Chapter 371 The War Intensifies

Might Guy clenched his palm, roared, and opened the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates.

If the Eight Gates were to be divided into early, middle, and late stages, the First to Third Gates could be considered the early stage, the Fourth to Sixth Gates the middle stage, and the Seventh and Eighth Gates the late stage.

The First to Third Gates could be said to be the safe zone of the Eight Gates, as their use would not cause physical damage; however, from the Fourth Gate onwards, it was different. After the Fourth Gate, one truly entered the Eight Gates state, with significant increases in strength and speed. Due to the immense pressure, it would cause damage to the body.

When the Gate of Pain opened, Might Guy’s Chakra surged, and he felt his physical strength rapidly increasing, to the point where his body felt a sense of pressure.

“So, he can now normally open the Fourth Gate.”

Feeling the sudden surge of Might Guy’s aura, Kakashi’s expression became solemn.

Although he hadn’t practiced the Eight Gates, Kakashi and Might Guy were both Jonin Mutsuki’s disciples and often fought, so Kakashi knew a little about the Eight Gates, aware that each opened gate increased speed and strength to different degrees.

Kakashi had once defeated Might Guy with the Fourth Gate open, but Kakashi wasn’t naive enough to believe that the Fourth Gate Might Guy now was the same strength as the Fourth Gate Might Guy during the Chunin Exams.

“Leaf Great Whirlwind!”

Might Guy, mobilizing his strength, laughed and rushed towards Kakashi, executing his most skilled whirlwind kick.

With the enhancement of the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates, Might Guy’s speed and strength were much faster; simply running at full speed stirred up a fierce wind capable of blowing up dirt and rocks.

Fortunately, Kakashi, who had activated the Transparent World, saw through Might Guy’s attack and dodged before Might Guy even charged.

Might Guy’s expression remained unchanged as his attack missed, and he launched a fiercer assault on Kakashi.

He was no stranger to the feeling of his attacks being seen through, as both Shisui and Obito possessed the Sharingan, and the Sharingan’s powerful insight could also see through his attacks.

“You can see through and dodge one attack in time, but what if I attack thirty times consecutively?”

Might Guy’s countermeasure was to use the fastest attack speed to force his opponent into his own attack rhythm.

Under Might Guy’s high-intensity attacks, Kakashi quickly encountered a whirlwind kick that was impossible to dodge.

Might Guy sacrificed some power for speed, but he was still in the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates state, and with the proficient Rock Breathing enhancement, even if it wasn’t his full power, it was not something a normal Ninja could withstand.

Bang!

Kakashi, forced to take Might Guy’s attack head-on, felt an incredibly terrifying force hit him, and then he uncontrollably retreated rapidly backward.

“Such immense power!” Kakashi’s face slightly changed.

He had originally thought that pursuing speed would result in weaker attack power, but he never expected Might Guy could possess such powerful strength while also being fast.

Kakashi was glad he didn’t foolishly try to clash head-on with Might Guy. When Might Guy first opened the Fourth Gate, he had considered having a taijutsu showdown with him.

He thought that by activating his body with Lightning Release Chakra Nature Transformation, he could also unleash considerable power and might not lose to Might Guy.

After taking one kick head-on, Kakashi abandoned that idea, because he might waste a lot of Chakra activating his body to enhance his strength and still not be able to match Might Guy’s simple yet powerful full-force kick.

“The Rock Breathing, which provides the strongest physical enhancement, and the Eight Gates, which can unleash additional power. These two combined provide too great a boost to taijutsu,” Kakashi thought to himself.

The combination of Rock Breathing and the Eight Gates gave him a feeling of one plus one being greater than two.

If this were a life-or-death battlefield, Kakashi would try every means to stall for time. Maintaining Thunder Breathing and Transparent World consumed a lot of his stamina, but Might Guy’s Eight Gates put even greater pressure on him, so stalling would be more advantageous for him.

However, this was ultimately just a friendly sparring match between friends; the process of the battle was more important than the outcome. So, Kakashi chose to unleash his full power to break the stalemate. He gathered a large amount of Chakra, then quickly converted it into Lightning Release Chakra.

Sizzle!

Crackling!!

Dazzling yellow lightning appeared on Kakashi’s body, strengthening him and enhancing his aura.

Kakashi gripped his White Fang Short Blade tightly, and the lightning on his arm flowed into the short sword through his palm. After the yellow electric light covered the short sword, it extended into a lightning blade.

Kakashi’s eyes fixated on Might Guy; at this moment, only Might Guy existed in his vision, even the flowers and plants in the courtyard were ignored. Kakashi unleashed all his power, a brilliant yellow light erupted from his body, and a massive amount of Lightning Release Chakra was instantly activated.

At this moment, Kakashi’s aura had reached its peak, a sharp, blade-like aura that made Might Guy laugh excitedly.

“This move was prepared specially for you.” As he spoke, Might Guy quickly pulled out his nunchaku.

Might Guy held the nunchaku body with his left hand, wrapped the chain around his right hand, then slightly parted his legs and turned his body to the right, channeling all his strength and Chakra into his middle and index fingers, ready to show Kakashi the results of his intense training over the past month.

“Thunderclap Flash!”

Boom!

Accompanied by a roar, Kakashi suddenly swung his blade and charged out, his entire being like a dazzling yellow lightning bolt directly striking Might Guy.

As Kakashi rapidly approached Might Guy, the lightning blade immediately fell, and an incredibly powerful lightning slash appeared.

“Blade Interception Sword: Golden Skyline!”

The moment Kakashi charged, Might Guy also moved. Dressed in his green jumpsuit, he ran at full speed, looking like a streak of green light.

As he was about to approach Kakashi, Might Guy used his left hand in a drawing-sword motion to guide his right hand to slash forward, ultimately drawing a golden thin line.

One swung a blade, the other swung a finger; both unleashed their ultimate moves simultaneously, and the golden thin line collided with the lightning slash.

Rumble!!

The collision of the golden line and the lightning slash produced a massive impact. The ground exploded under this terrifying impact, and rolling smoke and dust constantly rose, obscuring their figures.

The airflow caused by the techniques bent the flowers, plants, and trees in Kakashi’s courtyard, as if a sudden strong wind had arisen.

Drip, drop.

Red blood dripped onto the ground, staining the yellow earth red.

Looking at his continuously bleeding finger, Might Guy praised, “As expected of my best friend. This finger, which carried all my power, can easily destroy steel.”

“I’ll win it back very soon,” Kakashi said after wiping the blood from his chest.

He lost.

Might Guy’s Golden Skyline broke through his Thunderclap Flash. Might Guy’s finger was severely injured by his slash, and Kakashi himself was injured because Might Guy pulled back in time.

“Haha, that’s exactly what I’m looking forward to!” Might Guy replied with a laugh, wrapping his two fingers with bandages.

He wished Kakashi would get stronger quickly and challenge him.

Kakashi sighed inwardly; the title of Jonin Mutsuki’s strongest disciple was truly difficult to maintain.

Then, the two packed up and went to Konoha Hospital together for treatment.

…

“Your breathing must be rhythmic; it cannot be chaotic. No matter the situation, never let your breathing become disordered.” On the Training Ground, Muzuki continued to teach the Darkness Breathing Technique.

The Root Ninja and Anbu Ninja below listened attentively to Muzuki’s explanation, with no one speaking or getting distracted.

The Breathing Technique could utilize some of its abilities without needing to be fully mastered. Having already reached over half proficiency, they had already felt the benefits brought by the Breathing Technique and all wanted to master this miraculous taijutsu as soon as possible.

“Jonin Mutsuki is truly too generous; this taijutsu would not be out of place as a Ninja Clan’s legacy,” Sarutobi Shinji exclaimed during a break.

Before learning it, when Muzuki introduced it, he thought the Darkness Breathing Technique was a formidable A-rank taijutsu. After personally experiencing the improvements brought by the Darkness Breathing Technique, Sarutobi Shinji felt it was a taijutsu worthy of being a Ninja Clan’s secret technique.

If he himself had developed such a powerful technique, Sarutobi Shinji certainly wouldn’t have taught it to others; he would have prioritized it as a Ninja Clan’s secret technique, at most teaching it to his own disciples.

It was precisely because he couldn’t do that, that he greatly admired Muzuki.

Just then, the signal for Jonin assembly suddenly came.

“Let’s dismiss for today; something must have happened in the Village,” Muzuki said after some thought.

Today was not the regularly scheduled time for a Jonin meeting, so this was an emergency summons for a Jonin meeting.

Several Anbu Jonin also followed Muzuki towards the Hokage Building.

Currently, they were in a non-mission period; Anbu Ninja during a non-mission period were equivalent to normal Konoha Ninja.

Could it be that something unexpected happened on the battlefield?

Muzuki pondered the reason for the emergency Jonin meeting.

They were currently in a state of war, and Jonin meetings were only called urgently when something major occurred, so Muzuki’s first thought was that there was an issue on the battlefield.

Neither the anime nor the manga showed much of the Third Shinobi World War, only some major events, so Muzuki couldn’t easily determine if this was a butterfly effect he caused or something that was already in the original story.

“It can’t be because Tsunade won a round, right?” Muzuki thought of his dice game with Tsunade yesterday.

“Jonin Muzuki.”

After Muzuki entered the meeting room, some Jonin smiled and greeted him.

“Jonin Akimichi…” Muzuki smiled and responded to each of them.

As he did more and more things and displayed increasingly stronger abilities, Muzuki was no longer an unknown in the current Jonin circle; in the eyes of many, he was a rising star second only to Minato Namikaze.

“Today, let’s get a good chicken to make beggar’s chicken. It’s been several weeks since I last had it,” Tsunade said directly to Muzuki as soon as she saw him.

“Should we buy some sake as well?” Muzuki asked.

Tsunade usually liked to drink sake while heartily gnawing on chicken drumsticks.

“No need for sake. You’re not as good at picking it as I am. I’ve already bought it,” Tsunade said proudly.

Although Muzuki’s cooking could be described as miraculous, he didn’t know much about sake because he didn’t drink often.

The exchange between the two drew sidelong glances from the surrounding Jonin, as it really sounded like a family discussing what to eat for dinner.

Dekai, who had originally planned to chat with Muzuki, silently blended into the crowd.

The scene of Tsunade beating up Jiraiya when he was still young was deeply etched in his mind, so he was a little afraid of Tsunade; after all, she was a woman who dared to casually beat up his sensei.

Minato, however, felt nothing about this and came over to chat with Muzuki with a gentle smile.

Once most of the Jonin had arrived, the Jonin meeting officially began. Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other four high-ranking officials sat on high chairs, while the Jonin stood in the meeting room.

“Just today, the Hidden Mist Village of the Land of Water declared war on our Konoha,” Hiruzen Sarutobi announced solemnly, stating the reason for the emergency Jonin meeting.

When Hiruzen Sarutobi received this news, he was very surprised; it was beyond his expectations.

The reason he had not agreed to Danzo Shimura’s plan to use the Chunin Exams incident to demand a large amount of compensation from the Hidden Mist was precisely because he was worried that such an action would anger the Hidden Mist, causing them, who rarely participated in wars between continent-based Ninja Villages, to join the Shinobi World War to deal with Konoha.

Based on his judgment, the Hidden Mist, which had always maintained a low profile, should not have provoked the powerful Konoha.

Konoha and the Hidden Mist had no grudges, and Konoha was a tough nut to crack, so why bother?

However, since the matter had already occurred, no matter what the Hidden Mist’s motives and objectives were, Hiruzen Sarutobi had only one thing to do: mobilize forces to prevent the Hidden Mist from causing destruction in the Land of Fire.

“The Hidden Mist Village has also declared war on us, so doesn’t that mean we now have three major Ninja Village enemies?” a Ninja asked, his brows furrowed upon hearing the news.

This was indeed very bad news for Konoha.

On the surface, Konoha seemed incredibly glorious, winning consecutive victories while fighting two enemies at once, but Ninja who truly understood the situation would never be so optimistic.

Although Konoha had gained an advantage in the war, it had not inflicted heavy damage on Iwagakure and Kumogakure; this level of victory could only be described as a minor win.

If a war score were set, where reaching 100% would directly result in victory, then currently, Konoha’s score against both Kumogakure and Iwagakure would be at most around 10%.

With the Hidden Mist intervening now, Konoha would have to divert forces to deal with the Hidden Mist, which could lead to the loss of advantages on other battlefields.

“Even the Hidden Mist has come to join the fun,” Tsunade, who had been restless, also became serious.

She knew what this meant; even if the three major Ninja Villages couldn’t cooperate wholeheartedly to deal with Konoha, it would still put immense pressure on Konoha, and the current Konoha didn’t have a peerless expert like her grandfather.

Muzuki also showed a hint of worry, as if concerned for Konoha.

“Has the Hidden Mist gone to war with Konoha so quickly? Is it because of the Chunin Exams, or has Uchiha Madara secretly used some means?” Muzuki pondered continuously.

The events Might Guy encountered during the Third Shinobi World War didn’t have a clear timeline like Kakashi’s, because Kakashi’s side had the information that Kakashi became a Jonin at twelve years old, so Muzuki couldn’t deduce whether the timing of the Hidden Mist’s war with Konoha was a normal development or had changed because of him.

Muzuki found it difficult to determine what method the Hidden Mist would use to wage war against Konoha.

Usually, after declaring war, everyone would probe each other and wouldn’t immediately go all out to fight to the death, but Konoha was currently entangled with Kumogakure and Iwagakure, so it was possible for the Hidden Mist to take this opportunity to directly deploy its main forces and advance deep into enemy territory.

Muzuki hoped that the Hidden Mist would take its time; Might Guy hadn’t developed yet, and if he were as unlucky as in the original story and encountered the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, it would be very troublesome.

He couldn’t directly teleport from Konoha in the central Land of Fire to the East Coast or South Coast of the Land of Fire.

The eastern part of the Land of Fire has a very long coastline, and coincidentally, the Land of Water is also to the east of the Land of Fire, so the best route for the Land of Water to attack the Land of Fire is to directly sail to the East Coast of the Land of Fire.

The southern part of the Land of Fire is also coastal, but it is much smaller compared to the East Coast, making it easier to defend, and it would take the Land of Water quite a long detour to land on the South Coast, which would consume more time.

As time passed, the meeting continued to progress.

Basically, the high-level Advisors angrily denounced the Hidden Mist Village as shameless, followed by Hiruzen Sarutobi speaking about The Will of Fire to inspire everyone’s love for the Village, and then a discussion of countermeasures.

Since the Hidden Mist Village had not yet officially launched an attack, and the Hidden Mist Village was an island nation at sea, there wasn’t much Konoha could do at the moment except strengthen vigilance along the southeastern coasts.

“Hiruzen, you should have followed my plan back then; that way, we could have at least gained a lot of benefits from it,” Danzo Shimura said unhappily after the meeting ended.

The Hidden Mist elders were in Konoha during the Chunin Exams, and Danzo Shimura didn’t believe the Hidden Mist Village would dare not hand over items.

“You shouldn’t be so dictatorial; you should listen to my opinions more,” Danzo Shimura criticized.

Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a puff of smoke, looking at Danzo Shimura with a hint of exasperation.

He indeed hadn’t expected the Hidden Mist to declare war on Konoha so quickly, but if he had followed Danzo Shimura’s plan, even if the Hidden Mist didn’t participate in Ninja World affairs, they would have sought trouble with Konoha.

Moreover, if he were truly dictatorial, Danzo Shimura’s Root organization would have been disbanded long ago; the Anbu were directly led by the Hokage, while Danzo Shimura’s Root organization was practically a small Anbu unit that only answered to Danzo Shimura.

“War has already been declared; discussing this is meaningless,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said, taking off his pipe, signaling Danzo Shimura to get to the point.

Danzo Shimura certainly wouldn’t be idle enough to just lecture him; there must be something important.

“At a time like this, Konoha needs Root, a powerful Root,” Danzo Shimura said in a deep voice, expressing his thoughts.

When Danzo Shimura learned of the Hidden Mist’s declaration of war, he was first angry that the Hidden Mist Village, the weakest of the Five Great Ninja Villages in terms of presence, was also coming to trouble Konoha.

After the anger came joy, because this was an excellent opportunity, a perfect chance for him to develop the power of Root.

Facing such a difficult situation, it would be unreasonable for Hiruzen Sarutobi to continue restricting the development of his Root organization; after all, he was doing it for Konoha.

Hiruzen Sarutobi showed a thoughtful expression and finally nodded.

In the current situation, all available forces needed to be utilized to deal with the potential crisis, and the Root organization led by Danzo Shimura indeed performed well in certain aspects, capable of contributing significantly in wartime.

Moreover, he was ultimately the Hokage; after the war ended, he could find reasons to weaken him, as Danzo Shimura had many problems.

PS: This chapter is 5k, only slightly more than usual. I originally wanted to write 8k, but I had some family matters today that delayed me.