Chapter 202
2-in-1-chapter
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The men quickly assigned roles and dispersed, organizing the army into phased withdrawals. Their movements were urgent but not chaotic; these were hardened survivors who had crawled through the Third Great Ninja War, and they knew that orderly retreat required as much discipline as combat. An indiscriminate rush would only turn the situation into a complete disaster.
Order was essential.
Dodai was not idle. If the dispersed jōnin served as hands and feet to control the six thousand troops, Dodai was the central nervous system holding everything together. Because he commanded from above, the retreat did not collapse into disorder.
As for the Raikage's side, Dodai was powerless. No matter how much the younger generation in the village revered him, he remained sober about his own limitations. He was not the strategist they imagined in their fantasies, had been so brilliant, Kumo would not have suffered the defeat that cost the Third Raikage his life during the Third Great Ninja War.
All he could do now was what lay within his capability: preserve as much of the nearly six thousand-strong force under his command as possible. This army, made up mostly of lower- and mid-level shinobi, simply had no effective means to resist an absurd entity such as Susanoo.
To put it harshly, they could not even buy time.
Staying behind would serve no purpose at all, and might only bring unnecessary trouble to Lord Raikage.
On the contrary, without the burden of nearly six thousand subordinates to slow him down, with Lord Raikage's own strength and the cooperation of the many jōnin accompanying him, even if victory proved impossible, there would still be a chance to escape.
Holding on to that small hope, Dodai forced himself to remain calm and commanded the army to retreat.
.........
....
.
At the same time, the emotions of the Fourth Raikage, Ai, were likewise teetering on the edge of collapse. The sudden appearance of a second Susanoo left his mind completely blank for an instant. Fortunately, his reflexes were exceptional. Before he could be caught between Uchiha Fugaku and the frenzied Troy, he flashed away, his body turning into lightning to evade the assault.
At that moment, he had entirely lost the will to fight.
Under such dire circumstances, there was no point in continuing the battle. Even a pyrrhic victory was now far beyond reach. Inwardly, he could only pray that Dodai would act wisely and not let this great conflict end in disastrous defeat.
"All units, execute Plan B!"
Ai darted through the battlefield in a series of lightning-fast movements, avoiding Fugaku and Troy. As he moved, he shouted at the top of his voice, ensuring his command reached every Kumogakure shinobi across the field.
Plan B meant retreat.
However, giving a direct order to retreat sounded demoralizing and could easily provoke the enemy's pursuit. Thus, the plan had been disguised as "Plan B." Even though the movement looked like a retreat, the name gave the illusion that an ambush might be in place, perhaps deterring pursuit.
And indeed, that was exactly what happened.
The Kumogakure shinobi began to disengage in small groups, and the Konoha shinobi did not immediately chase after them. Instead, they regrouped with their allies and, in localized skirmishes, used superior numbers to press back against the remaining Kumogakure forces.
Between the two sides, a subtle, indescribable rhythm of mutual understanding emerged.
The Konoha side was still at a disadvantage in the number of jōnin. It was unrealistic to think they could eliminate the entire enemy force. Likewise, the Kumogakure shinobi knew not everyone could withdraw unscathed; escaping without any casualties was impossible against Konoha's resistance.
Thus,
A small portion of the Kumogakure shinobi stayed behind to cover the retreat.
The Konoha shinobi, without hesitation, surrounded and eliminated that rearguard first.
Barely a minute after Rēn and the others arrived at the battlefield, the situation had been completely reversed. Under the command of the Raikage's aide Dodai, the main Kumogakure army began to retreat.
Even the elite strike force led personally by the Fourth Raikage, composed entirely of jōnin, had started to withdraw. Rēn took in everything before him.
Seeing the scene unfold, he made his decision.
After striking the Eight-Tails twice, he severed two of its tentacle-like tails, which writhed on the ground like living things. The deep-scarlet Susanoo sheathed its blade and did not continue its joint assault on the Eight-Tails alongside Shisui.
Instead, it extended its left hand. In its palm appeared several deep-scarlet magatama, three of which circled one another like swimming fish, revolving endlessly within the center of its hand.
This was the Yasaka Magatama.
It was a long-range projectile technique possessed by all forms of Susanoo. By controlling the number of magatama, the user could freely adjust the strength of its destructive power. It was an extremely practical and powerful divine ability.
At Rēn's command, his Susanoo raised its left arm. Just as it was about to hurl the three deep-scarlet magatama toward the scattered formation of nearly six thousand retreating Kumogakure shinobi, a thunderous roar shook the air.
"Raaaagh!"
The Eight-Tails, bellowing in rage, endured a thrust from the spiral sword of the emerald Susanoo and charged forward like an enraged bull, slamming headlong into the crimson Susanoo. The slight jolt caused the magatama in its raised left hand to slip off target. The trajectory wavered, and the projectiles fell instead into a snow-covered forest, where a tremendous explosion erupted.
"Foolish."
Rēn murmured the word, though there was no mockery in his tone.
To willingly take injury in order to protect one's comrades within the village might look foolish on the surface, yet Rēn could not dislike such resolve. It was precisely this kind of spirit that allowed him to bring this war to its end that much sooner.
The emerald Susanoo gripped its spiral sword and unleashed a fierce barrage against the Eight-Tails.
Still staggering from the earlier collision with the crimson Susanoo, the beast had not yet recovered its balance. It was unable to counterattack, struggling even to evade the strikes. Within only a few seconds, it was pierced by three more thrusts of the spiral sword before it finally managed to steady itself.
Then—
A great blade wreathed in blazing fire swept down.
Two of the Eight-Tails' tentacle-like tails were severed once again. The searing flames burned into its flesh, and its massive body trembled from the pain. Rēn pressed the attack relentlessly. His Susanoo swung the flaming blade in a series of rapid slashes, each one radiating scorching heat. The snowflakes that drifted near the weapon's arc evaporated completely long before they reached the blade.
Rēn's mastery of Fire Style had already surpassed convention.
Combining Fire Release with Susanoo might have been his first attempt, yet it was executed with such fluency and precision that no one could have guessed it was newly conceived. The two forces complemented each other perfectly, magnifying his offensive power to terrifying heights that were nearly impossible to withstand.
Not letting the opportunity pass, Shisui, enduring the pain in his eyes, advanced once more. His spiral sword, enveloped in violent wind, darted forward with lightning speed as he launched a dazzling series of thrusts toward the Eight-Tails.
"Bi, we can't hold on much longer!"
"No… I can't give up yet. The others haven't gone far. At the very least, we have to hold out until they've withdrawn…"
"Bi, your chakra is almost depleted. Even I need time to recover my energy. Half a minute at most—if you don't retreat now, you won't be able to maintain this form.
You know better than I do what that would mean!"