Jonin were used to hold up the scene.
Chunin were used to farm merits.
But even for farming merits, one could not choose weaklings.
No matter what, a battlefield was still a battlefield.
Even if one's side held a beautiful advantage, those who lacked strength and failed to understand their own situation would still die on the battlefield.
For example, there had been that Hyuga Main House member before, who brought two jonin bodyguards with him to farm military merits.
In order to build good relations with the Hyuga clan, Orochimaru had protected that spoiled young master in every possible way. Only after the Konoha shinobi army had already beaten the Kirigakure shinobi army into complete collapse did he allow that three-man squad with two jonin to move freely.
Orochimaru never imagined that a Hyuga Main House member would actually dare to intercept routed Kirigakure soldiers.
After the First Shinobi World War, the Ninja Academy textbooks had already explained the principle of never blocking a returning army. Unfortunately, this Hyuga Main House member simply did not know it. In the end, he buried himself on the chaotic battlefield and even lost one Byakugan.
As for the Hyuga Branch House member who exchanged one of his own eyes and risked his life to retrieve one Byakugan, it was said that he was questioned by the Main House and suffered an extremely severe punishment.
Because of this, the relationship between Orochimaru and the Hyuga clan had become much more tense.
So being a leader was never that easy.
Carefully understanding everything about one's subordinates and reasonably distributing missions and resources were major issues Orochimaru had to consider at all times.
He not only had to let suitable shinobi undertake suitable missions, allowing the strong to make enough contributions and obtain enough merit and honor.
He also had to be careful not to assign too much to the strong, avoiding a situation where certain subordinates stood out too excessively, which would provoke jealousy among the others and disturb the balance of power and prestige beneath him.
At the same time, the balance between the Aburame, Inuzuka, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Sarutobi, and Shimura clans was also something Orochimaru had to consider carefully.
That was why Orochimaru was so busy.
That was why the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was even busier, so busy that his feet barely touched the ground, yet he had no time to do any specific work.
What made Orochimaru unhappy was that the Third Hokage had actually made things even more difficult for him.
He had sent Konoha's number one thorn, the son of Konoha's White Fang—Hatake Kakashi—to the Land of Hot Water.
Not only that, but the Third Hokage had also hinted that Kakashi should obtain as many merits as possible, preparing the groundwork for the Third Hokage to promote him by exception.
Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
As Orochimaru crossed the border of the Land of Water, for some reason, he suddenly remembered how difficult it had been to arrange Kakashi. Thus, he deliberately glanced at Hatake Kakashi.
At this moment, Hatake Kakashi had just turned ten years old. He was not even one meter forty tall yet. That little white-haired brat was mixed among the group, running with all his might.
In order to keep up with these experienced chunin and jonin, he had already pushed himself to the limit. Even though his face was covered, Orochimaru could still tell that his face was pale. Clearly, his stamina was already insufficient, and he was relying entirely on willpower to endure.
Unlike Jiraiya, Orochimaru did not like subordinates who made up for insufficient strength with willpower.
He preferred subordinates who could complete missions calmly and composedly.
A firm will was naturally not a bad thing. But strength and failing to understand one's own weight were two different matters. Especially during collective missions, forcing oneself to carry out a task beyond one's ability was irresponsible toward the lives of one's comrades and a major threat to collective interests.
Orochimaru's negative impression of Hatake Kakashi suddenly deepened several times over.
He decided that after completing this mission, he would kick Kakashi back to Konoha Village.
He would give Kakashi merits.
There would be no issue with his mission record either.
But if Kakashi wanted to become his subordinate, he could forget it.
Even if the Third Hokage insisted, it would be useless.
The subordinates Orochimaru wanted were outstanding shinobi who could provide him with powerful support and become his wings.
Even if a shinobi's strength was so great that they could threaten him, Orochimaru had enough tolerance to accept them—and enough confidence to make them submit to him wholeheartedly.
This was the confidence of Orochimaru, the Cold Lord.
Suddenly, a person appeared on the surface of the sea without any warning.
He wore an utterly ordinary gray-blue coat. He had no shinobi forehead protector and no clan crest. With a smile, he welcomed the arrival of the Konoha shinobi.
Orochimaru smiled.
This shinobi suited his tastes very well.
He was also the target Orochimaru most wanted to subdue at present.
Uchiha Yoru carefully observed the reinforcements composed of more than three hundred Konoha shinobi. Very quickly, he confirmed that among them were thirty-four jonin and two hundred seventy-one experienced chunin wearing flak jackets.
There were no genin.
He was very satisfied with the reinforcements Orochimaru had brought. With this group of elites, they could completely offset Kirigakure's advantage in jonin.
And Orochimaru, personally leading the force, could absolutely defeat Yagura Karatachi, who was not yet a jinchuriki.
Uchiha Yoru realized that this battle now had a ninety-five percent chance of victory. He immediately felt deeply satisfied.
It had been a long time since he had fought a battle with such confidence.
This feeling of victory already being in hand was truly wonderful.
Orochimaru's golden snake pupils widened slightly. He caught Uchiha Yoru's confident smile and saw the absolute confidence radiating from his black pupils.
Although the two of them had not interacted many times, Orochimaru understood this Uchiha, whom he admired most and also feared most, very deeply. Through these details, he immediately understood that this fellow had absolute confidence in the coming battle.
Orochimaru's heart skipped.
His mind was filled with one question.
On what basis?
In battles between individual shinobi, as long as their strength was not worlds apart, the first factor determining victory or defeat was intelligence.
In battles between groups of shinobi, the influence of intelligence rose directly to a decisive degree.
For Uchiha Yoru to have absolute confidence in a battle that had yet to happen, it could only mean that he had a complete grasp of intelligence regarding both sides and could therefore make an accurate judgment.
So, on what basis?
Why did even Orochimaru not know who the Fourth Mizukage was, while Uchiha Yoru knew this crucial piece of information?
Did this guy have an intelligence source inside Kirigakure?
Impossible.
Orochimaru immediately ruled out that possibility.
Then he buried his suspicion deep in his heart and smiled as he spoke to Uchiha Yoru, who had come to welcome them.
"You actually came all the way here to greet us. Has something changed?"
Uchiha Yoru praised in surprise, "As expected of Lord Orochimaru. Your guess is truly accurate."
"The Kirigakure shinobi have already set out. This force only has fifteen hundred shinobi, but it is led by the Fourth Mizukage. Shinobi from the Hozuki clan and Kaguya clan have also been discovered."
Orochimaru asked curiously, "You saw them with your own eyes? Who is the Fourth Mizukage?"
Uchiha Yoru answered somewhat embarrassedly, "I wasn't the one who discovered them. Sage Miwa Masayo discovered them. She described the Fourth Mizukage's characteristics to me, and I'm very certain he is the Third Mizukage's disciple—Yagura Karatachi."
Orochimaru understood.
If it was Yagura Karatachi, then indeed, one glance from afar would be enough to confirm his identity.
He was clearly over thirty years old, yet still looked like a youth. His especially conspicuous green hair, as well as the flowers decorating his hooked coral staff, were all extremely obvious and unique features.
This Kage-level shinobi's characteristics were simply too distinctive.
The fact that no one had killed him by this point proved that his strength was solid.
Uchiha Yoru asked with slight nervousness, "Lord Orochimaru, can you deal with the Fourth Mizukage?"
Orochimaru answered, "Uchiha Yoru, although they are both Kage, the difference in strength between them can be very great. I definitely cannot defeat the Third Raikage, but now that Yagura Karatachi has become the Fourth Mizukage, he is still not my opponent."
"But…"
Orochimaru looked at the pretending Uchiha and smiled playfully.
"Shouldn't you help me deal with Hozuki Oborozuki and Kaguya Yoshi?"
"After all, even for me, dealing with three Kage-level shinobi alone would be very strenuous."
Uchiha Yoru smiled awkwardly and said, "You're joking with me again."
He had pretended to be nervous because he wanted to use the attention of the Konoha shinobi to make Orochimaru speak words that would encourage morale and take on more combat responsibilities.
In the end, Orochimaru was completely shameless and instead asked Uchiha Yoru for help, roasting him over the fire.
This little Uchiha fox has no shame himself, yet he actually wants to use face to pressure me?
This snake is way too shameless. So hard to deal with.
After confirming that the other side was especially cunning and shameless, neither of them continued hiding themselves.
Orochimaru raised his right hand and extended one finger.
The meaning was: you have to take one.
Uchiha Yoru smiled and nodded, indicating that there was no problem.
After silently negotiating the condition, Orochimaru began asking about the details of the battle plan.
"Should we wait a while before going over, so we can catch Kirigakure off guard?"
"No. I suggest Lord Orochimaru lead the reinforcements in a twenty-kilometer detour to the south and circle around to intercept the Kirigakure force from the east."
"Can the Tiger Unit hold the front?"
"Twenty minutes will be no problem."
After thinking briefly, Orochimaru agreed to this battle plan.
He was very satisfied that Uchiha Yoru had taken the initiative to shoulder the most difficult task.
"Then I'll have to trouble the Tiger Unit to bear the heavy responsibility. I'll trouble you as well."
"This is the honor of our Uchiha clan."
Orochimaru said no more. He turned back, waved his hand, and led the Konoha shinobi south.
However, he had actually deliberately left behind one chunin.
Hatake Kakashi.
Uchiha Yoru recognized the white-haired brat at a glance.
When he noticed Hatake Kakashi's face was as pale as paper and that his calves were trembling, he immediately felt as disgusted as if he had eaten shit.
Damn stinking snake. Why did he throw this burden to me?
With him here, how am I supposed to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to return?
Naturally, Uchiha Yoru could not leave Kakashi where he was. Battle was about to begin, and he could not allow this guy to delay things. He had no choice but to flicker over, grab Kakashi by the back of his neck, and sprint at full speed.
Hatake Kakashi was already exhausted.
After being caught off guard and grabbed by the neck, his body completely lost control. He had no way to struggle at all and could only let the other party carry him forward.
Very quickly, Kakashi discovered that this unfamiliar shinobi ran extremely fast.
At least three times faster than himself.
And he constantly used the Body Flicker Technique to advance, making his speed even more astonishing. Because there were no reference points, Kakashi could not accurately estimate the distance of each Body Flicker, but he guessed that their current speed might have exceeded five times his own running speed.
The salty sea wind brought by the high speed blew fiercely against Kakashi's face, making it difficult for him to breathe. Even when he barely opened his eyes into a slit, tears flowed uncontrollably.
This was a high speed he had never experienced before.
At the very least, it was five times his own.
Merely from running, Hatake Kakashi clearly understood that this shinobi's strength far surpassed his own. A shinobi's instinct to admire strength took effect, and all his unwillingness and grievance at being treated as a burden vanished.
Uchiha Yoru grabbed Hatake Kakashi by the neck. For some unknown reason, through the flow of Kakashi's blood, he could sense this guy's emotional changes.
However, Uchiha Yoru did not care about Kakashi's thoughts at all.
In his future plans, there was no place for Kakashi.
As long as Yoru lived, Hatake Kakashi would never obtain Obito's Sharingan and would not become connected to the Uchiha clan because of it.
Since there was no connection, Uchiha Yoru was unwilling to have any interaction with Hatake Kakashi.
He was actually an extremely lazy person. Now that he had enough strength to stand independently, he was unwilling to establish relationships with people who had no value.
After returning to the island, Uchiha Yoru tossed Kakashi to Uchiha Tadamichi, the person in charge of the child soldiers, and said, "Take this guy and the children, and retreat."
Only then did Kakashi react. He began resisting fiercely.
"No! I'm a Konoha chunin! I can't retreat! I have to fight!"
Uchiha Tadamichi pressed his hand on the tiny chunin's head, only to discover that he truly could not quite suppress him. This child really did possess chunin-level strength.
That made Tadamichi unable to stop himself from looking up at Uchiha Yoru and asking, "Brother Yoru, this kid really is a chunin. Do we really take him and retreat?"
"Nonsense."
Uchiha Yoru bent down and stared tightly at Hatake Kakashi, speaking coldly.
"We are the Uchiha clan's Tiger Unit, a combat force that values tactics and discipline above all else."
"Your strength may be greater than my team members', but if you join the battle without training, you will only disrupt the Tiger Unit's combat rhythm and become a fatal weakness that causes our defeat."
"Obediently follow orders and retreat. Then I'll allow you to join the battle with the child soldiers and Third Company at the right time. Otherwise, I'll hypnotize you right now and make you miss this entire battle completely."
Uchiha Yoru's unquestionable tone stirred Kakashi's instinctive admiration for strength from the journey over. For some reason, it calmed his heart.
Kakashi panted heavily, stopped struggling and resisting, and responded quietly, "Yes."
As the reserve Third Company, the trash-can logistics company, and the underage child soldiers retreated, the Tiger Unit's First and Second Companies also completed their battle preparations.
At this point, these two companies had already returned to full strength. Their previous battle losses had been filled by transferring shinobi from the Third Company. The wounded had also been handed over to the logistics company for care. It could be said that they had no burden at all and were full of combat power.
Uchiha Yoru trusted the battle will of these one hundred seventy-eight shinobi very much.
He only gave a simple introduction.
"In this battle, our opponent is Kirigakure's Fourth Mizukage."
"Move out!"
Uchiha Yoru took the lead. The two companies spread into battle formation, following behind him on both wings as they advanced toward the direction from which the Kirigakure shinobi were coming.
They had not gone far before the Uchiha saw, at the line where sea met sky, the thick mist representing the Kirigakure shinobi rolling toward them.
Toot. Toot toot—
The loud sound of the copper whistle rang out.
Uchiha Yoru was not issuing an order. He was asking whether the Uchiha of the Tiger Unit were ready for battle.
Tweet. Tweet tweet—
This was the two company commanders passing Uchiha Yoru's inquiry to their subordinates through whistle signals.
Whee. Whee whee—
Then the ten squad leaders followed the same process, asking the four teams under their command.
After that, the team leaders each blew response whistles, confirming that their teams were ready for battle.
As the answering whistles passed back and forth, copper whistles echoed across the sea. To outsiders, the sound seemed chaotic and disorderly, but it allowed Uchiha Yoru to accurately grasp the Tiger Unit's situation.
The Tiger Unit's whistle signals traveled very far. Even the Kirigakure shinobi heard them.
Among them, some Kirigakure shinobi had experienced the battle four months ago, while others had experienced the battle three days earlier. The moment they heard the copper whistles, painful memories of defeat were awakened, and their emotions involuntarily grew tense.
They tried hard to suppress their nervousness by swallowing saliva and other small actions.
But as the distance between the two sides rapidly closed, the copper whistles grew sharper and more complicated. The efforts of these Kirigakure shinobi failed. Their nervousness even began infecting Kirigakure shinobi who had not experienced defeat.
The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, had a livid expression. Kaguya Yoshi beside him looked solemn. The young Hozuki Oborozuki was even more astonished.
They had never imagined that piercing whistles could possess such tremendous deterrence.
Before the two sides had even officially clashed, Kirigakure's morale had already suffered a serious blow under the sound of whistles.
The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, suddenly stopped. His hands rapidly formed seals, turning into a blur, and an extremely powerful wave of chakra erupted from his body.
The Fourth Mizukage's sudden eruption and powerful chakra fluctuations shook the minds of the Kirigakure shinobi, finally freeing them from the mental interference caused by the Tiger Unit's copper whistles.
From far away, Uchiha Yoru could not help exclaiming in surprise.
"Hm? My soundwave genjutsu… was dispersed."
"As expected of the Fourth Mizukage. Quite capable."
Yagura Karatachi's chakra refinement and condensation reached an extremely terrifying degree. Powerful chakra surrounded his slender body, radiating tremendous pressure. He clasped his hands together and cast the ninjutsu he had prepared.
Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave.
From Yagura Karatachi's mouth, a pillar of water like a white silk ribbon sprayed out.
The farther the water pillar traveled, the greater the volume of water became. In the end, more than ten meters away, it transformed into a towering giant wave.
The violent tsunami unleashed a deafening roar. White foam flew from the peak of the wave forest. The flood that blotted out the sky was like the end of the world descending, surging toward the Tiger Unit.
When the Kirigakure shinobi saw their Kage display his might, creating such a terrifying tsunami with a single ninjutsu, their morale immediately surged. They let out cheers of victory.
What Kirigakure shinobi were best at was naturally Water Release.
Among them, quite a few shinobi had mastered Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave. They cheered as they walked behind the Fourth Mizukage, standing in a row and casting ninjutsu at the same time.
One wave after another, not quite as enormous, arrived later but caught up first, merging into the towering giant wave and pushing the height of the tsunami even higher.
The Kirigakure shinobi cheered even louder.
They all felt that once this terrifying tsunami swept over, the enemy would be crushed into dust beneath the forest of raging waves.
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