Unfortunately, while Maiko thrived, her allies did not.
Shiki was managing against the Mizukage using his seemingly bottomless bag of tricks but it was clear he was at a disadvantage and would eventually lose.
Beni had managed to thin a bit of Kiri's forces but that was just about it.
The First Elder was taking a beating from the Third Raikage, barely managing to hand on.
The Second Elder managed to stalemate Han, the Five Tailed Jinchuriki of Iwa but the situation around him devolved far too quickly and he ended up being captured by Han with Onoki's support, after being isolated.
The Third and Fifth Elders had both fallen to Iwa's Tsuchikage and his elites though Hozuki Shingetsu of Kiri had been the one to deliver the final blow.
The Sixth Elder was saved by the skin of his teeth.
Kumo's forces, beyond Shoka, the Two Tailed Jinchuriki, were basically untouched.
Iwa's forces had taken casualties but they were relatively in good condition as well, about the same as Kiri's.
Granted, the bulk of the Uzumaki forces had only taken light casualties even though they had to retreat to the second defensive line under the leadership of the Fourth Elder.
From there things continued to progress in a rather unfortunate way for Uzushio and the Land of Whirlpools it protected . . .
*
While playing his cat and mouse game with the Third Mizukage, Shiki heard the battlefield report from Benihime.
'It's not looking good, Kiri's forces are about to consolidate with Iwa's, two Elders are dead and one is captured, once the army moves, the First Elder's fate will be similar.
Kumo's forces are holding position, clearing traps while searching for their Jinchuriki since Maiko-san seems to have succeeded in removing her from the board.
Thanks to that, Uzushio's forces under the Fourth Elder managed to safely retreat and establish the second defensive line.' Beni mentally transmitted.
'I've been able to keep the Mizukage busy but beating him will be nearly impossible in the current situation, the Sixth Elder got some secret help though, he still had to retreat but the Three Tails has been captured.' Shiki responded with his side's circumstances.
'Try to see if you can pull the First Elder out of his duel and retreat together until the second defensive line, since I can't finish the battle here I'll disengage and join you there for the next round of the battle.' He added, finishing the communications.
'Nirvana Art: Kukyoshin'
Fading into thin air, the boy made himself scarce.
The Third Mizukage noticed immediately.
"He retreated, things must be going badly for his side on the other battlefields." The man judged.
He then dove underwater to go and collect the Three Tails . . . Yeah that was not going to go his way.
Shiki however, was not just planning on obediently retreating to the second defensive line, not without first attempting a "little" extra maneuver.
*
Hozuki Shingetsu had forcefully claimed the "rightfully earned" corpses of his two kills and retreated from the Iwa forces' position to rendezvous with his own troops.
Meanwhile, under Onoki's supervision, Iwa shinobi worked on restraining the Uzumaki's Second Elder as a valuable spoil of war.
Considering the man's prowess and identity, trying to rely on just seals to restrain him seemed rather foolhardy so first, the physically restrained him with a special straightjacket with chakra metal thread weaved into it as reinforcement and solid metal straps as extra restraint.
The whole garment was then covered in sealing formulae while a special metal blindfold was placed on the Second Elder's head to seal his sight and hearing.
Having moved to the shoreline, Han set the man's covered form on the ground, split between appreciation for his fellow shinobi's work and pity for the enemy's sorry state. A clean death would have been preferable to such humiliation, at least in his opinion.
"What do we do with him? We can't exactly carry a prisoner into battle." The Jinchuriki questioned the Tsuchikage.
"A group of Elites will hang at our forces' rear, carrying him." Onoki replied.
"From the sensors' reports, Kumo's forces seemed to have stalled up ahead. We wait for Kiri and then move to join Kumo up ahead and build a forward base within enemy territory. The plan was for this to be a lightning war, strike hard and fast, decisively winning in mere days.
Unfortunately, that is no longer possible. It is necessary to reevaluate the situation, a forward base will be necessary, whether we want to advance or hold position. I doubt retreat will be a real option so the base is non-negotiable." The Third Tsuchikage explained.
However, while the two strongest of Iwa had this conversation, an unseen figure approached from the underground, almost as if to mock the village of Earth Release specialists in their very own field of expertise.
Creeping ever so slowly with his Kukyoshin, Shiki melded into the earth, no physical or chakra based trace left for any normal sensor to pick up.
Reaching close to the surface the boy held position.
The smell of the sea filled the noses of the Iwa shinobi around the shoreline . . .
With it, their consciousness blanked, just for a moment.
And just like that, the prisoner was gone.
"WHA-!?" The Iwa Elite Jonin whose eyes had been fixed on the bound Second Elder shouted in confusion.
To him, the man was there one instant and after he blinked, he was gone.
Right next to them, Han and Onoki simultaneously looked towards the shouting shinobi, only for their eyes to widen at the missing prisoner.
'Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide'
The Third Tsuchikage with his ample experience, reacted the fastest, immediately tearing open the ground, the only place from where the enemy could have approached.
Alas . . .
'Too little, too late.' Shiki thought to himself, just out of range of Onoki's Earth Release.
"We've been had! The enemy must have used genjutsu to dull our senses momentarily and extract the prisoner. Since there was no hostile intent, we failed to detect anything was amiss in time." The Third Tsuchikage immediately figured out what had just occurred.
Employing Nirvana Art: Emanation of Ecstasy, the boy mimicked the scent of the nearby sea as a trigger to cast a very single illusion, making the shinobi watching over the Second Elder blank out for a moment while just slightly dulling the more resistant Han and Onoki's senses.
Genjutsu's true power was best exhibited when the target did not realize they were under its effects and, since the boy had no intention of attacking, the sharp battlefield sixth sense of veterans that would warn them of danger, even within genjutsu, was not triggered at all.
Meanwhile, further inland, Benihime employed similar tactics.
Flakes of Crimson Dust crossed the Third Raikage's vision and in that instant, he mistakenly believed his opponent, the First Elder, was dodging right when in reality, he moved left.
Even a subtle illusion like that could not escape the black lightning amped Ay senior's notice but it directed his senses away from the First Elder for just a moment.
Long enough for the Uzumaki shinobi to activate a concealment fuinjutsu and make his retreat.
With this, while two of the Elders unfortunately lost their lives, the enemy would not get a single living one to use as leverage.
However, things were far from done, a hidden force still lurked, Uzushio's allies seemed still and the three villages had no intention of going back empty handed.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -