Malphegor
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HSU: Ch. 102
🕑 Added 2024-12-28 16:19:08 +0000 UTCIn his battlefield tent, Hiashi listened to Yumi's report. Even though he knew it was inappropriate, he really felt like rolling his eyes.
"The operation proceeded exactly as planned, Hiashi-sama. Captain Masashi's strategy proved effective in securing the western sector," Yumi continued. "The civilian areas remained untouched, as ordered."
No, he had to maintain composure. His younger clan members were watching—he couldn't ruin his image.
"Yumi, you did well this time. You may go now."
"Yes, Hiashi-sama!"
Yumi cheerfully turned and left.
Outside the tent, Keita was already waiting. The two young people left together, chatting away happily.
Hiashi withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Masashi, who was sitting on a stool nearby, casually munching on his banana.
"Masashi, what do you think of this child, Yumi?"
"She's a good kid, Hiashi-sama," Masashi said with a grin. "She and the Inuzuka boy seem to have great chemistry. Beyond her skills, her judgment is sound. Though her heart might cloud it sometimes."
This was precisely what gave Hiashi a headache. The elders won't stay quiet about this much longer.
In theory, the Hyūga clan had very few main family members. In each generation, only one child was usually born into the main family.
The "Caged Bird" seal could be placed on or removed from clan members. For example, those who made significant contributions to the clan could transition into the main family. The so-called "elders" weren't exclusively from the former head's lineage.
Thus, the distinction between the main and branch families wasn't immutable. But the bar for such a transition was incredibly high.
Yumi was clearly not one of the lucky ones. She bore the Caged Bird seal. And her mutual affection for Keita was something both clans' elders were fully aware of.
However, for a Hyūga girl to marry outside the clan was exceptionally difficult—practically impossible.
It wasn't because they were afraid of losing the Byakugan bloodline. In truth, marriages between ninja clans within the same village were relatively common. The Hyūga's high rate of Byakugan activation was supported by a combination of pure bloodlines and unique ninjutsu systems.
Even if someone married out, after a few generations, the bloodline would naturally dilute.
But even so, inter-clan marriages were approached with great caution. For one, the clan preferred to keep strong members within to strengthen their ranks. Secondly, alliances between ninja clans were fickle—friends today could become enemies tomorrow. Clan members caught in such situations would face immense personal and familial difficulties.
The biggest obstacle between Yumi and Keita was the ideological divide between their clans. The Inuzuka were mostly militants, while the Hyūga leaned toward pacifism. Though their relations weren't terrible, they hadn't reached the level of mutual marriage alliances.
Still, the elders had no intention of harshly separating the young pair. They believed that, with time and faced with the reality of countless obstacles, the two would naturally give up.
After all, every elder had once been young themselves. None wanted to be the villain. Who knew? A benefactor might step in to help the pair, and such things had happened before.
"After all, those two have been friends since childhood," Hiashi said, deflecting the topic. "Now, on to serious matters. I'll write to the Hokage about the Uzumaki girl's situation. As for the Tsuchikage's apprentice and granddaughter, do you have any ideas?"
"Treat them well for now," Masashi said with a shrug. "Though they're bargaining chips, we can't openly use them as such."
"You're right. The Uzumaki girl and her mother's ashes should be brought to Konoha as soon as possible. It's truly tragic."
"Indeed. What I did in Kusa was just venting a little anger."
"Not at all. You had good cooperation from the Iwa ninja."
Hiashi had to admit—Iwa had been surprisingly cooperative.
Truly, they were a group of comrades willing to risk their lives for friendship.
"Kusa's motives are suspicious. Weakening them is no issue; the village won't object," Hiashi said with a smile. "Masashi, I never realized before—you're quite the militant yourself."
"No, I'm just loyal to the Uchiha faction," Masashi replied. "Hiashi-sama, if there's nothing urgent, I'll head back and rest."
"Of course, you've worked hard. Rest well."
Bidding farewell to Hiashi, Masashi left the tent. By the time he returned to the camp with Yumi and Keita, it was already late at night.
He was genuinely tired.
A heavy rain had fallen during the day, leaving the ground muddy and difficult to traverse. Despite the Konoha ninjas' best efforts to maintain the campgrounds, the aftermath of rain was always messy.
Camping in the Land of Rain came with its challenges—chief among them being the sheer amount of water everywhere.
Even though the Konoha forces had chosen a relatively well-drained high ground and added drainage facilities, every rain left behind a swampy mess.
Finding his tent, he slipped inside.
"Finished talking with Hiashi?" Pakura was sitting at the table, organizing her equipment. Seeing him enter, she asked casually.
"Yes, all done. Just routine matters," Masashi said.
As he spoke, he grabbed a basin and used his water jutsu to fill it with water.
Removing his shoes, he placed his feet into the basin to clean them.
"How's the war effort?"
"Not great—same as always," Pakura sighed. "I envy your mastery of Water Release."
"You're welcome to it. Where's your basin? I'll fill one for you, too."
Pakura immediately fetched her basin, and Masashi kept his word, preparing one for her as well.
The two sat side by side on the bed, soaking their feet together.
The Konoha forces weren't rich enough to assign individual tents to everyone, not even jonin. Chunin and genin usually shared a tent with about ten others, while jonin shared with fewer people.
For example, Hiashi shared his tent with two branch family guards.
When it came to mixed genders, tents were generally shared by married couples or couples in relationships.
Masashi didn't have a wife or girlfriend, but when tent arrangements were made, he ended up sharing one with Pakura.
Neither of them minded. Their relationship was somewhere between friends and something more, regardless of how it had started.
The war had a way of bringing people together in unexpected ways.
Pakura only felt comfortable around Masashi. Her relationships with others were distant at best.
As for Masashi, he had a fondness for beautiful women and was friendly with all of them.
"The Tsuchikage's apprentice and granddaughter being captured—will it push them into an early battle?"
"Not necessarily. They might wait for Kumo to make a move."
"If I were the Tsuchikage, I wouldn't. The forces are trained enough; dragging it out would only lead to more losses."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because Suna and Iwa often do this to each other. I've gotten used to it."
"Fair enough," Masashi said, finding her logic convincing.
He hoped she was right. The sooner the war ended, the sooner everyone could go home.
After washing up, the two cleaned their gear, washed their shoes, and lay down on the bed fully clothed to sleep.
A few hours later, both woke up and climbed out of bed.
They pulled back the tent flap—the sky was just starting to brighten. Many others were stepping out of their tents as well.
Soon, a messenger ninja arrived to deliver orders from the command center, handing scrolls detailing missions to the jonin.
Those with leadership roles quickly left after reading their assignments.
Masashi received his own mission.
Opening the scroll, he saw that the task was simple: both he and Pakura would accompany the main forces, advancing to pressure Iwa into a decisive battle.
Iwa's resources were tight, but ever since the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha had been strained as well.
Now that they had captured the Tsuchikage's apprentice and granddaughter, Hiashi had decided to take the initiative.
"We're the ones forcing the battle," Masashi said, handing the scroll to Pakura with a smile. "Let's go—time to meet Iwa's main forces."
He was eager to witness Dust Release firsthand. After all, he hadn't seen it in his previous life.
---
On the Land of Rain, the Iwa ninja army was already on the move.
After days of small-team skirmishes, the Iwa ninjas, under the Tsuchikage's orders, consolidated their forces and began advancing in their preferred large-scale formation.
The ground trembled slightly with each synchronized step of thousands of shinobi moving as one.
Ōnoki hovered midair, looking down at the vast army below with a stern expression.
Too many rookies. This had always been Iwa's most troublesome issue.
But there wasn't much they could do about it. The Land of Earth's remote location, far from the populous central plains surrounding the Land of Fire, left it disadvantaged. That fertile region housed over half the continent's population, who were wealthier on average than those in the outlying nations.
More wealthy civilians meant more missions.
Konoha didn't just have a monopoly on missions from the Land of Fire but also received a steady stream of jobs from its neighboring small nations—Hot Water, Rice, Waterfall, Grass, Rain, River, Tea, Whirlpool, and Wave.
These nine countries provided a significant portion of Konoha's annual mission quotas.
Even after the Third Great Ninja War, some missions from the Land of Wind were redirected to Konoha.
Since Hashirama established the village, Konoha's ninjas had never experienced a shortage of work. In contrast, Iwa's ninjas competed fiercely for limited assignments, especially among genin and chunin.
The scarcity of missions had a direct impact: Iwa had the highest proportion of rookie ninjas among the Five Great Nations.
And because of the limited missions, lower-ranked ninjas accumulated too quickly, outpacing natural attrition, which in turn created bottlenecks for promotion. This had begun to hinder the development of the Iwa's ninja corps.
To address this, war was often the most efficient solution.
The Earth Daimyō wanted the Land of Rain stabilized and aligned with the Land of Earth. Ōnoki, on the other hand, sought to train his troops and optimize their structure.
Both goals aligned perfectly. But this war was proving far from smooth.
The early stages had gone well—they'd suppressed Ame, established communication channels between the Earth and Rain Daimyō, and conducted small-scale drills with their troops. Sending out ninja squads to weed out the weak while keeping pace with Konoha had worked effectively.
Until they dispatched the Explosion Corps.
The entire unit suddenly lost contact.
If the squad had been wiped out, it meant the enemy had neutralized them so decisively they couldn't even send word back...
Ōnoki shook off these thoughts as a black tide appeared on the horizon.
The Konoha ninja army.
There was no point dwelling on it now, with battle imminent.
As the Konoha forces emerged, the Iwa army's advance slowed and eventually came to a halt.
Ōnoki carefully observed the opposing force and estimated their numbers to be around seven thousand.
Their side, by contrast, had over ten thousand troops deployed for this campaign, with their genin alone nearly matching Konoha's entire count. While recent drills had reduced their numbers slightly, they still held a numerical advantage.
He descended.
"Tsuchikage-sama!"
A group of jonin greeted him.
He nodded and looked at his son. "Kitsuchi, you'll take command."
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama."
After giving his orders, Ōnoki waved his hand, signaling everyone to take their positions while he began conserving his strength.
The Hokage rarely led armies personally—a major weakness of theirs. So, Ōnoki planned to use his Dust Release to thoroughly educate these Konoha ninjas.
The Iwa forces began to mobilize.
Using their superior numbers, Kitsuchi spread out the battle line.
---
Within the Konoha ranks, Hiashi's Byakugan observed every movement of the Iwa forces. His expression tightened as he spotted Ōnoki.
He was well aware of Dust Release's reputation but chose not to alter Konoha's formation. Instead, he summoned the jonin from their mobile unit to brief them on his observations.
"The Tsuchikage himself leads them," he announced to the gathered jonin.
"We've prepared for this."
Hiashi nodded slowly. "True, but preparation and execution are different beasts." He turned to address the wider group. "Here's the situation. The Tsuchikage is present. But if we try to match their spread, we'll only fall into their trap."
The jonin nodded in agreement.
Iwa's layered Earth Release techniques could be highly troublesome, especially when used to exploit their numerical superiority.
"What's your plan, Hiashi-sama?"
"Our advantage is clear—so long as we avoid being overwhelmed by their numbers, victory will be ours," Hiashi replied, then turned to the Uchiha clan's section. "Masashi, I'm sorry to ask this of you, but you're our only Kage-level among us. Can you take a thousand men and deal with their left flank's full-strength unit?"
"A single unit?" Masashi nodded, his expression showing neither concern nor excitement. "I'll handle it myself."
While the standard ninja army structure revolved around small squads, even in large-scale operations, troops were divided into units with reserves.
A typical Iwa unit consisted of about four thousand ninjas.
Given Iwa's structural weaknesses, this unit likely had no more than ten jonin. He could manage that alone.
After a full night's rest, he was filled with energy.
"You should still take some support," Hiashi advised. "Iwa excels in group combat. Better to err on the side of caution."
"No need," Masashi reassured him, understanding his concern. "I have the Flying Thunder God—I can retreat anytime. My only worry is accidentally hitting our own men."
"That's unlikely... isn't it?"
He looked at Masashi and saw the unmistakable "Oh, it absolutely is" look in his eyes.
"Fine," Hiashi conceded. "But if things get difficult, retreat immediately. Don't push yourself."
He then turned to the Hyūga and Inuzuka jonin.
"The Hyūga and Inuzuka clans will form a special unit with the Uchiha to support Masashi. Any objections?"
The Hyūga commander stepped forward. "The Byakugan will track their movements."
"And we'll keep them honest on the ground," the Inuzuka leader added, flashing a fanged grin.
"While we provide the firepower," an Uchiha representative concluded.
The jonin from the three clans nodded in agreement.
The Uchiha jonin, for their part, weren't surprised by Masashi's request. He had a reputation for solo missions—whether it was against Kiri or Kumo, he preferred working alone.
Everyone was used to it by now; they just needed to back him up.
The Hyūga clan, loyal to their leader, followed orders without question, while the Inuzuka clan—currently enjoying a "honeymoon" phase in their relationship with the Uchiha—also readily agreed.
Shisui unconsciously touched his eyes. "Masashi-nii, let me go with you."
"Don't worry, Shisui." Masashi's tone softened slightly. "If I can't win, I can at least escape. Save your eyes—don't use them recklessly."
"Brothers, keep an eye on Pakura for me!"
"Don't worry, Masashi!"
"Yeah, we've got this!"
With everyone aligned, Hiashi waved his hand, signaling the operation to begin.
The teams scattered, each taking their positions.
The thousand-strong unit of Hyūga, Inuzuka, and Uchiha clans quickly assembled and marched to intercept Iwa's left flank.
Thanks to the Byakugan, they successfully blocked Iwa's maneuvering route.
The Iwa left flank, which had been trying to spread out further, halted and began regrouping.
Masashi stepped forward from the crowd, standing at the forefront as he gazed at the Iwa forces in the distance.
Adjusting his attire, he started walking towards the distant formation of enemy troops. Behind him, the elite ninjas from three of Konoha's strongest clans watched their strongest member advance alone, ready to support him if needed.
But those who knew him best understood—they probably wouldn't be needed at all.
