Level 12 for Hyuga Soushu!
After a thrilling and massive carnage, Soushu Hyuga had finally leveled up!
This time, he allocated his new skill point into his Q ability [Jumping Slash], bringing his skill levels to 3-3-4-2.
With this upgrade, combined with cooldown reductions from items like the [Tri Force] and [Hunger Hydra], Soushu could now keep the cooldown of his displacement-capable Q ability at around three seconds. Even when facing enemies he couldn't beat head-on, he could simply place a ward and jump away to escape.
This also significantly boosted Soushu Hyuga's ability to dominate weaklings. Even against persistent foes, he no longer needed to get stuck in drawn-out fights—he could just use [Jumping Slash] and escape, then return unexpectedly once he'd gained enough advantage to secure the kill.
In short, compared to his already overwhelming strength against weaker opponents, as his level continued to rise, his killing speed skyrocketed. At least against ordinary Tokubetsu Jonin, he could one-shot them easily. For regular ninja in the Ninja World, that was already terrifyingly strong.
However, Soushu Hyuga's weaknesses were still very clear.
Aside from his lack of Ninjutsu proficiency, he struggled against massive beasts like tailed beasts or summoned creatures from the Three Holy Lands—his abilities were severely tested.
But overall, it wasn't too serious an issue. After all, tailed beasts and sacred summons were extremely rare; most ordinary ninja might never even see one in their entire lives, let alone think about how to fight such colossal monsters.
More importantly, Soushu had once again managed to save up 2,350 gold. This time, he decided to sell two unused red potions and purchased a [Kaufeld's Hammer] for 1,100 coins.
Though this new gear didn't offer much power boost, it could later be used as part of composite equipment to build advanced fighter items like the [Black Cleaver] or [Alchemical Punk Chainsaw Sword]. Even if adjustments became necessary later, reselling it wouldn't result in significant loss once he saved enough for a full item.
So yeah, this was all about maximizing combat strength in the short run — turning saved-up coins into real fighting power ASAP!
This was exactly what Soushu Hyuga, always on edge, strongly believed in.
As for whether the chosen build made perfect sense — truth was, he couldn't afford to overthink it right now. Besides, the ninja he faced weren't number-driven beings. Usually, as long as he broke through their defense, he could finish them off in one hit, so his need for raw attack power wasn't urgent.
It was about halfway through the second day by the time they fully captured Hakone Prefecture city and eliminated the last pockets of resistance from Kumo ninja.
During the clearing of Kumo's final defensive position, Mahiru Uchiha unexpectedly captured a severely wounded Kumo messenger ninja.
At that time, the unfortunate messenger ninja was already on the brink of death, which was why the Kumo ninjas entrenched in the fortifications did not help him fulfill his duty to die with honor as a Kumo ninja. As a result, he barely survived, saved for the moment by Konoha's medical ninja.
Upon discovering his identity, medical ninja including Tsunade all sprang into action, spending nearly three hours bringing him back from the edge before immediately interrogating him.
Given Tsunade's unmatched skill in medical ninjutsu, as long as she refused to let someone die, not even The Shinigami would easily claim that life. Therefore, this lucky Kumo survivor, upon realizing his predicament, decisively chose betrayal and promptly revealed all classified intelligence he had to avoid further suffering.
As for his additional request for protection, Sakumo Hatake agreed to it considering the value of the information he provided.
"What exactly is going through Kumo's mind?"
However, even after obtaining Kumo's current movements, Hyuga Soushu, Sakumo Hatake, and the three Hokage disciples still felt puzzled inside their ninja headquarters set up among the ruins of Hakone Prefecture city.
According to the confession from the surrendered Kumo messenger ninja, corroborated by testimonies extracted from other captured Kumo ninjas, over the past several days there had been not so much as a single message received by the defending Kumo ninja force stationed within Hakone Prefecture city from their village headquarters.
In other words, during those six or seven days from the siege to the fall of the city, whether it involved supplies, personnel, or even verbal encouragement, Kumo village had offered absolutely no support whatsoever to the defending forces inside the city—a highly unusual situation!
Most importantly, A, the Raikage heir, had been staying within the city all along!
Therefore, Orochimaru, unwilling to take any chances, specifically interrogated A, who'd been captured by Hyuga Soushu. Although interrogation threats and physical torture yielded nothing useful, they at least confirmed the authenticity of his identity.
"Anbu, Root, and the Intelligence Division have received no information coming out of Kumo,"
Orochimaru, who remained in constant contact with the village, raised a concern: "Moreover, although prices recently in the Land of Lightning have risen somewhat, the increase has merely resulted from typical wartime inflation. There are no signs indicating a sharp surge caused by large-scale procurement."
Intelligence doesn't only come from direct eavesdropping or stealing confidential documents; trends in prices for daily necessities like rice and oil, as well as ninja tools such as kunai and explosive tags, can partially reflect a village's current war-readiness status.
What was truly strange, though, was that ever since Hyuga Soushu defeated the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, not a single Konoha intelligence agent could get into Kumo. Even regular merchants—those who usually moved between countries with missions or supply convoys—were unable to return to Kumo village… almost as if the entire village had gone silent overnight, cutting off all contact with the outside world.
This sudden isolation inevitably raised suspicions about Kumo's true intentions.
And this was precisely what made both Hyuga Soushu and Sakumo Hatake abandon their original plan of besieging the city to draw out reinforcements (a classic tactic of luring enemy forces out for ambush), shifting instead toward targeted strikes and preparing for potential trench-style warfare.
"The second wave of reinforcements has already arrived," someone reported.
After a moment's calculation, Sakumo Hatake spoke, "With five thousand battle-ready shinobi now under our command, we should be able to proceed north without major issues."
"Continuing north would likely require authorization from the Daimyo first," another voice suggested.
Tsunade, however, had a different opinion. "The secular belongs to the secular world, and ninja affairs belong to the ninja! The Daimyo has no right to interfere in the shinobi world!"
Frowning slightly, Hyuga Soushu added, "Moreover, the Daimyo's role is to govern the nation and allocate funding—he shouldn't meddle in Hidden Village matters!"
"That's bordering on disrespect," Tsunade's expression visibly darkened.
Unlike other powerful clans such as the Uchiha or Hyuga, the Senju Clan was one of the original founding powers behind both the Land of Fire and the modern structure of the Ninja World. Though the mighty Senju had faded into obscurity after the First Great Ninja War, they still held unwavering loyalty toward maintaining the hidden-village-and-corresponding-nation system. Naturally then, upon hearing Soushu's disrespectful remarks, Tsunade had no intention of giving him a pleasant look.
"Tsunade-hime, we're discussing serious military strategy here—not some childish make-believe ninja game," said Hyuga Soushu in his usual tone, though clearly implying that she was acting immature.
"And Hokage-sama hasn't ordered us to withdraw or sit idle either, has he?" Sakumo quickly interjected.
Tsunade's expression darkened further.
Soushu couldn't help but feel puzzled—hadn't he already shown considerable courtesy? Hadn't he gone out of his way to protect even Dan Kato, the backup son-in-law from Tsunade's own clan, saving him from a death that should have occurred according to past-life memories? Why did this woman insist on opposing him?
Was she really going to keep showing hostility like this? Or was she jealous of how close he had become with the Uchiha Clan?
Thinking this, Soushu's face also grew grim.
"Regarding intelligence reports from the border units, I must ask Soushu-kun for extra effort in arranging enough reconnaissance personnel to uncover whatever plans Kumogakure may be hatching."
Feeling the tension rise, Sakumo quickly stepped in to defuse things. "We'll continue tomorrow—we haven't had proper rest since the fighting started yesterday."
"Let's go, let's go!" Mahiru eagerly tugged at Soushu's sleeve like a child begging.
"Then we'll reconvene tomorrow." After gently kissing Mahiru-chan's forehead, Soushu ignored everyone else in the tent as he left with Mahiru-chan by his side.
They had been fighting nonstop for days—high time they took a break and treated themselves a little.
It wasn't until noon the next day that the exhausted Hyuga Soushu finally emerged from his tent. Immediately, he ordered Takahiro Uchiha, who oversaw intelligence operations, to increase surveillance on Kumo's headquarters while dispatching subordinates across the countryside to gather supplies.
Meanwhile, Sakumo continuously communicated with the village using ninja hawks, requesting additional forces and provisions to counter Kumogakure's impending thunderous strike.
No matter what the intelligence reports said, everyone remained on high alert.
Meanwhile, following Sakumo Hatake's arrangements, Koryo Jonin took command of the former Hokage faction's reinforcement units and dispatched forces northward to attack various cities in the Land of Lightning. Surprisingly, though the number of Konoha ninja advancing nervously northward wasn't large, they smoothly captured three cities along the route, their forces even pushing straight toward the Daimyo's court in the Land of Fire.
Had it not been for their encounter with the Lightning Daimyo's Guardian Ninja forces, which forced the outnumbered Konoha northern force to retreat voluntarily, a small number of Konoha ninjas might have actually reached Kyoto without trouble.
But this situation was extremely unusual!
Although having other ninja organizations outside the hidden village system within a great nation was nothing rare—for example, the Daimyo's guardian ninja, or clans like the Tsuchigumo within the Land of Fire and the Fuma Clan inside the Land of Herbs, which are free ninja groups officially recognized and monitored by the hidden villages—these were all among the legally existing ninja organizations.
In addition, there were also underground ninja groups such as black market ninjas and bounty hunters that operated in secrecy.
Even so, these unconventional forces shouldn't have taken the battlefield during inter-village warfare.
Take the Daimyo's guardian ninja, for instance—though their combat capability wasn't bad, they didn't technically constitute a country's official military power and should be regarded only as the Daimyo's private army. Theoretically speaking, before Kumo was completely destroyed, they shouldn't actively engage in battle.
And no one had the slightest idea what Kumo was up to!
Seven days after capturing Hakone Prefecture City, Konoha's ninja forces had completed all fortifications along their frontline but still hadn't seen any trace of Kumogakure. Just as Sakumo Hatake and Hyuga Soushu were indecisive about their next move, the Konoha command post stationed in the southern part of the Land of Lightning finally received top-secret intelligence delivered simultaneously from the Border Forces Intelligence Unit and the Konoha Anbu:
"The Eight-Tails has gone berserk. Damage to the village is severe, and it probably won't be able to wage war again anytime soon!"
This piece of intelligence finally cleared up the lingering doubts everyone had held from the start—it turned out that Kumo wasn't secretly preparing some grand plan, but rather hiding inside their base nursing wounds after suffering an internal crisis to prevent news of disaster from spreading!
Their total silence from the outside world wasn't due to secret mobilization of ninja forces, but a cover-up meant to conceal the aftermath of the tailed beast's rampage!
"What a ridiculous reason."
Soushu couldn't help but sigh, covering his forehead.
Everyone present inside the command tent exchanged glances, somewhat reluctant to believe what they heard.
Is it really that simple? Come on.
So all those worries the past few days were for nothing?
The weight that had weighed heavily on their hearts finally lifted safely, leaving many experienced jonin feeling oddly hollow, unsure of how to react.
"So then," Soushu broke the silence again.
"While they're down, kick 'em hard!"
Takahiro Uchiha, the one who personally brought back this crucial intelligence, immediately shouted, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! If we let Kumo recover its strength, it'll be extremely difficult to launch another northern campaign!"
"Senior Officer Takahiro, don't forget something important!"
"It's only because Kumo opened up again that we were able to get this intel!"
The Anbu squad leader named Bull immediately countered, "We still don't have concrete information about what's really happening in Kumo. How can we recklessly urge the ninja forces into battle so hastily?"
"I remember you…"
Takahiro Uchiha's face darkened instantly as he glared at the Anbu captain arguing against him. "Aren't you the one who used to lead patrols around the Policing Department and near our clan's territory?"
"I'm only following orders from the Hokage!"
Squad Leader Bull replied bluntly without defending himself against Takahiro's accusation, stating frankly instead, "Furthermore, continuing northward would inevitably lead to confrontation with Raikage himself—one of the Five Kage! The casualties from such a conflict would be unbearable for the village!"
"This isn't the place where Anbu has the authority to speak like this!"
Hyuga Soushu cut directly across Bull's words, turning toward Sakumo Hatake. "Sakomo-kun, this is our shot—we can't miss it! Now's the time to crush Kumo once and for all. Let this slip, and we'll never get another chance!"
Thinking about it another way, if Kumo went dark to hide what happened with the Eight-Tails' rampage, they must've taken some serious internal damage. From that perspective, continuing the northern campaign did seem like a great move at this moment.
"..."
Even so, Sakumo Hatake hesitated to make a decision.
It truly was an impossible choice.
Just like the sudden change in Kumo itself, this had left Sakumo completely trapped between a rock and a hard place.
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