Chapter 400: War Mobilization
After hearing his junior's line of reasoning, Darui thought it was all nonsense.
Caution was a good thing, but one shouldn't be overly cautious.
"The camp's defenses will be arranged. Don't worry."
He waved at the Fourth Raikage. Boss, you go get some rest. You'll need to be the main force for the night raid.
On the other side.
According to the statistics, Konoha had lost fifty-seven ninja in battle, with three hundred and eleven injured. This number of casualties was already significant for an army of seven thousand, and it was a lamentable loss. Nearly all the fallen were young genin.
"We have two ninja who have been captured," Shikamaru, who was trying hard to get into his role, reported. As soon as the battle ended, he had gone to tally the list of the dead and discovered that two ninja were missing. Several of their teammates said they hadn't seen their comrades disappear. Shikamaru concluded that they had been captured by the enemy's Lightning Release experts.
Ino held a thermos, slowly sipping goji berry tea. Killer B and Yugito had the massive power-up of their Tailed Beasts, but she didn't have that right now.
The core principle of the Wood Golem Jutsu was still the God Tree's method of extracting chakra.
The extracted chakra was transported through plants and trees and absorbed into the Wood Golem, making it stronger the more it fought. But this chakra belonged to the Wood Golem, not to Ino Yamanaka.
This was no different from her previous Water and Fire Release jutsu. Once a jutsu with added nature and shape transformation was released, the chakra was consumed. It could be controlled, but not recovered.
When Ino dispelled the Wood Golem Jutsu, the Tailed Beast chakra within it returned to the natural world. Nature wasn't going to say, "You're pretty, so let's share, I'll give you half." Ino hadn't eaten the "Face-Face Fruit"; her face wasn't that influential.
She was currently using her own chakra, and chakra was a forceful extraction from one's own cells, consuming her own energy. After maintaining the Wood Golem for a long time, she was also very tired now.
She sipped her tea slowly, not understanding for a moment why Shikamaru was telling her this.
Tsunade was not like the Fourth Raikage, who had been lifting iron for decades. After years of drinking, gambling, and feeding pigs, she had become decadent. She was even more tired than Ino after the battle and had gone to sleep as soon as she returned to her tent. At this moment, Ino had to be responsible for the camp's duties.
Her "Wisdom" of 10 allowed her to quickly figure out Shikamaru's intention. "You're worried that our defensive intelligence will be leaked, right?"
Shikamaru nodded. "Yes. Although the captives are genin, if some information falls into the hands of the Cloud ninja, it will definitely be disadvantageous for us."
Ino thought for a moment. Expecting Konoha ninja to keep their mouths shut under severe torture? That was indeed unrealistic.
She put down her cup. "Assuming our defensive intelligence has already been leaked, with what I know of the Fourth Raikage, that guy will definitely want to launch another surprise attack... Choji, go find me two Cloud ninja corpses."
The big guy didn't know what she was up to, but he obediently went out to move the bodies.
Before long, the corpses of two dark-skinned Cloud ninja were placed in Ino's tent.
She reached out and wiped her hand across a corpse's forehead. Just as Shikamaru and Choji thought she was going to read the enemy's mind, her right hand made a grasping motion and she pulled upwards with force. Following the connection between the body and the soul, she forcefully summoned the Cloud ninja's soul.
A string of Death God prayer beads appeared in her hand. She closed her eyes and listened for a moment, quickly digging up a good deal of intelligence from the Cloud ninja.
"I'm going to see Teacher. Shikamaru, you go find the Earth Release ninja and reinforce the camp."
That night, Tsunade, Ino, and Asuma led a raid on the Cloud camp. The enemy also came to raid them. The two sides met halfway, and both felt a bit awkward upon seeing each other, which was followed by another chaotic battle.
The intensity of the fight was a significant drop from the daytime. Tsunade, the Fourth Raikage, and Ino were human, after all, and their chakra was limited. The two Jinchuriki were also in a half-dead state. Ino didn't use the Wood Golem, instead fighting them for half the night with a Wood Dragon.
The high-intensity battles continued for three days, with both sides using all their tricks.
Konoha had been at peace for a long time, and the mindset of its ninja had not yet fully adjusted. They were still viewing the battlefield with a peacetime mentality.
Tsunade personally appeared for several consecutive days to boost morale. The master-disciple duo of Tsunade and Ino responded to all changes with a constant strategy, holding their defensive line. The one to break first would definitely be the Cloud Village, which had a weaker foundation.
Konoha continuously transported supplies to the front lines, and along with the supplies came large amounts of gold and silver.
Most ninja didn't have the spirit of sacrificing their lives for the village. This was a purely militarized organization. What lofty ideals of protecting one's home and country were there?
Everyone was risking their necks to fight, defending the borders for the Land of Fire and conquering territory for the village. You had to pay them. You had to pay for a win, and you had to pay for a loss. You don't pay? Then they'd rebel!
This village system was like the Weibo garrison of the late Tang Dynasty or the samurai groups of Japan—a typical case of creating happiness with salary. No money? Then you can go... do whatever.
Konoha sent reinforcements, and the Cloud also sent reinforcements. Konoha sent more, and the Cloud also dispatched more troops to the front line. The forces on both sides quickly exceeded ten thousand.
Konoha could still carry out a larger-scale mobilization. For the Cloud, ten thousand ninja was already almost their entire force.
Jiraiya reformed some of the systems from the Third Hokage's era, trying his best to be fair.
A large number of ninja were fighting bloody battles on the front lines, while those responsible for second-line work were just strolling around the village as if it had nothing to do with them? That wouldn't do!
You say you have no combat ability? Then you still have to go to the front lines. Even if it's just transporting some items or bringing back some wounded, you can't just sit in the village and watch others sacrifice themselves.
Under his strong pressure, even a ninja with deep connections like Denki Kaminarimon's father had to go to the front lines for a look.
Where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure. Denki's father went to the western front, which hadn't started fighting yet. Over there, Kakashi and Might Guy were firmly holding two canyons leading into the Land of Fire, so it was currently relatively safe.
Denki's father had connections with Homura Mitokado and could pick a relatively safe job. The connections of the remaining second-line civilian-post ninja varied.
Forcibly conscripting second-line civilian-post ninja to the front lines caused a great deal of dissatisfaction.
At this critical moment, Iruka-sensei, who had attended Sarutobi's cram school, bravely stood up. He angrily denounced his colleagues who were afraid of death and trying to use connections to avoid the battlefield. For the sake of Konoha, he resolutely resigned from his school job and signed up for the front lines!
Departing with him was Hayate Gekko, who had just transferred to a teaching position.
Before leaving, Iruka treated Naruto to a bowl of ramen, then said he was going to the battlefield and told Naruto to study hard and take care of himself.
There wasn't much to say for Hayate Gekko. Yugao Uzuki was already fighting on the eastern front. He was now just picking up his longsword again and rejoining the battle.
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