Chapter 432: Mysterious Powerful Figure

After returning to the camp, the more severely injured Hōzuki Gengetsu directly sought out a medical ninja for treatment, while the less injured Kurosuki Raiga first reported on the mission to Yagura Karatachi.

"When we were carrying out the mission, we encountered a powerful Konoha squad that outnumbered us by one. We fought desperately but ultimately could not match them. During the battle, Hoshigaki Kisame was killed." Kurosuki Raiga said in a deep voice.

Kirigakure was a ninja village with brutal rules, so Kurosuki Raiga had to use linguistic artistry as much as possible to downplay the impact of their mission failure.

In a sense, Kurosuki Raiga was not lying; Kakashi's side indeed had one more person than them, even if not everyone on Kakashi's team was very effective.

"Hoshigaki Kisame did not die in vain. Several ninja from that Konoha squad were also seriously injured by us. However, since our casualties were greater, to avoid further affecting the battle situation, we ultimately chose to retreat. But then a ninja who mastered Ice Release stopped us.

Fortunately, Lord Kō also came to support. Because I and Hōzuki Gengetsu were relatively heavily injured, we retreated early and returned to the camp. The remaining members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen stayed with Lord Kō to deal with the Konoha ninja." Kurosuki Raiga gave a brief account of the entire battle.

Kurosuki Raiga thought this mission should not be a big problem. Although they lost one member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Konoha's losses were definitely greater.

After all, that was a genius squad that could openly defeat the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. If they didn't die, their future strength was clearly visible.

"A powerful Konoha squad? Which ninja were in it? The Ino-Shika-Chō?" Yagura Karatachi thought for a moment and asked.

The full deployment of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was a trump card for Kirigakure. On the eastern front battlefield, very few Konoha squads could defeat the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Yagura Karatachi thought it could only be the Ino-Shika-Chō or a team led by Orochimaru.

But if Orochimaru led the team, the battle would not end in mutual destruction, so Yagura Karatachi directly asked about the Ino-Shika-Chō.

Kurosuki Raiga's face under his mask showed a trace of embarrassment, but he still honestly named Kakashi and the others: "They included Hatake Kakashi, Might Guy, Uchiha Obito, and other super geniuses of Konoha."

Although Shisui's performance was also astonishing, Kurosuki Raiga did not know Shisui's name.

A look of surprise flashed across Yagura Karatachi's face. What he had imagined could not be said to be slightly different; it had no relation at all.

As one of Kirigakure's high-ranking officials, Yagura Karatachi was not unfamiliar with these three names. He had seen the report of the team led by Motoi participating in the Chūnin Exams and knew these three were geniuses who had appeared in Konoha's Chūnin Exams and had even defeated the several young geniuses Kirigakure had specially arranged.

"Are you saying you lost to a few Konoha ninja who had only been chūnin for less than two years?" Yagura Karatachi's gaze sharpened.

Yagura Karatachi knew Kakashi and the others were geniuses, but that was no excuse for the Seven Ninja Swordsmen's failure. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen were already famous ninja; being geniuses was just their previous stage.

Feeling the strong pressure emanating from Yagura Karatachi, cold sweat uncontrollably appeared on Kurosuki Raiga's forehead.

Unlike their own group's debut, Yagura Karatachi was a solidly powerful ninja who had shaken the shinobi world and had a high chance of becoming the Fourth Mizukage.

"Lord Yagura, our intelligence was outdated. Their current strength is far greater than during the Chūnin Exams, especially Might Guy.

Might Guy mastered a powerful taijutsu called the Golden Horizon. He only used it twice in battle. The first time severely wounded Hoshigaki Kisame, who then recovered his combat ability thanks to Samehada's treatment. The second time crushed the Executioner's Blade and nearly killed Hōzuki Gengetsu." Kurosuki Raiga explained with a stiff upper lip.

Although lying could cover it up, corpses would be recovered after the battle. If later an inspection of Hoshigaki Kisame's memories showed something different from his account, he would really be in deep trouble. So Kurosuki Raiga had to try to explain using the facts as much as possible.

"Not all of them were genius ninja. There was also a middle-aged taijutsu specialist. If he hadn't held off Dōgane Ebizō and Jōnin Kurosuki, we definitely could have killed Might Guy and the others."

Yagura Karatachi looked thoughtful.

The defeat of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was infuriating, but the information it revealed was terrifying upon reflection.

A few ten-year-old genius ninja actually had the ability to contend with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. If they were like this at ten, what would they be like when they grew up?

"But with Mizunoe Kō, they should all be unable to escape." Thinking this, Yagura Karatachi calmed down.

No matter how promising the future was, that was still the future. As long as they killed them all before they reached that future, giving them no future, the problem would be solved.

Although Mizunoe Kō was incompetent in action, Yagura Karatachi still acknowledged his strength.

He was brainless to begin with. If his strength weren't enough, how could he have lasted so long in Kirigakure and become the clan head of the Mizunoe clan?

After asking about some details, Yagura Karatachi sent Kurosuki Raiga to get treatment, then dispatched Kirigakure ninja to the battle site to check the situation.

But when the intelligence agents Yagura Karatachi sent returned, he received intelligence he had never expected.

"Lord Kō is missing. Five members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, including Hoshigaki Kisame, are missing. On the battlefield, there are only the corpses of our village's ninja." The intelligence Kirigakure ninja reported in a low voice.

He kept his head down, not daring to look at Yagura Karatachi's face, because he knew Yagura Karatachi must be very angry now.

"Mizunoe Kō is missing?" Yagura Karatachi looked at the intelligence Kirigakure ninja expressionlessly, his tightly clenched fist indicating that his inner state was not as calm as his appearance suggested.

The intelligence Kirigakure ninja nodded. "There are traces of Lord Kō's Ice Release on the battlefield, with a large amount of crushed ice on the ground."

Yagura Karatachi kept a straight face and dismissed the intelligence Kirigakure ninja.

"Mizunoe Kō, you incompetent waste who always spoils things!" Yagura Karatachi couldn't hold back and cursed inwardly.

"Missing" was just a nicer way to put it. Being missing on the battlefield only had two possibilities: the first was deserting and defecting; the second was being killed or captured by the enemy.

Given Mizunoe Kō's status, he would certainly not defect. He was the head of a ninja clan, one of the beneficiaries of the ninja village. Mizunoe Kō had no reason to defect.

Since it's not desertion, then they were either killed or captured. Given Mizutsuki Kan's strength, capture shouldn't be possible, so in Yagura Karatachi's mind, Mizutsuki Kan is already dead.

Yagura Karatachi really struggled to hold it together, because it wasn't just Mizutsuki Kan who died—there were also five members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

With the Seven Ninja Swordsmen reduced from seven to two, they were essentially crippled. The remaining two could only be used as slightly stronger jonin.

The death of Mizutsuki Kan and the effectively defunct Seven Ninja Swordsmen meant Kirigakure had suddenly lost two major trump cards.

"This puts us at a serious disadvantage. Which ninja killed Mizutsuki Kan? Is there a strong user of Ice Release in Konoha?" Yagura Karatachi's expression darkened.

Right now, he wished he could revive Mizutsuki Kan just to beat him again, and he also wished he could just send off the remaining Zabuza Momochi and Kuriarare Kushimaru so the Seven Ninja Swordsmen could all be together down below.

Although it was just a simple skirmish, it had wiped out all of Kirigakure's advantages in the Land of Fire, even putting them in a considerable disadvantage.

Mizutsuki Kan's death was not just a simple loss of a strong ninja; his mind held many of Kirigakure's deployments—positions of camps, supply routes, battle plans—Mizutsuki Kan knew them all.

Because of Mizutsuki Kan's death, Yagura Karatachi had to immediately change all of Kirigakure's deployments on the eastern shore battlefield, which was no small task.

Feeling the terrifying killing intent inside the tent, the Kirigakure ninja standing guard outside couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, silently offering a 0.1-second moment of silence for whoever had angered Yagura Karatachi.

Although Yagura Karatachi really wanted to kill someone to vent his anger, he knew this was not the time to punish subordinates. On one hand, he quickly issued orders to adjust strategy; on the other, he summoned Zabuza Momochi and Kuriarare Kushimaru to ask for details.

Yagura Karatachi had to first know which ninja killed Mizutsuki Kan. If it was Orochimaru or the Ino-Shika-Cho, then so be it. But if it wasn't them, it meant a new strong ninja from Konoha had appeared on the battlefield.

"I didn't see his face, only the Ice Release ninjutsu he unleashed." Zabuza Momochi shook his head.

Kuriarare Kushimaru also nodded. They had left too early.

Yagura Karatachi's face darkened. He struggled to hold back from putting his fist into their faces.

Ace Assassination Squad? Worthless Squad!

Kuriarare Kushimaru looked at the furious Yagura Karatachi, completely bewildered. He didn't understand who had angered this battlefield commander. Just a moment ago, everything had been fine.

"Did something happen? Haven't Raiga Kurosuki and the others returned yet?" Zabuza Momochi suddenly remembered something.

Among ninja, day-long battles rarely happened. It had been some time since they had left the battlefield. Normally, the fight should have ended by now.

"They won't be coming back. If nothing unexpected happened, they were all killed by Konoha ninja." Yagura Karatachi said coldly.

"You two are lucky—you escaped death because of your injuries." Yagura Karatachi made no effort to hide the sarcasm in his words.

He was truly furious. To suffer such losses and not even know who the enemy was—how could they continue fighting?

The mere fact of Ice Release couldn't pinpoint any Konoha strong ninja, because among the known Konoha strong ninja, there simply wasn't anyone who used Ice Release.

Zabuza Momochi and Kuriarare Kushimaru exchanged glances, seeing shock in each other's eyes.

They never imagined Mizutsuki Kan and the others had died. What kind of strength could kill them all? Could it be that Orochimaru had entered the battle afterward?

"Is there any other noteworthy genius in that genius team?" Yagura Karatachi asked.

Since Mizutsuki Kan was dead, those genius ninja might have survived. Yagura Karatachi needed to update their information and raise their priority.

"There was also a Uchiha ninja even younger than Uchiha Obito, also very talented." Kuriarare Kushimaru quickly sketched a rough portrait of Shisui from memory and handed it to Yagura Karatachi.

After taking the sketch, Yagura Karatachi asked a few more questions. Seeing that he couldn't get much useful information from the two, he ordered them to withdraw and recover from their injuries.

Yagura Karatachi quickly adjusted Kirigakure's layout while simultaneously reporting the latest information to the Hidden Mist Village.

His side lacked combat power; to continue succeeding on the eastern shore battlefield, he needed support from the Hidden Mist Village.

Otherwise, they would only have their living space gradually compressed by the Konoha ninja forces until they were driven out of the Land of Fire.

Yagura Karatachi believed Kirigakure should send reinforcements and continue fighting Konoha, because this was truly a golden opportunity.

Normally, a defeat of this magnitude would warrant preparations to defend one's own territory, but Kirigakure's opponent was Konoha, which was being attacked from all sides.

Currently, Konoha was fighting on multiple fronts. If Kirigakure withdrew, Konoha wouldn't be able to pursue, let alone counter-invade the Land of Water across the sea.

This meant Kirigakure could wage war without any worries. Even if they lost to Konoha, they didn't have to worry about being forced to pay reparations.

If Konoha dared to demand reparations, Kirigakure could just drag it out and see if Konoha could outlast three major ninja villages.

…

Hokage Building, Meeting Room.

At this moment, all four major leaders of Konoha were gathered in the meeting room.

"This Yusheng Muyue actually killed four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen while fighting Shuiwuyue Han. I'm afraid even Minato couldn't have done better." Mitokado Homura said admiringly.

They were exactly discussing the latest battle report sent from the front lines.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled as he stroked his goatee. Although he knew Muyue's strength, he hadn't expected Muyue to achieve such brilliant results in such a short time.

"Hiruzen, if you had sent Muyue to the battlefield earlier as I suggested, the war situation would definitely be much better than it is now." At this point, Danzo Shimura couldn't help but give Hiruzen Sarutobi a mild retort. He had long wanted to send Muyue to help Orochimaru make his mark, but had been repeatedly refused by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Muyue is an excellent Root member I trained. I know very well where he can be effective." Danzo Shimura emphasized.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu looked at Danzo Shimura with somewhat surprised expressions, not expecting Muyue to have been trained by Danzo Shimura.

"First, Muyue was not suitable for the battlefield at that time. Second, Muyue's current strength mainly comes from his own efforts, not from your training. Did you teach him combined ninjutsu, Danzo? Or did you teach him the Flying Thunder God Technique?" Hiruzen Sarutobi retorted.

He himself had taught Muyue ninjutsu and never claimed Muyue was trained by him. Danzo Shimura saying Muyue was trained by him was purely gilding his own face.

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's view, Muyue's success was mainly due to his great talent and hard work, plus Hiruzen Sarutobi had provided sufficient resources, which was how Muyue had become what he was today.

As for Root, it purely restricted Muyue's development. Otherwise, why would Muyue have grown even faster after leaving Root?

"Muyue laid a solid foundation in Root!" Danzo Shimura said stubbornly.

He was well aware that Muyue's current strength had nothing to do with Root, and that his power had soared only after Hiruzen Sarutobi trained him. But he insisted on having a share in the credit for training Muyue, since Muyue was after all a Root ninja under him, even if he had been trained irregularly.

Seeing Danzo Shimura say this, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not refute it, after all, when Muyue first left Root, he was already considered elite among jonin.

After a brief exchange of retorts, they continued the meeting, discussing whether to spread Muyue's deeds to boost morale or to temporarily keep them secret and use Muyue as a secret weapon.