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Chapter 778 : Paying the Price!

On the other side of the valley, Illumi's division was moving down as well. The sensors under his command reported, “General Hoka's division is under attack by 300 ninjas. It's difficult to say who has the upper hand from here.”

Illumi thought, ‘We don't need to worry about the upper hand. Even if his group is caught off guard, there is sufficient backup. However, this is rather surprising. To think that they would ambush us instead of hiding.”

“General, should we reinforce them?” Illumi shook his head to answer his subordinate's question and instead asked, “Can you see who's attacking them?”

Most sensors stayed quiet, but a senior Yamanaka ninja replied, “It is Tsuchiro. I had sensed his chakra signature during the Third Great War.”

Illumi thought for a bit before saying, “Just 300 ninjas won't be able to stop Hoka's division. And, if we go there, the remaining rebels might be able to sneak away. We'll continue moving down the valley, but we'll slow down a bit. That way, we'll attack first while Hoka's division can follow up by attacking their rear and trapping them betw…”

Illumi stopped mid-way and something unexpected happened. Some distance away from him, 500 ninjas appeared and rushed towards him! This army was led by none other than Kagero, the leader of the Kusagakure rebels! Following him were his two students, Shizuma and Ganku! The three of them went straight for Kurama Illumi!


“We failed to detect both the forces?” A SealMaster exclaimed in shock. Despite several SealMasters inspecting the valley, not a single one noticed the two spots where the rebels hid. Instead, we calculated the incorrect location.

A Nara Jounin said, “Not just that, the location they hid in is perfect for ambushing as well. They outplayed us.”

Renjiro nodded and asked, “Where did you mess up?”

The SealMaster thought for a bit before answering, “It was how they planned their bases in this valley. Every seal here is carefully hidden. Just finding the seals hiding the base at the bottom of this valley took a long time. In fact, if the Nara Jounins didn't insist, we wouldn't have looked deeper into this valley either. It was only due to them that we managed to locate that base. We did try searching more bases, but we couldn't spot any since these were even better hidden.”

Renjiro asked, “Could you guys have done anything different?”

The Nara Jounin looked at Renjiro suspiciously and thought, ‘Hmm, why does it feel like he is educating us instead of being worried about the battle?’

The SealMaster answered unsurely, “Perhaps if we had searched longer, we could have discovered them, but it would have taken a couple of days, if not more. In addition, I can't guarantee that we would have found it. Perhaps, we could have fallen into the trap too and lost our lives.

The only way we could have avoided this trap is if a Grandmaster took a look. Perhaps if the Commander had…”

Renjiro cut him off and said, “Our enemy is quite weak. If the Commander did everything, we wouldn't need an army.”

The SealMaster obediently replied, “I understand.”

The Nara Jounin asked, “Should we help out General Hoka's division? Even though they will win, they are under a lot of pressure right now. Soon, the casualties will start mounting.”

Renjiro shook his head and answered, “Of course, there will be casualties in war. A war that doesn't have any casualties isn't a war, it's a massacre. This time, our enemy is weak, trapped and helpless, yet we are struggling so much. Do you think we'll have such favorable conditions when battling against other major villages?”

Renjiro glanced towards Hoka's division and continued, “An army will only be born when it survives several tribulations of blood and death. Let them handle it. You'll see what I mean soon.”

The Nara Jounin as well as the SealMaster frowned and wondered, ‘But, didn't Commander say that he didn't want to see anyone dying?’

The two didn't say it out loud. After all, neither was as close to Fujin as Renjiro. Even though they didn't say anything, Renjiro could easily figure out their thoughts. He thought, ‘In a way, Fujin is inexperienced and ignorant about wars too.
Even though he has a lot of mission experience and has undoubtedly done a lot of morally gray tasks in the missions he didn't talk about, war is a different matter altogether. He'll have to have the heart to sacrifice some ninjas to win the larger war, a position he was rarely put under due to how remarkably strong he has become. And, he'll have to accept such losses too.
The same is true for Hoka. He's even behind Fujin in this regard. And, this is a good opportunity for him to gain experience because he's leading from the front. The next time, he'll be far more careful against such ambushes.
The army will benefit too. This will teach them how gruesome wars are and how one mistake or one moment of carelessness could be catastrophic for their comrades. If I help them now, then it'll have the opposite impact. If we baby them today, they'll pay the price when they don't have the same luxury in the future.’


“Have you recovered?”
On a rock in the middle of a dense, dark forest, two men sat wearing black cloaks having red clouds. They were none other than the fearsome Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. Ironically, neither of their cloaks inspired fear.

Itachi's right sleeve was missing and burn marks were visible on the edge of the cloak where the sleeve should have been. On the other hand, most of Kisame's cloak was destroyed and his upper body was visible.

Kisame answered, "Yes, the injuries have been dealt with. It's a shame that I couldn't find anyone with a large amount of chakra. Otherwise, I could have healed quicker by absorbing their chakra through the Samehada."

Just like in the original story, Itachi and Kisame entered Konoha four days ago. Since Fujin was in the Land of Grass, no one intervened and they ended up clashing with Kakashi's group in the same manner. Kakashi, unfortunately, couldn't change his fate and fell prey to Itachi's Tsukuyomi. He fell unconscious and had to be rescued by Guy before the Akatsuki members retreated. However, there was one major difference. Unlike the original story, they had to pay the price for taking on Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja!

Both Itachi and Kisame got a taste of Sakumo's Yin chakra-infused Lightning. Itachi noticed the signs with his Sharingan and almost dodged the attack while Kisame was fooled by Kakashi's Shadow Clone and ended up taking the whole brunt of the attack.

Of course, Kakashi was nowhere near Sakumo's level, which is why neither was mortally wounded and he was quickly defeated by Itachi's counterattack. However, the pain stayed behind. After they retreated from Konoha, they had to wait for four days to heal up completely. While they could have moved on earlier, neither dared to move around with any handicaps. After all, their next opponent was in an entirely different league as compared to Kakashi!

Itachi's sudden appearance got the attention of the big shots in Konoha. Every Clan Leader paid careful attention to it and raised their clan's guard. After all, they didn't know the truth. From their perspective, Itachi had massacred the mighty Uchiha clan by himself. Even though Shikaku had some guesses, he didn't want to take unneeded risks either. Fujin and Jiraiya were informed about the same. Needless to say, the ones who were alarmed the most were Danzo and the other elders. They received Itachi's hidden message without the need for a single word, forcing them to drop any ideas they had about the Uchiha kids immediately.


“Kagero… This is a brave choice. I didn't expect you'd come out and battle instead of hiding.” Kurama Illumi said as he stood face-to-face with Kagero and his students. The 500 ninjas under Kagero's command began battling with Illumi's 1000-ninja strong division while their leaders faced off.

Kagero chuckled and asked, “Where can one hide from Konoha ninjas? Surely you didn't expect me to wait for my death, did you, Illumi? That said, this is rather unexpected. Illumi, you have come a long way. I didn't think you had the talent to reach the Elite Jounin rank in Konoha. It should have been a matter of pride for you. Unfortunately, it'll be the cause of your death. Anyway…”

Kagero rapidly weaved hand signs while saying, “Enough talk!”

Illumi became serious and withdrew while weaving hand signs as well. He glanced at the three opponents and thought, ‘His two students are as strong as the Veteran Jounins in Konoha. If they had been in Kusagakure, they would have been promoted to Elite Jounin rank. Renjiro also said that Kagero is as strong as he is. Winning against him will be very difficult. However…’

A sly smile appeared on Illumi's face. He didn't need to win. He just needed to stall Kagero. As for Kagero's students, Illumi wasn't worried. Reaching the level of Konoha's Veteran Jounin might be extraordinary in a minor village, but it wasn't so in Konoha. Illumi had 9 Veteran Jounins under his command, three of whom were standing right next to him. As such, Shizuma and Ganku's task wasn't to gang up on Illumi along with their Sensei, instead, it was to avoid Konoha from ganging up on their Sensei.

‘Water Release: Vapor Gale jutsu!’
‘Phantom Mist jutsu’

Comments

"He believes Fujin didn't want to sacrifice any Ninja's and morally gray actions previously are not comparable?" No. Renjiro is saying that Fujins decision to let Hoka fight his own battle is risky and may have some consequences. It's mentally and emotionally draining to make the decision that Fujin made. ( Renjiro is identifying the risks of fujins decision.) Renjiro then mentions Fujins anbu days. His thinking in this situation is basically "Fujin did a lot of gray area stuff in anbu so he should naturally be ready for the consequences of his actions BUT I don't know if it's enough. Killing on order and people dying cause of your own orders are 2 different things. I don't know if he's ready but if he's not, AT LEAST he can learn from the aftermath." (That's what Renjiro means when he's thinking this.) Renjiro is simply referring to fujins ability to handle the mental and emotional pressure of his own commands nothing more. He's not saying Fujin don't want to sacrifice them, he's wondering if Fujin knows what he's doing or not, is Fujin ready or not. - Fujin wants Hoka to learn and experience the ups and downs. = Renjiro is obeying and doing just that. Your wrong about Renjiros intent. Renjiro isn't allowing them to die so they can learn. Renjiro is taking away an important lesson from the situation. HUGE DIFFERENCE. (A). Renjiro takes lemons BECAUSE he wants to make lemonade. (B). Renjiro was given lemons so he might as well make lemonade. Understand the difference, might seem the same but it's vastly different. Renjiro is just making the best out of the given situation. It's very straightforward. A teacher is worried about his student but he trusts his student to grow stronger regardless.

Slade

I honestly don't understand your interpretation of Renjiro's thoughts at all. What does any of what you're talking about have to do with "morally gray tasks"? Or "having the heart to sacrifice some ninjas"? I'm taking Fujin's "don't die" too literally? It was the Nara ninjas who interpreted it that way! And Renjiro's own thoughts show that he seemed to interpret it that way too! I know it was just an empty pep talk, but that's not what matters! I feel like I've said this 50 times now: I know Fujin doesn't actually care all that much about sacrificing ninjas. You know that Fujin doesn't actually care all that much about sacrificing ninjas. But Renjiro's own thoughts show that he doesn't. That he believes Fujin didn't want to sacrifice ninjas and that the morally gray actions he has previously taken aren't comparable. It is not about Fujin's wishes, nor his orders. It is about Renjiro's interpretation of Fujin's words, his belief of what Fujin's wishes are. The Nara ninjas trust Renjiro is doing what Fujin wants, and they happen to be right, but Renjiro himself thinks he is doing something Fujin didn't want to do. What do you mean Renjiro doesn't have intent? What do you think I mean by the word "intent"? Unless he is flailing around blindly, he has some intent behind his actions. And his intent in this instance is to allow Hoka's division's ninjas to die so that they can experience the bloodiness of war and so that Hoka and Fujin can experience responsibility for deaths under them, despite the fact that *he believes* Fujin doesn't want to sacrifice ninjas.

Diametric

1. Renjiro means he believes Fujin doesn't understand the weight of his decisions and the cost of war. Renjiro not helping was Fujins order. Renjiro and Fujin both know that Renjiro not helping will lead to a bit more losses. BUT that was still fujins call. Renjiro could disobey Fujins wishes right now and go help Hoka but he doesn't, instead he's gonna listen to what Fujin wanted. Fujin wanted Hoka to deal with it alone, so any great loss will be on Hoka and Fujin. Renjiro is basically saying "This is what you wanted, the consequences of your decision is heavy, as a commander all decisions will not be light, therefore I'm going listen to you and if you cry about the losses later, that's on you, that's your lesson." That's basically what Renjiro is doing. He's showing Fujin that every choice he makes, every order is a life & death, if he's not ready for it then make better decisions. This is what he means by having the heart to sacrifice, it also means having the ability to accept accountability for all your decisions. He wasn't sacrificing ninjas unnecessarily, he was doing what Fujin wanted. Fujin wanted to temper these ninjas so they are ready for real war. That's literally what this whole thing is for, he's got a new army, people with litter experience, he needs to give them life and death. experience so they can get stronger. At the end of that paragraph, Those nara ninjas didn't say anything, why? Because They said they don't know Fujin as well as Renjiro. And Renjiro knows what Fujin wanted. Renjiro heard what Fujin said. These guys only heard Fujins cheer up quote "don't die" but what they didn't hear was Fujin telling Renjiro and Hoka that Hoka has to deal with it alone. We already established that Fujin was only being hopeful and wishful when he said he didn't want anyone to die, reality is he expects Hoka to lose a lot of ninjas, but Fujin accepted the losses and still gave Hoka that order. You're clearly reading too much into it. Fujin: Go fight on your own Hoka. (real talk) Fujin: Good luck men, don't die. (pep talk) Huge difference mate. Renjiro: Okay, I won't help since you told me to. Renjiro: Hoka will have lots of losses because of your decision Fujin, but I'm going to listen to your order and hope you are mentally and emotionally prepared to handle the losses and ugliness of war. You are overthinking. And once again, you think fujins pep talk "don't die men" weighs more than Fujins "Hoka, go fight on your own, if you lose or start to lose we'll help you"? Fujin said both things BUT one is CLEARLY hopeful pep talk and the other is CLEARLY an order. Renjiro DID NOT, go against fujins wishes or orders. You are taking the "don't die" too literal. It's just wishing someone good luck. How do you fail to understand the difference? The intent? what intent? Renjiro is following his orders. The extra losses in life because of fujins order for Hoka to fight on his own, that's already set in stone. Renjiro is simply saying "well this was his decision, there might be some losses but the positive of this is that 1. Hoka and his division will grow stronger. 2. Fujin will be able to reflect on this later on and if he's still happy with the results, that's fine, if not, then that's a lesson to help him grow. Renjiro has no intent. Renjiro is just looking on the bright side. Renjiro is not actively doing anything to teach Fujin, Renjiro is letting it play out like Fujin wants. Once again, you're making something out of nothing. The nara ninjas don't know what Fujin wanted for Hoka. that's why they chose not to question Renjiro in the end. Renjiro isn't sacrificing or letting people die to teach Fujin a lesson. He's gonna obey Fujin and let the outcome be fujins lesson IF Fujin needs it. Fujin made the call, it's his to live with. simple. There's no manipulation or whatever.

Slade

I've already showed where Renjiro thought that. Here is the quote again, more fully for clarity: [He thought, ‘In a way, Fujin is inexperienced and ignorant about wars too. Even though he has a lot of mission experience and has undoubtedly done a lot of morally gray tasks in the missions he didn't talk about, war is a different matter altogether. He'll have to have the heart to sacrifice some ninjas to win the larger war, a position he was rarely put under due to how remarkably strong he has become. And, he'll have to accept such losses too.] He believes that Fujin doesn't want to sacrifice the ninjas under his command, that it is even worse than the morally grey things he has done in the past. He had this thought in response to the idea of the ninjas under him questioning why he was willing to sacrifice ninjas: [The Nara Jounin asked, “Should we help out General Hoka's division? Even though they will win, they are under a lot of pressure right now. Soon, the casualties will start mounting.” Renjiro shook his head and answered, “Of course, there will be casualties in war. A war that doesn't have any casualties isn't a war, it's a massacre. This time, our enemy is weak, trapped and helpless, yet we are struggling so much. Do you think we'll have such favorable conditions when battling against other major villages?” Renjiro glanced towards Hoka's division and continued, “An army will only be born when it survives several tribulations of blood and death. Let them handle it. You'll see what I mean soon.” The Nara Jounin as well as the SealMaster frowned and wondered, ‘But, didn't Commander say that he didn't want to see anyone dying?’ The two didn't say it out loud. After all, neither was as close to Fujin as Renjiro. Even though they didn't say anything, Renjiro could easily figure out their thoughts. He thought, ‘In a way, Fujin is inexperienced and ignorant about wars too...] It's extremely explicit, I don't know how you can say I'm reading into it too much. I think you've misunderstood what I meant by "the difference between murder and attempted murder". What I meant is that regardless of whether Renjiro's actions actually went against Fujins wishes, Renjiro was attempting to go against Fujins wishes. The thing that matters is the intent. Just like how an attempted murder is just as heinous as a murder.

Diametric

where in Renjiros thought process does he think "Fujin is wrong, I'm going to go against his wishes"? I addressed your comment. Nothing Renjiro said or did went against anything Fujin wanted. you're whole point is that you claim he went against fujins wishes, how can you say it's irrelevant now? A naive fool would think it's attempted murder or anything like that. The win is already in the bag, the rest is simply experience for the soldiers. No, it's not a potential for conflict at all. Fujin literally said he'll do nothing at all unless the losses are too great. Fujin would have literally done the same in Renjiros situation, Renjiro just doesn't know it. Fujin isn't some tree loving hippie who wants to save everyone, he's cold blooded, especially in conflict. Renjiros thought process regarding Fujin was that Fujin likely doesn't fully understand responsibility and accountability since he's still young. Fujin said Hoka will handle his own battle. That was Fujins order and wish for Hoka. Renjiro let Hoka fight his own battle ( a battle he was winning anyways) because that's what Fujin wanted. Whatever casualties and damage that occur at the end, that's all on Hokas lack of experience and Fujins order. That's what Renjiro means by Fujin lacking. Fujin gave this order to Renjiro and Hoka, if the losses are too great cause of Fujin choice to let Hoka grow, then that's a lesson for Fujin. Again, you are creating a fake conflict by overthinking. Say exactly what you think Renjiro did wrong.

Slade

You didn't address anything my previous comment said. We saw Renjiro's thought process, and his thought process was "Fujin is wrong, I'm going to go against his wishes". Whether or not he actually went against Fujin's wishes is irrelevant to my point; it's simply the difference between murder and attempted murder. If it doesn't lead to anything in the story, that's fine. Because, as you're saying, his actions don't really go against Fujin's desires. It's just a *potential* point of conflict, if this decision is brought up or if Renjiro continues to act this way.

Diametric

Well played. Many thanks for the chapter ☺️

Jack Nathaniel Mikhail

- Fujin wanted Hoka to grow on his own. - Fujin wanted Renjiro to stay out of it. = Renjiro is staying out of it. = Renjiros intentions is to let Hoka grow whilst following Fujins command. Fujin may have said he didn't want anyone to die but that's just what he hopes for, not what he actually expects. If Fujin wanted no deaths, he would be participating in the war himself and using his summons. Renjiro is not doing anything that goes against fujins commands. Fujins told Hoka to deal with it on his own, even his casualties. At no point did Renjiro do the opposite of anything Fujin said. You're overthinking it

Slade

You're not wrong. But that's all Fujin's perspective. The problem I'm talking about is Renjiro's perspective. The problem is that Renjiro is purposefully doing the opposite of what he believes Fujin wants. He believes that Fujin wants a certain thing, that Fujin made it known that he wanted that certain thing as the commander of the army. Renjiro then did the exact opposite of that because he disagreed with Fujin.

Diametric

that also means he believes Fujin can't sacrifice anyone for the greater good, but he's wrong. Fujin sacrificed the Uchiha for his survival. Fujin killed countless people but unlike those other sheep like ninjas who kill without thought, Fujin was always aware of who he was killing and how they weren't always just evil guys but their deaths were necessary for the greater good. I don't see why Fujin would stumble over this, Fujin won't unnecessarily sacrifice his own but he's also a very rational and logical person with 2 lifetimes and maturity and wisdom that very few can match. It'd be out of character for him. Besides when he told Hoka that he had to do everything alone, he also meant he had to lead his own army alone and not be helped by Fujin or renjiro and renjiros division. Renjiro sending his men to help is literally renjiro helping Hoka. Even Fujin saying that shows he's clearly prepared for losses. Fujin understands exactly what war means, renjiro just doesn't know it since they still see him as a young ninja when in reality his mentality should be of a 30-40yr old with experiences of the modern and ninja world.

Slade

He thinks "he'll have to have the heart to sacrifice some ninjas". That means that he believes Fujin didn't want to sacrifice any ninjas

Diametric

ETA?

Antonio Fazio

In tags "renjuro"

Antonio Fazio

These nigga are surprisingly competents, 1stly they managed to hide away from konoha for around 9 days straight, then 2ndly then were able to ambush them from 2 differents fronts afterwards. If the difference in strength wasn't so huge, konoha army would've been wiped out. Newbie or not this is surprising... Anyways i'm not complaining. It would've been boring if they were any weaker...

Nyd. Studio

Even if Fujin or Renjiro acting would've wiped them, i'm impressed to see them giving trouble to konoha nara jonins and seal masters. You know, konoha average jonins are basically elite jonins for small ninja villages. The same should apply for seal masters. They shouldn't need a konoha seal grandmasters. The average konoha seal masters should be better than small villages ones. They are still newbies though, but still, and konoha nara know better than underestimating foes...

Nyd. Studio

Yes!

Tathagata Das

I interpreted it as "fujin is still inexperienced and by saying that he was wrong because now everyone thinks that he will save their ass in order to avoid having victims and he must learn from his mistake". If fujin didn't want victims he would have killed everyone personally.

Antonio Fazio

👍

Devil Hex

You're right that from Fujin's perspective, it's not so clear cut. But from Renjiro's perspective, we literally saw that his thought process was "I know what Fujin wants, but he's wrong, so I'm going to do the opposite of what he wants, rather than have a conversation about it with him." And it's not like Renjiro himself had to get involved. Renjiro told the ninja he was with to not go help them, either.

Diametric

after all, you have already explained how 3 out of 4 ninjas are genin and that all 3 generals have only recently been elite. You also expressed how many of these genin only take on a few C-rank missions practically part time chapters ago. There is certainly no need to say anything else about the average level of the army. Writing "the Konoha army is largely made up of rookies, especially compared to the rebels" would only be repetitive (as well as being self-evident)

Antonio Fazio

Hex you don't always have to ignore the "show don't tell" rule. Let our brains work and don't explain away every motivation of the characters. If you have explained something, even briefly, do not take it up again unless necessary in the work. at most only respond to doubts in the comments when they are already explained.

Antonio Fazio

literally fujin isn't participating because otherwise the war wouldn't be training. no conflict, Fujin's was just a public speech, not simply his intentions. then oh, it's not like Renjiro is causing deaths, he's literally following the commander's orders ("hoka you won't get assistance from me or from sensei..."). if illumi and hoka had been more careful they would not have been ambushed. the responsibility is theirs

Antonio Fazio

Fujin: "I want no deaths." Renjiro: *purposefully allows deaths for no reason other than those deaths themselves.* Potential conflict between student and teacher here? Renjiro has essentially disobeyed Fujin, doing pretty much the exact opposite of what he wanted, in fact.

Diametric

I love that you're giving other characters some ''screen'' time.

José Roura

I think it's important to remember that it's been 13 years since the last war ended. Most of the veteran ninja still active were probably pretty new come the 3rd war, and that war was super short comparatively speaking. So while there are probably people like Renjiro still active, there's not many, especially after the Uchiha massacre+9 tails attack.

SnowFairyAsuna

All good, was just wondering. Looking forward to da chapters!

Milos

Not really. Though they were ambushed, they aren't particularly in any danger of losing (or Renjiro and Fujin would have made a move). It's just that they will face some losses, which shouldn't particularly be surprising considering that their opponents have been in continuous wars while majority of the Konoha ninjas are participating in a war for the first time... Anyway, I can understand that there is some confusion because some aspects still haven't been explained. I'll do so in the upcoming chapters. That'll give a clearer picture :)

Devil Hex

I like This, but I need to ask. This Konoha army isnt filled with Newbies, but some Veterans with experience from atleast 1 to 2 great ninja wars. So how come they are are falling to These types of Plots? Just because they are that unexpected? I know that Fujin nor renjiro are taking that drastic of tactics and mostly leaving to the Nara's, but it still is Just kinda making them seem incompetent? Or is This meant to Show that the Konoha army is rusty from the period of peace

Milos


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