The chakra blade in Shimizu's hand flashed once more with a streak of silver light, slicing effortlessly across the throat of the Kirigakure ninja before him. Blood sprayed through the air.
"Y-you are…!"
The man collapsed unwillingly to the ground before he could finish his sentence.
Shimizu flicked the blood from his blade calmly. This was already the ninth enemy he had killed since launching the assault today.
The previous eight had died in almost exactly the same way—cut down by overwhelming speed and an unstoppable blade before they could even react.
And the price he had paid for all of it was merely a small amount of chakra.
He glanced toward the battlefield on the other side.
There, Satomi had just finished off her final opponent as well.
If he remembered correctly, that made eight enemies she had personally defeated, including a fully staffed two-squad unit led by a jonin.
At the moment, the young woman was breathing slightly heavily, clearly drained from the chakra consumption.
Unlike Shimizu, she didn't possess that monstrous speed that let him avoid attacks outright. Against assaults coming from every direction, she had no choice but to rely on technique to defend herself.
And the technique she relied on was the Hyuga clan's ultimate defense—
Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven.
By releasing chakra from hundreds of chakra points throughout her body while spinning at high speed, she created an almost absolute sphere of defense.
Its effectiveness truly was extraordinary.
If Shimizu himself had transmigrated into the Hyuga clan back then and mastered a life-saving technique like this, he probably never would have spent so much effort obsessively researching the Body Flicker Technique.
Of course, the weakness of Revolving Heaven was equally obvious.
It consumed an absurd amount of chakra.
"…Senpai?"
Shimizu snapped back to himself.
He had apparently been staring at her for too long. At this rate, she might misunderstand his intentions.
"I was just thinking," he explained casually, "if I fully master all three hundred and sixty-one chakra points someday, would I also be able to use Revolving Heaven?"
"Understanding the chakra points is only the foundation," Satomi replied softly with a small sigh. "The true secrets of the Gentle Fist aren't that simple. Techniques like Revolving Heaven… not even every member of the Hyuga clan can use them."
"I see…"
Shimizu didn't sound particularly disappointed.
In truth, even if he could learn it, he probably wouldn't invest the time necessary to master the technique.
If he ever found himself in a situation where evasion was impossible, he already had water-style ninjutsu he was far more familiar with to create a similar all-direction defense.
"Still…" Satomi hesitated slightly before continuing, "your swordsmanship keeps getting better and better, Senpai."
"The greatest swordsman in Konoha… maybe?"
Her tone carried uncertainty.
Was this misunderstanding caused by the fact that he had continuously used swordsmanship to kill enemies throughout the battle?
Konoha's greatest swordsman?
Even Shimizu felt embarrassed hearing a title like that. In reality, Konoha-style swordsmanship had gradually become only a secondary combat method for him.
After all, now that his chakra reserves were steadily increasing, ninjutsu had naturally become his primary choice in battle.
"Not at all," Shimizu replied with a helpless smile. "Kosuke-sensei 's swordsmanship is still better than mine. And so is Hayama Shirakumo-senpai's."
Speaking of which, Kosuke-sensei was currently still fighting alongside Minato on the frontlines against Kumogakure.
Hopefully they were safe.
Then, as if clarifying the reason for his earlier fighting style, Shimizu added:
"I'm using swordsmanship mainly to conserve chakra."
Ever cautious, he had already concluded that this war would not end quickly or easily. Because of that, his strategy against Kirigakure had also changed accordingly.
Use swordsmanship whenever possible.
Preserve chakra for what truly mattered.
"Revolving Heaven really is useful," he continued, "but it consumes too much chakra."
"In battles like this, you need to pay attention to how you distribute your chakra."
"I understand," Satomi answered obediently.
"The force ahead should be Yoshimaru's unit. Let's catch up and see what's happening."
"Alright!"
…
In just half a day, Konoha's forces had crushed Kirigakure's entire defensive line with overwhelming momentum.
Several strategic strongholds that had originally been expected to cost enormous casualties to capture had now fallen with only minimal losses.
Kirigakure's defeat was collapsing like a landslide, forming a sharp contrast to the fierce momentum with which they had invaded at the start.
And truthfully, much of this smooth advance was thanks to the full support of the Hyuga and Uchiha clans.
With the Byakugan and Sharingan both present on the battlefield, Kirigakure's troop movements, ambushes, and schemes were all exposed under Konoha's watchful eyes.
Now that the strategic defensive strongholds had fallen, Kirigakure's remaining forces had no choice but to retreat deeper into the interior of the Land of Bears to avoid Konoha's advancing edge.
At this point, the mission of defending the Land of Fire itself could already be considered complete.
Yet Yoshimaru's brows remained tightly furrowed.
"How do we completely wipe them out…?" he muttered gravely.
Yes—what this young commander was thinking about now was not victory, but annihilation.
In his eyes, Konoha was already surrounded by enemies on all sides. Only by completely destroying this Kirigakure army could they eliminate future threats once and for all.
The adjutant standing beside him proposed, "We cut off their retreat routes and attempt an encirclement…"
Yoshimaru hesitated immediately.
"We can't afford even greater losses…"
The truth was that Konoha did not actually possess overwhelming superiority in strength. The reason the earlier battles had been won so decisively was because the Byakugan and Sharingan had provided an enormous amount of battlefield intelligence, giving Konoha absolute dominance in local engagements.
Once Kirigakure realized the situation was unfavorable, they had chosen to retreat.
But if they were cornered with no escape route left, then the desperate Kirigakure forces would inevitably fight to the death.
And a trapped beast was always the most dangerous.
If pushed too far, the enemy could inflict severe casualties on Konoha.
After all, Kirigakure's only enemy was Konoha.
But Konoha still had the other three great ninja villages watching from the shadows.
For a time, the commanders of Konoha's various military divisions and the heads of the great clans all began discussing heatedly among themselves.
"Then why don't we take advantage of this standoff," someone suddenly suggested boldly, "and launch a long-range raid directly on Kirigakure itself… and destroy it completely?"
It was an outrageous proposal.
Yet no one dismissed it immediately.
After all, Shimizu's past success in leading several hundred Konoha ninja in an assault on Sunagakure had left a deep impression on everyone present. It had opened the door to possibilities they once would never have considered.
At present, Kirigakure had deployed just under five thousand ninja into the Land of Fire. Considering the village's relatively small population, that meant the number of ninja still guarding Kirigakure itself was almost certainly fewer than a thousand.
This really was an opportunity.
Almost instantly, everyone's eyes turned toward Shimizu, who had only just arrived.
If such a mission were to be carried out, then naturally it required someone experienced—someone overwhelmingly powerful—to lead it.
From Konoha's perspective, this plan was nearly perfect.
If they could successfully strike Kirigakure Village itself, the morale of the enemy forces here would collapse completely. Whatever combat strength remained afterward would no longer be enough to threaten Konoha.
"This plan is feasible," Shimizu said after a brief moment of thought.
"I personally have no objections."
Accepting such a reckless mission so calmly made even some of the veterans present feel a chill.
Then Shimizu looked around at everyone else.
"What about the rest of you?"
"I agree," Fugaku spoke first without hesitation.
"I think it's workable as well."
"I'm in favor too."
One after another, everyone present voiced their approval.
Very quickly, the entire assembly reached consensus on this radical and dangerously ambitious plan.
"In that case," Yoshimaru said solemnly, "the next step is discussing the operational details for the assault on Kirigakure."
…
After extensive discussion, Konoha ultimately finalized its strategy.
Roughly half of their forces—around three thousand ninja—would immediately depart for Kirigakure Village under Yoshimaru's command.
Shimizu would accompany him as vice commander.
Officially, battlefield command would still belong to Yoshimaru. But in reality, Shimizu's role was closer to a banner… a symbol… a spiritual pillar for the army itself.
The moment the Konoha ninja learned that one of the initiators of this mission was "Shunshin Shimizu," morale would rise dramatically.
Still, not everyone was fully at ease.
"Are we really doing this without first informing the Hokage-sama?" someone asked worriedly. "This is an extremely risky operation…"
Fugaku answered immediately.
"Do we even have the time?"
"What Konoha lacks most right now… is time."
If Kirigakure regained its footing and chose to advance steadily while dragging the war out, then Konoha simply had no effective way to deal with them.
But right now, while the enemy army was still in relative disorder, splitting their own forces would be far less likely to attract immediate attention. At the same time, Kirigakure was unlikely to launch a fierce counterattack in its current unstable state.
This was the best possible window of opportunity.
Moreover, all the clan heads present clearly understood one thing:
Konoha's situation had already become critically dangerous.
If Konoha fell, then the great clans would not escape unscathed. Their fortunes were tied to the village itself.
That was why so many powerful clans had mobilized nearly all their strength for this war against Kirigakure.
Konoha truly had reached its most perilous moment.
"Then…" Yoshimaru finally declared.
"Let's move out."
...
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