Uchiha's personal opinion

They easily defeated the eastern border defense forces and then marched into the Land of Fire; such a record makes them stand out among the Hidden Mist Village, which has little experience in ninja warfare.

But with logistics gone and escape routes cut off, the village chief arrived again...

His past record seemed to have suddenly become one of the pieces of evidence that made Yagura Togoki appear even more incompetent.

"Please give your instructions, Lord Yagura!"

"I am a loyal Jonin named Yagura," Yagura immediately said.

"With the arrival of the Mizukage in the Land of Fire, we, as members of Kirigakure, should retreat to the rear and join him. We will also need the Mizukage's guidance in the upcoming battles."

Yagura's use of "retreat" instead of "withdrawal" immediately eased the stern expressions of the Kirigakure Jonin.

As long as it's not a retreat after defeat, people can accept a different explanation; even if it's returning to the village after the war, it can be covered up and explained.

"Lord Yagura, when would be the best time to arrange for the ninja army to withdraw... and advance?"

Another Kirigakure Jonin asked.

"If Konoha already knew about the attack on their headquarters, they should have launched an attack tonight..."

Yagura Karatachi pondered his opponent's strategy: "Even if it's not a mass ninja attack, small elite squads will harass us to slow our progress..."

"I will immediately arrange for reinforcements!"

A Kirigakure Jonin in charge of camp affairs immediately responded.

"In addition, the headquarters ninja army must make preparations in advance. All supplies must be prepared in advance, and equipment that is difficult to carry should not be burned to avoid attracting attention..."

"After repelling Konoha's harassing attacks, immediately divide into small teams and withdraw in an orderly manner. Under no circumstances should you make a large-scale withdrawal that would invite another attack from Konoha..."

Before Yagura could finish speaking, the sound of exploding tags echoed from the outskirts of the Kirigakure camp.

"Konoha is here..."

Yagura's face remained ashen.

The group of Jonin under his command fell silent once again, not daring to utter a sound.

"Gentlemen, do you have any other opinions regarding the ninja army's withdrawal arrangements?"

After a while, once the sound of the detonating tags had faded away, Yagura asked again.

"We will obey all reasonable instructions from Lord Yagura!"

Normally, the Kirigakure Jonin might actively offer various tactical suggestions to highlight their talents; but at this point, everyone is definitely following orders from their superiors.

Otherwise, if you ramble on and say a few words and gain nothing, not only will you not get any benefit, but if someone finds fault with what you said and tries to shift the blame onto you, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Yagura Karatachi knew what his scoundrels were thinking, but he just snorted coldly.

"If there are no other opinions, please proceed with the deployment arrangements!"

Yagura Karatachi immediately lost interest in playing games with his subordinates and made the decision to dismiss them.

The group of Kirigakure Jonin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Where will the Mizukage's forces land?

"I ask the Hidden Mist Jonin."

This is also the most pressing question for all the Kirigakure Jonin, as it directly relates to the destination of their retreat.

"Midnight, Tsugaru Gorge!"

"I can't wait to answer," Yagura replied impatiently.

Chapter 147 A Farewell Gift

Neither Hatake Sakumo, Orochimaru, nor Uchiha Tokumitsu, who was traveling by detour from the Land of Iron, knew of the existence of the Third Mizukage in the Hidden Mist fleet.

However, faced with the harassment from Konoha's elite squad, the Second Kirigakure Army, led by Yagura Karatachi, unusually chose to hold their ground.

"Not resisting...that means Kirigakure is guilty!"

Orochimaru had also lost his usual composure. His long, wet tongue licked his lips incessantly, ignoring Sakumo Hatake's presence, just like a venomous snake that had been patiently waiting for a hunting opportunity.

Orochimaru dispatched a total of eight elite squads to harass the area, but after probing the outskirts of the Hidden Mist camp for a long time, he only attracted one squad of Hidden Mist ninja to hastily drive them away. After the Konoha squads retreated slightly, the Hidden Mist ninja did not even pursue them and quickly returned to their camp, as if they were afraid of being abandoned by their fellow village ninjas in the camp.

“It’s 8 PM now…” Sakumo Hatake estimated the time and said, “If Kirigakure really wants to retreat, giving them two hours should be enough to pack their bags. We can launch an attack after they leave the camp…”

"That's not necessarily a bad thing..."

Although somewhat unwilling, Orochimaru knew that Sakumo Hatake's approach was relatively correct.

After a series of battles with Kirigakure, both Orochimaru's subordinates and Sakumo Hatake's ninja army were exhausted. At this point, it would not be worthwhile to launch a full-scale attack on Kirigakure's camp, and it would also easily incite rebellion among their subordinates.

"But where is Deguang-jun now?"

Orochimaru changed the subject.

"Given the speed of Tokumitsu-kun and his Jonin subordinates, they should have returned to the Land of Fire by now..." Hatake Sakumo was also unsure of Uchiha Tokumitsu's whereabouts, "but Tokumitsu-kun didn't carry a communication summoning beast like the other ninja units..."

"The Uchiha are truly independent and headstrong..."

Orochimaru let out another strange laugh that was hard to decipher.

After the two had been waiting for nearly an hour, a deafening explosion suddenly rang out from the direction of the Hidden Mist Camp.

"What's going on!"

Sakumo Hatake suddenly stood up, his face ashen.

Orochimaru was also somewhat puzzled and quickly ordered the summoning of sensory ninjas.

"...Two massive chakra entities are fighting, one of which is Yagura Karatachi from Kirigakure!"

The sensory ninja concentrated and sensed for a while before answering.

"Where is the other person?!"

Orochimaru asked sternly.

At the same time, he took out a token and handed it to his subordinates to summon the ninja army.

"...Unable to identify it. The chakra signature isn't recorded, but it's roughly humanoid." Under the watchful eyes of his two superiors, the sensory ninja frantically activated his sensory ninjutsu: "The other one's chakra reaction gives off an ominous feeling, even more sinister than the Three-Tails' chakra..."

"Susanoo..."

Sakumo Hatake muttered to himself.

"what!"

Orochimaru's eyelids twitched, and he looked at Sakumo Hatake.

"Perhaps it's because Deguang-kun and Wuyin ran into each other..."

Sakumo Hatake pressed his temples in frustration, then ordered his subordinates with a hint of unease, "The headquarters ninja army should assemble immediately!"

Based on the sensory ninja's words and description of the chakra reaction, combined with Uchiha Tokumitsu's return journey, Hatake Sakumo easily guessed the reason for the fierce battle that was taking place in the direction of the Hidden Mist camp.

As Hatake Sakumo had suspected, at that moment, behind the Kirigakure camp, Uchiha Tokumitsu was engaged in a fierce battle with Yagura Karatachi, who had transformed into a tailed beast.

To conceal their movements, the Fog Shadows retreated in small groups.

The first group of retreating Kirigakure ninja happened to run into Uchiha Tokumitsu and his group, who were rushing back.

Thus, this group of Hidden Mist ninjas was accepted by Uchiha Tokumitsu without any hesitation.

After Uchiha Tokumitsu and his men easily killed the group of Kirigakure ninja, they searched them but found nothing unusual, so they assumed it was just a Kirigakure mobilization and continued on their way without a second thought.

However, when they successively killed the second and third teams of Hidden Mist ninja they encountered, the group sensed that something was wrong.

Especially in the Hyuga ninja's field of vision, there were two other groups of Kirigakure ninja of almost the same size heading towards their direction...

No matter how poor the Kirigakure ninja's command skills were, they couldn't possibly allow their subordinates to adopt such a suicidal, piecemeal tactic, could they? Moreover, the astonishment on the Kirigakure ninja's faces every time Uchiha Tokumitsu and his group leaped out of their ambush to launch an attack was unmistakable.

However, the Hidden Mist Ninja Army wouldn't remain completely unaware of anything amiss.

When the retreating Kirigakure ninja team failed to send back any safe communication for a long time, Yagura Karatachi's heart skipped a beat and he was immediately in his throat.

Yagura's first thought was that Sakumo Hatake was intercepting the retreating Kirigakure ninja from the rear.

Therefore, after briefly handing over camp affairs, he immediately led his direct troops toward the retreat route.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Tokumitsu and his group, who were in the middle of a killing spree, were caught red-handed.

And so, enemies meeting again are bound to be furious, and the two started fighting without saying a word.

When ordinary ninjutsu clashes and taijutsu combat fail to defeat an opponent, more aggressive methods naturally come into play.

"Tailed Beast Transformation!"

"Susanoo!"

The two chakra giants, resembling colossal demons, collided without hesitation.

At this moment, ninjutsu skills and taijutsu techniques are no longer important; only close-quarters combat with punches landing and bites landing is the only way to win.

The red tailed beast chakra and Uchiha Tokuko's purple fire release power intertwined, triggering a series of deafening chakra explosions.

Yagura's tailed beast transformation had reached the point where two giant chakra tails were manifested. In addition, the Three-Tails Isobu was a tailed beast known for its outstanding defensive capabilities. Therefore, even after activating Susanoo, Uchiha Tokumitsu still could not gain the upper hand.

The once invincible Flame Release burning effect became ineffective against the Three-Tails' power of Isobu, even the sticky and continuous burning chakra properties it had obtained from the Two-Tails' chakra were useless against the overwhelming power of the Three-Tails' chakra.

Meanwhile, Yagura Karatachi was also fighting with great frustration, the root of which came from the large sword Samehada held in the right arm of Susanoo.

According to legend, Samehada was originally a follower of the Three-Tails, Isobu, and lived by absorbing the Three-Tails' chakra. Now they belong to two different sides, but Samehada still habitually absorbs a lot of the Three-Tails' tailed beast chakra.

After Samehada absorbed the Three-Tails' chakra, it injected a portion of it into Uchiha Tokumitsu's body, allowing him to maintain a high-intensity Susanoo for battle.

"boom!"

As Uchiha Tokumitsu increased his eye power and chakra output, the Susanoo's form became more materialized, and he knocked back Yagura, who had transformed into a tailed beast, with a single punch.

"Shadow Caress!"

The tailed beast-transformed Yagura, having been repelled, used the momentum of his roll to arch his entire body, encasing it in the massive, thick armor on his back. Then, like a wheel, he launched a rolling impact towards Uchiha Tokumitsu's Susanoo.

"Earth Escape·Yellow Spring Marsh!"

Faced with the Three-Tails' attack, Uchiha Tokumitsu only had time to activate an Earth Release ninjutsu in an attempt to mitigate the force of the impact.

"Pong!"

The swamp formed by the ninjutsu was quickly crushed by the fierce impact, and then, without diminishing its momentum, it slammed hard into Susanoo's waist.