The Uchiha Clan's Sun

This is not an ordinary standard kunai, but a Flying Thunder God kunai specially made by the Golden Flash Minato Namikaze!

Before Rasa could think any further, with a whoosh, Minato Namikaze appeared in front of Rasa, his hand flashing past Rasa's body in a swift motion!

Luo Sha felt a chill on his neck and heard a gentle voice in his ear.

"If a cicada's wing scratches your throat, it won't bleed!"

......

Chapter 223: Win or Lose?

"Uh......"

Luo Sha raised his hand to cover his neck, only to feel a cold wind rush into his body, continuously draining his strength!

'Whoosh! Whoosh!' Two whooshing sounds rang out as two puppets dressed in black robes charged towards Minato Namikaze from the left and right sides in a crisscross pattern!

These are Elder Chiyo's two most prized puppets, created by her grandson Sasori of the Red Sand, named 'Father' and 'Mother'!

Minato Namikaze vanished from his spot in a flash, easily dodging the impact of his 'father' and 'mother'.

However, Elder Chiyo's original goal was only to force Minato Namikaze to retreat. She immediately controlled her 'father' and 'mother' to turn around and pick up the collapsed Rasa, returning her to her side.

At this moment, a large amount of blood was gushing from Luo Sha's neck, and Luo Sha's face quickly turned pale, and his pupils became cloudy!

"Guards! Be on alert!"

Elder Chiyo shouted, and immediately dozens of Sand Village ninjas rushed over and surrounded Elder Chiyo and Rasa!

Elder Chiyo wasted no time. As she gave the order, she squatted down, her hands glowing with two balls of cyan light, and pressed them against Rasa's neck, using her palm magic to heal the wound on Rasa's neck.

Minato Namikaze's attack was too sharp. If Rasa hadn't moved back at the crucial moment, his head would probably have been cut off!

However, it was precisely because Minato Namikaze's attack was so sharp that Rasa's wound was very smooth, almost only damaging a shallow layer of cells, which made subsequent treatment easier!

The principle behind Palm Healing Technique is to activate all the cells in a wound and use the rapid regeneration of these cells to heal the wound.

In less than ten seconds, Luo Sha's wound stopped bleeding, and a little over a minute later, the wound on Luo Sha's neck had completely healed!

Although the wound has healed, Rasa has lost a lot of blood and is still in great danger!

However, given the current situation, Elder Chiyo had no time to provide further treatment for Rasa. Under the cover of the Sand Village ninja, she quickly led Rasa away.

Meanwhile, Kushina Uzumaki, who had already exited her half-tailed beast form, stormed onto the walls of Kikyoyama Fortress, angrily questioning Shikaku Nara: "Why won't you let Minato and me continue fighting? We clearly had an absolute advantage, and we could have dealt with that old woman from Sunagakure and the Fourth Kazekage in a little while!"

Nara Shikaku wasn't angry at Uzumaki Kushina's attitude, and calmly asked, "And then?"

"And then?" Kushina Uzumaki was taken aback at first, then replied matter-of-factly, "What do you mean, 'and then'? Of course, we'll press our advantage and wipe out all the enemies!"

Nara Shikaku sighed upon hearing this and said, "That's not how you fight a war!"

Kushina Uzumaki, however, did not accept Shikaku Nara's ambiguous explanation, saying, "How else can we fight a battle if we don't fight it this way!"

Nara Shikaku was somewhat helpless and could only patiently explain, "Right now, our ninjas are basically locked in a fierce battle, making it almost impossible to quickly eliminate all the enemies using wide-range destructive ninjutsu!"

"But if we kill the Fourth Kazekage Rasa and Elder Chiyo of Sunagakure at this time, there might be two possible outcomes!"

"First, the enemy troops lost morale and retreated in a massive rout!"

"But the three-village allied forces are already demoralized and in the process of retreating, so the first outcome is unlikely!"

"Based on the will of the ninjas, the most likely outcome is the second one: they will fight back desperately, a do-or-die battle with their backs to the wall!"

"Even a cornered dog will jump over a wall, and a cornered rabbit will bite, let alone a ninja?"

"If we push them too hard, it might actually boost their morale!"

"Although we currently hold a certain advantage, we are still outnumbered 6,000 to 10,000. Facing 10,000 ninjas fighting desperately, how many of your comrades are you willing to sacrifice to win this war?"

"Four thousand? Five thousand? Or six thousand?"

"You need to understand that the enemy's 10,000 men were jointly formed by the villages of Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure, and they share the risks together!"

"If 10,000 people are spread across three villages, each family would only have a little over 3,000 people. If Konoha were to sacrifice 6,000 people to annihilate these 10,000, would we have won or lost this war?"

"Therefore, we absolutely cannot push them into a corner and fight them to the death!"

"As long as they have any hope of survival, they will continue to retreat and scatter in all directions to escape!"

"And we can concentrate our superior forces to annihilate their manpower bit by bit until we completely destroy them!"

"This is the heart of the Land of Fire. We have plenty of time to devour them bit by bit. All we need to do now is hold them in our grasp!"

Kushina Uzumaki only vaguely understood what Shikaku Nara said, but even though she didn't quite understand, she could still sense that Shikaku Nara was right!

Without pursuing the matter further, Kushina Uzumaki then resentfully questioned, "Fine, even if you're right about this, why can Minato continue fighting and chasing down enemies, while I have to come back and wait for orders? I'm no worse than Minato!"

Having finally managed to leave the village to fight, Kushina Uzumaki had been cramming for a long time and was still not satisfied with her fight!

Nara Shikaku said, "It's precisely because you're stronger than Minato that I called you back! In the upcoming battle, I need a powerful ninja to hold the fort in the center to deal with any unforeseen circumstances!"

"Minato is only hunting down some small fry, while you're dealing with the enemy's stronger members. Your mission is far more important than Minato's!"

"Hahahaha," Kushina Uzumaki laughed loudly upon hearing this, her mouth stretching almost to the back of her head, and said, "You have a good eye, kid. I am indeed much stronger than Minato! If it weren't for the Third Hokage and the others not letting me go to the battlefield, I could definitely earn the title of being stronger than Minato!"

Nara Shikaku shook his head helplessly. His words were half true and half false; he was just trying to make Uzumaki Kushina happy.

Regardless of who is stronger between Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, the main reason he called Kushina back was to ensure the safety of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki!

The situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and it would be bad if Kushina Uzumaki went berserk!

Nara Shikaku then looked at Yamanaka Inoichi and said, "Inoichi, have the others do their best to annihilate the enemy's manpower. Also, inform Choza to have the garrison on Hill 1 fight and retreat, not to hold out to the death. Focus on killing the enemy and make way for them to break through!"

Chapter 224 More than half of the casualties!

On the second hill was Uchiha Jin, on the third hill was Uchiha Obito, and on the fourth hill were Orochimaru and the thousand reinforcements he brought.

It is obvious that if the three villages' allied forces want to break through, their first choice is Hill No. 1!

"Simply pursuing them would only inflict limited damage..."

After observing the battlefield situation, Nara Shikaku shook his head and muttered something to himself.

Nara Shikaku took out the map he carried with him, spread it out, and looked at it. His eyes quickly locked onto another location.

The Land of Grass, the Bridge to Heaven and Earth!

Konoha's strategic objective in this war was to defend Mount Kikyo, drive the three-village coalition out of the Land of Fire, and minimize the losses suffered by the Land of Fire!

If that were all, the Konoha army only needed to relentlessly pursue the combined forces of the three villages, giving them no time to regroup, and drive them all the way out of the Land of Fire.

But now Konoha has gained the upper hand in this war, and Nara Shikaku wants more than just driving out the three-village coalition!

He must inflict a heavy blow on the three-village coalition this time, at least securing ten years of peace for Konoha!

Moreover, after this war, the villages will definitely have to go back to the negotiating table.

Even if it's just to give Konoha Village the absolute upper hand at the negotiating table, he still has to take a piece of the pie from the three-village alliance!

As for how to do it specifically, it would be best to annihilate the entire 10,000-strong allied army of the three villages. Even if it is not possible to annihilate the entire 10,000-strong army, at least the troops of one village should be wiped out!

After pondering for a moment, Nara Shikaku finally set his sights on Iwagakure!

The Sand Village is impoverished, and having just experienced the Third Shinobi World War, the losses they have suffered this time are enough to cripple them!

Although the overall strength of the Hidden Cloud Village surpasses that of the Hidden Sun Village, the Hidden Cloud Village had already suffered a great loss at the hands of the Hidden Leaf Village before the Battle of Kikyo Mountain. After this battle, it will probably remain quiet for a while.

Only Iwagakure, thanks to the Third Tsuchikage's years of management, possessed the greatest strength and suffered the least losses in the Third Shinobi World War!

Only by wiping out all 5,000 members of the Iwagakure army can we cripple Iwagakure and maintain Konoha's dominance!

Nara Shikaku already had a preliminary plan, and the key to the plan was the Tenchi Bridge in the Land of Grass!

The battle to annihilate the entire Iwagakure army cannot be fought within the Land of Fire; otherwise, even if only a small number of troops escape, they will cause enormous damage to various cities within the Land of Fire!

Therefore, it would be best to place the battlefield outside the borders of the Land of Fire!

Among the small countries bordering the Land of Fire, the Land of Grass has the closest border to Mount Kikyo and is adjacent to Iwagakure Village. The Iwagakure army is most likely to retreat in this direction!

Upon arriving in the Land of Grass, they will soon be blocked by a huge canyon, and the Heaven and Earth Bridge is their only way to retreat!

Nara Shikaku quickly made up his mind and looked at Yamanaka Inoichi again, saying, "Inoichi, inform Choza that the plan has changed. Tell him to try his best to hold back the defeated troops of the Mimura Alliance, and then let the Mimura Alliance troops pass in batches!"

"Also, inform Uchiha Jin, Uchiha Obito, and Orochimaru to prioritize killing the ninjas from Sunagakure and Kumogakure. The ninjas from Iwagakure can be put on hold for now!"

Yamanaka Inoichi nodded slightly and relayed Nara Shikaku's order without any hesitation.

Nara Shikaku then looked at the communications ninja who had been waiting beside him and said, "Contact the village and have them immediately inform Jiraiya so that he can dispatch 500 ninja to the Tenchi Bridge in the Land of Grass to block the retreat of the Iwagakure army!"

The communications ninja nodded, wrote Nara Shikaku's orders on a scroll, and then used the Summoning Jutsu to summon a ninja dog.

After handing the recording scroll to the ninja dog, the communications ninja immediately dispelled the summoning jutsu!

At the Konoha Village communications unit's base, ninjas would naturally summon the ninja dog after receiving the message and report the information to the village.

The next thing to do depends on the village's reaction!

Seeing this, Nara Shikaku turned his attention back to the battlefield and began to observe the situation.

After leaving a portion of the three-village alliance's surprise attack force to snipe at the Konoha defenders' counterattack, the remaining main force, just as Nara Shikaku had anticipated, surged towards Mt. 1.

But just as their vanguard reached the foot of Mountain No. 1, two more large armies emerged from the directions of Mountain No. 2 and Mountain No. 3, charging towards Mountain No. 4 and Mountain No. 1 respectively.

The Konoha garrison at Mounts 2 and 3, led by Uchiha Jin and Uchiha Obito, had annihilated most of the invading allied forces from the three villages, with only a few scattered squads escaping.

Although Orochimaru was providing support on Mount No. 4, the combined forces of the three villages there had concentrated a large number of elite ninjas, so they were still putting up a stubborn resistance.

Obito Uchiha led the Konoha garrison from Mount 3 toward Mount 4. With Obito's support, the battle at Mount 4 should be over soon!

The battle at Mount No. 1 had been deadlocked, but with the support of the Three Villages Alliance's surprise attack force, a gap was instantly torn in Konoha's defenses, allowing many of the Three Villages Alliance's ninjas to break through and escape the battle.

It wasn't until Uchiha Jin arrived with reinforcements from Mount 2 that the situation at Mount 1 was stabilized. Following Nara Shikaku's orders, they began to focus on eliminating the ninjas from Sunagakure and Kumogakure, while allowing the ninjas of the three villages' allied forces to leave in batches.

The overall situation is decided!

Nara Shikaku breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this.

Several hours later, with the last enemy on Mount No. 1 killed, the Battle of Kikyo Mountain Fortress finally came to an end!

In this war, due to Konoha's focused protection, almost all of Kumogakure's more than a thousand ninjas were wiped out. Only a few dozen Kumogakure ninjas fled in panic with the heavily wounded Fourth Raikage, A, and their whereabouts are unknown.

Meanwhile, only a little over a thousand of the four thousand troops from Sunagakure escaped under Konoha's close protection. The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, was seriously injured and his fate was unknown. The remaining troops fled towards the Land of Rivers under the leadership of Elder Chiyo!

The situation in Iwagakure is slightly better, but not by much!

The 5,000-strong army of Iwagakure suffered more than half casualties. The Four-Tails Jinchuriki and the Five-Tails Jinchuriki were killed, and their leader, Huangtu, was seriously injured and his fate was unknown. Even the retreating ninjas were divided into groups and fled towards the Land of Grass.

After this battle, the three villages' allied forces of 10,000 were reduced to only about 4,000, and Konoha Village achieved a great victory!

However, the casualties in Konoha Village were also enormous!

Of the 6,500 Konoha defenders, more than 2,000 were killed in action, hundreds were seriously wounded, and almost everyone else was injured. Only about 3,000 of them were still capable of fighting.

But the war is not over yet!

Chapter 225 Your Regret for My Shadow is Now History!

In Konoha Village, at the Hokage Building, in the Hokage's office, the Konoha F4 are all gathered.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was not wearing his familiar Hokage cloak at the moment; instead, he was covered in bandages, looking like he was seriously injured.

In the previous battle, Hiruzen Sarutobi broke several ribs, suffered significant internal organ damage, and had fractures of varying degrees in his arm and leg bones. Although the injuries were not fatal, they would not heal quickly enough.

Furthermore, following the treatment recommendations from Konoha Hospital, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not accept treatment with medical ninjutsu such as Healing Palm Technique, but instead planned to rest and recover from his injuries slowly.

After all, while medical ninjutsu like Palm Healing Technique have miraculous healing effects, their principle is mostly to stimulate cells to divide faster to heal injuries.

The number of times a person's cells can divide in their lifetime is limited, and accelerating cell division, to some extent, reduces lifespan!

Therefore, unless the situation is particularly urgent, the medical ninjas at Konoha Hospital will not use medical ninjutsu such as Healing Palm Technique to treat patients, and will instead use conventional treatment methods.

Especially when Hiruzen Sarutobi is old and his lifespan is running out!

"Shikaku has sent the latest information. They have completely repelled the three-village coalition, and the Battle of Kikyoyama is over!" Hiruzen Sarutobi pushed several documents forward and said, "He also sent the casualty figures for this war and the subsequent battle plan."

"You all take a look."

Danzo Shimura was the first to step forward, eagerly picking up several documents and examining them carefully.

"Two thousand three hundred and forty-six were killed, five hundred and eighty-nine were seriously wounded, seven hundred and twenty-two were injured to the point of being unable to move, the number of those with minor injuries is not counted, thirty-three were missing, and more than six thousand enemy soldiers were killed..."

Danzo Shimura glanced at the casualty report briefly, showing little interest in it, and focused his attention on Shikaku Nara's subsequent battle plan.