Chapter 27 The Battle of the River Country
"Quick! Take Master Bunpuku away!"
Pakura nodded slightly and led the Jonin toward Bunpuku.
Upon noticing the change in the situation, Orochimaru and the others were slightly taken aback, but being seasoned veterans, they made a decisive decision and immediately turned back.
"Mochizuki Souji! Quickly deliver the fatal blow to that old monk!" Orochimaru shouted.
"..."
After glancing at Orochimaru and the others, Souji made no move. Instead, he took advantage of Pakura's use of the Scorching Release Fireball to force him away and retreated in the opposite direction.
Pakura recognized Souji as the Konoha kunai master who had recently gained considerable fame and killed many Sunagakure members.
Even...Pakura glanced at the kunai stuck in Bunpuku's shoulder.
Could it be that Shukaku's attack, which abruptly stopped at the last moment, was actually the work of Konoha's kunai master?
This conjecture surprised Pakura, and at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder, if... if it really was the work of Konoha's kunai master, then why didn't they give Master Bunpuku a fatal blow?
He retreated as soon as he made a move, which seemed entirely intentional...
"Walk!"
Despite their doubts, there was no time to overthink in this critical moment.
A Jonin helped Bunpuku up, while Pakura covered their escape from behind.
The commander remained silent, watching the Sunagakure members leave.
At this moment, Orochimaru and the others arrived behind Souji.
"Why didn't you deliver the fatal blow to the old monk?" Orochimaru asked with a gloomy expression.
"I've run out of kunai," Souji replied calmly.
"..."
Orochimaru remained silent, squinting as he sized up Souji.
After a long pause, he gave a soft hum and said:
"Alright, that's fine too. I'll leave the rest to you, Shinnosuke."
Having said that, Orochimaru vanished in a flash.
"..."
Clang!
Sarutobi Shinnosuke stared coldly at Souji, then suddenly drew his ninja sword from his back and pointed it directly at him.
Fugaku Uchiha, also displaying undisguised hostility, stood opposite Shinnosuke, positioning himself to attack Souji from both sides.
Although the Uchiha clan holds a special position in Konoha and is not particularly close to the Hokage's faction, it is still obvious whose side they should stand on in this situation.
Souji didn't move, but simply looked calmly at Shinnosuke.
"Explain yourself clearly, why didn't you deliver a fatal blow to the Jinchuriki just now?" Shinnosuke said coldly.
"The Jinchuriki of the Tailed Beasts have a profound impact on the battle. If you deliberately let them go, that would be an extremely serious act of treason... I will kill you right now!"
"..."
The commander remained silent for a long time, then sighed softly. His figure blurred, and the next moment he appeared on a high place a hundred meters away.
"So fast!" Shinnosuke and Fugaku were secretly shocked.
The commander looked down at the two of them and said calmly:
"I ask you... if you had really killed the Jinchuriki on the spot just now, what do you think would have happened afterward?"
"What?" Shinnosuke frowned and stared at Souji.
"You're so fixated on this matter, even wanting to hold me accountable, but haven't you even considered the consequences of killing a Jinchuriki?"
Seeing that neither of them answered, the commander shook his head slightly.
"One of you is the eldest son of the Hokage and an elite Jonin of the Anbu, and the other is the head of the Uchiha clan and the captain of the Konoha Police Force.
How can you be so stupid? I am truly disappointed."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"To avoid you not understanding, I'll just say it directly: the Tailed Beasts are sealed inside the Jinchuriki. As long as the Jinchuriki dies, the Tailed Beasts will be unsealed and their true forms will appear in the world!"
"The existence of the Jinchūriki is a restriction and constraint on the Tailed Beasts.
If even with the burden of Shukaku, the battle is so difficult, then what if Shukaku's true form is unsealed...? Shukaku and that old monk have a very good relationship, and he will definitely avenge the old monk. How will we handle that?"
"Bearing the burden of being a Jinchūriki and sealed away, or... Shukaku, who has no restrictions, can freely use its full power, and is filled with hostility towards Konoha, which do you think is better?"
"..."
Shinnosuke and Fugaku both looked grim and remained silent.
"It's truly disappointing that your thinking is so shallow, given your positions."
After saying that, the commander's figure blurred again and disappeared.
Shinnosuke frowned, staring in the direction Souji had disappeared. After a long while, he sheathed his ninja sword and said softly:
"Mochizuki Souji... This person actually possesses such strength?"
Although he and Fugaku initially underestimated each other and were somewhat careless, the speed and distance of their Body Flicker Technique in escaping their encirclement in an instant were truly astonishing!
"Maybe he's been keeping a low profile all along; this person is really good at hiding his abilities."
Fugaku Uchiha made a casual comment and left, seemingly unconcerned.
Although the opponent's strength was surprising, he was the head of the Uchiha clan, with many powerful members in the clan, and he himself was quite strong.
He shouldn't be afraid just because of this one move.
Besides, I was just there to make up the numbers this time; the one who really offended them was the eldest son of the Hokage.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, wasn't too bad to the Uchiha clan, but he wasn't exactly good either. He followed the ideas of his teacher, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and tended to suppress them.
Since they couldn't get close anyway, Fugaku wouldn't bother worrying about who the Sarutobi clan was fighting with.
Not far away, a white snake was watching the direction where Souji had disappeared.
Using his unique technique, Orochimaru shared his senses with his summoned beast, seeing and hearing everything that had just happened.
"A guy who's hiding his strength... that's fine, it shouldn't concern me. But this guy seems to know quite a bit about the Tailed Beasts."
"The Tailed Beast Ball stopped at the last moment, and the old monk had kunai stuck in his body... Could it really have been this guy?
But how did he manage to pierce Shukaku's defenses with a kunai?"
The white snake's eyes revealed a look of great interest.
For Orochimaru, who is intensely curious and loves to see changes, these unexpected and incomprehensible things are always the most interesting.
Although this battle was fraught with twists and turns, the Sand Village ultimately suffered more than two thousand casualties, with a casualty rate of over 50%, including many powerful special Jonin, and even Jonin!
In the entire Sand Village, there are no more than a hundred people who can become Jonin.
They are the core fighting force of the entire village. More than ten of these important Jonin were lost in the Land of Rivers!
The most crucial Kage-level fighter, Shukaku Jinchuriki Bunpuku, was seriously injured and fell into a coma.
He was rescued by Sunagakure Commander Pakura at great risk, and his fate is unknown!
On the Konoha side, out of 2,800 ninjas, about 300 were killed or wounded in this battle.
Adding the casualties from previous battles, the total number was about 500, which can be considered a great victory.
Thus, the battle between Sunagakure and Konoha in the Land of Rivers ended with Konoha's victory, forcing Sunagakure to withdraw from the Land of Rivers.
In this battle, Mochizuki Souji, the kunai master of Konoha, personally killed dozens of people from Sunagakure, including five special Jonin.
One of them was Kuba, a famous Jonin from a prestigious clan that possessed the bloodline limit of Scorching Release.
Instant fame!
There are even rumors that Shukaku's Tailed Beast Ball was abruptly stopped because Mochizuki Souji used a kunai to penetrate Shukaku's defenses at the last moment, severely injuring the Jinchūriki Bunpuku.
This matter is currently just a rumor and has not been confirmed.
However, in any case, Mochizuki Souji's reputation has been further enhanced by this.
Including this battle, Mochizuki Souji killed over a hundred Sunagakure ninjas in the Land of Rivers, thus changing his title from 'Konoha's Kunai Master' to 'Bloody Kunai'...
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End of this chapter...