Chapter 569: Never fought such a rich battle

At night, in a temporary, simple tent, many Jonin from the Ninja Force gathered.

Inside the simple tent, there were no chairs, only a large stone table made with Earth Release, and on the table, there was only a map of the Land of Grass and its surrounding areas.

Muzuki and Jiraiya stood side by side on the north side of the table, while Minato Namikaze and Kakashi stood behind them respectively, and the other Jonin stood in other directions around the large stone table.

“I believe many of you must have a lot of doubts,” Jiraiya slowly began, “why we regrouped so quickly after dispersing, and why Lord Mu Yue is here.”

Some Jonin nodded; with such a big sudden change and a lack of information, it was hard for them to understand everything.

“First, Lord Mu Yue is leading a support unit to deal with Iwagakure with us,” Jiraiya began to explain.

“Due to the critical situation at the front line, Lord Mu Yue selected elites from the support unit to reach the Land of Grass as quickly as possible, so the main body of the support unit has not yet arrived; only the fifty elite Ninja of the vanguard unit have arrived.”

Some Jonin’s faces lit up with joy, and they couldn’t help but ask, “Lord Mu Yue, how many Ninja are in the support unit in total?”

Since the elite unit had arrived, even if the main force was slow, it wouldn’t be too late. He was already eager to wash away the previous defeat.

“Including the elite unit, there are a total of one thousand Ninja,” Muzuki replied seriously.

“Excellent! With the support unit, our forces are no worse than the Iwa Ninja Force; this time, we definitely won’t lose again!” The Jonin who had just asked the question looked even more excited.

This was a reinforcement of one thousand Ninja; he had fought for so long, and it was the first time he had seen Konoha send such a strong reinforcement unit all at once.

It wasn’t that Konoha was stingy, but Konoha’s military strength was not considered large among the many Ninja Villages.

From Konoha’s founding until now, there were only a total of about twelve thousand official Ninja.

And now the Shinobi World War had reached the Third Shinobi World War, with years of war attrition, plus Ninja who died of natural causes, Konoha’s active Ninja truly weren’t many.

It was just that the number of Ninja in each village was confidential; otherwise, if there were an active Ninja ranking, Konoha might be at the bottom of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

The other Jonin also looked surprised, feeling as if they had never fought such a well-resourced war, with a full one thousand reinforcements.

“As expected of Lord Mu Yue, he’s even good at lying,” thought Obito, who had been silent, giving Lord Mu Yue a mental thumbs-up as he watched no one in the field question him.

White Zetsu, disguised as Hinata, also showed a surprised expression and silently noted down the information, preparing to transmit it later.

“We dispersed before because our combat power was insufficient, and we were worried about our position being discovered and wiped out, but now that a thousand Ninja have arrived as reinforcements, there’s naturally no need to continue hiding,” Jiraiya continued.

The Jonin nodded in agreement; with the same number of Ninja, their Konoha had never feared anyone else.

“Where do you think is suitable to rendezvous with the support unit and serve as a temporary base camp?” Jiraiya began to brainstorm for ideas.

Each Jonin carefully studied the map and expressed their opinions.

Finally, after the combat meeting concluded, Jiraiya specifically and seriously reminded them:

“There might be spies within our unit now; the content of this meeting must absolutely not be leaked!”

When Jiraiya was assassinated by Sarutobi Jonin before, few people saw it, and Jiraiya deliberately concealed the news, so the Ninja Force currently did not know that the failure was due to a spy.

The Jonin in the tent all looked solemn.

“Don’t be too nervous; those I’ve called to this meeting are all Ninja who can be absolutely trusted,” Jiraiya said with a smile.

“As long as no accidents happen, we will definitely turn defeat into victory this time.”

The Jonin looked at each other and felt that what Jiraiya said made sense; most of the Jonin gathered here were Ninja from Ninja clans, or veteran Jonin with great achievements, so there couldn’t be any spies.

And if there were no problems with this group of people, the news would not be leaked, and there would be no accidents.

“I really want to cancel the Transformation Technique and let them see; it would be so interesting,” White Zetsu laughed wildly in his heart.

Hinata was indeed a trustworthy Ninja, but the one present was not Hinata, but him, White Zetsu!

Of course, White Zetsu only thought about it briefly; he still had to complete the task of transmitting information.

But it didn’t matter if he couldn’t reveal his true form now; when Jiraiya and the others were surrounded and in despair, he would first mock them loudly and then slip away.

After the meeting, the Ninja dispersed, including Jiraiya and Muzuki.

However, after leaving, Jiraiya, Muzuki, and Minato Namikaze quickly slipped away and used Shadow Clones as disguises, and finally, the three met again in a hidden place.

That meeting just now was to deceive White Zetsu; the real combat meeting had already ended, and the only participants were the three of them.

“The bait is ready; now it just depends on whether Iwagakure takes it,” Jiraiya said, looking towards the northwest where the Iwagakure Ninja were located.

To deceive the spy, very few people knew the true combat plan; besides Muzuki, Jiraiya, and their disciples, only the high-ranking officials of the support unit knew.

“According to Iwagakure’s current expressed intentions, they definitely want to wipe out Konoha’s unit in the Land of Grass in one fell swoop. They will certainly take the bait, but it won’t be easy for us to swallow this big fish,” Minato Namikaze pondered.

The thousand-person support unit mentioned by Muzuki was just a lie to make Iwagakure take the bait; in reality, the support unit and Jiraiya’s unit combined only amounted to twelve hundred Ninja.

Minato Namikaze didn’t know the exact number of Iwagakure’s Ninja, but based on the current observed numbers, there must be at least eighteen hundred Ninja, at least six hundred more Ninja than Konoha.

Six hundred as a unit of Ninja was quite a lot, enough to form a unit.

“After all, the overall situation is still unfavorable for us; a complete annihilation will definitely be very difficult. Let’s aim to eliminate half,” Muzuki thought and said.

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, “Half is already a good number; if that news gets back to Iwagakure, it will be enough to make Ōnoki ache for a long time.”

Half of eighteen hundred is also nine hundred; the resources required to cultivate nine hundred qualified Ninja are enormous.

“If you defeat the Four-Tails Jinchuriki this time, you will truly be the number one of Konoha’s young generation!” Jiraiya said with a chuckle, patting Muzuki’s shoulder.

During the combat meeting, Muzuki volunteered, stating that his Water Release had made significant breakthroughs recently, and he alone was enough to deal with the Four-Tails Jinchuriki and the Ninja protecting the Four-Tails.

“Minato, you also need to work harder; why don’t you go to Mount Myōboku now to study Sage Mode?” Jiraiya then patted Minato Namikaze.

Minato Namikaze looked helpless, “Jiraiya Sensei, please don’t joke; how could I possibly make it in time now? Besides, didn’t Fukasaku say last time that my Chakra training isn’t enough yet?”

Sage Mode, as a special skill that comprehensively enhances a Ninja’s abilities, Minato Namikaze naturally wanted to learn it, but learning Sage Mode itself requires powerful Chakra.

And Minato Namikaze currently had not met the standard of “powerful Chakra.”

“Insufficient Chakra is a hard truth; otherwise, with your talent, Minato, under immense pressure, you might really be able to learn it quickly,” Jiraiya said, stroking his chin.

It took him a long time to learn Sage Mode.

However, Jiraiya’s situation was special; when he learned Sage Mode, he didn’t directly stay at Mount Myōboku for special training, but rather practiced whenever he had time, so the overall practice time wasn’t particularly exaggerated.

Of course, compared to someone like Uzumaki Naruto, who had a cheat, Jiraiya certainly spent a lot more time.

…

“The feeling is really so different from the last time I came,” Obito muttered quietly, lying against a tree and looking boredly at the sky.

Although it was the same Ninja Force, compared to the last mission, their morale and spirit were much lower.

“After all, we experienced a heavy defeat,” Kakashi replied.

“Huh, Kakashi, why aren’t you asleep yet?” Obito asked, surprised, looking at Kakashi sitting on a tree branch.

They would be moving again soon, so they just found a random spot to sleep.

“So why aren’t you asleep?” Kakashi countered.

Obito scratched his head and finally honestly said, “I’m a bit concerned about the spy in the unit, and also the atmosphere of the unit this time.”

Obito had experienced quite a bit by now, but the units he had been in had never suffered a major defeat, nor had there been any instances of Konoha Ninja betraying and becoming spies.

“Actually, there’s no need to worry; since they’ve become spies, no matter the reason, they are already Konoha’s enemies. As for the unit’s atmosphere, with one big victory, the familiar feeling will return,” Kakashi said indifferently.

“Oh, come on.” Obito wanted to say that what he truly cared about wasn’t the superficial appearance, but some of the underlying nature revealed after the incident.

But he didn’t know how to describe it, so he could only scratch his head and then sigh.

“So, Kakashi, why aren’t you asleep?”

Obito remembered that Kakashi hadn’t answered his question yet.

“I’m watching you, worried you might accidentally leak information,” Kakashi replied without reservation.

The information they possessed wasn’t as comprehensive as Muzuki and Minato Namikaze’s, but they were among the group with the most information besides them.

Obito’s face darkened, wanting to scold Kakashi, but then he remembered it was late at night, so he could only swallow his words and glare at Kakashi.

“You naturally evil, hateful white-haired menace! How dare you underestimate me like that.” A single glare wasn’t enough to vent his anger, so Obito quickly cursed again in his mind.

To prove his secrecy, Obito lay down and immediately fell asleep.

After Obito fell asleep, Kakashi activated Transparent World to observe his surroundings, and soon closed his eyes as well.

PS: There’s another chapter coming, but the time is uncertain. It’s recommended to read it tomorrow.

Anyway, you’ll definitely see it tomorrow.