But that didn't mean Kirigakure and Iwagakure were faring any better.
At the very least, by this stage of the war, both in terms of resource consumption and ninja casualties, Ōnoki could feel the heavy burden.
It had to be said—the Third Raikage had dealt Iwagakure a devastating blow.
Failing to eliminate Kumogakure's army and allowing them to retain some of their strength to return to the Land of Lightning was something Ōnoki still regretted to this day. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel·fire.net
The image of the Third Raikage standing firm, his towering figure as immovable as a mountain, remained a nightmare for many Iwa-nin.
If it weren't for both of Iwagakure's jinchūriki suffering severe injuries at the hands of the Third Raikage and being forced to retreat for recovery, Iwagakure's forces might have been able to expand their victories against Konoha, securing even greater advantages.
The mysterious power that the Third Raikage unleashed had inflicted such grievous wounds that even the jinchūriki—despite their incredible regenerative abilities—struggled to recover.
Both Rōshi and Han had spent a long time recuperating in the rear, only managing to regain some of their strength bit by bit. Even now, they had yet to return to their peak condition.
"Besides, even if this intel is true, and I manage to hold off Orochimaru and his guards along with Kitsuchi, what about the Yellow Flash? How do you plan to deal with him?"
Ōnoki asked his question hypothetically.
The room fell into complete silence.
The title "Yellow Flash" seemed to have a power that commanded quiet.
Just like the White Fang, who had once crushed Sunagakure in the Second Great Ninja War—making the higher-ups of the village seethe with hatred while being completely helpless against him—now, in the ongoing Third Great Ninja War, the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato, had the same effect on Iwagakure. No one dared to make a sound.
Iwagakure feared Namikaze Minato even more than Orochimaru!
Orochimaru was merely difficult to deal with, but Namikaze Minato? He left them completely powerless, drowning them in despair.
Just as Sunagakure had learned a painful lesson and secretly decided that encountering the White Fang meant reassessing missions on the spot, Iwagakure's higher-ups had issued an order: If you see the Yellow Flash, you are allowed to abandon the mission without any punishment.
There was no other choice—too many Iwagakure shinobi had died at Namikaze Minato's hands!
Every trap they had set for him was useless. The battlefield was even worse! With his mastery of space-time jutsu, he could attack whenever he wanted and retreat whenever he pleased.
No matter how many people they had, as long as they couldn't match Namikaze Minato's speed, it didn't matter whether they were jōnin or genin—one strike was all it took.
Jōnin were slaughtered like weeds. That was the despair Namikaze Minato brought to Iwagakure. His presence alone had repeatedly thwarted Iwagakure's offensives, even after they had successfully held off Orochimaru.
If they couldn't find a way to deal with the Yellow Flash, infiltrating the enemy lines seemed impossible. After all, with Namikaze Minato's speed, he could return to the rear camp in an instant.
And if the assassination failed, the assassination squad's jōnin would have to face the fastest shinobi in the ninja world.
No one wanted to face the Yellow Flash.
Especially not Iwagakure's shinobi!
"If the information is true, we can find a way to divert him!" After a brief silence, the Jonin in charge of leading an Iwagakure ninja squad, Higashi Shibito, suggested.
"Or we could leak some information to Konoha, making them divert him." With Higashi Shibito speaking, other Iwagakure Jonin also chimed in.
No one thought about setting a trap to kill Minato Namikaze, as their painful past experiences had taught them that under the Flying Thunder God technique, trying to kill the Yellow Flash was futile!
"What do you want to do?" Onoki, the Tsuchikage, asked Higashi Shibito.
"Due to his speed, Konoha has always assigned him to act as a fire-fighting role. Wherever there is trouble on the battlefield, he is likely to show up there.
We can use this to devise a plan to draw the Yellow Flash away before the assassination team moves." Higashi Shibito explained.
As old rivals, though the Yellow Flash's movements were unpredictable, he mostly appeared where Konoha's defensive forces were in trouble.
"The commander of Konoha's First Defense Force is Miyamura Yagiri. His defense team has repelled many of our attacks. If something happens here, whether it's Orochimaru or Minato Namikaze, they will surely come to help.
If Lord Tsuchikage can hold off Orochimaru, the Yellow Flash, as the fire-fighter, will definitely rush over to assist."
"Can you make sure the Yellow Flash shows up here?" Onoki, the Tsuchikage, asked as he looked at the coordinates Higashi Shibito pointed to on the map, nodding slightly.
From the map, he could also see that this Konoha outpost was not something that could be easily abandoned.
If pressure could be applied or the Konoha defense broken, it was highly likely that the Yellow Flash would appear.
"I can do it." Higashi Shibito nodded with confidence. This battlefield was his responsibility, and he knew both his enemies and his own forces well.
He already had a plan to deal with the situation completely; it was just a matter of pushing the timeline forward and accepting some casualties.
"Well, kidnapping someone close to the Yellow Flash and setting up a layer of insurance should work, right? I remember he became a team leader with three disciples!" said the jonin, Hokō, adding his thoughts.
"Let's discuss that later. First, confirm the information about Tsunade's hemophobia."
As soon as Onoki, the Tsuchikage, finished speaking, an Iwagakure Anbu appeared in the room in an instant. He held a sealed scroll with secret writing and offered it to Onoki.
Onoki's heart skipped a beat as he recognized that this scroll represented critical and urgent information. He quickly took it, unsealed it, and read the revealed intel. His expression darkened immediately.
"What happened? Did something change on the frontlines?" asked Kitsuchi, noticing her father's ever-changing expression.
"Our spies in Konoha have all been eliminated," Onoki said, somewhat dejected.
A deeply embedded spy takes a long time and a lot of effort to cultivate. But this time, because they transmitted information about Tsunade, they were caught and exposed.
Onoki felt a mix of emotions inside.
"Konoha has already sent Danzo and his Root ninja to protect Tsunade."
After collecting himself, Onoki quickly mentioned the information from the scroll, not lingering on the loss of their spies in Konoha.
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