Malphegor
patreon
IUTT: Ch. 87
🕑 Added 2025-05-22 16:27:41 +0000 UTCThe reaction of the Kiri ninjas was swift. Following Genji's orders, everyone quickly began packing up and boarding the ships, leaving the shores of the Land of Whirlpools and heading toward an island over 50 kilometers away.
Standing on the deck, looking out at the vast sea shrouded in mist, Genji felt an overwhelming sense of melancholy.
The current weather was as gloomy as his mood. From the very beginning, they had completely misjudged the situation. They had underestimated Uzushio and especially the only reinforcement sent by Konoha.
The allied shinobi forces' invasion of Uzushio was, at its core, driven by greed. Yet the war had only just begun, and Kiri had already lost half its forces, without gaining a single coin in return. And judging by the course of the war so far, Uzushio had clearly been prepared.
Would the situation really improve just because reinforcements had arrived?
Konoha had sent Tsunade. Did that mean Konoha actually intended to get involved in this war? Would they send even more reinforcements later?
At present, there was only one viable course of action: wait for the reinforcements to arrive, combine forces, but refrain from engaging for now. Then, while the other ninja villages and Uzushio fought bitterly, Kiri could step in and reap the benefits.
When the situation became clearer, that would be their opportunity.
"Yumi, what news? What's the village's response?" Hearing footsteps behind him, Genji didn't turn his head. He kept his eyes on the sea as he asked.
"…" Yumi spoke hesitantly. "The Mizukage was furious upon hearing the news. He approved our temporary retreat but made no comment about reinforcements."
"No response, huh…" Genji gave a bitter smile in his heart.
But he couldn't really blame the Mizukage, anyone hearing such news would be furious. And sending troops to reinforce them wasn't a small matter, especially on the battlefield of the Land of Whirlpools.
The five great ninja villages—any one of them could destroy the Land of Whirlpools on their own, no doubt.
But no one wanted to act alone.
Why?
Because if any village from the alliance tried to seize the Land of Whirlpools for itself, the other villages would surely unite against it. To everyone, the Land of Whirlpools was like a feast, something to be divided and consumed.
But eating it alone? That was absolutely not allowed.
Thus, from the outset, the four great ninja villages had agreed upon a limit on how many ninjas each village could send to participate in the war.
In particular, the distant villages like Iwa and Suna, which faced major challenges with troop deployment and logistics, were adamant about not allowing the closer villages, Kiri and Kumo, to send more ninjas.
The numbers were fixed, whoever suffered losses, it was just their bad luck. If it weren't for disagreements over profit distribution, the allied operation against the Land of Whirlpools wouldn't have dragged on until now.
So, it was natural for the Third Mizukage to have concerns.
"Let's wait a little longer. Maybe something will change," Genji said helplessly. But to his surprise, the moment he finished speaking, change arrived.
BOOM!
The next moment, the flagship carrying Genji and Yumi suddenly exploded violently. The enclosed space within the cabin amplified the blast's power, and the wooden ship was instantly torn to pieces.
The shockwave from the explosion flung them into the air.
But that was only the beginning.
Immediately after, more than a dozen explosions erupted in succession, as if the entire fleet had turned into a fireworks display, each ship blooming in fire and destruction.
Having regained his footing and standing on the sea's surface, Genji stared at the scene before him, his soul seemed to have left his body, frozen in utter shock.
He was stunned, completely dumbfounded. In such a densely packed environment, the explosions likely claimed countless lives. All their supplies were either reduced to ash or sank into the sea.
Fortunately, Genji spotted Yumi out of the corner of his eye and saw she was unharmed, which snapped him back to reality.
"Quick! Anyone who can move, help the wounded, now!" he roared. "Yumi, start counting the number of survivors immediately!"
"Yes!" Yumi quickly obeyed and sprang into action.
When Genji saw the results of Yumi's count, his heart turned cold.
Number of surviving ninjas: 127.
Among them, wounded: 82.
If they hadn't been standing on the deck at the time, even they might've been injured or killed in the blast.
"Suiten! Get out here!" Not seeing that cowardly figure anywhere, He flew into another rage.
A few seconds later, Suiten emerged from beneath the surface of the sea and came over to Genji.
As expected, no matter who else died, Suiten likely wouldn't. After all, his Hydrification Technique makes him immune to the impact of explosions.
Although furious, Genji remained rational and demanded, "Didn't I tell you to inspect the ships before we set off? How did this still happen?"
Before departure, he had ordered Suiten to carefully inspect the vessels for any signs of sabotage. To be fair, he knew how to use people well.
Suiten was a sensory-type ninja, and his cautious, self-preserving nature made him the ideal person for such a task, more reliable than most others.
Yet despite that, disaster still struck.
"You mean this?" He suddenly grinned.
"Take a guess!" As he spoke, he pointed off in the distance.
There, through the thick fog, the outlines of three massive ships began to appear. The shapes grew clearer as they approached, revealing themselves to all. When the ships were about a hundred meters away from Genji and the others, hundreds of ninjas leapt from their decks, landing on the water and forming a surrounding formation against the surviving Kiri ninjas.
Leading them were none other than Tsunade and Ashina.
"Suiten," Genji's eyes widened in fury and disbelief as he stared at the man before him. After a long pause, he muttered, "No... damn it... you're not Suiten… Who the hell are you!?"
In the shinobi world, transformation, disguise, and infiltration were common tactics, and he was no stranger to them. But never had he imagined someone could pull this off right under his nose, and the most terrifying part was that no one had noticed anything strange at all.
"I'm sure we'll meet again," Shin said with a faint smile, still maintaining his guise.
"Oh, by the way," he added, "I laced the food you and Yumi ate. Hope it suited your tastes."
He then winked playfully at Yumi, performed the Hydrification Technique, and vanished into the sea.
"Laced the food?" Genji's expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to check his condition, his legs suddenly gave out beneath him, and he collapsed straight into the water. If not for a nearby ninjas reacting quickly and pulling him up, he might have already sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Yumi wasn't faring much better, her face was deathly pale, her body completely drained of strength, and she could barely stay upright with support.
The battle that followed wasn't much of a fight.
Without their powerful presence, the remaining Kiri ninjas were quickly and utterly wiped out under the joint assault led by Tsunade and Ashina.
As for Genji and Yumi, they were taken prisoner, brought back to the Land of Whirlpools by Tsunade and Ashina. They were valuable bargaining chips, not to be harmed lightly.
Meanwhile, Shin's soul had returned to his original body. As for the body he had used during this operation, he sealed it away, planning to study it further once he got back.
Soon, news of the total annihilation of the Kiri forces spread like wildfire across the Land of Whirlpools.
Every ninja who heard the news was utterly stunned.
