After a large force of Konoha Ninja arrived at the battlefield in the Land of Rivers, the Second Kazekage seemed to lose his nerve at once and chose to "flee" without hesitation.
In this situation, Konoha's side didn't need to think too hard. What they had to do was purely instinctive... He ran, they chased; he couldn't escape even if he sprouted wings. It was always the same routine.
But there was no denying it: the Second Kazekage's "normal reaction" let Shimura Danzō breathe a sigh of relief... Danzō had been more worried that his opponent would fight to the death.
As Konoha's commander, if the enemy fought like a cornered beast, Danzō would have to lead from the front. But when you met force with force, it was easy to get yourself killed.
Now, everything was fine. Since the Second Kazekage valued his life enough to run, morale on Danzō's side soared. After all, the courage was no longer with the enemy—it was with them.
"Chase him! Don't let him get away!"
At that moment, Danzō seemed like the hero of the story. He began directing the Konoha Ninja in pursuit, as if he'd resolved to make the Second Kazekage pay for everything he'd done.
The first-publication website's domain was .
It was just that Danzō's lines sounded a little too much like those of a background character.
"Captain, don't you think this Kazekage is acting a little strange?"
Yuzuru helped Might Duy move out of the way. As the "beaten remnants" of the force, they wouldn't join the main body in pursuit... Taking advantage of the moment, Yuzuru voiced his doubts.
"Something is strange. It's odd enough that someone like him would go out alone. He should at least have brought a squad of elite guards..."
Kiba Inuzuka thought it over, then continued, "What's someone like him doing on the battlefield? Is he here just to deal with the Konoha Ninja in the Land of Rivers? That doesn't make sense."
"And even after Konoha's reinforcements arrived, he chose to flee..."
At that moment, a large number of Konoha Ninja were pursuing the Second Kazekage with Danzō. A few stayed behind to clear the battlefield, gather intelligence, and treat the wounded.
"Captain, could the answer be right there in the question?"
"What do you mean?"
"An unreasonable situation often serves a more deeply hidden, reasonable plan. Maybe the Second Kazekage is just bait to draw in Konoha's main force. Now that the main force has shown itself, his objective has been achieved, so he immediately chose to retreat," Yuzuru said.
Shinnosuke Kohinata understood Yuzuru's meaning first.
"Yuzuru, are you saying the real battlefield isn't here?"
"Senior Shinnosuke, think about it from the other side's perspective. There's a simple question we need to answer... The Second Kazekage appeared, so Konoha's main force came to meet him. That leaves one question: where is Sunagakure's main force?"
Yuzuru's words left the others staring at each other in confusion. Something about this didn't add up.
Then Kiba Inuzuka suddenly realized what was happening. Ignoring his injuries, he rushed straight toward a Konoha Ninja who was investigating the scene.
"Contact Lord Danzō right away! We may have fallen for a trap! The Second Kazekage probably showed himself to draw away our main force and create an opening for Sunagakure to raid Konoha's forward camp!"
Kiba Inuzuka spoke rapidly and urgently. The Konoha Ninja opposite him looked confused at first, then wore an expression that said, "You've got to be joking."
Kiba Inuzuka stamped his foot in frustration, then smoothly swung onto his dog and charged after Danzō's pursuit... He intended to warn Shimura Danzō in person.
Stopping the pursuit would be difficult. As everyone knew, a certain village's Second, who was skilled in Space-Time Ninjutsu, had still "given his life" when surrounded.
Clearly, even against a Kage, overwhelming numbers could work.
That Second had been in his prime when he died, while the Second Kazekage being pursued by Konoha now was old and frail. So as long as Danzō was willing to let his subordinates make sacrifices, he had a real chance to claim the great credit for defeating the Second Kazekage.
If he earned the achievement of killing a Kazekage, Shimura Danzō would surely be one step closer to the Hokage's seat... even if all he'd killed was a retired Kazekage.
Don't dismiss a retired village chief as a nobody. Had Hiruzen Sarutobi ever earned such a great achievement? He hadn't. When the time came, Danzō would be able to stand in Konoha and shout, "Who's next?"
With the captain having "run off," the three remaining members of the squad decided to rest where they were and help rescue the wounded.
Yuzuru and Shinnosuke Kohinata first carried Might Duy to the side and laid him down to rest... Might Duy, who had just used the Eight Gates, looked so peaceful he might as well have been dead.
Shinnosuke gently tried touching Might Duy, and the other man immediately let out a scream.
"His muscles are severely fatigued and torn, and the stinging pain is unusually intense."
"Prolonged chakra output beyond the body's limits and extreme bursts of high-speed movement have caused varying degrees of damage to the bones and joints throughout his body."
"Excessive stimulation from chakra may have damaged his internal organs. It goes without saying that this technique drains one's life force... Senior Duy, there's no point in sugarcoating it: what you just used was a forbidden technique."
After briefly examining Might Duy, Shinnosuke Kohinata reached this conclusion.
Yuzuru thought Shinnosuke Kohinata's assessment was basically right. What did that mean? It meant Might Duy hadn't fully mastered the Eight Gates. His proficiency was probably only at the "Mastered" level, and certainly nowhere near "perfectly mastered."
Using the Eight Gates came at a price, but as Yuzuru understood it, as long as you didn't open the Eighth Gate, the Gate of Death, the technique didn't count as forbidden.
"A forbidden technique? No, I was just burning with the fire of youth. Unfortunately, I've been too lax in my training... I never truly burned myself out, and I didn't actually stop the enemy." Might Duy sounded regretful and self-critical.
Well, if what he wanted was to burn himself out, then he hadn't.
Might Duy's reaction was perfectly normal and in keeping with Yuzuru's understanding. By comparison, Shinnosuke Kohinata's fighting ability just now had been even more surprising.
"Senior Shinnosuke, I never expected you to be able to use the Gentle Fist... Can you do that without the Byakugan?"
That certainly couldn't be explained simply by saying that Kohinata came from the Hyuga Clan.
The Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist looked unremarkable, but if an enemy facing an elite Jonin-level Hyuga Ninja carelessly took even a couple of punches, they'd pretty much have no choice but to lie down.
"It's possible, but without the Byakugan, you lose the precision of the Gentle Fist. I was just using brute force and throwing punches at random. If the Hyuga Clan heard me call what I used the Gentle Fist, they'd definitely deny it."
Shinnosuke Kohinata said he'd been throwing punches at random, but Yuzuru didn't think he had been. He'd clearly fought very well.
"I didn't expect that everyone in our squad except the captain would have something they excelled at. I suppose that's fate..." Shinnosuke Kohinata looked at Yuzuru with a meaningful gaze.
"There's no doubt we're an unusual squad. Senior Shinnosuke and Senior Duy both have the fighting strength of Jonin, but unfortunately, we couldn't coordinate closely during that battle. Our squad missed its chance to become heroes," Yuzuru said, seemingly unaware of the other man's gaze.
That day, someone did become a hero on the battlefield of the Shinobi World War. Unfortunately, it wasn't anyone in the unremarkable Taijutsu squad, nor was it Shimura Danzō, who was chasing the Second Kazekage...
It was a swordsman.
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