Konoha Village, one hundred miles away.
Deep within a lush valley.
The Kirigakure shinobi who had been routed by Yagami gradually gathered there, one group after another.
"Didn't I tell you to fire every signal flare we had?"
Yagura stood atop a boulder, his brows drawn together.
"Why are there so few of you?"
His figure was small, and with that young face of his, he looked no older than a child.
But in truth, Yagura was nearly thirty years old.
He was already a seasoned Jōnin.
"Yagura-sama… our entire unit was wiped out."
One Kiri-nin lowered his head, his expression dark with grief.
"The signal flares we fired probably didn't reach everyone's line of sight."
"So… this is all we could gather."
Originally, Kirigakure had marched with an army of over five thousand.
But now, only around two thousand had regrouped in the valley.
Aside from the comrades who had been slaughtered during the retreat, nearly another thousand had scattered in every direction.
At this point, no one knew which corner of the Land of Fire they had fled into.
"..."
Yagura let out a heavy sigh.
At first, he had believed that if they followed the Third Mizukage's plan and circled around to strike Konoha from behind, victory would be certain.
And in the beginning, everything had gone almost exactly as expected.
They had even breached Konoha in a single assault.
But no one had expected this.
Just when everyone thought the outcome had already been decided…
An enemy they had no intelligence on appeared.
A monster with overwhelming power.
And with that alone, the hand they had stretched toward victory was cut clean off at the shoulder.
Now, Kirigakure's army had truly suffered devastating losses.
"Report!"
"Report to Yagura-sama!"
"One of our spies slipped out of Konoha with intelligence!"
Just as the mood in the valley sank into silence, a Kiri-nin hurried over with a man disguised as a frail old villager.
In truth, they had already sent intelligence back to the village.
But because Kirigakure's main force had taken a long detour from behind, they were worried that the army still had no updated information.
That was why this spy had risked leaving Konoha.
"A spy?"
Hearing that the information had come from Konoha itself, Yagura immediately jumped down from the boulder and stepped forward to meet him.
At this moment, there were far too many questions in his mind.
So when he heard that a spy had escaped from Konoha, there was no way he could treat it lightly.
"Yagura-sama!"
Seeing Yagura approach, the spy immediately bowed respectfully.
He clearly knew who Yagura was, and did not show the slightest disrespect because of his appearance.
"Enough formalities."
Yagura raised his hand, stopping him.
"Tell me. What information did you bring out of Konoha?"
His voice was calm, but there was urgency beneath it.
Right now, they were no longer on the main route between Konoha and Kirigakure. Their access to information had been almost completely cut off.
The spy took a breath, then spoke.
"Sunagakure has been defeated by Konoha. They have already signed a surrender agreement."
"What?"
"Sunagakure lost?"
The moment the first piece of intelligence left the spy's mouth, Yagura and the gathered Jōnin all froze.
"Yes."
The spy's expression grew even more serious.
"And the one who contributed the most to that battle…"
"Was Yagami, the same man who returned to Konoha just before this."
The words fell like another explosive tag thrown into the middle of the valley.
Everyone's faces changed again.
"So that's why the Konoha checkpoints were so lightly guarded when we passed through the Land of Rivers…"
A Kirigakure Jōnin gave a bitter laugh.
"Sunagakure had already been defeated and surrendered."
At first, they had all believed that the Third Mizukage's detour strategy had worked perfectly.
They thought it was their own plan that had caught Konoha off guard.
But in reality, it was because Sunagakure had already lost.
Konoha had simply lowered its guard in the rear.
As for why Konoha dared to relax its vigilance against Sunagakure during wartime…
That was because among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, there was one iron rule everyone still had to respect.
Credibility.
During war, both sides could use almost any method.
But once one side admitted defeat and surrendered, and the other side accepted that surrender, neither side would casually destroy that agreement in the short term.
After all, if a shinobi village could not even keep its most basic credibility…
Then who would dare entrust missions to that village in the future?
The relationship between a shinobi village and its clients was built on that foundation of trust.
So after Sunagakure admitted defeat and signed the surrender treaty, Konoha dared to loosen its defense toward the rear.
That was what gave Kirigakure the chance to slip through.
In a sense, they had simply stumbled into an opening.
They had only failed to realize that Sunagakure had already been defeated.
"Any other information?"
Yagura also smiled bitterly.
He had not expected that the reason they had entered the Land of Fire so easily was because of something like this.
The spy hesitated for a moment.
"On my way out of Konoha…"
"I heard that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were all killed."
The moment those words came out, the entire valley went still.
Then, like thunder exploding beside their ears—
"Nani?!"
"The Seven-sama were killed in battle?!"
Everyone, including Yagura, widened their eyes.
Their pupils trembled.
Before this, they had only cared about retreating. Most of them had scattered into the forest almost immediately.
Because of that, they had not personally seen the scene where Yagami slaughtered the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
They had assumed the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had simply separated from the main force during the chaos.
"Are you certain?"
Yagura clenched his hand.
Sweat had already gathered in his palm.
Although his relationship with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was not good…
It could even be said that he disliked those arrogant men who threw their weight around in the village.
But this was wartime.
And the seven of them represented Kirigakure's highest combat strength.
If they had truly been killed, then among the remaining forces, there was no one left capable of contending with a Kage-level opponent.
"I… I can't confirm it completely."
The spy felt the eyes of all the Jōnin fall on him and immediately spoke with caution.
"When I slipped out of Konoha…"
"I faintly heard the Konoha shinobi saying that they had seized the weapons of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen."
"They also said one of them had been nailed directly into Konoha's wall, and that the body couldn't even be pulled free."
The spy's voice became quieter.
In truth, he himself was not certain whether the information was accurate.
That was why he had made his position clear from the start.
He was only relaying what he had heard.
Whether it was true or false still needed to be verified.
Yagura was silent for several breaths.
The other Jōnin exchanged uneasy looks.
Then Yagura's expression hardened.
"Send out everyone who can still move."
His voice turned cold and solemn.
"Find out the truth."
"Before nightfall, everyone is to return here and regroup."
"This matter is too serious. We must confirm whether the information is real."
No one objected.
At this moment, with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen absent, Yagura was the one with the highest prestige and strength among them.
PS: Yoho ✋ everyone, I've got a new novel up called Naruto's Selfish Ninja Way.
This Naruto wants to get stronger and enjoy his life.
After the way Konoha treated him, he doesn't feel like he owes the village anything, especially after Hiruzen burned his ass with the Will of Fire.
There's action, romance, and plenty of him calling people out on their bullshit and getting back at the inherently evil villagers. You can find it on my profile or tagged below, give the first few chapters a try.
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