"Who are you?"
Uchiha Yuan raised his chin slightly and looked disdainfully at the middle-aged man who had spoken.
"I'm Shimura Ichizo, commander of the First Division."
Uchiha Yuan curled his lip in contempt. "So the commander of the First Division is an idiot."
Shimura Ichizo flew into a rage at those words. A chilling killing intent burst forth as he moved to attack Uchiha Yuan.
At that critical moment, Jiraiya spoke up.
"Enough."
Jiraiya first turned to Shimura Ichizo and rebuked him, "Ichizo, how can you show killing intent toward a comrade?"
Shimura Ichizo promptly lowered his head. "My apologies, Lord Jiraiya. I was discourteous."
Jiraiya shifted his gaze to Uchiha Yuan. Seeing the arrogant expression on his face, Jiraiya could not help but frown slightly.
What a troublesome brat. He really is a typical Uchiha—arrogant, domineering, and looking down on everyone.
Jiraiya said, "Captain Yuan, as Captain Ichizo said, pursuing the Kumogakure ninja is not a good idea. Too many of our ninja were wounded in today's battle."
Uchiha Yuan met Jiraiya's gaze without yielding. "Lord Jiraiya, our side suffered enormous casualties, but Kumogakure suffered just as heavily. Otherwise, why would Kumogakure ninja, renowned for their militant faction, willingly retreat?"
Shimura Ichizo could not help but snap, "Uchiha Yuan, don't forget that Kumogakure still has two Tailed Beast jinchuriki. Pursuing them could very well cause us even greater casualties."
Uchiha Yuan continued, looking at Jiraiya, "We would pursue the Kumogakure ninja, but only engage them in brief skirmishes and continuously harass them."
"What do you mean by that?"
Jiraiya showed a trace of surprise.
Uchiha Yuan broke into a wild grin. "Kumogakure launched this sneak attack to severely cripple, or even crush, the forces our village has stationed here. That was why they secretly brought the Two-Tails jinchuriki,