Chapter 167 159 Danzo

At this very moment, the five top experts on this battlefield, plus the Ino–Shika–Chō combination capable of contending with a Kage-level Expert, were all gathered here.

"Father! Are you alright?"

Fourth Raikage A stepped forward to block in front of the Third Raikage, staring fiercely at the few Konoha Ninja opposite them.

"You are injured too?"

The Third Raikage looked at the cut on Fourth Raikage A's shoulder, then at Uchiha Gen, who was holding a blood-stained Sengoku Ninja Sword, and narrowed his eyes.

"I came over a bit too hurriedly. This guy's Phantom Body Flicker Technique is too bizarre, and his Sharingan's reaction speed can keep up with mine. It wasn't easy to shake him off without paying a price."

"Then let's retreat. Karai, you organize the retreat. Leave these guys to the two of us."

The Third Raikage casually wiped away a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth, speaking with a resonant voice, his aura remaining formidable.

To him, this level of injury was uncomfortable, but it wouldn't affect his combat effectiveness.

His son, Fourth Raikage A, was also an expert who had cultivated the Lightning Release Chakra Mode to near perfection. Although his physical strength had not reached the level of his own, which could be described as indestructible, he was still robust and far superior to ordinary Ninja. Although the sword wound from Uchiha Gen was not shallow, it had not reached the point of significantly affecting his actual combat power.

But only Karai was truly at risk of falling here.

First, he was wounded by Uchiha Gen, and just now he had been suppressed by the older generation of Ino–Shika–Chō and injured again.

If the fight continued like this, Karai would most likely be the first to meet with an accident.

The Third Raikage naturally did not want to see this right-hand man, who was older than him and supported him like an elder brother, perish on the battlefield.

"Alright!"

Karai did not hesitate in the slightest and decisively retreated.

The two generations of Raikage, father and son, stepped forward to cover the retreat.

One with incredible speed, the other with an invincible physical body, these two muscle-bound men, about two meters tall, could hardly be defeated by conventional tactics.

As long as the former was willing to run, unless there was a Ninja of the same type with god-like speed, it was almost impossible to stop him. As for the latter—

Unless Konoha was willing to pay a heavy price in casualties, it was unlikely that they could keep the Third Raikage.

At that point, not to mention how many of the Konoha army present would die, even Uchiha Gen and the three older generation Ino–Shika–Chō Clan Heads could potentially perish here.

Not to mention that Konoha might have Danzo arriving as reinforcements, while Kumogakure also had reinforcements.

The current Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Blue B, was currently leading the rest of Kumogakure's main forces to garrison the base. If they couldn't win quickly, waiting for Kumogakure's reinforcements to arrive would make the battle even harder to fight.

In the end, Orochimaru's initial goal for this battle was actually very simple: just hold the line. He even thought that if they couldn't hold it, they should try their best to delay until Danzo's reinforcements arrived.

To have achieved such results now, forcing Kumogakure to take the initiative to retreat, was already thanks to the tactics arranged by the Nara Clan Head, which successfully ambushed the Third Raikage and temporarily broke the stalemate on the battlefield.

After a fierce and short exchange, Konoha successfully repelled Kumogakure with relatively minor casualties, leaving behind a ground littered with corpses.

And just at this moment, another team finally arrived late.

Danzo, draped in a black robe and surrounded by a group of Root Ninja, brought his army to rendezvous.

"The Third Raikage's people have been repelled? Orochimaru, how are you so fast?"

Danzo looked at Orochimaru with some suspicion and uncertainty.

How fierce the Third Raikage was, and how high Kumogakure's overall combat power was—Danzo had been here for a year and a half, so how could he not be clear about that?

According to his estimation, even if Kumogakure left one top-tier combatant to guard the camp, the remaining force would still be extremely massive.

Orochimaru's strength was certainly good, but being able to hold off the Third Raikage would be quite an accomplishment. As for the remaining Fourth Raikage A and others, how were they supposed to stop them?

When Orochimaru's unit was about to be unable to hold on, he, Danzo, would descend like a divine soldier, sandwiching the enemy from both sides, which would have a high probability of repelling Kumogakure.

At that time, under the halo of turning defeat into victory, it would be easier for him, Danzo, to maintain the right to speak after merging the forces.

But now, not only did all the credit belong to Orochimaru's main unit, but they couldn't get any credit at all; instead, they had to bear the blame for delaying the war opportunity and failing to provide support.

Thinking of this, Danzo's face immediately turned dark.

And when Orochimaru saw Danzo's dark face, he immediately became amused.

"Lord Danzo, you have come just in time."

Orochimaru straightened his collar and looked at Danzo with a smile.

"We just repelled Kumogakure's attack, and our troops are exhausted. It just so happens that the task of cleaning up the battlefield can be left to you."

"They will do it. Orochimaru, tell me the course of this battle. How did you repel Kumogakure?"

Danzo said in a stiff tone, then waved his hand at a Root Ninja beside him.

The latter immediately knelt on one knee to salute, then used the Body Flicker Technique to leave and go notify them to clean up the battlefield.

"Very well."

Orochimaru remained smiling.

Even if he didn't say anything, Danzo could just find someone to ask and understand the course of the battle; it just wouldn't be as detailed as coming from them, who had personally fought against the Third Raikage and the others.

Moreover, although the two of them were currently in a certain degree of power struggle, they were ultimately still acting for Konoha's sake. They would still need to work together in the future to confront Kumogakure, so they couldn't afford a falling out.

"Karai—Uchiha Gen—"

After listening to Orochimaru's account, Danzo finally understood where the biggest variable of this battle lay.

The tactics arranged by the Nara Clan Head certainly played a significant role, but the true core lay in the addition of Uchiha Gen.

A newly emerged top-tier expert capable of holding off the Fourth Raikage A was enough to rewrite the battlefield situation to a large extent.

If it weren't for Uchiha Gen, no matter how many strategies the Nara Clan Head had, when there was an irredeemable gap in high-level combat power between the two sides, they would really only be able to find ways to delay until Danzo's reinforcements arrived. It would be very difficult to repel the Kumogakure army like they did now, and for the Konoha side not to have suffered any particularly heavy losses throughout the entire process.

"Uchiha Gen, your disciple, Kagami's nephew—I have long heard of his name. I didn't expect that he would actually learn the Phantom Body Flicker Technique and inherit Kagami's mantle."

Danzo turned his face to the side, looking at the battlefield being cleaned up, his tone revealing a hint of complexity.

Orochimaru couldn't see Danzo's expression, only secretly speculating on Danzo's attitude in his heart.

Anyone in Konoha's core circle knew what Danzo's attitude toward the Uchiha was.

"You don't need to worry that I will do anything to Uchiha Gen. Regardless, I was also Kagami's teammate back then. Since he is Kagami's nephew, he is also my junior."

Hearing this sentence from Danzo, Orochimaru instead became instantly vigilant.