Grind is My Ninja Way

Unknowingly, time had passed into the late night.

In the night sky.

The moon had moved from its zenith to the west.

However, the Kiri-nin still hadn't breached any of the three defense lines.

This made the Kirigakure commander very annoyed.

On the coast.

On a Kirigakure warship.

A Kiri-nin Jonin's face changed repeatedly as he looked at the battle reports in his hand.

Finally, with a "slap," he threw several battle reports onto the table and cursed in a low voice: "Useless! They're all useless!"

Just now, news came from the front line that the area they had previously captured on the eastern battlefield had been retaken by the Konoha ninjas.

And from the looks of it, they even had the intention of continuing to advance.

Moreover, it was the same on the southern and southeastern battlefields. The Konoha ninjas were also gaining momentum, gradually reclaiming the lost ground.

It could be said that on all three fronts, Kirigakure was retreating...

How could this not infuriate Chiyu Ryu?

And as for the culprit behind all this, Uchiha Seimei, known as the "Ghost Sword," Chiyu Ryu hated him to the extreme.

But then again, a mere twelve or thirteen-year-old kid, and they still couldn't take him down. This was simply a disgrace to Kirigakure.

If it weren't for Seimei's previous record of killing Juzo Biwa and Raiga Kurosuki, and the fact that he had just killed Kaguya Kotaro right under his nose, Chiyu Ryu would have suspected that Terumi Mei and the others were deliberately holding back.

But even so, it was still a bit too outrageous.

The Jonin of the Uchiha clan were indeed top-notch among ninjas of the same level, but it shouldn't be impossible to take him down even with the combined efforts of seven or eight Jonin.

Not to mention, among these seven or eight people, there was Terumi Mei, a dual Kekkei Genkai user, and Kushimaru Kuriarare, a wielder of one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. They should have been able to take him down no matter what, right?

But what was the result?

Seimei was like an unkillable cockroach, stubbornly surviving and even counterattacking, injuring several of them.

This left Chiyu Ryu completely baffled.

However, since he couldn't figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it.

As the saying goes, if you can't beat them, can't you just avoid them?

So, Chiyu Ryu tried to withdraw some people, leaving only one or two to keep Seimei occupied.

However, Seimei's strength was simply too strong. Leaving ordinary Jonin was basically just sending him free kills.

And if he left behind strong individuals like Terumi Mei, Seimei would actively avoid the fight and forcefully insert himself into other Jonin's battles.

That one time, because of the cooperation of other Konoha Jonin, Seimei directly killed one of their Jonin, which made Chiyu Ryu extremely distressed.

Helplessly, Chiyu Ryu could only reassemble his forces and launch a siege on him.

Even after knowing that Seimei was intentionally stalling for time, Chiyu Ryu didn't dare to casually withdraw the people besieging him.

It could be said that Seimei single-handedly held back nearly half of the Jonin on Kirigakure's eastern battlefield.

His contribution was undeniably significant!

And this was the role of high-end combat power in such a large-scale chaotic battle.

It was precisely because of Seimei's stalling that Konoha was able to successfully counterattack.

Otherwise, how could it have been so easy?

Forcefully suppressing his frustration, Chiyu Ryu asked towards the dark corner beside him: "How long until Konoha's reinforcements arrive?"

Hearing this, a ninja cloaked in a black robe and wearing a mask walked out. It was another Kirigakure Anbu ninja.

He said: "The Flying Fish Squad just sent a message that Konoha's reinforcements have reached the vicinity of Akakora Reef and will arrive here in about three hours at the earliest."

"Three hours..."

Chiyu Ryu murmured and fell into a long silence.

He tapped his index finger on the table, making a rhythmic tapping sound.

About ten minutes later, Chiyu Ryu suddenly straightened up, picked up the battle reports on the table again, and carefully read them.

After a while, he sighed softly and said: "Sigh~ Alright, pass on my order, retreat!"

After saying this, his entire body seemed to have been drained of energy, and he leaned back into the chair behind him, speechless for a long time.

Chiyu Ryu knew that after this, it would be difficult for him to make a comeback.

As a Jonin with ordinary combat power and no background, his commanding ability was almost his only strength.

If this battle had gone well, he might have had a chance to enter the village's power center.

But now...

He could forget about it!

The village had been lying low for so long, all for the sake of being fully prepared and achieving success in one strike.

However, now, not only had they suffered losses in troops and generals, but they hadn't achieved any strategic goals.

Originally, the village's plan was to first capture Konoha's forward base in the Land of Waves, then use it as a springboard to attack the Land of Fire itself, and finally push the battle line into the hinterland of the Land of Fire.

Unfortunately, now they hadn't even taken down the forward base, which was just a stepping stone, let alone the subsequent arrangements.

Therefore, this time, let alone merits, not being held responsible was already considered good.

In that case, there was no need to think about further advancement.

Of course, he could also continue fighting, but based on the current situation, the probability of their failure was as high as eighty to ninety percent.

Under such circumstances, continuing to fight was gambling with their lives.

Chiyu Ryu still had some conscience and didn't want his subordinates to die in vain, so he ultimately chose to retreat.

Of course, there was another reason that prompted him to make this decision: even if they won this gamble, they wouldn't be able to hold on once Konoha's reinforcements arrived.

Since that was the case, it was better to preserve some fighting strength for the village!

Hearing his retreat order, the Kirigakure Anbu beside him didn't say anything and directly turned to leave.

Soon, the Kiri-nin on the three fronts began an orderly retreat.

The Konoha side naturally noticed their movements, but after some thought, the Uchiha Jonin in charge of command gave up the idea of pursuing.

It wasn't that he didn't want to pursue, but the situation didn't allow it.

Although they had successfully defended against Kirigakure's surprise attack this time, they had also suffered significant losses, and the surviving Konoha ninjas were all injured.

Moreover, after several hours of intense battle, everyone was exhausted and simply didn't have the energy or Chakra to pursue anymore.

Perhaps, if they did pursue, it might even give Kirigakure an opportunity.

Therefore, the Uchiha Jonin chose to stay put. After all, they had already exceeded their mission objectives this time, and there was no need to take any more risks.

Similarly, Seimei saw the Kiri-nin Jonin who were besieging him leave and didn't choose to pursue either.

Although he was still in relatively good condition, his performance in this battle was already outstanding enough. There was no need to chase after them and kill a few more Kiri-nin.

Doing so might even attract more attention!

Seimei hadn't forgotten why he was transferred to this battlefield. He had already provoked the Root organization, and he didn't want to attract a second one.

Although the possibility of him not being noticed was very small, he still wanted to reduce the chances as much as possible.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Seimei shook off the blood from his blade, then sheathed the long katana with a "clang."

He glanced around, confirming that Kirigakure had indeed retreated, and then walked back to the base.

However, before he could even rest for a moment, a Chunin came to him.

Before the Chunin could speak, Seimei opened his eyes, stared at him, and frowned: "What's the matter?"

Hearing this, the Konoha Chunin gulped and then carefully said: "It's like this, Jonin Seimei. The medical team is a bit short-handed right now, so..."

"..."

Seimei fell silent upon hearing this.

(End of Chapter)