novel-bin Chapter 41 Changes in the Battlefield
Chapter 41 Changes in the Battlefield
"Earth Release-Earth Flow Wall!"
A wall instantly appeared on the ground, blocking the shuriken and kunai that Hyuga Kanan threw, but the explosion of the explosive tags still blocked the Iwa ninja's initial encirclement, allowing Hyuga Kanan to escape.
Seeing Hyuga Kanan escape the encirclement, the Iwa ninja were also anxious. They immediately disregarded the explosion of the explosive tags and quickly gave chase, trying to re-encircle him and prevent Hyuga Kanan, their prize, from escaping.
But it was too late. Hyuga Kanan retreated quickly, running towards the Konoha forces. The Iwa ninja were not to be outdone, giving chase relentlessly.
This young Hyuga clan ninja brat was the biggest prize on the battlefield for these Iwa ninjas, so how could they let him escape? But Hyuga Kanan was like a slippery eel; despite his considerable strength, he never engaged in direct combat, giving them an opportunity to surround him. Instead, he used his agile body and rapid movements to constantly slip away, preventing the Iwa ninjas from finding a way to trap him.
He deliberately showed weakness, giving him the opportunity to directly kill the Iwa ninja, but Hyuga Kanan didn't make a move and just kept slipping away from the Iwa ninja.
If Hyuga Kanan escapes into the Konoha forces, it will be very difficult to get him to be alone again.
"That's why I hate these Hyuga clan ninjas the most! They always manage to find loopholes and weaknesses in our encirclement to escape."
Although Hyuga Kanan is not yet surrounded by Iwa ninja, the situation remains extremely unfavorable for him. The number of Iwa ninja pursuing and surrounding him is increasing, and his escape route is becoming increasingly difficult.
The Iwa ninja's tactic was to continuously compress Hyuga Kanan's escape space, trapping him in the center. Now, with multiple Iwa ninja teams constantly blocking his way, Hyuga Kanan had no choice but to keep changing direction and trying to retreat from the encirclement that hadn't yet formed.
The Iwa ninja squad also realized the current situation and began to quickly gather together, forming an encirclement to prevent Hyuga Kanan from escaping again.
Hyuga Kanan kept rushing towards the battlefield where the Konoha and Iwa ninja were fighting, hoping to take advantage of the chaos to create an opportunity to escape the Iwa ninja's encirclement. He wanted the Konoha ninja to be able to provide him with support at any time, so that he wouldn't be unable to unleash his full power due to being surrounded by so many Iwa ninja.
The two sides moved rapidly across the battlefield, one fleeing and the other pursuing, attracting the attention of countless combatants. Then, Iwa ninja joined in, seemingly unsure if it was for a mere Hyuga brat or if they were about to besiege one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha. Thus, they unwittingly joined the encirclement, drastically increasing the pressure on Hyuga Kanan, essentially sealing off all possible escape routes.
The Konoha ninjas were also confused. It seemed that the Iwa ninjas had abandoned their fight with Konoha and joined the pursuit team. For a moment, the Konoha ninjas were also a little flustered and didn't know what to do. They could only silently follow the Iwa ninja team from a distance to see what they were up to, while also sending messages to the command center.
Ultimately, with the Iwa ninja's relentless and rapid movement, Hyuga Kanan was forced back into their encirclement, leaving him with no room to escape.
If viewed from above, the battle situation at this moment resembles the letter Q.
At the innermost point was Hyuga Kanan, who was fleeing in a sorry state. Outside was a densely packed group of Iwa ninja squads. In the lower right corner, a battlefield was raging between Iwa ninja and Konoha ninja squads.
"Damn Iwa ninja! Are all these people just here for me?" Seeing that the Iwa ninja's encirclement tactic was completely completed, Hyuga Kanan was on the verge of tears. Then he glared fiercely at the Iwa ninja squad in front of him.
The fact that these Iwa ninja were willing to forgo their numerical advantage to accelerate their attack on the Konoha ninja in order to trap Hyuga Kanan shows that they were extremely confident of victory in this battle.
Meanwhile, the Konoha ninjas were fighting the Iwa ninjas in the lower right corner, and the Konoha ninjas were actually gaining the upper hand over the Iwa ninjas.
This change in the battlefield quickly reached the ears of the commanders on both sides. Orochimaru, who was fighting with several Iwa ninja, was also somewhat surprised. At the same time, he thought this was a rare opportunity and prepared to concentrate his firepower to directly defeat the Iwa ninja on that battlefield, giving the Konoha team more breathing space and time.
The three legendary Sannin of Konoha exchanged knowing glances. Soon, Orochimaru launched an attack on Jiraiya's opponent while simultaneously creating shadow clones to hold off his own opponent. In an instant, Jiraiya, who no longer had an opponent, quickly moved and disappeared from the battlefield.
The place where Orochimaru and his group fought against the Iwa ninja was a certain distance away from the battlefield where the troops were fighting. After all, they were all powerful ninjas, and even the weakest among them were senior Jonin. The range and scale of the ninjutsu used by both sides in the battle were huge, and it was easy to accidentally injure their own people. Therefore, they all tacitly stayed away from the battlefield where the troops were fighting.
Jiraiya's departure immediately increased Orochimaru's pressure. After all, any ninja who could fight and fight against Jiraiya was no ordinary person. This meant that Orochimaru had to face at least 10 Jonin from Iwagakure at the same time, including a Kekkei Genkai ninja like Taka, who was a Explosion Release ninja. This made Orochimaru flustered for a while, but he quickly stabilized the situation.
Jiraiya also rushed towards the battlefield where Hyuga Kanan was. During the time Orochimaru had created for him, he needed to quickly defeat the Iwa ninja team that was fighting against Konoha, and find out what was going on that caused this strange change in the Iwa ninja team, and whether they were plotting something against Konoha.
Hyuga Kanan is in a terrible predicament. He is constantly attacked by shuriken from all sides, and if he is not careful, he will be attacked by earth-style ninjutsu. Many earthen walls are also appearing around him, slowly trapping him. When he tries to leave and escape from these earthen walls, he is immediately attacked by ninjutsu, shuriken, and kunai, interrupting his escape and forcing him back.
Hyuga Kanan only glanced at it briefly, but in a short time, there were already more than a hundred Iwa ninja around him, and there were probably even more Iwa ninja surrounding him.
The Iwa ninja surrounding Hyuga Kanan were somewhat bewildered upon seeing that it was just a kid. All that commotion, only to surround a Konoha ninja who clearly looked like a child? Anyone who didn't know better would have thought they were surrounding some incredibly powerful Konoha shinobi! However, after the explanations from the surrounding Iwa ninja, they reluctantly agreed, after all, it was a Hyuga clan ninja, possibly even from the main branch of the Hyuga clan of Konoha. Capturing him would be a great achievement.
After a lot of communication and information exchange among the Iwa ninja, the Konoha team learned why the Iwa ninja suddenly abandoned their attack. It turned out that Hyuga Kanan had attracted the Iwa ninja's attention.
They all consider Hyuga Kanan to be a member of the Hyuga clan's main family. If they could capture a member of the Hyuga clan's main family, then there's a chance that the Hyuga clan of Iwagakure might appear. Even if the chance of a clan appearing is slim, at least they could get two Byakugan.
The Konoha ninjas didn't have that same yearning for the Byakugan. After all, the Hyuga clan was in Konoha and could join the village forces at any time to provide support. Therefore, they didn't quite understand the Iwa ninjas' crazy move of temporarily abandoning the main battlefield. The Iwa ninjas had already seized the initiative on the front lines; they could easily defeat the Konoha ninjas by constantly pressuring them and giving them time.
When Jiraiya arrived at the battlefield, he was somewhat surprised to hear that the Iwa ninja had abandoned their direct attack on the Konoha team for the sake of Hyuga Kanan, a brat from the Hyuga clan. He also didn't understand why the Iwa ninja were so desperate to besiege a member of the Hyuga clan's branch family. He knew that even if they captured Hyuga Kanan, given the Hyuga clan's nature, they would quickly activate the Caged Bird Seal to kill him and destroy his Byakugan, leaving the Iwa ninja empty-handed.
However, Jiraiya was the kind of person who would never give up on rescuing his Konoha comrades, so he decided to break through the Iwa ninja's encirclement and rescue Hyuga Kanan, a fellow Konoha comrade. After all, Hyuga Kanan had fought alongside him in their first battle against the Iwa ninja.
If Orochimaru had come to investigate and provide support, he might have abandoned Hyuga Kanan altogether and used the opportunity created by Kanan to inflict maximum damage on the Iwa ninja, allowing the Konoha team to hold out longer.
Therefore, Orochimaru is an absolutely rational person and would not give up the chance to succeed in a mission for the sake of a ninja. But Jiraiya would not abandon his comrades, and even though he knew that Konoha's mission to rescue Hyuga Kanan would definitely attract fierce resistance from the Iwa ninja, he would not give up.
Therefore, from a strategic perspective, Orochimaru's approach was the best way for Konoha, but it would chill the hearts of Konoha ninjas. Who knows if they might be abandoned once surrounded? Jiraiya's approach would instantly win over a large number of Konoha ninjas, although it would cause heavy casualties and increase the likelihood of Konoha's sniping mission failing. However, Jiraiya never considered the bigger picture.
Hyuga Kanan knew beforehand that Jiraiya and Tsunade were the best targets for friendship, and they wouldn't abandon their friends because of other circumstances.
Therefore, he would intentionally or unintentionally show a united and friendly side in front of Jiraiya and Tsunade, so that they would quickly accept him and give him the opportunity to be rescued by them when a crisis occurred on the battlefield.
At this moment, the Konoha ninjas began a frenzied attack on the encirclement of Hyuga Kanan by the Iwa ninjas, each of them attacking with a sense of self-sacrifice.
Hyuga Kanan is now facing an attack from at least five or six Iwa ninja, with throwing tools constantly appearing around him to assist in the attack. He grips a kunai tightly in one hand, constantly blocking attacks while also dodging sneak attacks from the side, and is temporarily plunged into deep despair.
If it weren't for the Iwa ninja's desire to capture Hyuga Kanan alive, he would have died countless times already. But Hyuga Kanan is now exhausted, his energy depleted, and most of his stamina used up. Even standing, his legs are trembling uncontrollably, and he could collapse at any moment.
The soul power in his mind also became thinner. The mist part was basically exhausted, and now he was going to consume the liquid part. However, if he did that, the energy he had absorbed before would be back to square one.
Hyuga Kanan gritted his teeth, preparing to consume the liquid portion of his soul power, when he suddenly sensed Jiraiya's figure breaking through the encirclement of the Iwa ninja. He was overjoyed, thinking that he could survive again.
Then, squeezing his body, he began to move again, waiting for Jiraiya's rescue.
"Clang!" The fierce ninja sword clashed with the kunai in Hyuga Kanan's hand again. The kunai in Hyuga Kanan's hand was directly cleaved away, and his body was also directly thrown away by the huge force, falling heavily to the ground, unable to get up again.
But Hyuga Kanan's lips curled into a slight smile.
Jiraiya instantly appeared before Hyuga Kanan, scooped up the small figure, and quickly retreated. Konoha, at great cost, could only open a small gap, allowing Jiraiya to quickly rescue the small figure and then evacuate.
Hyuga Kanan collapsed into Jiraiya's arms, still using his soul power to absorb the tiny clusters of soul energy from the battlefield back into the Qiankun Inheritance Jade.