Chapter 479

Oh, that's the Eight Gates!

On a hill beside the harbor, Dong Shilang gazed into the distance at the battlefield situation.

Although he didn't plan to personally intervene, he couldn't just ignore it completely.

"Yejuan, take good notes—this person is worth cultivating!"

"Since Kai performed outstandingly, he also didn't mind cultivating him well."

"And how are the preparations for the ocean-going ships going?"

Seeing the Mist Ninja on the battlefield begin an organized retreat, Dong Shilang didn't think much of it and instead started asking about the ships.

"We've gathered some ships, but time is tight; the number isn't enough to transport all of us at once to the Water Country."

At most, they can transport over a thousand people; this is mainly because when the Mist Ninja retreated, they took most of the ocean-going ships with them.

As the commander here, Meicun Yejuan still takes the Hokage's assigned task very seriously. However, the Mist Ninja side has indeed already taken away all the ocean-going ships that could be sailed.

As for the ships capable of transporting over a thousand people, they were prepared in advance by the Hokage, transferred from elsewhere.

"Over a thousand!" The number is a little small, but he doesn't intend to give up. "Select a thousand elite troops; the rest will stay behind to garrison."

This time, no matter what, we must settle this Mist Ninja trouble.

These people always rely on their territorial advantage, coming over to the mainland to harass; if the situation turns bad, they flee to the sea to hide.

And their Huo Zhi Guo suffers the greatest impact from this.

"Hokage… taking just a thousand people all the way to the Water Country… is that… a bit… risky?"

He originally wanted to say 'overconfident', but after thinking it over, he changed it to 'risky'.

"Yeah! Fifth Generation, we should be about there by now; shouldn't we call it quits?"

Not only Meicun Yejuan, but even Yuanfei Rizhan also spoke up to advise at this time.

"After today's big defeat, the Mist Ninja will probably calm down quite a bit."

Calling Dong Shilang Hokage, he always feels a bit strange, so everyone calls him the Fifth Generation instead.

"Monkey Flight clan chief, you're overthinking; this is also an opportunity for our Leaf Village. As long as we demonstrate the proper strength of Leaf Village in this war, I expect the probing of those neighboring villages will decrease considerably."

As the saying goes, a new official sets three fires upon taking office; this Fifth Generation just took office, and the Mist Ninja kicked up such a big fuss to celebrate.

If he calls it quits, the probing from those neighboring villages will likely come one after another.

"That's the reasoning, but… wouldn't this let hatred build up even more?"

Yuanfei Rizhan was still somewhat dissatisfied with Dong Shilang taking him along to the Water Country, but at this point he could only painstakingly try to persuade.

There's nothing to be done; the other side is now the Hokage, while he is merely a Monkey Flight clan chief.

The fact that he can stand here and talk with the other party is because the other party sees him as old and wounded.

Otherwise, he'd end up like those ninja below, becoming cannon fodder.

"This time, going over, the purpose is not to kill!"

He casually explained in a sentence, and Dong Shilang then said:

"Of course, doing this is somewhat risky; that's also one of the reasons I only brought a thousand people."

"Moreover, the Mist Ninja won big on the battlefield; now is the perfect time to pursue the victory. Missing this opportunity, it won't be so easy later to easily resolve the Mist Ninja problem!"

The reason he only brought a thousand people is partly because there aren't enough ships, and another reason is that if there were too many people, he simply couldn't take care of them.

As for the Mist Ninja side, if they don't take care of them now while they've lost their Mizukage and are internally unstable, once they elect a new Fifth Generation Mizukage, there will be a whole heap of trouble.

It would be better to seize this opportunity to force them to sign a peace agreement with Leaf Village, so he can worry less.

"Hokage, the Mist Ninja have begun to retreat; should we pursue them?"

Seeing that the Hokage's mind was made up, Yejuan stopped advising, instead looking down at the retreating Mist Ninja and began to ask the Hokage about his next move.

"No need! Let everyone return to rest for half a day, then we'll directly board the ships and head for the Water Country."

What they lack now is time; taking advantage of the fact that over half of the Mist Ninja's forces are lingering in the seas around Huo Zhi Guo, they can just slip in while the Mist Hidden's interior is empty and strike straight at their heart.

"Go make the arrangements; you stay here to garrison!"

"Yes!"

……

That night, ten or twenty large ships sailed on the sea.

"Lady Zhaomei Ming, shouldn't we continue to harass them a bit?"

A few li outside behind the ship fleet, a Mist Ninja unit of less than a hundred people closely followed behind; one of the men wearing an eye patch looked at the person beside him, Zhaomei Ming.

He hesitated slightly, then still asked his question.

"Since we're at sea, we can occupy absolute terrain advantage; just letting them go to the Water Country like this, isn't that somewhat bad?"

Not only him, but those Mist Ninja around him, at this moment looking at the faint lights in the distance, each had very grim faces.

These Leaf Village ninja are really too bold, daring to openly chase them out to sea; do they really think the Mist Ninja are just fish on a chopping block?

"We've already tried just now; the enemy's vigilance is extremely high, and the Fifth Generation Hokage personally made a move, so we hardly have any chance!"

He sighed, and Zhaomei Ming said with a complex expression.

"I never expected that the mighty Hokage, his skill in Water Release, would be so… exaggerated!"

Just thinking about when they just made a probing attack, the opponent's Water Release made her find it hard to believe.

Clearly he's a Hokage, and you play with Water Release so smoothly, how are we Mist Ninja supposed to survive?

"We can't just keep watching like that!" Eyebrow-less Taodi Zai Zhan narrowed his eyes and suggested: "How about we turn back and attack those Leaf Village garrison troops?"

"Since they went to attack the village, they must have taken a lot of elites; we will regroup our forces, then attack those Leaf Village ninja who stayed behind, which would also ease some pressure on the village!"

Taodi Zai Zhan may hate the village's higher-ups, but he still has decent feelings toward the village itself.

Originally they planned to directly at sea let those Leaf Village ninja who dared to go out to sea and chase them know how formidable the Mist Ninja are.

But just thinking about the fate of those few Mist Ninja who went ahead to probe, he looked around at his companions, and finally shook his head, dismissing that impractical idea.

If we had more people, that would be nice; if we had a large number of companions to distract the enemy, there might still be some hope.

Doing that… could be done, but our numbers are really too few~

Zhao Mei Ming sighed again; a clever woman cannot cook without rice.

Aren't there many Mist Ninja who were arranged to take refuge on some hidden islands? With these people joining, doing this kind of thing would pose no problem!

Zhao Mei Ming vetoed the proposal; Zabuza has no intention of letting it go. In his view, with the addition of those cannon fodder, attacking the Leaf Village's reserve forces, let alone breaking the enemy's camp.

But it would also be good to cause some harassment, making the Fifth Hokage ahead a bit wary.

No way!

Regarding Zabuza's proposal, Zhao Mei Ming directly refused.

Such action would cause too many casualties! They hardly have any decent weapons; just barely maintaining their own survival is already very difficult.

If we go attack the Leaf ninja again, for them, what's the difference between that and sending them to their deaths?

Not only weapons, those people now have no supplies, lacking medicine; just being able to feed themselves is already very difficult.

This won't work, that won't work!

Proposals were repeatedly rejected by Zhao Mei Ming, and Zabuza began to get a bit irritable.

Then what do you say, what should we do now? We can't just do nothing!

……

As for that, Zhao Mei Ming was also speechless, but no matter what, she would not agree to let those ninja who had been arranged to take refuge participate in battle.

In her view, the Mist Ninja have already lost this war, and the losses are naturally huge.

Those Mist Ninja are the cornerstone of the village; if they suffer huge losses, the village's recovery time will be indefinitely prolonged.

From a long-term perspective, doing this is extremely uneconomical.

Um… I have a proposal!

Just as Zhao Mei Ming was thinking about what to do, the tall Gan Shi Gui Jiao voiced his opinion.

I have contracted a group of sharks; they can barely bring us back to the village, and their speed shouldn't be slower than the enemy's fleet!

They are all Mist Ninja; marching long distances on the sea surface is like Leaf ninja jumping through the forest—it's a basic skill.

His summoned beast only needs to provide a place for them to rest when they are tired.

With their strength, even if they encounter storms, tsunamis, or other natural disasters, it's not a big problem.

You are… Gan Shi Gui Jiao!

His peculiar skin tone, tall stature, small yet spirited eyes—Zhao Mei Ming immediately recognized his identity.

This guy's reputation in Mist Ninja Village is not good, and that's one of the reasons she assigned him to the rearguard unit.

While Zhao Mei Ming was discussing with her subordinates how to get ahead of them and reach Mist Ninja Village, Dong Shilang was in the cabin, eagerly reading a scroll.

The Second Hokage's research on Water Release is truly thorough!

As Hokage, he can access all of Leaf Village's information; this time coming to Mist Ninja, he brought the scroll about the Second Hokage's Water Release.

Ri Cha, have those Mist Ninja not caught up yet?

Looking at Ri Cha beside him, with veins bulging at the edges of his eyes, Dong Shilang asked somewhat restlessly.

These Mist Ninja really lack awareness; I'm practically waiting for them to come to me, yet they're all timid and shrinking.

... Hokage-sama, those Mist Ninja seem to have retreated!

Seeing Dong Shilang's eager expression on his face, Ri Cha stopped scouting and bowed very respectfully to him.