Stronghold Elimination Battle

When all was said and done.

Most of Konoha's Ninja Clans merely feared the Uchiha Clan's strength and disliked their customary arrogance. They had not reached the point of being as fully wary and guarded against the Uchiha Clan as the higher-ups were. At the very least, they still regarded the Uchiha Clan as comrades from the same village. The Akimichi Clan, one of the most popular Ninja Clans in the village, was no exception. Thus, after assigning the mission without hesitation just before the battle—

Motoyasu then realized that Shōji was only a fourteen-year-old boy.

Fearing that the slightest accident—

Would not only affect the following mission, but might even get Shōji killed.

Akimichi Motoyasu personally led people over as reinforcements. Only three or four minutes had passed. He had originally thought the likeliest outcome would be either Shōji's lack of experience allowing the enemy to escape, or the two sides still being locked in a stalemate.

The one thing he had not expected was for Shōji to deal with this Kumo Ninja so easily.

After all, if a Jōnin was truly determined to flee, they were generally very difficult to pursue unless two or three ninja of the same level worked together to intercept them from different sides.

That was precisely the case with the two Kumogakure Jōnin who had been held back.

Thus, Motoyasu had truly not anticipated this outcome.

As he came to a stop and looked at the Kumogakure Jōnin lying in a pool of blood beneath Shōji's feet, Akimichi Motoyasu breathed a sigh of relief, yet a sense of admiration rose in his heart.

It seems this young Shōji is an Uchiha Clan prodigy no less gifted than Body Flicker Shisui!

Motoyasu silently thought as he looked at the tall, straight-backed Uchiha Shōji before him.

It was a fierce yet brief encounter.

Konoha wiped out all fifteen Kumo Ninja while paying the price of only two seriously injured and three lightly injured members of their own team. It was an overwhelming victory.

The reason, naturally, was the additional Jōnin-level combat strength that was Shōji.

Not only did it allow Motoyasu and the others to focus completely on encircling and eliminating the Kumogakure Jōnin, it also enabled the lower-ranking troops to massacre the ordinary Kumo Ninja. The losses suffered by the two sides were therefore utterly unequal. Then, under Motoyasu's orders, the group briefly cleaned up the battlefield, disposed of the Kumo Ninja corpses, and left two lightly injured men behind to escort their seriously injured companions back first.

The rest of them—

Under Akimichi Motoyasu's lead—

Set off again, racing toward the reconnaissance stronghold along the eastern coast.

Fifteen Kumo Ninja.

Especially the deaths of three Jōnin.

In Motoyasu's view, that had to be most of the combat strength the Kumo Ninja at the eastern stronghold could muster. Like Konoha, Kumogakure had concentrated nearly all of its main forces at the Southern Fortress opposite Mount Hot Spring. The remaining small defensive strongholds would not have many people. Having four or five squads and a Jōnin stationed there already counted as an exceptionally lavish deployment.

One had to know that among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Jōnin were figures who stood near the top of the pyramid. Before the later stages of the Original Work, when combat power became so overwhelming it could destroy heaven and earth, being a Jōnin was a symbol of both strength and status.

Even for a force as powerful as Kumogakure, before an all-out war had begun, given the current scale of fighting on the front between the two villages, the deaths of three Jōnin already counted as a rather grievous loss. Thus, Motoyasu concluded that little strength remained at the eastern Kumo Ninja stronghold.

Before the enemy received the news and retreated, leaving only ruins behind.

They had to intercept them first.

Therefore!

"According to the previous intelligence, there are four reconnaissance strongholds here, as well as one logistics stronghold. Leave the main target to me. Shōji, Shiki, the other four reconnaissance strongholds will be handled by the two of you, each leading a squad!"

Unless they encountered unforeseen intelligence, they could make their own judgments.

These were the tasks assigned in advance.

"Yes, Senior Motoyasu!"

"Yeah, no problem, Motoyasu!"

Shōji and the other Jōnin from the Aburame Clan nodded and answered in unison.

They split into three groups.

Their attack crushed downward with the momentum of victory.

"Enemy attack!"

"What's going on!?"

"Contact Lord Hato, quickly!"

Within each stronghold.

There were surely sensory ninja there, perhaps even sensory barriers set up.

Almost as soon as the Konoha group entered the area, the Kumo Ninja at the largest logistics stronghold received the alarm. One after another, they readied themselves for battle.

But they had no idea how elite the attacking Konoha Ninja were. When over twenty Konoha troops, the weakest of whom were Chūnin, launched their surprise assault into the camp—

"This is bad!?"

"Bang!"

"Rumble!"

"Multi-Size Technique!"

"Crescent Moon Slash!"

"Earth Release!"

They directly broke through the first line of defense.

The Kumo Ninja who tried to intercept them afterward were swiftly divided and isolated. Under Motoyasu's lead, the Konoha Ninja behind him shattered the Kumo Ninja defenses head-on like a force breaking bamboo. Almost at the very moment Motoyasu led the main force into the largest logistics defense stronghold on the eastern Kumo Ninja line—

Throughout the surrounding area.

The Kumo Ninja stationed at the reconnaissance strongholds established by Kumogakure sensed that something was wrong. Just as they prepared to respond—

"Whoosh!"

The squads led by Shōji and Shiki arrived at the same time.

"Enemy attack! It's Konoha Ninja!"

Almost none of the Kumo Ninja dispatched to the front lines were rookies. Especially in such intense clashes, the Fourth Raikage A could not possibly gamble with the village's future. Even the Genin were experienced fighters.

They had merely been slightly less fortunate personally, or lacked just a little merit and seniority, which was why they had not yet advanced to Chūnin.

But in terms of individual ability.

Nearly all of those Genin could be regarded as "quasi-Chūnin."

In an ordinary clash.

Even a typical Jōnin would have difficulty taking such people down easily.

But Shōji clearly did not fall under the standard of a "typical Jōnin."

With the enhancement of his ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan, along with his increasingly proficient ability to use Lightning Affinity Chakra to stimulate the secondary activation of his cells, Shōji could move through enemies below Jōnin level as easily as though he were entering an uninhabited land.

"Squelch!"

"Lightning Release!"

"Swish!"

Flashing light bloomed.

A chilling aura spread outward.

"Argh!"

Not a single one of these Kumo Ninja was a match for Shōji.

He did not even need support from the other Konoha Ninja he had brought along. Shōji alone slaughtered every Kumo Ninja in the stronghold.

Watching the performance of their temporary captain.

Every one of those Konoha Ninja stared in stunned disbelief.

Is this the strength of the Uchiha Clan?

It's truly terrifying.

But fortunately, he's our comrade!