Chapter 424: Seven Ninja Swordsmen

Although he was on the battlefield, Muzuki’s life actually became a bit more relaxed.

Because here he didn’t have to juggle Ninja Academy and his disciples, and Orochimaru-sama hadn’t assigned him any combat missions yet.

It wasn’t just Muzuki; aside from Orochimaru-sama himself, many of the Jonin who had recently arrived as reinforcements hadn’t been assigned combat missions either.

Without a doubt, Orochimaru-sama wanted to give Hidden Mist a harsh blow, catching them off guard.

To make the disguise more plausible, Orochimaru-sama only restricted most of the Jonin, not the minority of Jonin and all Chunin and Genin.

After all, Hidden Mist had already invaded the Land of Fire’s mainland; it would be illogical for Konoha not to send reinforcements.

Orochimaru-sama created a false impression for Hidden Mist: Konoha wanted to strengthen its forces on the Hidden Mist battlefield, but due to other battlefields, the forces it could deploy were limited.

To incite Hidden Mist’s desire for a large-scale attack, Orochimaru-sama even actively exposed information about the troop’s station step by step to lure Hidden Mist.

It must be said, Orochimaru-sama’s plan was very good; in the eyes of many Mist Ninja, the Konoha Ninja Force they were fighting was merely a paper tiger that only looked strong.

That’s right, it was a paper tiger.

Although on the surface it was still the strongest Ninja Village, fighting on multiple fronts and consistently winning, in actual combat, it had already shown signs of decline; many Ninja were active, but their quality was low.

If Konoha truly still had the strength to deal with Hidden Mist, then why would they need to specifically transfer Orochimaru-sama from another battlefield? They were deploying a large number of Chunin and Genin to carry out missions on the battlefield.

“Yagura-sama, intelligence personnel have discovered information about Konoha Ninja’s new camp. I think this is a good opportunity to eliminate Konoha’s vital forces,” Haku said at the Hidden Mist combat meeting.

Although Yagura Karatachi appeared young, he was a truly seasoned Mist Ninja, and even Haku, one of the main forces of the Hidden Mist troop, had to respectfully address Yagura Karatachi.

“Information about the new camp was discovered so quickly. Can you confirm the accuracy of the intelligence? This could be a Konoha Ninja’s ploy,” Yagura Karatachi asked calmly, his expression unchanged.

He only looked like a youth; he had long passed the age of recklessness. A reliable adult would not take risks easily.

“I don’t think so. Based on the intelligence we’ve gathered these past few days, although Konoha has sent reinforcements, their overall strength is still inferior to our Hidden Mist. They wouldn’t want a large-scale frontal confrontation with us,” Haku stated his conjecture.

Yagura Karatachi showed a thoughtful expression. He naturally knew the intelligence Haku was aware of. Recently, he could indeed clearly feel that Konoha Ninja had increased, but they were mostly Chunin and Genin. There were Jonin, but very few.

According to common sense, this was a sign of insufficient strength in a Ninja Village.

However, Konoha’s Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had not appeared on any battlefield yet, and Yagura Karatachi was very concerned about this point.

If the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki secretly came to the East Coast, then Hidden Mist’s strength here might not necessarily have an advantage.

The destructive power of a Jinchuriki was too terrifying. Not to mention Ninja below Jonin, even ordinary Jonin could hardly play a role in a battle against a Jinchuriki.

Yagura Karatachi was confident in dealing with Orochimaru-sama, but he didn’t think Haku and Hozuki Mangetsu could handle the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, not to mention the opponent also had the current Ino–Shika–Chō.

“I don’t need your feelings; I need facts,” Yagura Karatachi said, shaking his head.

“If the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is in the Konoha camp, how should we respond?” Yagura Karatachi asked calmly, looking at the Mist Ninja.

“We are the only Ninja Village to have invaded the Land of Fire’s mainland. It wouldn’t be surprising what methods Konoha uses to deal with us.”

Haku was speechless for a moment. Even as the current head of the Yuki clan, he didn’t have the confidence to say he could deal with a Jinchuriki.

Tailed Beast were the ultimate weapons of the Five Great Nations, not to mention the Nine-Tailed was the best among the Tailed Beast.

The other Mist Ninja exchanged glances for a while, and no one spoke.

“I can understand that you want to achieve great deeds, but we don’t need to be too hasty. Konoha should be the one in a hurry now,” Yagura Karatachi broke the silence.

He didn’t blame Haku, after all, not every Ninja was good at thinking; some Ninja were only suitable as combatants.

Hidden Mist really didn’t need to rush, because Hidden Mist wasn’t like Konoha, which had three major Ninja Village enemies. Hidden Mist was currently only at war with Konoha.

Currently, only Kumogakure was in the same situation as Konoha in the Ninja World. Kumogakure also had war relations with three major Ninja Villages: Konoha, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure.

However, unlike Konoha, Kumogakure was more proactive in starting conflicts, while Konoha was passively accepting.

“Are we doing nothing?” Haku was a little unwilling.

This time, they were lucky to get the intelligence. If Konoha discovered the issue and moved to another place, it wouldn’t be so easy to find them.

“You’re too extreme. War isn’t just all-out war and a ceasefire; we can test them first,” Yagura Karatachi said, crossing his arms.

In Yagura Karatachi’s view, Haku was a bit of a binary thinker. He only suggested directly sending a large Ninja troop to besiege them; how did that become doing nothing?

After making the probing arrangements, Yagura Karatachi dismissed the meeting and then sent his confidants to summon the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Originally, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were directly under the Mizukage; theoretically, only the Mizukage could give them orders.

But during wartime, special measures were taken, and the Third Mizukage specifically granted Yagura Karatachi the authority to command the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

“Go disrupt Konoha Ninja’s logistical support. Most of the Konoha Ninja active recently are Chunin and Genin, which should be easy for you,” Yagura Karatachi drew a location on the map and showed it to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Hidden Mist was famous in the Ninja World for its assassination capabilities. As assassins, they also had quite good intelligence capabilities and would not lose to Konoha Ninja in this regard.

Yagura Karatachi’s goal was simple: to efficiently slaughter Konoha’s mid-to-low level forces, thereby testing whether Konoha truly lacked sufficient strength or was merely pretending to be a paper tiger.

He had wanted to do this for a long time, but previously Konoha Ninja were very cautious, and not so many small teams were active together.

“Tsk, Chunin and Genin, huh? A mission specifically for bullying the weak,” Biwa Jūzō, carrying kubikiribōchō, showed a disdainful smile.

Biwa Jūzō alone could easily cut down ten Chunin and Genin, yet Yagura Karatachi actually told all seven of them to hunt such Ninja teams. Biwa Jūzō couldn’t think of any other description than bullying the weak.

“It is indeed bullying the weak, but if it’s a mission, we can only execute it, right?” Raiga Kurosuki said calmly, looking at Biwa Jūzō.

Suikazan Fuguki, Kuriarare Kushimaru, and the other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist all looked at Biwa Jūzō. They weren’t companions who advanced together; if Biwa Jūzō really refused to execute the mission for such a reason, they would be the first to step forward and clean house.

“Tch, do I even need to say it?” Biwa Jūzō replied with a mocking expression.

Although he was somewhat unwilling, he had no intention of refusing to complete the mission, because he was a Mist Ninja, and for Mist Ninja, the highest priority was the mission; everything else could come after.

…

“Oh, Guy, you Guys are here too? Why didn’t I see Teacher Chen?” Obito asked excitedly when he ran into Might Guy’s team.

“Teacher Chen has something to do; he’ll be here later,” Might Guy answered honestly.

“What a coincidence, then we’re all teams without an instructor now,” Obito said, scratching his head as he thought about their current situation.

Although Muzuki was on the same battlefield as them, he couldn’t lead them to complete missions due to his heavy responsibilities.

“Minato-sensei didn’t come to this battlefield with you?” Ebisu asked curiously.

He didn’t think Minato Namikaze would be so irresponsible as to abandon his disciples on the battlefield, and none of Obito’s team had become Jonin yet.

“Minato-sensei is on another battlefield. Teacher Muzuki brought us here, but he has other very important missions and can’t take us on missions for now,” Obito explained.

“I see, this is our bond!” Might Guy made a sudden realization expression, then looked at Kakashi excitedly.

Kakashi:…

He hadn’t even spoken; how did it become about his bond with him again?

“Since your instructors aren’t here, you need to be extra careful when carrying out missions,” Kakashi reminded them, thinking of something.

Due to the lack of a squad leader Jonin, even if Ebisu and Shiranui Genma had been promoted to Chunin, Might Guy’s team couldn’t take on missions above B-Rank. However, battlefield situations change rapidly, and even B-Rank missions can easily lead to accidents, requiring constant vigilance.

The main reason was that Might Guy’s team wasn’t strong enough. Ebisu and Shiranui Genma were excellent among their peers, but battles on the battlefield weren’t between peers; in war, no one cared how old you were.

To put it bluntly, Might Guy would even be safer performing missions alone.

If Might Guy encountered three Jonin alone, Kakashi believed Might Guy could safely escape by going all out, but with Ebisu and Shiranui Genma, it might not be the case.

Because Might Guy couldn’t abandon his companions, and Ebisu and Shiranui Genma couldn’t escape from Jonin, Might Guy could only grit his teeth and fight head-on.

“As expected of my best friend, Teacher Chen also reminded us of this,” Might Guy gave Kakashi a thumbs-up.

At this moment, a thought suddenly flashed in Obito’s mind. Everyone didn’t have an instructor and couldn’t perform high-level missions, so if they formed a new team together, could they take A-Rank Missions?

“How about you Guys, Guy, join us? Then we’ll be a team of seven Chunin, and we should be qualified to take A-Rank Missions, right?” Obito voiced his idea.

Obito was truly frustrated. Before coming to the battlefield, he wanted to perform well and surpass Kakashi, but Kakashi, with his extraordinary speed, always took down enemies first and dealt the most damage.

After several missions, Obito had only briefly engaged Hidden Mist with his Shadow Clone in the first mission; he hadn’t done much in the remaining missions.

Because the Ninja they encountered were simply too weak. In the first mission, they at least encountered a Jonin; afterward, they were all Chunin and Genin.

Obito knew this wasn’t bad luck, but due to the missions. It was normal not to encounter Jonin in B-Rank Missions; encountering Jonin was an unexpected situation.

So Obito wanted to perform higher-level missions, encounter stronger enemies, and have more opportunities to show off.

Of course, Obito wasn’t stupid; he wouldn’t clamor to do S-rank Missions. Doing so on the battlefield would be pure suicide.

“You can’t just join other teams like that, can you?” Shiranui Genma said, somewhat uncertainly.

“You can be more certain in your tone. Of course not,” Ebisu said, shaking his head.

This was on the battlefield; how could Ninja be allowed to merge and form teams freely? That would be chaos.

“Theoretically no, but I can ask Teacher Muzuki,” Kakashi said after thinking for a moment.

Kakashi thought merging with Might Guy’s team was excellent, benefiting both sides.

Kakashi’s team gained Might Guy, a powerful combatant, and Ebisu and Shiranui Genma would also be safer.

With the strength of their seven Ninja, performing A-Rank Missions was a piece of cake. In fact, normally in Konoha when performing A-Rank Missions, Kakashi and his team hardly needed Muzuki or Minato to act, unless an accident occurred.

“Teaming up with my best friend, I think it’s a good idea,” Might Guy also wanted to fight alongside Kakashi.

The few of them discussed for a while and finally went to find Muzuki to ask.

“It’s a good thing to want to take on greater responsibility. I’ll mention it to Orochimaru-sama,” Muzuki encouraged his disciples and said he would help them solve it.

This was also a good thing for Muzuki, making him more relaxed and not having to expend double the effort to protect disciples in different places.

Since they were all on the same battlefield, Muzuki certainly had to treat them equally and take care of all his disciples.

Although Uchiha Madara would definitely not attack Might Guy, Might Guy’s tragedy in the original work happened at the hands of Hidden Mist, so precautions had to be taken.

Orochimaru-sama was not stingy with the help for his future achievements; he readily agreed, allowing Might Guy’s team and Kakashi’s team to merge into a brand new team and elevating their mission authority.

“Since we don’t have an instructor, we need a vice-captain. Originally, I was the vice-captain of our team, but since a new team has joined, for fairness, let’s re-vote,” Kakashi voluntarily proposed re-electing the vice-captain.

If only Might Guy had joined, this wouldn’t be necessary, but now that the entire Might Guy team had joined, a re-election was very necessary. Everyone would truly listen to a recognized vice-captain.

The final election result was Kakashi being re-elected as vice-captain with an overwhelming advantage of six votes. Except for Obito, who cast his vote for Rin Nohara, everyone else voted for Kakashi.

Might Guy gave a strong sense of security, but Shiranui Genma and Ebisu felt that Kakashi was more suitable for the position of giving orders.

Normally, matters requiring thought in their team were handled by Ebisu. Now that there was a better candidate, Ebisu would certainly not step up himself; he had no confidence in being able to compare with Kakashi.