Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, the Hidden Mist Village of the Land of Water is renowned for its Water Style ninjutsu. Furthermore, to uphold the status of a Great village, it's not just about the Kage possessing overwhelming personal strength, but more importantly, having a group of powerful ninjas to support them.
In terms of notoriety, the Hidden Mist's primary signature was undoubtedly the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, an elite group of Jonin wielding seven legendary blades... although they had now been reduced to the Five Ninja Swordsmen.
Ranking them after the Seven Swordsmen, next in line should be the Kaguya clan with their Kekkei Genkai. Their overall combat capability is not weak, and once their Kekkei Genkai awakens, their Shikotsumyaku (Macabre Bone Pulse) is truly unique. Unfortunately, the awakening probability is very low.
Further down the line is... the Hozuki clan.
The Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, originated from this very clan. Although the current Third Mizukage is highly mysterious, certain intel suggests he is also connected to the Hozuki clan, with rumors claiming his name is Reitetsu Hozuki.
Regardless, the connection between the Hozuki clan and the Seven Ninja Swords is quite close. It might be related to the origins and sources of the swords. Although the wielders of the ninja swords are not necessarily ninjas of the Hozuki clan, for a long time, the Hozuki clan has held the summoning scrolls that symbolize the ultimate ownership rights to the blades.
If a ninja sword were to be lost, or if it fell into the hands of a ninja from another village, the Hozuki clan could retrieve it via summoning.
When Fuguki Suikazan told Hagoromo earlier that the Executioner's Blade had been recovered, it wasn't that a bunch of people had gone all the way to the Land of Whirlpool to fish it out, but rather that it had been retrieved via this exact summoning method.
Now, Samehada had met the exact same fate.
Therefore, Hagoromo barely got to enjoy his new toy for three minutes before it completely vanished into thin air.
This kind of thing was truly unavoidable... It couldn't really be blamed on Hagoromo. The average person would find it very hard to predict something like this; after all, Hagoromo had never considered the possibility that ninja swords could be reverse-summoned.
Perhaps, after thoroughly studying Samehada, he could have used his expertise in sealing jutsu to discover the tampering on the sword. But unfortunately, a battlefield is not a research environment, and there simply wasn't enough time.
Consequently, he suffered a tragedy. His feelings were deceived. Although saying this was a bit unfair to the already deceased Fuguki Suikazan, Hagoromo genuinely felt he had just busted his ass for absolutely nothing.
As for why it was summoned away right now, the exact moment it changed hands? It wasn't because news traveled that fast, but because a certain Hozuki ninja holding the clan's summoning scroll was currently present on this very chaotic battlefield.
He had witnessed Samehada being snatched away by a Konoha ninja with his own eyes.
Whatever, I wasn't used to that weapon anyway. It doesn't fit the Hagoromo-style combat rhythm. So what if I lost it? It just absorbs chakra, big deal. Nothing special.
Yes, these were Hagoromo's true thoughts. He didn't feel the slightest bit of regret over losing a salted fish.
He absolutely wasn't just being stubborn, nor was he desperately trying to comfort himself.
Just as Hagoromo, standing on Katsuyu's head, was fruitlessly pondering where Samehada had gone and preparing to give up, Orochimaru suddenly appeared beside him.
"Tsunade's Katsuyu?" "Orochimaru-sama?"
Could it be that because Manda's mortality rate was currently transitioning from fifty percent to one hundred percent, Orochimaru had come to pick a fight?
In reality, Orochimaru viewed the life and death of others very lightly. Call it rationality or call it apathy, he himself was just like a cold-blooded snake.
Just like how he told Tsunade, "You are the only person I don't want to kill," and then immediately drove a sword through her chest. Not wanting to kill, actually delivering a killing blow, and being able to kill were not mutually exclusive concepts.
Manda had never been very obedient; teaching it a lesson was fine. And even if Hagoromo really did kill Manda, so what? It wasn't as if replacements didn't exist.
However, Hagoromo strongly suspected that Orochimaru had been secretly peeping the entire time. Otherwise, why would he appear the exact moment Manda vanished? As for his motive... probably something along the lines of 'Since you killed Manda, you must dedicate your body to my research as compensation.'
"So Manda vanished because of Katsuyu's acid? Using Summoning Jutsu from inside the body, and then releasing acid... a very lethal attack method. You are quite creative," Orochimaru said.
Hagoromo blinked. This guy really was peeping the whole time, wasn't he?
"Orochimaru-sama, aren't you concerned about whether your Summoning Beast is actually dead?"
"Manda won't die. With that level of injury, it will probably be weak for a while, but it will eventually recover."
Its body was literally burned through and it can still recover? I haven't learned that many jutsu, don't try to scam me... Hagoromo gave Orochimaru a sidelong glance and asked, "In that case, the eye I poked out earlier... can that recover too?"
Orochimaru: "..."
At that moment, he felt the urge to poke out one of Hagoromo's eyes, just to let the boy test for himself if a popped eye could grow back.
But speaking of summoning, Hagoromo completely figured it out. Samehada must have definitely been reverse-summoned away by someone...
It was impossible to guard against. But with this experience, Hagoromo learned his lesson. The next time he encountered a ninja tool like this, he wouldn't rush to play with it. He'd slap a tag on it and register the property rights first, officially declaring the change of ownership before doing anything else.
Surprisingly, no one attacked Katsuyu, despite her being such a massive target on the battlefield. This was because the Hidden Mist ninjas were currently too busy saving their own skins. It was a blessing that such a gigantic Summoning Beast hadn't joined the offensive; why would they actively provoke it? Wouldn't that be the act of courting death?
Just as Hagoromo's thoughts were wandering again, a sharp, distinct sound coming from the inland direction of the Land of Water snapped him awake.
Hagoromo instantly understood: it was Konoha's retreat signal.
Sure enough, Orochimaru beside him said, "It's the retreat signal. The scout ninjas I deployed earlier have discovered that the Hidden Mist reinforcements have arrived."
"It's time for us to leave."
After saying this, Orochimaru vanished from Hagoromo's side.
He was the commander of the Konoha forces; he couldn't just stand there chatting with Hagoromo forever. Now that the retreat was commencing, he had to busy himself with logistics and deployment.
"Retreat, huh..."
Hagoromo squatted down, patted Katsuyu on the head, and dispelled the Summoning Jutsu.
There is a unique sorrow that belongs solely to elite combat units. During the initial assault, they have to charge in first. And when the main force retreats, they are required to stay behind and cover the rear.
Obviously, Hagoromo was one of the individuals who made up this collective sorrow.
But he didn't have much of a problem with it. Although he had taken a hit to his side, the injury wasn't severe enough to hinder his mobility. Coupled with the fact that he still had a decent amount of chakra reserves left, participating in a rear-guard action wouldn't be an issue.
However, according to the retreat strategy, independent action was no longer permitted. Everyone had to group up.
The ninjas at the very rear would simultaneously unleash wide-area ninjutsu to obstruct any potential enemy pursuit. But at this point, the vast majority of the enemies had already been wiped out by Konoha's initial wave. The surviving, crippled ninjas could no longer fight; they could only watch helplessly as Konoha took advantage of them and slipped away right before their eyes.
However, after this raid, the Hidden Mist would also understand that Konoha had changed its war strategy.
Konoha had shifted from defense to offense. If there were future raids, they likely wouldn't succeed as easily as this one did.
If they had anticipated this, the Hidden Mist wouldn't have spread their troop deployments so thin. After all, prior to this, Konoha had been besieged on all sides and it was the Hidden Mist that had constantly maintained the offensive.
Konoha came quickly and left quickly. Having achieved their objectives, they rapidly withdrew, refusing to get bogged down in a prolonged brawl with the Hidden Mist and denying the enemy any chance to reclaim lost ground.
The retreat proceeded without any dramatic twists. Although the actual combat lasted only two hours for a full day's round trip, the results were more than sufficient.
They had destroyed the enemy's forward operating base and a massive amount of supplies. If the Hidden Mist still wanted to launch an offensive against Konoha, just replenishing those supplies would take them a considerable amount of time.
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