Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

The Fourth Raikage, A, a burly man who was shirtless even on a snowy day, looked down at Nozomi and sensed something was wrong. His brows furrowed involuntarily.

"We have lost."

hope's face was pale. "Konoha's surprise attack was fierce. The Uchiha clan probably went all out, with about two hundred Uchiha clan members. Konoha only mobilized a total of about three hundred people this time. We had too few Jonin. In the first five minutes of the battle, we could hold on with our numerical advantage, but the more we fought, the heavier our casualties became. We lost without any suspense."

"Konoha must have received new reinforcements, and the commander of Konoha has probably been replaced. Hyuga Hiashi doesn't have the courage to throw so many Uchiha clan members into the battlefield all at once." Xi rambled on, recounting all the information she had gathered and her speculations.

"More than two hundred Uchiha?"

Ai frowned and asked again, "Where is Darui?"

“Darui was entangled by that Uchiha Shisui. He tried several times, but couldn’t…” hope held his breath, unable to continue. He gritted his teeth and continued, “I abandoned Darui and escaped. Raikage-sama, when we counterattack later, let me be the vanguard!”

In short, a vanguard is someone who leads the charge.

They charged to the front lines in battle, dying very quickly, with an extremely high casualty rate.

Requesting to be the vanguard is tantamount to courting death!

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

Before Ai could speak, Tu Tai shouted a rebuke.

"If you lose, you lose. What's there to be discouraged about? Winning and losing are common on the battlefield. What? You're giving up after just one defeat?"

"..."

hope's face grew increasingly pale, almost devoid of color. He opened his mouth to speak, but his mind was in such a state of confusion that he didn't know what to say.

"Alright, enough of this time-wasting nonsense! Let's get down to business... You said the commander of Konoha has changed? How confident are you in that claim? No, that's not right. You're right. There's absolutely no way Hiashi Hyuga could send over two hundred Jonin and Chunin from the Uchiha clan into battle at once. If anything goes wrong, the Hyuga and Uchiha clans will become sworn enemies..."

"Lord Raikage, the commander-in-chief of Konoha has definitely changed. More than two hundred members of the Uchiha clan have been sent to the battlefield in one go... It is highly likely that the [Flame Demon] Uchiha Munen has arrived. Otherwise, even the Hokage would not be able to order the Uchiha clan to act like this."

Tsuchida's recent busy work has been investigating information about the Uchiha clan.

The dramatic changes in the two Yugitos are truly worrying. It's impossible to leave them completely unprepared. During this time, Tsuchida mobilized all means to investigate the Uchiha clan's intelligence and indeed obtained a lot of information. Some of the more famous experts of the Uchiha clan were recorded, especially the "Flame Demon" Uchiha Sogen and the "Body Flicker" Uchiha Shisui, who were the focus of the investigation.

Based on this intelligence, he deduced that Uchiha Mugen had arrived!

“Darui…”

Ai still thought about Darui, the junior he had high hopes for, but... it was truly a pity! He took a breath, suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind, and solemnly ordered, "Pass on my orders to have all units prepare for combat at any time. Also, tell everyone not to fight the Uchiha alone; at least maintain a two-person team to guard against the Sharingan's genjutsu."

"Lord Raikage, would you like to give it a try?"

Tu Tai lowered his voice and asked.

Darui's forces suffered a crushing defeat, and Darui himself was most likely killed in battle. At this point, providing reinforcements was pointless, as no more Cloud Ninjas were waiting for their rescue. However, the absence of a rescue objective did not prevent them from making any attempts.

"We're bound to meet sooner or later. Even if we don't fight today, what about tomorrow? The day after? Since it's inevitable, we might as well see how powerful the Uchiha clan is sooner rather than later. And didn't you hear what hope said? Konoha only has a little over three hundred people, of whom more than two hundred are Uchiha... If we're lucky, we might even get a lot of Sharingan!"

A flicker of fire shone faintly in the depths of Ai's eyes—a light called greed!

While the Byakugan is indeed coveted by many wolves due to its versatility, the Sharingan is also a top-tier item. The only downside is that even if an ordinary person obtains the Sharingan, they cannot afford to use it. The exponentially increasing chakra requirements have a history of completely draining a person.

But anyway,

With the rise of Sogen and Shisui, the two have demonstrated powerful techniques such as Susanoo, leading to an increase in the number of people coveting the Sharingan, including the Cloud Ninja, who are notorious for their plundering.

"...That's right! It was bound to happen sooner or later!"

Tu Tai sighed softly.

This southward journey is clearly not going to be abandoned because of such a minor setback.

Whether or not we retake Kusatsu Mountain is not important; what's important is to take this opportunity to see just how powerful the Uchiha clan really is now! And to see how many hidden cards Konoha still has up its sleeve!

[Chapter 188: The mountains are being eroded inch by inch into plains!]

Just as Xi encountered the Fourth Raikage and others, Itachi Uchiha and Kimimaro Kaguya rushed to deliver the good news to Sogen. Sogen, the Konoha army, which was already fully prepared, immediately set off and rushed towards the Kusatsu Mountains against the wind and snow.

The snowstorm came suddenly.

No one expected that it would snow in the warm climate of Yu-no-go country at this time. Fortunately, the snow was not heavy and did not affect the army's advance.

that's it

One south and one north,

The Cloud Ninja headed south, while the Leaf Village headed north.

The two armies rushed toward the Kusatsu Mountains, which had been ravaged many times.

The Cloud Ninja reinforcements arrived quickly. Although there were no more Cloud Ninja waiting for support, what the Fourth Raikage and the others saw upon their arrival was the corpses of Cloud Ninja scattered all over the ground, as well as the few but fearless Konoha Ninja who were ready for battle.

The two armies faced off, one to the south and one to the north. The Konoha side had less than three hundred men, having suffered heavy losses in previous battles and unable to muster enough to reach three hundred.

The Cloud Ninja faction had over six thousand members.

The difference in troop strength reached twenty times.

but,

Under these circumstances, it was not the Cloud Ninja who made the first move, but the Leaf Village.

The emerald green Susanoo rose from the ground and went straight to the fourth stage. Not only was it fully armored, but it also gained a lower body and legs. Compared to the previous stages of Susanoo, the fourth stage Susanoo was not only more complete in shape, but also much larger.

Shisui was positioned at the head of Susanoo.

From here, one can have a commanding view of the enormous Cloud Ninja army formation.

then,

【Yasaka Magatama】

Six emerald green tomoe appeared in Susanoo's left hand and were hurled fiercely at the densest part of the Cloud Ninja army.

How should we deal with the Cloud Ninja's counterattack?

Shisui had considered this problem. With just over two hundred people, it would be difficult for them to withstand the counterattack of the Cloud Ninja, whose numbers were bound to be considerable and whose experts were sure to be numerous. Even the members of the Uchiha clan were not all capable of fighting ten at once. Even if each of them could fight ten at once, they could only withstand more than two thousand people.

However, the Cloud Ninja's forces numbered more than two thousand.

So after careful consideration, looking at the Samehada that Sogen had specially given him, he made a decision.

And that's how we ended up in this situation where we lost big right from the start!

Having just gained a foothold, Ai's eyes instantly turned red upon seeing this, and the anger in his chest almost burned through his skull. If this high-density chakra energy block, similar to a Tailed Beast Ball, were to fall into the Cloud Ninja's army, the casualty figures... just thinking about it was heartbreaking.

Fortunately, his younger brother, Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, reacted quickly enough and transformed into his complete tailed beast form. The Eight-Tails, as large as a mountain, flattened a large area of ​​forest. It swung its eight octopus-like tails, which together formed a shield and managed to block the six tomoe.

The price was that two of the Eight-Tails' tails were blown off. However, since the bodies of tailed beasts are made of chakra, this damage was negligible. The two shorter tails of the Eight-Tails stretched down and touched the two severed tails on the ground. The two tails instantly merged into one, and the tails were restored to their original state, looking brand new.

"Everyone, disperse."

Ai roared angrily.

His orders were quickly passed down from his subordinates, making the already small-team-based skirmish formation even more dispersed. This was unavoidable, as the battle between Shisui and Killer Bee, Susanoo versus the Eight-Tails, two behemoths, took up a lot of space. Even a casual wave of the hand or a stomp of the foot was enough to cause enormous destruction to the surrounding area.

Approaching at this time would be pointless and a recipe for disaster.

What's most disgusting is that if the forces are concentrated, they can easily be targeted and attacked by Susanoo.

Compared to Konoha, which had fewer than 300 people, the Cloud Ninja, with 6,000, was undoubtedly a bigger and more obvious target. A was so angry he almost vomited blood. Shisui's surprise attack caught the Cloud Ninja completely off guard. Even A didn't expect that a mere 200 people would dare to take the initiative at this time... The Uchiha are indeed arrogant!

Even Tu Tai's face was ashen at this moment.

He felt angry and remorseful for his carelessness and arrogance, and was also shocked by the supernatural power displayed by Susanoo. He thought he had paid enough attention to and been careful of the Uchiha, but after he witnessed the power of the Sharingan with his own eyes, he realized that he had not paid enough attention!

at this time,

The two enormous creatures were already locked in an extremely fierce battle.

The emerald green Susanoo's spiral sword tore through the snow curtain, severing two of the Eight-Tails' tails in one go. However, at the same time, the Eight-Tails also punched Susanoo's left arm, which was held horizontally in front of it. The extremely heavy force made Susanoo take two steps back.

Blood trickled from Zhi Shui's eyes.

A sharp, needle-like pain shot through his eyes, tormenting Shisui to the point that his brain was throbbing. While the power of Susanoo was indeed formidable, its consumption was equally staggering. If it weren't for the giant sword Samehada on his back constantly replenishing his energy, Shisui honestly wouldn't have liked this head-on fighting style.

but--

It seems that using Kotoamatsukami in the last great battle was worthwhile, as only the Eight-Tails came out to fight him, and the Two-Tails was nowhere to be seen.

Of course, everything has its pros and cons. It seems that the Cloud Ninja have already discovered that he used Kotoamatsukami to modify the Two-Tails Jinchuriki's will in the last great battle. He implanted the belief of advocating peace and abhorring fighting into the Two-Tails Jinchuriki's mind. Shisui knew very well how much his will would change after being modified, so it was inevitable that the Cloud Ninja would discover the clues.

Therefore,

Now the Eight-Tails is on guard.

Even though he was outside the range of his eye technique, he still insisted on not looking at Shisui, who was in the head of Susanoo, and instead focused on fighting Susanoo's hands and feet. In any case, as a perfect Jinchuriki, Killer Bee didn't have to worry about losing control or consuming chakra. Tailed beasts themselves are immortal beings and have excellent resilience.

same,

With the support of 'same-hada', its water-stopping endurance becomes exceptionally long.

This battle shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

Tsuchikage frowned as he watched the army retreating to avoid the aftershocks of the battle between Susanoo and the Eight-Tails. He immediately realized that they had fallen into Konoha's trap. However, to his dismay, it was an open scheme, and even if he saw through it, there was no way to break the deadlock.

"Lord Raikage, if we cannot eliminate that group of Konoha ninja before Konoha's reinforcements arrive, we will either return empty-handed or... fight a tough battle with Konoha."

Tu Tai said in a deep voice.

"I've thought of what you said too."

Ai's face was gloomy. His already dark complexion now looked like it had been covered in soot, exuding a strong sense of gloom and anger. "The problem is that the army can't get through at all right now."

"Taking a detour..."

The words in Tutai's language were swallowed back before he could finish speaking.

Taking a detour is also unsafe. Susanoo and the Eight-Tails are two moving barriers. Taking a detour would be too conspicuous. If Uchiha Shisui sees this and tries to move the Eight-Tails along with him, then the detour could take an unknown amount of time.

Is this what Uchiha Shisui's purpose was?

Using this method to delay time... I've never encountered such a situation before. To be honest, Jinchuriki, such a strategic weapon, rarely cooperated with large armies in the past three Shinobi World Wars. Even the Cloud Ninja only had two perfect Jinchuriki in this generation due to their incredible luck.

In the past,

Those incomplete Jinchuriki can only achieve half-Tailed Beast transformation for a short time. Therefore, when a fully-formed Tailed Beast is needed for battle, a small number of elite troops are usually dispatched to deploy Jinchuriki to the battlefield. The main force will not approach to prevent the rampaging and out-of-control Jinchuriki from indiscriminately killing people.

This resulted in each village lacking experience in using human support to fight alongside a large army.

This has led to the current awkward situation.

“A small number of people should be able to break through.” Tsuchita forced himself to calm down. “A small number of elite troops, skilled enough to fight even in this situation, could cross the combat zone. However, judging from Xi’s report, the Konoha ninja on the other side are also highly skilled. Without being able to utilize our numerical advantage, eliminating them will be extremely difficult…”