Konoha: The Soul King from the Uchiha Clan

Chapter 184 He's in a hurry!

The battlefield between the Konoha and Iwagakure-Kusagakure allied forces is located in the Land of Grass.

Unfortunately, small countries have no choice. The battlefields between Konoha and Iwagakure, and Sunagakure, are usually the Land of Grass, the Land of Rain, the Land of Rivers, and the Land of Waterfalls.

The River Country borders the Fire Country and the Wind Country, the Rain Country and the Grass Country, and is sandwiched between the Wind Country, the Earth Country, and the Fire Country.

The Land of Waterfalls borders the Land of Iron, the Land of Fire, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Earth.

If Kusagakure hadn't gotten involved, the choice of battlefield would have been somewhat uncertain, but since they've gotten involved, there's no suspense left.

Of course, even if Kusagakure didn't participate, the battlefield would most likely still be the Land of Grass, only Kusagakure would be outside the scope of the attack.

The Hidden Waterfall Village in the Land of Waterfalls is hidden by a huge waterfall, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. The village is also home to the Seven-Tailed Beast, so even the great powers don't want to provoke it unless necessary.

With Hanzo in charge of the Land of Rain, its strength is among the best of the small countries, making it a veritable overlord. Clearly, it is not as easy to mess with as the Hidden Grass Village.

As for the Land of Rivers, it doesn't border the Land of Earth at all.

If Iwagakure wanted to send troops, they would have to cross the entire Land of Rain, or the entire Land of Grass and half of the Land of Rain, which was obviously unnecessary.

Orochimaru and Gen Uchiha led the Konoha ninja forces to intercept the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure on the eastern border of the Land of Grass.

Unfortunately, the Grass Ninja dared not invade the Land of Fire without a powerful ally. If they were defeated, the price they would have to pay to gain Konoha's forgiveness would be very high.

As a buffer zone between major powers and a battlefield for them, the Grass Country has suffered greatly, but it also has its own unique way of survival.

Both Iwagakure and Konoha have become accustomed to Kusanagi's fickle nature, and their punishments are measured, never pushing them completely to the other side.

The timing of the encounter between the two forces was roughly the same as the time of the first direct clash between Kumogakure and Konoha.

Before the encounter, the sensory ninjas on both sides detected the enemy's movements, and the commanders on both sides immediately ordered the marching formation to be changed into a battle formation.

Upon receiving the order, the ninjas from both sides quickly adjusted their formation and then charged forward as a group. Finally, at an appropriate distance, they exchanged kunai, shuriken, and kunai with exploding tags attached.

Because Kusagakure mobilized some of its forces to assist Iwagakure, Iwagakure now has more troops, and the density of its attacks is naturally greater.

However, this gap was erased by Orochimaru and Gen Uchiha using a large-scale Wind Release ninjutsu.

Thud, thud, thud...

Explosive tags exploded in the formations of both sides, bursts of fireballs bloomed, and ninjas were hit by ninja tools, screaming in agony as blood splattered all over their bodies. Some died, some were injured, and the ordinary grassland was instantly transformed into a living hell.

Bystanders might feel pity and sympathy, but the ninjas on the battlefield only have a boiling killing intent towards their own kind, and each one is more ruthless than the last.

Orochimaru's opponent was Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki.

This person was wearing a specially made red steam armor, a straw hat, and half of his face was covered by a black mask.

Unlike Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki who was at odds with Ōnoki, Han, the Five-Tails Jinchūriki, was a staunch supporter of Ōnoki and made countless contributions to Iwagakure.

Through arduous training since childhood, Han has become proficient in controlling the Five-Tails, reaching a level similar to Naruto in his golden form, capable of stealing and skillfully manipulating the tailed beast's chakra.

Among the tailed beasts, the Five-Tails Kokuo is known for its physical strength, and Han, who is skilled in wielding its power, is no exception.

The Earth Release ninjutsu of Iwagakure plays a supporting role in Han's case; his true strength lies in taijutsu!

At this stage of time, Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, can be considered one of the top taijutsu masters in the world.

His strength, movement speed, reaction speed, and combat experience are all extremely formidable. Ordinary ninjutsu shatters upon contact with him and is utterly vulnerable.

In terms of overall physical combat ability, only the Fourth Raikage, A, can surpass him.

Orochimaru's taijutsu is also quite formidable, but he didn't dare to confront Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, head-on, and mainly fought using ninjutsu and genjutsu.

Orochimaru's current dehumanization of his body is not yet complete, far from the point where he could quickly regenerate after being cut in half by Naruto's tailed beast form.

Gen Uchiha's opponent was Iwagakure's commander, Kitsuchi, a ninja who performed exceptionally well in the Fourth Shinobi World War in the original story.

The man wore a red ninja hat, had a large nose, a kind face, and a huge build. He was dressed in a red tight-fitting combat uniform with brown Jonin chainmail over it. He had a red long sleeve over his left arm and his right arm was exposed.

Although Huang Tu's taijutsu was not as powerful as Han's, it was still among the best in the ninja world. With his extremely skilled Rock Fist technique, he once sent Kinkaku, who had transformed into a tailed beast, flying far away with a single punch.

Compared to Huang Tu, whose body was fully developed, Uchiha Genron, whose body was still developing, was naturally no match for him.

However, thanks to the Sharingan's insightful perception and his superb Body Flicker Technique, Uchiha Gen skillfully avoided direct confrontation and fought flexibly, managing to hold his own.

No matter how powerful you are, it's useless if you can't hit someone. Although Huang Tu is considered fast among Jonin, his speed is no threat to Uchiha Gen.

In addition to Huang Tu, there is also an Iwagakure Jonin assisting in the attack, while also preventing Huang Tu from being affected by genjutsu.

It's best not to fight one-on-one with a strong member of the Uchiha clan; this is common sense that any knowledgeable ninja knows.

Having experienced the Third Shinobi World War, the small-scale war in the Land of Whirlpools, and the small-scale war in the Land of Rice Fields, Uchiha Gen was no longer an unknown figure in the shinobi world.

A genius of the Uchiha clan, Orochimaru's disciple, and the deputy commander of Konoha's Third Division, Iwagakure would be a fool not to take him seriously.

In fact, Iwagakure attaches great importance to him, especially Onoki, who was left with psychological trauma by Madara Uchiha.

Before Huang Tu set off on his campaign, Onoki specifically instructed his son to kill Uchiha Gen if he encountered him.

Konoha already had enough of one Madara Uchiha; Onoki had absolutely no desire to see a second one appear.

Having adapted to the attack rhythm of Huang Tu and the other two, Uchiha Xuan felt that there were no major problems and sent Zhu Rong out to help.

Because the Konoha ninjas had fewer people, they were at a disadvantage overall.

Under Uchiha Gen's orders, Zhu Rong was specifically tasked with targeting the Grass Ninja. If the Grass Ninja retreated, the morale of the Rock Ninja would be affected to some extent.

Orochimaru and Uchiha Gen's battle strategy this time was different from the past. Instead of unleashing a barrage of firepower, they aimed to force Iwagakure to back down and proceed with normal warfare procedures.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Iwagakure should be the last ninja village to confront Konoha; once this opportunity is gone, it's gone forever.

At that time, Uchiha Gen will not be able to find a battlefield as convenient as a place to harvest souls, and Orochimaru will not be able to collect experimental materials so easily.

Furthermore, Orochimaru believed that the Konoha leadership would no longer try to reap the benefits, while Uchiha Gen was hoping that the Konoha leadership would do the same.

With a sense of cherishing the opportunity, the master and apprentice tacitly postponed the timeline for giving up.

Putting up a stalemate is definitely necessary to prolong the war, so we must hold back when we meet.

Giving the Iwagakure and Kusagakure allied forces too much of a wake-up call would undoubtedly affect their morale and thus shorten the duration of the war.

Therefore, Uchiha Gen did not send out the advanced Homie, which was effective against Earth Release, either to hold back or to save it as a trump card for the decisive battle later.

The quality of the Grass Ninja was indeed worrying compared to the ninjas of the Five Great Ninja Villages; they couldn't hold on for long after being targeted by Zhu Rong.

The fact that the Grass Ninja Captain leading the team didn't want to suffer too much loss was also a factor in this.

They joined forces with Iwagakure because of profit; they wanted to profit from the situation and wouldn't risk their hard-earned capital.

The retreat of the Grass Ninja did have some impact on the morale of the Iwa Ninja, but not a significant one, since the Iwa Ninja knew the Grass Ninja's character.

However, without the help of the Grass Ninja, the Rock Ninja could not gain the upper hand and actually became slightly disadvantaged as time went on.

Iwagakure favors a mass troop deployment strategy, often sending out thousands or even tens of thousands of ninjas at a time. This results in Iwagakure ninjas having average individual and squad quality, which is not outstanding among the five great ninja villages.

The individual and squad skills of Konoha ninjas are the best in the ninja world. Given a similar number of people, Iwagakure would naturally be at a disadvantage.

Seeing that Han couldn't do anything to Orochimaru, and that they couldn't do anything to Uchiha Gen either, and that they would suffer more and more losses as the fight went on, Huang Tu decisively ordered a retreat.

The Iwagakure village retreated in an orderly fashion, and Orochimaru and Uchiha Gen had no intention of pursuing them, watching Iwagakure leave.

After Iwagakure left, they set up a perimeter to prevent Iwagakure from launching a counterattack, and Konoha began cleaning up the battlefield.

After the battlefield was cleared, Konoha began to choose suitable locations to build camps, and Iwagakure also began to build camps.

The camp was initially set up in one day, and the next day both sides sent out their men to begin a months-long battle.

The battle on the battlefield in the Land of Fields was fierce and there was no progress.

The battle on the battlefield in the Land of Grass was also fierce, and although it was not without progress, the advance was extremely slow.

With two battlefields on the front lines, huge sums of military funds were flowing out every month, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was starting to panic...

(End of this chapter)