninjutsu that caused such a large fog.
The ability to conceal themselves from the fog was only possible because of the combined power of the fog; it was a matter of perfect timing, location, and people. Otherwise, they could never have accomplished something of this scale, no matter how hard they tried.
Taiichi felt his scalp tingle under Hiashi's gaze. He hadn't expected Yagura to have this move. The power of the ninjutsu clash left him somewhat shaken.
This was a complete replica of his Fire Release technique from back then, without the slightest deviation; it was truly an amazing ninjutsu.
Judging from his hand seals, it must have been a Water Release technique. I never imagined that Water Release could have such power. It seems that my understanding of ninjutsu is still too shallow, and I haven't grasped the true essence of ninjutsu.
While Taiichi was reflecting on this, Fugaku still felt resentful, as he was quite frustrated that he had not achieved complete success in the battle.
"We'll chase them even if we have to take a detour. There are still quite a few chuunibyou and genin in Kirigakure who are trying to escape. While the jonin can walk on water for a long time to escape, the chuunibyou and genin can't. They'll be caught up with sooner or later."
He spoke through gritted teeth, and Taiyi turned around to look, his keen senses immediately noticing something amiss.
Perhaps because he often helped Yangping with his treatments, in the ninja world today, apart from Uchiha Madara, no one understands the Mangekyou Sharingan better than him.
The fluctuation in Fugaku's eyes at this moment resembled a sign of the awakening of a kaleidoscope.
Unfortunately, it was still a little short!
However, Taiichi guessed it: one of Fugaku's friends or relatives must have died in front of him during the battle just now, and he was now provoked.
War is always cruel; having the upper hand does not guarantee your safety.
Unexpected stray arrows and flying ninjutsu mean that even a Jonin can die at the hands of a Genin if he is slightly careless.
So even though it seemed like Konoha was dominating Kirigakure, Konoha itself suffered many casualties. Fortunately, Konoha had fewer deaths but more injuries.
As the victors, they also have medical geniuses like Taichi and Tsunade, so those injuries will recover completely in the later stages.
This is why Konoha has the best endurance in the ninja world; its logistics and medical support are sufficient, and 1000 ninja soldiers can be used as if they were 1500.
Just as Fugaku was about to unleash his fury, Hiashi suddenly let out a surprised cry.
This immediately caught Taiichi's attention. He saw Hiashi with his brows furrowed and his Byakugan staring into the distance, as if trying to make out something.
After a long silence, he finally spoke with relief: "There's no need to think about chasing anymore. Now it's our turn to escape."
95
Taiichi immediately realized, "Have the Kirigakure reinforcements arrived?"
Japan nodded helplessly.
"They came really fast! Luckily we got there early, otherwise we would have been in danger."
Taiyi patted his chest, looking exaggeratedly shaken.
Fate was on their side. If Yagura and his men had held out a little longer, or if the Kirigakure reinforcements had arrived a little earlier, the outcome would have been completely different.
"Let's get out of here quickly, or they'll catch us."
"9
Hiashi urged, his Byakugan still fixed on the Kirigakure reinforcements.
Fugaku was now completely disheartened and ordered the Konoha ninja around him to quickly clean up the battlefield, with the main task being to bring back the bodies of his fallen comrades so they wouldn't fall into the hands of Kirigakure.
Taiichi was also walking back when he saw more than ten Kirigakure ninjas being held captive on the side.
Calling these guys ninjas would be an understatement; they were all trembling with fear, showing no signs of being Mist Ninjas.
Taiichi stepped forward and grabbed one of the Chunin responsible for guarding the area.
"What's going on here? Are you mistreating prisoners?" Taiichi joked.
Upon seeing that it was Taiichi who was speaking to him, the Chunin immediately bowed respectfully.
"Lord Taiichi, that's not the case. These people are all medical ninjas from Kirigakure, and they were deployed to the front lines in the previous battles."
However, these guys had terrible mental fortitude; they collapsed during the battle. It was precisely because they surrendered that Kirigakure was defeated so quickly.
"Oh!" Taiyi exclaimed, intrigued. "So they're the heroes after all!"
Taiyi took two steps forward, stood in front of these people, and began to carefully examine them with his chakra perception.
There was only one Chunin, and the rest were Genin. How could such a purely medical ninja be assigned to the front lines? Were Asuka Minazuki and Yagura Karatachi out of their minds back then?
Actually, Taiyi had misunderstood the two of them.
The situation was urgent, and the two of them didn't even think about this. The ninjas below wouldn't care about such details either, and only knew how to carry out orders.
This led to pure medical ninjas, who shouldn't have been on the battlefield, being sent to the front lines, thus sowing the seeds for the war's defeat.
At this moment, Fugaku, having also arranged the retreat, came over. Upon seeing the captured Kirigakure ninja, his aura immediately became unstable, indicating that he had not yet recovered from the shock.
"What's the use of keeping these people around? It's easier to kill them."
Despite his menacing appearance, his words resonated with many ninjas, as they had just been mortal enemies.
Those ninja who had just calmed down were already on edge when they heard Fugaku's murderous words, and now several of the girls burst into tears on the spot.
This left Fugaku speechless. Was this really a ninja? What kind of ninja looked like this?
Seeing Fugaku's expression, Taiichi came up and laughed it off.
"These are just medical ninjas who have never participated in war. Why bother with them? Besides, Konoha doesn't have the habit of killing prisoners of war. If word gets out, who will dare to surrender on the battlefield in the future?"
Taiichi stepped forward, grabbed Fugaku's arm, and, smiling, persuaded him to walk towards Hiashi. With his other hand, he subtly waved to the guarding ninja, signaling him to quickly lead the prisoners away.
After learning that these were just medical ninjas, Fugaku gave up the idea of killing them. With Taichi pulling him along, he reluctantly followed them away.
Konoha is different from Kirigakure; they have a well-established medical system. These medical ninjas, who are seen as a burden by Kirigakure, are treasures in Konoha.
Moreover, these medical ninjas who grew up under the conditions of Kirigakure must have extraordinary talents. Returning to Kirigakure and imprinting them with cursed seals to make them our own is better than killing them.
Everyone worked quickly to clear the battlefield; in just a few minutes, the battlefield was cleared.
Seeing the team ready to set off again, Fugaku and Hiashi said no more. With a wave of their hands, the entire team immediately sailed away on the waves, leaving behind a pitted and isolated island to await the return of Kirigakure.
On a distant, mist-shrouded warship, the Third Mizukage stood alone at the bow. The sea breeze made his divine robes flutter, but he remained unmoved, gazing into the distance.
That was the camp where Minazuki Asuka and the others were temporarily stationed, according to intelligence reports.
Thinking about personally leading the team to fight against Konoha, he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. In his eyes, the two defeats on the front lines were nothing.
Konoha is now surrounded by enemies and cannot afford the slightest defeat, but Kirigakure is different. They have abundant resources and even if they lose twice, they will still have a third chance.
Sure enough, he led 1000 ninja soldiers to the front line, and together with the remaining troops on the front line, they formed an army of more than 2000 men.
At that time, we must take a big bite out of Konoha to secure sufficient resources for Kirigakure's development in the next few years.
As he was lost in thought, a thick fog in the distance caught his attention.
Looking up at Taiyi high in the sky, there shouldn't be such fog at the base of the tree in this kind of weather.
There must be a demon in the abnormal situation.
He immediately waved his hand behind him, and a member of the Mist Village's ANBU stepped forward, bowing to listen to the Mizukage's instructions.
"Go, send someone to check ahead. Why is there such thick fog here? Shouldn't the island where the camp is located be ahead?"
"Yes, Lord Mizukage." The ANBU responded immediately, and a few seconds later, a squad of ANBU jumped off the warship and ran towards the direction of the thick fog.
However, before they could even get close, figures began to emerge from the thick fog in a disheveled state.
The ANBU ninjas who went to investigate immediately stopped and became alert for the ninjas who had suddenly appeared.
But when these ninjas approached, the leader of the ANBU was taken aback. These disheveled-looking ninjas were actually from Kirigakure, and the one running in the lead was someone he knew.
"Jonin Yagura, what's going on here? How's the camp now?"