In the game of shogi, the most important piece is the gyokushō. Once the gyokushō is checkmated by the opponent's pieces, the entire match ends. In this war between Konoha and Kumo, the Kumo side's "gyokushō" was none other than A, the Raikage heir still serving as commander.
After Konoha's Rain Country expeditionary force suffered defeat and withdrew, Hatake Sakumo immediately adjusted their strategic objective—to eliminate the strongest Kumo piece stationed in the southern Land of Lightning, the Flying General, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, thereby creating a sweeping momentum. Through relentless assaults within a short timeframe, Konoha intended to cause chaos within Kumo's ranks and ultimately capture or kill the enemy's "gyokushō," restoring Konoha's former glory.
And just as the exhausted Konoha ninja forces began, under their respective Jonin leaders' commands, to stagger into formation preparing for battle, the newly arrived Kumo ninja forces were instantly filled with dread!
They had rushed here based on reports from Kumo communication ninja stationed at Hakone Prefecture city—the last area where the tailed beast's aura vanished. Yet upon reaching the battlefield, they suddenly sensed an extremely dense chakra eruption overflowing with intense malice, which then quickly dissipated.
Anyone who had previously encountered the Two-Tails Jinchuriki could identify traces of this chakra—it was unmistakably the evil aura of a tailed beast!
Furthermore, some knowledgeable Kumo Jonin noticed more unsettling clues: theoretically speaking, the reason the Two-Tails Jinchuriki's presence disappeared likely meant he'd carelessly fallen into an encirclement zone shielded by a powerful sealing barrier—which wasn't necessarily critical; they could just charge forward and engage.
The real problem was this—where was the Two-Tails Jinchuriki now?
Seeing the Konoha forces start to line up neatly and slowly advance forward, spurred on by their respective Jonin commanders, the Kumo Jonin's hearts pounded violently, nearly leaping from their throats.
They all arrived at one worst-case (yet highly probable) conclusion—
"Could it be... the Jinchuriki is dead?"
At the mere thought of this possibility, the Kumo Jonin froze in place, overwhelmed with fear!
Although theoretically speaking, even if Konoha had managed to kill the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, they surely would have sustained heavy losses while suffering great physical exhaustion and chakra depletion...
But who could really say for certain what actually happened?
So should they bet that Konoha no longer possessed fighting capability or avoid confrontation and make plans accordingly? This dilemma created hesitation.
Their anxious, uncertain mood caused the Kumo Jonin assembly's advancing pace to slow involuntarily.
Moreover, these Kumo forces had been gathered through communication ninja from a distant command center in Hakone Prefecture city without any actual commanding hierarchy present to make decisions decisively.
As for the lower-ranking Kumo ninja, following orders from their respective Jonin superiors, their frontline warriors slowed down accordingly due to their leaders' hesitation. Though the rear ranks also sensed that rapidly vanishing sinister aura, lacking the knowledge necessary to discern its truth, they simply wondered why the frontline comrades had suddenly slowed their advance.
Just as the Kumo ninja hesitated, the Konoha vanguard led by Hyuga Soushu and Sakumo Hatake had already flickered forward with their Body Flicker technique!
"Prepare for battle!"
The Kumo Jonin gritted their teeth, cast away their inner unease, and began shouting orders for their subordinates to get ready for combat.
From Kumo's perspective, they could see Sakumo Hatake and Hyuga Soushu rapidly charging toward their formation. Due to their incredible speed, the two had become significantly separated from the slowly advancing Konoha Ninja Forces.
"Do they really think so little of us?!"
The low-ranked Kumo ninja were furious.
"Perhaps this is an opportunity."
Most of the Jonin shared that view.
Since these two powerful Konoha ninja had separated themselves from their forces, it meant Kumo could quickly encircle them and create a localized advantage, taking down these two elite Jonin first!
"Could this be a trap?"
A few more experienced and cautious Kumo Jonin changed expression, suspecting that Konoha must have some hidden plan.
However, due to the actual issue of multiple command sources within the Kumo Ninja Force, when Soushu and his companion had already reached the front lines, the enemy forces still hadn't formed an effective encirclement. Instead, confusion slightly emerged due to inconsistent orders from different squad leaders.
As for small issues like gaps and vulnerabilities between various squads? Those were too numerous to count.
[Jumping Slash!]
Hyuga Soushu roared lowly, directly activating his skill and leaping into the Kumo ninja formation. At the same time, he swung the Torch Pole, sweeping through and knocking away three Kumo ninja!
[Counter Storm!]
Having charged into the formation and knocked back the immediate enemies, Soushu also activated his E skill, generating a Wind Barrier that blocked ninja tool attacks coming from all directions.
[Counter Storm Second Activation!]
As the Wind Barrier dissipated, strange Chakra fluctuations rooted all nearby Kumo ninja surrounding Hyuga Soushu in place!
"21!"
"50!"
Time for the best part — reaping souls!
Splitting his attention, Hyuga Soushu swung the Torch Pole and smashed the heads of the stunned Kumo ninja one by one, all while shouting out the coin rewards he earned with every kill. As the Coin count steadily increased in the system shop, Soushu's motivation grew stronger!
"Clang!"
After blocking a horizontal slash from a Kumo Jonin's ninja blade with his Torch Pole, Soushu didn't bother to entangle with such a relatively troublesome opponent any longer. He immediately executed another [Jumping Slash], leaping into another squad formation of the Kumo Ninja Force, continuing his reckless and unmatched slaughter.
For Soushu, who relied on his Weapon Master ability in combat, he lived for moments like this — mowing down waves of weaklings with sheer power!
Though the rewards for defeating Genin and lower Jonin weren't nearly as good as taking down high-level targets, the real perk was how practically risk-free it was!
The ordinary dagger-knives and throwing blade attacks were nothing more than toys to be ignored by Hyuga Soushu, who possessed the Plate of the Dead. The only real dangers came from Jonin-level opponents and the blast shockwaves produced by explosive tags. After he charged directly into the enemy formation, Kumo had no choice but to depend on overwhelming numbers to encircle this single warrior carving through their ranks. However, they hesitated to deploy heavy firepower for fear of harming their own comrades.
Yet Hyuga Soushu's actions clearly demonstrated that sheer numerical superiority without quality was utterly useless against him!
After a continuous series of deadly assaults, Soushu had already thrown four Kumo Ninja Force formations into chaos. Meanwhile, Hatake Sakumo's fighting style represented the complete opposite—he relied on maximum velocity, perfect piercing strikes, and decapitation tactics.
While Soushu sliced effortlessly through Kumo ranks with total freedom, Sakumo remained just as busy. But his focus was primarily on the mid- to low-ranking squad commanders in the Kumo forces, particularly those Tokubetsu Jonin whose roles fell outside the standard hierarchy. Sakumo sliced through them with ruthless efficiency, causing just as much chaos within the Kumo ranks.
And just as these two individuals threw a Kumo force of nearly a thousand ninja into complete disarray, the Konoha Ninja Forces finally advanced into position!
Since most of the Konoha ninja were nearing exhaustion, only being kept upright through the use of military ration pills or secret medicinal potions brewed by individual clans, Jonin commander Koryo adopted the simplest, most straightforward strategy—advancing in tight battle formations to compensate for their lack of stamina and chakra through collective firepower.
Even the experienced Koryo Jonin hadn't expected that Hyuga Soushu and Hatake Sakumo could throw such a massive and powerful Kumo force into utter chaos in such a short time—and this greatly boosted his confidence!
[Prepare Fire Release Ninjutsu! Launch it!]
At Koryo Jonin's command, the fire-style users among the Konoha Ninja Forces simultaneously unleashed their techniques.
[Release Wind Style Jutsu!]
Immediately following, weaker Wind Release techniques were also fired off.
This was a standard combined ninjutsu tactic used by ninja armies—a classic maneuver where fire techniques were amplified by wind techniques, each reinforcing the other.
It was also precisely this type of coordination that had repeatedly brought victory to the Konoha Ninja Forces during the Great Ninja World War.
Though it appeared simple, this level of coordinated effort vastly outclassed the so-called brave and fierce villages that relied solely on raw courage.
Especially with no high-ranking specialists present to steady their side, the already disoriented Kumo ninjas couldn't mount any effective defense, let alone launch a counterattack.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!"
Without meaningful interception, the fire techniques struck deep into the Kumo formation, instantly igniting flames everywhere amid cries of agony. A single strike dealt massive devastation to the Kumo ninja.
But this wasn't all yet.
Seeing that Kumo lacked the ability to mount any counterattacks, Koryo Jonin instantly called a stop to the advance and began coordinating the units for a second wave of concentrated ninjutsu barrages.
The third and fourth rounds followed.
Five continuous waves of ninjutsu bombardment raged on. Though the Kumo ninja had not completely collapsed, they were barely holding on through sheer determination, having lost all organization and command structure.
Meanwhile, Hyuga Soushu, who had been rampaging through the enemy ranks, shifted his focus again—this time targeting those Kumo Jonin who had previously avoided direct confrontation!
Due to the five relentless waves of ninjutsu unleashed by the Konoha Ninja Forces, most of the Kumo casualties were rank-and-file Chunin and Genin. As a result, each Kumo Jonin's Directly Commanded Units had become severely depleted, no longer capable of organizing coordinated attacks against Hyuga Soushu. Instead, their remaining manpower was further strained as part of it had to be diverted to care for the wounded.
Yet even in this dire predicament, the Kumo Ninja Forces still failed to decide whether to risk everything in a final clash or withdraw immediately. Instead, they kept pointlessly surrounding and attacking the duo of Hyuga Soushu and Hatake Sakumo within their own formation while continuing to endure the endless ninjutsu barrages from Konoha.
"Could it be that Kumo is hiding some secret scheme?"
Although experienced in battlefield command, Koryo Jonin had never encountered an enemy force that simply took a beating without retaliating.
Under normal circumstances, even the best-trained Konoha Ninja Forces would rarely launch more than three volleys of mass ninjutsu attacks before closing in for close combat with blades as the distance shortened. Yet in this battle against Kumo, Konoha had launched as many as five volleys!
Moreover, due to excessive chakra consumption during prior confrontations with tailed beasts, even with the use of secret medicinal potions, full recovery remained impossible. Otherwise, Koryo Jonin would have gladly launched another round just to pull off a perfect, zero-casualty victory.
"There's nothing to hesitate about!"
Unlike the somewhat hesitant Koryo Jonin, Mahiru Uchiha acted every bit the Uchiha.
After declaring her words, Mahiru Uchiha unsheathed her blade, slashing forward midair. She was the first to Body Flicker ahead, leading the charge with the Jonin unit under Hyuga Soushu's command.
"Forward! Forward! Forward!"
Seeing this unfold, Koryo Jonin wasted no further time, immediately ordering a full-scale assault!
The already mentally strained Kumo ninja, worn thin from relentless strikes and bombardments, crumbled instantly when facing this Jonin strike team led by Mahiru Uchiha—like a sandcastle before a tidal wave. They offered no semblance of resistance during the first attack.
Some relatively intact units of Kumo ninja, led by their respective Jonin, attempted to disengage from the battlefield, but a few heavily damaged detachments chose instead to mount desperate counterattacks, willing to trade lives recklessly.
However, when Mahiru Uchiha and Hyuga Soushu successfully linked up deep within the Kumo formation, everything the Kumo forces attempted became futile.
Hyuga Soushu personally led his elite troops straight into the retreating Kumo forces. Using his unstoppable heavy-hitting tactics, he successfully intercepted those Kumo ninja who had not yet fled far, wreaking havoc across the battlefield with assistance from his men!
They say a defeated army collapses like a house of cards—that's exactly what Kumo was demonstrating right now.
From the moment Hyuga Soushu and Sakumo Hatake leapt into the Kumo Ninja Force's formation to the point it completely collapsed, no more than ten minutes had passed.
Indeed, this could be considered the fastest victory Leaf Ninja had achieved since the Second Great Ninja War!
"Ten thousand victories!"
The Konoha ninja immediately erupted into thunderous cheers. Then, ignoring their physical exhaustion, they began the most thrilling pursuit under the command of their respective Jonin leaders—the chase with no end in sight!
*Whoosh!*
When news of defeat reached Kumo's headquarters in Hakone Prefecture, carried by fleeing ninja, Commander A flared up in rage, his eyes nearly popping out. But then, as he reconsidered, a chilling realization hit him—he might be missing something vital.
If those disgraceful cowards were telling the truth—that the entire Kumo Ninja Force, including the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, had been utterly defeated, and even their ultimate weapon, the Jinchuriki, had been slain by Konoha ninja—then what exactly did the Kumo ninja stationed in southern Land of Lightning have left to resist the advancing Leaf forces?
Certainly not their own skulls against enemy shuriken!
A's heart grew heavier with unease. He immediately issued orders: "Notify all ninja forces stationed across the southern regions to retreat at once to the prefecture city for defense. And send an urgent dispatch to the village for immediate tactical instructions!"
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