The Hidden Mist Jonin showed a surprised expression when he saw Biwa Juzo and others fleeing like defeated dogs.
After having his chakra absorbed, he felt it was a bit dangerous to stay on the battlefield, so after refining a bit of chakra, he left the battlefield. He just happened to run into Minazuki Kan, who was nearby searching for Konoha ninja, and brought him over.
The Konoha ninja they encountered this time were truly too talented. The Hidden Mist Jonin worried that the Seven-Swords Ninja wouldn't be able to kill all the Konoha geniuses, and letting even one escape would be a threat.
But the current situation puzzled the Hidden Mist Jonin greatly. When he left, the Seven-Swords Ninja had such an advantage, and yet they were beaten like this in no time.
"Those injured can retreat on their own, and those who want to fight can stay and resolve this with me," Minazuki Kan said calmly.
The reason why he didn't force the Seven-Swords Ninja to stay as fighters was partly because he had no authority to command them, and partly because he had confidence in his own strength.
Minazuki Kan was confident he could surpass any ninja except Orochimaru, including the combined Ino-Shika-Cho.
He hadn't heard of any Ice Release experts in Konoha, so Minazuki Kan didn't care if the Seven-Swords Ninja retreated or not.
Jinin Akebino, Kurosuki Raiga, and Aohire Karei stayed behind, while the injured Biwa Juzo and Kuriarare Kushimaru chose to retreat.
Jinin Akebino and the others could leave if they wanted to, but they felt this was too humiliating. If they didn't fight back with Minazuki Kan, they might truly become the laughing stock of the Hidden Mist.
Of course, they weren't people who would fight to the death for face; the main reason was that Minazuki Kan's strength was formidable enough.
This was a renowned strongman of the Hidden Mist, whose power was second only to Yagura on the entire Hidden Mist battlefield.
With Minazuki Kan plus several of the Seven-Swords Ninja, and the Jonin and Chunin he brought, unless one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, showed up, they couldn't possibly lose.
Minazuki Kan accurately shattered the ice encasing Munashi Jinpachi, freeing him from being frozen, and then headed toward Kakashi and the others.
After noticing that the Hidden Mist weren't retreating, Mokgetsu stopped attacking and instead began treating his students alongside his shadow clones.
After all, he was just an ordinary Jonin with some fame within Konoha, and those famous strong ones in the Ninja World were bound to cause trouble.
"Teacher Mokgetsu, it's lucky to have you. You always arrive so timely," Obito said with a smile, brushing off the black soot from his body.
Seeing Mokgetsu, Obito felt a weight lifted off. With the omnipotent Sage Mokgetsu present, there was no crisis that couldn't be solved. That's the confidence Sage Mokgetsu instilled in him.
"You should thank yourselves more. Thank your persistence and effort; otherwise, you wouldn't have held on till I arrived," Mokgetsu said, gently tapping Obito on the forehead and shaking his head.
In fact, Mokgetsu had arrived long ago.
When his students engaged in such a critical battle, Mokgetsu himself had already used the Flying Thunder God to rush to the battlefield.
Mokgetsu was ready to intervene several times. After all, he couldn't just watch Might Duy open the Eight Gates or his students fall, but his students performed admirably, allowing Mokgetsu to hold back until the fight was over to start bringing people back.
"If my experiences were written into a novel, I'd probably be criticized for letting my students' lives hover on the brink of death," Mokgetsu thought, sighing.
He thought being criticized was quite normal. If Mokgetsu himself had a teacher like this, he probably would dislike them.
Even if they could ensure survival, the physical pain remained. When he could easily resolve the enemies, why subject them to such "torment"?
Even Mokgetsu himself felt this kind of training was a bit extreme, but he truly had no better method.
If there were a better option, he wouldn't want his students to kill on the battlefield. How old were they, after all?
This was a world where the weak fall prey to the strong, with Uchiha Madara lurking in the shadows targeting his students. Mokgetsu could only help them become stronger to ensure they wouldn't fall into Uchiha Madara's schemes.
Ultimately, it was because Mokgetsu's strength wasn't strong enough. If he had Six Paths Level power, then all of this wouldn't be so troublesome.
"No matter how much we persisted, it still depended on you being able to get here," Obito chuckled.
Might Guy gave a thumbs-up, showing a look of approval, and the other students strongly agreed.
"I really appreciate your trust. I'll take care of things from here," Mokgetsu said, giving his students a gentle smile before turning to face the approaching Hidden Mist.