Changes and Targeting

After the battle here ended, the waves on the sea had calmed down.

Shuichi collected the White Zetsu's corpse and sank the corpses of many Mist Ninja into the sea. He then swayed back to the shore and rejoined his own troops.

At this moment, the mist, which had lost its chakra replenishment, was dispersed by the sea breeze, Shuichi's Shadow Clone led Ishikawa Tatsuki and the other two into the battlefield.

Because their advance was slow, they only managed to eliminate a few scattered enemies on the outskirts. Now, the three of them were stunned by the sight of corpses strewn across the battlefield.

The grass was littered with the corpses of fallen ninjas, mostly from Kirigakure, but there were also quite a few from Konoha. Even though they had killed many people, they felt a chill run down their spines under the sheer number of them.

"Is this... the real war?"

Ishikawa Tatsuki felt slightly nauseous and involuntarily looked around, a subconscious reaction to his nervousness and anxiety.

Asuma remained silent. He seemed to understand the Third Hokage's thoughts to some extent, yet he also felt a pang of resentment towards his own powerlessness.

Many ninjas from the village died in battle at the front, and they couldn't do anything to help. It was heartbreaking for anyone to see that.

"Yes, this is the brutal reality of war. If you're not prepared, a moment of carelessness could kill your comrades."

Shuichi felt he was still a spiritual mentor, and it seemed he could ask the Third Hokage for an extra salary when he got back. "Do what you can, and spend more time training and becoming stronger. Then there might be a chance to save more of my compatriots."

Although the battlefield is cold and ruthless, it is a good place to hone ninjas. Bringing up the village's promising young talents and giving them a tour is more effective than teachers talking endlessly at the Ninja Academy.

"Swish, swish..."

Several more Konoha Squad arrived one after another, and the Konoha Ninja who had been besieged earlier also gathered together.

"We were almost doomed this time, thank goodness you arrived in time, Shuichi-kun." Mimura Hamaki breathed a sigh of relief.

He's really had a tough job as a commander. He's faced countless desperate situations since the start of the Shinobi World War, and he always manages to survive in the most critical moments. That shows how lucky he is.

"Boom!"

Shuichi's main body returned at this moment. Just as he was about to speak, he sensed several familiar chakras, which belonged to Minato Squad of three.

"Sorry I'm late." Namikaze Minato looked travel-worn. Shuichi knew he was a true workaholic, practically the only person in the village juggling multiple fronts at the same time.

Kakashi and Rin behind him looked much cleaner. After the Battle of Kannabi Bridge and the Battle of Kikyo Castle, the young ninjas went on missions much less frequently. Shuichi's appearance made Konoha's life much easier than in the original story.

Besides Rin, Medical Ninja from several other teams immediately rushed to the surviving Konoha Ninja, Jonin such as Minato and Shuichi began discussing the latest arrangements for the Land of Land of Water front.

"Judging from the current situation, the village's main opponent now is Kirigakure," Minato explained. "The situation in the Land of Water is very unique. Although the village has been conducting infiltration work since the start of the war, the difficulty is significantly higher than in other places..."

The lifestyles and appearances of people in island nations differ from those on land. Unfamiliar faces immediately attract attention and are difficult to evade large-scale searches by the Mist Ninja, let alone infiltrate the Kirigakure Yamanaka.

However, after this attack, Konoha changed its strategy. Minato continued, "Last time, Shuichi-kun mentioned the Ocean Currents, so the village organized a team to study them and consulted many experienced fishermen, which gave us a better understanding of Kirigakure's attack routes..."

In the past few months, the Konoha Ninja have been on a very passive defensive posture. Because the coastline is too long, even if signals can be transmitted in time, it takes time for reinforcements to arrive, and their strength cannot be concentrated and used.

With the help of the "Expert Group," several key defensive areas have been identified, and the pressure will soon be much less.

"We'll be sending more people to the village. Now, let me explain the new defense arrangements," Minato said, pointing to a spot on the map. "The Mist Ninja are skilled in Water Release, and a few experts can use various water-based techniques to penetrate deep into the Land of Fire..."

"So, you'll be in charge of this crucial estuary, Shuichi-kun..."

The Third Hokage didn't use Water Release very often, so it's perfectly reasonable to say that Shuichi the best Water Release user in Konoha.

Shuichi had no objections. He also took note of the area Minato Squad was responsible for, which was the land bordering the Land of Whirlpools, quite far from his location.

"With Minato around, Rin and Kakashi will definitely be fine, but you can't guard against thieves forever. Given how busy Minato is, he'll have to leave sooner or later..."

After thinking for a long time, I still couldn't come up with a solution. All I could do was rush there as soon as I saw the distress signal, because my own mission was also very important.

In the following days, Konoha quickly completed the rotation of troops on the eastern front. Because this batch of troops suffered heavy losses in the siege by Kirigakure, most of them were transferred back to the village to recuperate.

Only a few remained to form new teams and resume the defensive mission alongside the main force.

Shuichi one of the team leaders, with more than ten squads under his command. His own squad is mainly responsible for the key estuary. Everyone is not far apart, so once a signal is received, the support speed can be much faster than before.

Before long, the defense strategy that the village developed based on the direction of the Seawater flow quickly proved effective.

A Konoha Ninja carrying binoculars hid in a crevice in the rock formation. This was a cliff in the middle of the cliff. Shuichi had specially used Earth Release to open a small passage, so that only one person was needed to monitor the entire vast sea.

His main observation direction was southeast, where the Seawater was flowing from south to north. If Kirigakure sent someone, they would undoubtedly take advantage of this.

After observing for several days without any results, one day, a somewhat weary Konoha Ninja was about to put down his binoculars when a black dot suddenly appeared in his field of vision. This greatly invigorated him. "Enemy spotted! Quickly, go and inform Captain Shuichi!"

Not long after he left, the small boat in the distance had drifted closer to the shoreline, and about ten people could be vaguely seen on it.

They seemed to be searching for a suitable landing spot, unaware that the Seawater was beginning to become turbulent.

Before they even reached the shore, they heard a rushing sound of water behind the boat. Sensing something amiss, the Hidden Mist Ninja immediately turned around. A ten-meter-high wave was rushing towards them at an extremely fast speed, clearly an unnatural phenomenon.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

"Watch out, get out of the way!"

Several ninjas reacted quickly, disappearing from the ship in an instant; only one or two, along with the boatman, were swept into the waves.

"Whoosh... crack!"

The small wooden boat was tossed about like a toy, the immense force sending it crashing into the uneven rocks below the cliff. After the impact, it was reduced to splinters, with a few screams audible amidst the chaos.

"Swish, swish..."

As soon as the scattered Mist Ninja stood firm on the water's surface, several were directly attacked. The rest looked up and found that numerous Konoha Ninja were approaching them in twos and threes—a rare occurrence in the battle between the two sides.

"Damn it, how did we get discovered?"

Mist Captain gritted his teeth and said, "The narrow sea area between Land of Whirlpools and Senpan Island offers little room for maneuver, so it's not surprising that we were intercepted."

But the Land of Fire's long coastline was full of openings; the Konoha Ninja should have been short-handed in defending it, so how were they able to capture them so accurately?

Without time to think about any of that, he immediately wanted to join the battle, but was stopped by a figure that appeared in an instant.

"Your opponent is me," Shuichi a smile.

This time we were really lucky. Judging from the number of enemy troops, it was Scout Team from Kirigakure, who will likely be active in various parts of the Land of Fire for a long time to gather intelligence.

"This appearance... is that Purple Aurora Takeda Shuichi?" The Mist Captain felt a chill run down his spine.

The other party has recently become quite famous in their village, and they are valued no less than other top Shinobi World. I'm afraid I won't be able to leave today.

"Drink up..."

Seeing his opponent charging at him with a knife like a madman, Shuichi drew his short sword and waited in place. The two quickly began to fight.

"Ding ding ding..."

Both sides swung their swords with astonishing speed, the clanging of metal against metal resounding incessantly, appearing from the side like two silver orbs of light colliding.

Shuichi was somewhat surprised by the strength of his opponent's swordsmanship. The seemingly chaotic slashes were actually connected very smoothly, making it difficult for him to even use his Explosion Release Ninjutsu.

"They're really something. This group of Kirigakure is highly skilled; discovering their whereabouts was a huge bonus."

If they were to infiltrate the Land of Fire, it would definitely cause us considerable trouble.

Mist Captain's breathing became a little rapid. This kind of swordsmanship was extremely exhausting, but he dared not relax in the slightest. The village's intelligence indicated that Takeda Shuichi's various escape techniques were of an extremely high standard, and he absolutely could not give the opponent a chance to create distance Hand Seals.

Seeing that the Konoha Ninja around him had gained the upper hand, Shuichi did not intend to delay for too long.

After another clash of swords, he suddenly used the momentum to retreat two steps. Seeing that his opponent was closing in again in an instant, he immediately controlled the White Sand to fly out and entangle the opponent's hands and feet.

"What's going on? What is this thing?"

Seeing that his opponent's swordsmanship rhythm was disrupted, Shuichi turned around and charged at him. In desperation, the Mist Ninja slashed out with all his might, but no blood was drawn when he struck Shuichi's shoulder.

Shuichi swiftly tapped his opponent's wrist with two fingers, severing the muscles in his hand. Taking advantage of the opponent's excruciating pain, he severed one of his arms, unleashing a burst of chakra from the soles of his feet and thrusting forward, easily piercing the opponent's heart.

Since it's uncertain whether Kirigakure will send a large-scale attack, the strategy should be to conserve chakra. The defenders must be prepared for a long and arduous battle.

After Shuichi took down the leader, he helped his teammates clear out all the enemies. The Konoha Ninja quickly disposed of the corpses and traces of the battle, and then left the sea to return to the shore to continue their defense.

Several months passed in the blink of an eye, and after changing their defensive strategy, Konoha began to report a series of victories.

Not only has Shuichi's side repeatedly intercepted the Kirigakure's invasions, but other areas have also achieved numerous victories. Faced with heavy losses of a large number of troops, the Land of Water has been making increasingly less noise lately.

Kirigakure, this ninja village deep in the mountains, was unusually quiet at this moment, or rather, it had never seen anything lively before. If there were any lively events, they were usually for bad things.

Inside the central Administration Building of the village, Meeting Room was filled with several high-ranking members of Kirigakure, including the heads of various clans, Elite Jonin from the village, and many elders.

The person in the upper position was a long-haired man, whose face was somewhat obscured by his straw hat; he was none other than the Third Mizukage himself.

Just then, his assistant finished reporting on the recent battle situation, and everyone present became restless upon hearing news of defeats and casualties.

"Mizukage, we can't continue attacking the village," a Jonin immediately said. "Our attack on the Land of Fire is pointless, and besides, Konoha's strength remains, while the enemy is gradually adapting to naval warfare..."

Although he spoke at length with great earnestness, the atmosphere in the Meeting Room was strange.

The clan leaders have long coveted the position of Mizukage. To put it bluntly, the deaths of ordinary ninjas are none of their concern. The war with Konoha is essentially a power struggle within the village.

"Alright, that's enough." The Third Mizukage's deep voice rang out. "I will be launching another surprise attack soon. I hope everyone will cooperate fully. If all goes well, we can definitely turn the tide."

"Could you be more specific, Mizukage?" the white-haired Hozuki Clan began. "Our Hozuki Clan has already made many sacrifices, yet we have gained nothing. If this continues, I cannot accept it, especially the loss of the Ninja Blade..."

"After this raid succeeds, we can negotiate with Konoha to get all the Ninja Blade back," the Third Mizukage interrupted. "The Anbu who infiltrated the Land of Fire didn't do nothing; they gathered a lot of valuable information."

"For example, Asuma, the son of Sarutobi Hiruzen, is fighting on the border. If we capture him, it won't be difficult to get the Ninja Blade back. However, your Hozuki Clan must contribute. If we succeed, the Ninja Blade will be entrusted to you for safekeeping."

"Really?" Upon hearing this, the Hozuki Clan Leader was intrigued, while the expressions of the other clans changed slightly, and many exchanged glances, seemingly discussing something.

"But since the Third Hokage is so at ease, there must be a powerful expert by Asuma's side, right?" someone asked.

The Third Mizukage readily admitted, "That's right, he's in Takeda Shuichi's team. I actually plan to use that to try and eliminate this Konoha genius."

"This..." Many people frowned. They felt that the plan was very unreliable. How could a master with both speed and Ninjutsu be dealt with so easily? If the opponent was carrying Asuma, they probably wouldn't even be able to catch up.

"Don't worry, this time is different. Two of Purple Aurora's childhood friends are also on the team, meaning he'll be protecting three people at once. Plus, I've made arrangements based on his Ninjutsu characteristics..."

After hearing this, many high-ranking Kirigakure felt that there might be a chance to kill Takeda Shuichi. Protecting the enemy would be much more difficult than attacking, and the enemy's speed advantage would be greatly limited.

"Alright, our Hozuki Clan will send our best." The Hozuki Clan Leader finally agreed.

Most of the personnel were still from the Third Mizukage's command. With the flexibility of their family's Water Transformation Secret Technique, the safety of this operation could at least be guaranteed. If there were any unexpected events, they would be among the fastest to escape if they jumped into the sea.

"The deployment time is still uncertain, please be prepared at any time, and I will notify you immediately when the time comes."

Seeing that the Third Mizukage remained silent, everyone present had their own thoughts. It seemed the Mizukage had become somewhat distant lately. Had they been pushing him too hard?