At the Fourth Raikage's command, the Cloud Ninja eagerly broke away from their respective opponents and quickly retreated beyond the reach of Yamata no Orochi.
With no fortress left to destroy, they no longer had a reason to keep fighting.
The Konoha Ninja didn't try too hard to stop them. The Cloud Ninja still outnumbered them, and even in retreat, they weren't helpless prey to be beaten at will.
So the victors stayed alert and didn't pursue, allowing the defeated side to hurry away in a flurry.
Watching the Fourth Raikage disappear from the battlefield, Orochimaru dispelled the Eight Branches Technique, a mocking smile on his face.
Fugaku appeared beside Orochimaru in a flash and asked, "Lord Orochimaru, should we go help Shisui and the others?"
"There's no need. We'll head for the fake fortress as planned."
Orochimaru licked his lips and ordered the Ninja gathered around him, "Move out!"
"Yes!"
The Konoha Ninja answered in unison.
Having just won a battle, their morale was high. Ignoring their exhaustion after the fight, they immediately followed Orochimaru.
Unlike Konoha, the Cloud Ninja were generally downcast. They had outnumbered their opponents, yet the unfavorable terrain had left them evenly matched—and they had even fallen behind afterward.
They had suffered heavy losses without achieving their goal, and the fortress had turned out to be fake.
"Big Brother, where are we going now? Yugito hasn't come back yet."
Killer B panted, exhaustion in his eyes. "Maybe the outpost she was assigned to destroy is real. We should go help her."
This wasn't the first time Konoha had used fake fortresses on the battlefield. Kumogakure even knew about the setup of one real fortress and two fakes.
Now that they had destroyed one fake fortress, they only needed to destroy two more.
"That doesn't matter anymore. We've already lost."
The Fourth Raikage shook his head. "The village's Ninja can't withstand two more battles in their current state."
Killer B fell silent.
If another battle broke out, the Raikage's authority might still be enough to suppress the Ninja's resentment. But he might not manage it a second time.
"Besides, we don't know how many fake fortresses Konoha has built."
The Fourth Raikage looked back and furrowed his brow.
That was only one of his reasons. What truly concerned the Raikage was Orochimaru's brazen attitude.
Some things couldn't be hidden when two armies of Ninja clashed. As a commander himself, the Raikage sensed that Orochimaru didn't seem to care about his subordinates' losses.
Then he recalled the intelligence he'd received earlier: most of the Ninja under Orochimaru's command came from the Konoha Military Police Force, and the relationship between the Uchiha and Konoha was rather delicate.
The Fourth Raikage couldn't help but scoff. "Heh, Konoha..."
At that moment, a brilliant column of light shot skyward in the distance once more, stark against the pitch-black night. It was exactly like the one before.
The Fourth Raikage felt even more certain of his suspicions. He sent a squad of elite Ninja to help Yugito, then led the rest of the Cloud Ninja back toward their outpost.
Far behind them, the Hyuga Clan had been trailing the Cloud Ninja, but they didn't dare continue. Instead, they headed for the agreed meeting point.
Shortly after rejoining the main force, Hizashi Hyuga reported, "Lord Orochimaru, the Cloud Ninja didn't turn back. They left."
Fugaku asked, "Lord Orochimaru, should we go help Shisui and the others?"
Shisui was a prodigy of the clan, and Fugaku didn't want to see him fall on the battlefield unless there was no other choice.
"No need."
Orochimaru was fiddling with the Barrier Ninjutsu seals on the fake fortress. At Fugaku's request, a faintly inscrutable smile appeared on his face.
"There's no time."
Based on the timing, Kakashi and Shisui should have split into two groups and reached the real fortress long ago. Yet no word had come back, whether they'd succeeded or failed.
Orochimaru wasn't curious about what had gone wrong. He only knew he couldn't keep relying entirely on them.
As for their lives, when he sent them out, he had already considered them dead.
Anything could happen on a battlefield. Even Jiraiya's strength hadn't spared him from coming close to death several times.
Of course, if word came that Shisui had died, Orochimaru would abandon the army and retrieve those Sharingan eyes, which might be Mangekyō.
"Phew..."
Shisui, whose eyes Orochimaru coveted, slashed the last Cloud Ninja's throat. He scanned the battlefield and, after confirming that none of the enemy had survived, finally let out a long breath.
"Without these scouts, the Cloud Ninja won't be able to keep up with Senior Kakashi."
As Orochimaru had expected, something had gone wrong here. They hadn't imagined Kumogakure would take these two squads so seriously and send the Two-Tails Jinchuriki after them.
If the Uchiha elite Ninja hadn't gained experience fighting giant enemies during their earlier training, and learned the Uchiha Flame Formation, they might have been slaughtered when facing Yugito in her Tailed Beast Transformation.
Even so, the barrier meant to hold off several squads of elite Ninja had to withstand a Tailed Beast's attacks instead. Its defenses were stretched to their limit.
Fearing that they'd be picked off one by one, they had been forced to abandon their plan to split up.
Yugito had only just become unable to maintain her Tailed Beast Transformation, allowing Kakashi to lead a squad of barrier specialists away.
Shisui and several Uchiha elite Ninja stayed behind to use the fake fortress as bait and keep the Two-Tails Jinchuriki occupied.
Shisui had killed the Cloud Ninja scouts who'd been tailing them to cover Kakashi and the others' escape.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of violent collisions thundered through the air.
Shisui turned around, his expression changing.
Not far away, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, who had only recently ended her Tailed Beast Transformation, had returned.
She transformed into the giant, blue-flamed cat Matatabi and swung her claws, repeatedly hammering at the crimson barrier as if the searing backlash from the shield were nothing.
Shisui took a deep breath and ran toward the fake fortress. He soon reached the battlefield.
By then, the crimson barrier was on the verge of collapse beneath the Two-Tails' assault. It wouldn't last much longer.
Seeing this, Shisui hesitated.
He could use Susanoo to stop the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, but doing so would further damage his eyesight.
That alone might have been manageable, but Shisui knew what would happen if he revealed this ability.
This war had begun because someone had controlled the Nine-Tails, leaving the village badly weakened. Kumogakure had taken advantage of that to launch a surprise attack.
Under the circumstances, revealing that he had the Mangekyō Sharingan would deepen the suspicions the Uchiha had only just begun to dispel. The consequences would be far worse than letting this fake fortress be destroyed.
"I can't reveal my ocular technique, and I can't use Susanoo."
Having made up his mind, Shisui leaped in front of the Two-Tails and pressed five fingers against the ground. A new, thicker crimson barrier rose up, enclosing the fortress and the smaller barrier that was on the verge of collapse.
"Use this chance to recover your Chakra," Shisui ordered, glancing back. He had no idea how long he could hold out this way.
At the same time, Kakashi and his group reached the real fortress. Just as the squad began activating the defensive barrier, a hand reached out of thin air and dragged one of the Barrier Team Ninja inside.
Thanks to Bandaru for the donation.
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