At the border of Land of Earth and Land of Grass.
Sandaime Tsuchikage, Onoki looked at the information on the piece of paper in his hands and said: "So, the commander from Konoha facing us is Shimura Danzo?"
The Jonin commander standing by Tsuchikage-Sama's side replied, "Yes Tsuchikage-Sama, according to the information collected by the intelligence team Shimura Danzo is commanding the Konoha front!"
Rock Village suddenly assembled its army at the Border of Land of Grass, so Konoha had to take some countermeasures.
Shimura Danzo of the Konoha Council was assigned by Sandaime Hokage to guard the front line against the Rock Village.
Utatane Koharu was responsible to go to Sand Village in person to discuss alliance matters.
While Mitokado Homura had to go to the coastline on the east of the Land of Fire to prevent raids from the Mist Village.
Such pieces of information are difficult to conceal, so the Rock Village intelligence department easily intercepted them.
After pondering a little, Tsuchikage asked, "What about the Hokage himself?"
Jonin leader shook his head, "There is no accurate information yet, but most likely opinion states that he is still sitting in the Konoha Village."
"Heh… Hokage is really calm about the situation!" Tsuchikage smiled mockingly, then as if he suddenly remembered something, and asked: "By the way, is there any news about the shinobi responsible for killing Iwamoto and his team?"
As the captain of one of the remaining few Beheading Units in the Rock Village, Iwamoto was an elite Jonin of the Rock Village. So, his death undoubtedly made Tsuchikage very angry and annoyed.
"According to the intelligence sent by the spies planted within the Land of Demons, it was Team-11 of the Konoha Anbu Black Ops, that killed Iwamoto and his team."
Tsuchikage frowned hearing this, "Konoha's Anbu?"
No matter which village, the identity of the Anbu is highly confidential and in some cases only known to the Kage himself, so finding out more detailed information about this Team-11 wouldn't be an easy task, even for Rock Village.
"Did this Team-11 make an appearance on any of the battlefield yet?" – Tsuchikage asked while holding his chin.
The Jonin browsed through all the documents and pieces of intelligence at his hands and replied: "No Tsuchkage-Sama!"
The battle between the Konoha and Cloud Village naturally attracted the attention of all the Shinobi Villages, and among them, Rock village undoubtedly placed special attention on that front to have all the first-hand information.
Therefore, at the beginning when the intelligence about the sudden raids from the Cloud Village was known Rock Village dispatched a large number of ninjas proficient in sneaking and information gathering into the Land of Fire, to receive the intelligence on any changes in the war situation on that front at the latest.
In the battle of intelligence gathering, Konoha undoubtedly suffered a big loss this time.
Several lines of defense at the border was so easily breached by the secret raid of the Cloud Shinobi, again leading to the loss of both material and personnel.
Tsuchikage-Sama is of course very happy seeing Konoha suffer: "If Cloud keeps up with this speed, they should be able to attack Konoha Village within a few weeks."
This battle completely exposed Konoha's current state, every village was able to see that Konoha Village is no longer the invincible existence that overwhelms the entire ninja world singlehandedly.
However, the Jonin leader on the side wasn't as optimistic as Tsuchikage-Sama, he shook his head negatively and said, "I am afraid it wouldn't be that easy Tsuchikage-Sama! After the Toad Sanin Jiraiya arrived at the Cloud Front, Konoha's situation is much better, making Cloud Village's offensive temporarily contained."
So, far no one has any idea as to why Jiraiya arrived at the battlefield a whole week late than expected, but his arrival did slow down Cloud's offensive.
Tsuchikage pondered a little, and said, "Konoha's reaction is a bit strange this time. Hokage should know that the combat power on the battlefield is insufficient, but there are no signs of the Uchiha Clan participating like in the 3rd Shinobi War.
Then there is no trace of this seemingly strong Team-11 of the Anbu Black Ops.
Moreover, Jiraiya arrived later at the War.
Hokage himself is still sitting in the village.
I have a feeling that there is something more to it than meets the eye, arrange some ninjas to check this out, I want to know why is this the case!"
"Yes Tsuchikage-Sama, I will arrange it!"
…
Land of Fire, Cloud Camp.
After receiving the news from the rear, Yugito Nii and Cloud Head Ninja looked at each other in confusion.
The content of the message only has few words: 'Pause the Attack!'
Killer bee raised his head and asked the two who were looking at each other in confusion: "Well, why did brother A send such an order?"
The Head ninja shook his head in confusion, "This is simply incomprehensible, we have already destroyed Konoha's frontal defense. If we stop now then the previous efforts would all be in vain!"
Yugito Nii suggested, "Could it be that something happened at the village?"
Both Killer Bee and Head ninja agreed to Yugito Nii's suggestion, otherwise, there is no reason for Raikage-Sama to send such absurd orders.
Well what choice do they have, Raikage-Sama ordered, they have to follow through!
So, the offensive from the Clou Village's end temporarily stopped.
…
Land of Fire, Konoha Camp facing Cloud Offense.
Nara Shikaku walked into the head tent and quickly said: "The opposite side seems to have stopped attacking!"
Standing on the side, Hyuga Hizashi frowned at Nara Shikaku's words and asked, "They are obviously on the dominating side, why did they suddenly stop?"
Jiraiya who was sitting at the center knew the most possible reason, so he said at this time: "Most likely old man's strategy worked."
Having said that he briefly explained, that Hokage-sama gave orders to the Anbu Black Ops to destroy the secret warehouse of the Cloud Village at the border of the Land of Lightning to slow down the Cloud offensive.
Everyone who heard about this information, couldn't help but sigh.
This kind of mission of sneaking into the enemy's territory involves too much risk even if it is some small Shinobi village, not to mention Cloud Village being one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
For someone to have completed this task is way beyond expectations, but everybody was extremely grateful to them.
At least now the Konoha side has a temporary breathing period.
…
Land of Hot Water.
Kuroto who was freshening up by the lake; untied the black-goggle that Yue gave him.
The clear water in the lake reflected the Byakugan in his eye sockets
Looking at his reflection in the lake intently, Kuroto found that his Dojutsus were indeed Byakugan, although their purity has increased slightly, they are the Byakugan no doubt about that.
After repeated confirmation, Kuroto closed his eyes and injected Chakra into them, after doing this for a few seconds, he reopened them.
This time his eyes flashed with the royal blue light; the floral pattern formed by the white irises looked like a beautiful star in the night sky.
As soon as he opened them, Kuroto's field of vision became clearer, he could even perceive the linings on the bark of a small tree far away.
"Thank goodness, the Tenseigan was only dormant, not lost!"
Kuroto chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief.
He finally learned the method to be able to activate and deactivate the Tenseigan. After several more attempts to check for any signs of abnormality, Kuroto was sure that his Tenseigan can be closed just like the Uchiha.
In the normal state, he can use the Byakugan similar to Sharingan, and at a further stage, he can activate the Tenseigan similar to Mangekyou.
But that wasn't it, Kuroto checked several times and was surprised to find that as soon as he deactivates the Tenseigan, the Curse seal on his forehead activates.
This discovery really made him interested in the 'Cage Bird'. This curse seal is obviously not simple as it may seem, the secrets hidden within it are much deeper than one would expect.
Suddenly, Kuroto found that this Curse seal seems to be of great research value…
..................................................................................................
Read up to Chapter - 158 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : p atreon.com/Milta_translations