Time waited for no one. After deciding to wipe out Uchiha Mai, Mizukage Yagura led his men in a rapid advance toward his location.
Of course, the decisive battlefield Yagura ultimately chose was somewhat different from the previous one.
The place where Uchiha Mai had fought the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was a mountain forest, better suited for small-unit guerrilla warfare. But such terrain would severely limit the performance of a large army.
An army of several thousand, restricted and divided by the terrain into countless small squads, simply could not leverage its numerical advantage.
Thus, Yagura ultimately chose a stretch of hills not far from that forest. Though the ground here rose and fell, it was relatively open and much more suitable for a large army.
"Interesting."
Uchiha Mai, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened them and murmured to himself. The Mizukage really was an interesting man.
The chakra fluctuations of over four thousand people were basically impossible to conceal. They could be sensed from nearly ten kilometers away.
Even ordinary people who did not understand chakra sensing could detect the approach of a large army through certain methods, such as feeling the tremors in the ground.
"So Yagura and the others really came. They've got nerve. Do they think I'm already spent after defeating the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"
Uchiha Mai had indeed expended a great deal in the previous battle, but thanks to Deathfire's ability and the doubled Eye Power of the Consciousness-Only Mangekyō Sharingan, his actual expenditure remained within controllable limits.
Nearly a day had passed. Though he had not yet returned to his absolute peak, he was not far from it.
Mei Terumi, who had remained by Uchiha Mai's side the whole time, knew this as well.
Uchiha Mai had already recalled his