The ninja force led by Kushina numbered a full 1,572 men. It included twenty jonin, forty Special Jonin, 510 chunin, and three medical units capable of forming a temporary field hospital.
Under normal circumstances, that was the mid-level composition of a two- or three-thousand-man ninja army.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had deliberately reduced the number of genin, making it easier to receive the defeated ninjas from the front lines and reorganize them quickly.
Kushina was quite displeased. Sarutobi Hiruzen had practically forced her onto the front lines this time.
She had left Naruto with the Uchiha Clan, under Mikoto Uchiha's care.
At that moment, in the Land of the Moon, the Konoha and Kumogakure ninja armies had already engaged in several small-scale probing battles.
The probing clashes had taken a new turn after Konoha won more often than it lost.
Raikage A and Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Bee had arrived.
Without any probing, the Raikage led the bulk of his forces straight toward Konoha's Main Camp on the front lines.
The Ino-Shika-Cho Trio had little ability to resist Kumogakure's A-B Combination. They left behind a portion of their forces for the Rearguard Mission while the main army retreated to the rear.
Uchiha Shisui was among the ninja forces assigned to the rearguard.
Although the Uchiha Clan had participated in this war, unfortunately, the front-line Command Center had only assigned the Uchiha small-team missions and minor combat operations. Those simply could not accomplish much.
There was no real military merit to speak of.
This time was different. A rearguard mission was undeniably a combat mission. However, Shisui discovered that although the rearguard force numbered nearly a thousand, aside from the Uchiha Clan, most of them were genin. There were fewer than two hundred chunin, and nearly all the Special Jonin were Uchiha Clan members.
This was clearly an attempt to send these Uchiha Clan members on the front lines to their deaths. As the Uchiha Clan's genius ninja, Uchiha Shisui had awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan during the Third Shinobi World War, though he had never revealed it.
In this war between Konoha and Kumogakure, he would protect these 150 Uchiha Clan members!
Just as Raikage A and Eight-Tails Bee were about to pursue the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio, they discovered that the rearguard ninjas had already come to meet them.
In an instant, more than a dozen Shisui's Clones blocked the A-B Combination's path.
Raikage A immediately activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode, intending to wipe out all of Shisui's clones.
But he quickly found himself facing a problem.
"Body Flicker Shisui? These clones are interesting." After several fruitless attacks, Raikage A's expression turned grim. "Bee, these are Body Flicker Shisui's special clones. They can shift between solid and intangible. Be careful."
"Yo! Got it! Dumbass big bro!"
The veins on Raikage A's forehead bulged, but he did not lash out. Instead, he watched as his subordinates clashed with Konoha's rearguard ninjas.
"Whoosh! Clang!" Shisui's blade struck Raikage A's shoulder, but failed to break through his defense.
Raikage A's Hand Sword, crackling with lightning, was already slicing toward Shisui, who had attacked from behind.
But Shisui struck once and fled, giving him no chance at all.
Eight-Tails Bee was likewise slashed by Shisui's blade, but Bee's blade was even faster than Shisui's.
"Bee, you're under a genjutsu."
At that moment, the Eight-Tails warned him from inside his body.
"Yo! Dumbass Bee bro! You're under a genjutsu, yo!"
Killer B immediately launched into his terrible rap, but his warning made the Fourth Raikage realize something was wrong as well.
These Body Flicker Shisui clones contained genjutsu!
But he had already activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode, and his speed had reached its limit. Why could he still not catch Shisui's real body?
Raikage A closed his eyes. Finally, under Lightning Release Chakra Mode, he gained a vague sense of Shisui's location.
"Got you!"
Uchiha Shisui also noticed Raikage A suddenly vanish from his sight.
A sense of danger rose in Shisui's mind. With a Body Flicker Technique, he switched places with a clone behind Killer B.
But the danger followed close behind, surfacing once again. Shisui understood that Raikage A had deciphered his Body Flicker Technique.
"Crack!"
The sound of bones breaking rang out.
A skeletal hand tightly gripped the Tailed Beast Cloak around Killer B, while Raikage A's fist had smashed into a massive skeletal body. One of the skeleton's ribs had been cracked by his blow.
"What is this?"
Raikage A was puzzled, but he quickly realized that Killer B had been captured.
"Let Bee go!" Raikage A charged once more at Susanoo's skeletal claw on the right hand.
Uchiha Shisui stood within the green skeleton, his eyes having transformed into Mangekyō Sharingan with four-bladed shuriken patterns.
The Eight-Tails Gyūki explained to Killer B, "Bee, this is the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyo Susanoo. Every Mangekyō Sharingan wielder possesses unique ocular abilities. Don't let your guard down!"
"Yo! Dumbass Bee bro!..."
Killer B repeated Gyūki's words, but Raikage A was thoroughly displeased.
He knew Killer B well enough. The Eight-Tails had certainly told him those things, yet it dared insult him again in front of outsiders!
"Aho!"
Raikage A cursed and used Lightning Release Horizontal Chop to shatter the skeletal claw gripping Killer B, successfully rescuing him.
Then his fist struck Killer B's palm, where it was blocked, and Killer B's rap temporarily came to a stop.
"Take this seriously!" With that, Raikage A vanished, attacking the skeletal Susanoo once again.
Killer B also stopped rapping. The Chakra around his Tailed Beast Cloak grew dense and powerful, and a black sphere appeared at the cloak's head.
Noticing this, the four-bladed shuriken in Uchiha Shisui's eyes began to turn. Green Warring States armor appeared around the skeletal Susanoo, and a Samurai wielding a Spiral Sword emerged, plunging the entire battlefield into silence.
Killer B's Tailed Beast Ball shot toward Shisui's armored Susanoo. With a wave of his hand, Shisui split the Tailed Beast Ball apart with the Spiral Sword, and a shockwave swept across the entire battlefield.
Raikage A's fist slammed into Susanoo's armor, but had no effect whatsoever.
Unwilling to accept it, Raikage A mobilized his Chakra once more. "Guillotine Drop!"
Unfortunately, it did not leave any visible damage on Susanoo's armor.
"Retreat! Move!"
Raikage A immediately sensed that something was wrong. He had no particularly effective means of dealing with Uchiha Shisui's Susanoo.
Upon receiving the Raikage's order, the Kumogakure Ninja looked up at the green giant dozens of meters tall. Once that oppressive presence enveloped them, they began retreating rapidly.
Shisui's Susanoo swung the Spiral Sword in its hand toward the main Kumogakure force.
Countless green Chakra arrows shot toward the retreating Kumogakure Ninja.
At that moment, a massive octopus-shaped Chakra form rapidly expanded, blocking the green arrows.
After being struck by the green arrows, the octopus Chakra form immediately dispelled its Tailed Beast Transformation, reverting to Killer B's form as he fell from the air.
"Bee!"
Raikage A roared and rushed toward the falling Killer B.
The Kumogakure Ninja retreated in relief, while Raikage A, carrying Killer B, also withdrew swiftly.
The towering Susanoo slowly vanished, declaring that what had originally been a planned rearguard action had turned into a repulsion of the enemy army.
This was also something Sarutobi Hiruzen had not anticipated.
Upon receiving the intelligence report from the front lines, Sarutobi Hiruzen nearly tore the message apart.
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