Chapter 565: Sage vs. Jinchuriki, Taking Charge in Times of Crisis
The perception squad Jiraiya had requested solved the problem of Iwagakure's assassinations.
However, they did not solve it by cooperating with Minato Namikaze to hunt down the enemy. Rather, the Iwagakure assassination squads simply vanished without a trace, as if they had never been there to begin with.
Jiraiya believed it was probably due to some intelligence leak. The enemy must have learned of the perception squad's arrival ahead of time and decided to abandon their assassination attempts.
Although it was different from what he had expected, the issue could still be considered resolved, so Jiraiya did not dwell on it.
On the battlefield, ultimate victory or defeat would still be decided by a major battle. Small scale harassment alone could never determine the outcome.
However, what happened next exceeded Jiraiya's expectations.
Iwagakure displayed astonishing intelligence capabilities. Even with the support of the local Land of Grass shinobi, the Konoha force still found itself at a disadvantage in the intelligence war.
They could not determine the enemy's movements, while their own actions were repeatedly exposed, causing operation after operation to fail.
Jiraiya was so thoroughly beaten in the intelligence war that he almost began to suspect there was an Iwagakure spy in one of the higher positions of Konoha's intelligence division.
But that should have been impossible. People with suspicious backgrounds would never have been allowed to reach those positions.
Could it be that there were spies in the Anbu?
After suffering setback after setback, Jiraiya chose to shift from offense to defense, shrinking the activity range of Konoha's shinobi as much as possible in order to minimize casualties.
It was the only thing he could do. The failure in the intelligence war meant they had completely lost the initiative. In that situation, continuing to push forward stubbornly would only allow Iwagakure to expand its advantage even further.
But what Jiraiya did not expect was that just as he was preparing to enter a full defensive state, the location of the main camp somehow became known to Iwagakure.
Boom!
A massive explosion suddenly erupted inside the Konoha camp, startling Jiraiya and the others as they were studying strategy over a map.
"Lord Jiraiya, this is bad! We've been exposed to the Iwa ninja force!" a Konoha jonin rushed into the tent and reported.
"Iwagakure attacked?" Jiraiya frowned. "What about the perception squad?"
The reason he had chosen to defend was precisely because he wanted to rely on Konoha's sensory shinobi to compensate for their disadvantage in the intelligence war.
Yet now the enemy had already launched an attack, and the perception squad had given no warning at all.
"I don't know. The perception squad didn't send any warning," the jonin replied, shaking his head.
Boom!
Another explosion rang out.
Jiraiya immediately understood that this was no time to keep wondering about the failure of the perception squad. What mattered now was leading the Konoha force out of danger.
He stepped past the jonin, preparing to rush out and direct the counterattack.
At that very moment, a cold glint flashed in the jonin's eyes. He swiftly drew a kunai and stabbed at Jiraiya.
Bang!
Minato Namikaze reacted instantly, bursting with chakra as he lashed out with a kick that sent the jonin flying.
Jiraiya was stunned.
He had never imagined that a Konoha shinobi would attack him.
That was a jonin of the Sarutobi Clan. How could there possibly be a spy there?
"Ninja Art: Lion's Mane!"
Jiraiya was, after all, a veteran powerhouse who had survived countless battles. Though the Sarutobi jonin's betrayal shocked him, he immediately retaliated with Ninjutsu.
No matter who that man truly was, the moment he attacked the commander of the force, he became an enemy.
Even if Jiraiya killed him on the spot, no one would be able to say a word.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At that moment, several conical stones shot through the air.
Jiraiya recognized them instantly. They were Explosion Release projectiles from Iwakura, vice captain of Iwagakure's Explosion Corps.
He immediately changed his approach, extending his long hair and wrapping it tightly around his body in defense.
Whoosh!
Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport away.
Boom!
One explosion after another erupted. The stones flying toward Jiraiya and Minato suddenly detonated, their blinding white blasts swallowing Jiraiya completely.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Minato knew an attack like that would not be enough to kill Jiraiya. The instant he reappeared, he threw several Flying Thunder God kunai toward Iwakura.
"Your opponent isn't me."
Iwakura spat out a stone and blasted the incoming Flying Thunder God kunai away, then quickly retreated.
He knew his own limits. Against someone like Minato Namikaze, whose speed had reached the extreme, he was not suited for direct combat.
Just as Minato was about to pursue, an immensely powerful chakra erupted from nearby.
"Minato Namikaze, have you already decided how you want to die?" Roshi stepped forward and blocked his path.
Minato's expression turned solemn.
It was obvious now. This was a surprise assault meant to annihilate the Konoha force in the Land of Grass in a single blow.
In his perception, not only were both leaders of the Iwagakure Explosion Corps present, but both of Iwagakure's Jinchuriki had also entered the battlefield.
"Summoning Technique!"
After blocking the incoming Explosion Release attack, Jiraiya immediately summoned the two great sages of Mount Myoboku.
"So many powerful chakra signatures, little Jiraiya. Looks like this is another tough battle," Fukasaku said the moment he appeared, sensing the chakra of the Jinchuriki and Iwagakure's elite shinobi.
"This really is the worst timing. I was just about to figure out what to make for dinner, and then the Summoning Technique dragged me here," Shima complained.
"Honey, this is not the time for that."
"Honey, do not underestimate the troubles of a housewife."
"Stop arguing," Jiraiya said helplessly as he noticed that the Sarutobi jonin who had been kicked away had vanished without a trace.
"Quickly get on my shoulders. I need Sage Mode. This time, the situation is dangerous."
Jiraiya felt tremendous pressure.
It was not that he feared punishment after a defeat. What worried him was that if his force collapsed here, the Iwa ninja force might directly invade the Land of Fire.
The two sages also understood the severity of the situation. Without another word, they jumped onto Jiraiya's shoulders and immediately began gathering natural energy.
"Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength!"
Just as Jiraiya was about to enter Sage Mode, a sharp whistle like a train tearing through the air rang out. A figure in red armor shot toward him.
Whoosh!
Bang!
Jiraiya abruptly leaped back to evade, and the ground where he had just stood exploded into a huge crater.
Han remained expressionless.
He did not find it strange at all that Jiraiya had escaped. If one of the legendary Sannin were that easy to kill, Jiraiya would have died to him or Roshi long ago.
"Sage Mode!"
Once the natural energy had been gathered, Jiraiya fused it with his own chakra, creating a far stronger Senjutsu chakra. Orange markings appeared on his face, and his nose took on a slight toad-like transformation.
"The situation is not as bad as I feared," Jiraiya muttered after his enhanced perception swept across the battlefield.
Without any warning from the perception squad and with the mystery of the Sarutobi jonin's betrayal, Jiraiya had feared that half the camp might already have been wiped out.
The reality was far better than that.
At present, roughly seven hundred Konoha shinobi were still fighting desperately against Iwagakure.
What Jiraiya did not know was that Iwagakure itself was also deeply confused.
Retsuishi had indeed received intelligence from Iwagakure's information network about the location of the Konoha camp, but the report had never clearly stated that it was Konoha's main force.
And unlike the rash shinobi of Kumogakure, Retsuishi was not the kind to charge in the moment he got his hands on intelligence.
What if it was a trap meant to lure them in?
And if it truly was the main Konoha force, there should have been many sensory shinobi on alert. A surprise attack should have been nearly impossible.
Still, having the intelligence and not testing it would have been a waste.
In the end, Retsuishi came up with a plan.
He split his two thousand shinobi into three divisions.
The first was led by him personally. It numbered only five hundred, but nearly all of them were elites. Both Jinchuriki and the Explosion Corps were in this vanguard.
The second and third divisions were made up of ordinary troops and were stationed behind the first on the two flanks.
One purpose was to guard against walking into an ambush and being surrounded in turn.
The other was to create a full blockade once the battle started, preventing the Konoha force from escaping.
If Retsuishi confirmed that it was not a trap, he would immediately signal the two regular divisions to close in and attack together.
He had never expected to lead his force straight into the Konoha camp and remain undiscovered until only the patrols nearest to the camp found them, as if Konoha's sensory unit had simply ceased to exist.
Before actually seeing the Konoha shinobi, Retsuishi had once suspected that this might not be the main Konoha force at all.
Boom! Boom!
Retsuishi unleashed Explosion Release without restraint, bombarding everything in sight.
It no longer mattered what oddity had caused the Konoha force's failure. What mattered was that he was about to achieve a tremendous merit and make a name for himself.
The shinobi force led by one of the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, was about to be crushed and routed by his hand.
"Summoning Technique!"
Jiraiya slammed his palm to the ground, summoning two giant toads beneath him.
One was a red toad with a pipe in its mouth and a short sword at its waist. The other was a purple red toad with a pot lid strapped to its back and a spiked polearm in hand.
"You two hold off the Five Tails' Jinchuriki. I'm going after the enemy commander," Jiraiya ordered quickly.
The principle of taking the enemy leader's head first was just as useful in the Ninja World as anywhere else. If Jiraiya could take down Retsuishi, then even if he could not reverse the battle outright, he could at least shatter Iwagakure's morale.
"What? Me, fight a Tailed Beast?" Gamabunta's eyelids twitched violently.
Though his size was not much smaller than a Tailed Beast's, being asked to confront one directly was still far too much for a toad.
"Though I am clumsy, I will do my best to stop him," Gamaken said in a deep voice.
"Just hold him for a little while, please!"
With that, Jiraiya locked onto Retsuishi, burst forward with chakra, and vanished in a flash.
Han turned to pursue, but Gamaken suddenly leaped up and swung his polearm at him.
Han halted, and the Tailed Beast chakra inside his body surged violently. Under the support of Boil Release, his power rose at a terrifying rate.
"Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength!"
Han seized Gamaken's polearm with one hand.
Gamaken tried to slam him down through brute force, but Han's strength was monstrous. The weapon would not budge an inch. Gamaken could not press it down, nor could he pull it back.
"Bastard, die!"
Gamabunta drew the short sword from his waist and hacked down toward Han.
Though it was called a short sword, that was only in comparison to Gamabunta's massive body. In truth, the blade was several times longer than Han himself.
Han forcefully shoved Gamaken back, making him stumble, then used Body Flicker to dodge Gamabunta's slash.
Han knew the two toads were no ordinary summons. If he wanted to deal with them quickly, he could no longer hold back.
Dark red Tailed Beast chakra erupted from his body, rapidly transforming him into a gigantic beastlike form with five tails.
Jiraiya, racing toward Retsuishi, felt Han's chakra growing stronger and stronger, and the urgency in his heart deepened.
Among everyone present, only he had the qualifications to confront a Jinchuriki head on. Minato might be able to stall one, but not defeat one.
He had to kill Retsuishi as quickly as possible.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
Jiraiya refined the Senjutsu chakra inside his body into oil, held it in his mouth, and at the moment he spat it out, he ignited it through Fire Release chakra transformation.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
A massive torrent of flame burst forth, instantly incinerating several Iwagakure ninja nearest to Jiraiya before continuing toward Retsuishi with undiminished force.
Although the name sounded ordinary, the Great Flame Bullet unleashed in Sage Mode possessed overwhelming destructive power, surpassing most Fire Release in the Ninja World.
Even with his mastery of hardening techniques, Retsuishi did not dare face it directly and rapidly retreated.
"Explosion Release: Exploding Flying Stone!"
Seeing their commander in danger, Iwakura immediately launched an exploding projectile to help Retsuishi intercept Jiraiya's Sage Art fire attack.
"Summoning Technique!"
Jiraiya summoned again, this time bringing forth a huge greenish blue toad.
He ordered Gamahiro to deal with Iwakura and the Iwagakure jonin around him, while Jiraiya himself continued his pursuit of Retsuishi.
"Anyone who can retreat, retreat as far as you can! The enemy still has reinforcements coming!" Jiraiya shouted to the Konoha shinobi on the field.
His Sage Mode perception had already detected powerful chakra signatures approaching in the distance.
In truth, he hardly needed Sage Mode to know. Retsuishi had already openly fired a signal flare.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
Jiraiya and the two great sages on his shoulders unleashed Ninjutsu together.
Fukasaku used Wind Release.
Shima used Fire Release.
Jiraiya sprayed chakra oil.
All three were Sage Arts empowered by Senjutsu chakra, and together they formed the terrifying combined technique, Goemon.
One unlucky Iwagakure shinobi failed to dodge and was burned to death instantly, not even able to let out a scream.
"Fire Release: Toad Oil Bullet!"
Minato landed atop Gamabunta's head. While Gamabunta refined chakra into toad oil, Minato rapidly formed hand seals and transformed chakra into Fire Release.
Working in perfect coordination, the two unleashed a massive wall of flames that scorched everything across a broad area.
Minato had also signed Mount Myoboku's contract and was familiar with Gamabunta.
However, because of his combat style, he rarely relied on summons during battle.
"Then let's see whose Ninjutsu is stronger!"
Witnessing this, Roshi pushed the power of his Tailed Beast to the extreme. His body rapidly transformed into a giant ape with a tail.
He opened his mouth, condensing an enormous amount of chakra until a black orb slowly formed in front of him.
"Don't..." Retsuishi tried to stop him.
That Tailed Beast Ball would split the battlefield apart. The Konoha shinobi would only want to flee farther away, so it would not hurt them nearly as much as one might hope.
But for Iwagakure, which intended to pursue, it would be disastrous. Who would dare chase an enemy through the aftermath of a Tailed Beast Ball explosion?
Retsuishi's voice was weakened by his injuries. Roshi may not have heard him, or perhaps he did and simply ignored him.
In any case, the Tailed Beast Ball, that embodiment of raw destruction, was launched straight between Jiraiya and Minato.
Whoosh!
Minato instantly used Flying Thunder God and appeared beside Jiraiya.
For convenience in battle, Jiraiya always carried Minato's marked kunai on him.
The next moment, Minato placed a hand on Jiraiya and activated Flying Thunder God once again, teleporting both of them to a marked point far away, while Jiraiya canceled the summons so the toads could return to Mount Myoboku themselves.
"That was close. Good thing you were here, Minato," Jiraiya said, patting Minato on the shoulder.
Without Minato, this battle would have been truly disastrous for him.
After suffering an internal betrayal, then facing Jinchuriki and Iwagakure's elite combatants all at once, the difficulty had been absurd.
"Jiraiya sensei, Iwagakure's behavior in this war has been too strange," Minato said gravely.
Jiraiya nodded.
Before today, who could have imagined that a jonin of the Sarutobi Clan would reveal himself as a traitor?
The Sarutobi were not only one of Konoha's old clans, they had also produced the Third Hokage himself. By all logic, a Sarutobi shinobi should have been among the most loyal people in the village.
"When Hiromi Sarutobi disappeared, it looked exactly the same as when the earlier Iwagakure assassination squads disappeared," Minato said seriously.
After using Flying Thunder God to reposition, Minato had been watching Hiromi carefully.
Hiromi's disappearance resembled an Earth Release technique for moving underground, but it was clearly different from anything ordinary.
Because once Hiromi sank into the earth, his presence vanished completely, as though he had ceased to exist.
But Minato knew that Hiromi still existed.
He could not sense his chakra, but he could still sense the Flying Thunder God mark he had secretly placed on him.
The instant he had touched Hiromi, Minato had marked him.
The only reason Minato had failed to capture him was because the battlefield situation had been too severe, and Hiromi had moved outside his sensory range too quickly.
"I see. Then this is becoming more and more troublesome," Jiraiya muttered, rubbing his forehead.
He was not the sort of man with an especially sharp tactical mind to begin with, and all the anomalies in this war had already overloaded his head.
"But since you marked him, Minato, then it's fine. The next time we encounter him, we'll just capture him and interrogate him thoroughly," Jiraiya said after exhaling slowly.
The Flying Thunder God mark had a unique property. Unless the user canceled it himself, it could never be removed.
That meant the next time they found Hiromi Sarutobi, Minato could immediately use Flying Thunder God to seize him.
Minato nodded. He had come to the same conclusion.
"Let's regroup the troops and send a report back to the village," Jiraiya said, dusting himself off and settling on the next step.
Even after suffering a defeat, his spirit remained steady. This was far from the first time he had been beaten by Iwagakure.
During the Second Shinobi World War, he had once suffered a serious defeat at the hands of Amegakure as well.
...
"And that is the current situation. The Land of Grass force has already been damaged. Now Iwagakure is running rampant in the Land of Grass, and no one knows when they will launch a full assault on the border," Hiruzen Sarutobi said in a heavy voice after briefly explaining the latest developments on the Land of Grass battlefield.
"Third Hokage, is there anything I can do?" Mugetsu asked directly.
The persona he had always established for himself was that of a Ninjutsu genius, not some high IQ strategist like a Nara.
So if Hiruzen had specifically called him in to explain the battlefield situation, there could only be one reason.
Hiruzen wanted him to act as a crisis response force and head to the battlefield to support Jiraiya.
"Mugetsu, I'm glad to see you have that determination. I now appoint you commander of the reinforcement force. Lead five hundred shinobi to the Land of Grass and support the Land of Grass front!" Hiruzen said with a smile, then issued the order in a solemn tone.
.....
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