Chapter 635: Hokage Assistant Hayate Mugetsu

Hayate Mugetsu provided a slight healing to Yagura Karatachi before returning to the battlefield with his disciples.

When he used the No Thought Strike earlier, he had deliberately aimed off-center, so Yagura Karatachi did not die, but was only heavily injured.

However, Yagura Karatachi was the only one who survived; the other few Mist Ninja who had escaped with him were all dead.

Obito and the others did not have the luxury of holding back; they were attacking to kill, so naturally, it was difficult to leave anyone alive.

“Commander Hayate Mugetsu, is this Yagura Karatachi? You captured him alive?” Mimurabe Ketsu asked hurriedly, looking at the Yagura Karatachi that Hayate Mugetsu was carrying.

Capturing a powerhouse like Yagura Karatachi alive was extremely difficult.

Given Yagura Karatachi’s strength and status, he generally possessed many secrets of the Hidden Mist Village. Most of the time, he would rather die in battle than be captured alive by an enemy village.

Because once captured alive, what one might face could be ten times more painful than death.

High difficulty also meant greater benefits; capturing Yagura Karatachi alive allowed them to interrogate him to obtain Hidden Mist Village secrets, or use him to negotiate with the Hidden Mist Village.

“Yes.” Hayate Mugetsu nodded.

Having previously seen Hayate Mugetsu defeat a thousand-strong Ninja unit alone, Mimurabe Ketsu was not too surprised this time, only feeling that Hayate Mugetsu was meticulous and reliable in his actions.

“Even if he only brought a hundred people, I’m afraid the outcome of this battle wouldn’t have changed,” Mimurabe Ketsu sighed inwardly.

When they set out, he thought Hayate Mugetsu didn’t understand tactics, but after the battle ended, he realized it was he who didn’t understand Hayate Mugetsu…

With the vast majority of the Hidden Mist Ninja Force unconscious on the ground and their commander captured alive by Hayate Mugetsu, the tense mood of the Konoha Ninja Force instantly relaxed.

When they first saw the Hidden Mist unit, which outnumbered them by nearly double, some Konoha Ninja felt like their lives were flashing before their eyes.

“What kind of relationship could Lord Mu Yue and the First Hokage have? Distant relatives?” Some Konoha Ninja couldn’t help but steal glances at Hayate Mugetsu, trying to find similarities between him and Senju Hashirama.

Although Hayate Mugetsu’s surname was not Senju, one couldn’t rule out the possibility that his mother or grandmother had ties to the Senju Clan.

Both used Wood Release, and for Hayate Mugetsu to have such powerful strength at this age, it was hard not to think of the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama.

It was as if he were the next Senju Hashirama, the next God of Shinobi.

Of course, they were just thinking about it; no one actually asked.

After a while, Teacher Chen arrived in a hurry with his unit, looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Teacher Chen, taking the lead, used the Body Flicker Technique to dash forward, only to see Mist Ninja lying all over the ground and Konoha Ninja cleaning up the battlefield.

Teacher Chen was dumbfounded. What the hell was this? Wasn’t there a highest-level crisis? Where was the crisis?

He had prepared to lead Might Guy to break out of the encirclement, and this was what he got to see.

Teacher Chen’s unit was also confused for a moment. Some of the Ninjas among them had participated in the previous battle and thought they had fallen into a trap again, just like last time.

Then, Teacher Chen noticed something strange: there were many strangely shaped trees here, as well as unnaturally long and thick vines.

“This is the First Hokage’s Wood Release Ninjutsu!” Memories from the early days of Konoha’s founding gradually surfaced in Teacher Chen’s mind.

His seniority was much greater than Mimurabe Ketsu’s, and he had personally witnessed Senju Hashirama in action.

Although it wasn’t as shocking as the Wood Release in his memories, there was no doubt that this was Wood Release!

“Apologies, Deputy Commander Chen. I misjudged the strength of the enemy and ourselves this time. We didn’t encounter any danger; the Hidden Mist Ninja Force has already been defeated by us,” Mimurabe Ketsu explained, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

At the time, he saw so many Mist Ninja rushing out and Hayate Mugetsu hadn’t moved, so he immediately gave the order to fire the signal flare. It turned out that Hayate Mugetsu’s strength had exceeded his imagination.

“But you’ve arrived at the right time. We’ve captured a large number of Mist Ninja this time, and we need to integrate our forces to control them more securely.”

Strictly speaking, the signal flare still needed to be fired, but the wrong type had been used.

“Did someone use Wood Release Ninjutsu?” Teacher Chen looked around, finally letting his gaze fall on Hayate Mugetsu, who was communicating with his disciples.

Although Hayate Mugetsu had never displayed Wood Release Ninjutsu before, among the Konoha Ninja present, only Hayate Mugetsu had the strength to unleash such a large-scale Ninjutsu.

“It was Commander Hayate Mugetsu.” Mimurabe Ketsu nodded.

“The victory in this battle is almost entirely due to Commander Hayate Mugetsu. He defeated most of the Mist Ninja alone and even captured the commander of the Hidden Mist unit, Yagura Karatachi, alive.”

Teacher Chen looked at Hayate Mugetsu with amazement.

Although he had suspected it, knowing this fact still surprised him. This was the Bloodline Limit of the God of Shinobi, and it had just quietly reappeared like this?

Because they had to report the intelligence to Konoha and wait for further orders from the Konoha high command, the integrated unit camped nearby to rest.

The Konoha Ninja who had seen Hayate Mugetsu cast the Deep Forest Bloom excitedly recounted the story of how Hayate Mugetsu had single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, calling him the next God of Shinobi.

Soon, all 1,600 Konoha Ninja in the unit knew about Hayate Mugetsu’s heroic performance during the battle.

“Teacher Hayate Mugetsu, what elements do you think someone would need to possess to defeat you?” Kakashi thought for a moment and asked Hayate Mugetsu.

He felt that rather than guessing randomly, it would be less likely to worry needlessly if he speculated based on information provided by Hayate Mugetsu.

“First, they would need to possess a Chakra capacity far exceeding mine, and then they would need to have extremely rich combat experience,” Hayate Mugetsu replied.

Hayate Mugetsu had too many powerful skills; with the same amount of Chakra, he had a huge advantage. However, due to being a transmigrator, combat experience was his weak point.

“They would also need to master some relatively powerful Ninjutsu and rather unique Secret Techniques, as well as means to restrict me from leaving with the Flying Thunder God,” Hayate Mugetsu analyzed point by point.

With his current strength, if he didn’t want to die and didn’t go looking for trouble, it was truly very difficult for him to die.

Kakashi revealed a thoughtful expression.

Based on the conditions Hayate Mugetsu provided, even the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages couldn’t fully meet all the criteria; after all, how could one restrict the Flying Thunder God?

Could it be encountering a Ninja unit led by a Kage, where he wouldn’t use the Flying Thunder God in order to protect his comrades, and ultimately sacrificing himself?

…

Konoha Village

Hokage Building, conference room.

The three Konoha high-ranking officials had grim expressions, and after the discussion, they fell into a brief silence.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned, his pipe in his mouth, constantly puffing out clouds of smoke.

Konoha was truly in a situation where it was raining on a leaking roof, and the broken boat was hitting headwind.

They had just suffered a defeat against the Hidden Mist, and now Iwagakure was starting to cause trouble as well; a large number of Iwa Ninja Force troops were pouring into the Land of Grass, attempting to breach the borders of the Land of Fire.

Although Jiraiya had withstood the assault of the Iwa Ninja Force, he hadn’t defeated them either.

So now Konoha was fighting on three fronts. If they couldn’t break the stalemate quickly, Konoha wouldn’t be able to handle this kind of attrition.

“There aren’t many forces left within Konoha Village now. If we send more Ninja units to support Jiraiya, the Hidden Mist might seize this opportunity to attack Konoha directly,” Utatane Koharu said, breaking the silence.

Homura Mitokado nodded; as the main base, Konoha was undoubtedly the most important.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took down his pipe and rubbed his temples. The logic was sound, but dragging it out wasn’t a solution either.

“Now we can only wait to see when Hayate Mugetsu can produce results,” Homura Mitokado said.

Knock, knock.

At this moment, the door to the conference room was knocked.

“Enter,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said in a deep voice.

Generally, high-level meetings were not allowed to be interrupted, so it must be something important.

Hiruzen Sarutobi only hoped it wasn’t news of Sunagakure declaring war on Konoha; that would truly push Konoha into a desperate situation.

With a creak, an Anbu quickly pushed open the wooden door and walked into the conference room to report:

“Sandaime-sama, Advisor Yan, Advisor Koharu, urgent intelligence from the East Bank Battlefield!”

Hearing that it was intelligence from the East Bank Battlefield, Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly picked it up to read.

Both the Land of Grass and the Land of Hot Springs were fighting intensely, but the most important one was certainly the domestic battlefield.

“We were just talking about Hayate Mugetsu, and Hayate Mugetsu has brought us excellent news.” Looking at the intelligence sent by Hayate Mugetsu, the worry on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s face gradually disappeared, replaced by shock, and finally turning into a smile.

It hadn’t even been half a month since Hayate Mugetsu set out. Hiruzen Sarutobi had thought Hayate Mugetsu might have won a small victory, winning in some aspect.

After reading it, he realized that Hayate Mugetsu had achieved a complete victory, even capturing more than half of the Hidden Mist Ninja Force, an unprecedented feat, and even Yagura Karatachi had been captured by Hayate Mugetsu.

Hiruzen Sarutobi put the pipe in his mouth, took a shallow puff, exhaled a cloud of white smoke, and felt much relieved.

Although it was just winning one battle, this battle of Hayate Mugetsu’s was incredibly crucial.

It was not only because the Hidden Mist had invaded into the Land of Fire, but also because Hayate Mugetsu’s results were too significant.

With those over a thousand captured Mist Ninja and Yagura Karatachi, Konoha could fully negotiate with the Hidden Mist, and even extorting a war indemnity wouldn’t be excessive.

Then for a long time to come, Konoha wouldn’t need to worry about the Hidden Mist’s invasion, only needing to face the two opponents, Iwagakure and Kumogakure.

“What good news is it?” Homura Mitokado, seeing such a big change in Hiruzen Sarutobi’s mood after reading the intelligence, couldn’t help but be curious.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and handed the intelligence over.

As Homura Mitokado read on, his expression became very interesting—surprised, happy, and a hint of embarrassment.

He was surprised that Hayate Mugetsu achieved a great victory in such a short time, happy about the large number of captives, and embarrassed because Hayate Mugetsu adopted a strategy similar to his, yet Hayate Mugetsu won a complete victory while he was heavily injured and defeated.

“It is indeed good news; it couldn’t be better for Konoha,” Homura Mitokado exclaimed.

Seeing Homura Mitokado like this, Utatane Koharu became interested and asked Homura Mitokado for the intelligence.

After reading it, Utatane Koharu was shocked and couldn’t help but ask:

“Is Hayate Mugetsu’s Wood Release training speed really this fast? To be able to solve most of the Mist Ninja alone with Wood Release.”

She remembered that Hiruzen Sarutobi had previously said Hayate Mugetsu had just developed Wood Release and needed time to consolidate and train. How was he already slaughtering on the battlefield?

“Hayate Mugetsu is not an ordinary Ninja after all; he has profound insights into other Nature Transformations and Ninjutsu,” Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly thought of a reason to explain it.

For a Ninja to train their first Nature Transformation, and to train a new one after mastering several, is completely different; the latter progresses very quickly.

Chakra training has commonalities; even between different Nature Transformations, there is some experience to be drawn upon, and Ninjutsu practice is even more so.

Because Hayate Mugetsu’s image had always been that of a rule-breaking genius, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn’t think too much about it.

He wished Hayate Mugetsu were even stronger, preferably growing to the level of Senju Hashirama in a year, so that Konoha could return to its peak.

Unfortunately, this was impossible; Senju Hashirama hadn’t become the God of Shinobi at Hayate Mugetsu’s age either.

“Since Hayate Mugetsu has achieved such great results, we can contact the Hidden Mist for negotiations, and we can also transfer Hayate Mugetsu to the Iwagakure battlefield to support Jiraiya, so the current deadlock will be resolved,” Homura Mitokado quickly said.

Although such a schedule was somewhat laborious for Hayate Mugetsu, this was the optimal solution.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Utatane Koharu both agreed with Homura Mitokado’s idea.

“After Hayate Mugetsu returns from Iwagakure, let him fill the vacancy of Hokage Assistant,” Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly said.

If no major accidents occurred, Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to pass the position of Hokage to Hayate Mugetsu.

Letting Hayate Mugetsu train in the position of Hokage Assistant first would make the future succession smoother, without any mishaps.

Utatane Koharu subconsciously wanted to refuse; Hayate Mugetsu was so young, how could he hold such an important position as Hokage Assistant?

But thinking of the intelligence just now, Utatane Koharu finally closed her mouth and said nothing.

“Hayate Mugetsu is indeed capable; his achievements are enough to convince the masses,” Homura Mitokado nodded in approval.

After all, Hayate Mugetsu had accumulated many war merits, large and small, and this time he had made a super contribution. Only the Sannin could suppress Hayate Mugetsu with their seniority.

But Hayate Mugetsu had Hiruzen Sarutobi’s support, so the Sannin couldn’t compete with Hayate Mugetsu either.

Seeing that Homura Mitokado also agreed, Utatane Koharu simply nodded.

…

Besides the victor, Konoha, Uchiha Madara, who had dispatched White Zetsu to monitor the Konoha Ninja Force, also quickly received the latest intelligence about Hayate Mugetsu.

“Lord Madara, I’m afraid we have to change our plan. This Hayate Mugetsu is too protective of his disciples; he brings them along every time he goes to the battlefield,” Black Zetsu said helplessly.

Originally, their plan was to muddy the waters of the Ninja World and make Konoha fall into a siege, so that Hayate Mugetsu would have no time to attend to Obito and the others.

Unexpectedly, Hayate Mugetsu’s desire for control was so strong. His disciples could all slaughter Jonin, yet he adamantly refused to let them lead teams alone, or even accept missions.

This made them unable to find a way to act.

Because Hayate Mugetsu was strong and had also mastered convenient Ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God, it was almost impossible to solve Hayate Mugetsu relying only on existing layouts.

“Capture that Grass Ninja and use the backup plan,” Uchiha Madara said faintly, leaning on his cane with both hands.

“But that plan, you will…” Black Zetsu feigned a worried look.

“I don’t have that much time left, and this time there will definitely be no problems,” Uchiha Madara revealed extreme confidence in his words.

Because this time, it was he who would take action personally, so how could there be any accidents?

“I understand, Lord Madara. I’ll go right away,” Black Zetsu withdrew with a loyal appearance.

The aged Uchiha Madara sat alone in the dimly lit cave, looking like a helpless, lonely old man.

But if anyone saw his face, they would immediately overturn that thought, because that wrinkled face actually exuded an aura of dominance.

“Hayate Mugetsu, the second Wood Release Ninja after Hashirama, don’t be too boring…”