Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 39 The War Begins

The Konoha pursuit team returned to their Konoha camp with grim expressions.

Orochimaru also summoned all the team leaders to the command post. Now they need to arrange the response to the Iwa ninja forces after the intelligence leak. After all, they need to analyze how the Iwa ninja will act after they know the situation at the Konoha camp, and how Konoha should respond, in order to make the best response strategy.

Especially given the Konoha forces' insufficient strength and the leak of basic intelligence, Konoha needs a more perfect plan to counter the Iwa ninja, and it would be best to buy them some more time.

But everyone knows that this is impossible. Judging from the personality of the opposing commander, once he discovers the strength and weakness of Konoha, he will definitely launch a full-scale attack, using numbers and quality to make a final showdown with Konoha and completely crush Konoha's blocking force.

Hyuga Kanan returned to his tent and whispered to Gekko Shinka and the others who were still recovering their chakra:

"Prepare for war! The intelligence has not been recovered and has fallen into the hands of the Iwa ninja force. The Iwa ninja may be launching a large-scale attack soon!"

Inside the tent, everyone felt a chill run down their spines. Was another large-scale battle about to begin? They remembered that in the last major battle, Konoha had lost nearly 200 ninja, and that was while using ample supplies to wear down the Iwa ninja. Now, most of the war supplies in the camp were depleted, enough to sustain only one more major battle. The Iwa ninja wouldn't retreat so easily this time; a bloody battle was inevitable.

Hyuga Kanan was also helpless. He wanted to buy himself more time to refine and absorb the soul energy clusters to improve his strength and break through the Divine Sense barrier in his soul power, but it was clear that the Iwa ninja would not give him time to break through.

The leak of intelligence allowed the Iwa ninja to understand Konoha's true strength and weaknesses. Knowing the current power of Konoha's forces, the Iwa ninja wouldn't delay any longer, as they needed to quickly reinforce the Sand ninja forces. Therefore, another decisive battle was now the Iwa ninja's task.

Soon their team leader returned and began assigning tasks.

With Orochimaru's plans disrupted by this intelligence leak, Konoha's forces began to mobilize, preparing to meet the Iwa ninja's attack. A large number of guards were dispatched, and the Konoha camp became busy.

Ninjas were being mobilized everywhere, and war supplies were being distributed in their final stages. The shouts and reprimands of the leaders filled the camp, creating a sense of impending urgency.

After the team leader assigned the tasks, Hyuga Kanan found a quiet place and silently began refining the huge soul energy cluster in the Qiankun Inheritance Jade once again, hoping to break through quickly and increase his chances of survival.

As darkness fell, the Iwa ninja did not launch an immediate attack, but reconnaissance personnel at the front lines reported that Iwa ninja forces were constantly being redeployed. Both sides now understood that war would break out tomorrow.

At night, Hyuga Kanan continued his silent training, unperturbed by the impending war. Those around him were discussing team formations to fight the Iwa ninja once the war began. But he knew perfectly well that regardless of his emotions, war was inevitable, and the only thing he could do now was to maximize his strength. In war, ultimately, only one's own strength could be relied upon; everything else would vanish.

Finally, in the dead of night, Hyuga Kanan successfully refined the soul energy cluster of the towering Iwa ninja. The refined, pure soul energy contained some pale yellow particles. When Hyuga Kanan's soul absorbed this energy, his entire soul became somewhat intoxicated. Under the absorption of his soul power, those pale yellow particles instantly imprinted a rule of heaven and earth into the depths of his soul. Upon careful perception, Hyuga Kanan discovered that it was the earth element rule among the rules of heaven and earth, allowing him to more clearly feel the fluctuations of the earth element rule between heaven and earth. As long as he fully absorbed these things, he would be able to clearly feel the fluctuations of the earth element.

This means I can easily see through the flaws in everyone's Earth Release ninjutsu, making it easier for me to deal with Earth Release attacks and defenses. At the same time, I can come into contact with the rules of the earth element earlier, making it easier for me to manipulate the earth element after I reach the Innate Realm, and allowing me to quickly master and learn earth element techniques.

Feeling the information transmitted in his mind, Hyuga Kanan was overjoyed. Now he understood why ninjas had to master at least one attribute's nature transformation and form transformation to be called Jonin. It turned out that they had reached the point where they could understand the fundamental rules of an attribute. This understanding made it easier for the fragments of will within his chakra to manipulate the rules of the elements of heaven and earth, making the power and range of his ninjutsu stronger.

This is why Jonin are stronger than ordinary ninjas. So what exactly is Kage-level?

As Hyuga Kanan absorbed this pure energy, he pondered what made the Kage-level soul energy cluster different from that of a Jonin. Finally, he shook his head, clearing his mind of these complex thoughts, and focused on absorbing the energy.

In the early morning, the long-awaited sunlight pierced through the dark clouds in the sky, bringing a touch of warmth to the earth.

However, the cold killing intent of the countless ninjas on the ground completely extinguished the warmth brought by the sunlight, making the whole place feel chilling.

A chilling aura permeated the surroundings, suggesting that a bloody massacre could erupt at any moment.

Orochimaru remained at the forefront, facing off against Takashi, the leader of the Iwa ninja squad, at a distance. This was their third planned confrontation. The Iwa ninja's momentum was overwhelming, their fighting spirit pressing down on the Konoha forces, causing the hands of the Konoha rookie ninjas gripping their ninja tools to tremble uncontrollably. Clearly, Konoha's morale was at a disadvantage.

Nearly half of the Konoha troops are children who have just been forcibly graduated from the Ninja Academy and have never experienced this kind of face-to-face confrontation of momentum. In the last battle, the Iwa ninja attacked directly and did not use the momentum of the troops to counterattack like this time.

After all, the Iwa ninja didn't have specific information about the Konoha team last time. They only knew that Konoha's numbers were small and that the ninjas were all seasoned veterans from the front lines. There was no need for them to use such a showdown of intimidation. Because such intimidation was useless against experienced ninjas, it would only delay the rhythm and time of the attack. So they launched an attack directly, causing the Iwa ninja to suffer a great loss.

However, now that we know there are many new recruits in the Konoha forces, we can use our intimidation to break the confidence of the Konoha ninjas and shake the Konoha forces' deployment before the war officially begins, making it easier to defeat them.

When Takashi, the explosive ninja leading the Iwa ninja team, saw the trembling ninjas in the Konoha camp, a confident smile appeared on his face. From the moment he received the intelligence from the Konoha camp yesterday noon, the staff had done a lot of analysis on the Konoha forces and formulated many plans to complete this war. The pressure of momentum was a preparatory activity before the war, but the effect was unexpectedly good, which greatly increased his confidence in the final victory of this war.

Orochimaru naturally saw this scene as well, and he also understood that the other side would definitely have some tactical arrangements after learning about his side's information. This was the first step the other side was taking.

Orochimaru didn't want the opponent's tactical plan to proceed smoothly, so he definitely wanted to disrupt the first step of the opponent's plan and also disrupt the Iwa ninja's subsequent battle plan, so that Konoha could hold out for a longer period of time.

Orochimaru glanced at Jiraiya and Tsunade beside him, and noticing they were also looking at him, he immediately nodded slightly. The three of them simultaneously began forming hand seals, then pressed their hands to the ground and shouted:

"Spiritual communication!"

Smoke immediately appeared around the three, but it quickly dissipated with the morning breeze. Three enormous beasts appeared before the Konoha troops, shattering the oppressive aura of the Iwa ninja forces.

一条身长近50米、直径3、4米有着尖角的巨蛇，一只身高近30米腰间还带着一把超过10米巨剑的蛤蟆，一只也是身高近30米的背脊成深蓝色的白色蛞蝓。

The three legendary Konoha ninja stood atop the giant beast, arms crossed, gazing at the Iwa ninja in the distance. Their imposing aura instantly pressed down on the Iwa ninja's forces, simultaneously boosting the morale of the Konoha troops and creating a sense that they might be able to contend with the Iwa ninja.

This caused Takashi, the leader of the Iwa ninja team, to freeze, then look at the enormous summoning beasts summoned by the three Konoha Sannin with a mixture of envy and frustration. He could sense from their auras that these three giant summoning beasts were extraordinary, requiring at least several Jonin to contend with them. However, he then realized that summoning such massive beasts required a significant amount of chakra, indirectly weakening the strength of the Konoha Sannin themselves. The first step of the Iwa ninja's battle plan—the pressure of their aura—had failed to work.

Finally, he kept his eyes fixed on the direction of the Konoha forces and muttered to himself, "No matter what, the Iwa ninja are far superior in both number and strength. In the end, we'll have to let strength decide the outcome!"

Orochimaru understood this principle as well: no matter how perfect your plan is, or how well-prepared it is, in the end, strength is what matters. But what the Konoha team lacks most right now is the strength to fight against the Iwa ninja.

Hyuga Kanan observed the pre-battle skirmish between the two sides. Konoha clearly had the upper hand, but that was due to the legendary Sannin of Konoha. This advantage would be quickly broken when the real battle began.

At the same time, his soul power secretly scanned the three giant beasts and quickly discovered traces of chakra flow within them. It seemed that his previous guess was correct; the three holy lands were part of the Sage of Six Paths' scheme. Fortunately, he did not choose to expose his true nature at the time, otherwise he would probably be targeted by that cunning old man, the Sage of Six Paths, by now.

In the future, I need to stay away from people like the legendary Sannin of Konoha to better survive.

The standoff continued, but it was clear that the Iwa ninja was losing patience. As the explosive ninja Takashi raised his arm and swung it, the Iwa ninja charged forward with a powerful roar. The Konoha ninja gripped their tools tightly, took a deep breath, and met the attack head-on, equally determined.

The war has officially begun!