Chapter 231: The Encounter
Finding the infant was easy. Because Ishiro had already infiltrated the core area of the Minazuki clan, the few Jonin had split up, with one covering the retreat of the non-combatant clan members.
Relying on his Mind's Eye's perception, Ishiro easily found his target by following the chakra of this Jonin.
Since Haku Minazuki had not yet shown any strong talent, he was not given special attention at this critical moment. He was currently being held in the arms of a Genin.
Ishiro activated the Lightning Release Stimulation Method, suddenly approached the opponent, and snatched Haku Minazuki from his arms before he could react.
The process was incredibly smooth. By the time the few Jonin rushed over, Ishiro had already left the area.
In fact, if Ishiro wanted to kill those few Jonin, it wouldn't have taken much time. Ishiro just thought that since Iwagakure would be raising Haku after all, if he dealt a killing blow to the Minazuki clan, it might cause Haku to harbor resentment towards the village when he grew up.
Having succeeded smoothly, Ishiro did not go to join the excitement in the core area of Kirigakure but chose to run directly towards the outskirts of the village.
However, even though Ishiro wasn't looking for excitement, excitement found him. Just as Ishiro stepped out of the Minazuki clan's territory, he suddenly sensed danger. Holding Haku, he shifted sideways. During the shift, Ishiro also used Universal Pull on a distant house. The house naturally didn't move, but Ishiro himself drifted a certain distance towards it.
These were some small tricks Ishiro had comprehended from gravity-type ninjutsu like Bansho Ten'in and Shinra Tensei.
Then, a gray snake quickly shot out from the ground where Ishiro had just been. Its mouth, larger than Ishiro's body, almost swallowed him in one gulp.
"Hmm?"
A figure walked out from the shadows, seeming surprised that Ishiro could dodge this long-laid ambush, and also somewhat curious about Ishiro's method of avoiding the attack.
The newcomer was dressed just like Ishiro, in a Mist Anbu uniform. But from his proficient snake-related ninjutsu, Ishiro had long guessed his identity: it was none other than Orochimaru.
It seemed that the person who had the same idea as Ishiro, wanting to take advantage of the void within Kirigakure, was one of the Sannin, Orochimaru.
"As a Kage-level of Konoha, with his best buddy still fighting desperately on the front lines, he himself runs off to take advantage of the situation. Truly worthy of being Orochimaru, his style is very consistent," Ishiro complained inwardly, but his feet never stopped, showing no intention of chatting with Orochimaru.
This was the real ninja world, not an anime. People didn't chat for ten minutes, add some flashbacks, and then start fighting when the audience got impatient.
As a long-range ninjutsu-type ninja, Ishiro would naturally try to create as much distance from his opponent as possible.
"Porcelain Release: Rock Spear!"
Facing the giant gray snake summoned by Orochimaru to ambush him, Ishiro didn't have many timely and effective methods he could use. The Porcelain Release, which didn't require too many hand seals, was still the most useful.
Mud continuously and quickly formed around Ishiro, instantly condensing into a giant stone spear. Propelled by Ishiro, the stone spear stabbed towards the gray snake, which had just emerged from the ground and was still unsteady.
The stone spear was large, but its speed was not fast. Although the gray snake couldn't dodge in time, it still had a master. Orochimaru quickly formed hand seals, and an earth wall directly pushed the gray snake up, allowing it to dodge Ishiro's rock spear.
But the advantage of Porcelain Release was not only its fast casting speed but also its versatility.
The spear that had struck the earth wall below the gray snake once again turned into mud. Then, under Orochimaru's astonished gaze, the mud suddenly dispersed and then quickly wrapped around the gray snake's body.
However, although the mud enveloped the gray snake, it couldn't harm it. With the gray snake's strength, it probably wouldn't take long for it to break free.
But Ishiro would not do something useless. With a low shout from him, the gray snake's tail, now out of its own control, swung rapidly and hit Orochimaru.
Perhaps Orochimaru didn't expect Ishiro to have this move, or perhaps he felt that taking such a hit was no big deal, so he didn't even dodge. He was sent flying a great distance, smashed into the wall of a distant house.
Ishiro had thought of this move on his way to Kirigakure, a method to deal with large summoning animals or even Tailed Beasts.
The principle was to use mud to envelop a part of the summoning animal's body and then, while the summon was instinctively struggling, control its body to attack along the direction of its force.
Originally, Ishiro's goal was to make the gray snake attack itself, but Orochimaru happened to be nearby, so he couldn't resist controlling the snake's tail to sweep Orochimaru away.
Of course, Ishiro was not naive enough to think that such a blow could kill Orochimaru. Not only did Ishiro not press his advantage, but he also took the opportunity of Orochimaru being sent flying to quickly leave this place of trouble.
Fortunately, this was Kirigakure. Orochimaru had just laid a trap for Ishiro while he was not paying attention, and now Ishiro's vigilance was at its maximum. Orochimaru didn't want to cause extra trouble either.
So, after emerging from his original body using the Snake Body Replacement Technique, Orochimaru did not stop Ishiro from leaving. He muttered, "Similar to the Sand Manipulation Jutsu of the Sand ninjas," and then burrowed into the ground with an Earth Release jutsu before the main Mist forces could arrive.
Orochimaru didn't want to face the main Mist forces, and Ishiro naturally wanted to even less. Although Ishiro was curious about what Orochimaru had gained from his trip to Kirigakure, and whether he had gotten his hands on Kimimaro and others from the original story, the current Ishiro did not have the ability to snatch spoils from Orochimaru's hands.
Ishiro had made several moves back and forth without killing a single person. Although he had caused a commotion, it was nothing compared to the one Orochimaru made by summoning the gray snake. Although the gray snake's size was far from comparable to Manda's, its body, dozens of meters long, still attracted the attention of the main Mist forces.
Therefore, after the Mist ninjas arrived, although they learned from intelligence analysis that there was another intruder besides Orochimaru, the focus of their search was still on Orochimaru, this long-famous powerhouse.
Thus, the Mist ninjas did not put up a strong resistance to Ishiro's departure. Ishiro only encountered two patrol squads when he was leaving the walls of Kirigakure.
Relying on his Mind's Eye, Ishiro seized the initiative and forced them back with two waves of Porcelain Release Kunai Rain. At this point, Ishiro was no longer afraid of being exposed; anyway, when he fought Orochimaru, his porcelain mud was still lying there.
Seeing Ishiro leave the village, the two patrol squads hesitated for a moment and then did not pursue.
The brief exchange just now was enough to show the difference in strength between the two sides. If Ishiro hadn't been in a hurry to leave, these two Mist squads would have been no match for him.
Ishiro did not leave Kirigakure directly. Instead, holding the two-year-old Haku, he circled around Kirigakure again, then ambushed a Mist patrol squad, captured a live one, and then leisurely flew away.
Looking at Kirigakure behind him, Ishiro knew that Orochimaru was still inside. Ishiro chuckled, did not return to the Land of Earth, but instead came to the place where the Mist and Konoha had previously besieged the Third Raikage.
Ishiro had been gone for a while, and the battle below had ended, but it was unknown whether the Third Raikage was dead or alive. Ishiro estimated the outcome wouldn't be good; after all, the people besieging the Third Raikage this time were different from the ordinary Iwa ninjas in the original story. This time, there were three Kage-level individuals. Two veteran Kage-level plus a Yellow Flash—this lineup was not something that the addition of one Killer Bee could make up for.
Although Ishiro could fly, he didn't dare to linger above the main Mist force for long. He dropped the captured live one down below and then left. From a distance, Ishiro saw that dozens of ninjas from the Mist were also slowly beginning to ascend into the air.
Secretly relieved, Ishiro didn't stay at all. But before leaving, he manipulated the mud to write a line of large characters in the air: "Orochimaru ambushed Kirigakure."
At this time, the Mist and Konoha sides had not yet dispersed. The two sides had just fought a great battle together and were in their honeymoon period. Especially after Ishiro's disruption, both sides had suffered huge losses, and both had a sense of being "brothers in misfortune." With Ishiro as a common enemy, their interactions had become much more harmonious.
But at this moment, such a line of large characters appeared overhead, and Ishiro had also thrown down a human witness.
The main Mist force was also full of experts. With a few Water Release jutsu, they caught the ninja Ishiro had thrown down.
In fact, this ninja didn't know who had invaded the village. But at a time like this, everyone's first reaction was not to interrogate but to defend.
What is the result when two mutually distrusting groups of ninjas assume defensive postures at close range?
Of course, it was all sorts of misunderstandings and frictions.
So, in the brief time between Ishiro creating those large characters and the commanders from both sides coming out to stabilize the situation, at least a dozen conflicts broke out on the battlefield.
Although no one1 died, quite a few were injured.
For a moment, the two sides were at daggers drawn, as if a single spark could set them off.
Was there a spark? Of course, there was. Because the ninja who was thrown down quickly woke up. He looked around after waking up and soon saw many important figures from the village, including the heavily injured Third Mizukage.
Then he blurted out, "Lord Mizukage, the village has been invaded!"
Oh boy. No one could hear what this person said next, both because the huge uproar drowned out his words, and more so because the previously volatile situation had truly erupted.
A Jonin from Konoha who had come over to communicate was instantly riddled into a sieve by attacks from all directions.
And this battle was not an isolated incident; dozens of fights broke out across the field. In the most severe one, over a hundred Mist ninjas and dozens of Konoha ninjas were locked in a chaotic brawl.
This time, although the Mist higher-ups also wanted to stop it, they were more interested in the accuracy of the intelligence.
The witness also knew the matter was urgent and quickly and concisely recounted what had happened in Kirigakure.
Hearing that the village was only invaded by a few individual ninjas, the high-level officials first breathed a sigh of relief. But then they thought of the intruder being able to easily evade their search without being discovered, and everyone became solemn again.
"Could it really be Orochimaru?" one of them muttered to himself. There were many and yet not many experts in the ninja world.
Those who could act so wantonly in Kirigakure were all Kage-level, and they had to be quite outstanding ones at that.
Counting the ninjas who met the criteria, Orochimaru was indeed the most likely.
First, he was close by; he was right in the Land of Whirlpools. Second, he had the ability and intelligence; with Konoha participating in the operation, it wouldn't be strange for Orochimaru to get accurate information to invade Kirigakure.
Besides this, Orochimaru had a strange personality; the Mist higher-ups felt the possibility of him doing such a thing was not low.
Thus, the higher-ups who had originally wanted to stop the conflict all hesitated, each of them looking at the Third Mizukage.
The Third Mizukage was not in a good state at this time. Already old, his plan had been disrupted by Killer Bee's intervention, and in the end, he had to go all out, even overdrawing his potential to heavily injure the Third Raikage.
At this time, the Third Mizukage was a spent force. He didn't want to go to war with Konoha at this juncture. It should be known that Konoha had two Kage-level individuals present, while their own only Kage-level, Yagura Karatachi, was not here.
Although the Mist had more people, they wouldn't necessarily win in a real fight.
So, although the Third Mizukage also guessed that the intruder was very likely Orochimaru, he still resisted the urge to turn hostile. Instead, he issued the order to stop the conflict and return to support Kirigakure. Of course, before that, they had to escort the Konoha ninjas off their land.
In the end, a large-scale war did not break out between the Mist and Konoha, but the hard-won tacit understanding between the two sides completely vanished.
Ishiro returned to Iwagakure with Haku Minazuki without any danger. Because he hadn't gathered intelligence at the end, Ishiro was not clear about the final outcome.
Facing Ōnoki's questioning, he only relayed the news he knew.
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