Chapter 431: Eternal Genin? Elite Jonin!

This time, Orochimaru did not gather all of Konoha's jonin, but only summoned a few jonin who held key positions on the current battlefield.

Small matters call for large meetings, large matters call for small meetings; since the meeting's decisions would affect the entire battlefield's final outcome, the meeting's content itself was classified.

Aside from Moyue, Orochimaru only invited five Konoha jonin to attend this important confidential meeting.

These five jonin were Hyuga Hizashi, the captain of the sensory squad, and all members of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio; it was worth noting that Nara Shikaku was the deputy commander of the unit, and the last jonin was the captain of the medical squad, in charge of logistics and medical affairs.

"Just today, Moyue-kun, Might Duy, and the squad where Moyue-kun's disciple serves encountered Shimizuki Kan and the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist in an engagement.

Shimizuki Kan, Ushimaru Jinpachi, Byakuren Kurosuki, Raiga Kurosuki, Aoi Tsuyoi, and Fuguki Suikazan, among other Mist jonin, were killed on the spot; among them, Fuguki Suikazan was killed by Moyue-kun's disciple, while the rest were killed by Moyue-kun."

Orochimaru did not keep them in suspense; he directly stated Moyue's battle results.

Orochimaru did not use any exaggerated descriptions or rhetoric to embellish, merely stating Moyue's achievements plainly; all the ninja in the tent except Orochimaru and Moyue had their pupils contract, faces showing undeniable shock.

That is, because the speaker was the unit commander Orochimaru; if any other ninja had said this, they would likely have doubted the truth of these words.

Simply put, the content was too horrifying.

It was as if, in the middle of a war, they suddenly learned that their side had annihilated the enemy's elite troops—a dreamlike sense of happiness.

For a clever person like Nara Shikaku, this feeling was especially pronounced, because he had made no operational arrangements at all, yet Moyue had achieved such results.

Warfare isn't just about being strong; otherwise, each village wouldn't send so many ninja—just send a few top-tier experts and be done.

Even if one is strong, they still need to find the enemy; if they can't find them, no matter how strong they are, they can't kill them. This involves other war-related matters.

"Truly a battle that balanced strength and luck," Nara Shikaku sighed inwardly.

Encountering the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and Shimizuki Kan, who had few accompanying ninja, was Moyue's luck; defeating them was Moyue's strength. Both were indispensable; lacking either would have made achieving such results impossible, and it might even have been a loss for Konoha.

"It seems I need to reevaluate Hanyu Moyue's power. His strength probably isn't far behind Lord Orochimaru's; perhaps he can hold off Yagura Karatachi on the battlefield." Nara Shikaku subconsciously thought about tactical arrangements.

Although they had some intelligence on Moyue, there was great uncertainty among ninja; initially, Nara Shikaku didn't even know if Moyue could defeat Shimizuki Kan or Hozuki Zange.

But based on Moyue's latest achievements, his strength was definitely far greater than Shimizuki Kan's and the others; otherwise, he couldn't have fought Shimizuki Kan while also taking down four members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Thus, Nara Shikaku estimated Moyue's combat power as slightly inferior to top-tier experts like Orochimaru and Yagura Karatachi.

"What a terrifying feat," Yamanaka Inoichi said, looking at Moyue with some amazement.

In terms of age, Moyue could be considered his junior, but Inoichi probably could never surpass such an achievement in his lifetime.

After all, the secret techniques of the Yamanaka clan were support-oriented; they basically never produced ninja who were very strong in solo combat.

Not to mention him alone; Inoichi believed that even the Ino-Shika-Cho trio of their generation together probably couldn't accomplish that.

Inoichi had a good sense of their own strength; they could temporarily hold off Shimizuki Kan or Hozuki Zange together, but thinking they could defeat them was wishful thinking. If they added a few more Seven Swordsmen of the Mist members, they would definitely die miserably.

Of course, even Orochimaru would find it difficult to achieve such results in an engagement.

It wasn't that Orochimaru lacked strength, but that it was hard to encounter such a situation.

"Amazing," Choza Akimichi gave Moyue a thumbs-up.

He didn't connect the results of Moyue's engagement to the overall battlefield impact; he simply thought that Moyue, having defeated so many strong opponents, was very powerful.

Hyuga Hizashi also looked at Moyue with admiration; although he had virtually no impression of Moyue before today, that didn't stop him from admiring Moyue now.

The ninja world always revered the strong; Moyue not only displayed great power but also rendered great service to Konoha, making it hard for Hyuga Hizashi not to admire him.

If he had strength like Moyue's, perhaps the Hyuga clan could see some change.

Orochimaru was not surprised by the stunned expressions of the assembled jonin; after all, this was information that even he couldn't help but be shocked by.

"Before discussing the next battle plan, I want to ask Moyue-kun how many of your disciples can still operate at full combat capacity, and what level of power Might Duy can exert if he fights again." Orochimaru looked at Moyue and asked.

In this engagement, it wasn't only Moyue who performed remarkably; Moyue's disciples and Might Duy also put on frightening displays.

Even though they were only chunin, they had repelled the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist head-on without a clear numerical disadvantage, and even killed one of them.

If Moyue's disciples were not injured, that meant Orochimaru's side effectively had a squad capable of matching the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

Hearing Orochimaru's words, Nara Shikaku revealed a thoughtful expression.

Originally, he had not paid much attention to Might Duy and the squad containing Moyue's disciples mentioned in Orochimaru's words.

As the deputy commander of the unit, Nara Shikaku had long memorized all squads with strong combat capabilities; the squad where Kakashi and the others served was clearly not among them.

And if he remembered correctly, Might Duy had previously been a chronically genin with a poor reputation within Konoha Village.

But according to Orochimaru's specific question, perhaps Kakashi and Might Dai had put in a lot of effort during the battle, and were not purely carried along as accessories.

The other jōnin looked at Orochimaru with some confusion, not quite understanding why he would bring up Kakashi and Might Dai.

Those who didn't know Might Dai were fine, but those who did were even more puzzled, after all, who would have known that an eternal genin had mastered such a terrifying forbidden technique as the Eight Gates.

Although they were puzzled, no one interrupted; when you didn't understand, it was best to listen quietly.

"Shisui, Obito, and Rin Nohara should recover their combat strength in about ten days. Kakashi's injuries are more severe; he needs at least three weeks to recuperate. Gai is the worst; he cannot participate in combat for at least one and a half months. I plan to send Gai back to Konoha to recuperate." Muyue replied after thinking.

Although Obito, Rin, and Shisui looked battered, their injuries were mostly external, and they recovered quickly with medical ninjutsu.

Kakashi was different; although he appeared uninjured, when he used Lightning Flash Divine Speed at the end, he, like the Demon Slayer Mark in the original Demon Slayer, drained his physical strength, putting considerable strain on his body, so he actually needed a longer recovery.

Might Gai needed no mention; the Eight Gates was a forbidden technique with severe drawbacks. Gai forcefully opened the sixth gate, which he could not normally handle, and also stacked the Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, directly maxing out the strain on his body.

If not for the good tempering effects of Rock Breathing and Gai's diligent training, if an ordinary chūnin's physique had been used, they would definitely not have been able to withstand such terrifying pressure, and would have broken bones with every punch.

"Being able to repel the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist this time was actually an extraordinary burst of power; they don't normally have such strength." Muyue added a brief explanation.

This time Might Gai was the main carry, but he would need some time to train to convert the gains from this life-and-death experience.

"As for Dai-senpai, he can block two Seven Swordsmen-level ninja at the same time with his full burst, but the burst duration cannot be too long."

If Might Dai opened the Gate of Death, he alone could thrash the entire Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, but such an extreme measure like the Gate of Death certainly could not be used as regular combat strength.

After hearing Muyue's explanation, Nara Shikaku was shocked again; the development of this encounter was completely different from what he had imagined.

He had originally thought that Muyue, without being assigned a combat mission, had simply gone out with his disciples and encountered Shuiwuyue Han leading the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. The two sides fought, Muyue killed Shuiwuyue Han and other Kirigakure jōnin, Muyue's disciples killed the wounded Xiguashan Hezhugui, while Pipashizang and Lixian Chuanwan escaped in the chaos and were not caught.

This was the most reasonable battle process Nara Shikaku had deduced based on the final results Orochimaru had mentioned.

But according to Muyue's words just now, the correct process should be that Muyue's disciples' team went on a mission, unfortunately encountered the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and a battle broke out. Muyue's disciples plus Might Dai gained a certain advantage, killed Xiguashan Hezhugui, and repelled the Seven Swordsmen. At that time, Muyue and Shuiwuyue Han arrived together, and then the subsequent astonishing results occurred.

After deducing this, Nara Shikaku really couldn't hold it together; he had known that there were so many strong people on his side of the battlefield?

These were the Kirigakure's Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. A team that could repel them head-on, even with the factor of extraordinary burst, was still strong enough.

"Might Dai..." Nara Shikaku silently repeated the name.

He planned to spare some time after the meeting to see this ninja. He really hadn't expected that this legendary eternal genin actually possessed strength comparable to two of the Seven Swordsmen.

The expressions of the other ninjas were also a mix of surprise and bewilderment.

Yamanaka Inoichi sighed in his heart that the new generation was formidable; even Muyue's disciples had such strength.

After all, Muyue himself was only twenty years old, so how much older could his disciples be?

"That eternal genin actually has such strength." The head of the medical team was extremely shocked.

Although Might Dai had become a chūnin some time ago, due to his widely known previous reputation, the first impression ninjas who knew Might Dai had of him was still that of an eternal genin.

However, the head of the medical team believed that after this encounter was spread, this situation would change. In the future, when Might Dai was mentioned, everyone would first remember that, as a chūnin, he had fought two of the Seven Swordsmen in a battle with them.

"I see. I understand." Orochimaru nodded, giving up the idea of forming Kakashi and the others into an elite assassination squad.

According to the information provided by Muyue, the main combat strength of the team was Might Gai, followed by Kakashi, and then the others.

Since the strongest, Might Gai and Kakashi, both needed such a long time to recover, they would be hard to use in the upcoming war.

Orochimaru's initial battle plan was to use Konoha's previous weakness on the eastern bank battlefield as a disguise, actively exposing the camp's location to lure Kirigakure into launching a large-scale attack.

But Kirigakure was not stupid. With multiple elite ninjas lost at once, they would certainly not fall for Orochimaru's baiting strategy.

Because the premise of Orochimaru's plan was that Kirigakure should believe Konoha's ninja force on the eastern bank battlefield was very weak, and could gather troops to wipe out Konoha's effective strength in one go, thereby reducing Konoha's overall power.

Now that Muyue had not only killed the famous Yuki clan leader Shuiwuyue Han from Kirigakure, but also reduced Kirigakure's signature assassination squad, the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, to the Two Swordsmen, Kirigakure would certainly not think Konoha was weak under these circumstances.

Therefore, Orochimaru's latest plan was to use extreme provocation—send out a large amount of force to hunt Kirigakure ninjas as much as possible, find Kirigakure's main base, and force Kirigakure into a large-scale battle with Konoha.

If there was a team capable of matching the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Orochimaru would certainly not hesitate to send them to the battlefield to hunt Kirigakure.

"After such a great battle, injuries are inevitable. I will report your contributions to the high-level." Orochimaru did not show regret, but instead comforted Muyue.

After all, it was not a desperate situation now. Orochimaru would not send unrecovered ninjas to the battlefield. Since he couldn't use them, it was better to say a few nice words to earn some favor from Muyue.

Although Orochimaru appeared very cold and hard to approach, this did not mean he didn't know the art of controlling people.

It was just that in most cases, there were very few ninjas worthy of Orochimaru using such skills.

And Muyue happened to be a ninja worth Orochimaru's effort: not only strong enough and capable of getting things done, but also originally a Root ninja—practically Orochimaru's ideal subordinate.

Orochimaru was already considering how to poach Muyue over to his side; to become Hokage, excellent trusted subordinates were indispensable.

For now, Muyue was not yet his man—only a temporary aid lent to him by Shimura Danzo.

Although he had deep cooperation with Shimura Danzo, Orochimaru was very clear about this distinction; he did not want to be too constrained by Shimura Danzo after becoming Hokage. Cooperation was fine, but if Shimura Danzo still wanted to be on equal footing after he became Hokage, that was wishful thinking.

Orochimaru had considerable confidence in poaching talent; he was all too familiar with the game Shimura Danzo played with Root ninjas, after all, Orochimaru himself was also a high-ranking member of Root.

Orochimaru believed that he only needed to help Muyue discover the true face of Shimura Danzo, who claimed to be devoted to Konoha, and then display his own personal charm—Muyue would most likely defect to his side.

Next, Orochimaru and Nara Shikaku formally discussed the specific battle plan. Most of the discussion was between the two of them, while the rest merely filled in various details.