Chapter 194
2-in-1-chapter
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A problem remained—C could do nothing about it.
There were not so many tricks in a ninja war. Strategy had its uses, but it was rarely decisive. In the end, individual combat power was what determined the direction of a battle. And this skirmish had already turned into a chaotic melee, where only raw strength mattered.
"Hold out. The Raikage will send reinforcements soon."
That was all C could say to keep his men's morale from collapsing.
"Lord C, we can't hold on any longer."
The speaker was the same Jōnin from Kumogakure. His face was deathly pale. He had been slashed earlier—though the wound had not been immediately fatal, the constant loss of blood had left him dizzy. Somewhere deep inside, he already understood his fate.
He drew in a ragged breath. "We can't hold them back, Lord C. Konoha's counterattack is too fierce. I know you want to buy time, but they're overwhelming us. These… these Uchiha are too strong. If we keep this up, there'll be no one left to report to the Raikage about what happened here."
His breathing grew heavier, each gasp louder than the last. He was running out of time.
"But Darui is still holding the line!"
C's brows knotted tightly. His expression showed how much it pained him.
This veteran Jōnin had been the one Dodai found to assist both him and Darui—a man in his fifties who had survived the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars. Dodai had worried that they were too young and inexperienced to command a battle on their own, so he had asked this older shinobi to lend them guidance when possible.
"At this point," the man said between wheezing breaths, "it's too late to worry about anything else. Lord C, anything is better than total annihilation. I'll speak frankly—Lord Darui is the commanding officer; he cannot retreat. You're the deputy commander, so you have that choice. I know you're close to Lord Darui, but the village… the village must come first."
As soon as he finished speaking, his breath stopped. Blood burst violently from the wound that had been hastily bandaged. The old shinobi, who should have lived to old age, fell on the battlefield like so many of his fallen comrades.
"Retreat. Withdraw immediately."
C steeled himself and gave the order.
He was clear-headed enough not to announce it aloud. Instead, he quietly led his nearby group backward step by step. Retreat was an art in itself; if he shouted the order openly, the already losing battle would collapse instantly.
If they were to retreat, it had to be done calmly and quietly.
Leaving their comrades behind was unavoidable. Without paying that price, it would be impossible to withdraw under Konoha's watchful eyes.
And then there was Darui…
C clenched his teeth, refusing to look toward the man surrounded by concentric circles of Uchiha shinobi. As a sensory ninja, he knew Darui was in grave danger, but there was nothing he could do to help him—only escape.
Kumo's movements did not go unnoticed by Konoha.
C's group was being watched. Shisui was still locked in fierce combat with Darui, and when word reached Uchiha Fugaku, he cut down two Kumogakure shinobi before saying, "Let them go. The clan head said before that the Uchiha name must be built not only on the bodies of the dead, but also on the tongues of the living."
With that decision, the Konoha shinobi stopped pursuing C's retreating group and turned their full focus to the slaughter of the remaining Kumo forces.
"Surrender."
Shisui looked at the struggling Darui. "You've lost. If you surrender and order your men to stop fighting, I can guarantee their lives—"
He never finished the sentence. Darui suddenly lashed out with renewed ferocity, ignoring his wounds, his counterattack a clear declaration of defiance.
Surrender was impossible.
When Shisui had deliberately eased his pressure, Darui had taken the chance to assess the situation. The defeat of the Kumo forces was already beyond doubt. He could no longer see C, which meant either death or retreat—hopefully the latter.
Understanding their position, Darui was unmoved by Shisui's tempting offer of mercy. He did value his subordinates' lives, but he was a shinobi of the Hidden Cloud. For him, surrender was unthinkable. He would rather die fighting alongside his comrades.
Lightning flared violently across his body, its brilliance growing even brighter.
The raging electricity boosted his speed again. Though his own lightning was searing his flesh, the core of Kumogakure's taijutsu lay in using Lightning Style to stimulate the body, sharpening reflexes and strengthening muscles to heighten combat power.
Yet such training required gradual adaptation.
If the stimulation was too strong, it might bring a brief surge of strength, but in the long term it would cause severe backlash. Darui could already feel his muscles and tendons screaming in pain.
Even so—he no longer cared about the future.
All that mattered was the present. With his speed heightened, Darui finally managed to open some distance between himself and Shisui. Forming a single hand seal, black lightning erupted from his body, condensing into a panther-shaped bolt that lunged toward Shisui. It was the technique he had inherited from the Third Raikage—Black Lightning.
But he knew this attack alone would not be enough. As he retreated, trying to gain more distance, a chill suddenly spread underfoot. Glancing down, he saw that the ground beneath him had become a shallow pool of water. Instinct saved him—he released chakra through his feet the moment he touched the surface, steadying himself above it.
Ripples spread across the water's surface, and in their distorted reflection a pair of scarlet eyes flickered to life.
"Damn it!"
Darui's face twisted in alarm. His quick mind realized the danger, but before his body could react, his consciousness blurred. His eyelids grew heavy, falling as if weighed down by lead, while the lower lids seemed to float upward like balloons. Drowsiness surged uncontrollably through his mind.
Demonic Illusion: Sleep Technique.
Shisui blinked once, then looked down at the fallen Darui. "Someone come restrain him. This one's a major catch—take him alive to the clan head."
At his call, Uchiha Meirai and Uchiha Yashiro came running from either side.
Both were senior officers of the Konoha Police Force and well-versed in sealing techniques that suppressed chakra. They carried specialized ninja tools and scrolls for this purpose. Working together, they quickly and efficiently bound Darui, ensuring he could not move or release chakra.
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Darui's capture and C's escape did not lead the remaining Cloud-nin to surrender or flee; on the contrary, those Cloud-nin, pressed to the brink, launched themselves into a desperate counterattack without regard for anything else. This was not because they viewed life and death lightly, but because the training they had received since childhood had taught them to put duty above fear.
In their ethos as shinobi, death was not the worst fate; the worst was to survive without having completed one's mission, living on with the shame of failure. At this moment there was no easy escape. The Cloud-nin's military discipline let them see clearly just how bad their situation had become.
Almost ten minutes had passed since the fighting began. The Cloud contingent had suffered roughly seven hundred fatalities; excluding the twenty or so who departed with C, fewer than four hundred Cloud-nin remained. Konoha's losses, by comparison, did not exceed fifty.
That meant the Cloud-nin's numerical advantage had been reduced to a near nothing. The most crippling blow was that their commander Darui had been defeated, while Shisui was free to operate. With the Body Flicker Technique, Shisui cut down foes on the battlefield at a pace rivaling even the Fourth Hokage; his only limitation was that he could not be everywhere at once, so he struck with decisive force wherever he concentrated his efforts.
Whether by conscious realization or instinct, the Cloud-nin fought like cornered beasts, throwing themselves against their enemies. Unfortunately for them, they were no Hashirama Senju and no Madara Uchiha; even a superlative effort could not reverse the balance of the battle.
While killing, Shisui's thoughts wandered back to his conversation with Rēn after their victory over the Mist shinobi. He regretted that when he left the Land of Water he had not returned to Konoha first but had proceeded directly to the front in the Land of Hot Water; otherwise he might already have learned the Flying Thunder God Technique.