Chapter 458: The Sun Rises on the Dark Battlefield

When Muzuki arrived at the meeting room, there were only two people inside: the commander, Orochimaru, and the vice-commander, Nara Shikaku.

“Since everyone is here, let’s begin the meeting,” Orochimaru said after Muzuki sat down.

Muzuki instantly knew that this meeting was not simple.

In the past, even for small meetings, Orochimaru would notify other members holding important positions in the Konoha Ninja Force, but this time, it was just the three commanders.

“Just a short while ago, our intelligence personnel discovered a large Hidden Mist stronghold,” Orochimaru began to speak about the main content of the meeting.

“According to the intelligence, it can be basically confirmed that this stronghold has gathered the main force of the Mist Ninja Force.”

After speaking, Orochimaru did not continue, but looked at Nara Shikaku and Muzuki, giving them enough time to react and think.

Nara Shikaku showed a thoughtful expression and then said, “Currently, the enemy is in the open and we are hidden. I think we can send more Ninja to observe the Hidden Mist’s movements and then conduct a probe.”

He probably guessed Orochimaru’s idea. Konoha now had a combat advantage, and having won the intelligence war, Orochimaru definitely wanted to proactively launch a major battle to eliminate the Hidden Mist’s effective forces.

However, Nara Shikaku believed that a direct large-scale attack might be inappropriate. The intelligence might be true, but it didn’t mean there were no traps.

Previously, Orochimaru wanted to use information asymmetry to lure the Hidden Mist into a major battle, but a skirmish changed the battlefield situation, so he could only adjust his strategy accordingly.

If the Hidden Mist Village’s reinforcements arrived, the Hidden Mist would very likely adopt a similar strategy of luring the enemy, just like Orochimaru.

“That’s right, this might be the enemy’s feint. I think all recently obtained intelligence must be carefully verified and confirmed. The Land of Water might have dispatched reinforcement troops,” Muzuki said after some thought.

Because Orochimaru was the commander, Muzuki didn’t say too much, just hinted at it, because he felt that Orochimaru was not someone who would impulsively charge in.

Orochimaru nodded. His thoughts were similar to Muzuki’s. They could use this intelligence to probe, but they couldn’t gamble directly, betting that the other side truly had no ability to deal with a sudden attack.

Once the three reached a consensus, the next step was to arrange specific tactics: how to probe, the selection of the probing team, and the plan after the probe. All of these needed to be determined.

Muzuki didn’t interfere much in this part, mostly listening to Orochimaru and the others.

Although his strength had increased significantly, Muzuki was still an ordinary person a few years ago. Expecting him to actually conduct a war was a bit difficult; he could, however, talk about theories.

After the three discussed the specific attack plan, Orochimaru immediately gathered Ninja from over thirty small teams to form a probing team, which would conduct probes around the enemy stronghold.

Although it was a probing attack, the target was the enemy’s main force. If there were too few people, they could easily be completely wiped out.

In the following time, Orochimaru, Nara Shikaku, and Muzuki did not sleep. They had to wait for the latest intelligence to decide the next combat plan.

However, for Ninja of their strength, staying up for a day was nothing. Ninja’s energy was far more abundant than that of ordinary people.

But what they didn’t expect was that before the probing action yielded results, the Ninja of the Hyuga Clan responsible for guarding the surroundings first reported the news of a large-scale enemy attack.

To prevent surprise attacks, Konoha’s camp had Hyuga Ninja on rotation for vigilance, thus ensuring the safety of the camp.

“A large number of Mist Ninja are surging towards our camp! Their numbers exceed a thousand!” the vigilant Ninja reported at high speed.

Orochimaru suddenly stood up, his brows tightly furrowed. The development of events was somewhat beyond his expectations.

The Byakugan is very strong and convenient, but it is not without weaknesses. Compared to traditional perception Ninjutsu, the Byakugan’s range of vision is not large. Even a well-trained Hyuga Jonin can generally only see a range of about 3.5 kilometers.

For a small team, this range is enough to make many preparations, but for a large battle involving a thousand-level Ninja force, being able to see means the two sides are extremely close, and there isn’t much that can be done.

“Why did we suddenly fall into such a great disadvantage in intelligence?” Orochimaru felt somewhat puzzled.

He originally thought that the Hidden Mist had received reinforcements and wanted to trick Konoha with a feint, but he didn’t expect the Hidden Mist to have even found out their main base.

Although they had once revealed their camp intelligence, after changing the combat plan, Orochimaru quickly changed locations, and even specifically dispatched teams to create two fake strongholds to mislead.

Logically, since the Hidden Mist hadn’t even found the fake ones, how could they suddenly find the real stronghold hidden deep within? It couldn’t just be luck.

“Are you two behind this again?” Muzuki immediately thought of Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara.

The Hidden Mist might not have such strong intelligence capabilities, but Uchiha Madara and his group definitely did. White Zetsu was the strongest intelligence Ninja in the Ninja World.

Muzuki estimated that Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu found him too much of an eyesore and wanted to eliminate him through war.

Even if he didn’t die, if the Konoha Ninja Force suffered heavy losses, the various subsequent impacts would also make Muzuki busy, giving Uchiha Madara and his group more opportunities.

“It seems neither of us wants the other to have a peaceful night. Prepare for battle,” Orochimaru said, walking out of the tent.

The distance to the Hidden Mist no longer allowed him to strategize against the enemy. From now on, they could only rely on the team’s raw strength.

Muzuki and Nara Shikaku also followed him out.

The vigilant Ninja immediately sent out an emergency signal. At this time, the Ninja resting in the camp all got up to prepare for battle.

“Wake up quickly, something big has happened,” Kakashi was the first to wake up, then quickly got up to wake the others.

“I want to create a world where everyone is a Jonin,” Obito was immersed in a beautiful dream.

“If you don’t wake up soon, Rin will become an official Jonin,” Kakashi thought for a moment and said.

Obito jolted, instantly sat up, and then, without asking too many questions, quickly got out of bed.

“Let’s go find Lord Mu Yue,” Shisui said, looking at the somewhat flustered Ninja around him.

No matter what happened, finding Muzuki first wouldn’t be a bad thing.

The other disciples also nodded in agreement.

Just then, Muzuki also completed the assembly of the Fire Release Squad. Muzuki precisely located Kakashi and his group using the Byakugan, then had them move with the Fire Release Squad.

After drawing Great Sunny Day, Muzuki told Orochimaru about the Ninjutsu’s effect, saying it was a new Fire Release secret technique he had recently developed.

Orochimaru, without a word, directly gathered eighty percent of the Konoha Ninja Force’s Fire Release Ninja to form a Fire Release Squad. Members of the Fire Release Squad usually performed missions with their regular teams, but in major battles, they had to obey Muzuki and be commanded by him in combat.

To maintain secrecy, currently, among the Konoha Ninja Force, only Muzuki and Orochimaru, and Nara Shikaku, knew the effect of Great Sunny Day.

Even the Fire Release Squad members didn’t know, because Muzuki had never used it in front of them.

“Orochimaru, are you surprised? You thought your intelligence Ninja won? Actually, it was just an illusion we gave you,” Yagura Karatachi said with a mocking expression as he used an iron rod with a hook to swat away an incoming Kunai.

Although this major victory on the intelligence front was unexpected even for him, the commander, it didn’t prevent him from boasting a little to dampen the Konoha forces’ morale.

“Is that so? Have you ever considered the possibility that I actually want a big battle more than you do?” Orochimaru sneered, not losing his composure.

Although they were somewhat passive now, Orochimaru was not flustered. The strength of the Ninja Force was the decisive factor in war. As long as their strength was sufficient, no amount of scheming would be effective.

Under the weakening effect of Muzuki’s Great Sunny Day, even if the Mist Ninja were more numerous, they would not be a match for Konoha Ninja. More than the Ninja Force, Orochimaru was concerned about the strong individuals within the Hidden Mist.

If the Hidden Mist had a Jinchuriki, then it would be a bit troublesome.

Whoosh!

Yagura Karatachi suddenly erupted, flashing beside Orochimaru and swinging his iron rod at him.

Orochimaru expressionlessly raised his right hand, and an enormous, thick giant snake suddenly burst out from Orochimaru’s sleeve, blocking the iron rod.

Seeing this, Nara Shikaku immediately formed hand seals and used his shadow secret technique, controlling shadows to attack Yagura Karatachi.

“Water Release: Water Gun Technique!”

Hozuki Mangetsu naturally wouldn’t stand by and watch Nara Shikaku’s attack succeed. He formed his hand into a gun shape, aimed at Nara Shikaku’s head, and unleashed the Hozuki Clan’s secret technique.

Water droplets, like bullets, shot out from Hozuki Mangetsu’s hand, flying rapidly towards Nara Shikaku.

The Water Gun was fast and didn’t require hand seals. Even if Nara Shikaku abandoned his shadow secret technique, he was almost hit, thanks to Akimichi Choza’s timely support.

“Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!”

The next moment, more snakes rapidly darted out from Orochimaru’s left sleeve, surging towards Yagura Karatachi.

Yagura Karatachi calmly condensed a water rope, and with a flick and a pull, he knocked down all the incoming flying snakes.

At this moment, the Konoha Ninja Force and the Mist Ninja Force were engaged in a chaotic battle. Both the strong and the lower-ranked Ninja were fighting.

However, the Konoha Ninja’s mood was not very good. They were ambushed again, and the enemy had more numbers. In this situation, they found it hard to be optimistic about the final outcome, even though the battle had just begun.

“So many enemies, Rin, you must be careful,” Obito couldn’t help but worry while fighting.

Bang!

Rin Nohara focused her Chakra and unleashed an Exploding Fist, causing blood to splatter from the Mist Ninja in front of her. Compared to Obito and the others, Rin Nohara was indeed a bit weaker.

But if compared to ordinary people, Rin Nohara was also a genius. A 10-year-old Special Jonin was extremely rare.

“You too, Obito,” Rin Nohara responded gently.

Obito swallowed, putting nine-tenths of his attention into fighting and reserving the remaining one-tenth to monitor Rin Nohara’s condition.

“Will this be the battle?” Shisui couldn’t help but worry about Muzuki as he looked at the chaotic battlefield under the dark night.

Muzuki, who possessed the Flying Thunder God, had the ability to retreat at any time, but Shisui knew that Muzuki would never abandon his comrades.

Just then, an incredibly dazzling light suddenly pierced through the darkness and descended upon the battlefield, rapidly rising and growing brighter and brighter, until it hung high in the sky like a blazing sun, illuminating the entire battlefield and turning night into day.

All the Ninja on the battlefield showed bewildered expressions, both Hidden Mist and Konoha Ninja alike.

Even the well-traveled Yagura Karatachi was a bit confused. He had lived for decades and had never encountered such a thing.

He knew there were Ninjutsu that could make it rain, but he had never heard of any Ninjutsu that could create a small sun to illuminate the battlefield.

“What’s going on? Why did the sky suddenly light up?”

“It seems to be Lord Mu Yue’s Ninjutsu.”

Ninja who were close to Muzuki recalled the ball of light Muzuki had condensed earlier.

“No, why has my Water Release become weaker!” A Mist Ninja cast Water Release and found that the power of his Water Release had decreased.

No Ninja would be unaware of what effects their Ninjutsu could produce; this was a mistake even Genin wouldn’t make.

“Huh, why has my Fire Release suddenly become stronger?”

Conversely, Konoha Ninja who used Fire Release found that the power of their Fire Release had inexplicably increased, even though their Chakra hadn’t increased and their Nature Transformation hadn’t improved recently.

PS: The exhausting move finally came to an end today. I will try to write more in the next few days.