novelhk Chapter 171 Challenge
Chapter 171 Challenge
Chapter 173 Challenge
On August 23, the Yu Ren army approached from the west side of Duan Yue City.
At that moment, three Jonin from Amegakure were challenging each other below the city gate.
"These guys—are they even ninjas? They even have a 'challenge' segment?" Akaishi asked strangely upon seeing this.
"So what? My great-grandfather used to do that all the time!" Lan Wu emphasized.
Akaishi:————
Speaking of which, it seems like Madara Uchiha would do the same thing!
but----
These Rain Ninja are clearly no match for Madara and Hashirama.
Because both Hashirama and Madara Uchiha could only challenge each other if they had the ability to sweep away the enemy's formation without the enemy even deploying.
What gives these Rain Ninjas the right to do this?
"Hanzo and the samurai in Dange Castle have an agreement—the Land of Rain sends three Rain Ninjas to challenge us every day, and the Land of Iron can also send three samurai to fight back. As long as we defeat the three Rain Ninjas, we will not launch a general offensive against Dange Castle today," Jiraiya explained.
That's why the bizarre scene of "ninjas challenging each other" occurred.
"Huh? These samurai are that powerful?" Akaishi exclaimed in surprise.
The loud surprise drew the attention of the fully armored guards around him.
Jiraiya dodged the samurai and added in a low voice, "It's not something that can be defeated in one go—it's about sending out samurai continuously until a victory is achieved each day! Because of the poisonous fog, even if the Rain Ninja lose, they can usually retreat safely, but those samurai—if they lose, they basically have no chance of returning."
Akashi then realized that several of the sword masters and great sword masters he had seen four days ago seemed to be missing.
In other words, the Land of Iron is now trading human lives, and specifically the lives of those they consider "experts," for time!
"Is Hanzo really that trustworthy? Logically speaking—he should already know that the retreat route from the Land of Grass has been cut off by Iwagakure, and that the Land of Hot Springs has launched a counterattack with the assistance of Sunagakure and Konoha, right? And what about those six enemy-occupied squads we dealt with before—" Akaishi asked strangely.
With insufficient supplies at the front, the rear cut off, and the rear vulnerable, Hanzo should logically have opted for a swift and decisive victory.
We should either retreat immediately.
"Because the Rain Ninja suffered heavy casualties during the battle in the western territory, and although the Land of Iron was defeated quickly and suffered heavy casualties, with more than 1,500 samurai of all ranks killed or wounded, it also brought huge casualties to the Rain Ninja, which makes Hanzo dare not launch a strong attack now," Jiraiya explained.
"Over a thousand?" Akashi grinned upon hearing this.
Konoha currently has only about 5,000 registered ninjas—Akaishi's ninja number after graduation was 6509!
Although Konoha had maintained peace for over thirty years and its ninja population had not dwindled significantly, most of the veteran ninja who were present when the village was founded were no longer alive.
And this number is already the largest among the five hidden villages!
Kumogakure, which was originally ranked second, has seen a significant decrease in registered ninjas due to the rebellion of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and now nominally only has around four thousand.
Iwagakure has always maintained a state of readiness for war, and the number is roughly the same.
In recent years, Sunagakure has been training a large number of ninjas in its quest for supremacy. Despite being the weakest village in the country and receiving the fewest requests, its ninja numbers have surged to nearly the level of Konoha. However, the proportion of genin (low-ranking ninja) is extremely high, and many genin are now struggling to make ends meet, making it impossible for them to properly train their chakra. If war doesn't break out soon, they'll simply explode.
As for Kirigakure, due to its fragmented state, its numbers are impossible to determine.
Among small countries, the country with the most ninjas is the Land of Rain, with three thousand ninjas, almost equivalent to half of a large country.
At the same time, the Land of Rain not only has Hanzo, the current "strongest battlefield ninja", but also a Jonin who has contracted with hundreds of other large and small Black Pond Salamanders.
However, this counting method does not take into account the Land of Iron.
Because samurai differ from ninjas in both their training methods and national identity, in terms of sheer numbers, the Land of Iron has over five thousand samurai, making it a nation on par with other countries—only their individual combat strength is significantly weaker, especially at the Jonin level.
This is the exact opposite of Konoha.
Konoha has the highest threshold for Jonin, but also the highest proportion of Jonin. This is why, even though there isn't a significant difference in the number of ninjas, everyone assumes that Konoha is the strongest ninja village.
Previously, the Land of Iron clashed head-on with the Rain Village, and within ten days, they paid the price of 30% of their samurai casualties, including several great swordsmen.
Although the victory was only five to one, the hundreds of casualties were enough to make Hanzo hesitate.
After all, the Land of Rain is currently fighting on multiple fronts, and Hanzo's ultimate goal is to be on par with the Five Great Nations. If the Land of Iron's warriors manage to cripple the Land of Rain, the Land of Rain will definitely be attacked by all sides!
Even without considering the fate of the three major powers, the smaller neighboring countries that were previously bullied are starting to feel uneasy.
"But if this continues—has the Land of Rain decided to withdraw?" Akaishi realized something at this moment, activated his Sharingan, and looked at the other side.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a disdainful look.
We can't see that far, so we can't effectively count the number of people.
However, Akaishi suspects that Hanzo is no longer thinking about how to win, but only about how to make his escape more aesthetically pleasing!
After all, the Land of Rain cannot afford to lose now.
If you are perceived as having returned in defeat, you will immediately face repercussions!
If that's the case—
Akashi believed that most of the Rain Ninja had already retreated, and even Hanzo might not be still around.
If Akaishi were the Three-Eyed Great Swordsman, he would organize his men now and charge directly into the Rain Ninja camp, heading straight for Hanzo!
"It's all a mix of truth and deception, who knows?" Jiraiya shook his head, telling Akaishi not to be so hasty.
"I see—that's why the Land of Iron dared to let us try?" Akaishi finally understood.
If Akaishi were Hanzo, he would never allow the Land of Iron to have Konoha ninjas complete the duel!
If you can tolerate this—
It's almost certain that Akaishi is no longer here.
"Isn't there a better way to detect the truth?" Akaishi still didn't understand.
Jiraiya opened his mouth, but didn't say anything, however—
"That's a matter for the Land of Iron," Orochimaru reminded him from the side.
That's right, the Land of Iron has no way to investigate, but Captain Orochimaru and Jiraiya have a way.
But as Orochimaru said, this is a matter for the Land of Iron; we are just here to help.
They didn't even formally request help.
Why risk your life?
While the Konoha members were talking, the Land of Iron had already used "Sword Master - 3".
"Hahaha, is that all a samurai can do? You should just become a ninja!"
"Kendo? Is that all?"
"In Amegakure, you're at best Chunin!"
"Where's that goatee from yesterday? Come out and face your death—"
The three Jonin from Amegakure continued to humiliate the Land of Iron below, their expressions filled with gritted teeth—in most cases, even if Amegakure lost a series of battles, they could retreat, but—yesterday, one of the Amegakure Jonin was killed.
He died at the hands of Mifune's "Iaijutsu" (traditional Japanese archery) —
The opponent did not expect that the chakra blade on Mifune's Kurosawa sword would suddenly erupt, severing the iron chain and killing him instantly!
This is completely different from that of an ordinary samurai.
Samurai are traditionally trained to focus solely on physical strength. While they possess chakra, they don't project it outwards, relying entirely on their physical power and speed enhanced by equipment and chakra.
Mifune's new style of swordsmanship caught the Rain Ninja completely off guard.
Upon hearing his name called, Mifune immediately picked up "Kurosawa" and prepared to leave, but just then—
Sanmu raised his hand to stop him.
"Step back!" Three Eyes shouted.
"The Three-Eyed Great Swordsman, the enemy is already—" Mifune was about to say something more.
"I told you to step back!" Sanmu said irritably.
The two had previously been at odds over "new style of kendo," or "chakra kendo."
As a defender of tradition, Mitsu not only denounced Mifune's so-called new style of swordsmanship as heresy, but also mobilized the leaders of other schools to suppress him, preventing Mifune from ever being recognized as a great swordsman.
After stopping Mifune, Sanmu then approached Orochimaru.
"Everyone from Konoha—" Mitsuki said somewhat awkwardly.
You must never ask for help.
However, since it was something he had already agreed to, Orochimaru didn't refuse. He gave a signal with his eyes—
Then, Akashi, Minato, and Ranmai stepped forward together.
"Huh? Orochimaru, a Jonin—" Mitsuko was immediately displeased—why are there three Chunin coming out?
"Don't be impatient, Jiraiya. The Three-Eyed Great Swordsman, we'll take care of the Rain Ninja today. What else do you have to worry about?" Jiraiya countered.
Sanmu then listlessly shut up.
Immediately, the Rain Ninja saw three young figures leap down from the city gate. Upon closer inspection, they realized they were ninjas wearing Konoha headbands!
They knew about the presence of Konoha ninja here; after all, it was because of these damned Konoha ninja that the raiding squad in the rear was wiped out, making the battle impossible to continue.
"Konoha ninjas? Has the Land of Iron already requested help from Konoha?"
"It seems they've allied with the Land of Fire—"
"Haha, but they only managed to get three Chunin?"
Because the Rain Ninja's raiding squad had been completely wiped out, no detailed information had been circulated, and these Rain Ninja were unaware of the strength of Akaishi and the others.
"We just don't like you guys because you're blocking our way!" Akaishi said, his Sharingan eyes flashing.
Akashi never intended to hide it. Although he was wearing a Chunin vest, there was a "fan" pattern on the sleeve. Using the Sharingan in a secretive manner was not the style of the Uchiha.
Perhaps seeing that they only had three Chunin, the opposing Rain Ninja didn't take it seriously, instead mocking, "You were just saying that the swordsmen and great swordsmen of the Land of Iron are only equivalent to Chunin, and now there are actually Chunin coming to their deaths, hahaha—"
"Then I'll grant your wish!"
Akashi, not one to back down, immediately retorted, "Pah! That's equivalent to your Chunin; in Konoha, they wouldn't even graduate from the Ninja Academy!"