Naruto's civilian cannon fodder starts with the three-body technique

Chapter 258 Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick
After Kato Dan's death, Orochimaru, perhaps due to the shock of his friend's death or for other reasons, changed his previous behavior and began to appear and disappear without a trace.

The Konoha leadership had no choice but to send the semi-retired Akimichi Torifu to the front lines in the Land of Rivers as a commander, and also ordered Umino Sasuke to lead the frontline mobile support force to assist.

As for the defense of the mountain, it was handed over to Elder Mitomon En.

"Lord Sasuke! Are we really going to just hand over this great situation that we've worked so hard to achieve?"

How could the high-ranking officers of the Unno unit be willing to accept this? Wasn't Mitokado Homura here to steal the credit? It was clear that Iwagakure and Kumogakure were about to clash. As long as they could defend the Land of Mountains, it would be like putting Iwagakure in their throats.

Even without forming an alliance with Kumogakure, they achieved the effect of resisting Iwagakure together, and Konoha only needed to contribute a small portion of their strength to gain a great deal of merit.

"Order the troops to assemble and support the front lines in the land of rivers!"

Sasuke Umino looked at the transfer order, remained silent for a long time, and finally issued the order to assemble. With Dan Kato sacrificed, the three legendary Sannin of Konoha began to slack off, Mito Uzumaki, the pillar of Konoha, also went, and Minato Namikaze and his generation of seedlings had not yet grown up. Even Torifu Akimichi had been sent to the front line, which showed that the situation on the front line in the Land of Rivers was not optimistic.

Akimichi Torifu is of the same generation as Hiruzen Sarutobi. In the last Shinobi World War, although he did not sacrifice himself like Uchiha Kagami, he took the Red Chili Pepper Pill and has been in a semi-retired state of recuperation ever since. He has not yet recovered to his full strength. Since even he has gone to the front line, it is clear how much pressure the Sand Shinobi Army is putting on him.

Losing the Land of Mountains only means losing the opportunity to cut off Iwagakure's supply lines. Even if the Land of Mountains falls completely, they can retreat to the Land of Waterfalls. But if the Land of Rivers falls, the Sand Village can advance deep into the heart of the Land of Fire, with unimaginable consequences.

The Umino unit operated efficiently. Despite their deep resentment and slight worry about the Land of Rivers, the White Ghost unit quickly assembled and prepared to evacuate the various trap strongholds in the Land of Mountains.

Almost at the same time that Umino's troops withdrew, Mitokado Homura arrived at the front line of the Land of Mountains with a force composed of the Hokage's direct ANBU and the Konoha ninja clans, full of vigor.

Looking at the easily defensible terrain and the remaining explosive tag traps and fortifications, Mitokado Homura smiled with satisfaction: "Hmph, the fishmonger from the Umino family knows how to pick a spot. No wonder he was able to hold off an Iwa ninja army several times larger with less than five hundred ninja soldiers."

Mitokado Homura was now brimming with confidence, believing he could easily reap the rewards of victory in the Land of Mountains. He began issuing battle orders: "Notify our allies in Takigakure to send reinforcements to help us completely drive the Iwa ninja out of the Land of Mountains."

However, he severely underestimated the strength of Iwagakure and the astonishing combat power of the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Rōshi, and overestimated Takigakure and his own command ability in complex mountain warfare.

Upon learning that Sasuke Umino, the White Blood Demon, had left the Land of Mountains, Old Purple once again launched a counterattack. Old Purple directly pushed his troops to the area around the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Mountains, intending to take down the Konoha defense line in the mountains and forests around Yangyan Village in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, Homura Mitokado dared to take the initiative to attack, and the two forces just happened to meet.

When the Umino troops arrived in the southwest of the Land of Fire, before they even reached the Land of Rivers, news of the disastrous defeat in the Land of Mountains arrived first.

"Mitomon Homura is a complete waste. Even if he were a pig and did nothing, he wouldn't have caused the defensive line to fall so quickly!"

When Umino Sasuke saw the battle report he had just received, he was immediately shocked. Shimura Danzo was already a formidable figure, but he never expected that Mitokado Homura, this fledgling phoenix, would be even more capable of causing trouble.

After the fall of the Land of Mountains, the combined forces of Konoha and Takigakure had no choice but to retreat to the Land of Waterfall.

After conquering the Land of Mountains, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi, did not stop there but spread the war to the Land of Waterfalls.

The leader of Takigakure was furious and immediately submitted a strongly worded protest to Konoha, accusing Mitokado Homura of commanding blunders, being jealous of talent, and negating their previously formulated and highly effective defense strategy, which led to the near annihilation of Takigakure's elite forces. They strongly demanded that Konoha severely punish those responsible. In the protest, they also lavishly praised the Blue Flash's outstanding abilities and cooperative spirit during their time in the Land of Mountains. They even directly stated that if Konoha still considered Takigakure an ally, they should send the Blue Flash back to take full charge of joint operations with Takigakure and replace Elder Mitokado Homura; otherwise, Takigakure would reconsider its alliance with Konoha.

This letter of protest was like a resounding slap in the face to the Konoha leadership, especially Hiruzen Sarutobi and Homura Mitokado.

Mitomon Homura's scandal of failing to claim credit and instead suffering a major defeat, along with Takigakure's demand by name for a change of leadership, caused a huge uproar in Konoha and the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Fire.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not agree to Takigakure's request. Instead, he once again dispatched Danzo Shimura to Takigakure to replace Homura Mitokado. At the same time, he ordered the frontline mobile support forces to rush to the river defense line to withstand the fierce offensive of the Sand Ninja.

Mitokado Homura once again left the mess to Shimura Danzo, and slunk back to the village.

When Sasuke Unno revisited the old site and returned to the battlefront in the Land of Rivers, entering the Konoha camp, he was immediately greeted by a mixture of the smell of blood and disinfectant.

Throughout the camp, cries of agony rose and fell, and outside the tents, Konoha ninjas with purplish complexions and festering skin could be seen everywhere.

The medical tents were already overflowing with people. The medical ninjas, their faces pale, moved among them, but could only watch helplessly as one life after another passed away in agony.

"Lord Sasuke! You've finally arrived!"

A fat Chunin with a blood-stained face staggered over, his eyes gleaming with hope. Umino Sasuke recognized him as Akimichi Torifu's younger brother, Akimichi Choju, who was now serving as Akimichi Torifu's personal assistant, similar to Umino Kaoru's role with Tsunade.

Where is Lord Wind Chaser?

"My uncle was also poisoned in the central command tent, and he was barely holding on with the help of a secret medicine."

Umino Sasuke's heart tightened, and he quickly walked towards the central tent. As he lifted the curtain of the central command tent, an even stronger smell of disinfectant hit him.

The tent was dimly lit. Akimichi Torifu's massive body lay on a makeshift hospital bed. His once rosy face was now a sickly grayish-purple, and his breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible. Several medical ninjas stood by the bed, frantically preparing medicine.

"Lord Fengfeng!"

Umino Sasuke quickly stepped forward, came to the bedside, and called out softly.

Akimichi Torifu opened his eyes with difficulty, and when he saw Umino Sasuke, a hint of relief flashed in his eyes: "Sasuke, you're here, that's great."

He raised his hand with trembling hands, pointed to a scroll on the table, and said weakly and intermittently, "The battle situation is all there, now it's yours to handle."

Sasuke Umino took the scroll and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry about recovering; I'll take care of everything."

(End of this chapter)