At the very moment Kaguya Kotarou fell, all the Mist ninja nearby who had been observing the battle felt a sudden chill in their hearts. For a brief moment, the fighting seemed to pause.
It was true that most of the Kaguya clan revered violence, enjoyed slaughter, and were known for being bloodthirsty—even crazy. Even those from the same village didn't care much for them.
But it was undeniable that on the battlefield, they were a symbol of strength.
Because of this, many Mist ninjas saw them as their spiritual backbone, especially when there were no other strong leaders present.
But now, that backbone had been broken.
You can imagine how devastating this blow was to the Mist ninjas.
However, Seimei had no intention of showing them mercy. He was set on taking advantage of their weakness and finishing them off.
So, after only a brief pause to catch his breath, Seimei separated from Uchiha Shisui and quickly rejoined another part of the battlefield, where other elite ninja were engaged.
As Seimei left, Uchiha Shisui looked at his retreating figure and then glanced around at the Konoha ninjas who were still fighting fiercely. With a sigh, he also joined in the effort to take down the remaining Mist elite ninjas.
With these two powerful fighters joining the fray, the Mist forces were quickly overwhelmed.
First, in the elite ninja battle.
Facing the growing number of Konoha elite, the Mist ninjas began to falter, suffering more frequent injuries and deaths.
The failure of the elite ninjas further demoralized the lower and mid-level Mist ninjas, reducing their effectiveness to barely sixty or seventy percent of their potential.
In contrast, Konoha's lower and mid-level ninjas, seeing the dawn of victory, fought with renewed vigor.
With this growing disparity, the Mist ninjas were quickly driven back.
...
In a nearby valley, perched atop a tall tree, Yasuda Akikiku watched the scene unfold with a dark, grim expression.
He had expected that his forces could hold out for at least an hour or two.
But now, they couldn't even last an hour.
This instantly ruined his plan to stall for time.
Yasuda Akikiku surveyed the battlefield, his gaze lingering briefly on the Konoha lower and mid-level ninjas before settling on Seimei and Uchiha Shisui.
He quickly deduced the reasons for their current situation. First, Konoha had unexpectedly brought nearly all the ninjas from the Black Stone Outpost.
This had completely caught him off guard.
He had anticipated the possibility of an ambush, especially with Seimei's excellent reconnaissance skills. Setting up a trap along their route would have been normal.
But the key problem was that Konoha had acted so aggressively, bringing almost all their forces.
This pushed them to the breaking point.
And the second reason was, of course, Seimei and Uchiha Shisui.
Uchiha Shisui, despite his reputation as "Shisui of the Body Flicker" and undeniable strength, had been tied up by Kaguya Kotarou for most of the fight, so he hadn't inflicted much damage on their forces.
But Seimei was different.
Right from the start, he had single-handedly killed Hase Ichirou.
Then, teaming up with another Konoha elite ninja, he severely injured Itou Shouhei, who later died at the hands of that same Konoha ninja.
After that, when facing Shimizu Kenta and another Mist elite ninja, he managed to gravely wound one of them and kill Shimizu Kenta.
This left Yasuda Akikiku without any more elite ninjas to use.
At this point, the situation had grown dire.
After that, Seimei relentlessly helped other Konoha elite ninjas, killing three more Mist elite ninjas.
And just now, he and Uchiha Shisui had teamed up to take down their last hope—Kaguya Kotarou.
This was the final straw.
It was clear to Yasuda Akikiku that Seimei was the primary force behind the collapse of his plan.
For this reason, Yasuda Akikiku looked at Seimei with a gaze filled with hatred.
Yet within that hatred, there was also a deeply hidden fear.
The strength Seimei had shown had left a lasting impression on him.
Suppressing his inner frustration, Yasuda Akikiku took a deep breath. Without further hesitation, he turned to the messenger ninja beside him and said, "Give the order to all units: Execute Plan B."
"Plan B?"
The Mist ninja was startled and hesitated. "Captain, is it not too early for Plan B? Maybe we can still..."
But before he could finish, Yasuda Akikiku cut him off. "Enough. Execute the order."
"Yes, Captain!"
Hearing Yasuda Akikiku's impatient tone, Yokoyama Yukio dared not argue further. He quickly left to relay the order.
Watching him leave, Yasuda Akikiku's eyes deepened with thought.
After a long moment, he softly muttered to himself, "Now is the last chance. If we wait any longer, the cost will be more than just a few lives."
Indeed, Plan B was all about survival by sacrifice.
Some Mist ninjas would act as sacrifices, using their lives to stop the enemy's pursuit, allowing the main forces to retreat.
Without a doubt, this was a desperate plan.
When Yasuda Akikiku had devised this plan, he hadn't expected to actually use it.
But the habit of "planning for failure before thinking of victory" led him to prepare this contingency.
*Bang!*
Yasuda Akikiku punched a nearby tree trunk, his eyes full of unwillingness.
But no matter how reluctant he felt, this was his only option.
He knew all too well that their cause was lost. While they were barely holding on now, it was only a matter of time before everything crumbled.
In this world, where power resides in individuals, wars might involve ordinary ninjas, but the final outcome is always determined by high-level fighters.
Now, with their elite ninjas defeated, dragging things out would only lead to slow death.
If they didn't retreat soon, even if reinforcements arrived, they wouldn't be able to complete their original plan.
That plan being: to cooperate with reinforcements and wipe out the attacking Konoha ninjas.
To avoid needless loss of life, he decided to retreat for now.
*Inhale... exhale...*
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Yasuda Akikiku focused his mind and began issuing various orders to prepare for the retreat.
...
Time passed minute by minute.
Soon, fifteen minutes had gone by.
Although the Mist ninjas lacked the Yamanaka clan's expertise in communication techniques, they had their own methods for quickly relaying orders.
Despite the chaos of the battlefield, Yasuda Akikiku's orders were successfully conveyed to everyone involved in Plan B.
Those who heard the order showed different reactions—some were ashen-faced, others filled with bitterness, while some became hysterical.
But after fifteen minutes, all preparations were complete.
At last, a sharp whistle pierced the air.
This was the signal to begin.
Immediately, some of the Mist ninjas began to retreat, while others filled their spots, doing everything they could to block Konoha's pursuit.
At first, Konoha ninjas attempted to chase after the retreating Mist ninjas.
But when the remaining Mist forces began using chakra recklessly, launching widespread and frequent jutsu to keep them at bay, they abandoned the pursuit.
Because of this, the Mist's Plan B succeeded.
While some of the Mist ninjas meant to retreat didn't make it out, the majority of those included in the plan escaped safely.
And that was enough.
Yasuda Akikiku looked at the people surrounding him and, without any unnecessary words, ordered, "Retreat!"
With that, he took the lead, charging ahead.
The others followed quickly.
Soon, the group of Mist ninjas disappeared from the Konoha ninjas' sight.
The direction they were heading? Toward the Black Stone Outpost, on the other side of the valley.
That's right—those retreating Mist ninjas weren't returning to Flying Fish Town but were continuing forward, out of the valley, toward the Black Stone Outpost.
Clearly, Yasuda Akikiku hadn't given up yet, or perhaps this had always been part of Plan B.
Indeed, Plan B was about survival by sacrifice, but it wasn't just a straightforward retreat. The goal was to regroup with another Mist force and then launch a full-scale assault on Konoha's Black Stone Outpost.
(End of Chapter)