Chapter 465: The Great Naval Battle
Ikura agreed to Killer Bee's 1-vs-2 challenge, cheerfully letting the Four-Tails (Rōshi) and Five-Tails (Han) go off to the side with the Eight-Tails to "catch up."
Furthermore, Ikura himself engaged Darui in a one-on-one duel.
As for Kumo's desire to move the top-tier combatants away to allow for a large-scale army battle, Ikura's reaction was: Welcome it? I couldn't have asked for more!
Ikura himself had been trying to think of a way to lure Killer Bee and Darui out. He never expected Kumo to propose it themselves.
Darui was pinning his hopes on the Kumo army, but Ikura was just as confident in the Iwa army. The current Iwa, in a fight with equal numbers, was in no way inferior to Konoha.
As for Kumo, a one-on-one fight might be a 50-50 chance, but when it came to large-scale brawls, Kumo simply wasn't in the same league.
Sure enough, once the Kage-level fighters left, the gap between the Iwa and Kumo armies was obvious from the very first exchange.
Because of Ishiro's constant gallivanting around the world, Iwa had not only filled the gaps in their elemental ninjutsu but had also developed a particular fondness for using elemental combinations.
For example, this time, while Kumo was still using their standard tactics of Lightning Release and projectiles, Iwa unleashed a diverse array of combination jutsu.
"Wind Release: Breakthrough!" "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" The most common Wind-Fire combination.
"Earth Release: Mud Wall! Earth Release: Rock Shattering Technique!" "Water Release: Raging Waves!" Ishiro's own creation, which instantly turned a defensive Mud Wall into an offensive barrage of shrapnel. The earth jutsu, combined with the water, broke the enemy's formation while the rock fragments delivered the killing blow.
"Wind Release: Wind Tornado!" "Earth Release: Earth and Stone Flow!" Another of Ishiro's common combinations, the very one he used to wipe out the monkey clan.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!" "Lightning Release: Lightning Conduction!" A more common Water-Lightning combination. Since Kumo had many Lightning Release users, this attack primarily targeted their swordsmen who lacked a lightning affinity.
In addition to various two-element combinations, Iwa also used several three-element combinations.
"Water Release: Water Formation Pillar!" "Earth Release: Earth Spike Technique!" "Lightning Release: Thunder Vine!" A Water-Earth-Lightning combo that provided control, damage, and disruption.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!" "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!" "Wind Release: Turbulent Airflow!" The Fire Release provided damage and obscured vision. The earth jutsu was for single-target strikes, its power enhanced by the flames. The wind jutsu expanded the fire's range, increased its power, and accelerated the earth bullets.
In what was supposed to be a probing long-range exchange, the Kumo army was completely suppressed.
The Kumo commander was aghast, blurting out, "How can Iwa use all five natures so smoothly?"
"How is their elemental coordination so balanced? Are we facing Konoha or Iwa?"
In the past, only Konoha could achieve victory with fewer numbers by relying on their balanced combination of the five natures. It was an unspoken rule among the great villages that when calculating troop strength for a large battle, a Konoha ninja couldn't be counted as just one person. That was why Konoha's forces were usually smaller than their opponents'; if the numbers were equal, Konoha would have already attacked.
The Kumo commander now felt that Iwa had to be treated with the same caution as Konoha.
But this realization came too late. The 5,000 Iwa ninja were already engaged with the 5,000 Kumo ninja.
What Kumo didn't know was: Although Iwa had made great progress in the other four elements, the number of non-Earth style users was still far lower than their Earth Release specialists. This army appeared balanced only because Ōnoki had specifically adjusted the roster, sending most of the Earth Release ninja to the Land of Wind front.
The situation was critical, and the Kumo commander had no time to think. Having gained the upper hand in the first exchange, Iwa immediately capitalized on their advantage and launched a massive combined jutsu.
"Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!" "Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
All the Water Release users in the Iwa army moved to the front and cast Kirigakure's signature Hidden Mist Technique. Ishiro had made a trip to Kirigakure; their jutsu were no longer a secret to Iwa.
The Wind Release users in the rear immediately cast Gale Palm, a jutsu Ishiro had gotten from Nagato.
A vast amount of mist was blown toward the Kumo army. The Gale Palm also had an offensive effect, disrupting the enemy's defenses.
"Earth Release: Rock Shattering Technique! Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!" All the Earth Release users took advantage of the blocked vision to unleash their attacks.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Beam!" After a slight delay, the Lightning Release users moved forward and cast Kumo's own signature jutsu, Lightning Beam. This technique was a product of Iwa's lightning research team and had been developed early on due to its simple principle.
At the same time, the Fire Release ninja filled in the gaps, unleashing a volley of fire. They didn't need to coordinate their jutsu; they just needed to hit the enemy. Great Fireball, Great Dragon Fire, Phoenix Sage Fire, Fire Dragon Bullet—each used what they were best at.
This wave of combined jutsu from Iwa was too sudden. The first exchange had just ended in a setback, and Iwa was already erupting.
The Kumo commander reacted quickly. He had already warned his troops to be wary of a sneak attack. But he had expected a charge, or another probing attack to pick off stragglers.
Who would have thought Iwa would launch an all-out assault right away?
When the Hidden Mist rolled in, most Kumo ninja realized something was wrong. They tried to organize a defense, but it was too late. The obscured vision slowed their movements.
Before Kumo could organize an attack or defense, the wave of earth jutsu arrived.
After the earth jutsu passed, the mist had mostly dissipated. Before the Kumo ninja could even check on their comrades, beams of blue light shot through their ranks.
The momentary blindness was fatal. When the massive volley of fire jutsu came, most Kumo ninja couldn't respond effectively. They didn't even know the attack was coming.
Two tight, consecutive waves of attacks instantly reduced Kumo's numbers by over a thousand. More importantly, their army's formation was in complete chaos.
At that moment, the Iwa army charged from their position.
Taijutsu and sword specialists at the front. Ninjutsu and genjutsu users in the middle. Medical ninja at the rear.
The 5,000 Iwa ninja charged into the Kumo ranks in a tight, orderly formation.
The Kumo ninja, still reeling, were mostly fighting as individuals. At any given moment, each Kumo ninja was facing an attack from at least three Iwa ninja.
In a brief clash, the front line of the Kumo army suffered heavy losses.
Fortunately, ninja were not ordinary soldiers. The troops in the rear were not as panicked and immediately formed squads to engage the Iwa forces.
But at that moment, cries of alarm erupted from the Kumo ranks: "There's something in the water! It's sharks!"
"Watch out! Iwa has an ambush!"
One after another, sharks shot out of the water, completely disrupting what was left of their formation.
Attacked from the front and back!
The Kumo commander sighed. We've lost. It was too fast.
The Kumo army could no longer mount an organized resistance.
"Retreat! Retreat!" the commander roared.
But retreating was not so simple now. Countless Iwa squads had already penetrated deep into their ranks. The price for retreating now would be steep.
The Iwa army was charging from behind, fast-moving Iwa ninja were among them, and sharks were leaping from the sea in front.
In the end, of the nearly 4,000 Kumo ninja caught in the melee, only a little over 1,700 managed to escape.
A large-scale battle between two armies, without top-tier fighters involved, was decided so quickly, with one side completely routed.
Iwagakure had set a new record for the fastest victory.
In the distance, Darui was dumbfounded. His fight with Ikura was still in the warm-up phase.
Killer Bee was even farther away. If the Eight-Tails hadn't warned him, he wouldn't have even realized his side's main force had already been defeated.
"Bee, run! The Iwa army won! Don't let them seal you!" The voice of Gyūki, the Eight-Tails, roared in Killer Bee's mind.
Killer Bee was stunned. What?
"Little Eight? Did Iwa's Kitsuchi show up?" This was the only explanation he could think of.
"No! It was a normal battle between the armies! Your Kumo ninja lost! Run!" Gyūki immediately refuted his guess.
Killer Bee abandoned Han and Rōshi and turned to flee, catching up with an equally baffled Darui.
"Darui, what happened?" Killer Bee wasn't in the mood for rapping.
Darui shook his head. "I don't know what happened."
They soon caught up with the routed Kumo survivors. Darui tried to find the commander to ask what happened, only to be told the commander didn't make it out; he was killed by Iwa during the final breakout.
It wasn't until they had fled all the way back to the Land of Lightning and stopped to regroup that Darui, after piecing together the details from the survivors, finally understood where the problem lay.
Darui said to Killer Bee, "Iwa isn't the Iwa of old anymore. There's not much difference between them and Konoha now."
"To fight 5,000 Iwa ninja, we need at least 7,000 of our own. Unfortunately, we realized it too late."
"If we had been facing 5,000 Konoha troops, we wouldn't have chosen a decisive battle so easily. We were careless."
"Iwa has changed so much, but we were still fighting them with our old methods. We lost from the very beginning."
"All these years, we've only been paying attention to Iwa's senjutsu and their number of Kage. We never expected their regular ninja to have changed so much."
"I really don't understand how the Tsuchikage did it."
Killer Bee asked, "What now?"
Darui was silent for a moment, looking at the demoralized troops. "With this defeat, we no longer have a chance to win this war."
"Over in the Land of Wind, the best Suna can hope for is a draw. Iwa has already won this front."
"We can only hope things go smoothly for Lord Raikage."
Killer Bee nodded. This whole battle was so frustrating for him. I didn't even get started, and you're already finished?
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