Chapter 202: Flattery

Chapter 202: Flattery

In the main tent.

Yagura sat in the first seat.

Kushimaru, Harusame, Kaguya Tatsuya, and Yuki Hiro stood on both sides of him.

As for Kaito.

Although he is still young and has little experience, he is the captain of an upstart unit after all, and has earned the nickname "Gale Wing" through his own strength, so he is not at the bottom of the list.

His rank is only slightly lower than that of Kisame, who had just become one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

However, what surprised Kaito was not the boring thing of arranging seats.

Instead, standing next to Harusame, in the position where Chūkichi, the head of the perception unit, should have been, was Ao, who had not been seen for a long time.

'Ao-sensei has been on standby in the village for more than half a year. Is he sent to the front line this time?'

'I haven't heard that Chūkichi was injured or anything like that? Is it just a simple job rotation?'

Kaito winked at his sensei as if he wanted to exchange information, but Ao just smiled at him helplessly.

Considering that it was such a serious occasion after all, Kaito gave up the idea of eye contact and planned to ask Ao-sensei for clarification after the meeting.

"Dong Dong dong~"

Yagura imitated the Third Mizukage's usual behavior, tapping the tabletop with his fingers to attract the attention of everyone present.

Then he spoke with a serious expression.

"Although the battle with Kumogakure has always been within the expectations of the frontline command, this time it was so sudden that it disrupted many of our arrangements."

"The Third Mizukage-sama, who was originally planning to come to the front line to personally command, has also postponed his plan because of this."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was in an uproar.

Various discussions arose one after another, and Yagura knocked on the table several times but failed to interrupt the noise below.

The Kage of the other four great ninja villages appeared on the battlefield one after another. Even Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been in charge of Konoha Village during the Second Great Ninja War, was forced to go to the front line of the Land of Earth to defend against the enemy under pressure.

On the other hand, although the Kirigakure Village was in a low-level battle, it relied on the advantage brought by the Flying Unit to defeat the Konohagakure Village.

However, only Yagura was dispatched to fight at the top level, which resulted in the inability to completely defeat Konoha's eastern front.

The rumor in the village to invite the Third Mizukage to fight naturally became more and more widespread.

Fortunately, the Third Mizukage has ruled the Kirigakure Village for decades and has great prestige, so there haven't been many negative comments for the time being.

In fact, Yagura gradually figured out the thoughts of the Third Mizukage.

Whether it is to train new people for the village or for his own reputation.

What the Third Mizukage wanted was an effect that would have the final say once he appeared on the stage.

Therefore, unless the battle situation has reached a critical moment of imminent victory or defeat, the Third Mizukage will not easily come to the front line to take away his command.

Thinking of this, Yagura's gaze became more determined.

'Kirigakure can only win a great victory!'

At this moment, a shout of cursing interrupted the noise.

"Damn it! Shut up! You won't fight if the Mizukage-sama doesn't come, right?"

The tent suddenly became quiet, and everyone turned their eyes to the person who spoke.

But after seeing who was speaking, everyone immediately turned their heads to the other side in tacit understanding.

'If you argue with this idiot, he will really start fighting regardless of the situation.'

Everyone thought at the same time.

The person who spoke was naturally the patriarch of the Kaguya clan, Kaguya Tatsuya.

However, he seemed not to understand the expressions of others, or he simply didn't care. Instead, he stared straight at Yagura and spoke.

"Yagura, stop talking about those useless things, just tell me whether we are going to attack Konohagakure or Kumogakure next!"

Yagura didn't care about this guy's tone. Instead, he was quite grateful to him for helping him get the meeting back on track.

However, Yagura did not continue talking in line with the other party's words, but continued to follow his own pace.

"Let's not discuss how to fight yet, Jonin Tenpō, please tell me the results of your investigation on the way back."

Yagura turned his gaze to a middle-aged jonin standing at the end and said.

"Yes, Yagura-sama."

The jonin named Tenpō first stepped forward and gestured to everyone, then continued to speak.

"This incident was initiated by three people from our side and three people from Kumogakure. They are suspected of directly giving orders and directing the members of their respective units."

"Although after checking, the three people who took action on our side have confirmed that they are ninjas from the village, the others have said that they did behave abnormally today. There was even one person who was only a Genin, but he openly gave orders to the other ninjas."

"And not long after the battle began, all three were either killed or missing."

Kaguya Tatsuya also jumped out and cursed.

"Why bother investigating? It must be those bastards from Konohagakure in disguise! Just kill them!"

Unexpectedly, Yagura shook his head.

"The Kumogakure Village side may not hold the same view. Moreover, even if they can find out the cause of the incident, it is an indisputable fact that the two sides fought. The casualties on both sides are not small numbers. It is impossible to ignore it so easily."

"This won't work, and that won't work! So what do you think we should do?"

Kaguya Tatsuya crossed his arms across his chest, impatience written all over his face.

But Yagura asked back.

"Why do we have to find one?"

? ? ? ?

"Captain Kushimaru, you take two groups of people, disguise them well, and attack the ninjas who are out of Konoha and Kumogakure respectively."

After saying this, Yagura turned and looked at the other person.

"You understand what I mean?"

Kushimaru laughed sinisterly.

"I'm familiar with this."

Then, Yagura continued to speak to others.

"The main force has entered the Land of Fire to cover the construction of a new front-line camp. The ground catapult device is in place. This time we will let the Flying Unit's attack range cover the entire eastern part of the Land of Fire!"

"This time, those idiots in Konoha revealed a lot of methods they are going to use to deal with us. Harusame, list them one by one after the meeting and hand them over to the General Staff, and let them come up with countermeasures."

"Yes, Yagura-sama."

Harusame accepted the order respectfully, as this was his job as the Leader of the Flying Unit.

Finally, Yagura looked at Kaito, who seemed to be thinking, with a smile on his face.

"Jonin Mirukawa, our Gale Wing."

When Kaito heard the voice, he was immediately startled.

It's okay for his teammates to call him that, he's already used to it.

But being called by this title in front of so many senior ninjas and many acquaintances, Kaito almost dug his toes into the ground in embarrassment.

He quickly stood at attention, looked straight towards Yagura, and answered with a stiff expression.

"Yagura-sama, you called me?"

Yagura still had a smile on his face.

"Don't be nervous, Jonin Mirukawa. I heard that you not only successfully destroyed the new outpost that Konoha attempted to establish during this mission, but also killed Konoha's Akimichi Torifu alone on your way back?"

As soon as these words were spoken, whispers arose again in the tent.

"Akimichi Torifu? The patriarch of the Akimichi clan?"

"The guard of the Second Hokage?"

"Doesn't that mean that Kaito-kun already has the strength of a ninja swordsman?"

"Shh, don't talk nonsense!"

(End of this chapter)