MSIN: Chapter 168
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The Land of Water, an independent island nation isolated overseas, somehow manages to get involved in every Shinobi World War. It seems like a rather magical thing.
Why not just stay on the island, peacefully plant trees, raise children, and live a good life, minding your own business?
The answer is no, it's not good. It's very bad.
What kind of great power wouldn't participate in the Shinobi World War? The leader of Kirigakure is called the Mizukage. As a Kage, in the Shinobi World War, you either beat your enemies to a pulp or get beaten to a pulp. Otherwise, you're neglecting your duty.
It's understandable that Kirigakure would fight with Konoha and Kumogakure. After all, they're geographically closer, separated only by the sea.
But it's hard to say why they're sworn enemies with Iwagakure. They're too far apart!
Even weirder is that, up to this point, Kirigakure and Sunagakure are still at war. That's a bit strange. An island nation and an inland country, they're worlds apart. What kind of grudge can't be settled with a good talk?
Well, the entire shinobi world is only as big as a handprint. And ninjas are known for having long legs and running around everywhere. They like to do assassinations, infiltrations, and sabotage. Maybe they just made an enemy of each other at some point.
The war between Konoha and Kirigakure, although not weaker than other fronts in terms of intensity, is smaller in overall scale.
Because if the two sides are going to fight, they have to cross the sea. And no country has a navy. In terms of classification, the profession of "sea ninja" doesn't exist.
So, including factors like difficulty in supplying materials, the ocean limits both countries' ability to deploy ninjas in a single battle, and it also limits the scale of each battle.
If 10,000 Kirigakure ninjas charged into the Land of Fire, it wouldn't be impossible. But it would be difficult for these 10,000 ninjas to stay in the Land of Fire and fight for a long time. It's very unlikely in terms of supplies.
So, the front line led by Orochimaru currently has a total of 4,000 ninjas. Considering that there are quite a few clan ninjas, like the Uchiha and Hyūga, their average individual combat power is probably a bit better than Jiraiya's side.
And although Orochimaru said that they were trying to attack the Land of Water, the word "trying" is a bit inappropriate. Because he decided to deploy 2,000 people, half of their forces, to participate in the operation.
So, this is a large-scale operation. The war has just resumed, and Konoha is already taking major action.
In the past, Konoha had always been on the defensive, being besieged. Even when they occasionally infiltrated the Land of Water, it was always with a small force. This kind of large-scale proactive war action is a first.
Considering that they need to attack across the sea, the sea is completely open, and there's no telling whether there are spies, it's almost impossible to completely conceal the operation. But to meet the requirement of as much surprise as possible, Konoha's ninja force chose a day with very poor visibility due to fog to begin the operation.
The operation was also directly commanded by Orochimaru.
A ninja like Haori, who was in this situation, was unceremoniously put into the first strike squadron. In terms of organization, he belonged to the "Orochimaru Landing Plan" beach assault force.
Orochimaru really did choose a good day to launch the attack. The fog that day was so thick that he couldn't even see his teammates clearly.
Konoha ninjas launched their attack from the sea. They set out in the afternoon and reached their designated target the next morning.
To prevent unnecessary accidents, these 2,000 people wouldn't disperse their forces again. Instead, they would simultaneously attack a certain coastal stronghold of Kirigakure. Their first combat objective was to destroy it.
According to intelligence, this stronghold stored a lot of Kirigakure's combat supplies, and most of the ninjas who infiltrated the Land of Fire would gather here first.
So, after destroying it, Kirigakure's future offensive actions would be hindered to some extent.
Up to this point in the war, Konoha had never launched a large-scale attack on the Land of Water. This inertia had a confusing effect on Kirigakure. Kirigakure hadn't really considered the possibility of Konoha destroying their stronghold.
Early morning, thick fog, near the coast of the Land of Water.
In the fog, figures flickered. Konoha ninjas carefully approached the coast, trying to control themselves and not make a sound.
But unfortunately, this was Kirigakure's territory after all. They didn't know what kind of monitoring methods Kirigakure had.
So, when they got about five kilometers from the coast, a sharp whistle suddenly sounded.
"Tsk…"
Haori couldn't help but make a clicking sound. They had been discovered after all.
But actually, being discovered at this distance was considered lucky.
Although they had been discovered, Konoha's ninjas certainly wouldn't retreat. On the contrary, since they had already been discovered, they didn't need to worry about making noise anymore. They charged forward at full speed.
Forceful attack! That's what the vanguard was for.
He charged forward on the surface of the water. Haori's position was in the middle of the formation, but when his feet landed on the coast, he activated Chidori Flow instantly. Almost in an instant, accompanied by a lot of noise, he was instantly at the front of the formation.
Kirigakure's ninjas reacted quickly. In this short distance and time, some ninjas had already charged out of the stronghold, attempting to intercept Konoha's main force.
Haori was at the front, so he was naturally the priority target. But… they couldn't hit him, they couldn't intercept him.
Haori was too fast. He was light as a feather, as swift as the wind, and as fast as an arrow. He only dodged, not engaging in combat with the enemy.
Because he had another mission to accomplish.
So, it was almost when he reached the front of the enemy's stronghold that Haori made hand seals.
Ninjutsu: Summoning: Double-Horned Rhino: Open Sesame Jutsu.
A giant, armored double-horned rhino appeared in front of him.
With a dull roar, or rather, a bellow, the double-horned rhino's hooves stomped heavily on the ground and it began to charge forward. It seemed slow, but it was unstoppable.
"Boom!"
A loud bang echoed, and dust rose. It was as if a huge battering ram with overwhelming force had slammed into the outer wall of the stronghold!
No matter whether the stronghold's outer wall was made of wood, stone, or iron, it was instantly pierced through by the summoning beast!
Just as Haori was considering whether to charge in directly… You know, there were a lot of Kirigakure ninjas inside. It would be dangerous to charge in recklessly.
But he was overthinking. Someone had already charged in after the double-horned rhino.
The fastest person in the shinobi world was undisputed. It was Konoha's Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato. But Haori wasn't the only one who was fast. There were many others who were incredibly fast.
For example, this proud member of the Uchiha clan, Shisui of the Body Flicker.
Haori was speechless. He had been running very fast, right? How could the other guy easily keep up? The Body Flicker Jutsu could reach the speed of his Lightning Release… They weren't using the same amount of chakra, right?
Haori was speechless.
But, charging in directly like that, wouldn't they be instantly beaten up?
It seems like he was very confident in his skills.
Haori didn't have time to think too much. He quickly followed them and charged into the stronghold.
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