Frontline

Chapter 79: Frontline

"The battlefield is currently against the Land of Wind, and according to the intelligence, Konoha wins this war. Why should we conserve our strength?!"

"Hmph, don’t think I don’t know. With this timeline’s duration, your Shogunate Gate also has an operational team in the Land of Water. You simply don’t want to go to war with the Land of Water!"

"Am I wrong?!"

"The Land of Wind’s Puppet Masters and poison are the most disadvantageous factors for us. You work hard together to kill an opponent, only to discover it was a puppet? You get grazed by accident and end up poisoned? If you’re willing, then go yourselves!"

"…"

After temporarily setting aside their fundamental conflicts and beginning to discuss their subsequent plans, the Beiyang Army and Shogunate Gate, without a doubt, started fiercely arguing again.

Shogunate Gate’s overall strength was inferior to the Beiyang Army’s, but they had been operating in the Ninja War for a long time. At the very least, they were not lacking in confidence within this Mission Space.

As Xu Yue listened to their argument, he began to understand the Mission Space’s method of assigning missions. The ten-person mission objective was meant to eliminate the possibility of Reincarnators coincidentally grouping up. The quota requiring them to kill one Reincarnator was meant to force Reincarnators from different factions to fight, preventing Reincarnators from several different factions from making under-the-table deals as much as possible.

Thus, even though Shogunate Gate had operations in the Land of Water, they could not use that as leverage in this discussion at all. Instead, it would become something others attacked them over.

"The Land of Fire lies at the center and is surrounded by four battlefronts. We only need to choose one battlefield to complete our mission. Giving up the troublesome Land of Wind is the wise choice."

"According to the intelligence, before the Land of Wind was completely repelled, the Land of Earth launched a surprise attack on the Land of Fire. But that time, they mainly forced the Land of Earth to withdraw by cutting off its supplies. It relied on an elite approach and has nothing to do with people at our level."

"Only the Land of Water and the Land of Lightning are the best targets."

"…"

Listening to their war of words with a yawn, Xu Yue gleaned some information from their discussion that they had not revealed outright.

They were merely a group of cannon fodder. Did they have the right to choose their own battlefield?

Yet they were discussing it with such confidence. Clearly, some higher-ups from their factions had attained a certain status within Konoha.

At the very least, they had some say over the fate of a group of cannon fodder!

So that was why the elite squads of these factions were negotiating with one another, trying to concentrate their efforts in one place.

Naruto’s sphere of influence far surpassed that of Koutetsujou and Giant Space.

But sorry, he still had other things to do on the battlefields of the Land of Earth and the Land of Water. He should first complete his Promotion Mission in the Land of Wind…

With that in mind, Xu Yue used relieving himself as an excuse and entered a nearby thicket.

He took out a scroll, inscribed a series of code words onto it, then pulled out a whistle issued by Root and blew it.

Though it made no sound whatsoever, a bat soon flew onto Xu Yue’s shoulder. After tying the scroll to it, Xu Yue signaled for the bat to leave and deliver his suggestion.

The Land of Wind’s harsh battlefield environment was the best place to test a ninja’s capabilities. It was recommended that the "fresh blood" be sent directly to the Land of Wind battlefield for training…

Approved~

At the start of the Third Ninja War, the Land of Fire had only just gone to war with the Land of Wind. The other countries had merely begun to raise their guard, so things had not yet reached an extreme.

Therefore, the cannon-fodder ninjas were not immediately sent to the battlefield. They were instead specifically given a period to familiarize themselves with one another.

The inexperienced cannon fodder had to get to know each other first and develop some coordination. Even cannon fodder had to serve its purpose.

Just as the elite squads of several factions began organizing the miscellaneous independent Reincarnators, devastating news arrived from important figures in their factions who had entered this Mission Space during the same mission cycle.

Their deployment had already been confirmed. They had to go to the Land of Wind battlefield, and they had to go to the front line. There was no room for private maneuvering!

The important figures from several factions had all made efforts and attempts, but they had failed. They could not even secure them a spot in a logistics transport unit.

Moreover, every one of them made it clear in their correspondence that they should work hard to complete the mission this time and not cause any trouble.

Clearly, even if they truly had other options, these were only a few rookie squads. Even if they were rookie elites with great potential, those important faction figures did not want to waste too many of their own resources on them…

Thus, just after the cannon-fodder force of two to three hundred people had been assembled, they set out for the front line.

By now, Tsunade should have developed hemophobia, but that weakness and secret had naturally been kept by Konoha’s upper ranks. It seemed that she was currently serving as the front-line commander against the Land of Wind.

So long as she did not go onto the battlefield and was only responsible for overall coordination and detoxification, she was indeed the best candidate to command this campaign.

Jiraiya was still in Konoha, while Orochimaru’s whereabouts were unknown. He was likely carrying out some highly classified mission.

Xu Yue did not know what would happen later, but at this point, even though White Fang had already died, Konoha still possessed the foundations of the strongest nation. Dealing with the mere Land of Wind was no challenge at all.

However, Konoha still remained sufficiently vigilant regarding the movements of the other countries and had not redeployed too many border-defense forces from elsewhere…

Traveling through the interior of the Land of Fire had been fairly manageable, but as they drew closer and closer to the Land of Wind and the sandy ground began to appear, even these probationary Reincarnators who had completed three Mission Spaces found it somewhat unbearable.

The marching pace set by the ninjas leading them was simply too fast, nearly pushing them to the limits of their stamina, while the environment grew increasingly harsh.

Those "medicine dregs" who had wasted away while enjoying life in the Mission Space had all fallen behind, then been ruthlessly executed…

Kikyo Castle Main Camp

This was the location of the command headquarters at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers, as well as the closest gathering point to the border of the Land of Wind.

It was also where, in the story, Kabuto and the Sand Ninja had secretly met during the Chunin Exams, only for Gekko Hayate to discover them and meet his end.

The difference was that it had been peacetime then. The Land of Fire had not stationed heavy troops here, nor had it built a command headquarters.

But now, it was completely militarized barracks.

Xu Yue and the others were also fortunate enough to be assigned their own separate camp.

Well.

It was probably the cannon-fodder camp…

Their main purpose, aside from killing the enemy nation’s cannon fodder, was to draw and disperse the attention of the enemy nation’s powerful fighters. Spread densely across the battlefield, a few of them would always return with useful intelligence.

They had been cheaply raised as war orphans, so no one would feel bad about losing them.

Despite the loss of combat strength caused by their forced march, they were given a day to reorganize and rest after arriving at the camp.

The war was still in its initial stage. Both sides were focused on probing each other, so the fighting was not as intense as imagined.

After the three Chunin who had brought them here went to hand over their assignment, temporary commanders were assigned to their camp.

There were still three Chunin!

However, seeing the faint smiles on the faces of those elite faction squads, as well as the slightly distinctive traits of these three Chunin…

It was easy enough to identify them.

Reincarnators…

Veteran Reincarnators with Chunin-level strength, no weaker than those people Xu Yue had hunted down in Giant Space!

They were a full rank higher than ordinary Reincarnators…

Ahem~ Two updates.