Hadn't he even used the speed of lightning when he left?
Moving at the speed of lightning, Ziyun was impossible to follow. After sensing that no one was around, he concealed himself in the Door-Door Fruit's alternate dimension once more.
[ Ding~ Congratulations to the host for completing the mission: Participate in the Second Shinobi World War. Rewards obtained: Advanced Armament Haki: Ryuo; Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere; Earth Release: Earth Flow River. ]
"I finally got Advanced Armament Haki: Ryuo."
But when Ziyun opened his system panel, he discovered that Ryuo was still inactive.
"To activate a higher level of Haki, you must first max out your proficiency in the previous level. If you force it to activate, your proficiency in Advanced Armament Haki will increase very slowly," the system explained at just the right moment.
Ziyun nodded in understanding.
Only by maxing out his proficiency in Basic Armament Haki could he build a solid foundation.
It looked like he would have to use Armament Haki more often from now on and try to activate Ryuo as soon as possible.
"Lord Orochimaru, there's no need to pursue him. Yeyue Ziyun's presence suddenly vanished..."
The moment Ziyun entered the Door-Door Fruit's alternate dimension, the Konoha Ninja in charge of sensing detected his presence suddenly vanish and reported it to Orochimaru, Tsunade, and the others.
"Damn it, that brat is a real headache. The way he mocked Konoha at the end makes me want to catch him and beat him senseless!"
Ziyun had thoroughly infuriated Tsunade.
She was arrogant enough already, but Ziyun was even more arrogant than she was. He had also insulted Konoha, which made Tsunade deeply unhappy.
"It's no use. Yeyue Ziyun's Ninjutsu is too troublesome. Next time, we absolutely have to be fully prepared."
A trace of ruthlessness flashed through Orochimaru's slitted pupils.
Being humiliated like this felt awful, especially when the other party was an eleven-year-old brat.
If word got out, Konoha's reputation would surely plummet.
"Also, we need to notify Teacher Sarutobi immediately that the Hidden Cloud has sent Yeyue Ziyun into battle, and see if he has any ideas or countermeasures. Without supplies, we can't continue our offensive for the time being."
Orochimaru frowned deeply. Konoha had suffered a major loss this time.
The supplies for more than 3,000 ninja had been destroyed, and over 200 had been killed or injured, yet the Hidden Cloud Village had lost nothing. It was infuriating.
The only good news was that Yeyue Ziyun, the biggest catalyst for this war, had entered the fray.
That meant they wouldn't have to fight the Hidden Cloud for too long.
As long as they could kill Yeyue Ziyun, presumably the war would end.
"Lord Orochimaru, we've found something! We seem to have discovered a weakness in Yeyue Ziyun's Ninjutsu!"
Just then, the ninja in charge of assessing the losses suddenly came before Orochimaru and spoke in delight.
"Hm? Tell me, quickly!" "Yes! Judging from the scene of Yeyue Ziyun's surprise attack, what he used was still Lightning Release Ninjutsu!"
"But this Lightning Release Ninjutsu seems to have a weakness! Among the damaged supplies, we found several batches that were completely intact. Without exception, all of them were insulators! This shows that insulators are quite effective at countering Lightning Release Ninjutsu!"
The ninja immediately told Orochimaru about the new discovery.
"Oh? Insulators?"
Orochimaru extended his long snake tongue and licked his lips, then went to investigate the scene.
Indeed, some supplies that functioned as insulators were perfectly intact, while the rest were a pitiful sight, reduced entirely to ashes.
"This single exception doesn't prove anything, but it's a good hypothesis. We can test it the next time we encounter him."
An unusual gleam flashed through Orochimaru's slitted pupils.
As a future scientist, Orochimaru was still very rigorous.
This one isolated case alone couldn't prove that insulators were immune to Yeyue Ziyun's Lightning Release Ninjutsu. He had to gather as much information as possible.
Still, it was something he could keep an eye on.
Meanwhile, Ziyun found the camp of Hatake Sakumo's main force again, then destroyed all their supplies with another Lightning Beast.
"Damn you, Yeyue Ziyun! Konoha will definitely kill you this time!"
Unable to do anything to Ziyun, Hatake Sakumo could only watch him escape, his eyes red.
After all, he wasn't fast enough to catch Ziyun, and even if he did, he wasn't confident he could defeat him, so Hatake Sakumo didn't give chase.
But without supplies, he didn't dare advance recklessly either. He could only stop and ask Hiruzen Sarutobi what to do next.
Without lingering, Ziyun returned to the Hidden Cloud Village's camp after finishing everything.
"Ziyun, you're back already?"
The Third Raikage was very surprised to see Ziyun return in just three days, and the Hidden Cloud's leadership was somewhat curious as well.
That was too fast. Had the mission failed?
"Uncle Raikage, I've destroyed all the supplies for the two forces of 3,000 Konoha Ninja led by Hatake Sakumo and Orochimaru. They won't launch another attack anytime soon."
"What? You destroyed the supplies for both forces? Is that true, Ziyun?"
The Third Raikage was somewhat excited. That was unbelievably fast.
"That's right, I destroyed them all. I believe Konoha shouldn't have time to attack for a while. We should seize this opportunity to launch a counterattack."
Ziyun felt that this was a good opportunity to counterattack. Without supplies, Konoha wouldn't dare fight the Hidden Cloud, so they could force them back for a while.
It would also buy the Hidden Cloud time.
The Hidden Cloud Village had committed a total of 2,000 ninja to this war, plus the 1,000 Hidden Cloud ninja who had followed Ziyun here afterward, making 3,000 in all.
The other Hidden Cloud ninja were in the village, working hard to learn Ziyun's improved Navy Six Powers.
The longer the war dragged on, the greater the Hidden Cloud's chances of victory would be. By then, even if the Hidden Sand Village didn't join the fight, the Hidden Cloud Village would be confident of defeating Konoha.
"Good. Ziyun is right. If Konoha's supplies really have been destroyed, this is indeed a good opportunity to attack."
After pondering for a moment, the Third Raikage decided to adopt Ziyun's suggestion.
The people of the Hidden Cloud Village had always been direct and straightforward, without too much scheming. Since an opportunity had appeared, they would certainly seize it.
If an opportunity like this arose in Konoha Village, Ziyun was certain Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't be as decisive as the Third Raikage.
Both were hailed as the "strongest" Raikage and Hokage in their respective villages' histories, so why was the difference between them so great?
The Third Raikage made the decision, and the rest of the Hidden Cloud's leadership raised no objections. The Hidden Cloud's leadership was relatively united.
Moreover, whenever the Third Raikage gave an order, he would personally carry out the hardest part. Even if those under him had objections, they wouldn't be dissatisfied.
After all, the village's highest leader had taken care of the most difficult task, so the others would have no face to complain.
It had to be said that although the Hidden Cloud Village's leadership was straightforward and somewhat simple, compared with Konoha's methods of rule, that was a tremendous advantage. At the very least, it avoided a great deal of pointless infighting.
Konoha, the Hokage's office.
Konoha had now finished rebuilding. After all, the Land of Fire's daimyo had plenty of money, and even the Hokage building had been rebuilt more grandly than before.
Meanwhile, the Konoha High Command F4 remained comfortably seated in Konoha Village, enjoying its peace and prosperity while the other ninja went to the front lines one after another.
They called it "directing strategy from headquarters."
"The Third Raikage has sent Yeyue Ziyun into the fight. The supplies for both Hatake Sakumo's and Orochimaru's forces have been destroyed."
After receiving the intelligence sent separately by Orochimaru and Hatake Sakumo, Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned deeply.
For the past few months, most of the news from the front had been good. Now that such bad news had suddenly arrived, he wasn't used to it.
"Damn it! Something so important was destroyed. What were those two good-for-nothings, Hatake Sakumo and Orochimaru, doing?!"
True to form, Danzo immediately blamed his teammates.
"But we should also look on the bright side. This war started because of Yeyue Ziyun in the first place. The Hidden Cloud Village has actually sent him out at this point, which means it can't withstand the pressure anymore. That's why they sent Yeyue Ziyun into the fight."
Koharu Utatane, the only woman among the F4, offered her careful analysis.
"Koharu is quite right. Under normal circumstances, a genius like Yeyue Ziyun would never be sent to the battlefield on such a dangerous mission. As long as we send another batch of supplies and keep fighting, the Hidden Cloud Village will collapse sooner or later."
Homura Mitokado agreed with his old partner.
"Damn it, do any of you even know what the most suspicious part of this is?!"
Just then, Danzo could no longer contain himself. He roared and looked at the three people before him.
The three frowned instinctively and all stared at Danzo. They were used to this mad dog, so they showed no obvious displeasure.
"These are places where supplies are stockpiled. They're highly confidential and heavily guarded, with personnel taking turns on watch twenty-four hours a day. How could Yeyue Ziyun have precisely bypassed Konoha's main forces and sensor ninja, then destroyed our supplies without fail?"
"Even if his lightning technique is fast, he couldn't possibly have done that without the slightest error."
"Someone must have been in league with him beforehand. There's definitely a Hidden Cloud spy in the village!"
Danzo's voice was angry.
"Hm?"
Hearing Danzo say this, the expressions of the three changed subtly.
It did make sense.
When Konoha formed an alliance with the Hidden Cloud, a spy could already have appeared in Konoha.
After all, Yeyue Ziyun had learned of the highly confidential assassination of Uchiha Mikoto in advance, and now he had precisely destroyed the village's supplies.
If there was no spy, how had Yeyue Ziyun found the supplies?
"Danzo does have a point, but we're at war right now. Who could be betraying the village's interests?"