Chapter 170: Trump Card 3
Accompanied by dense explosions, the right flank of Iwagakure's main force began to slowly advance towards Konoha's lines.
This was the first time Iwagakure had gained an advantage since the engagement began. For a moment, the morale of the Iwagakure ninjas soared. They all struck out, doing their utmost to tie down the enemy before them, preventing them from reinforcing other areas.
But Ishiro couldn't feel happy, because this progress was temporary. Iwagakure had merely caught them by surprise. Once Konoha also deployed its trump cards, Iwagakure's last safeguard would disappear.
At that point, could Iwagakure still safely withdraw from the battle?
Konoha's commander now had two choices. One was to fight their own battles, meaning ignoring Iwagakure's Explosion Corps and sacrificing a sector. They could use their numerous ninja clan members for an offensive, in which case Konoha could gain a victorious position over a wide area.
Konoha would definitely win in the end, but with this method, Konoha would suffer heavy losses. Of course, Iwagakure's losses would be even greater.
The other method was to dispatch ninja clan members against the Explosion Corps. In that case, Konoha would fight conventionally, and Iwagakure would be unable to make progress.
And with the Explosion Corps, their trump card, deep within the enemy's main lines, Iwagakure would be unable to retreat safely. In the end, Konoha would most likely achieve a comprehensive victory.
The former was a costly victory; even if they won, they wouldn't have much strength left to reinforce Kikyo Castle. Because Konoha couldn't just ignore Iwagakure after one victory; Iwagakure would continue to send troops.
The latter, however, could preserve Konoha's strength to the greatest extent. After victory, Konoha would still have an excess capacity to reinforce Kikyo Castle.
Thus, Ishiro soon noticed a force of about seven to eight hundred ninjas within Konoha's formation rapidly moving towards the Explosion Corps' location.
In a short while, the two forces met.
Instantly, a large number of Kikaichū (Parasitic Destruction Insects) began to spread. The sounds of various dogs barking arose. One by one, giants prepared to rampage.
Let alone someone like Ishiro who had read the original story, even other Iwagakure ninjas immediately knew the origins of those people.
Aburame, Inuzuka, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Yūhi, Sarutobi, Gekkō, and so on – one by one, these names appeared in everyone's minds.
Immediately, Konoha's side experienced a surge in morale, while Iwagakure's ninjas each showed worried expressions.
Ishiro also wasn't optimistic about his side's situation and was hesitating whether to ask Saka if he had any other arrangements.
A white light suddenly flashed from the corner of his eye.
"Hmm? What was that?" The white light vanished as quickly as it appeared, disappearing without a sound, making Ishiro momentarily think it was an illusion.
But this was a battlefield, this was the ninja world; unclear occurrences couldn't be dismissed as illusions.
Ishiro immediately looked towards the Explosion Corps' direction. Then he was greatly shocked.
"This is? What's going on?"
The scene that met Ishiro's eyes was this: in front of the Explosion Corps, where Konoha's clan members were preparing to display their skills, a vacuum zone, five meters wide and nearly a hundred meters long, had appeared.
This vacuum zone was neat and tidy, appearing very abrupt. Everyone inside it had completely vanished.
The most terrifying thing wasn't the sudden disappearance of the ninjas in this vacuum zone, but the ninjas at its edges – parts of their bodies had disappeared, while other parts still remained.
Because this zone was nearly a hundred meters long, a large number of severed limbs were left behind.
Some ninjas with missing body parts were still alive. These people, astonishingly, didn't feel pain at first. Only after a moment did they react, one by one letting out screams of both terror and agony.
"Dust Release!"
This scene was not unfamiliar to Ishiro. Many years ago, when he was still in the Anbu, he had witnessed a similar situation. Ishiro remembered that incident had led to Konoha's White Fang committing suicide and had nearly caused the Third Great Ninja War to erupt several years earlier.
Ishiro followed the hundred-meter-long trace and looked behind him.
Sure enough, Ōnoki had appeared in mid-air at some unknown point. Looking at his hands, he was already preparing the next Dust Release.
Ishiro turned his head to look at the battlefield. By now, many in Konoha's camp had also reacted. Among the ninja clan members, someone was shouting, "Scatter, scatter quickly! This is Dust Release! Ōnoki is here!"
A yellow figure flickered continuously through the crowd. Each flicker took away a Konoha elite.
And at the same time, a voice reached Ishiro's ears.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Rampart!" It was Jiraiya's voice.
Then, a massive earthen mountain directly blocked the space between the two large armies.
Boom~~~
The white light flashed again, but this time the effect was far less potent than the first. The white light avoided the Konoha ninja clan members already shielded by the Earth Flow Rampart and fell into a denser group of ninjas on the other side, once again taking the lives of several hundred ninjas.
"Retreat! Full retreat!" Cries of alarm came from within the Konoha forces.
Almost simultaneously, orders to pursue echoed from within the Iwagakure ranks.
"Phew~~" Ishiro finally breathed a sigh of relief. No wonder Saka's orders today were so abnormal, so eager to seek a decisive battle.
He knew Konoha had two Kage-level combatants yet still insisted on clashing head-on with them. It turned out Ōnoki had also come. It turned out Saka had such a powerful trump card.
Speaking of which, Ōnoki was truly willing to go all out, willing to, as Tsuchikage, launch a sneak attack on a group of ordinary ninjas.
When he first transmigrated, Ishiro's impression of Dust Release was that it was a technique used in battles between Kage-level powerhouses. Ishiro had once thought it was a single-target attack ninjutsu.
Only later, from the introduction of S-rank ninjutsu in Iwagakure, did he understand that Dust Release had always been a group attack ninjutsu. Long-range and large-area were the characteristics of Dust Release.
And Dust Release's charging process made it difficult to use effectively in battles between top-tier experts.
Therefore, Dust Release was more suitable for group battles.
The subsequent battle was simple. Under Ōnoki's leadership, Iwagakure advanced like a hot knife through butter, pushing Konoha's battle line directly to the border of the Land of Fire, just like Sunagakure had done.
Ōnoki knew when to stop. He didn't camp on the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers like Sunagakure but led his troops back to the Land of Earth, leaving only a small force in the Land of Grass. The entire ninja deployment was almost identical to before the battle.
In this battle, Iwagakure, as the victor, did not fare well, suffering over 2,000 ninja casualties in total. Fortunately, most of these ninjas were Chūnin and Genin. For example, the vanguard force mentioned earlier suffered nearly ninety percent losses; those who escaped back with Ikura and Ishiro were almost all elites.
In the subsequent positional warfare between the two sides, Iwagakure and Konoha each lost several hundred men.
And later, during the assault on Konoha's defense line following the Explosion Corps, and in the subsequent pursuit, several hundred more ninjas were killed or wounded under the desperate counterattacks of numerous Konoha ninjas.
Iwagakure's losses had reached over twenty percent.
So when Ishiro returned to the encampment and emerged from a short period of secluded training, although he saw the joy of victory on the faces of the Iwagakure ninjas, there was even more grief for lost comrades.
After taking a tour around the encampment, Ishiro arrived at the command headquarters. The headquarters had been extremely busy before, but now the busiest period had passed.
Seeing Ishiro enter, Ikura, Saka, and two other deputy commanders in the headquarters nodded to Ishiro in acknowledgment.
Ōnoki spoke directly: "Ishiro, tell me your thoughts. Why did you advise me to withdraw the troops earlier?"
That's right. The reason Ōnoki had stopped when he did, after pursuing them to the Land of Fire border, was because he had listened to Ishiro's advice.
"Lord Tsuchikage, esteemed seniors, this is what I think. We have already achieved our original strategic objective of tying down Konoha's main force. And we have even exceeded the objective."
"In this battle, Konoha lost at least four thousand men. Although those who died in the final pursuit were mostly Chūnin and Genin, several hundred elite clan members died under Dust Release."
"Konoha has suffered heavy losses, both in terms of numbers and core strength. Our immediate enemy is already incapable of reinforcing Kikyo Castle in the short term."
"But if we continue to press, Konoha's attitude towards the Land of Grass battlefield will shift from diverting troops to sending reinforcements."
"At that time, we will be like Sunagakure is now – unable to advance further, yet unwilling to retreat. The short, large-scale battle between the two sides will turn into a long-term war of attrition."
"However, if we stop at the right time, Konoha's main focus will still be on Kikyo Castle, and our original strategy of 'sitting on the mountain to watch the tigers fight' will not change."
At this point, a deputy commander from the Southern Front encampment interjected: "But, if we continue to attack, as long as we heavily damage or even annihilate the enemy before us, then Konoha will be pulled down from its position as the number one great nation."
Ishiro shook his head and said, "Firstly, we won't necessarily win. Konoha has reinforcements. Don't forget, the Third Hokage himself hasn't made a move yet."
"If we press step by step, it's very likely to shift Konoha's focus from Kikyo Castle to us. When the Third Hokage, Jiraiya, and Minato Namikaze all act together, can we still win?"
"What's more, Konoha still has the Nine-Tails. We've used our Tailed Beast; would Konoha watch its dominant position be threatened and still be reluctant to use its Tailed Beast?"
That person was speechless. Ishiro continued, "Secondly, even if we really do win, how much will we lose?"
"Today, Lord Tsuchikage, as a fresh force, intervened at a critical moment when both sides were deadlocked, instantly shaking Konoha's morale, which led to our great victory."
"But if Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze were prepared, even if we won, how many men would we have left?"
"At that time, Konoha would certainly lose its dominant position, but would Iwagakure be the one to replace Konoha as the number one ninja village?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was jolted. That's right, the policy of reaping the fisherman's benefits had been decided earlier. How could they forget it in a moment of impulse?
Pausing for a moment, Ishiro said, "Moreover, there are three benefits to negotiating peace with Konoha."
"First, Konoha is in a difficult situation at this time. We can extort a hefty sum. Reparations, transfer of mission shares, and even ceding land are all possible."
Seeing that several of them were very interested, Ishiro pressed on, "In addition to this, we can also propose that Konoha share some ninjutsu."
"Hiss～～" A chorus of sharp inhales immediately sounded in the office.
Ninjutsu – this was the foundation of a ninja village. Konoha was the most affluent in this aspect, with almost no shortcomings. But Iwagakure's collection was severely lopsided.
If they could obtain a batch of ninjutsu from Konoha, even if it was just A-rank, or even B-rank ninjutsu that Iwagakure lacked, it could significantly enhance the individual strength of Iwagakure ninjas on a large scale.
"Continue," Ōnoki's composure was much better than the others, but he was very interested to know what other reasons Ishiro had.
Ishiro smiled faintly and said, "Secondly, if we negotiate peace with Konoha, then Konoha can withdraw troops to support other battlefields. Although Konoha's dominant position can be maintained, this will also force other villages to fight Konoha to the death."
"This perfectly fits our strategic intentions. We can watch the Great Ninja War while extricating ourselves from the flames of war early on."
Everyone nodded involuntarily. This was what everyone desired most.
"As for the third," Ishiro revealed a cunning smile and said astonishingly, "we can let Konoha win the Third Great Ninja War as soon as possible."
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