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For Konoha now, two of the Sannin are still punching in on time for work, the Third Hokage isn't senile, Minato Namikaze is the hottest thing around, and the Uchiha clan is still alive and well. So, in terms of military strength, they're more than enough to crush Kumogakure.
Konoha is in top shape. Their strength is truly… well, their strength is truly unprecedented and unparalleled. Although Konoha's relative strength is already strong enough, they're currently sandwiched between two eras where OP characters are everywhere. You have to give them credit for that.
But no matter what, Kumogakure is still Konoha's archenemy, the strongest enemy in the entire Shinobi World War.
Konoha is powerful, but if you were to describe them, you'd say they're a well-rounded village. But if you were to describe Kumogakure, you'd use three other words:
Martial Arts Faction.
You can see this from the Raikage at the top to the most ordinary Kumogakure ninja. Kumogakure ninjas are skilled in swordsmanship and Lightning Release. But what they're even better at is their taijutsu. If you were to just compare close-quarters combat, Kumogakure would easily beat the other villages.
So, they're tough to beat.
Kumogakure suffered heavy losses after their battle with Iwagakure, but that's why they're even more likely to fight to the death on the battlefield in the Land of Rice Fields now.
First, they lost the Third Raikage. Then, Iwagakure launched a surprise attack outside their village. This created a "desperate soldiers must win" atmosphere in Kumogakure. Let's fight! You don't have to kill us. We've already prepared ourselves mentally to kill ourselves before the fight even begins.
They've done the mental preparation internally, and externally, they have powerful physiques. So, Kumogakure is currently at a disadvantage, but paradoxically, they're also incredibly strong.
On the front line where Konoha and Kumogakure are locked in close-quarters combat, because of their fighting style and their willingness to die, they've actually been gaining the upper hand in the battles that have taken place since the war restarted, even though they're at a disadvantage.
This tough nut is hard to crack for Konoha.
So, Konoha decided to break off direct contact with the Kumogakure front line. They were willing to temporarily retreat their entire force to try to create some distance, regroup, and regain the advantage.
Konoha's first goal is to eliminate the part of the Kumogakure front line that protrudes towards the Land of Fire.
And Minato's squad's mission is to clean up after those battles.
There are definitely more than just Minato's squad carrying out this kind of mission. In reality, Minato's squad's primary job is to eliminate major threats.
Besides Minato's squad, the other squads carrying out this mission are also highly equipped. First, one simple point: the squads have excellent reconnaissance abilities. To prevent any stragglers from infiltrating the Konoha front line, almost every squad is equipped with a Byakugan user from the Hyūga clan.
"Nine o'clock, 1,200 meters, one person… and they're not moving." Shizune Yūgao said in his calm, unruffled tone.
Even without a Hyūga ninja, Minato's squad would still be quite good at reconnaissance. They might be a little weaker in real-time reconnaissance, but Shizune Yūgao is very strong when it comes to long-range detection.
While reporting this situation, his gaze was fixed on a small black bug on his right index finger. Although he was wearing round-framed sunglasses, making it impossible to see his eyes, Haori felt that this was definitely the case.
Minato nodded and made a gesture, signaling everyone to attack directly.
There was only one enemy… Minato was actually signaling everyone to surround the enemy, just in case something unexpected happened. And one enemy? He could handle it.
Following Minato's instructions, the four of them quickly surrounded the enemy. The enemy hadn't moved from their original position the entire time.
The distance was just over a kilometer. With Minato's squad's speed, even if they needed to be stealthy and suppress the sound of their movements, it was almost instantaneous to surround the enemy.
In Kumogakure and Iwagakure, there was a rule that if a mission was thwarted by the Yellow Flash, it could be considered a failure and they could retreat. But in reality, this order was practically meaningless.
Because it wasn't practical at all.
If you saw Minato and could still run away, would he still be so terrifying? The Yellow Flash's reputation comes from the fact that you can't win and you can't run away. It's a very unfortunate situation.
Besides, most of the time, Minato would spot the enemy before they spotted him. And if you add in the situation where they spot each other at the same time…
In any case, there was only a very slim chance that the enemy could spot Minato first and quietly retreat without him noticing.
This enemy was completely unaware of Minato's squad's approach. He didn't change his position. It wasn't because he was injured and couldn't move. He was hiding and waiting for his prey to come to him. It took a lot of patience to wait for the prey to come to you.
But unfortunately for him, he was waiting for a more skilled hunter.
In Haori's opinion, Minato's attacks always had a casual air about them. The process of eliminating the enemy was less time-consuming than sneaking up.
The enemy was hiding in a tree canopy. When they reached a position where they could attack, Minato directly threw a Flying Thunder God Kunai at the enemy.
The Kunai grazed the enemy's body and pierced the tree trunk behind him.
A normal ninja's reaction would be to glance back after being attacked. They would see that it was just a Kunai that attacked them. Then, they would use the direction and angle of the attack to determine the enemy's location. Then, they would turn their gaze in that direction. And only then would they have an unconscious follow-up action, either counterattacking or dodging.
This kind of reaction is generally fine, but the difference now is that their enemy is Minato: while he was turning his gaze, Minato instantly appeared at the location of the Flying Thunder God Kunai.
And then there was nothing.
For the enemy, he just blinked and turned his gaze. But Minato didn't even need to form a Rasengan. He simply slit his throat.
In terms of the cost-effectiveness of ninja attacks, assassination is often the best method. It's like being able to go up six floors in one breath without effort. And what's amazing about Minato is that many times, his normal attacks can be considered assassinations.
He's a ninja who blurs the lines between open and covert assassination.
The reason he developed the Rasengan, a ninjutsu without hand seals, was probably to coordinate with the rhythm of high-speed attacks within the Flying Thunder God. It's too impractical to try to form hand seals while moving at high speed, teleporting back and forth… And the Rasengan is undoubtedly a supplement to Minato's attack power during the use of the Flying Thunder God.
He eliminated the enemy as easily as eating and drinking water. Minato's squad continued their mission.
The difficulty of this mission was mainly the need to operate under the nose of Kumogakure. The squad was basically moving horizontally along the Kumogakure front line. The enemy's main force was not far away. If they weren't careful, the enemy might swarm them, and the squad would be surrounded.
Fortunately, the enemy's main focus was on Konoha's elimination operation.
Shortly after eliminating this enemy, or rather, almost immediately, Shizune Yūgao reported a new situation. But this time, it was a bit different. He stopped moving forward directly.
As the eyes and ears of the entire squad, once he stopped, the entire squad stopped with him.
"There's a new enemy, and they're still far away…" he said, his tone unchanged.
Normally, Shizune Yūgao would choose to report the enemy's position nearby. Enemies that were too far away weren't a priority. But this time, he seriously reported this information.
"There are two enemies."
"So?" Minato asked. Shizune Yūgao was emphasizing the number of enemies. Combined with Jiraiya's earlier warning, he clearly had a guess.
"The specific situation is still unknown, but my Parasite Bugs are afraid… They have a strong sense of fear and dread."
As Shizune Yūgao finished speaking, the rest of them exchanged glances. A two-man team… AB?
They didn't expect to encounter them so soon.
And this kind of powerful enemy was undoubtedly the top priority for Minato's squad to eliminate. So, they wouldn't retreat. Instead, they would abandon the ordinary enemies and head straight for them.
But when they caught up to the two of them, Haori felt like he had just had a mouthful of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce. It was inexplicably strange.
He had come with the mindset of dealing with an adult, but he ended up encountering this.
What was going on? Had the Valkyries landed again?
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