Chapter 193
2-in-1-chapter
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Shisui's brief moment of distraction had, in the end, given his opponents their opening.
"Damn it! Fight me head-on if you've got the guts!"
Darui swung the long blade in his hands and charged straight at Shisui. He kept his gaze low, avoiding Shisui's eyes, focusing instead on the movement of his arms and legs. Sparks of blinding lightning ran along the length of his sword as the two engaged in fierce close-quarters combat.
The flashing of blades and the bursts of lightning were so fast that the few surviving Kumogakure shinobi watching from a distance felt dizzy trying to follow the exchange.
Even Shisui was a little surprised.
Throughout his advance, hardly anyone had survived a single strike from him. Only a few elite jōnin had needed two blows to be finished. Yet this was the first time he had faced someone who could fight him directly, avoid his gaze entirely, and still withstand his assault.
Interesting.
Shisui's fighting spirit rose sharply.
The destruction of Susanoo had been the first unexpected event in this battle, but that outcome was partly by his own design. He had used it to mislead the Kumogakure shinobi, letting them believe they had destroyed his full power. In the instant Susanoo collapsed, he had used the Body Flicker Technique to escape from the swampy battlefield and reappear right in the midst of the celebrating Kumogakure forces, catching them completely off guard.
Of the roughly forty Kumogakure shinobi present, he had cut down at least twenty in that single assault before Darui managed to stop him.
"I've seen your picture before. If I remember correctly, your name is Darui, isn't it?"
Darui didn't dare meet Shisui's eyes, but Shisui had no such hesitation. He studied Darui carefully, matching him with the information stored in his memory. Just as the Kumogakure shinobi gathered intelligence on Konoha, Konoha had done the same on them.
Especially when it came to Kumogakure's top combatants. In the previous battle for the Kusatsu Highlands, Darui had demonstrated exceptional skill, forcing Hyūga Hiashi into a desperate position. Because of that, he had become one of the primary targets of Konoha's intelligence division, and his details had been firmly remembered by Shisui and the others.
"I didn't expect to run into such a big catch today. Seems my luck isn't bad after all."
Battle lust flared in Shisui's eyes.
If he could defeat Darui, the outcome of this Kumogakure unit's battle would already be decided.
Hearing Shisui's words, Darui's expression darkened. He still didn't dare raise his head, focusing only on Shisui's movements. Fighting like this, without direct eye contact, left him stiff and uneasy. Shisui's attacks, however, grew faster and sharper, his blade flickering around Darui like a ghost, tightening the pressure on his defenses bit by bit.
This couldn't continue.
Darui fully understood the danger he was in.
If he kept fighting like this, he would eventually be overwhelmed. Facing an Uchiha at close range was far too dangerous. The threat of the Sharingan's genjutsu hung over him like a blade poised above his head, making it impossible to fight with full focus. But—
Damn it. A chance. I need to find a chance to pull back!
The lead-colored clouds gathered layer upon layer without anyone noticing, blocking the light of the sun as if the heavens themselves could not bear to look upon the carnage below and had shut their eyes. Although it was midday, the world in everyone's sight seemed veiled in gloom, and when the first white snowflakes began to fall, they suddenly realized that winter had arrived.
The warm climate of the Land of Hot Water had made them forget the turning of the seasons. Perhaps, by now, their homeland was already wrapped in silver frost and snow. But Darui had no time to picture how beautiful Kumogakure must look beneath the falling snow.
Every nerve in his body was taut, every thought focused on his battle with Shisui. He dared not let his guard down for even a moment. Despite giving his all, he was forced entirely onto the defensive. Each attempt to counterattack or to create distance failed without exception.
If that had been the only issue, Darui could at least have tried to stall for time. But as the highest commander on the field, the shadow clone he had sent to direct the broader operation had already been destroyed by another Uchiha. The Konoha forces had split his troops apart, cutting down his shinobi at will. Even though they held the advantage in numbers, it made little difference.
In the world of shinobi, numerical superiority was only one factor in measuring the strength between two sides. What mattered more was individual power. A single Jōnin could fight a group of Chūnin without issue, and a dozen Jōnin could sweep through hundreds of lower-ranked shinobi.
There were countless examples of this throughout the ninja world. When Deidara and Sasori had dared to infiltrate Sunagakure, even though Gaara's defeat had much to do with being held back by his own village, the fact remained: aside from Gaara himself, who was already Kazekage, there had been no one in the village capable of stepping forward to assist him. Personal strength was an essential factor that could overturn the balance of entire armies.
The same truth played out here.
Konoha's forces numbered just over three hundred—less than one-third of the Cloud's—but they were filled with elite shinobi. The Uchiha clan, fighting in full force, became a nightmare that the Cloud shinobi could not dispel. Two or three working together often still failed to block the attack of a single Uchiha.
Genjutsu, Fire Style, and shuriken-jutsu—these were the basic skills every Uchiha possessed. The stronger ones each had their own specialties, mastering a single path to terrifying extremes: genjutsu that caught enemies before they could react, Fire Style techniques of overwhelming destructive power, and shuriken that curved midair to strike from impossible angles.
Those who had not witnessed the Uchiha's power in the Third Great Ninja War were now paying the price for their ignorance.
Uchiha—
How could there be so many Uchiha?
Had they stirred up the entire Uchiha clan's nest?
Before one of Darui's shadow clones was destroyed, it had seen countless pairs of red eyes—many of them bearing the fully matured three-tomoe Sharingan. As the most renowned family of Konoha, a clan with a thousand years of shinobi lineage, the Uchiha had long been the subject of study in every other village.
Darui understood well what those eyes meant.
A shinobi possessing the three-tomoe Sharingan, no matter how weak, was still at least the equal of two Jōnin. That was the unreasonable strength of the Uchiha. Once the eyes reached that stage, their genjutsu alone demanded two opponents of the same rank to resist them. If the Uchiha in question happened to be especially gifted, facing three or even four at once was not impossible.
Through this overwhelming power, the Uchiha had simply erased their numerical disadvantage.
Moreover, the clan fighting as a single force utterly dominated Darui's troops in terms of upper-tier combat strength.
"C, the situation doesn't look good!"
"Damn it, why are there so many Uchiha?"
The large-scale engagement between Konoha and the Cloud had lasted barely five minutes, and already the Cloud forces' confidence had crumbled—from "We'll crush these Konoha shinobi and be home for dinner" to "Why are there so many red eyes?" Anxiety and frustration spread through the ranks.
C's expression darkened.
This outcome was far beyond his expectations. He had considered that Konoha, daring to launch a counterattack, must have prepared carefully. Still, he had assumed that even if they could not hold the line, delaying the enemy would be enough until the Raikage's reinforcements arrived. Then they could drive Konoha back with ease.
But the scale of Konoha's response and the determination they showed were completely beyond anything he had anticipated.
So many Uchiha—Konoha had truly committed everything.
This was not a decision that Hyūga Hiashi would have made. Hiashi had already been at the front for some time, commanding several engagements between Konoha and the Cloud. Though it might be exaggerating to say they had fully read his personality, they at least knew him to be cautious and steady.
He was like the heads of the major families in the Cloud—measured and deliberate, never one to act rashly. This kind of impulsive assault was simply not his style.
"Has Konoha changed commanders again?"
C realized that their opponent's overall leadership must have shifted once more.
But that realization changed nothing about the predicament they faced.
"C, this won't work. There are too many powerful shinobi on Konoha's side. I don't think we can hold out until reinforcements arrive. Do you have any orders?"
A Cloud Jōnin, drenched in blood—much of it his own—stumbled to C's side. He had barely managed to wound an Uchiha, only to be slashed by another red-eyed opponent before he could finish the job. With the help of his comrades, he had fought his way back, retreating step by step until he reached C, now waiting for instructions.
Their supreme commander, Darui, was locked in fierce combat with Shisui. The two shadow clones he had prepared in advance had already been destroyed. Several squads had tried to support him, but the Uchiha Jōnin blocked their every attempt. Each organized push to reach Darui had failed.
With no other option, they had turned to C for a plan.
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