Hatake Sakumo's firm approach exceeded the expectations of all ninja from the Hokage faction, including Sarutobi Saemon.
During the subsequent Jonin combat strategy meeting, Hatake Sakumo and Hyuga Soushu jointly announced their next phase combat plan. Their objective was to launch immediate, small-scale, continuous raids against Kumo forces that had just arrived at the ruins of Hakone Prefecture city, and seek opportunity for a decisive battle to annihilate them.
Although unwilling, Sarutobi Saemon originally wanted to resist or argue a bit to assert his presence. But under the death glares from veteran Jonins of border units like Uchiha and Hyuga inside the tent, he ultimately dared not voice his opposition publicly.
Furthermore, in the detailed operational deployment that followed, Sakumo assigned more than half of the Border Force and Reinforcement Unit ninja directly under Soushu's command as the vanguard force for initial probing attacks. The remaining force would be personally led by Sakumo himself, launching a collective assault only after the vanguard achieved results, to engage in the final showdown with Kumo. This arrangement somewhat eased Sarutobi Saemon and others' concerns—as long as their men weren't being sent to the front line to serve as expendable scouts, it was acceptable.
Hyuga Soushu was willing to accept this particularly dangerous mission from the start for a reason.
After selective personnel transfers between the Border Forces and Reinforcement Units, he now had eighteen Branch House Hyuga ninja under his command. Soushu's tactic involved dispersing these Hyuga ninja into various combat squads, using Byakugan constantly to scout for weak points in Kumo's defenses, then forming localized advantages under unified command, thus triggering an overwhelming momentum.
In this way, the strategic value of the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan had been fully utilized.
Just like during the last relief mission—rescuing retreating survivors from the Hakone campaign—this time Soushu once again gathered all elite forces under his direct command, leaving behind all junior-ranked ninja without Kekkei Genkai or special secret Jutsu—including Might Duy—at the camp for continued defense; thus, the number of combat personnel was only seventy-six.
Although this vanguard force consisted of very few numbers—less than even a full platoon—it possessed such formidable combat strength that Sakumo couldn't help but admire. No similar unit composed entirely of Tokubetsu Jonin-level elites had ever appeared on the battlefield in the entire *Ninja World*.
"This is one of my tactical concepts—I've already tested it once during the rescue operation in Hakone, and the effect was excellent."
Hyuga Soushu explained to Hatake Sakumo: "But due to limited manpower, sufficient reconnaissance ninjas are absolutely essential to avoid falling into traps or encirclement by enemy forces."
"Indeed, quite an intriguing tactical design,"
Hatake Sakumo nodded while flipping through Soushu's tactical document, then asked a question: "Wouldn't it help to give your Chunin subordinates some battlefield experience? After all, ninja grow fastest through real combat."
"They can't even keep up with us on the move. Taking them along would only slow us down with no other use."
Hyuga Soushu shrugged helplessly: "Besides, with so many supplies already tied up at the camp, can we really afford a large-scale operation?"
"You make a valid point!"
The issue of supplies immediately gave Sakumo Hatake a headache.
Besides the standard combat provisions each reinforcement unit carried when departing the village, there had been no follow-up supply from Konoha. Although part of the blame fell on the hasty battle plan, the real issue was that Konoha's repository had been practically emptied—there wasn't even anything left to buy, no matter how much money you had. After all, producing ninja tools like explosive tags and kunai required considerable time.
But then Sakumo tried to remain optimistic. "Still, once we achieve victory in the Land of Rain, the village will quickly gather resources to replenish our headquarters."
"Therefore," Soushu Hyuga continued, "before that happens, I'll redistribute the ninja tools and secret medicinal potions from lower-tier jonin to elite units to ease the burden on our rear logistics."
Soushu added, "Also, Toshimichi Yamanaka Jonin will join me in battle and maintain communication with headquarters using his clan's soul-based secret technique, so please arrange for someone else to take over camp logistics."
"Then what about having Koryo Jonin temporarily handle it?"
Sakumo Hatake said. "By the way, there is another person I'd like to transfer under your command. Would you accept him?"
"Who is it?" Soushu asked in mild surprise.
"Dan Kato Jonin. His Spirit Transformation Technique should prove helpful in raid operations."
Sakumo explained.
"That works!" Although he was mildly surprised that this blonde pretty-boy was still alive, Soushu didn't hesitate much before agreeing.
Sakumo felt satisfied with the arrangement.
Although Dan Kato belonged to a traditional ninja clan, he also had ties to Tsunade—one of the Sannin under the Hokage—that made many uneasy. Keeping him at headquarters wasn't really suitable either, so sending him off under Soushu's command seemed more appropriate.
Moreover, given Soushu's personality, he wouldn't likely take unnecessary risks. This would give Dan Kato an opportunity to polish his battlefield reputation while also establishing goodwill with Tsunade, the last direct bloodline heir of the Senju Clan. For Sakumo, whose ambitions kept growing, even if he couldn't gain outright support from Tsunade, at least their relationship might improve slightly, reducing potential obstacles standing in his path toward ascending to the pinnacle of Konoha.
Under Soushu's command, seventy-seven jonin advanced at full speed through the Northern Border Buffer State and directly entered the Land of Lightning. With reconnaissance by Byakugan users, they attacked fiercely in one night, wiping out seventeen Kumo forward watchposts!
Although these Kumo ninjas, dispatched as scouts, were experts known for their acute perception and strong capabilities, against an entire force of high-ranking jonin, they still ended up like sitting ducks, silently eliminated without a trace.
Among them, Dan Kato, mastering [Spirit Transformation Technique], stood out most prominently.
While using this technique left his body lifeless and unmoving, he could directly control enemy shinobi from beyond the range of even the Byakugan. It was precisely this ability for long-range infiltration coordination that enabled Soushu's personal jonin forces to clear away every Kumo border outpost around Hakone City without sustaining any casualties whatsoever!
And those Kumo ninjas had no chance to send even a single report back to their headquarters inside the city!
If the Kumo forces hadn't noticed the watchpost's failure to submit its scheduled report on time, Hyuga Soushu would have already begun a scouting assault on the city.
"Next, let's go into hiding."
As Kumo headquarters cautiously dispatched elite units for reconnaissance within the city, Hyuga Soushu—who had been monitoring every movement in the city with his Byakugan—immediately ordered his subordinates to hide and lie in wait.
The power of the Byakugan fully demonstrated the strategic value of this Kekkei Genkai dojutsu during these covert operations behind enemy lines. The entire 77-strong Jonin team could safely stay hidden beyond the detection range of Kumo's scouting squads with no risk of being discovered!
With that, the previously uneasy feelings within the Jonin unit about operating deep behind enemy lines completely disappeared. Even Mahiru Uchiha occasionally flirted with dear Soushu openly, making his temper rise more and more. However, since it was currently wartime and there were so many Hyuga ninja around, Soushu really couldn't find an opportunity to release his tension.
Therefore, he started taking out his frustration on those unfortunate Kumo forces instead.
After Kumo conducted an almost carpet-style search, they realized their watchposts had already been completely wiped out. Unfortunately, they found no trace or clues left behind. Considering that Kumo's main forces were still mobilizing, they couldn't easily retaliate against the heavily prepared Konoha Ninja Forces in the south either. After heated arguments, they reluctantly redeployed another batch of elite ninja to reestablish the watchpost defense line and formulated a more rigorous intelligence-sharing mechanism.
However, just seven days after the destruction of Kumo's first group of watchposts, Soushu once again led his troops into action!
This time, after successively destroying three watchposts in a row, Kumo's newly rebuilt early warning system finally began to take effect!
As countless signal flares lit up the night sky, Soushu had just taken down three watchposts in a row when he realized his unit was suddenly completely surrounded!
"The alert system of Kumo is actually somewhat intriguing," he remarked.
After a series of attacks and eliminations, Soushu finally accumulated enough experience to upgrade his Weapon Master hero template to level eleven, thereby earning one skill point.
This time, naturally, he chose to invest the skill point into [R: Weapon Master], enhancing his ultimate technique to level two, achieving a skill level sequence of 2-3-4-2.
"Their communication interval must be extremely short now," one Branch House Hyuga ninja commented.
"Also, since our current watchpost didn't launch any signal flares, they should be able to deduce our location from that alone."
"Yeah," Soushu nodded as he glared around using his Byakugan. "Looks like they're starting to set up the encirclement already!"
"That's pretty interesting," Mahiru Uchiha ran her tongue over her lips, eyes gleaming with rising excitement.
Hyuga Soushu needed experience points to level up quickly, so he ordered his subordinates to leave the final killing blows to him. As a result, after an entire round of fierce battle, Mahiru Uchiha hadn't personally killed a single enemy yet.
Not killing a single enemy himself only made Mahiru Uchiha's natural thirst for blood even more unbearable.
"Lord Soushu,"
Toshimichi Yamanaka quietly asked, "should we notify the rear base?"
"Not yet."
Hyuga Soushu quickly identified the weakest area in Kumo's encirclement, then signaled and led his troops eastward in a breakout: "We haven't inflicted enough damage on these Kumo savages yet, so it's still not the time for our decisive battle!"
Although Kumo's alert and defense system had prevented the possibility of being wiped out overnight by sharing intelligence efficiently, they were still caught completely off guard during Soushu's breakout attempt due to their complete lack of knowledge regarding both the strength and numbers of Soushu's Jonin unit. The Kumo ninjas, who had seemed ready for revenge, were instead brutally cut down, suffering heavy losses. Finally, Soushu had gathered enough gold — 1300 coins — to forge the [Plate of the Dead] using his existing [Chainmail] and [Moonplate with Wings]!
Through this battle, Soushu finally completed his fifth legendary item build. The remaining 120 gold coins couldn't purchase any usable component equipment, so he simply bought two [Life Potions] as reserves.
Then, he led his Jonin unit back into stealth!
"Boom!"
Inside the hastily built Kumo central war tent, A smashed the ironwood table into splinters with one punch, his face dark with fury!
He was extremely dissatisfied with how the Kumo ninjas performed!
"You people..."
However, because the punch was too forceful, he aggravated wounds that hadn't fully healed yet. Immediately afterward, sharp pain erupted from his groin, causing his voice to tremble slightly.
To the Kumo Jonin under his command, though, it sounded like their commander had become so angry that his voice trembled slightly.
"Phew..."
The central war tent remained silent for quite a while before A finally exhaled deeply.
Yet compared with the physical pain, the humiliation surging inside him was even more unbearable.
"Jinchuriki..."
"Huh?"
The Kumo Jonin were momentarily stunned.
"Deploy the Two-Tails Jinchuriki and transfer battlefield command to him until every last Konoha rat has been exterminated!"
A's words almost seemed squeezed out between clenched teeth, filled with chilling killing intent between each line.
"But Lord, having a Jinchuriki command the Ninja Force might be against regulations..."
One Kumo Jonin spoke hesitantly.
"Besides, the Jinchuriki is merely a secret weapon. It might not be appropriate to place authority in his hands."
Other Kumo Jonin nodded in agreement.
"Then tell me—if I entrust the Ninja Force to any one of you, can you guarantee successful elimination of those Konoha pests?"
A countered coldly.
The Kumo Jonin looked at each other, speechless.
Frankly speaking, apart from some surviving Kumo ninja who had managed to escape during Hyuga Soushu's breakout and left behind a few scattered words, they had practically no further knowledge about the current whereabouts of their missing Jonin unit that must be hiding somewhere within the Land of Lightning. With such a severe lack of intelligence, none of them dared to make bold promises.
"Understood."
The Kumo Jonin then made the pragmatic choice.
Just at this moment, the tent flap of the Central War Tent was abruptly lifted by a rushing-in Kumo ninja.
"Lord A! Urgent report from the village!"
A Kumo Anbu ninja knelt on one knee before A, his voice brimming with excitement: "According to latest information from our Intelligence Division, yesterday afternoon full-scale battle erupted between Konoha and Rain Country's forces under command of Sanshouo Hanzo. The disciple of the Hokage and Konoha's headquarters were utterly defeated!"
"Truly blessed by the Sage of Six Paths!"
A immediately burst into joy!
"Head south now, Lord A!"
The Kumo Jonin pushed aside issues like eliminating rear enemies and Jinchuriki power grabs, and started urging A to launch an immediate decisive battle!
"No."
A inhaled deeply, his face filled with delight. "News of Konoha's defeat will definitely cause their morale to collapse. The initiative now rests firmly in our hands!"
"The reinforcement unit from the village probably needs three more days, plus appropriate rest and reorganization — say about five days total."
A murmured to himself, rapidly formulating a relatively complete plan in his mind.
Meanwhile, the disregarded Kumo Jonin also came back to senses, holding their breaths while awaiting A's commands.
"Two-Tails Jinchuriki!"
Ignoring the rest of the Jonin, A turned toward an isolated Jonin in the corner: "If you're put in charge of eradicating Konoha's infiltration unit, do you have confidence doing it yourself?"
"I need a thousand ninja and three days."
The Two-Tails Jinchuriki directly stated his requirement.
"Fifteen hundred ninja and five days — that's what I'm giving you!"
A declared without hesitation: "I don't care about the process or casualty count. I want every damn Konoha rat dead!"
"I will personally deliver the heads of the Konoha ninjas to you, Lord A!"
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