The relationships between the various hidden villages and their respective daimyōs ranged from harmonious to hostile.
In some countries, the shinobi village held the real power, while in others the daimyō firmly kept the village under his thumb.
For example, in the Land of Fire, there was the so-called "dual jewel" situation: between the Hokage and the Fire Daimyō, it was obvious whose word actually carried more weight.
In the Land of Wind, however, the Daimyō frequently cut Sunagakure's military budget, clearly the one in control.
As for Kumogakure and the Daimyō of the Land of Lightning, their relationship was said to be extremely close—rumor even claimed there were strong blood ties between the two.
That was probably why Kumogakure dared to directly occupy territory inside the Land of Fire, helping the Land of Lightning expand its borders. No doubt, when this was over, the Lightning Daimyō would compensate them quite generously.
Once he had a basic grasp of the enemy's situation, Orochimaru didn't rush to clash head-on with the Hidden Cloud.
Instead, he had his forces begin constructing their own camp as well, fully intending to fight a war of attrition.
It wasn't that he didn't want to drive Kumogakure out as soon as possible—
It was that, in raw strength and unity, the Cloud far outclassed the Sand. Their morale was high, and they had a lot of top-tier fighters. Orochimaru had no real confidence in taking them in a direct, decisive battle.
Konoha had already lost once, and over three thousand shinobi had died.
If they lost like that a second time, there wouldn't be any point dragging this war out. They might as well admit defeat in this Shinobi World War and go home.
Only about a day had passed. The camp was barely half finished, with just the outer palisade more or less in place, when the Cloud forces moved out en masse, appearing on the edges of Konoha's camp.
"As expected of the Cloud… The moment they get intel, they come straight out. Are they trying to force a decisive battle already?!"
Standing atop the crude wooden wall, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as he stared at the shapes flickering in the distance. There were at least a few hundred shinobi gathered out there.
Kumogakure's fighting style was very much like their lightning techniques—
they excelled at blitz warfare and mobile engagements. With the camp still incomplete, this was the last kind of fight Orochimaru wanted to take.
But there was no way he could just let Cloud ninja loiter on the perimeter and spy on them either.
The best option was, of course, to drive them away.
Very quickly, Orochimaru gave the order to form dozens of assault squads, each one tasked with driving off the Cloud shinobi probing around the camp.
Naturally, Uchiha Feiyu was included in that.
But as he glanced at the three little burdens behind him, he couldn't help but frown.
Kakashi was at least somewhat useful, though he likely wouldn't be able to keep up with Feiyu's killing pace.
As for Obito and Rin… they were pure deadweight at this stage.
"Kakashi… ah, forget it. I remember you and Obito both have wind-nature chakra, right? In that case I'll teach you a jutsu. It should raise your chances of staying alive on the battlefield."
Without waiting to see their expressions, Feiyu just started explaining the Camouflage Hiding Technique and passed it on to the three of them.
In Feiyu's view, "killing enemies" and "earning merit" were all secondary.
Priority number one was always the same—keep himself alive.
And a jutsu that granted invisibility like the Camouflage Hiding Technique was, in his mind, the gold standard of survival tools.
What's more, after inheriting White Fang's sword style, Kakashi had also learned the Wind Cloak Jutsu, which wrapped his body in wind.
Using that as a foundation, it would be relatively easy for him to get started with Camouflage Hiding.
Of course, even with Kakashi's talent and that prior experience, he'd still need a few days of practice before truly mastering it.
As for Obito… before he awakened his Sharingan, he was basically a glorified idiot. Whether he could learn it at all was very questionable.
Feiyu, however, didn't particularly care.
If Obito was unlucky and dropped dead on the battlefield, that might actually be a good thing for the entire shinobi world.
"All right, Kakashi. When we're on the battlefield later, you look after those two. I'm going to go hunt other squads."
With that, Feiyu directly guided Sakumo's soul into the White Fang short blade in Kakashi's hand.
This way, if they ran into real danger, Sakumo could possess the blade and "sub in" for emergency combat.
It was only for Sakumo's sake that Feiyu was willing to look after Kakashi to this extent.
Otherwise, he would've just taught them a jutsu in passing and then gone off to the battlefield alone.
Once he stepped out of camp, Feiyu immediately shifted into hunting mode.
His figure grew fainter and fainter. After only three or four steps, his entire body blurred and vanished as if erased from the world.
"He… he disappeared… Where did Feiyu go?"
Obito gaped, jaw slack, looking utterly stunned. Kakashi felt deeply embarrassed just standing next to him.
"Did you forget already?" Kakashi said quietly.
"The jutsu he just taught us, the Camouflage Hiding Technique, is an invisibility technique."
"Of course, to be able to stay completely invisible while on the move… that's pretty impressive."
"But right now, what's more important—for us—is keeping ourselves alive."
As Kakashi's words sank in, Obito finally snapped back to reality, his expression collapsing into a miserable grimace.
"What kind of jōnin sensei just leaves his team here and runs off?!"
"You scared?" Kakashi asked blandly.
"Wh—who's scared?! I'm not scared at all! But even if I'm not, what about Rin? What if something happens to her?"
Nohara Rin chuckled softly and said:
"Don't worry, Obito. The task Feiyu gave us is just to stay alive, so there's no need for us to stray far from camp. I don't think there will be many Cloud ninja this close in."
Free of the three little burdens, Feiyu could finally cut loose.
This time, he didn't rely on lightning to boost his speed. Instead, he shifted into a wind-style stealth approach.
After all, the enemy was Kumogakure, and their Raikage loved nothing more than being on the front lines personally, charging at the head of the army.
In other villages, Kage-level shinobi almost never appeared at the very start of a battle. They were the final trump cards, kept in reserve to decide the outcome.
But in the Hidden Cloud? Throwing both big and small jokers down right at the opening move was practically their standard play.
Even with the White Fang sword style jointly refined by him and Sakumo, and the improved lightning stimulation method, Feiyu knew that in sheer speed he still couldn't compare to the Third Raikage or the future Fourth Raikage.
If he ran smack into those two head-on, he'd be in real danger.
For someone like Feiyu, who believed in "safety first" above all, this was absolutely not the time to be using his lightning speed boost.
So he switched to the Camouflage Hiding Technique and went full assassin.
Even while invisible, his speed far surpassed that of an ordinary shinobi.
Like a silent, ghostly wraith, he sped toward a Cloud squad he'd sensed ahead.
A handful of Cloud ninja were currently setting up traps, lying in ambush in the forest along a path that Konoha squads would almost certainly pass through.
Rustle, rustle—
Even if Feiyu could suppress the sound of his own steps, in a dense forest like this, there was no way to completely erase the sound of his body brushing past branches and leaves.
Hearing the faint noise, one of the Cloud shinobi raised his head, frowning slightly as he glanced around…
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