Chapter 186: Watching the Battle
After half a day, Ishiro followed the two to a position about ten kilometers from Falling Star Valley.
Looking at the small mountain range in the distance, Ishiro decided to find a place to hide first. Hyūga Tokuhiro's own strength was not weak, and he had certainly brought enough experts with him this time. Therefore, a fierce battle was bound to erupt between the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and the Hyūga clan.
There was no need for him to show himself so early. While Ishiro was looking for a hiding place, Jinpachi Munashi and Raiga Kurosuki also arrived at Falling Star Valley. Fuguki Suikazan, the person in charge of this operation, merely glanced at the two and didn't ask why they were late.
Everyone was well aware of the mutual insubordination among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. With Fuguki Suikazan's shrewdness, he naturally knew that even if he wanted to make things difficult for them over this, it wouldn't have any effect, so he simply pretended not to know.
Raiga Kurosuki looked around. Everyone had arrived. Not only were the other five members of the Seven Swordsmen present, but Fuguki Suikazan had also mobilized many Jōnin and Elite Jōnin from the Kirigakure camp.
Knowing he was late, Raiga Kurosuki had no intention of saying anything. He directly found a relatively empty spot, clearly left for him and Jinpachi Munashi, and sat down.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Fuguki Suikazan began to assign tasks according to the plan.
At this moment, Hyūga Tokuhiro was leading several dozen subordinates towards Falling Star Valley.
The ninjas Hyūga Tokuhiro brought were all elites of the Hyūga clan. For such a matter, Hyūga Tokuhiro clearly did not intend to share the credit with other ninjas.
Throughout their journey, Hyūga Tokuhiro's party always had two ninjas with Byakugan activated for reconnaissance.
At this time, one of the scouts on duty was Hyūga Shin, an Elite Jōnin from a branch family whom Hyūga Tokuhiro trusted the most.
Looking at the distant mountain range, Hyūga Shin respectfully said to Hyūga Tokuhiro, "Lord Patriarch, ahead is Falling Star Valley. The terrain of Falling Star Valley is unique. If enemies are hidden within, it will be very difficult for the Byakugan to detect them. Should we take a detour?"
Hyūga Tokuhiro, who had been running in the middle of the group, looked up towards the front upon hearing this. The moment Hyūga Tokuhiro looked up, the veins around his normally calm Byakugan bulged.
After observing with his Byakugan for a while, Hyūga Tokuhiro said, "No need for a detour. We will pass directly through Falling Star Valley."
Pausing for a moment, Hyūga Tokuhiro added, "Shin, take three men and proceed one hundred meters ahead of the main group."
"Yes." Upon hearing this, Hyūga Shin called over two members, and the four of them headed towards Falling Star Valley at a faster pace.
Watching Hyūga Shin gradually recede into the distance, Hyūga Tokuhiro, for some unknown reason, suddenly felt a faint sense of unease welling up in his heart.
However, Hyūga Tokuhiro then looked at the Hyūga elites around him, and his heart relaxed somewhat. With so many ninjas by his side, Hyūga Tokuhiro felt that even if several hundred Kirigakure ninjas were ambushing them ahead, he had nothing to worry about. Besides, if Kirigakure were truly making such a large move and mobilizing a large army, it would be impossible for him not to have heard any wind of it.
What Hyūga Tokuhiro didn't know was that although the ambushing Kirigakure ninjas did not number in the hundreds, but were a group of several dozen, similar in number to his own party, the quality of the enemy's elites was only stronger, not weaker, than the men he led.
In a short while, the party entered this valley. Hyūga Shin, as a scout, entered the valley quickly while cautiously observing his surroundings with his Byakugan.
After advancing several hundred meters, Hyūga Shin reached the middle of the valley but still found no danger or ambush. However, for some unknown reason, Hyūga Shin felt waves of coldness emanating from his surroundings.
"Something's not right." Hyūga Shin was just about to signal his three subordinates to stop and investigate.
But it was too late. At that very moment, one of his subordinates stepped on a trap.
The trap was set very cleverly, clearly designed to target the Byakugan of the Hyūga clan. But the trap's power wasn't very strong.
Boom~~~
A series of explosions spread outwards. Hearing this sound, both Hyūga Shin's scout team and Hyūga Tokuhiro's main force stopped.
Hyūga Shin looked at the ninja who had just triggered the trap. The other party was not injured and had easily dodged the explosion. That explosion had come very slowly, as if the commotion was merely intended to startle them.
But Hyūga Shin quickly reacted and shouted loudly, "Lord Patriarch, it's an ambush! Retreat quickly!"
Hyūga Tokuhiro heard the explosion but hadn't yet figured out what had happened. However, upon hearing his trusted subordinate's words, he didn't hesitate and directly chose to retreat, intending to leave through the valley entrance they had come from.
Because Hyūga Tokuhiro had maintained a distance from Hyūga Shin, he was now relatively close to the valley entrance, so his first reaction was to retreat through there.
Although ninjas could climb the mountains on either side of the valley, if enemies were stationed on the mountains, such an action would be tantamount to seeking death. Enemies positioned high up could easily intercept ninjas attempting to charge up the mountains.
Hyūga Tokuhiro felt the enemy wouldn't leave them such an obvious escape route.
Sure enough, the Hyūga clan members who turned to rush towards the valley entrance all activated their Byakugan, and then they saw several figures appearing on the mountains on both sides. Although there weren't many people, if Hyūga Tokuhiro and his group wanted to escape from the sides, these individuals were sufficient for effective interception.
Although Hyūga Tokuhiro reacted quickly, the well-prepared Kirigakure ninjas clearly moved faster. In their plan, the explosion just now was the signal to act.
There was no way around it; ambushing the Hyūga was impossible. So, Kirigakure had set up numerous warning exploding tags in the center of the valley. As soon as a Hyūga clan member triggered one, Kirigakure would know the operation had begun.
So, by the time Hyūga Tokuhiro approached the valley entrance, Fuguki Suikazan had already blocked it with over twenty men.
Through his Byakugan, Hyūga Tokuhiro had naturally long since recognized the people ambushing him: the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
"Fuguki Suikazan, Jinpachi Munashi, Raiga Kurosuki, Hōzuki Senba – only four of them. Then Jūzō Biwa, Akebino Jinin, and Kushimaru Kuriarare must be blocking the other side of the valley," Hyūga Tokuhiro's heart sank heavily.
It wasn't because he recognized the newcomers, but because he realized he had made a misjudgment. There were four Swordsmen blocking his retreat route, and these four were all large-area-of-effect type ninjas. Kirigakure's arrangement clearly intended for these four to hold him off, waiting for the other three to arrive from behind for a pincer attack.
And as four large-area attackers, they clearly had this capability.
If Hyūga Tokuhiro had chosen the other end as his breakout direction, Jūzō Biwa and the others definitely wouldn't have been able to stop him.
But it was too late to say anything now. Hyūga Tokuhiro had only one choice: charge through.
As Hyūga Tokuhiro had expected, Fuguki Suikazan and his group attacked first. And what made Hyūga Tokuhiro despair even more was that not only did the four Swordsmen begin their attack, but even the ninjas around them were casting ninjutsu.
At this moment, Hyūga Tokuhiro's shortcomings became apparent. Hyūga Tokuhiro had been pampered since childhood and had never truly participated in a war; in fact, he hadn't even experienced many dangerous situations. Although his strength was at the Elite Jōnin level, and a top-tier Elite Jōnin at that, Hyūga Tokuhiro's adaptability was insufficient.
Facing this situation, he didn't think of a suitable response. Fortunately, the branch family elites around him all had rich combat experience.
Seeing their patriarch had clearly lost control of the situation, several of them consciously stepped forward and simultaneously performed Rotation.
Fuguki Suikazan's large-scale water jutsu was blocked by their Rotations, but the Hyūga branch family members couldn't react in time to the subsequent attack from the Blast Sword, Shibuki.
Fortunately, Hyūga Tokuhiro had recovered from his initial despair by this time. He raised his hand and launched an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, striking the scroll covered in exploding tags and knocking it further away.
Seeing this move was effective, Hyūga Tokuhiro launched several more Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palms consecutively, knocking the scroll even further.
Jinpachi Munashi at the valley entrance, seeing this, had no choice but to detonate the exploding tags prematurely.
Boom boom boom boom~
Although it was much farther away, the dense and violent explosions still caused enormous casualties among the Hyūga branch family members. At least five people died in the explosions just now.
Then, Raiga Kurosuki, Hōzuki Senba, and other group ninjutsu attacks arrived one after another. Hyūga Tokuhiro led his men, fighting and retreating, finally surviving the first wave of attacks.
At this moment, a branch family Jōnin said to Hyūga Tokuhiro, "Lord Patriarch, please break through quickly, we will cover you. Lord Shin cannot hold them off at the rear for long. Once the other three Swordsmen arrive, you won't be able to leave."
Hearing this branch family member say this, Hyūga Tokuhiro also reacted. He couldn't afford to get bogged down here fighting Fuguki Suikazan and his group. So, he gritted his teeth and said, "Charge!"
Hyūga Tokuhiro naturally knew that the Hyūga clan was not skilled in long-range attacks. Charging like this, they would definitely suffer heavy casualties before even reaching the enemy. And when his side did close in on the enemy, when the Hyūga clan should be发挥 (fāhuī - bring into play) their close-combat advantage, he still couldn't afford to get entangled in a prolonged fight; he had to retreat.
But at this point, there were no other options.
Sure enough, by the time Hyūga Tokuhiro led the remaining Hyūga members to charge to the valley entrance, the originally several dozen strong team had been reduced to just over a dozen. Moreover, to resist the ninjutsu, they had repeatedly performed large-scale Rotation, and the remaining ninjas had also consumed a lot of chakra.
Hyūga Tokuhiro killed a Kirigakure Jōnin who couldn't retreat in time with a palm strike, then glared fiercely at Fuguki Suikazan not far away, who still intended to hold him up. Then he gritted his teeth and commanded, "Continue to retreat!"
Fuguki Suikazan hadn't expected Hyūga Tokuhiro to launch such a desperate charge. Valuing his own life greatly, he ultimately allowed the breakthrough.
Watching Hyūga Tokuhiro flee into the distance, Fuguki Suikazan, while complaining that Kushimaru Kuriarare and the others on the other side were too slow, still ordered his men to pursue.
However, after his order was given, no one moved. Including Raiga Kurosuki and the other two Swordsmen, everyone was looking at him with contemptuous eyes.
Fuguki Suikazan, enraged and humiliated, swung his greatsword Samehada fiercely, smashing it against the side of the valley wall, creating a large crater.
The other ninjas, seeing this, swallowed hard and then all pursued in the direction Hyūga Tokuhiro had fled. They certainly didn't dare to truly confront Fuguki Suikazan. Seeing his subordinates leave, Fuguki Suikazan then looked fiercely at Raiga Kurosuki and the other two.
Among the three, Jinpachi Munashi let out a strange laugh and also followed. The remaining two merely glanced at Fuguki Suikazan before following in Jinpachi Munashi's footsteps.
The three of them naturally weren't afraid of Fuguki Suikazan. It was mainly because this mission had been personally assigned by the Third Mizukage. They had to complete it; otherwise, although Fuguki Suikazan, as the person in charge, would be punished, they wouldn't get off lightly either.
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