"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 225: Peach and Plum
Nara Shūji gazed at the ice coffin not far ahead. After a moment of silence, he couldn't help but say:
"Lord Yūshin, to have walked the ninja path to this point is already quite remarkable."
Compared to the meaningless deaths of ninja during the chaotic era, today's ninja could at least claim they died for ideals and beliefs.
For someone like Kujō Retto, who founded a shinobi village and ultimately sacrificed his life for it—that was a tale worth telling.
"I know... Didn't I just help him craft a more spectacular finale?"
Yūshin merely shook his head. What's done is done—why say more?
Spectacular?
Nara Shūji felt Yūshin's understanding of "spectacular" was somewhat misplaced. What about this scene was spectacular? It was downright terrifying.
He looked toward where the border monument once stood, waves of mixed emotions washing over him.
Reclaiming this territory was inevitable. Even if Yūshin hadn't said so, Konoha would have acted. Sunagakure's strategic decision was fundamentally flawed, and mistakes demand consequences.
The principle was identical to "repay virtue with virtue, repay grievance with justice." If you only return evil with good, what remains for goodness? The logic couldn't be simpler—otherwise, wouldn't you just be a pushover?
"What transpired here should serve as sufficient warning for Sunagakure."
Nara Shūji withdrew his gaze, simultaneously completing his emotional severance from Sunagakure.
Forty years of friendship reduced to dust—tragic and lamentable, yet an inescapable reality.
In truth, from war's first day, when Konoha's leadership failed to respond promptly, Sunagakure's strategic objectives were already completely thwarted. Future clashes between Sunagakure and Konoha might occur, but they wouldn't alter the outcome.
This battle had become a thankless task, yet Sunagakure couldn't simply fold their hand—the situation was inexplicable... Fighting for just one day before quitting? Was war some kind of children's game?
So they had to continue fighting.
But what meaning remained in continuing?
None, yet blood still needed to flow. Reality's logic was precisely this absurd. Humans cannot achieve complete rationality, nor is human society entirely rational. Even if merely for emotional value, Sunagakure still had to press their assault against Konoha.
If they still hoped to gain something from this war, perhaps shifting strategic direction would be wise—redirecting their main force from attacking the Land of Fire to attacking the Land of Earth.
If attacking the Land of Earth proved too risky, they could pivot to attacking the Land of Rain.
Though changing strategic objectives thrice daily appeared clownish, besides themselves, who would notice their constant flip-flopping?
"Indeed, it's nearly finished. The methods we prepared for Iwagakure unexpectedly found use against Sunagakure—how peculiar that someone would compete for such things."
"No helping it. Some desert ninja probably fancy themselves cunning as foxes."
"Desert foxes?" This amused Yūshin.
"Lord Yūshin, what are your next plans? Konoha will certainly dispatch large forces here. Barring surprises, the combat core will primarily consist of Fireflies ninja, allowing me to smoothly assume command..."
Nara Shūji had to accept re-employment—a laid-off worker returning to service.
"Maintain the battle line at the desert's edge. Rationally speaking, Konoha lacks justification for invading the Land of Wind... I'll operate independently. If Dust Release shows activity, I'll handle it."
Yūshin's objectives remained unchanged. Besides Dust Release, nothing in the current Shinobi World warranted his personal intervention.
"I understand, Lord Yūshin."
Nara Shūji obeyed Yūshin's commands because Yūshin's orders were invariably correct... Previously, Yūshin had advocated accelerating war's progression to end it swiftly. Now the Konoha-Sunagakure conflict had barely begun before entering garbage time.
The former Kazekage was dead, Sunagakure's elite forces eliminated.
"Very well, let's proceed separately."
"Yes."
Entrusting matters here to Nara Shūji was sufficient. Yūshin remaining would only interfere with his command—two-headed serpents never end well.
After Yūshin's figure vanished, Nara Shūji finally had opportunity to examine the battlefield.
Local traces indicated Yūshin had engaged the enemy in fierce combat. However, when Nara Shūji approached the ice-encased Sunagakure corpses, he realized his misunderstanding.
"This... instant annihilation?"
Nara Shūji shuddered in alarm. Battlefield evidence showed Sunagakure's main force had offered no resistance—most likely eliminated in a single moment.
"I see. Lord Yūshin's strength has truly entered another dimension... No wonder he lacks interest in the Shinobi World's wars—their levels are completely different."
Honestly, if not for leaving corpses to warn Sunagakure, Yūshin could have used Crystal Release for instant kills—higher efficiency, cleaner, environmentally friendly... Unfortunately, to demonstrate his intentions to Sunagakure, he'd only employed Ice Release.
Subsequently, Nara Shūji naturally noticed the pile on the ground, plus the sole intact head beside it.
"Hmm... Huh?!"
"Holy shit, Second Kazekage Shamon?!"
Previously, Nara Shūji had only assumed Yūshin eliminated Retto and most Sunagakure forces. He hadn't expected the Second Kazekage to perish here as well.
Theoretically, the Second Kazekage's death held greater significance than Retto's. Yūshin should have mentioned this matter, yet he seemed utterly indifferent—wasn't such crucial news worth mentioning?
Yūshin truly had nothing to say. What should he say—"You're more expendable than cannon fodder"?
Nara Shūji finally understood why Yūshin disregarded Sunagakure. This wasn't merely accelerating war's progression—this was turbocharging war's progression!
Sunagakure had been decapitated! War? How much energy could they spare for warfare when they didn't know when they'd restore internal governance?
Nara Shūji silently departed this location. Hmm, leave no footprints or fingerprints—events here were unrelated to him.
After leaving Yūshin's postmodern landscape art, Nara Shūji finally performed summoning jutsu, reporting local intelligence to the village.
Intelligence transmission reached Konoha. Fifteen minutes later, it was delivered to the Third Hokage's hands.
"Hokage-sama, the latest intelligence from Lord Nara Shūji at the western front!"
Currently, the Third Hokage was lecturing the younger generation of ninja. Facing maximum-priority circumstances, he could only pause.
After receiving the intelligence, his eyes instantly widened.
"Personal attention of the Hokage:
Former Kazekage Retto and Second Kazekage Shamon led over a thousand elite to invade our borders. War has erupted.
Additionally, both Kazekage have been eliminated, their forces annihilated. Our side may deploy troops at leisure."
The Third Hokage blinked, then blinked again—he was somewhat bewildered.
Were these two paragraphs describing the same event? Didn't Nara Shūji feel severe cognitive dissonance when reporting?
After "enemy forces launch major invasion," shouldn't the next line be "our forces request urgent reinforcement"?
During his stupor, Hagūgen Aoi, representative of the younger ninja, approached and snatched the classified message.
"Wait, you... ah, forget it."
Theoretically, Hagūgen Aoi lacked authorization to read this message, but that was only theoretical.
The Third Hokage lacked strong motivation to intervene—this intelligence was too fantastical.
After reading the intelligence, Aoi's eyes immediately brightened.
"Excellent news!"
Others might not understand, but she could immediately guess who accomplished this... Recently, Lord Yūshin had been in "secluded cultivation," but now he'd finally resumed activity.
Aoi not only personally disrespected Konoha's intelligence protocols, but after reading, directly handed it to Tsunade.
By Konoha Year 40, Hagūgen Aoi was already twenty-two. She certainly no longer behaved as lawlessly as in childhood, yet her destructiveness remained undiminished... Previously, the Hokage faction was Konoha's vigorous young faction, but now Hagūgen Aoi and her cheerful companions were Konoha's true vigorous young faction.
Everyone knows vigorous young factions always disdain the establishment's steady or elderly factions. Substantially, Hagūgen Aoi was already seeking political position.
She sincerely hoped the Third Hokage would retire early—if necessary, she'd even provide small assistance.
Regarding Aoi's various activities, the Third Hokage was powerless to intervene. In most ninja's view, the Second Hokage's daughter striving upward was positive—wasn't this the finest inheritance?
Hagūgen Aoi was vigorously kicking the Hokage's chair while Konoha ninja applauded...
"Sunagakure has broken faith and violated treaties. Heaven punishes them—they're no longer concerning. Currently, Kumogakure poses the greatest threat to the Land of Fire!"
The Hokage hadn't yet recovered from the intelligence shock, but Hagūgen Aoi had already begun establishing the framework for subsequent warfare.
Who are you? Is it your turn to speak here?
Heh, whoever speaks loudest can lead Konoha. Hagūgen Aoi's gaze swept across those old fellows—she wanted to see who dared object.
Dissatisfied? Come duel her!
Normally, Hagūgen Aoi had entered "arrogantly courting death" territory, however...
She was the Second's daughter, full of conspiracies and schemes... brimming with cunning strategies.
Fighting? Most people couldn't defeat her.
Playing mind games? Aoi could send opponents to the Pure Land to play mind games with her father—that would be more thrilling, allowing unlimited enjoyment.
As for the Third Hokage's personal thoughts? Everyone knows the Third Hokage excelled at "delegating authority." If he could delegate to Shimura Danzō, why not to Hagūgen Aoi?
...
Chiyo and her husband led the second thousand-person force. They'd barely left Sunagakure when they received the Kazekage's order to halt in place.
Then they never received further instructions from the Kazekage.
All transmitted messages vanished like stones in mud, receiving no feedback.
"The front lines may have encountered problems."
After repeatedly unsuccessful contact attempts, Chiyo had to reach this conclusion.
"What problems could arise? The Kazekage and Maku are with the forward forces, plus Lord Retto leads the advance unit..."
Ebizō didn't want to accept his sister's judgment.
What Maku or not—don't ask Yūshin such questions. Among those thousand, perhaps no Maku existed, or perhaps everyone was Maku.
"Could our forces already be engaged in fierce combat with Konoha?"
"No matter how fierce, there should be time for intelligence reports, right?"
"No, if combat were truly fierce, our side should actively request reinforcement, correct?"
Everyone's imagination was quite limited—none considered their own forces might be completely annihilated. Even the most pessimistic wouldn't be pessimistic to such extremes. If the Kazekage died like cannon fodder, could he still be called Kazekage?
Who could imagine they'd truly delivered heads from a thousand li away? Their own "swift arrival" enabled enemy "success"—such dedication hadn't been seen since White Zetsu.
"The key issue is why the Kazekage ordered us to remain stationary—neither detailed explanation nor next-step action instructions."
Regardless, they couldn't continue waiting. Chiyo immediately decided:
"I'll take thirty people to reconnaissance the situation. I'll bear all responsibility."
She'd studied puppet jutsu under the Second, making her his disciple. Therefore, her making decisions and bearing responsibility was unproblematic.
Everyone accepted her opinion. Soon, she led thirty selected ninja racing toward the front lines.
One day later, when they reached the border and witnessed what had transpired, they could hardly believe their eyes.
Massive trenches and craters on the ground, collapsed mountain peaks in the distance, withered giant trees nearby—no matter how they exercised imagination, they couldn't envision what kind of great battle had erupted here.
"Hey, are you still alive? Can you hear me speaking?"
Chiyo didn't know how long she'd been stunned. When she recovered, she immediately rushed toward an ice sculpture, simultaneously striking the ice surface and shouting loudly.
However, beneath the ice layer was merely a mummified corpse—how could it possibly make sounds?
But Chiyo's actions immediately snapped other ninja back to awareness. They began mechanically collecting intelligence.
Then various bad news was reported.
"Lady Chiyo, we've discovered Lord Retto's remains. He... appears peaceful."
Simultaneously, another returning ninja also reported:
"Lady Chiyo, I found Lord Second Kazekage. He... doesn't appear peaceful."
Chiyo: "..."
No helping it—everyone's worldviews had been impacted. Currently, their minds weren't entirely clear. The latter ninja was merely parroting—the words weren't quite right, but the meaning was conveyed.
...
Yūshin walked through the desert. Don't misunderstand—he had no intention of directly demolishing Sunagakure. He merely wanted to engage in "postpartum sow care."
"Eh, did I perform another daily good deed? Didn't I inadvertently improve the local microclimate?"
Walking along, he observed traces left by his previous attacks—three ice mountains and two towering trees.
Although his "wooden arrows" merely constituted Wood Release constructs lacking Divine Tree characteristics, their vigorous life force still conquered the desert environment.
"Could this form an oasis? Oases are wonderful."
Yūshin merely sighed briefly, but even if his words weren't prophetic, they became self-fulfilling.
The saying goes: "Peach and plum trees speak not, yet paths form beneath them." In coming times, under the giant trees' shade, a small oasis would form.
After people began settling, a tiny village would emerge.
Unknown why, gradually this village acquired the name "Retto Village," and local people began calling themselves "Retto People"...
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