Chapter 46: The Great War Begins

"Lord Huangtu, this is the summary of losses for this week."

An intelligence ninja from Iwagakure, with a bitter expression on his face, handed the scroll in his hand to Huangtu. Huangtu opened the scroll and took a look, only to feel his blood pressure rising; the hand gripping the scroll even made a creaking sound.

"Take a look at this! Senior!"

Gritting his teeth, he threw the scroll in his hand to Lao Zi. Although he called him senior, there was no respect whatsoever in Huangtu's tone.

"One week! It's only been one week! We have already lost over 300 ninjas!! This already accounts for one-fifth of the total strength on this front line!"

"In other words, if we fight for another month, I'm afraid our entire Iwagakure main camp will be completely wiped out!"

Facing Huangtu's angry roar, Lao Zi lowered his head, unable to say a single word.

Back then, it was Lao Zi who personally took action to hunt down Uchiha Feiyu, and it was precisely he who exposed Uchiha Feiyu's identity as a jinchuriki. In the end, not only did he fail to keep Uchiha Feiyu, but he also lost a large number of elites.

Nowadays, the bitter fruit of Iwagakure's struggle on the battlefield can be said to be largely the fault of this Four-Tails Jinchuriki.

"We cannot go on like this. Prepare to initiate the decisive battle! And after the decisive battle ends, we will withdraw from the Land of Rivers!"

Huangtu was quite decisive and soon made his decision. Currently, the Iwagakure ninjas in the Land of Rivers were significantly weaker in conventional strength than both Konoha and the Sand Ninja. They definitely wouldn't win if they kept fighting, but by starting the decisive battle early, they could instead preserve more Iwagakure ninjas for the retreat.

Originally, this was only an auxiliary battlefield, and there was never much expectation of winning; being able to consume a portion of the other two ninja villages' strength was already the best-case scenario.

As for running away without fighting, it would only make them more susceptible to being hunted down by the two ninja villages, which would lead to even greater losses.

At this moment, the other ninjas in the main camp also looked at each other and asked:

"Then which side are we preparing to initiate the decisive battle against?"

Iwagakure lacked sufficient strength and could certainly only choose one ninja village to fight. And just as that high-ranking official's question was asked, Huangtu gave the answer without hesitation:

"It must be Konoha! After all, they are our true enemy. In order to reduce the pressure on the main battlefield, Konoha has always been our primary target!"

……

"That bunch of rats from Iwagakure, they are really desperate now!"

Looking at the submitted information scroll, Orochimaru sneered and said in a contemptuous tone.

While speaking, Orochimaru also passed the scroll in his hand to the other ninjas in the main camp to look at. It was a letter of challenge from Iwagakure, which basically meant that on a certain year, month, and day, at a certain place, everyone would gather for a group fight.

"I thought these guys would attack our main camp directly without declaring war!"

Uchiha Feiyu, who was also sitting in the command camp, said with a smile. Akimichi Torifu, who was eating next to him, snorted coldly:

"Do you think those blockheads didn't want to raid our base? They just couldn't find an opportunity!"

A ninja camp is not just a so-called military camp; its defensive level is almost on par with those ancient castles. One must know that a ninja's ninjutsu is not only used for killing; it is also quite adept at construction.

City walls raised by Earth Release, sealing techniques buried in hidden corners, barriers monitoring the entire camp, crossbow launchers loaded with a large number of kunai with explosive tags, chain-explosive tag traps laid in the underground nearby...

To take down such a camp with a frontal assault would require at least twice the strength. If it were Iwagakure, they probably wouldn't even be able to break the city walls before their ordinary ninjas were all dead.

Having experienced the previous Iwagakure raid, Konoha had long since strengthened its vigilance in the surrounding area, so even if Iwagakure wanted to launch a surprise attack, they had no chance.

"Then what shall we do? Accept or refuse?"

Uchiha Feiyu looked around at the Jonin in the vicinity and asked. Orochimaru put away the information scroll that had been passed around and said coldly:

"Since this bunch of rats wants to die, we will naturally fulfill their wish!"

……

"A large-scale battle... It seems I can collect quite a few souls this time. It's a pity that the offerings for the Altar must be sentient beings killed by my own hands; otherwise, I estimate I could collect hundreds of wisps of Black Qi in this large-scale battle."

Uchiha Feiyu stood on a hillside, watching a small squad of Iwagakure ninjas scattered on the opposite side, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"What's wrong? Feiyu-kun? Are you a little nervous experiencing this kind of large-scale battle for the first time?"

Orochimaru's voice rang out leisurely in his ear. Uchiha Feiyu answered without turning his head:

"There's nothing to be nervous about. It's just that this kind of battle is not quite what I imagined. I thought everyone would gather together to have a fight!"

"How is that possible? Not to mention Shadow-level ninjas, even any random Jonin has a wide-range destructive ninjutsu. If low-level ninjas gathered together, wouldn't that be making them targets for those powerful ninjas?"

Orochimaru said with amusement and shook his head:

"Even in a so-called large-scale battle, it is soldier against soldier and general against general, fighting in the form of squads. Of course, because there are too many ninjas, even if the combat location is consciously expanded, this kind of battlefield is still the most chaotic. Even a so-called Jonin is very likely to be killed by a kunai flying from who knows where."

Uchiha Feiyu nodded. This was similar to how veterans on the battlefield fear stray bullets the most; it is easy to avoid a bright line of fire, but no one can dodge a stray bullet flying from an unknown direction.

"So Feiyu-kun, even if your strength is powerful, you must be careful, especially at your current age; you will definitely be a key target for Iwagakure!"

Hearing this, Uchiha Feiyu chuckled and said indifferently:

"Then I am really looking forward to it!"

It had been nearly a month since the last mission to scout the Iwagakure main camp. Having absorbed the experience from a large number of Iwagakure souls, Uchiha Feiyu had undergone a transformative change compared to a month ago.

If Iwagakure still viewed him with the same old eyes from a month ago, they would definitely suffer a huge loss.

Just as Orochimaru and Uchiha Feiyu were chatting, a terrifying chakra aura rose from behind the Iwagakure lines, and a fearsome giant ape beast appeared on the outskirts of the battlefield.

For this decisive battle, Iwagakure naturally brought their own jinchuriki along. Since it had already been exposed long ago, there was no need to consider any balance issues.

After the massive jinchuriki appeared, it began to condense chakra, slowly forming a huge black sphere, and bombarded it directly toward this hillside.

Facing the terrifying Tailed Beast Bomb roaring toward them, Orochimaru's expression was cold and stern. After forming seals with his hands at high speed, he slammed them onto the ground:

"Summoning Technique—Triple Rashomon!"

Three huge Rashomon gates rose from the ground. With a rumbling sound, the trajectory of the Tailed Beast Bomb energy sphere was altered by the Rashomon gates, and it flew into the sky, grazing the hillside.

(End of chapter)