Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 29 Preparations for the Final Battle

Hinata Kanan was carrying Yuan Feiquan on his back as they ran, with Gekko Nobuhiro following beside them.

At this point, most of the retreating troops were wounded, and their numbers had dwindled from nearly three hundred at the beginning to less than two hundred at the second line of defense.

This means that in less than 10 minutes of fighting the Iwa ninja, nearly half of them were dead, and almost everyone was injured. Their stamina was also greatly depleted. Although they were all retreating, most of them were not moving very fast, and some were panting heavily with their legs trembling.

"Damn those three legendary Konoha ninjas!" Seeing the Iwa ninja's pursuit force repelled by the three ninjas, the leader, a Explosion Release ninja, was furious. He then glared fiercely in the direction the Konoha ninjas had retreated.

The three legendary Sannin of Konoha also quickly retreated after repelling the pursuing Iwa ninja, disappearing into the forest and leaving only the ground ravaged by the ninjutsu.

Orochimaru and his group also traveled quickly and soon caught up with the retreating group.

Orochimaru glanced hastily at the retreating troops. In a short time, the Konoha's blocking ninja force had suffered heavy losses, and there were less than twenty ninjas left with combat capabilities.

The Iwa ninja who fought them, although suffering some losses, still had most of their fighting strength, not including the main Iwa ninja force behind them.

If it weren't for covering the retreat of these Konoha ninja, Orochimaru and his group might have killed even more Iwa ninja. But these individuals were the seeds of the Rain Country's resistance against the Iwa ninja.

Hopefully, the battle between the concentrated forces of the Konoha ninja and the Sand ninja can be won quickly, and they can come to provide support as soon as possible.

Taking a deep breath, Orochimaru didn't say much to his two teammates. As the commander of this ambush, he had done his best to buy time.

At this point, they could only continue their journey in silence, and make adjustments once they returned to the third line of defense.

When Xiang Jianan's team reached the third defensive line that day, the personnel who were preparing there were secretly surprised to see the team in such a state. What had happened? Why were the losses so heavy?

Hinata Kanan didn't say anything either. He handed the injured Yuan Feiquanxiong over to the paramedics and quickly found a place to rest. The battle had been too intense, and he hadn't had the time or opportunity to absorb the soul energy floating in the air.

Hyuga Kanan had to face an attack from several Iwa ninja all by himself, and dared not be distracted for even a moment. If he wasn't careful, he would be ambushed by the Iwa ninja around him, and he also had to constantly face the Iwa ninja attacking from the front. Even with such concentration, he was almost surrounded.

If it weren't for Yuan Fei Quanxiong's timely intervention to block the encirclement, Hyuga Kanan would probably have been completely surrounded and would have been either captured or forcibly killed. This also resulted in Yuan Fei Quanxiong being injured by his own opponent's ninjutsu attack.

If Orochimaru and the others hadn't returned in time to help, they probably would have all perished there.

What they need now is to recover quickly, as even more brutal battles await them. After all, the Iwa ninja suffered very few casualties, and the main force was largely unscathed, maintaining its full combat capability!

This is the last line of defense in this battle. If it falls, we'll have no choice but to retreat to our final stronghold and hold out for our lives; there's truly no way out. We must inflict maximum damage on the Iwa ninja along this line, so they won't dare to launch a direct, unbridled attack as they have before.

After all, Hyuga Kanan's team's mission this time was to block the Iwa ninja from quickly supporting the Sand ninja, so they needed to prolong the battle as much as possible to delay the enemy.

Orochimaru and his men began to gather manpower, concentrating all those still capable of fighting on this defensive line and sending the wounded to the rear base.

At the same time, he took out all the explosive tags and other ninja tools and distributed them to everyone, emphasizing that there was no need to conserve resources. He wanted to give the Iwa ninja a shock during the first wave of attacks, so that the Iwa ninja would switch from a full-scale attack to a probing attack to gain more time.

Increase the range and scale of the traps, and also enhance their strength. This will ensure that the traps can break through the Iwa ninja's defenses on a large scale, thereby injuring them and reducing the scale and intensity of their attacks.

This approach will deplete Konoha's resource reserves, reduce the war potential of this blocking force, and cause greater casualties and weaken its resistance capabilities in the later stages.

Orochimaru had no choice. His side only had a little over a thousand people, a huge disparity compared to the Iwa ninja, and most of them were genin—or rather, barely genin at all. Most were forcibly recruited from the ninja academy, and many were far from being qualified genin, at best ninja apprentices. The Iwa ninja's reinforcements, on the other hand, were regular frontline troops who had been on the front lines for almost a year, possessing considerable combat experience, and their numbers were nearly double that of his own.

In a large-scale, head-on battle, they could probably crush their own forces in just a few days.

Orochimaru's current plan is to use abundant resources to fight in the early stages and block the initial offensive. In the mid-stage, he will use his powerful ninjas to hold off the opponent's probing attacks, giving them a sense of unpredictability. As for the late stage, he will rely on human lives to wear down the opponent and constantly delay their offensive.

In short, everything is aimed at delaying the other side's reinforcements.

Only Orochimaru would be so willing to sacrifice everything to complete a mission, even if it meant the deaths of over a thousand people from Konoha. Jiraiya and Tsunade would never watch over a thousand people perish to complete a mission, nor would they issue such a cruel order.

This is the difference between Jiraiya and Tsunade and Orochimaru. Whether you call it benevolence or kindness, Jiraiya and Tsunade were both filled with the brilliance of humanity.

This is also why Orochimaru eventually parted ways with the two of them, and why, despite his many military achievements, he could never become Hokage.

But was Orochimaru wrong? No! This is the cruelty of war, and the law of war; everything is a sacrifice made for the final victory.

However, when peace arrives, those who issue such orders are always resented, after all, thousands of lives are lost on the battlefield.

No one would notice that it was precisely this kind of order that guaranteed victory in the war and the arrival of peace.

In Hyuga Kanan's view, Orochimaru was the true commander at this moment. Did he not know he would be resented and blamed after this battle? Impossible! Orochimaru was always the epitome of rationality, knowing exactly how to ensure the best outcome, and didn't let emotions influence the final result.

Jiraiya and Tsunade are typical examples of people who are more emotional than rational and easily act on impulse. However, such people are often more likely to gain the friendship and recognition of others.

Everyone likes to be friends with this kind of person; they won't abandon you based on personal gain or loss, and they won't blame you for failure. It's just like the unity and friendship that Naruto constantly promotes.

But it's precisely because there are so many people like this that the ninja world remains constantly turbulent. The total amount of benefits is always the same; if you gain something, someone else loses; if you fail, someone is destined to pay the price for your failure.

He only sees what's in front of him, so what he can't see doesn't matter. Without unified rules to protect everyone's interests and rights, some will gain, and others will lose. Without rational thinking to view the entire ninja world, you'll find that while your emotions may have helped those around you, others weren't so lucky.

Given the current battlefield situation, if Orochimaru prioritizes the lives of these people, leading to the mission's failure, what will happen to the Konoha ninja who are fighting desperately against the Sand Village ninja? What if the war drags on for too long?

That would require losing even more to make up for it.

Hyuga Kanan certainly doesn't like Orochimaru's rationality, but the decision he made is, at present, the best and most correct one.

But in Hyuga Kanan's eyes, Orochimaru was the kind of person who could go all the way, only lacking in experience and still trapped in the world of ninja. If Orochimaru had his own opportunities, he could definitely go much further and longer than Kanan.

As for people like Jiraiya and Tsunade, Hyuga Kanan never looked down on them. When a person's emotions outweigh their rationality, their friends and those around them may benefit in the short term, but in the end, you will find that others will pay a greater price. For the whole world, this is the root of turmoil and also the Sage of Six Paths' plan.

While everyone else was busy making arrangements and preparations for the impending war, Hyuga Kanan was diligently practicing the Daoist Nourishing Spirit Technique.

Only by quickly converting one's soul power into divine consciousness power can one increase their chances of survival.

The arrival of the moonlight and the fire interrupted Hyuga Kanan's training.

Moonlight Nobuteru came to ask Hinata Kanan to persuade Yuan Fei Quanxiong that the seriously wounded should be transferred to the rear base to give them a chance to recuperate.

Hyuga Kanan and Gekko Shinka arrived at the temporary aid station and saw Yuan Fei Quanxiong arguing with the escorts. At this moment, Yuan Fei Quanxiong shouted loudly, his face red with anger:

"I'm not leaving! The battle is about to begin. What difference would it make if I left now? I'm a ninja from the Third Hokage's clan, Sarutobi. How can I watch my comrades fight desperately in front of me while I rest in the rear!"

Upon seeing Shinka Gekko and Kanan Hyuga arrive, Shinka shouted, "My teammates are still here preparing for battle. I only have a minor injury. How can I abandon them and just leave? Right? Shinka and Kanan."

Hyuga Kanan looked at Yuan Fei Quanxiong, who was shouting loudly with a red face, speechless. He was also somewhat surprised. In the original work, the Yuan Fei clan was not highly regarded. The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, transferred most of the benefits of Konoha's civilian ninjas to the Yuan Fei clan. The Yuan Fei clan was present in Konoha's logistics and powerful departments, but they were absent from missions that required them to sacrifice themselves in battle. In the end, there were as many as 3000 Yuan Fei clan ninjas in Konoha.

It's important to understand that even a powerful clan like the Hyuga, with a thousand-year-old lineage in Konoha, still had ninjas protected by teammates on the battlefield. At its peak, their ninja force never exceeded 1000. Only the Senju clan, which produced two Hokage, and the Uchiha clan, which could rival them, had fewer than 2000 ninjas at their peak.

It's easy to imagine how much of Konoha's wealth the Yuan Fei clan had devoured.

However, seeing Yuan Fei's performance now surprised Hyuga Kanan. The Yuan Fei clan is still well-educated and knows to prioritize their Konoha comrades.

Seeing that Yuan Feiquanxiong was still about to continue shouting, Hinata Kanan walked up to him, reached out and pressed on the gauze wrapped around his leg. Yuan Feiquanxiong's face changed drastically, and he grimaced in pain.

"It seems you're not capable of fighting yet, Quanxiong!" Hyuga Kanan said calmly, "Are you planning to drag down our two teammates to death?"

Upon hearing Hyuga Kanan's words, Yuan Feiquanxiong was slightly taken aback and wanted to explain.

But before he could speak, Hyuga Kanan interrupted him again.

"How long do you think the two of us can hold out here? And that's assuming we don't get injured. You don't know, do you? We lowly ninjas might get injured and unable to hold on for long. That's when we need well-rested ninjas in the rear to replace us, instead of dragging us down with injuries! What you need to do is rest well, quickly recover your fighting strength, and take over from us injured ninjas on the front lines, so that we can also get some rest."

“Yes, yes! That’s it!” Moonlight Flame nodded in agreement.

"Go! Take good care of yourself! We might need you to replace us soon." Hyuga Kanan patted his shoulder gently, smiled, and turned to leave. Time was of the essence for him; the sooner he successfully transformed, the greater his chances of saving his life would be.