As a result, although the harassment was extremely irritating and losses did occur, they were not substantial.
The only issue was that the construction speed of the various outposts became painfully slow amid the wave after wave of harassment.
At Rinkai City, inside a temporary headquarters.
After reading through one scattered battle report after another, Yagura stood up, walked to the large map, stared at it for a moment, and suddenly spoke.
"Pass down the order! The logistics transport units are to suspend all operations for the time being and remain in place awaiting further instructions."
After a pause, his gaze remained fixed on the map as he added in a deep voice, "Also, notify the forces stationed in the Land of Waves to strengthen reconnaissance. Conduct a thorough investigation and see whether rats from Konoha have already slipped in."
"Yes!" The messenger ninja accepted the order and departed.
After the messenger left, Chukichi spoke.
"Yagura, do you think Konoha might attack our logistics lines?"
"It is something we must guard against."
Yagura nodded in response.
Hearing this, Chukichi fell silent and asked no further questions.
Shinichi's previous lightning raid deep into the heartland of the Land of Lightning, which had smashed the Village Hidden in the Cloud's logistics network to pieces, had delivered a bloody lesson to the entire Shinobi World.
Since then, every major ninja village has become increasingly cautious regarding logistics defense, wishing they could hide their supply lines underground or in the sky.
Especially since the person they were currently facing was the very individual who had turned this tactic into a textbook example.
No amount of caution was excessive.
After a moment of silence, Yagura still felt it was not secure enough and spoke again.
"Chukichi, I'd like you to go to the Land of Waves and personally oversee the reconnaissance defense line in the rear."
Chukichi was currently the Village Hidden in the Mist's strongest sensory ninja.
Although several months earlier, the Village Hidden in the Mist had killed a member of the Hyuga main house during an encounter and successfully seized a Byakugan, the village was still conducting research on it.
Even after the research was completed, a suitable ninja would still need to be selected for transplantation and adaptation.
Before the Byakugan could truly be utilized by the Village Hidden in the Mist, Chukichi remained the Village Hidden in the Mist's most reliable pair of eyes.
One could even say that even if the Byakugan were successfully put into use in the future, it might not necessarily surpass him.
"I understand."
Chukichi nodded before turning and leaving the headquarters.
...
While Village Hidden in the Mist and Konoha continued to wrestle against each other along the southeastern coast, with the situation in the Shinobi World growing increasingly chaotic, thousands of miles away, in the capital of the Land of Iron.
The once-every-three-years National Swordsmanship Tournament, lasting five days, finally opened officially on this day.
Inside the enormous open-air arena, the circular spectator stands were already filled with people who had traveled from all over the country to watch.
Samurai, merchants, craftsmen, ronin, and even visitors who had come specifically from neighboring countries packed the seats in dense layers, their noisy discussions rising and falling without end.
On the highest main viewing platform, the current General of the Land of Iron, Mifune, sat beside the previous General, Rokkaku, quietly conversing about something.
As they talked, their gazes drifted simultaneously to the platform on the left.
Not only the two of them, but also their subordinates behind them and a considerable portion of the audience were unconsciously directing their attention toward the same location, because standing there was a tall young man with a carefree expression.
He casually rested a rugged-looking halberd on his shoulder, while a katana hung diagonally from his waist. His posture was lazy and relaxed, making him look as though he had just been dragged over from a teahouse to participate at the last moment.
Yet it was precisely this seemingly unreliable fellow who had drawn nearly half of the arena's attention.
Isshin of Ashina Style.
Many people present had long since heard his name like thunder. Even those who had not known him before had become familiar with him through the overwhelming publicity that had filled capital's streets, alleys, and newspapers over the past few days.
Several months earlier, he had fought the now-famous Crimson Flame Shinichi, whose reputation shook the Shinobi World and stirred countless storms, to a draw in Konoha's arena.
There, the two publicly promised to fight after becoming the strongest in the Shinobi World.
Although over the past few months, Isshin's daily life had been remarkably ordinary, challenging dojos, practicing swordsmanship, challenging more dojos, practicing more swordsmanship, day after day.
While on the distant, Shinichi Higashino's fame on the battlefields of the Shinobi World grew ever greater and his achievements became increasingly shocking, Isshin, whose reputation had become linked to his, also rose with the tide and was pushed onto ever-higher waves of fame.
This even led to some rather amusing incidents.
The dojo masters who had been defeated by Isshin originally regarded their losses as humiliations and had probably cursed him in secret countless times, but as Shinichi Higashino's fame skyrocketed, these dojo masters gradually changed their tune.
After all, Isshin was a powerful expert who had fought Shinichi Higashino to a draw.
Thus, what had once been humiliation strangely became a source of comfort and even a subtle point of pride worth mentioning.
It was much like if, in today's Shinobi World, someone suddenly appeared and declared: "I once fought a great battle against the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju."
Don't worry about whether it was really a great battle, who won or lost, or how the fight actually unfolded.
Just tell me whether it's shocking or not!
And even now, quite a few people genuinely believed that Isshin's current strength was probably no longer comparable to that of Shinichi Higashino, who was now at the height of his fame on the battlefield. However, the fact that he had fought Shinichi Higashino several months ago to a draw was enough to explain everything.
Even if he was inferior now, the gap probably wouldn't be very large, right?
With such curiosity and anticipation, countless spectators, as well as intelligence agents from other ninja villages, all turned their attention toward the tall, unruly-looking young man on the field.
"So that kid is Isshin?"
On the elevated platform, Mifune's gaze lingered on the youth carrying a katana on his shoulder for quite some time before he turned to Rokkaku beside him and smiled.
"Rokkaku-sama, this kid is quite handsome. More importantly, he naturally carries himself with a certain presence."
Previously, he had only seen photos of Isshin and knew that the boy was good-looking. Seeing him in person today, he discovered that the real person surpassed the photos by several degrees.
Although his posture was relaxed and he exuded an unrestrained and carefree aura, he somehow possessed an indescribable presence of his own.
Even Mifune, the General of the Land of Iron, who had seen countless heroes, felt an inexplicable fondness for him after just one glance.
As Mifune spoke, the referee below had already raised his right hand high and loudly announced the start of the match.
"He certainly has an impressive appearance. He…"
Rokkaku nodded and was just about to continue.
At that very instant, it was as though thousands of birds screamed simultaneously as a piercing explosion of electrical currents suddenly erupted, completely swallowing the second half of Rokkaku's sentence!