What they didn't know was that Ashina was just regretting not making his move faster. After all, it was still better for him to act than to let Shin take action.
A few days ago, when Shin said to Tsunade, "If anything happens to you, there won't be a corner of this world that remains untouched by my response," Ashina had been right there beside him.
At the time, he thought Shin was just trying to make her happy. But after spending the past few days together, he realized Shin had meant every word.
Because even though Shin was constantly providing them with intelligence, he didn't care about the outcome of the war at all, what he cared about was Tsunade's safety.
In the end, Shin had absolutely nothing to do with the Land of Whirlpools. So why was he willing to give his full support to Ashina and the entire country?
Wasn't everything he did for Tsunade? That alone showed how much she meant to him. And yet these fools were actually trying to make trouble for her?
If they really pissed her off, and Shin cut off their supplies and intel in anger, the Land of Whirlpools would be doomed. So how could this even be a difficult decision?
On the path of the advancing army from Kiri, along the way, over a dozen ten-man squads from Uzushio had been lying in ambush. But the moment they saw the densely packed enemy forces from afar, they scattered in panic, fleeing as fast as they could, wishing they had more legs to run faster, terrified of being caught.
The Kiri ninjas chasing from behind all burst into hearty laughter at the sight. They had originally thought these ambushers would attempt a surprise attack to slow down their advance.
But to their surprise, these people were so cowardly, they were scared out of their wits without even a fight.
Then again, it made sense.
10 versus 700 was basically suicide, not everyone had the guts for that. If it were them, they might not run any slower either.
"Is there an ambush ahead?" The charging Fuguki came up beside Suiten and asked.
"Within three miles, aside from the ones who fled, I haven't sensed any chakra signatures."
"Looks like Genji was right," Fuguki grinned. "Makes sense, Uzushio only has about 3,000 ninjas. The citizens of the Land of Whirlpools have so many evacuation routes. On average, each path wouldn't have that many people. Not to mention, they wouldn't deploy everyone at once. If they scatter their forces too thin, they'd just be asking for death."
But Suiten still wore a worried expression. "Should we slow down our pace and widen the scouting range?"
"Hahaha, you're still such a coward!" Fuguki immediately laughed.
"You don't get it, this is called 'better safe than sorry.'"
Fuguki didn't bother arguing further with Suiten. In his eyes, Suiten was beyond saving.
Suiten was already well acquainted with Fuguki's personality at this point in time. He was an extremely arrogant guy, the more you tried to push him, the more he'd go against you. Especially if the one pushing him was known for being timid, like Suiten.
Ten minutes later, Suiten suddenly halted. "Wait! Over a hundred chakra signatures just appeared up ahead. Looks like they're here to block our advance. Those chakra signals have joined up with the ones who ran earlier. Around 200 in total now."
"Uzushio reacts fast," Fuguki said. "They're probably the ninjas escorting the civilians. Looks like they're afraid we'll catch up to the civilians. Facing us head-on is the better choice, they can stall for time more effectively that way."
"So what should we do?" Suiten asked.
"Encircle and wipe them out. Once that's done, our path will be completely clear." Fuguki immediately issued the order, dividing the forces into four equal squads.
Three of the squads moved to encircle the Uzushio ninjas from three different directions, while the fourth squad immediately took a detour, heading straight toward the evacuation route of the civilians.
After Suiten received the command from Fuguki, his fingers once again began tapping rhythmically. His movement was extremely discreet, concealed under his long sleeves, and didn't attract anyone's attention.
"They're on the move. They're heading straight for us," he suddenly spoke.
"Taking the initiative? How brave! Kill them!"
Less than three miles away, the two ninja squads sprinting at full speed soon caught sight of each other.
When the distance between the two sides was less than two hundred meters, from the Uzushio side, over a dozen figures suddenly accelerated, breaking away from the main group and charging directly toward the Kiri ninja.
"Fools rushing to their dea—" Fuguki smiled.
Suddenly, a clear and piercing shout interrupted his words.
The leading figure instantly exploded in speed, streaking across the battlefield like a meteor. In the blink of an eye, she tore through the distance and plunged into the ranks of the Kiri ninjas.
One Kiri ninja didn't even get a chance to groan or realize what had happened before a foot struck his chest. The immense force sent him flying like a cannonball, and everyone in his path was instantly killed.
Fuguki shouted urgently, retreating rapidly while his hands formed seals in haste. But before he could even finish his sentence or complete his hand seals, a foot had already appeared behind him, moving at a speed too fast for him to react, and smashed into his back. Chapters first released on ⓝovelFire.net
He was sent hurtling forward, straight toward Suiten.
Because he was carrying Samehada on his back, Tsunade's kick didn't kill him outright but left him gravely injured. However, just as he got close to Suiten, he realized, the coward hadn't dodged. Instead, he stood frozen like he'd been scared stiff.
Then, the two of them collided and were sent flying together.
Just before hitting the ground, he looked down in disbelief to see a short blade had pierced straight through his heart, plunged into him by Suiten.
Carried by momentum, he crashed hard to the ground and instantly fell silent.
Fuguki died just like that, confused and disbelieving to the end that Suiten would actually betray him.
As for Suiten, he transformed into a pool of water, scooped up Samehada in a current, and disappeared into a nearby stream.
Tsunade's two kicks had stunned everyone.
The first shattered the Kiri's formation, and the second killed their commander and strongest fighter.
Whether it was the Kiri or Uzushio ninjas, everyone felt like they were dreaming.
Fuguki wasn't weak. On the contrary, he had already earned a fierce reputation in the shinobi world. But Tsunade wasn't someone who had wasted her years either.
By conventional standards, she was always the most laid-back and least diligent of Hiruzen's three disciples. Her level of effort had never matched that of most jonin, especially since she spent most of her time developing medical ninjutsu.
You could say that her rise to Kage-level strength was purely thanks to innate talent, she was the definition of someone blessed by the Sage of Six Paths.
But now, things were different.
Since the age of twelve, she had become the most hardworking of Hiruzen's disciples.