Chapter 558: Battlefield Changes
Western Land of Grass.
In a forest near the Land of Earth, four Iwagakure shinobi cautiously patrolled the area.
Although the Iwagakure force had not suffered major losses in its clashes with Konoha, the Iwagakure high command had ordered them to consolidate their troops and lure the Konoha shinobi toward the Land of Earth as much as possible.
As a result, the Iwagakure force had largely withdrawn westward until it bordered the Land of Earth, adopting a strategy focused primarily on preserving its strength.
"I really don't understand what the higher-ups are thinking. Our Iwa force is strong and well-equipped, so why do we keep retreating in front of Konoha?" one Iwagakure Chunin complained after seeing that the area remained calm.
He was deeply dissatisfied with Iwagakure's current war strategy. Ever since the war began, Iwagakure had only been using a fraction of its strength, constantly hiding its true power.
In his view, there was no need to dispatch ten thousand shinobi. Even five thousand would have been enough to crush Konoha while it was being attacked by Hidden Mist on its own soil.
And yet, the higher-ups remained unmoved, allowing Kumogakure and Konoha to keep pressuring them.
"Maybe they want to lure the enemy into the Land of Earth and use the terrain there to wipe them out more easily," another, plumper Iwagakure shinobi added.
"They're being way too cautious. With all the countries fighting each other right now, this should be the best chance for Iwagakure to become the strongest shinobi village."
Clearly, he also held a great deal of resentment toward Iwagakure's current wartime approach.
After all, having the strength to counterattack or even crush the enemy, only to keep retreating again and again, was truly infuriating.
"Enough. Say less. The higher-ups must have their own reasons. We only need to carry out orders properly," Sumazhi cut in, trying to smooth things over.
Unlike the other two shinobi who were openly complaining about the leadership, Sumazhi, though frustrated as well, still trusted the higher-ups.
The logic was simple. If Iwagakure profited, then the Iwagakure high command would profit far more than ordinary shinobi.
That meant the higher-ups must be even more eager for victory than they were.
As soon as Sumazhi spoke, the atmosphere within the squad quieted down at once. Although the four were old friends and got along well, Sumazhi was still different from the other three. He was a Special Jonin and also their squad leader.
Normally, joking around was fine, but on the battlefield, rank still had to be respected.
Whoosh! Whoosh!!
Suddenly, the sharp sound of kunai slicing through the air rang out, and kunai shot toward them from all directions.
Only then did the Iwagakure shinobi realize that several Konoha shinobi had appeared around them at some unknown point.
Sumazhi was shocked. He had just been carefully surveying the surroundings. There should have been no one there. Could it be that they had used some advanced ninjutsu to hide nearby from the very beginning?
There was no time to think further. Sumazhi immediately enhanced his body with chakra and dodged.
The attack had come too suddenly. He had no time at all to form hand seals and use ninjutsu to block it.
Pfft!
Although the three Iwagakure Chunin also did their best to evade, there were simply too many kunai, and they were too fast. In no time, their bodies were riddled with blades, and they collapsed to the ground, unable to continue fighting.
"I can only retreat," Sumazhi thought as the pain from his injuries made him frown. He quickly formed hand seals and gathered chakra.
He had not fully avoided the sneak attack from the Konoha shinobi and had already been wounded.
Because of that, Sumazhi had no intention of avenging his teammates immediately or fighting to the death with the Konoha squad.
The enemy had both numbers and initiative. Staying behind would be suicide.
"Earth Release: Fissured Earth Palm!"
Sumazhi concentrated chakra in his palms and slammed them into the ground.
Rumble!!
Under the effect of the Earth Release chakra, the ground split apart at high speed, sending chunks of earth and stone flying toward the Konoha shinobi.
At the same time, the cracking ground threw up a large cloud of dust, obscuring the area.
Whoosh!
Taking advantage of the moment while the Konoha shinobi were dodging, Sumazhi used the Body Flicker Technique to widen the distance and fled without looking back.
He wanted to bring this information about the Konoha shinobi back to his force.
However, as he fled at full speed, Sumazhi failed to notice that the "Konoha shinobi" who had ambushed them only pursued for a short distance before stopping in place and quietly watching him disappear.
Once Sumazhi's figure completely vanished, the "Konoha shinobi" sank into the ground one after another, disappearing into the forest.
This scene was not only unfolding in the western part of the Land of Grass, but also in the southern region where the Konoha force was stationed.
Only there, the roles were reversed, and it was Iwagakure shinobi ambushing Konoha shinobi.
These frequent small-scale ambushes quickly gave the leaders on both sides headaches, as each side believed the other was trying to reignite a major war.
"These Konoha shinobi are too crafty! They don't dare enter the Land of Earth, so they only dare to carry out assassinations near the border!" Retsuishi slammed his hand on the desk inside the command tent, his expression full of displeasure.
As captain of the Iwagakure Demolition Squad, Retsuishi was one of the highest-ranking figures in all of Iwagakure. Yet all he could do now was watch bad news arrive one after another, which filled him with rage.
But Retsuishi truly had no good solution, because the order from Iwagakure high command had been clear: defend, play dumb, and lure the enemy in deep.
"We should report this to the higher-ups. This can't go on. A lot of people in the force are already full of resentment," Iwakura suggested.
Retsuishi nodded. He had already been considering exactly that.
Either they should retreat all the way back to the Land of Earth and fully commit to this "cowardly" strategy, accepting the loss of face in the Ninja World.
Or they should just directly engage the Konoha force, fight it out properly, and if they won, gain fame. Even if they lost, they could still keep pretending to be weak afterward.
In Retsuishi's view, either choice was better than lingering around the border in this miserable in-between state.
"Don't send out any members of the Demolition Squad for the time being," Retsuishi added after remembering something.
Since he also served as the battlefield commander, he had mostly delegated authority over the Demolition Squad to Iwakura, the squad's vice-captain.
The deaths of village comrades were painful enough, but if the casualties were elites from his own Demolition Squad, Retsuishi would feel even worse.
Every member of the Demolition Squad was a genuine elite of Iwagakure, nurtured through a huge amount of village resources.
Iwakura nodded.
On the other side, Jiraiya had only recently returned to the battlefield from the Land of Rain, and now such a troublesome situation had immediately sprung up.
"If I hadn't seen their forehead protectors, I would've thought we were fighting Hidden Mist. Since when did Iwagakure's assassination techniques get this sharp?" Jiraiya muttered in confusion as he looked over the latest battlefield intelligence.
It was normal enough for Iwagakure to retaliate. Harassment through small squads was also a standard battlefield tactic.
But the actual level of skill on display was completely unfamiliar to him.
This was not Jiraiya's first time facing Iwagakure in the Land of Grass. Of course he knew what kind of assassination tactics Iwagakure was good at and what their usual level was.
Compared to small-team assassinations, Iwagakure had always been stronger at large-scale battlefield warfare.
Even someone of Jiraiya's level would be in danger if surrounded by the Iwa force.
During the Second Shinobi World War, Jiraiya had nearly died at the hands of the Iwa force, leaving him with an extremely deep impression of their army-style combat.
"Is it possible that Iwagakure's reinforcements have arrived?" Minato asked after thinking for a moment.
"Maybe Iwagakure spent the ceasefire period training a special force skilled at using Earth Release for assassinations."
Jiraiya showed a thoughtful expression.
Minato's words were not without reason. Earth Release naturally had a special advantage in ambushes and assassinations because it allowed movement underground.
"In that case, we have to consider the possibility that the Iwa force is preparing for a large-scale offensive next," Jiraiya said as he set the intelligence down.
If Iwagakure reinforcements had indeed arrived, then Iwagakure's intentions were already obvious. They were preparing to fight Konoha to the end.
According to conventional military thinking, harassment would be followed by a major attack on an exhausted enemy.
"Next, I'll start joining the patrol squads and clearing out the incoming Iwagakure shinobi," Minato volunteered.
With Flying Thunder God Technique, he had extraordinary mobility, and he also possessed strong sensory ability. Even if he could not always arrive in time to save Konoha shinobi, he would at least be highly likely to avenge them, making him the best choice to deal with the harassment crisis.
"I'll leave it to you, Minato," Jiraiya said, fully trusting him.
Immediately afterward, Jiraiya sent a report to Konoha high command, passing along the latest intelligence and also requesting a sensory unit for the battlefield.
A major battle might break out soon on the Land of Grass front, and he needed to be fully prepared.
Morning, Konoha Village.
Shisui woke up and first prepared breakfast for himself and Zoroark.
Since Zoroark had grown much larger after evolving, Shisui worried it might not get enough to eat, so he greatly increased its breakfast portion.
After the human and the fox finished their meal, they headed to Obito's house as usual, intending to call Obito and go train together in the South Border Forest.
Before reaching Obito's home, Zoroark used a Genjutsu to maintain the appearance of Zorua.
Neither Obito nor Charizard noticed anything strange.
"Heh, Old Charizard, why don't you fly me over? I'm too lazy to move after eating," Zoroark asked with a chuckle.
"Your wings look cool and handsome. Flying with you must feel incredible."
The moment Charizard heard himself praised as handsome, he instinctively puffed out his chest and raised his head, swallowing back the refusal he had been about to make.
Anyone who praised him as handsome clearly had taste and was obviously a good person destined to live a meaningful life.
"Roar!"
Charizard stood in front of Zoroark, flapped his wings, rose into the air, then proudly pointed at his back with a claw, signaling Zoroark to hop on.
Zoroark leaped lightly and landed on his back.
The instant Zoroark jumped onto Charizard, Charizard's expression subtly changed. His wings even faltered for a brief moment, almost causing him to drop.
Feeling the heavy weight on his back, Charizard was full of questions. How could such a small Zorua possibly be this heavy?
"Roar."
Charizard took off with visible effort, indicating that Zorua really needed to lose weight.
He had carried Zorua before, and back then it had felt extremely light. This was completely different.
In Charizard's estimation, Zorua must have gained at least seven or eight times its previous weight.
Still, Charizard felt rather curious. How did Zorua manage to gain that much weight without becoming any rounder?
"Damn it, you're my Nin-Beast!" Obito muttered enviously as he watched Charizard fly off carrying Zoroark.
He had wanted to ride Charizard through the sky for a long time now.
But Charizard had always firmly refused, insisting that he was not the kind of dragon people rode, so Obito had no choice but to temporarily give up.
After all, forcing Charizard to fly him around was too dangerous. Obito strongly suspected Charizard would intentionally fly high and then drop him.
He might catch him before he actually died, but the experience would definitely be unpleasant.
Once they arrived in the South Border Forest, Zoroark hopped down from Charizard's back, and Shisui followed shortly after.
"Shisui, you really spoil Zorua too much. You should hypnotize him with Genjutsu and make him train more," Obito said deliberately in front of Zoroark, pretending to share training wisdom.
He knew Shisui would never actually do that. He just wanted to annoy Zoroark, who was always causing him trouble and had even ridden the unrideable Charizard right in front of him.
"I'd rather not," Shisui declined politely, looking at Obito with a trace of pity.
Zoroark was not a generous fox. Saying something like that would absolutely lead to Obito being pranked later.
"Damn it, you inherently evil Obito, trying to corrupt kind-hearted Shisui! Do you want to get beaten up?!" Zoroark snapped, unable to hold back.
If Obito's shameless behavior somehow rubbed off on Shisui, that would be a disaster.
"By you?" Obito said disdainfully.
As long as he was serious, Zorua's Genjutsu barely had any effect on him.
And aside from Genjutsu, Zorua did not have any particularly noteworthy combat ability.
"You're not allowed to call Charizard for help," Obito added.
If Zoroark invited him, his rebellious dragon would probably happily come over and join the beating.
"Against you, why would I need all that?" Zoroark replied, indicating that he alone was more than enough.
Zoroark's confidence immediately made Obito suspicious.
He knew how strong Zorua was. So where was all this confidence coming from?
"Could it be that it had a breakthrough in strength?" Obito wondered.
The cautious Obito activated his Three Tomoe Sharingan.
If he somehow stumbled against Zorua, that would be too embarrassing. This was still supposed to be an unevolved Pokémon.
Kakashi, who had just arrived, overheard the exchange between the human and the fox and showed a thoughtful expression.
Although Zorua could be a little silly at times, it was generally smart and would not casually ask for a beating.
"Obito's about to have a bad day," Kakashi concluded silently.
Thinking of this, he calmly took out his camera, wondering whether he might get the chance to capture some fresh material to threaten Obito with later.
Unfortunately for him, Zoroark's first move was far too sharp.
With Genjutsu interference and a high-speed sneak attack, Obito was pinned to the ground in less than a minute, giving Kakashi no opportunity to capture any especially entertaining scene.
"Huh? Wait, how…?" Obito looked completely bewildered.
Although he had been a bit careless, Zorua's strength was clearly far beyond what it should have been.
If it was already this strong without evolving, then once it evolved, it would become absurd.
Obito almost wanted to report this to Mugetsu immediately. There was obviously a Pokémon cheating here.
"Stop teasing Obito," Shisui said with a helpless smile, telling Zoroark to stop.
"He was trying to lead you astray."
Zoroark released the Genjutsu, revealing its evolved form.
Obito fell silent.
Everyone who played with Genjutsu was twisted, except for Shisui.
"As expected," Kakashi thought, unsurprised.
If Zorua had dared to directly challenge Obito like that, then it had to have evolved.
And given Zorua's skill with Genjutsu, it was only natural that Zoroark had used an illusion to disguise itself.
.....
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