Hearing Nara Shikaku's words, the crowd — who had grown somewhat encouraged upon learning about the hidden reserve force — could not help but see their expressions drop.
"Lady Tsunade has been captured. It has completely devastated the morale on the battlefield."
"Every shinobi squad is already showing signs of collapse. If we don't come up with an effective solution soon, our losses will be devastating."
Yamanaka Inoichi pressed a finger to his ear, receiving intelligence from the front lines. A grave look settled over his face.
Nara Shikaku wore a deeply troubled expression, brow furrowed, his gaze flickering endlessly with thought.
Nara Shikaku suddenly looked up and turned to Yamanaka Inoichi to ask.
Yamanaka Inoichi's eyes brightened — how could he have nearly forgotten about Lord Jiraiya?
Of the three Sannin, aside from Orochimaru whose chakra signature had vanished, the signatures of both Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade were still present.
"Wait a moment. I'll contact the sensory squad right away to confirm Lord Jiraiya's position."
Yamanaka Inoichi swiftly closed his eyes and pressed his hand to his forehead, using his unique secret technique and powerful sensory abilities to reach out to the sensory squad.
For a time, everyone present fell silent once more, quietly awaiting Yamanaka Inoichi's response.
Fortunately, the wait did not last long.
After a brief moment, Yamanaka Inoichi opened his eyes, a hint of gladness in his gaze.
"Lord Jiraiya's current position is within the village."
"The Fourth Hokage used the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to transfer Lord Jiraiya from the battlefield."
Hearing Yamanaka Inoichi's words, a sharp gleam flashed through Nara Shikaku's eyes.
"Notify all forces — pull back to the defense line, garrison the shinobi village!"
Nara Shikaku's face regained its earlier calm. A flash of determination crossed his gaze as he spoke, word by word.
At Nara Shikaku's words, every shinobi present wore a look of stunned disbelief, their eyes wide with incredulity.
"If we abandon this defense line and garrison the village, there will be nothing behind us but Konoha itself! We'll have nowhere left to retreat!"
Akimichi Choza stared at Nara Shikaku, his expression one of sheer bewilderment.
"Morale on the battlefield has already hit rock bottom. Even if we hold our ground, we'll only lose more shinobi — more lives, for nothing!"
"Besides, since we all know that garrisoning Konoha means there's no retreat, the enemy shinobi know it too!"
Nara Shikaku's voice carried a firm, unassailable tone.
There was one more important thing Nara Shikaku kept to himself. Just these measures alone would only slow the village's fall.
The only one who could truly turn the tide was Lord Senju Hashirama!
And the one thing Nara Shikaku needed to do right now was — stall!
Buy time for Lord Senju Hashirama, buy time for Konoha!
On the Iwagakure–Konoha battlefield, news of Tsunade's capture spread just as swiftly.
In an instant, Iwagakure's attacks grew even more ferocious.
Hidan let out an excited roar, scythe in hand, sprinting toward Mitarashi Anko at full speed.
The blood-soaked crimson scythe came slashing down from the air at tremendous speed.
Mitarashi Anko's face was taut with concentration. She stomped the ground beneath her and leapt backward, dodging Hidan's strike.
"Be a good little sacrifice for Lord Jashin!"
A maniacal laugh spilled from Hidan as he saw Anko dodge his attack. With his other hand, Hidan pulled out a black spear.
Hidan squeezed the spear with a single hand. The roughly twenty-centimeter black shaft rapidly extended, stretching into a spear over a meter long.
Hidan leaned back slightly and hurled the black spear forward, much like throwing a javelin.
The spear became a black streak, shooting toward Mitarashi Anko at blinding speed.
Mitarashi Anko swiftly raised her arm, aiming in the direction the spear was flying.
Dozens of snakes surged from her sleeves, coiling around the thrown black spear and binding it tight, then flinging it aside.
But Hidan, even as he threw the black spear, did not stop moving. Using the cord connected to his scythe, he swung it violently.
Under Hidan's control, the scythe swept through the air in a wide arc like a windmill, crashing toward Mitarashi Anko.
A metallic clang rang out across the sky.
Mitarashi Anko held a kunai, blocking the incoming scythe.
Mitarashi Anko cursed under her breath. She shoved the scythe back with her kunai while rapidly weaving hand seals with both hands.
Scorching flames erupted from Mitarashi Anko's mouth, forming a high-speed linear fire attack that slammed directly into Hidan.
A massive explosion rang out as torrents of flame engulfed Hidan entirely.
A shriek tore through the flames — a scream, yet one that rang with eerie vitality.
Hidan endured the Fire Release jutsu, bursting through the flames with the stench of charred flesh, and charged at Mitarashi Anko once more.
Mitarashi Anko retreated again. Hidan was no longer simply "troublesome" to deal with — he was downright repulsive.
Just then, a cool voice rang out from nearby.
As the voice sounded, Hidan — who had been charging toward Mitarashi Anko — found countless cherry blossoms drifting before his eyes.
In reality, Hidan's entire body froze in that instant.
Yuhi Kurenai appeared beside Mitarashi Anko and quickly spoke to her.
Even without Kurenai's prompting, Mitarashi Anko was already weaving hand seals. Dozens of snakes surged from both of her sleeves.
In the blink of an eye, over a dozen snakes had the genjutsu-entranced Hidan tightly bound.
Mitarashi Anko let out a heavy sigh of relief at the sight.
"You're too polite!" Yuhi Kurenai said to Mitarashi Anko with a smile.
At that moment, Asuma's cry of alarm rang out from the distance.
At some point, an Iwagakure elite jonin named Ippan had appeared at the edge of the battlefield, slamming both hands against the ground.
A massive boom erupted beneath Yuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko's feet.
The ground directly beneath them caved in, forming an enormous pit.
Before either of them could react, they fell into the deep hole.
The ground rumbled again, and the earth began to writhe.
The walls of the pit rapidly closed inward, crushing toward the center. In the blink of an eye, the massive hole sealed shut.
Yuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko were buried alive underground.
Asuma plummeted from the sky, landing on the spot where Kurenai and Anko had just stood. He stared at the flat ground and let out a furious roar.
A sharp crackle of electricity erupted from Ippan's side.
Hatake Kakashi, lightning surging through his hand, became a streak of light across the ground, charging straight at Ippan's position.
A fierce sense of danger made every hair on Ippan's body stand on end.
Ippan yanked his hands off the ground and began retreating while weaving seals and slamming his palms down.
As the ground shifted rapidly, five Earth Walls erupted before Ippan in succession, blocking the forward path.
Kakashi, wielding the Raikiri at extreme speed, crashed directly into the earth walls. The first three were instantly pulverized.
Only at the fourth and fifth walls did Kakashi's momentum finally slow.
Ippan felt a measure of relief at the sight.
Even if Kakashi could break through the last two walls, the distance between them had widened.
As the final two Earth Walls crumbled under Kakashi's Raikiri, Kakashi saw that Ippan was already some ten meters away.
Kakashi's face showed no disappointment. Instead, the lightning in his hand grew even more intense.
Kakashi gave a low shout and performed a shape transformation on his Raikiri. Massive amounts of lightning began converging above him.
A wolf composed entirely of electricity materialized before Kakashi in an instant.
Kakashi swung his Raikiri forward. The lightning wolf became a blur, lunging at Ippan.
Ippan's pupils shrank. The wolf was too fast — there was no way to dodge!
Blue chakra threads suddenly appeared in the air, latching onto Ippan's body.
Ippan, who had thought the blow unavoidable, was yanked by the chakra threads. His body twisted at an impossible angle in midair, then dropped to the ground.
Ippan stumbled several steps and collapsed onto his backside, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.
He had been a hair's breadth from death at Kakashi's hands.
Ippan finally collected himself and turned to look at the figure who had saved him.
"We're Iwa shinobi now. No need for thanks."
Sasori glanced at Ippan and spoke in a flat, emotionless tone.
As he spoke, Sasori launched a steel blade from his hand, sending it flying at high speed, guided by chakra threads.
The blade reached the snake-bound Hidan and sliced through every serpent restraining him.
"That genjutsu woman again! She interrupted my offering to Lord Jashin!"
Hidan, freed from his bindings, bellowed in fury.
Sasori and Ippan leaped over to Hidan's side in a few bounds.
Kakashi, seeing his attack deflected, flickered with regret. He swiftly retreated, reappearing beside Asuma.
Kakashi looked at the shell-shocked Asuma and let out a quiet sigh. He was about to say something when the ground beneath them lurched.
Both men froze for an instant, then rapidly moved away.
With a massive rumble from underground, an enormous python burst from the earth before them.
The python opened its maw. Its body writhed, and it spat out Yuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko.
The colossal python then dissolved into a puff of white smoke, vanishing from sight.
Clearly, in that moment of crisis, Mitarashi Anko had used a Summoning Jutsu, hiding herself and Kurenai inside the serpent's belly.
Mitarashi Anko looked rather bedraggled, spitting out mouthfuls of white fluid. She grimaced at her soaked appearance.
Beside her, Yuhi Kurenai remained unconscious.
A flicker of relief crossed Kakashi and Asuma's eyes.
Asuma, who had been devastated moments before, instantly surged with energy. He flashed to Kurenai's side and hastily scooped her into his arms.
"You really take the favoritism a bit too far."
Mitarashi Anko, seeing Asuma completely ignore her, muttered in annoyance, then continued.
"She's fine. She just suffered a bit of oxygen deprivation inside the snake."
At Anko's words, Asuma finally let out a slow breath of relief, especially seeing Kurenai already beginning to stir.
A flush of embarrassment and guilt crossed Asuma's face as he looked apologetically at Mitarashi Anko.
"Hey, now's not the time for that."
Kakashi appeared beside them, cutting Asuma off. His eyes were fixed ahead, his expression taut with vigilance.
In the previously still air ahead, ripples suddenly began to form.
A massive spatial vortex materialized out of thin air. Uchiha Obito and Sasuke emerged from the swirl, stepping forward to stand before Hidan and the others.
"My, my. Surprisingly many of you Konoha folks are still alive."
Uchiha Obito looked toward Kakashi and the others, a note of genuine surprise in his voice.
The single Sharingan visible on Obito's face narrowed slightly, fixing its gaze firmly on Kakashi's position.
It was about time to take it back.
Kakashi, Asuma, and Mitarashi Anko's expressions turned grave in an instant, their eyes locked on the figures before them.
[
Dear Readers,
I hope you are doing well. I am writing to you today because things have become genuinely difficult, and I need to be honest about where I stand.
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