Along with Yoru's electrically trembling voice, lightning, arcs of electricity, and balls of thunder poured along the bone spear into Kaguya Noboru's body, bit by bit burning away his organs, nerves, and muscles.
This was not natural lightning from the sky, but the lightning-spirit natural energy inside Yoru's meridians.
This power was something he could completely control.
He could ensure it did not kill the target.
The cruelty of this sustained electrocution was something Kaguya Noboru had never imagined.
The violent electric shocks made his muscles tremble fiercely. Severe pain rampaged wildly through his body. The intense contraction of his muscles violently pulled against the bones of Shikotsumyaku, causing terrifying cuts and tearing wounds.
Kaguya Noboru was drenched in blood from head to toe, like a blood-soaked man.
But he did not die.
It could even be said that, for a short time, his life was in no danger at all.
Yoru avoided the directly fatal organs. He only destroyed his muscles, nerves, and some organs that would not immediately kill him. He even carefully burned the torn skin, helping him disinfect and stop the bleeding.
Yes.
He had already decided to leave one survivor behind and create a new vest for himself.
Yoru had a feeling.
Before long, he would have use for it.
After the battle ended, Yoru carefully finished off every shinobi except Kaguya Noboru, ensuring there would be no second survivor to damage the "Thunder God's" dignity.
After checking and confirming there were no problems, he quietly returned to the island where the Tiger Unit was stationed.
After returning to his small courtyard, Yoru first went to look at Miwa Masayo, who still had not woken up.
After confirming that the tabby cat's condition was fine, he quietly withdrew from the room.
Yoru sat down in the courtyard and unexpectedly discovered that his state of mind was completely peaceful.
The agitation he had felt when leaving had actually disappeared completely.
This result left him somewhat incredulous.
According to his previous expectations, even if he had learned cloud-hanging gliding and killed all the Kaguya clan shinobi, it should only have greatly reduced the agitation, not made it vanish entirely.
After all, once the heart-shapes became restless, without external force, they could only slowly recover.
And the time required would be very, very long.
His mental world must have undergone some new change he did not know about.
Although the problem had been completely solved, Yoru was dying of curiosity over what exactly had changed.
He had to enter his mental world and look.
Thus, Yoru gathered his mind and smoothly sank into absolute peace.
His mind gradually descended in that silence.
Suddenly, he entered his mental world.
With just one glance, he knew what had changed.
The fourth heart-shape had taken form.
From a mass of black thundercloud or deep-gray mist, it had condensed into a… toad.
This toad was fat and plump. Its body was mainly covered in blue-green interwoven lightning patterns, dotted with a few white circles, and sparks occasionally leapt from it.
The lightning attribute.
That was correct.
It was indeed the fourth heart-shape, the liver-toad.
The appearance of this little monster brought the balance of the mental world to its best state.
No wonder it could quickly eliminate the heart-shape mutation.
Moreover, the liver-toad was a great glutton. It greedily stretched out its tongue and licked the mutated heart-shape flesh, blood, and fur scattered all over the ground.
Interestingly, the one who benefited from what it swallowed was Yoru himself.
It was just like being digested by the mental world.
In the entire mental world, only the hole-covered octopus Little Ke was the one most hurt.
Because as long as it approached to a certain distance, the liver-toad would give up licking the ground and instead try to stick Little Ke with its big tongue and swallow it.
The hole-covered octopus was frightened badly.
It was like it had seen some natural enemy.
It hid far away from the liver-toad and firmly refused to approach.
But none of the four heart-shapes were easy to provoke.
They valued their absolute territories very much.
Once Little Ke got too close, they would chase it toward the positions of the other three heart-shapes.
The pitiful octopus could only keep moving between the three heart-shapes, constantly being driven back and forth.
Yoru's mental world was a world where only the hole-covered octopus Little Ke would be hurt.
Seeing his mental world so harmonious, Yoru was extremely satisfied.
This time, he had truly and completely finished preparations for breakthrough.
His physical development had reached its limit.
The inner and outer balance of chakra and natural energy had been achieved.
The mental world was perfectly balanced.
Now, only an opportunity was lacking.
…
Orochimaru was indeed staying in the Konoha ninja army's main camp.
Unlike Jiraiya, he could remain very calm.
He was also very good at the tactic of enduring, lying low, luring the enemy in, and finally delivering a fatal blow.
Kirigakure's sudden outbreak did not involve only the Land of Hot Water.
The Land of Waves, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Whirlpools were all within the range of Kirigakure's attacks.
Under such circumstances, as one of the few Konoha shinobi with the highest authority, Orochimaru received far too much information.
This caused him to suffer from severe interference that was difficult to sort through.
Yoru was on the front line. His sources of intelligence were fewer and clearer.
Adding on his transmigrator advantage, he was able to quickly make an accurate judgment.
Unfortunately, after his judgment was written into a report and delivered into Orochimaru's hands, it became one of the interfering factors that made Orochimaru endlessly troubled.
Too many people were feeding Orochimaru their own judgments.
Their basis was all partial, local intelligence, lacking convincing evidence.
Yoru did have wider intelligence, but it either came from his transmigration memories or had been attached to his second vest.
He could not tell Orochimaru.
This meant his judgment was similarly unconvincing.
The Fourth Mizukage's attack target was not the Land of Lightning, nor the Land of Fire, but the Land of Whirlpools, using it as a springboard to conquer the Land of Tea in the south.
Karatachi Yagura wanted to avoid Orochimaru's strong northeastern line and launch an attack from the south and southeast of the Land of Fire.
The Konoha shinobi there had almost no strength and no decent commander.
This was how Karatachi Yagura explained it to Genji.
"Konoha Village is the strongest. There is no doubt about this. But Konoha Village is no longer as powerful as it was at the beginning of the Second War."
"Perhaps Konoha's lower-level shinobi are very strong, even stronger, but the number of Kage-level experts is truly not large."
"Orochimaru guards the Land of Hot Water. One person holds back both us Kirigakure and Kumogakure. Jiraiya is in the Land of Rain, holding back the main forces of Iwagakure and Sunagakure. Although the losses are heavy, he can still stabilize the front."
"These two Kage-level shinobi are forcibly holding back four great ninja villages, but they seem to only have these two Kage-level shinobi available."
"Konoha's White Fang was forced to death by themselves. Tsunade was forced to leave the village. As for Shimura Danzo, he is ambitious but talentless, while Sarutobi Hiruzen is timid and incompetent. Neither of them is a suitable ninja army commander, nor can they put down their pride like Jiraiya to cooperate with and protect a commander of jonin rank."
"So on the southern battlefield of the Land of Rivers, Konoha has no commander available. There, they and Sunagakure are both just rotting together."
"Genji-sama, my target is this region in the south of the Land of Fire, near the Land of Rivers."
"Of course, I will first attack the Land of Waves and the Land of Whirlpools, then the Land of Tea, scattering Konoha's attention as much as possible, making the Third Hokage lose his head in response, and finally completely open up the situation here."
"As long as we truly attack into the Land of Fire and ignite raging flames of war inside the Land of Fire, the entire shinobi world will follow."
"At that time, Konoha Village will have lost the grand trend."
"Unless a true Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara suddenly appears, Konoha Village will be torn apart under the siege of the four great ninja villages."
Genji listened until his heart surged.
He immediately decided to give his full support.
If Kirigakure Village could be the first to attack into the Land of Fire, completely ignite the flames of war, and trigger Konoha Village's crisis of destruction…
Even if he died immediately, he could close his eyes in peace.
Precisely because Kirigakure Village's current-stage objective was only harassment and intelligence isolation, and the target was not the Land of Hot Water at all, Orochimaru was instead completely confused and could not understand the enemy's purpose.
Making plans before moving was Orochimaru's basic style.
If he could not figure out what the enemy wanted to do, he would not act casually.
Even Nara Shikaku could no longer keep his temper. He asked uncertainly,
"Orochimaru-sama, are we really going to do nothing?"
Orochimaru chuckled and said, "Who said I'm doing nothing? Tell the Konoha shinobi who can no longer hold on at sea to come back. Also, abandon the northern part of the Land of Hot Water and withdraw the shinobi there as well."
"Ah?"
Nara Shikaku was stunned.
What he had asked about was how to attack.
In the end, the moment Orochimaru opened his mouth, it was a full contraction.
No matter how smart his brain was, he could not hold himself together.
He directly spoke the words in his heart.
"But we won't be able to explain this to the Third Hokage-sama."
Orochimaru coldly snorted.
"What a joke. I have a total of only 7,600 shinobi under my command. From the beginning, I should never have occupied such a large piece of territory."
"It was all to raise Konoha Village's morale that I forced the shinobi to hold on for four months. Four months! I have done right by my teacher. If he himself cannot turn the situation around in four months, what do you expect me to do?"
Nara Shikaku's face turned pale with fright. He nervously whispered,
"Mind your words, mind your words…"
Orochimaru, however, did not care.
"I'm the one speaking poorly of my teacher. It's not you. What are you afraid of?"
Nara Shikaku: Of course I'm afraid your teacher can't do anything to you, so he'll vent his anger on me.
Seeing that his strategist was angry and depressed, his eyes widened, his nostrils flaring until his whole face was distorted, Orochimaru had no choice but to comfort him.
"Relax. There are no Hokage Anbu here with me."
Could Nara Shikaku believe that?
He really was too angry.
He reached out and pointed at the masked ninja standing in the corner of the room.
Although he said nothing, his meaning was very clear.
There is such a huge Anbu standing right there, and you're telling me there aren't any?
Orochimaru turned his head one hundred and eighty degrees, followed the finger and looked, then chuckled.
"Shikaku, this Anbu is not the Hokage's Anbu, but 'my' Anbu. So relax."
Nara Shikaku's face instantly recovered.
But his expression became even more solemn and heavy.
"Orochimaru-sama, you reached into the Anbu?"
"Mm."
Orochimaru calmly admitted it, then added,
"It's not a big deal."
The impact of this sentence was too great.
It nearly made Nara Shikaku choke to death on his own saliva.
What do you mean it is not a big deal?
What does Orochimaru think the Anbu is?
The Anbu was created by Second Hokage-sama and was the armed force directly under the Hokage.
It was the violent organization with the highest authority level in Konoha Village.
The Anbu held special powers in intelligence, assassination, arrest, execution, defense, counterespionage, and so on.
Most importantly, they represented the Hokage's authority.
Within Konoha Village and the territory of the Land of Fire, the Anbu's special privileges were nearly omnipotent.
They could directly execute any shinobi below jonin.
It was true Hokage permission.
No taboos.
And you, Orochimaru, just reached your hand inside like this and replaced the Third Hokage's will with your own.
Is that good?
Seeing Nara Shikaku sink into a dead end, his face wrinkling in distress, Orochimaru patted his shoulder and comforted him.
"Don't think of the Anbu as so sacred. After all, this is the era of my teacher, the Third Hokage. It is no longer the time of the Second Hokage."
"Shikaku, think carefully. How many people are in the Anbu now? Is it still the seventy-man scale from the beginning?"
"And the Anbu has long since ceased to be exclusive to the Hokage. Isn't there also something below this department?"
After Orochimaru's reminder, Nara Shikaku's brain immediately turned.
He murmured,
"Shimura…"
"Don't say the name. He is much more petty than my teacher, and he is truly too shameless."
"I understand, Orochimaru-sama."
"Go issue the contraction order."
"Yes."
"Wait."
Just as Nara Shikaku was about to walk out, Orochimaru called him back and instructed,
"Go learn about the Tiger Unit's situation. If they can still stabilize themselves at sea, then don't recall them."
"If they can stand firm on the sea, then no matter what Kirigakure Village wants to do around the three eastern-shore countries of the continent, they will be constrained, like a thorn in the back."
Nara Shikaku now also had full confidence in the Tiger Unit.
He smiled and said,
"And although we cannot say we can sleep without worry, there will be no real danger."
"This becomes the situation of the Kubota Village battle again. I think Kirigakure Village's Mizukage will go insane."
Orochimaru also smiled.
"What I want is for the Mizukage to go insane. If he goes insane, the pressure on my side will be much smaller."
After Nara Shikaku left, Orochimaru's smile also faded away.
His entire aura immediately became gloomy and cold.
He coldly snorted and muttered to himself,
"Less pressure on my side may not necessarily be a good thing. Fourth Mizukage, I wonder what kind of personality he has."
"If Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura is extremely ambitious and fully develops southward, circling around in a huge loop before attacking back into the Land of Fire, Konoha Village will have a big problem."
"I hope the nail that is the Tiger Unit can bring Kirigakure Village enough trouble."
…
Just as Orochimaru cast his gaze toward the Tiger Unit, Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura was also thinking about this group of Uchiha clan shinobi.
Kaguya Yoshi had completed the sea-cleaning mission, but in the northern region, they had suffered serious losses.
More than four hundred Kirigakure shinobi had disappeared there one after another.
Only when the Kaguya clan's elite jonin, Kaguya Noboru, along with fifty Kaguya clan shinobi and more than sixty Kirigakure shinobi, suffered defeat there in the end did Kirigakure finally obtain definite intelligence.
"The Uchiha clan's Tiger Unit, and also… a strange person?"
"Kaguya Clan Leader, you actually say that he was guided by fate and specially ran over to kill your clansmen. How am I supposed to believe this?"
Facing the Fourth Mizukage's questioning, Kaguya Yoshi was very helpless.
He also did not know why Kaguya Noboru had been beaten into a cripple by a strange person.
Fortunately, someone spoke up and helped Kaguya Yoshi out.
Terumi Jonin stood up and said,
"The last time we gathered into a great fleet and passed through the peninsula sea region, we encountered an island."
He described all the thunder traces they had seen on the sea island, as well as the human dwellings and small patches of cultivated vegetable fields.
Everyone listened thoughtfully.
"At that time, our guess was that a powerful shinobi skilled in Lightning Release was living in seclusion there. And that island is not too far from the sea region of this battle. Instead, the Uchiha activity sea region later discovered is farther away."
Terumi Jonin said,
"I have a bold thought. Perhaps these are two different matters that happened to collide."
"One side is Konoha Village's Tiger Unit fighting us for control over the sea region, and the other side is a hidden strange person who accidentally clashed with our side."
Karatachi Yagura nodded.
"Terumi Jonin's words make a great deal of sense, but we must verify it. The risk of verification is not low. Mm, this time, the Yuki clan will be responsible."
The Yuki clan's new clan leader was still a beautiful boy with straight black hair.
He stood up and respectfully accepted the order.
"Yes, Fourth Mizukage-sama."
Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura tapped the map at the island where the Tiger Unit was stationed and sighed.
"I have to say, Orochimaru has very good eyes."
"Heh. Before Konoha's Tiger Unit appeared, no matter how one looked at this place, there was nothing awkward about it. But with them here, we simply cannot launch a large-scale attack on the Land of Hot Water, and the eastern shore of the Land of Fire is also completely impassable."
"I never imagined that pressing a nail here could make me this uncomfortable."
The Fourth Mizukage said seriously to all the shinobi,
"Confirm that strange person's intelligence as soon as possible. Then, no matter what, remove the Tiger Unit as quickly as possible. Otherwise, no matter what we do, we will have to consider them. It is too uncomfortable."
Genji hesitated and said,
"Konoha Village's Tiger Unit, in the last great battle, with fewer than a hundred people, caused more than three thousand casualties among our Kirigakure shinobi. Their combat strength is extremely terrifying."
"And intelligence shows they have already expanded to around three hundred people. This force will not be easy to deal with."
The Fourth Mizukage nodded in agreement.
"It is precisely because they are so powerful that we have no choice but to respond with all our strength. If it were any other few hundred shinobi, we would not need to care at all."
Genji asked,
"Fourth-sama, how do you intend to deal with them?"
Karatachi Yagura answered,
"In the previous war, Konoha's Tiger Unit has already proven that they are completely unafraid of being surrounded by thousands of shinobi. They are good at dealing with chunin and genin."
"But I believe they have no way to deal with powerful shinobi. For example, jinchuriki. For example, a ninja unit purely composed of jonin."
"We are Kirigakure Village, one of the five great ninja villages of the shinobi world. No matter how powerful this Tiger Unit is, they are still only a small handful of Uchiha shinobi."
"As long as we can grasp the Tiger Unit's detailed intelligence and make targeted arrangements, Kirigakure Village will definitely have a way to eliminate them."
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