Surrounded by five Konoha Jōnin, including two Uchiha Jōnin and Anbu Copper Fox, Hōzuki Muragetsu's scalp tightened with tension.
Hōzuki Muragetsu quickly formed hand signs.
The Steaming Danger Violent Demise charged southward, rapidly expanding to its maximum size.
The several-dozen-meter-tall Steaming Danger Violent Demise even emitted sounds of boiling water and churning steam from within.
"Explode!"
The terrifying explosion disrupted the encirclement formed by the five Konoha Jōnin.
Yōkō, who was relatively close to the Steaming Danger Violent Demise, had to retreat.
After creating a gap, Hōzuki Muragetsu leaped towards the direction of the sea without looking back.
Seeing the Konoha ninja in close pursuit, Hōzuki Muragetsu formed hand signs, and another Steaming Danger Violent Demise clone blocked the path behind him.
Just then, a figure suddenly emerged from underground.
Yōkō appeared, forming a single hand sign.
The Self-Cursing Body Binding Seal spread out from the ground like a spiderweb, crawling from Hōzuki Muragetsu's feet all over his body.
"Now!"
Uchiha Tōka seized the opportunity, sending a Great Fireball charging over.
Yōkō quickly submerged underground to evade the Great Fireball. Hōzuki Muragetsu was instantly engulfed by the fireball, screaming within it.
Yamashiro-dera, seeing Copper Fox emerge not far away, quickly asked: "Jōnin Copper Fox, did we succeed?"
But Yōkō shook his head:
"Hōzuki Muragetsu was hit by the Great Fireball Technique, but at the last moment, risking severe injury from the fireball, he used the Hydrification Technique to break free from my sealing technique, seeped into the ground, and his whereabouts are unknown."
Hōzuki Muragetsu was a ruthless man, escaping despite the risk of being burned.
However, Yōkō knew intelligence about Hōzuki Muragetsu.
He had tampered with the ground. While approaching beneath Hōzuki Muragetsu, he had placed poison on the ground surface.
When Hōzuki Muragetsu used Hydrification, the poison would dissolve into the liquid form.
With that poison, the effectiveness of Hōzuki Muragetsu's Hydrification Healing Technique would be greatly reduced.
Hearing that Hōzuki Muragetsu had escaped, the Konoha members secretly felt it was a shame.
Just then, the appearance of the Steaming Danger Violent Demise proved that Hōzuki Muragetsu was indeed not dead.
The Steaming Danger Violent Demise charged towards the group, expanded to its maximum again, and steam and oil exploded outwards as a high-temperature blast wave.
Yellow Dog also hadn't managed to defeat Hoshigaki Kisame in a short time.
Hoshigaki Kisame had also escaped.
Uchiha Tōka said regretfully: "What a pity, both Elite Jōnin escaped."
Yellow Dog said: "Hoshigaki Kisame has an enormous chakra reserve. Whether it was his Water Release or his Hair Needle Secret Technique, I found them very difficult to handle."
Seeing that the others had no intention to pursue, Yamashiro-dera and Gekkō Sō charged towards the ordinary Kiri-nin.
Killing more Kiri-nin now was the way to expand the results.
Yōkō also followed to deal with the ordinary Kiri-nin.
The main purpose of this ambush was to achieve significant military merits, securing the battle achievements for Yellow Dog's promotion to Deputy Head.
With several Konoha Jōnin joining the fight, the three Kiri-nin battalions quickly collapsed.
After the battle ended, Yellow Dog, Yōkō, and the other Jōnin stood on the hilltop, watching Butterfly tally the battle results below.
Before long, Butterfly came to the hilltop.
"Battalion Commander! In this battle, we killed four Kiri-nin Jōnin and over 330 other Kiri-nin!"
Yellow Dog's breathing became heavy.
Good, good. A great victory was achieved.
Only such a victory could silence others and secure his promotion to Deputy Head.
He said: "Butterfly, record the results in detail, count our casualties, and write a battle report as soon as possible."
"Wait!"
Hearing Fox speak, Yellow Dog turned his head in confusion.
Yōkō leaned close to Yellow Dog's ear and said:
"Battalion Commander, when I interrogated the Kiri-nin, I heard that Hoshigaki Kisame covets Hōzuki Muragetsu's great sword Samehada.
Should we wait a bit?
Hōzuki Muragetsu was besieged by the five of us and is severely injured. There might be a pleasant surprise."
Yellow Dog said: "Could the internal strife in Kirigakure be worse than in Konoha? Would two Elite Jōnin fight each other?"
Yōkō nodded, thinking it very possible.
Conflicts are hard to eliminate, but physical bodies are easy to eliminate.
Ninja from any village prefer to physically eliminate their opponents.
Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, only Kumogakure, after the Gold and Silver Brothers rebellion, has the best internal order and the least infighting, which is why its strength ranks first among the five.
The other four great villages are roughly equal in terms of internal strife; none should laugh at the others.
If you can use force, who wants to bother talking about things like the Will of Fire with others?
Uchiha Fugaku stood at the foot of the slope, looking at the six Jōnin on the hilltop, wondering when he himself would become a Konoha Jōnin.
After clearing the battlefield, the team headed towards the frontline main camp.
--
On a certain coast in the Land of Whirlpools, Hoshigaki Kisame slung the great sword Samehada onto his back.
A mangled corpse lay sprawled on the reef.
"Sucked apart and devoured by five walrus summoning creatures. This was the trump card I specially prepared for you. Even with your Hydrification Technique, if you're sucked into different walruses' stomachs, you can't possibly revive, right?"
Hoshigaki Kisame felt the weight of the great sword Samehada and was satisfied:
"Hōzuki Muragetsu was killed by Konoha, and I retrieved the great sword Samehada from Konoha's hands, preventing a loss for the village.
Explaining it this way, as long as those Konoha Jōnin aren't fools, they should cooperate, right?
Hōzuki Muragetsu's head is a great merit, much more useful than killing hundreds of Kiri-nin."
The several walrus summoning creatures tore the corpse apart, sucking it clean piece by piece.
Soon after, these walruses died from poisoning.
Hoshigaki Kisame was stunned. No wonder it went so smoothly; Hōzuki Muragetsu was already poisoned, forcing himself not to show it.
It seems The Wandering Shrine Maiden didn't deceive him too much; she created the opportunity for him to seize the great sword Samehada.
Not long after Yellow Dog returned to the main camp, a piece of news also spread into the camp, causing the Konoha camp to erupt in excitement.
The strongest ninja of the Hōzuki clan, Hōzuki Muragetsu, master of the Steaming Danger Violent Demise secret technique, died in Konoha's ambush.
Inside the headquarters tent, Uchiha Kane excitedly handed a scroll to Danzo:
"Advisor, Hōzuki Muragetsu is truly dead! Many people saw the great sword Samehada change owners; Hoshigaki Kisame is now carrying the great sword Samehada on his back!
Yellow Dog's ambush operation was extremely successful, killing Hōzuki Muragetsu, the Jōnin in charge of the Kiri-nin sword retrieval team, severely damaging the Hōzuki clan and Kirigakure!"
Danzo glanced sideways at the scroll Uchiha Kane pushed forward, grunted in his throat as an acknowledgment.
Uchiha Kane's joyful expression froze on his face, then immediately turned expressionless.
After spending time with Danzo, it was impossible not to be expressionless.
Uchiha Kane understood that Danzo intensely disliked him, and disliked all Uchiha.
But Uchiha Kane had never offended Danzo.
This baseless hatred had troubled Uchiha Kane for many years.
Uchiha Kane said to the staff officer: "Please have Battalion Commander Yellow Dog come to the command tent immediately."
The tent flap opened, and Root's Otsu entered.
Otsu shook his head at Danzo, then placed a scroll down.
Danzo looked at the scroll. The two Root ninja sent to contact Yakushi Nonō and Hoshigaki Kisame had died somewhere on the coast.
The bodies were hidden, but Otsu used Parasitic Destruction Insects to find the bodies and destroyed their brains.
Danzo found the character for 'female' in the scroll and pointed it out to Otsu.
Otsu nodded, understanding that Lord Danzo wanted him to contact The Wandering Shrine Maiden.
The cooperation between Root and Hoshigaki Kisame had always been facilitated by The Wandering Shrine Maiden.
With Yellow Dog's great victory, The Wandering Shrine Maiden must know something.
As Otsu left the tent, he happened to pass Yellow Dog and the others entering through the tent flap.
Yōkō, originally at the rear of the Jōnin group, felt his heart sink upon seeing Otsu's retreating back.
Was Otsu going to investigate the deaths of the two Root members?
White Ram hadn't returned with the main force; he went to retrieve the two Root ninja corpses. Yōkō didn't know if White Ram could return smoothly.
In some bushes by the coast, White Ram's squad found the two corpses.
However, the corpses had already been destroyed, especially their brains.
Storage scrolls would destroy the final activity of the brain; to preserve evidence, they hadn't used sealing methods before.
White Ram thought, "This is bad, I didn't hide the crucial evidence properly."
Without these two corpses, how could they prove Advisor Danzo intentionally leaked intelligence?
Without evidence, accusing Advisor Danzo would be equivalent to a false accusation and would definitely not end well.
***
Dive deeper into the story with 50+ advance chapters, available now on Patreon!patreon.com/CNBLUE
If you're enjoying the novel, please consider leaving a review. Your support is crucial and helps the story grow immensely. Thank you!
(Chapter End)