Chapter 187: Great Victory
Being surrounded by five Konoha Jonin, including two Uchiha Jonin, as well as Anbu Copper Fox, Hozuki Murgetsu felt his scalp tighten.
Hozuki Murgetsu hurriedly formed hand seals.
Steam Danger Explosion Might rushed toward the south, rapidly expanding to its maximum.
The dozens-of-meters-tall Steam Danger Explosion Might even allowed the sound of boiling water and churning steam inside to be heard.
“Explode!”
A terrifying explosion destroyed the encirclement of the five Konoha Jonin.
Yoru, who was relatively close to the Steam Danger Explosion Might, had no choice but to retreat backward.
After breaking through the gap, Hozuki Murgetsu leaped toward the sea without looking back.
Seeing the Konoha people in hot pursuit, Hozuki Murgetsu formed hand seals, and a Steam Danger Explosion Might clone blocked behind him once more.
At that moment, a figure suddenly emerged from underground.
Yoru appeared and formed a seal.
Karma Seal of Retribution spread from the ground like a spiderweb, then crawled over Hozuki Murgetsu from his feet, covering his entire body.
“Opportunity!”
Uchiha Touka seized the chance, and a Great Fireball rushed in.
Yoru hurriedly burrowed into the ground to evade the Great Fireball. Hozuki Murgetsu was instantly engulfed by the Great Fireball, screaming in agony within it.
Yamashiro Aoba saw Copper Fox Jonin emerge from not far away and hurriedly asked, “Copper Fox Jonin, did we get him?”
Yoru shook his head:
“Hozuki Murgetsu was hit by the Great Fireball Technique, but in his final moment, he risked severe injury from the Great Fireball and used Water Transformation Secret Jutsu to escape my Sealing Jutsu, seeping into the ground, whereabouts unknown.”
Hozuki Murgetsu was a ruthless man who escaped at the risk of being burned by fire.
However, Yoru knew Hozuki Murgetsu’s information.
He had made preparations underground; when infiltrating under Hozuki Murgetsu’s feet, he had laid poison on the ground.
After Hozuki Murgetsu water transformed, the poison would dissolve into his liquefied body.
With that poison, the self-healing effect of Hozuki Murgetsu’s water transformation would be greatly reduced.
The Konoha group heard Hozuki Murgetsu had escaped and inwardly lamented the pity.
At that moment, the appearance of Steam Danger Explosion Might proved Hozuki Murgetsu truly hadn’t died.
Steam Danger Explosion Might charged at the group, expanding to maximum once more, with water vapor and oil erupting as high-temperature shockwaves in all directions.
Kiiroinu hadn’t taken down Suikazan Fuguya in a short time either.
Suikazan Fuguya had also escaped.
Uchiha Touka said regretfully, “What a pity, both Elite Jonin escaped.”
Kiiroinu said, “Suikazan Fuguya has an enormous Chakra Amount; whether Water Style or Needle Secret Jutsu, it was very taxing for me to counter.”
Yamashiro Aoba and Gekko Shizuma saw the others had no intention of pursuing and charged at the normal Mist Ninja.
Killing more Mist Ninja now would expand the battle results.
Yoru also followed to deal with the normal Mist Ninja.
The greatest goal of this ambush battle was to achieve considerable battle results, earning Kiiroinu the meritorious service for promotion to Vice Minister.
Several Konoha Side Jonin joined the battle, and the three Mist Ninja battalions quickly collapsed.
After the battle ended, Kiiroinu, Yoru, and other Jonin stood on the mountaintop, watching the Butterfly tally the battle situation below.
Not long after, the Butterfly arrived at the mountaintop.
“Captain! In this battle, we killed four Mist Ninja Jonin and over 330 Mist Ninja!”
Kiiroinu breathed heavily.
Not bad, not bad—a great victory had been won.
Such a victory would silence the others and allow his promotion to Vice Minister.
He said, “Butterfly, record the battle results in detail, tally our casualties, and quickly write a battle report.”
“Hold on!”
Kiiroinu heard the Fox speak and turned his head in confusion.
Yoru leaned close to Kiiroinu’s ear and said:
“Captain, when I interrogated the Mist Ninja, I heard that Suikazan Fuguya coveted Hozuki Murgetsu’s Great Sword Samehada.
How about we wait?
Hozuki Murgetsu was besieged by our five and severely injured; there might be a surprise.”
Kiiroinu said, “Is the infighting in the Hidden Mist Village even more severe than in our Konoha? Would two Elite Jonin fight it out?”
Yoru nodded, thinking it very possible.
Conflicts are hard to eliminate, but physical bodies are easy to destroy.
No matter which village’s ninja, they all prefer physically eliminating opponents.
Among the five Great Ninja Villages, only the Hidden Cloud Village after the Kinkaku and Ginkaku rebellion has the best internal order and least infighting, so its strength is the foremost among the five Great Ninja Villages.
The other four Great Ninja Villages are even in terms of infighting; no one should laugh at another.
If they can act, who wants to babble about the Will of Fire with others.
Fugaku Uchiha stood on the hillside, looking at the six Jonin on the hilltop, wondering when he could become a Konoha Jonin.
After cleaning the battlefield, the team marched toward the Front Line Camp.
—
On a certain coast in the Land of Whirlpools, Suikazan Fuguya hoisted the Great Sword Samehada onto his back.
A battered corpse lay on the reef.
“Being sucked and devoured by five walrus Summoning Beasts—this was the trump card I specially prepared for you. Even if you have Water Transformation Technique, once sucked into the bellies of different walruses, you can’t resurrect, right.”
Suikazan Fuguya felt the weight of the Great Sword Samehada and was deeply satisfied:
“Hozuki Murgetsu was killed by Konoha; I snatched the Great Sword Samehada back from Konoha, avoiding losses for the village.
With this explanation, those Konoha Jonin aren’t idiots; they’ll cooperate.
Hozuki Murgetsu’s head is a huge merit, far more useful than killing a few hundred Mist Ninja.”
Several walrus Summoning Beasts tore the corpse apart and sucked it clean bit by bit.
Not long after, these walruses died from poisoning.
Suikazan Fuguya was stunned; no wonder it went so smoothly—Hozuki Murgetsu had been poisoned and held out without showing it.
Yakushi Nonou hadn’t deceived him too much and had created the opportunity for him to seize the Great Sword Samehada.
Not long after Kiiroinu returned to the camp, a piece of news arrived at the camp too, and the Konoha camp boiled over.
The Hozuki Clan’s strongest ninja, Hozuki Murgetsu who mastered the Steam Danger Explosion Might Secret Jutsu, died in Konoha’s ambush.
Inside the Headquarters Tent, Uchiha Kane excitedly handed the scroll to Danzo:
“Advisor, Hozuki Murgetsu really died; many people saw the Great Sword Samehada change owners—Suikazan Fuguya has it on his back!
Kiiroinu’s ambush operation was extremely successful, killing the Sword Seizing Unit’s responsible Jonin Hozuki Murgetsu, dealing a heavy blow to the Hozuki Clan and Hidden Mist Village!”
Danzo glanced sideways at the scroll Uchiha Kane pushed over, grunted from his throat, which counted as agreement.
Uchiha Kane’s joyful expression froze on his face, then immediately turned expressionless.
Having been around Danzo for so long, it was impossible not to be expressionless.
Uchiha Kane understood that Danzo exceptionally loathed him and all Uchiha.
But Uchiha Kane had never offended Danzo.
This baseless hatred had troubled Uchiha Kane for many years.
Uchiha Kane said to the Strategist, “Have Kiiroinu Captain come to the Headquarters Tent immediately.”
The tent flap was lifted, and Root’s Otsu walked in.
Otsu shook his head at Danzo, then set down a scroll.
Danzo looked at the scroll; the two Root Ninja sent to contact Yakushi Nonou and Suikazan Fuguya had died at a certain seaside location.
The corpses had been hidden, but Otsu used Parasitic Insects to find them and destroyed the corpses’ brains.
Danzo found a “female” character in the scroll and pointed it out to Otsu.
Otsu nodded, knowing Lord Danzo wanted him to contact the Walking Witch.
Root’s cooperation with Suikazan Fuguya had always been brokered by the Walking Witch.
With Kiiroinu’s great victory, the Walking Witch must know something.
When Otsu left the tent, he happened to encounter Kiiroinu and the others entering at the flap.
Yoru, originally following behind the several Jonin, felt his heart sink upon seeing Otsu’s back.
Was Otsu going to investigate the deaths of the two Root members?
Aries hadn’t returned with the main force and had gone to find the two Root Ninja corpses; he didn’t know if Aries could return smoothly.
In some seaside bush, the Aries Squad found two corpses.
However, the corpses had already been destroyed, especially their brains.
The storage scrolls would destroy the brain’s final activity; to preserve evidence, no sealing measures had been taken before.
Aries thought to himself, this was bad—he hadn’t hidden the key evidence well.
Without these two corpses, how to prove that Danzo Advisor deliberately leaked intelligence?
Without evidence, accusing Danzo Advisor was tantamount to false accusation, and there would absolutely be no good outcome.
