Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 27 Blockade Battle

The venue was now bustling with activity, everyone discussing the purpose of the gathering. The newcomers seemed particularly excited, clearly thrilled to be participating in such a large-scale mission for the first time, and feeling a sense of importance.

Experienced ninjas, seeing so many new recruits, felt things were going well. After all, missions with so many newbies usually weren't too difficult. Seeing the wounded present, they initially assumed it was a mission to escort the wounded back to the village. But with so many people around, it didn't seem like that.

There weren't enough people to carry out the mission of escorting the wounded.

Hyuga Kanan observed secretly, praying that it wasn't a mission where death was certain, or even a mission with a slim chance of survival, since there was still a chance of survival.

Unbeknownst to them, more than ten minutes had passed amidst Hyuga Kanan's worries. Orochimaru, with a gloomy expression, and his two teammates appeared at the front of the group and began assigning roles.

There were about a thousand people on site, who were immediately divided into more than a dozen teams, each with more than a hundred people, all led by a ninja wearing a standard vest.

Orochimaru then led the leaders of each battalion into the command tent to arrange the specific details of the mission.

After a while, the leader of Hyuga Kanan's team returned and began to gather the team members to conduct intelligence analysis and assign tasks.

The mission is simple: deploy these dozen or so teams to Iwagakure to intercept Iwagakure reinforcements on the only route from the Rain Country's frontline camp to the Sand Village. They must hold out until a retreat signal flare is fired from the rear or reinforcements arrive; otherwise, they cannot retreat without authorization.

Hyuga Kanan's heart tightened immediately. He needed permission or support from the rear to retreat, which meant that they had to hold back the main force of the Iwa ninja.

If it were a regular Konoha frontline force, even if their numbers were fewer than those of the Iwa ninja, they could still delay the Iwa ninja and hold them off.

Hyuga Kanan glanced at the ninjas surrounding the group and thought, "With all of us being low-level ninjas, not a single one of us capable of fighting, we think we can stop the main force of Iwa ninjas? It's a joke."

This Konoha force appears to be quite large, numbering over a thousand, but no more than twenty are Chunin or higher, tasked with intercepting an Iwagakure force of equal or greater size.

Hyuga Kanan couldn't help but smile bitterly at this thought; this was the fate of cannon fodder troops.

The outcome is basically already decided. Not many people from this team will survive, and that would be a matter of luck; otherwise, total annihilation would be the norm.

Orochimaru and his group, who had just been hailed as the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, must have felt extremely uneasy carrying out this operation, as the chances of death were very high.

Moreover, if they discover that the Konoha team is in this situation, they might mobilize more personnel to surround and kill the three of them. After all, killing the three legendary ninja who haven't reached their peak strength is still a pretty good result.

The team leader tried to remain calm, speaking gently to soothe the restless members of the team and repeatedly emphasizing that this was just a defensive battle and there was no need for a direct confrontation. At that moment, the messenger arrived and announced that everyone should be prepared to depart at any time.

After the messenger left, the team leader immediately arranged for the team members to quickly collect the necessary equipment and prepare for departure.

Amidst everyone's frantic preparations, shouts of "assemble and depart!" soon rang out from outside.

So, everyone finished their preparations and quickly arrived at the meeting point. Led by the three legendary Konoha ninja, they rushed out of the camp and headed towards the only road between the Iwa ninja camp and the Sand ninja camp.

Unlike previous escort missions, this time it's a large-scale ambush operation, where numerous traps can be set up along the route to delay the enemy.

Hyuga Kanan was marching swiftly at the front of the column when he noticed Orochimaru had somehow appeared beside his column and was looking in his direction.

"Hyuga brat! Oh, Hyuga Kanan, right!" Orochimaru greeted in a low, hoarse voice as he hurried along.

"Ah, it's Lord Orochimaru." Hyuga Kanan nodded in response. It was still a bit unexpected to run into Orochimaru again during this mission, but he didn't know why Orochimaru was greeting him.

Those around him who were familiar with Orochimaru's personality looked at him with some surprise. Orochimaru was always aloof and cold, and rarely interacted with others except for his close friends.

Looking at Hyuga Kanan, who was still a child, he asked in a low voice, "You should understand what's going on with this mission, right? It seems your wish can't be fulfilled!"

"Hmm." Hinata Kanan nodded in response, "This kind of mission is terrible, but I still want to give it a shot. I will try my best to see if there is any glimmer of hope."

"We can't give up hope, can we? It would be best to survive, but if there's really no other way, we can only accept our fate. That's the fate of a ninja!" Hyuga Kanan sighed as he spoke of ninjas.

Orochimaru nodded, agreeing with what Hyuga Kanan said. Isn't that what ninjas are like? Constantly caught between battles and missions, not knowing where their future path lies!

"That's it then. I really wish you all the best in surviving! Good luck!" Orochimaru's eyes revealed a hint of regret and pity, which came into Hyuga Kanan's view. Orochimaru instantly accelerated, leaving Hyuga Kanan's group and heading towards the lead group.

Is that really the look Orochimaru would give? Hyuga Kanan simply couldn't believe that Orochimaru would show such a look; it was completely unlike Orochimaru.

The troops marched rapidly, and after three days they stopped in front of a large mountain. This was their last defensive stronghold in this ambush, and from here on, they could not retreat a single step.

After arranging for the team to rest, they began to advance towards the Iwa ninja camp. Along the way, the team continuously set up traps and mechanisms, and the personnel kept dispersing to form one blocking line after another, which was also their reliance for blocking when they retreated.

Hyuga Kanan followed the group forward, slowly approaching within fifty kilometers of the Iwa ninja camp before stopping. The first group of snipers began to lie in wait, awaiting the Iwa ninja's reinforcements from the Sand ninja.

Orochimaru and his men also arranged for personnel to take turns on guard and observation, patiently waiting for the great battle to begin.

Hyuga Kanan's team was the first to intercept them. Some of the new recruits were already starting to panic and become confused. The team leader then leaned close to them and whispered:

"If you see the enemy, don't just stand there like an idiot. If you have the chance, throw all the shuriken and kunai you have at them. Then move back with the main force. In short, don't get separated from the group, understand?"

The newcomers were taken aback by the leader's serious face, their Adam's apples bobbing as they subconsciously nodded in response.

"Hehe!" The team leader, noticing the newcomers were getting even more nervous, patted each of them on the shoulder to comfort them.

"Relax, don't be so tense. The enemy hasn't arrived yet. This time, we have powerful ninjas like the Legendary Sannin of Konoha leading the team. They are strong enough to fight against the demigod Hanzo of the Salamander, which is why they led us to victory against Amegakure. Don't worry, this mission will be completed smoothly, and you will all get an A-rank mission record."

Seeing that the newcomers in the group had relaxed, the team leader nodded and continued to inspect the group.

He knew his chances of surviving this mission were slim; the only hope was the three legendary Konoha ninja leading the group. But for his children and the village, he had no choice but to risk his life. However, seeing Hyuga Kanan and his two teammates made him feel a little better. After all, the village had also included ninjas from various clans, especially the powerful Hyuga and Sarutobi clans, which made it fair—everyone was risking their lives for Konoha.

The village chief is taking this mission very seriously...

As time passed, a day went by without any sign of Iwa ninja mobilizing troops. It seemed the Iwa ninja were still hesitant about whether to support the Sand ninja. However, as Konoha's advantage in the battle against the Sand ninja became increasingly apparent, and the Sand ninja faced the possibility of defeat, the Iwa ninja finally decided to support them. Otherwise, if the Sand ninja were defeated, the Iwa ninja village would be left to fight against Konoha's forces in the Land of Rain.

It was early morning. Hyuga Kanan had a quick breakfast, and his spiritual power alerted him after detecting that the Iwa ninja force was advancing in this direction. When the Iwa ninja had traveled about five kilometers, Hyuga Kanan immediately reported the situation to his leader.

"The Iwa ninja force has advanced to within five kilometers of us. They are numerous, at least over two thousand people, and the dozens of people leading the team all possess powerful chakra, at least at the Jonin level."

Upon hearing this, the team leader's expression tightened, and he immediately teleported towards the direction of the Three Legendary Sannin of Konoha, not daring to delay for the slightest. The surrounding teammates were also on high alert, as they were about to face the enemy, who outnumbered them considerably, including dozens of Jonin leading the charge.

The team leader quickly returned to the group and arranged the action plan, including when to attack and when to retreat. He also instructed Hyuga Kanan to keep an eye on the enemy's movements.

As the team waited anxiously and Hyuga Kanan kept reporting, the Iwa ninjas had come within 100 meters of the sniping circle, and the lurking team members could clearly see the expressions on the other side's faces.

70 meters, 60 meters, ... 30 meters. Now the team can hear the conversations of the Iwa ninja squad.

A kunai flew straight toward the throat of the Iwa ninja leader, piercing it with incredible speed.

This kunai acted as a signal, and instantly, a dense barrage of kunai and shuriken flew towards the Iwa ninja, interspersed with many explosive tags.

A continuous roar suddenly rang out as countless kunai and shuriken covered the entire vanguard of the Iwa ninja, completing the attack with almost no time for the enemy to react.

Hyuga Kanan scanned the area with his Byakugan and discovered that this attack had killed at least 80% of the opposing 100-man vanguard ninja. Only two powerful ninjas managed to defend against some of the casualties using ninjutsu in time, resulting in a fairly good outcome.

The immediate priority is a rapid retreat to the second line of defense.