Chapter 88: Ritsu-kun, You Take the Vanguard
The time was already past four in the morning. Tonight, the night sky over the eastern coast had a bright moon and sparse stars. Moonlight clear as water fell on the sea surface, lighting up rippling waves and illuminating the numerous Konoha ninja running along the coastline.
"Lord Orochimaru, eleven o'clock direction, fifteen kilometers away—I've spotted a squad of Mist ninja. Seven people, heading toward the coast. If nothing unexpected, their destination is the same as ours—the Mist ninja's main camp."
Ritsu reported what he saw while running.
His words drew everyone's attention. Everyone was familiar with the Hyuga family's Byakugan—more or less, they'd all teamed up with Hyuga clan ninja to execute missions, so they clearly understood how extraordinary a Byakugan that could see fifteen kilometers away was.
"Ritsu-kun, this is already the fifth wave of retreating Mist ninja we've encountered, right?"
Orochimaru asked aloud.
"That's right."
Ritsu nodded in response.
At dusk, they'd assembled all available elite forces at the main camp. Orochimaru, the Supreme Commander, personally led this counterattack targeting the Mist ninja camp.
The location of the Mist ninja camp had been extracted from Suikazan Fuguki's brain. Yamanaka Inoichi personally did it, but this guy only extracted this little bit before immediately withdrawing his hand, clearly determined not to get involved in this muddy water.
In any case—
After confirming the Mist ninja's main camp location, they immediately began operations, racing along the coastline. So far, they'd encountered five waves of Mist ninja retreating to the main camp.
The first four waves of Mist ninja had all been completely dealt with, leaving none alive.
"Looks like the Mist ninja are truly planning to flee."
Orochimaru was in a very good mood.
This counterattack operation wasn't to say they were one hundred percent certain the Mist ninja would definitely retreat—only that the Mist ninja would most likely choose to retreat. But the possibility they'd continue reinforcing at any cost couldn't be completely ruled out.
If the Mist ninja not only didn't plan to flee but instead continued reinforcing, charging into the Mist ninja's main camp with their current lineup might not yield any advantage—they might even suffer losses.
But now, all the Mist ninja encountered along the way had received retreat orders. The Mist ninja were probably truly going to run this time.
"Hiruko."
Orochimaru called the name. "Same as before—eliminate this squad of Mist ninja."
"Leave it to me."
Hiruko responded, then looked at Hyuga Takashi, the Hyuga clan elder beside him, calling: "Elder Takashi, let's go!"
Fifteen kilometers was still quite far.
And Hiruko wasn't a sensory ninja. Without sensory ninja assistance, he'd very likely lose track while pursuing, or run off course and miss them entirely. Because if there were sensory ninja among the Mist ninja, the other side would very likely choose to evade rather than see Hiruko alone as easy prey and swarm him.
No helping it—who told Hiruko's current chakra fluctuations to be so intense? Any sensory ninja could realize Hiruko was absolutely no easy target.
For this reason, he paired up with Hyuga Takashi, this Hyuga clan elder.
Originally, Ritsu had planned to accompany his teacher, but Orochimaru required him to maintain his condition and not casually waste chakra, so he had to let Takashi coordinate with Hiruko.
Hiruko and Takashi split from the group. Orochimaru, Ritsu, and the others continued rushing forward. After about twenty-some minutes—less than half an hour—the two caught up from an angle and returned to the group.
All seven Mist ninja had been beheaded.
Hiruko's clothes were neat and tidy—he didn't look like someone who'd just fought at all, more like someone returning from a leisurely stroll.
This made people like Yamanaka Inoichi in the group look at Hiruko with increasingly cautious gazes. The Mist ninja weren't weak opponents who could be sliced like vegetables. The seven Mist ninja weren't all chunin and genin. After the distance closed, Inoichi had sensed the Mist ninja's chakra fluctuations—there was one jonin among them. He'd also sensed the battle erupting—in less than one minute, the battle ended.
Unfortunately, their clan's sensory technique wasn't like the Byakugan that could see specific situations. They could only sense chakra fluctuations, so they didn't know what methods Hiruko used to eliminate the Mist ninja so quickly. The only certainty was that Hiruko was very strong—a strength completely inconsistent with previously held data.
Next, they didn't encounter any more Mist ninja.
Just as dawn was about to break, they finally saw the dark silhouette of that island.
"There's a barrier interfering—can't see clearly what's happening on the island. The barrier's coverage is very large. There are sixteen hidden sentries outside the barrier." Without waiting for Orochimaru to ask, Ritsu reported the information he'd seen.
Hearing this, Orochimaru made a hand gesture to stop advancing, then ordered: "Rest in place for ten minutes. After ten minutes, we'll immediately launch a surprise attack."
Hearing this, everyone either sat or stood, taking out food and water to consume silently, recovering the stamina consumed during the night's journey in their most comfortable manner.
Including Orochimaru, they'd deployed fifteen jonin and twenty-six special jonin this time—forty-one people total.
This number wasn't large, but sufficiently elite.
Among the jonin were Orochimaru, Hyuga Ritsu, Hyuga Takashi, Hiruko, Aburame Shibi, Uchiha Izumo, Uchiha Teyaki, Yamanaka Inoichi, and others.
Uchiha Shisui couldn't be recalled in time because he was out executing a mission, so he couldn't participate in this operation. But Uchiha Izumo and Uchiha Teyaki were also geniuses of the Uchiha clan, outstanding among jonin.
"Ritsu-kun, you'll take the vanguard in a moment. Any problems?"
After drinking some water, Orochimaru began arranging tasks and planned to assign the vanguard—the most dangerous position that would inevitably draw concentrated Mist ninja fire—to Ritsu.
"No."
Ritsu shook his head.
If it were someone else taking on this task, it would naturally be a narrow escape from death. But with his current self, forget serving as vanguard—even if they had him storm the camp alone, he'd dare go and could ensure his safe retreat.
"Hiruko, Aburame Shibi, Uchiha Izumo, Uchiha Teyaki—you four are responsible for restraining the Mist ninja's experts. Don't let them freely unleash their abilities to cause casualties."
"Inoichi, you're responsible for coordinating all parties."
"Everyone else—give your all to kill Mist ninja in a moment. Aim to kill, don't seek to capture alive unless you encounter high-value targets that are relatively easy to capture. Don't ask what kind of targets are high-value and easy to capture—judge for yourselves."
Orochimaru deployed his forces, making proper arrangements.
The ten minutes passed in a flash.
At this moment—
Red light suddenly burst from the eastern horizon. Orochimaru's golden eyes were tinged with a faint red. He swept his gaze over everyone in a circle, the corners of his lips curving up to reveal a smile brimming with killing intent. "Move out!"
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