Chapter 564: Reinforcements Arrive, the Battle Turns Around
Land of Grass, southern region.
Bordering the Land of Fire and blessed with beautiful scenery, the southern region of the Land of Grass had once been one of the country's most prosperous areas.
Of course, that was before the war.
Once the war began, the south became the region most heavily affected by the conflict.
The residents fled, merchant caravans no longer dared pass through, and the destruction caused by repeated battles between ninja stripped the area of all its former prosperity.
"It's seriously infuriating. Those major nations wage war on our land, wreck our economy, and we still have to help them."
A patrolling Grass ninja could not help venting his frustration as he looked at the deserted villages around them.
Their Grass Village did not have the same prestige as the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Very few outsiders came directly to them to issue missions, so they mainly relied on the people of their own country for support.
But with the clash between Iwagakure and Konoha taking place in the Land of Grass, the country had suffered severely. As the economy declined, so too did the money flowing into the Grass Village.
The leading Grass ninja quickly swept his gaze across the surroundings. Only after confirming that no Konoha ninja were nearby did he finally breathe easier.
"It's because the higher ups are incompetent. That damned Yokogawa Tsutomu, just because of his own selfish ambitions, cooperated with Iwagakure and ended up dragging the whole village into hostility with Konoha."
Without hesitation, the squad leader cursed the former leader of the Grass Village, who had already been dead for a long time.
If not for Yokogawa Tsutomu's meddling, they could have quietly stayed out of things and might even have lived much better.
Another Grass ninja could only sigh helplessly.
"There's nothing we can do now. Besides, siding with Konoha is still better than siding with Iwagakure. Konoha is stronger, and Raging Sun Mugetsu also helped the village solve problems before."
If they had to choose the lesser evil, then Iwagakure was indeed the worse option.
"Let's rest here for a while. If we actually run into Iwagakure ninja, that'd be dangerous," the leader said after leaping onto a high vantage point and checking the area.
On paper, they were supporting Konoha. In reality, he had no intention of risking his life for Konoha. Putting on a show was enough.
After all, if they were killed by Iwagakure ninja, Konoha certainly would not pay pensions to their families.
The other Grass ninja immediately sat down after hearing that, without the slightest hesitation.
Fighting for their own village was one thing. Throwing themselves wholeheartedly into battle for Konoha would have been a bit absurd.
Pfft!
The squad leader had only just opened his mouth to say something else when, in the next instant, a sharp pain pierced through his chest. A black kunai had stabbed through his body from behind.
His eyes widened in disbelief, his face full of shock.
"How is that possible? I clearly..."
Before he could finish his final words, he collapsed to the ground. Even in death, his eyes remained wide open, still filled with confusion.
"Captain! Damn Iwagakure, when did they get here?!"
The remaining Grass ninja were still trained shinobi. They quickly noticed the "Iwagakure ninja" who had just made their move.
Their expressions were as confused as their captain's had been. They had already scouted the surrounding area, so how had these Iwagakure ninja slipped in without being noticed?
The unprepared Grass ninja squad was wiped out almost immediately.
Whoosh!
A blond figure flashed rapidly through the forest, continuously flickering forward at extreme speed.
After sensing the Chakra signatures vanish one after another, Minato frowned and pushed his Body Flicker Technique to the limit, accelerating even further.
But by the time he arrived, all that remained was a field of Grass ninja corpses. There was no trace of any other shinobi.
"It's the same again. Just what kind of Ninjutsu is this? Even I can't detect it," Minato muttered grimly.
Only half a minute earlier, he had still been able to sense the killers' Chakra. But just as he was about to arrive, their signatures had vanished completely.
Minato was not a dedicated sensory ninja, but his sensing ability still surpassed that of many ninja in Konoha's sensory unit.
That meant that, under normal circumstances, even most of Konoha's sensory ninja would likely be unable to detect the hidden Iwagakure assassination squads.
"I wonder if the Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan could see through it," Minato thought.
The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan was different from ordinary sensory techniques. Instead of sensing Chakra, it relied on direct vision. In theory, a Ninjutsu that erased Chakra signatures should be useless against it.
Minato carefully searched the area within a ten kilometer radius, but he still failed to find the Iwagakure ninja who had just killed the Grass shinobi.
With no results, he could only use Flying Thunder God to return to camp and report what he had found to Jiraiya.
"So even you couldn't catch them, Minato. It looks like Iwagakure is serious this time," Jiraiya said, stroking his chin.
Earlier, Jiraiya had only suspected that Iwagakure might soon wage a major battle against Konoha in the Land of Grass. Now, he was almost certain of it.
"It's not a huge problem. Among the reinforcements I requested this time, there are three Hyuga ninja, and two of them are jonin," Jiraiya told Minato about the reinforcements he had asked for.
Given the current state of the battlefield, Jiraiya had not only requested a sensory unit, but also brought in some Anbu for intelligence support.
On a battlefield dominated by shinobi, information was critical.
For a ninja like Minato, even if the enemy numbered in the hundreds, as long as he knew their exact location, he could wipe them out alone.
That night, Minato thought for a while before picking up pen and paper and beginning two letters, one for Kushina and one for Mugetsu.
In the letter to Kushina, most of what he wrote was simply to reassure her and speak about daily life. He did not mention the war at all.
Kushina was still working hard to become a qualified jinchuriki, and Minato did not want her worrying too much.
In the letter to Mugetsu, however, Minato held back much less.
It was not that he thought Mugetsu's concern mattered less. Rather, Minato believed that if something truly happened to him on the battlefield, Mugetsu would be someone he could trust to help look after Kushina.
Even as one of the most famous young shinobi in the Ninja World, Minato could not say with certainty that he would survive the war.
Many Hokage had died on the battlefield at the hands of enemy ninja forces, and Minato did not believe he had already surpassed the Second Hokage.
On the other side of the Land of Grass, in the western region.
Retsuishi's face split into a grin as he watched the incoming shinobi force approaching in orderly ranks.
"Lord Retsuishi, the reinforcements have arrived. There are a total of eight hundred ninja, including seven jonin and twelve special jonin..." Jonin Hikari stepped up and delivered the report in a solemn tone.
Retsuishi smiled and nodded.
"Eight hundred reinforcements, plus the twelve hundred still under my command. That makes two thousand ninja. Jiraiya, what are you going to fight me with now?" Retsuishi roared inwardly, overflowing with excitement.
If Jiraiya's force had not changed much, then it should still number around one thousand.
Two thousand against one thousand. The advantage was clearly his.
At that moment, Retsuishi could not imagine any way they could lose.
With approval from the higher ups already in hand, he had even begun imagining what it would look like once they invaded the heart of the Land of Fire.
Retsuishi immediately called a meeting to discuss how they would crush the Konoha force.
Even with numerical superiority, they could not simply charge in blindly. A proper plan was still necessary.
Perhaps the Iwagakure ninja had been suppressing themselves for too long, so once that restraint was released, the effect was explosive. Or perhaps Retsuishi's leadership was simply that effective. Or perhaps it was a mix of many factors.
Whatever the reason, the battlefield in the Land of Grass suddenly turned completely around.
The Konoha assassination squads were swiftly eliminated, and Iwagakure's intelligence teams repeatedly scored successes, obtaining crucial information on the Konoha forces.
...
Early morning, Land of Fire.
Konoha, South Border Forest.
"Everyone except Kakashi and Guy, gather here," Mugetsu called out to his disciples.
"We won't be training separately this morning. I'm going to teach you a new secret technique," he explained.
As for why Guy and Kakashi had not been included, there were reasons for both.
Guy was still studying Yin Release and learning Armament Haki. Compared to Observation Haki, Armament Haki was far more useful to him.
As for Kakashi, he already possessed the Transparent World, which overlapped to some extent with Observation Haki's abilities. On top of that, his Chakra was already stretched too thin, making this the wrong time for him to learn it.
As soon as they heard Mugetsu's words, Shisui, Obito, and the others quickly gathered in front of him.
"So many new Ninjutsu lately!" Obito exclaimed, visibly delighted.
Mugetsu had already taught them the incredibly powerful Azure Flame, the Shinobi Sect had also sent over Flame Vortex, and now yet another secret technique was being introduced.
"This is a Yin Release secret technique. In terms of classification, it can be considered a sensory Ninjutsu. But compared to normal sensory techniques, it has an exceptional effect in actual combat. In some ways, its function is similar to the Transparent World," Mugetsu said.
"So it lets you sense attacks and predict your opponent's movements. Shisui, attack me with your Sharingan at full power."
Shisui nodded when called and focused Chakra into his eyes. The crimson of the Sharingan immediately bloomed in his pupils as the three tomoe spun into place.
"Mugetsu sensei, I'm coming!"
He gave a warning, then burst forward with Chakra-enhanced speed.
To everyone else's surprise, Mugetsu closed his eyes as Shisui charged at him.
"Secret Technique: Observation Haki!"
As Chakra moved through his body, Mugetsu's senses sharpened to an astonishing degree.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Though surprised by Mugetsu's closed eyes, Shisui did not hesitate. He whipped out a devastating whirlwind kick at top speed.
Yet Mugetsu, as if he had invisible eyes, merely shifted his body slightly and avoided it with perfect precision.
Shisui's foot passed just two centimeters in front of Mugetsu's clothes, and the wind from the kick made the fabric flutter.
Without changing expression, Shisui followed up with a rapid punch aimed at Mugetsu's abdomen.
Mugetsu calmly took a short step back, and the punch missed again.
"Observation Haki allows you to perceive attacks even outside your field of vision," Mugetsu explained.
It was an extremely useful ability. In a chaotic battle with many combatants, it could greatly improve one's chances of staying alive.
He then opened his eyes and gestured for Shisui to continue.
"Your next move is a left punch. After that, a whirlwind kick..."
While effortlessly dodging, Mugetsu calmly called out Shisui's attacks in advance.
To everyone watching, it looked as though Shisui were moving exactly according to Mugetsu's script.
Of course, no one believed Shisui was intentionally following Mugetsu's words. The truth was that Mugetsu was predicting all of his attacks with perfect accuracy.
By the time Mugetsu spoke, Shisui's body had already committed to the movement. There was no way for him to consciously change course that fast.
"Amazing. It honestly feels even more useful than the Sharingan," Obito muttered, scratching his head.
He rarely used genjutsu, so to him, the Sharingan's main function was improved dynamic vision and insight.
But Observation Haki could not only read movement like the Sharingan, it could also detect attacks outside one's field of view and even function as a sensory technique.
At that moment, Obito suddenly felt that the Sharingan might not be as impressive as he had once believed.
Back when he had not yet awakened it, gaining the Sharingan had been one of his greatest dreams.
Because at the time, in his eyes, once the Sharingan awakened, it was like entering an invincible state. It was the pride of the Uchiha Clan, the greatest treasure of Konoha's strongest noble clan.
But reality had been much harsher.
Even after fully awakening the three tomoe, Obito still had not managed to gain a clear edge over his fellow disciples.
Compared to the legendary reputation the Sharingan had, Obito increasingly felt that the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline was stronger instead.
He had met three members of the Uzumaki Clan so far: Kushina, Naruto, and Hana Uzumaki.
Even Hana, who had never undergone real shinobi training, possessed unusually large Chakra reserves.
As for Kushina and Naruto, it was even more obvious. Obito had personally experienced in battle how absurdly deep their Chakra was.
"No wonder Uchiha Madara couldn't beat Senju Hashirama. Maybe the Sharingan really is worse than the Senju bloodline," Obito concluded in his heart.
Even though many Uchiha still glorified Madara's combat power, one fact remained undeniable.
Madara had failed to defeat Hashirama.
Mugetsu looked over his disciples and said, "All of you, try learning it. If you can't, then don't force it. This technique has a talent requirement. It depends on your sensory aptitude."
In the current Ninja World, every ninja village, whether large or small, placed great importance on sensory shinobi.
A shinobi force with a sensory division and one without were practically two entirely different armies.
And for sensory techniques, having the jutsu itself was not enough. The most important thing was having ninja with the right innate talent.
That was why the other Four Great Shinobi Villages were all so envious of Konoha's Hyuga Clan.
Without any special training, a child of the Hyuga was born a natural sensory ninja, and not just any sensory ninja, but an exceptional one.
All of the disciples nodded.
After the demonstration and explanation, Mugetsu formally began teaching the technique.
Not long after the lesson began, a memory suddenly flowed back into his mind from one of his Shadow Clones.
It was the memory of the clone at home being approached by an Anbu.
"You can all practice on your own for now. I'm heading to the Hokage Building," Mugetsu said to his disciples.
Then, without another word, he rushed off at once.
Combined with the letter Minato had sent earlier, Mugetsu could already guess that something had happened on the battlefield.
.....
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