Speaking of which, Shisui had fought Yuu before.
However, that had been last year. At the time, Yuu had only recently graduated from the Ninja Academy and had just stolen Kakashi's Hatake Swordsmanship through the galgame system. He had not yet been capable of consistently overpowering Shisui's Uchiha-Style Swordsmanship.
Now, however, circumstances had changed.
Yuu had become the "White Reaper" who had shaken the Sunagakure battlefield, while Shisui was still only a newly promoted chūnin taking his first steps into the world.
Under these circumstances, personally witnessing Yuu defeat three Kirigakure jōnin by himself was undoubtedly shocking.
Of course, Shisui's rank as a "chūnin" could not be defined by the standards of an ordinary chūnin.
Leaving everything else aside, his three-tomoe Sharingan alone guaranteed him strength at the level of a special jōnin.
He had simply remained inside the village and rarely gone out on missions before, so he still needed actual combat experience to further temper himself and prove his ability.
In addition,
Uchiha Inabi and Tekka also unconsciously looked at Yuu with burning gazes.
Ultimately, the Uchiha were a clan that worshiped strength.
Yuu's age and the power he had displayed were already enough to earn the admiration of the two Uchiha, who had even begun comparing him with their own clan head, Uchiha Fugaku.
Mm. In their eyes, Yuu was still slightly inferior to their clan head. He could only be said to be approaching Fugaku's level.
After all, according to their understanding, the Uchiha clan was the strongest. Without a Sharingan, Yuu's upper limit was inevitably somewhat lower.
He could probably only win three times out of ten against Fugaku…
"Right, Yuu-senpai. What should we do with this guy?"
Shisui pointed toward Jūzō Biwa and asked.
Unlike the Kaguya and Hōzuki clansmen, Jūzō Biwa was not dead. Yuu had merely struck the back of his neck with a hand chop and knocked him unconscious.
Nearby,
Yuu pondered briefly before saying,
"Send him to the nearest stronghold and imprison him. He is one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and he brought the Kubikiribōchō with him. If Kirigakure offers a suitable price later, we can consider selling both of them back."
Honestly, Yuu did not think much of the Kubikiribōchō.
Although its ability to "repair itself by absorbing blood" sounded fairly useful, it had broken more often than any of Kirigakure's other seven swords.
This proved that the material itself was fundamentally flawed.
Moreover, Yuu's fighting style was not particularly compatible with such a weapon.
As for Jūzō Biwa himself, there was nothing especially valuable about him that was worth studying.
Unless Konoha wanted to make use of him in some political scheme, his only purpose was to be exchanged for money from Kirigakure or retained for a future prisoner exchange.
One Asuma was worth thirty-five million ryō.
As for Jūzō Biwa…
Even with a seventy-percent discount, asking Kirigakure for fifteen million ryō in ransom would not be excessive, right?
Soon,
Shisui led the others in cleaning up the battlefield, then returned to Yuu and reported the situation.
Aside from Fuguki Suikazan, who had escaped, and around a dozen Kiri ninja who had reacted quickly enough to successfully flee, more than half of the Kirigakure force deployed this time had either been killed or captured.
At this moment, Inabi and Tekka had already disposed of the dead Kiri ninja using Great Fireball.
The remaining dozen or so prisoners were squatting in a row beside the road with their hands behind their heads, watched over by Uchiha Inabi and the others.
Each prisoner looked pale and trembled uncontrollably, worried about what would happen to them next.
As for Jūzō Biwa, his hands and feet had already been bound, and Rin had provided him with some basic treatment.
Shisui planned to observe his condition later before deciding whether to wake him up or simply package both the man and his sword together and carry them away.
Of course,
the most important spoils from this battle were actually the corpses of Kaguya Ryūga and Hōzuki Mutsuki.
The identities of these two were special.
Whether they were brought back to Konoha for the research institute to analyze the secrets of their kekkei genkai and hidden techniques, or preserved as important bargaining chips for future negotiations with Kirigakure, they were extremely valuable.
They could not be carelessly damaged.
Additionally, Yuu had personally obtained two special rewards:
[Current "World's Greatest Swordsmanship" progress: 5/8—Defeat powerful swordsmen from different schools.]
…
[You shattered the restraints binding the Hydrification Technique. She is deeply grateful to you and has also been moved by your outstanding appearance and formidable strength. She has decided to offer herself to you.]
[Hydrification Technique affection +3. Added to wooing list!]
…
That was right.
The battle against Fuguki Suikazan and the others had successfully raised the progress of Hatake Swordsmanship's mission by two stages, bringing it to 5/8.
In theory, Yuu only needed to find three more members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, challenge and defeat them one by one, and he would most likely raise the World's Greatest Swordsmanship mission to 8/8 and complete it.
There was still the possibility that some of the remaining Seven Ninja Swordsmen were frauds, or that their swordsmanship belonged to the same school as Fuguki Suikazan and Jūzō Biwa.
In that case, defeating them might not increase the progress.
But since the mission was already more than halfway complete, Yuu could relax a little going forward.
Besides that…
The Hydrification Technique joining his "harem" was an unexpected surprise.
Yuu planned to find some time later to test the technique.
"Let's withdraw for now."
Yuu waved his hand and said,
"Everyone worked hard during this battle. Let's find somewhere to rest first. We'll also interrogate these prisoners and see whether we can learn Kirigakure's operational plans. We can deal with everything else afterward.
"After suffering this defeat, Kirigakure probably won't dare show themselves so casually for a while."
However, reinforcements from the Land of Water might also arrive soon.
After all, Fuguki Suikazan had escaped from the battlefield. He would inevitably send word to Kirigakure about what had happened here.
As long as Kirigakure still intended to attack Konoha, they would undoubtedly send more powerful combatants to join the war—perhaps even a jinchūriki.
Yuu was now, after all, a frontline commander with dozens of people under his command.
At a time like this, he needed to be somewhat cautious to avoid unnecessary casualties.
…
More than half an hour later,
Yuu and the others arrived at the Shakuka Town stronghold, more than ten kilometers away.
By the time they arrived, it was already afternoon. Everyone was somewhat hungry and exhausted.
The squad leader stationed at Shakuka Town, Honekawa Koo, hurriedly brought people out to receive them. He took custody of the prisoners and injured personnel and arranged for them to be placed in cells and hospital rooms.
Among them, Jūzō Biwa, who was covered in bandages, was taken away separately.
His broken Kubikiribōchō was also sealed away and carefully stored.
The weapon was considered valuable. If it were accidentally lost, the resulting trouble would probably be considerable, so the Konoha ninja did not dare treat it carelessly.
After everything had been handled, the thin Konoha jōnin named Honekawa Koo, whose mouth looked somewhat pointed, cautiously approached and asked several questions about the prisoners.
In other words, he wanted to know what had happened during Yuu's earlier battle.
"…Oh? This man is Jūzō Biwa, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"
"What? Captain Mikami also defeated Fuguki Suikazan? Wow, that's incredible!"
"Uh, these two corpses belong to members of the Hōzuki and Kaguya clans? This…"
The consecutive revelations left Honekawa Koo and the others dumbfounded.
The gazes they directed toward Yuu became increasingly amazed, filled with disbelief.
As ninja stationed along the southeastern border of the Land of Fire, Honekawa Koo and the others possessed some understanding of Kirigakure.
They roughly knew the significance of the Kaguya clan, the Hōzuki clan, and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Whenever they encountered individuals like these in the past, they had always tried their best to avoid them.
They had never expected this young-looking, newly promoted jōnin to accomplish something like this.
One truly could not judge a person by their appearance.
Yuu's reaction to their astonishment was rather indifferent.
After all, these achievements were far inferior to capturing Rasa alive. There was no need to exaggerate them.
The important matter now was finding a way to squeeze out what Konoha needed from the Kirigakure prisoners—such as intelligence.
"Yamanaka, I'll trouble you with these men."
Yuu pointed at several prisoners who had been deliberately kept aside, including two jōnin who still appeared relatively clear-minded.
"Conduct a deep search of their intelligence. Focus on the locations and defensive arrangements of Kirigakure's hidden strongholds… as well as Fuguki Suikazan's possible destination and any reinforcement plans they may have.
"This information will be vital to our future operations."
"Understood. Leave it to me."
Yamanaka Ken'ichi did not waste words.
He gestured for his companions to take the selected prisoners to the interrogation room specially established inside the stronghold.
Time passed slowly.
Around fifteen minutes later, Uchiha Fugaku and Gekkō Shigure also returned with their respective squads.
Uchiha Shisui stepped forward to welcome them and explained what had happened on their side.
He especially described Yuu's earth-shaking Water Formation Wall in the valley and his overwhelmingly destructive sword of lightning.
This information caused both Uchiha Fugaku and Gekkō Shigure to show expressions of amazement.
However, these two were veteran ninja who had experienced many things. They also had some understanding of—or had even personally witnessed—Yuu's true strength before.
Therefore, at least on the surface, they did not appear overly shocked.
Not long afterward,
Yamanaka Ken'ichi pushed open the door and walked out of the interrogation room.
He headed directly toward Yuu, who was examining a map, with a trace of seriousness on his face.
"Captain, the interrogation results are ready."
"Mm. Tell me."
After Yuu nodded, Yamanaka Ken'ichi lowered his voice and said,
"The intelligence obtained from these men does not differ much from what the previous prisoners revealed. However, we did learn the locations of two additional secret bases. Both are situated near the coastline, along the border between the Lands of Fire and Waves…
"They should be around here and here. These were staging points used during the early stages of their infiltration."
As Yamanaka Ken'ichi spoke, he quickly marked two locations on the map with a red pen.
Yuu looked at the markings, then glanced behind him.
"Kakashi. Fugaku-senpai."
"Mm?"
The two people whose names had been called turned toward him.
Yuu continued,
"Later, take your two squads and 'visit' these locations. See whether there is any valuable intelligence left inside those bases, especially concerning Kirigakure's movements.
"Move quickly and cleanly. Don't give them an opportunity to erase the evidence."
"Understood!"
Kakashi immediately accepted the order.
Uchiha Fugaku also nodded and prepared to depart.
Inside Konoha, the Uchiha clan's situation was extremely complicated.
In Fugaku's eyes, this was not merely another mission. It was also an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the Uchiha clan's value and earn independent military achievements.
If they could seize this opportunity, perhaps…
they might be able to ease the relationship between the Uchiha clan and the village.
On the other side, Yamanaka Ken'ichi hesitated briefly before adding,
"Captain, there's one more matter… It concerns that ninja from the Hōzuki clan, Hōzuki Mutsuki."
"What about him?" Yuu looked up.
"His identity may not be ordinary."
Yamanaka Ken'ichi's expression became somewhat grave.
"According to the memories of several Kiri ninja, he seems to be the biological nephew of the current Hōzuki clan head and was highly valued within the clan.
"Now that he has died here… the Hōzuki clan will probably launch an extremely fierce retaliation.
"The Hōzuki clan's Hydrification secret technique is strange and difficult to defend against. If they devote all their strength to revenge, their methods may be extremely dangerous."
"Oh…"
Yuu smiled.
He had thought it would be something serious.
Admittedly, the Hōzuki clan was one of Kirigakure's great clans. Their ancestors had even produced a Mizukage—the mustached man who enjoyed using mirages, Gengetsu Hōzuki.
No one knew exactly how he had managed it, but Gengetsu had traveled an enormous distance and mutually killed the Second Tsuchikage of Iwagakure during the Second Ninja World War.
Because he had died early, the Mizukage's position had been seized by someone else.
It was also because of this that Kirigakure gradually began transforming into the "Village of the Bloody Mist."
Its original kekkei genkai and hidden-technique clans were successively purged, from the Yuki clan to the Hōzuki and Kaguya clans…
At this point in time, although the Hōzuki clan had not yet been destroyed, it was probably already declining.
Hōzuki Mangetsu, who was recognized as a genius, should still be a young brat right now.
As for the others, their strength was probably only slightly greater than Hōzuki Mutsuki's.
Given Yuu's elemental advantage, they could not possibly pose any genuine threat to him.
The Kaguya clan, on the other hand, should still possess some strength.
Under normal circumstances, they would retain a considerable number of clansmen until the time Momochi Zabuza attempted to assassinate the Mizukage.
There might genuinely be several ruthless individuals like Kimimaro among them.
If Yuu encountered them…
that would not be bad either.
Yuu was rather curious about what other members of the Kaguya clan, aside from Kimimaro, were truly capable of.
The Kaguya Ryūga he had encountered today had only been passable. In terms of challenge, he had been somewhat lacking.
Yamanaka Ken'ichi watched Yuu's indifferent expression and opened his mouth.
In the end, however, he swallowed his words of warning.
After working together for so long, he had developed some understanding of Yuu's strength and manner of handling matters.
Since Yuu knew what he was doing, saying anything more would serve no purpose.
"Alright, everyone. Make the most of the time and rest."
Yuu clapped his hands, dispersing the somewhat solemn atmosphere.
"Kakashi, Fugaku-senpai, your two squads will depart this afternoon. Try to return before dawn tomorrow.
"Everyone else, recover your strength and prepare for the next battle.
"Kirigakure has suffered such a major loss. They won't simply let it go.
"Their next wave… should be the main course."
~~~
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