"I see." Shiyu nodded, understanding Mifune's meaning.
"Lord Mifune, you know perfectly well that the daimyo has been deceived, yet you still choose to be an enemy of my Shinobi Village? Your loyalty is nothing but blind loyalty. As the saying goes, a general in the field may disobey the emperor's orders. What are you going to do now?" Shiyu asked.
Mifune shook his head and said, "Since you know that Shinobi Village is the leader of the Hidden Ninja Village, Lord Shiyu the assassination of the Daimyo could not possibly have been your doing. Moreover, I could not possibly break through your defenses. I simply cannot continue this battle."
Shiyu shook his head and said, "Why can't we fight? Your main force hasn't even clashed with mine yet. Wouldn't it be more enjoyable to have a battle first?"
Mifune asked, quite puzzled, "Didn't Lord Shiyu tell me to be loyal for the sake of peace? Why does he want to fight me now?"
Shiyu shook his head and said with a smile, "Lord Mifune, we haven't even fought a battle. How are you going to explain this to the daimyo when we get back?"
"In my opinion, we should fight each other. Otherwise, your retreat without a fight will not be good for your reputation." After understanding the ridiculous reasons for the Land of Iron's attack, Shiyu repeatedly urged Mifune to engage in a major battle with him.
Mifune initially wanted to refuse, but later realized that Shiyu had only wanted to provoke him into war from the beginning.
"Are you sure you want to continue fighting? If not, I can order my men to retreat to the Land of Iron at any time." Mifune had essentially issued an ultimatum.
"Fight! Why not fight? Our main force should still fight!" Shiyu insisted on fighting, and Mifune had no choice but to say that he would continue to send his main force to fight against Shiyu's main force.
"Three days from now! Let's have an earth-shattering battle!" Shiyu had essentially made a battle agreement with Mifune.
"Alas! There's no other way!" Mifune had no choice but to act. He had already been defeated in his battle with Shiyu and had a reason to retreat, but who knew that Shiyu would press on and force Mifune to fight to the death.
Three days later, Mifune gathered his subordinates, a dense mass of Land of Iron samurai, clad in heavy armor, at the agreed-upon location for the final battle. The appointed time had arrived.
Mifune was extremely tense. He looked around, but did not see Shiyu leading the main force.
"Where is the Light of the Shinobi World?" Mifune shouted, but no one answered him.
After a while Shiyu led a ninja unit into battle. This unit was not the main ninja force, but an advance force, including Hatake Sanyu and others.
"Mifune! Let's fight!" Without another word, Shiyu jumped up and delivered a Painful Sky Leg.
The Painful Sky Leg slammed into the ground, instantly creating a huge trench. The warriors of the Land of Iron were all heavily armored melee fighters, so they had to go around the trench if they wanted to attack the Ninja's forces.
Shiyu immediately Hand Seals and shouted, "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!!" Immediately afterward, a huge water sphere was created, which not only rushed straight towards the samurai of Mifune, but also instantly filled the ravine, creating a river about ten meters wide in front of both sides.
"What terrifying Water Release! To be able to unleash such powerful Water Release even without water! As expected of Lord Shiyu!" Gray Fang was also greatly surprised.
"Impressive! One Ninjutsu and you've left your opponent completely bewildered!" Kakashi Nao exclaimed in admiration.
"What should we do?! We can't cross the river? Even if we wanted to attack, we couldn't!" Mifune was skilled with his sword, but he was truly helpless in the face of this situation.
"There's something even more powerful!" Shiyu then Hand Seals once more, this Shiyu even using most of his chakra.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!" This Shiyu unleashed an enhanced version of the Great Waterfall Technique, and a terrifying giant wave instantly overwhelmed the river, rushing straight towards the group.
Similarly, Mifune was at a loss and immediately shouted, "Watch out for the current! Retreat! Retreat!" At this moment, Mifune's samurai were in a state of panic.
The massive torrent of water swept them away instantly. Shiyu's attack completely engulfed all of Mifune's armored warriors. Even Mifune himself was swept away by the Great Waterfall Technique.
"Alright! We've won! Now let's head back to Shinobi Village immediately! Just in case other villages launch a sneak attack!" Shiyu didn't even glance at Mifune and the others before leading his men back towards Shinobi Village.
Mifune was hit by a powerful current, becoming completely soaked and disheveled. However, due to their armor, Mifune and the others sustained relatively little damage from the impact. Yet, the thick armor also prevented them from floating, leaving them submerged in the water.
"Take off your armor! Otherwise you'll drown! Take off your armor now!!" Mifune roared.
The helmets of the warriors of the Land of Iron can protect against poison but cannot be used to breathe underwater. After hearing Mifune's order, they struggled to remove their armor in the water.
The current then swept them away, scattering them and preventing them from fighting again in a short time.
After the water finally receded, Mifune and the others were exhausted.
The warriors of the Land of Iron and Mifune lay on the ground in a sorry state. Most of the warriors had lost their armor, and the armor on the ground was either destroyed or unusable after being washed away by the water. In short, they had lost the ability to fight.
Mifune, seeing that Shiyu's troops were no longer around, immediately understood Shiyu's purpose.
"It seems the Light of the Shinobi World had planned to use the flood to attack us all along. The reason he didn't Genin troops to surround and kill us is that he actually showed mercy. Is this a deliberate act of letting us go back?"
"So that's how it is. So he hoped to return victorious. He's indeed a man of insight! His trip to war wasn't in vain. It seems I have no choice but to return to the Land of Iron. In the end, my Land of Iron will owe him a favor."
Mifune was then left with only a group of unarmored soldiers to return to the Land of Iron.
Shiyu defeated the army from the Land of Iron single-handedly without using a single soldier, and even left a good impression on his village, Shigure's Shinobi Village. Shiyu's main force had already quietly returned to Shinobi Village in batches.
Shiyu then rushed towards the Shinobi Village without stopping, and received news of the village en route.
"While I was engaged in a major battle with the Land of Iron in the west, the Hoshigakure of the Land of Bears took the opportunity to circle around to the northeast of my army and launch a surprise attack on the ninja village."
Shiyu shook her head and said, "So even Tom, Dick, and Harry dare to bully me now?"
"If I'm not mistaken, these Star Ninja must have been misled by someone to make such a foolish decision."
"I'd like to see how a tiny Hoshigakure manages to launch a surprise attack on my Shinobi Village!"
If even a neutral country like the Land of Iron was brought under control, then an army would be sent to Shiyu. How much more so would a village like Hoshigakure, which is not exactly a closed-off village, be affected?