Chapter 424: Seven Ninja Swordsmen
Even though he was on the battlefield, Mugetsu's life actually became a little more relaxed.
Here, he did not need to juggle the Ninja Academy and his disciples at the same time, and Orochimaru had not assigned him any combat missions yet.
It was not just Mugetsu. Aside from Orochimaru himself, many of the jonin who had recently arrived as reinforcements had not been given combat missions either.
Without a doubt, Orochimaru was preparing to smash the Hidden Mist with a sudden, brutal strike.
To make the act believable, Orochimaru only held back most of the jonin, not the small number of jonin already in rotation, and certainly not the chunin and genin who were constantly being sent out.
After all, Hidden Mist had already invaded the Land of Fire's mainland. It would be absurd for Konoha to send no reinforcements at all.
Orochimaru deliberately created a false impression for Hidden Mist. Konoha wanted to strengthen the eastern front, but because of the other battlefields, the forces it could spare were limited.
To bait Hidden Mist into launching a large scale assault, Orochimaru even allowed information about the camp's location to be exposed little by little, as if it were being "leaked."
It had to be said, the plan was sharp. In the eyes of many Mist shinobi, the Konoha force they were fighting looked like a paper tiger that only appeared fierce.
A paper tiger.
On the surface, Konoha was still the strongest village, fighting on multiple fronts and consistently winning. But in actual combat, signs of decline were already showing. There were many shinobi on the field, yet their overall quality was low.
If Konoha truly still had the strength to crush Hidden Mist, then why would it need to transfer Orochimaru from another battlefield at all? Why would it be sending so many chunin and genin to handle missions out here?
At a Hidden Mist war meeting, Reiki spoke up.
"Yagura sama, our intelligence unit has discovered information about Konoha's new camp. I believe this is a good opportunity to eliminate their vital forces."
Although Yagura Karatachi looked young, he was a seasoned veteran. Even Reiki, one of the main pillars of their force, addressed him with respect.
Yagura's expression did not change.
"We found information about the new camp too quickly. Can you confirm its accuracy?" he asked calmly. "This could be a trap."
"I do not think so," Reiki said, offering his reasoning. "Based on what we have gathered these past few days, even though Konoha has sent reinforcements, their overall strength is still below ours. They would not want a large scale frontal clash."
Yagura fell silent, thinking.
He knew the same intelligence Reiki knew. Recently, the number of Konoha shinobi had clearly increased, but most of them were chunin and genin. There were jonin, yes, but not many.
By common sense, that looked like a village lacking strength.
However, Konoha's Nine Tails jinchuriki had not appeared on any battlefield yet, and Yagura was extremely wary of that point.
If the Nine Tails jinchuriki had quietly arrived on the eastern coast, then Hidden Mist's advantage here might not be an advantage at all.
The destructive power of a jinchuriki was terrifying. Against that kind of force, shinobi below jonin were meaningless. Even ordinary jonin would struggle to contribute.
Yagura was confident in handling Orochimaru.
But he did not believe Reiki and Hozuki Mangetsu could deal with the Nine Tails jinchuriki, especially with the current Ino Shika Cho also present.
"I do not need your feelings," Yagura said, shaking his head. "I need facts."
Then he asked the question that mattered most.
"If the Nine Tails jinchuriki is in Konoha's camp, how do we respond?"
His gaze swept across the room.
"We are the only great village that has invaded the Land of Fire's mainland. Konoha using extreme methods against us would not be surprising."
Reiki went quiet.
Even as the current head of the Yuki clan, he had no confidence in claiming he could handle a jinchuriki.
Tailed beasts were the ultimate weapons of the Five Great Nations, and the Nine Tails stood at the top among them.
The other Mist shinobi exchanged glances, but no one spoke.
Yagura broke the silence.
"I understand you want great achievements, but there is no need to rush. Konoha should be the one feeling pressure, not us."
He did not blame Reiki. Not every shinobi was good at thinking. Some were only meant to be combatants.
Hidden Mist did not need to gamble recklessly. Unlike Konoha, which was being targeted by three great villages, Hidden Mist was only at war with Konoha.
Right now, only Kumogakure shared Konoha's situation, fighting three major villages at once, Konoha, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure.
The difference was that Kumogakure often started conflicts proactively, while Konoha was being forced to respond.
Reiki frowned, still unwilling.
"So we do nothing?"
"You are thinking too extremely," Yagura replied, arms crossing. "War is not only total assault or total ceasefire. We can test them first."
In Yagura's eyes, Reiki's thinking was too binary. Reiki had only suggested sending a large force to besiege the camp, and when that was rejected, he called it doing nothing.
After laying out the probing arrangements, Yagura dismissed the meeting and sent his confidants to summon the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Normally, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen answered directly to the Mizukage. In theory, only the Mizukage could command them.
But in wartime, special measures applied. The Third Mizukage had granted Yagura the authority to issue orders to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Yagura marked a position on the map and showed it to them.
"Go disrupt Konoha's logistical support. Most of the Konoha shinobi active recently are chunin and genin. That should be easy for you."
Hidden Mist was famous across the shinobi world for assassination. As assassins, they also had strong intelligence capabilities, and they would not lose to Konoha in that area.
Yagura's goal was simple.
Efficiently slaughter Konoha's mid and low level forces, and use that to test whether Konoha truly lacked strength, or was merely pretending to be weak.
He had wanted to do this for a long time, but earlier, Konoha's units had been cautious, and there had not been so many small teams operating close together.
Biwa Juzo, carrying the Kubikiribocho, curled his lips with disdain.
"Tch. Chunin and genin, huh? A mission just to bully the weak."
Biwa Juzo alone could cut down ten chunin or genin without effort, yet Yagura was sending all seven of them to hunt squads like that. He could not think of a better description than bullying.
"It is bullying the weak," Raiga Kurosuki said calmly as he looked at Biwa Juzo, "but if it is a mission, we carry it out. Right?"
Suikazan Fuguki, Kuriarare Kushimaru, and the other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen all looked at Biwa Juzo.
They were not comrades who advanced hand in hand. If Biwa Juzo truly refused an order for that reason, they would be the first to step forward and clean house.
Biwa Juzo snorted.
"Tch. Do I even need to say it?"
He might dislike the task, but he had no intention of refusing. He was a Mist shinobi.
For Mist shinobi, the mission came first. Everything else came after.
…
"Oh, Guy, you guys are here too?" Obito asked excitedly when he ran into Guy's team. "Why did I not see Mugetsu sensei?"
"Mugetsu sensei has something to handle. He will come later," Guy answered honestly.
"What a coincidence, then," Obito said, scratching his head. "We are both teams without an instructor now."
"Minato sensei did not come to this battlefield with you?" Ebisu asked, surprised.
He did not believe Minato would abandon his disciples on the battlefield, and none of Obito's team had become jonin yet.
"Minato sensei is on another battlefield," Obito explained. "Mugetsu sensei brought us here, but he has very important missions and cannot take us out for missions right now."
"I see," Guy said, suddenly looking enlightened. "This is our bond!"
Then he turned toward Kakashi with sparkling excitement.
Kakashi stared back in silence.
He had not even spoken. How had this become about a bond with him again?
"Since your instructors are not here," Kakashi said, bringing the conversation back to reality, "you need to be extra careful when carrying out missions."
Without a jonin squad leader, even if Ebisu and Genma had been promoted to chunin, Guy's team could not take missions above B rank. But battlefield conditions changed quickly. Even B rank missions could turn dangerous in an instant. Vigilance was mandatory.
The main issue was strength.
Ebisu and Genma were excellent among their peers, but war was not fought between peers. On the battlefield, no one cared how old you were.
To put it bluntly, Guy would be safer doing missions alone.
If Guy ran into three jonin by himself, Kakashi believed he could escape if he went all out. But with Ebisu and Genma, it might be different.
Guy could not abandon his teammates, and Ebisu and Genma could not outrun jonin. That meant Guy would have to grit his teeth and fight head on.
"As expected of my best friend," Guy said, giving Kakashi a thumbs up. "Mugetsu sensei reminded us of the same thing."
At that moment, a thought flashed in Obito's mind.
Everyone was missing an instructor and could not take high level missions. If they formed a bigger team together, could they take A rank missions?
"Hey, Guy," Obito said quickly, "how about you guys join us? Then we will be a team of seven chunin. That should qualify us for A rank missions, right?"
Obito was genuinely frustrated.
Before coming to the battlefield, he had wanted to shine and surpass Kakashi. But Kakashi's speed was outrageous, and he always reached the enemy first, dealt the most damage, and ended fights before Obito could fully show his strength.
After several missions, Obito had only truly engaged Hidden Mist with his shadow clone on their first mission. In the missions after that, he barely had a chance.
The enemies were simply too weak. That first mission had at least included a jonin. Afterward, they only ran into chunin and genin.
Obito knew it was not bad luck. It was the mission level.
On B rank missions, it was normal not to encounter jonin. Running into one was the exception, not the rule.
So Obito wanted higher level missions, stronger enemies, and more chances to prove himself.
Of course, Obito was not an idiot. He was not going to scream about taking S rank missions. On the battlefield, that was just another way to die.
Genma hesitated.
"You cannot just join other teams like that, can you?"
"You can be more certain than that," Ebisu said, shaking his head. "Of course not."
This was a battlefield. Allowing shinobi to merge teams freely would create chaos.
Kakashi thought for a moment.
"In theory, no," he said, "but I can ask Mugetsu sensei."
In Kakashi's view, merging with Guy's team was an excellent move for both sides.
His own team would gain Guy, a powerful combatant, and Ebisu and Genma would become much safer.
With seven shinobi of their caliber, A rank missions would be easy. In fact, back in Konoha, when taking A rank missions, Kakashi's team rarely needed Mugetsu or Minato to personally act unless an accident happened.
"Teaming up with my best friend sounds good to me," Guy said, clearly eager to fight alongside Kakashi.
After discussing it for a while, they went to find Mugetsu.
"It is a good thing to want greater responsibility," Mugetsu said, encouraging them. "I will speak to Orochimaru "
It was good for Mugetsu as well. If they stayed in separate squads, he would have to split his attention and protect disciples in different places, which doubled the burden.
Since they were on the same battlefield, Mugetsu had to treat all his disciples equally and keep an eye on all of them.
Even though Uchiha Madara would definitely not target Guy, Guy's original tragedy had happened because of Hidden Mist, so precautions still had to be taken.
Orochimaru was not stingy about help that would translate into future achievements. He agreed readily, allowing Guy's team and Kakashi's team to merge into a brand new unit and raising their mission authority.
Since the new team had no instructor, Kakashi immediately addressed command structure.
"We need a vice captain," he said. "I was vice captain in our previous team, but since a new team has joined, for fairness, we should vote again."
If only Guy had joined, it would not matter. But now that the entire team had merged, a re election was necessary. Only a recognized vice captain would truly be obeyed.
In the end, Kakashi was re elected with an overwhelming advantage.
Six votes.
The only exception was Obito, who voted for Rin.
Guy gave people a strong sense of security, but Genma and Ebisu both felt Kakashi was better suited for giving orders.
Normally, the thinking role in their old team was handled by Ebisu. Now that a clearly superior candidate existed, Ebisu had no reason to step forward. He had no confidence he could compare with Kakashi.
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