Deliberation

It's difficult to determine how much power one can unleash in a state of extremity unless they've truly experienced it.

Compared to the Konoha Ninja's outnumbered situation in the Land of Rivers, Hatake Sakumo played the opposite role in the Land of Rain; his solo interception was the true "extremity."

Truly, a new generation replaces the old.

Hatake Sakumo certainly didn't have the ability to deal with the entire Sunagakure force by himself, nor did he need to. All he needed was to buy enough time for the Konoha forward camp to react.

When the news of Sunagakure's planned surprise attack reached the camp, the Konoha Ninja who remained there immediately prepared for battle. At the same time, this urgent intelligence was delivered to Shimura Danzō at the fastest possible speed.

Danzō's performance in this incident couldn't be deemed foolish; it could only be said that he was so cautious that he became overly careless... Why would a retired Kazekage lead so many troops to surround and suppress?

Danzō indeed had heavy selfish intentions. Often, he didn't prioritize selfishness over public good, but rather brazenly treated his own selfishness as public good.

To put it simply, any event or situation that benefited Danzō's path to becoming Hokage was something all Konoha Ninja should naturally prioritize.

In short, perhaps Danzō didn't understand what was happening at first, but after receiving enough intelligence, he immediately realized he'd been toyed with by Sunagakure... At this point, Danzō finally understood what he needed to do.

He was very rational, so rational that he could instantly grasp the relative importance between the merit of killing the retired Kazekage and the potential fall of the Konoha camp.

Therefore, Danzō immediately abandoned the Second Kazekage and led Konoha's elite forces into the Land of Rain at the fastest speed... By this time, he had already made the worst-case scenario plan: even if the Konoha camp was defeated, he would lead his troops to cut off Sunagakure's retreat, making them pay a corresponding price.

That's right, Danzō's thinking was what's known as "loss mitigation."

Just as Danzō began his actions, the first wave of Konoha reinforcements arrived on the battlefield in the Land of Rain.

Three enormous Summoning Beasts suddenly appeared on the battlefield, using their incredibly massive sizes to block the attacking path of the Sunagakure Ninja.

"Are they still alive?" Orochimaru looked at the battlefield with eyes that were calm to the point of being indifferent.

However, as rational as he was, when he saw the blood-soaked figure, his pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly.

"Clearly, they're alive and well... Can a ninja achieve such an astonishing interception effect with such simple means?"

Jiraiya also saw Hatake Sakumo, and his tone of voice carried admiration as he spoke.

Although Jiraiya and Hatake Sakumo had the same hair color and were roughly the same age, their fighting styles were completely different.

The fact that Hatake Sakumo could hold back a large group of Sunagakure Ninja with just a Chakra blade proved one thing... When it comes to killing people, he's a professional.

"I feel like we're nearing the limit," Tsunade said.

However, to her surprise, Jiraiya and Orochimaru did not agree with her judgment.

"Tsunade, your assessment is based purely on a medical ninja's medical judgment... The person standing there is clearly someone who cannot be measured by common standards."

"From today onwards, his name will echo throughout the Shinobi World."

Tsunade glanced at the two of them without saying much. She had nothing to explain to those who believed in metaphysics over medicine.

Hatake Sakumo was indeed not an ordinary ninja. On one hand, he was very skilled in combat; on the other hand, he had no "influence." It was truly absurd for a ninja with such strength to be forced to "self-destruct" from the Shinobi World.

The arrival of Konoha's first wave of reinforcements actually meant the failure of Sunagakure's operation. A surprise attack had turned into a frontal confrontation. This didn't mean Sunagakure was guaranteed to lose, but if they still wanted to win, the price they would have to pay would be exorbitant.

As more and more Konoha Ninja appeared on the battlefield, Chiyo decisively chose to disengage and make a strategic retreat towards the Land of Wind... This was the correct decision, as she also needed to mitigate losses.

According to the laws of victory, mitigating losses is victory.

If they didn't disengage now, the subsequent situation would be a "stalemate between enemy and self," and it would be difficult to withdraw then. Only by completely controlling the initiative on the battlefield could one have the possibility of advancing and retreating with ease.

The previous battle between Konoha and Iwagakure in the Land of Grass served as a counterexample.

Compared to Shimura Danzō, Chiyo was at least a more competent commander in this operation.

To summarize this operation, Sunagakure felt that Konoha's intelligence transmission system was too rapid, especially since Konoha had ninja clans like Hyuga and Yamanaka specializing in intelligence gathering and transmission.

Additionally, some ninja's growth speed was too fast, exceeding Sunagakure's imagination. If it weren't for the harassment by such an extraordinary figure, the operation would have been successful.

Konoha, on the other hand, simply felt that Sunagakure was too insidious for attempting a surprise attack.

Furthermore, Iwagakure, having received relevant intelligence, felt it was a great pity.

The truly insidious one was the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki. When he decided to change the invasion route, he wasn't just calculating against Konoha but also against Sunagakure... The facts proved that Sunagakure had fallen for it, but not entirely.

The two sides only had a brief skirmish, and the mutually destructive situation that Iwagakure had hoped for did not materialize.

Yuzuru and the others later heard news of a Konoha ninja achieving fame in a single battle. When he learned the person's name was Hatake Sakumo, he didn't find anything unusual about it.

At this moment, he only had one thought: "Konoha White Fang achieved fame even before the Sannin." If interpreted through the lens of conspiracy theories, this was not a good thing for Hatake Sakumo.

Konoha's power succession had a traceable pattern, and Hatake Sakumo didn't seem to be within a certain scope.

However, Yuzuru, or rather, Team Eleven, didn't have much energy to focus on this matter at the time. After the operation ended, Sunagakure's scheme was thwarted, and Konoha safely passed the crisis, the next step was to deal with various "minor details."

The leadership's decision-making errors were naturally not a big deal. However, Team Eleven had displayed actual combat effectiveness that did not align with their paper data, requiring a routine investigation.

To put it bluntly, this team should have been wiped out the moment they encountered the Kazekage. Yet, the situation was the exact opposite; they survived, not even losing a single member.

In a certain black tent, Yuzuru met a Konoha ninja who looked "friendly." This person's appearance was quite deceptive.

However, if Yuzuru guessed correctly, the other party was either from the Torture Department or the Anbu.

"Chunin Yuzuru, don't be nervous. We just have some details we'd like to clarify about the battle in the Land of Rivers," the other party said after verifying Yuzuru's identity information.

Alright, he was planning to start with the details and slowly get to the core.

"Uh, I'm not nervous."

Yuzuru really had nothing to be nervous about. He wasn't lying, and the Konoha Ninja on the battlefield in the Land of Rivers hadn't been completely wiped out except for the four in the squad. The information they shared would definitely corroborate each other.

As for directly "searching his mind"...

In reality, this method would never be used lightly on a living ninja from the same village... In a way, it was a more brutal method than direct interrogation.

The matter with Squad Eleven wasn't serious enough for that.

Alright, telling the absolute truth was impossible. Yuzuru would have to tell a few lies... For example, he at least needed to establish a genius persona.