In a war lasting several years, both sides inevitably experience alternating victories and defeats. If one side could dominate throughout, the war would have ended within months... or rather, with such an exaggerated power disparity, there wouldn't even be a war to begin with.
Just like during the time of the First.
The highest form of generalship is to win without fighting—that has always been the pinnacle of military strategy.
Yet ninja don't seem to possess such lofty cultural philosophies.
Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, Konoha's strength truly stood slightly above the rest. However, that "slightly" was only a thin line—it wasn't some unbridgeable gap. Precisely because this gap could be erased, and because Mist believed it should be erased, they launched such a sudden attack.
So then, who's responsible for Konoha's recent defeat?
Was it the failure of Konoha's leadership in strategic judgment and decision-making? Was Haseo's lack of command ability? Or was it simply Mist's disgraceful behavior?
None of those answers are right. The blame lies entirely on a certain Konoha ninja named Sakumo Hatake. It was because he had said something ill-fated before coming to the Front Line that led everyone into this misfortune… Well, that was the kind of joke Haseo could only keep to himself.
War is a complex issue filled with infinite choices. Each choice determines, to some extent, how things will unfold. Yet none of these choices can ever be considered the absolutely correct standard answer.
If this were a multiple-choice question, even if Haseo didn't know the right answer, he'd probably guess right just by going for the second-to-last choice—it was usually the safest bet.
Like when given options A, B, C, D—choose C.
Or like choosing between Ichika (One Flower), Nino (Two Brides), Mikku (Three Nines), Yotsuba, and Itsuki—go with Yotsuba. Otherwise, no matter how top of the game you are, you'll still end up flying solo at the end of the day.
At the Eastern Front camp, not only had personnel suffered heavy losses in this battle, but critical facilities already set up—and others partially completed—were also severely damaged by enemy sabotage.
The most notable casualty was that important detection jutsu pattern, now completely destroyed.
Its uniquely-shaped and highly conspicuous design ensured that even if the enemy didn't immediately understand its purpose, they'd still destroy it based on the principle: "The more important something is to the enemy, the more important it is to destroy."
Plus, from the structure of the jutsu and the chakra reaction when it was activated, someone could probably figure out what it did.
Therefore, after serving as a monitoring tool for just one day, the Eastern Front of Konoha had once again lost that surveillance capability.
Rebuilding the detection jutsu pattern and redeploying personnel to the area would undoubtedly take time, so temporarily, an intelligence blind spot might open up here.
Fortunately, Mist itself likely needed to catch its breath too… at least the Third Mizukage definitely did. The injuries he sustained could not be healed through conventional means.
After all, currently, only White Zetsu possessed such cutting-edge technology as limb regeneration. Nobody else even came close.
Tsunade hadn't yet reached the medical mastery she'd eventually obtain. But even now, whatever she couldn't do, no other medical ninja would ever manage in the future.
Sunagakure might possibly succeed in Puppet-based prosthetic transformation, manipulating artificial limbs via Chakra Threads so they could function similarly to normal arms. Kirigakure, however, was no Sunagakure—and cooperation between the two villages was utterly out of the question.
They couldn't even stand each other long enough to mock anyone together.
In any case, even if the Third Mizukage tried to lead his forces into battle again with one hand gone, Haseo currently had no time to deal with him. There was no way he and his squad could fight back. At this point, the only reasonable action was to retreat calmly along with his troops… Until now, although Haseo could indeed be considered a powerful ninja, he was still just an ordinary ninja.
One man against a thousand? That's something he just isn't capable of.
After quickly cleaning up the battlefield and evacuating the injured, Haseo decisively withdrew his remaining forces to a sufficiently safe location. He merely left behind several high-powered [Byakugan] sentries to prevent his side from falling too far behind strategically.
Then, Haseo entrusted the situation here to Uzumaki Shikou, Sakumo Hatake, and Nagisa Nara before personally returning to Konoha through the passage of Shikkotsu Forest—he first performed a [Reverse Summoning] to reach Shikkotsu Forest, then used the [Summoning Jutsu] with the slug bearing Konoha's coordinates to summon himself back to the village.
The method may have been simple and crude, even clumsy, but its mobility efficiency surpassed even the Flying Thunder God Technique. After all, the Flying Thunder God couldn't possibly cross half a country in one jump.
However, such reverse summoning highly depended on the user's connection with the summoned beast. Perhaps only the slugs with infinite division ability could smoothly accomplish this feat.
Haseo first appeared at his own home in Konoha, then rushed straight to the Third Hokage's office.
When Haseo knocked on the door and pushed it open, he found The Three Pillars of Konoha gathered inside—it was obvious they were urgently discussing problems arising from the Eastern Front.
When the others saw Haseo, they looked slightly startled.
"Did I crash the party or hit it just in time?" Haseo asked straightforwardly.
Same cocky attitude as always—not a shred of humility you'd expect from a beaten commander.
"You returned just in time," the Hokage said directly without addressing Haseo's joke. "We need you to provide us with a detailed explanation of what happened. Although we've already received reports from your side earlier, hearing it directly from you, as someone who experienced it firsthand, will definitely add many important details."
The Hokage roughly understood how Haseo had returned to the village, so he didn't dwell on that matter.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
With no time for jokes, Haseo straightened up and gave a full account of the attack.
"...In short, due to the heavy losses we've suffered, I've arranged for the remaining troops to retreat. After ensuring the safety of our forces, I returned to the village to hear the Hokage's next plan regarding the eastern front."
"There are several suspicious points here. First, did you truly wound the Third Mizukage so severely? Remember, that's the Mizukage, guarded by elite Mist ninja with an overwhelming numerical advantage."
As Haseo finished speaking, Homura Mitokado—known for his seriousness—immediately raised his doubts... Right now Danzō Shimura was overseeing Konoha's western front battle situation, so was he trying to play the role of Danzō at this moment?
At this moment, Haseo was more than willing to entertain the darkest interpretation behind Homura's question—perhaps evaluating the Mizukage's wounds and their consequences was secondary; the real intention might be suspecting whether Haseo exaggerated the results of the operation against the Mizukage in an attempt to absolve himself from responsibility for the troop losses.
Well, some people definitely believed Haseo was guilty—at the very least, there had been negligence in his actions.
Haseo didn't change expression, calmly continuing, "I can confirm it was the Mizukage. Whether or not that's accepted as truth is up to the Third Hokage to decide."
The implication in his words was clear—"Who do you think you are? Shouldn't a decision like this belong to the Hokage?"
The Elders should know their place. Just because they were contemporaries of the Third and now held advisory positions doesn't mean they could recklessly speculate and assess situations however they pleased.
"That Genin named Might Duy suddenly displayed such extraordinary strength—how is that possible? Remember, even elite Jonin can't achieve such feats. Of course I know what the Eight Gates technique is, but… how could someone completely unknown previously have mastered such an advanced level of Taijutsu?"
Seeing Homura being rebuffed, his wingman Koharu Utatane stepped in at this point.
"Maybe you're just not imaginative enough? Or maybe Konoha's ranking system is the real problem? Anyway, Might Duy's strength is plain for all to see. Whether before or after this incident, it's something verifiable anytime."
"All right then, setting aside these two doubts, as supreme commander you personally ventured deep into the Land of Whirlpools, resulting in the unit failing to react promptly when attacked—aren't you going to take responsibility for that?"
"Everyone!" Haseo interrupted, quickly continuing, "I don't intend to shirk my responsibilities at all, but what just happened was essentially a tactical failure resulting from a strategic failure—a microscopic issue born out of a macro-level decision. Should those carrying out the operation really bear the entire blame?"
Approaching it like that caught me off guard—we both know where the real responsibility belongs. It's clearly a matter of strategic decision-making.
Third Hokage, Elders... am I here to report what happened, or am I under interrogation?
Haseo's composed gaze swept over the group, unshaken and commanding. He had just stepped off the battlefield, his body still reeking of blood. All of this made the two Elders—unaccustomed to war for so long—instinctively flinch.
Haseo was known for being unbeatable in argument; he didn't just know how to argue—he never lost one. So, standing firm in his reasoning, he felt no unease and gave no quarter to those before him.
The situation was perfectly clear—Haseo was reporting in with a serious and proper attitude. Yet somehow, it was the others who now seemed out of place.
"Of course we're just reporting," the Third Hokage said with a nervous cough. "Don't misunderstand, Haseo. Everyone's simply concerned about the Eastern Front—perhaps even overly anxious because of it."
Since his subordinate appeared somewhat hot-headed, the Third Hokage had no choice but to start smoothing things over… Those two looked like they were ready to blow—but Haseo was a walking powder keg too.
After suffering defeat, no one was feeling good already. Provoking each other now would be even less appropriate.
"Haseo… you're right. The misjudgment regarding Mist's actions indeed reflects a flaw in our decision-making process. However, investigating that now won't solve anything. What matters now is deciding what we should do next."
This question was extremely critical, yet its answer wasn't complicated at all.
What else could be done? Mist had already declared war. Konoha must either reinforce or surrender.
Could Konoha really even consider surrendering?
The First Hokage crushed any who stood in his way; the Second outmaneuvered every challenge. And now, under the Third, would all he could offer be a perfect bow?
Jokes like that weren't funny at a time like this.
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