Chapter 23: Finality
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
The soldiers on the city walls spotted the enemy, and the whistle of the guard resounded throughout the Daimyo's mansion, but under the cover of the fireworks, such a whistle seemed insignificant.
Most of the samurai and government soldiers were drawn by the brilliant fireworks that burst into the sky, revealing a dazed and puzzled look.
They had never heard of any grand celebrations in the city today, but the sky over the city was lit up with the brilliance of fireworks, and it was suddenly dyed with a festive atmosphere.
Then a bombardment barely drowned out the sound of fireworks, resounding throughout the castle.
The castle tower, located at the top of the castle, suddenly exploded, and the scorching flames seemed to burn the air, causing the castle tower, a symbol of the daimyo's authority, to fall into flames.
Seeing this scene, the samurai and the soldiers couldn't help but be stunned, and before they could ask the doubts in their hearts, a gloomy black cloud suddenly accumulated in the distant sky, drifting towards the castle at a very fast speed.
The samurai and the soldiers raised their heads and stared blankly at the black cloud approaching, and when they got closer, they saw the true face of the black cloudβit was kunai that flew like a pitch-black rainstorm.
Their faces changed from stunned to frightened, and then to despair.
Snort!
Smack!
It was the mixed sound of kunai piercing into the human body and shattering roof tiles.
In panic and despair, some of the samurai and government soldiers fell in a pool of blood before they could resist, and the remaining samurai and government soldiers picked up their katana swords and spears one after another to block the kunai that came from the projectile.
However, the number of kunai was so great that they blocked the first, second, and even third rounds of kunai, and what made them pessimistic was that the number of kunai falling from the sky did not decrease at all.
The samurai, who had to kneel down and continue to be forced to block with a katana, was a beat slower due to the leg injury, and the ensuing kunai pierced his arm, causing him to howl in pain and finally fall silent.
The samurai was covered in kunai and lay motionless in a pool of blood.
There were countless situations like this, and the samurai and the soldiers had to find the tall buildings in the castle while parrying, and with the help of the buildings' defenses, they could resist the hardships of the sky.
Only by doing so can we have a chance to live.
Just as they were thinking like this, the kunai in the sky disappeared.
Another bombardment, which drowned out the sound of fireworks, resounded through the night sky.
As thick black smoke rose into the sky, in the direction of the main gate of the castle, the flames rose into the sky, and you could see the samurai and soldiers guarding the city gate, and the shock wave generated by the explosion rushed into the sky, like exploding fireworks flying around.
The shouts of 'enemy attack' were drowned out by the bombardment, but even the samurai and soldiers inside the castle, no matter how slow they were, reacted to the fact that the castle they were guarding was attacked by unknown persons.
"What's going on, why is it ......"
The surprise attack came so quickly that before the four Naruto who were standing on the high wall could see the situation clearly, the castle's castle tower and gate were directly shattered.
Soldiers from all directions, like locusts, crossed the shattered gates and rushed into the castle without fear of death.
The soldiers who charged in kept shouting the loud slogan of 'Capture the Daimyo alive'.
In the face of an unknown number of soldiers, the samurai and soldiers guarding the Daimyo's Mansion also barely stabilized their formation, recovered from the panic, and fought with the soldiers who rushed into the castle.
"Thunder away!"
The ninja who blended in with the soldiers unleashed ninjutsu, covering the ground in front of him with a layer of thunder and lightning, paralyzing the legs of the samurai and the soldiers who rushed forward.
Then the soldier raised the kunai gun in his hand and crushed the samurai and government soldiers who stood in front of the road with a thunderous force.
"Lay down your arms, don't kill those who descend!"
"Lay down your arms, don't kill those who descend!"
After defeating the samurai and government soldiers who were blocking the way in the outer area of the castle, some soldiers began to shout, trying to break the castle samurai and government soldiers in this way.
What's more, in this situation of demoralization on your side, surrender is the best option.
"Damn, look down on people less! Give me death! β
Stimulated by these words, the samurai charged forward with a blade in hand and covered in blood, wanting to fight until the last moment.
There were many samurai and soldiers who held this belief, and their belief in loyalty to the lord was extremely strong, and they were not impressed by the difficulties in front of them.
For a while, the shouts of killing and screaming mixed with each other, and the battle situation intensified.
β¦β¦
The samurai leader, who was running wildly towards the castle's back house, broke down the door directly.
The first thing I saw was the scene of singing and dancing that was out of place outside.
Dancers dressed in flamboyant and revealing costumes danced, while the daimyo of Ikenokuni held expensive drinking vessels and drank heartily, his face full of drunkenness.
"What's so noisy out there?"
"Lord Daimyo, the castle is being attacked, please evacuate the castle with us, the situation outside is not optimistic!"
The samurai leader ignored the dancing girls around him and said in a deep voice.
"The castle is under attack? Evacuate? Why did you get drunk when you didn't drink? Aren't the ninjas of Konoha here, wouldn't it be nice to let them go over and settle things? I paid them a lot of money to protect this city. β
The daimyo of Ikeno Kuni was drunk, and his eyes were squinted, and he was about to be unable to open them.
"Now that the situation is critical, even the ninjas of Konoha probably can't take care of it, the number of enemy troops is too much! Please evacuate this place with me! β
The samurai leader said with objective facts.
The morale of the enemy troops who stormed the castle was too fierce, and the number of defenders of the castle was several times that of the castle, and it was a sneak attack, so it was only a matter of time before the castle was contributed.
If you don't leave now, the final result can only be wiped out by the enemy or captured alive.
The Daimyo of Ikeno Kuni was about to scold, when suddenly a kunai shot in from outside the house, flying past the cheek of the Daimyo of Ikeno Kuni, bringing a touch of cold chill that made the hair on the back of the Daimyo of Ikeno Kuni stand on end, and he instantly came to his senses and let out a whimpering scream.
The dancers also seemed to be frightened, and they all understood the current situation, stopped dancing, and fled in all directions, for fear of being affected by the battle outside.
"How, what's going on, why is it ...... here?"
The Daimyo of Ikenokuni's lips trembled, and his expression turned pale.
"Daimyo-sama!"
The samurai leader's face sank, then he stood up and turned to look out of the house.
I saw several black shadows swishing in, dressed as ninjas, holding kunai, and confronting the samurai leader.
"Is that your guys? Look for death! β
The samurai leader angrily pulled out the katana at his waist, and the chakra gushed out from his body, attaching to the katana in a light and thin posture like a wing, greatly enhancing the sharpness of the blade, filling the hall with a cold chill.
Although the samurai leader does not know how to use ninjutsu, in terms of chakra's control, he is not inferior to the ninja.
After years of practice, he has become proficient in combining chakra with his own knife skills.
"Daimyo-sama, please evacuate from the secret passage as soon as possible, and I will intercept it here!"
With that, the samurai leader did not hesitate to rush to the number of ninjas who appeared in the main hall and threw himself into the vortex of enemies.
"Die to me, you rebels!"
β¦β¦
"Quick! Fast! Fast! β
Hurried voices rang out in the corridors of the castle, and groups of samurai and soldiers, about a thousand people, under the orders of the leader, continued to send to the front line of the battlefield, ready to resist the menacing enemy army.
Buzzing.
Buzzing.
Such voices came from the sky.
Let the samurai and government soldiers running below can't help but look up.
It was a 'giant bird' that quickly swept through the sky, and disappeared in a flash, and before I could see the true face of these 'giant birds', black raindrops fell from the sky.
It is a powerful bomb in the shape of a small sphere.
It fell to the ground, jumped, rolled, and then exploded, causing the building it came into contact to collapse.
The nearby samurai and government soldiers were also affected, and chaos ensued.
The bombardment from the sky didn't end there, the 'giant birds' that flew past swirled around the sky for a moment, then turned their heads and passed by again, dropping small orbs one after another.
The moment it comes into contact with the building, it releases a huge flash of light and roar.
Explosions began to sound in various parts of the castle, and the light produced by the explosions lit up the night as bright as day.
Buildings that were constantly damaged by the explosions kicked up dust and rubble, further exacerbating the confusion among the samurai and government soldiers.
Not only to guard against the bombardment from the sky, but also to guard against the sudden collapse of the surrounding buildings, and the collapsed buildings began to block the intersection, so that they could not rush to the front line in time to support the friendly forces on the front line.
The fire burned the night sky red.
It looks as if the air is burning, too.
On the ruined walls, flags engraved with the crests of the daimyo families were planted diagonally on the charred earth, and the flames burned on them, waving in the wind, leaving only half of the walls, and the other half burned to ashes, turning into a large number of sparks and scattering.
The building was still collapsing, and the howling didn't stop.
The hot wind blowing in the face swept everyone's hearts.
The sound of fighting with each other, the castle, which was originally very peaceful, fell to the brink of shattering in an instant, and countless soldiers flocked to fight to the death with the samurai and government soldiers, and no one would take a step back, making Naruto, who had never seen such a big scene, fall into a stupor.
The roars of the two sides of the battle, the terrible screams, the burning blood and air, and the rich smell of iron and blood that rushed into his nostrils deeply shook his heart.
Although he was instilled with the knowledge of the cruelty of war more than once, after all, he was born in a time of peace, and he could not witness the real side of war at all.
And now he saw that countless lives were passing away every second.
Fighting, shouting, despair, shouting, as if there was a big invisible hand, holding his heart tightly, and the suffocating feeling of oppression made him unable to breathe.
This is war!
Sakura's face was also pale, and such a battle was out of her grasp.
This reminded her of the pictures of the wounds of the wounded during the war that Tsunade had given her in the past, and the same tragedy hit her young heart.
His hands and feet were cold, and he began to tremble unobediently.
War!
Something strange and extremely familiar.
Even Zuo Jing's face was slightly unnatural for this kind of scene.
The only one who is still calm is Tianzang, who has led the team to endure and has seen all kinds of scenes, although he is a little uncomfortable with this kind of scene, but he quickly calmed down.
But he never imagined that this would happen all of a sudden, just for a one-night stay.
If he had known that this kind of thing had happened, he would have taken the three of Naruto with him during the day and stayed away from this land of right and wrong, instead of accepting a temporary commission from the Daimyo of Ikeno Kuni.
Naruto clenched his fists and began to carry the chakra under his feet, and was about to do something when his shoulder was pressed by a wide palm, and his body was welded in place, unable to move.
"Captain Yamato?"
Naruto looked up at Tenzo.
"Naruto, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to stop them!"
Naruto held back the fear in his heart and said through gritted teeth.
"Don't do anything stupid, you can't stop them. The worst-case scenario is that you are attacked along with the castle's samurai. β
Tenzo stared at Naruto solemnly.
It's not just the gun-wielding soldiers who storm the castle, but also the ninjas.
Although the strength of these ninjas is generally not very strong, there are quite a few of them, there are more than a dozen, and with this group of soldiers with fierce morale, even if he is surrounded by him, he has to weigh it a little.
"It's great that this Mr. Ninja of Konoha can understand this truth. In this way, it saves us a lot of effort. β
Crisp laughter echoed in the air.
Against the backdrop of a red-hot starry sky, a young girl stands silently at the other end of the wall, her long black hair fluttering slightly in the scorching wind.
He was followed by two ninjas in heavy chakra armor, wearing gas helmets of the same color as the armor on their heads, with only their eyes exposed. Keep an eye on Naruto's group, monitoring their every move.
"Is it true that your ghost country is doing ghosts?"
Tenzo's face stopped smiling, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
He recognized the girl's identity.
Chiba Kazuhime, the daughter of Chiba Shiraishi, the military minister of the Oni Country, is the number one person in the Konoha Dark Intelligence System who is also marked as extremely dangerous.
It's really a bad year, and he knew that things would turn out like this, not only would he not accept the commission of the daimyo of Ikenokuni, but he even wanted to take a long detour back to Konoha instead of coming here to soak in some hot springs.
Now it seems that their current behavior is no less than dancing on a tightrope, and if something goes wrong, they may fall to their deaths at any time.
"Hey, why are you doing this?"
Naruto also recognized Kazuhime and couldn't help but question loudly, the expression on his face slightly bitter.
I was both helpless and angry about what happened tonight.
While they were talking, a lot of lives were being lost, and I could only ignore all this happening, so I felt pain.
It was as if he had met Kazuhime for the first time.
Although he didn't meet much with Yiji, the impression that the other party gave him in the past was just a big sister who likes to play tricks on people, and she is generally a good person...... But now, it seems, this is not the case.
The bright red chakra eyes that shone in the dark night were full of coldness, and the gaze that came over them was like a merciless sharp blade, stinging people's skin.
"Who knows, I just received an order from the old man to start tonight's operation."
Regarding Naruto's questioning, Kazuhime felt that it was quite cumbersome to explain, so he directly used this sentence to prevaricate the past.
"Damn!"
"What, do you want to do it with me? I don't mind, but if I did, it would be a very different thing. I've already seen the power of the two tails, the power of the nine tails, and I don't mind taking it here for myself. β
Kazuhime looked at Naruto with a smile on his face.
Naruto clenched his fists, eager to rush up and punch Kazuhime's hateful smile.
However, Tenzo grabbed Naruto's shoulders with more force and told him not to act recklessly.
That's right, if they choose to do it now, the nature of the matter will be different, which is equivalent to giving the other party a handle.
In this case, the agreement with the daimyo of Ikenokuni is not worth mentioning at all.
Even at the risk of breaking the contract, he had to protect Naruto's personal safety.
And...... Tianzo stared at Kazuhime seriously, and an unprecedented feeling of suffocation wrapped around his body, this feeling was completely different from murderous aura, it was something more terrifying than pure murderous aura.
If you insist on putting it into words, it is more like being wrapped in the breath of 'death'.
Let Tianzo clearly realize how irrational it is to just rely on them and the girl in front of him as enemies.
At this time, it is the wisest decision to stand aside honestly, not to get involved in it, and not to think about stopping it.
Although he also felt a little unbearable about the battle below, it was the only way.
"Then there is no need, we are just innocently involved, and we promise not to do something superfluous."
Tenzo held Naruto down, stepped forward, and came to Naruto's face, blocking Naruto behind him, and smiled in a soft tone.
Kazuhime also smiled back, it would be best to solve it without doing anything. If it is not necessary, she does not want to make extraneous complications at such a time, so as not to disrupt the follow-up arrangements.
So, she disappeared with an instantaneous technique, leaving behind two Oni no Kuni ninjas wearing heavy armor to spy on Tenzo and the others.
After all, if Tianzang and the others intervene in the battlefield, it is likely to lead to a reversal of the tide of the battle, and their behavior must naturally be restrained.
β¦β¦
The battle lasted until the second half of the night.
The samurai and soldiers of the Daimyo Prefecture resisted more than everyone imagined, and if you think about it, as a regular army of a country, their willpower is far from being comparable to that of robbers and bandits.
They will not give up resistance abruptly because they are at a disadvantage, and it is more likely that they will fight the enemy to the end and complete their mission of allegiance to the Daimyo.
Most of the buildings in the castle were damaged, and the corpses of the samurai and the soldiers fell to the ground, most of them in a horrible appearance, and some of them were unfortunately involved in the fire and burned to charcoal.
One can imagine how fierce their struggle and resistance were before they died.
The samurai and soldiers who had surrendered were forced to put down their swords and guns, raise their hands, and stand facing the wall to show their harmlessness and thus avoid being slaughtered.
Not only that, but the daimyo of Ikeno Kuni, who fled in a panic, also rummaged through the secret passage and didn't have time to escape.
The castle back house, which was rarely affected by the battle, was inhabited by the daimyo's family scrolls, such as the daimyo's wife and concubine, and his children, that is, the princes and princesses of Ikenokuni, who were also imprisoned with the daimyo of Ikenokuni, waiting for follow-up.
This also means that the power of the Daimyo family, the aristocratic leader of the Ikeno Country, has officially fallen.
The remaining aristocratic forces will not be able to defeat them in the future, and it is only a matter of time before they are defeated.
- The sky was dark, the battle situation in the Daimyo's Mansion had already stabilized, and the victorious soldiers began to sweep the battlefield, cleaning every corner of the castle, checking for any missed enemies.
"You have to deal with the Daimyo of Ikeno Kuni and his family scrolls carefully, you go and monitor them personally, especially those female scrolls, don't let the indiscriminate guys mess with them."
In a large hall in the back house, Kazuhime casually admired the ancient calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall, and commanded one of the accompanying ninjas behind him.
Although the peasant and industrial organizations of the Ikeno Country were single-handedly supported by the Oni Country, whether it was the soldiers or ninjas in it, they were inseparable from the cultivation of the Oni Country.
Kazuhime was also sure that most of the soldiers in this group could be disciplined, but there was no guarantee that there would be a single black sheep who would take advantage of this opportunity to sneak in and find the defeated daimyo and his family scrolls, especially the daimyo's wives and daughters, and play some exciting little games.
This is not groundless, but judging from the past history, the female rolls of defeated countries often end miserably and are easily coveted.
Even today, such examples are not uncommon.
Considering the particularity of the identity of the daimyo of Ikenokuni and his family scroll, he will be extradited to the country of ghosts to settle down and carry out labor reform in the future. Those who should go to mining are sent to mine, those who should go to factories are sent to work in factories, and young and ignorant children are sent to schools to study, and if they can be successfully transformed, they can play a good role model.
If it is because of a few people who cause problems, isn't this a disguised way to tell others that she has made a major mistake in dealing with the problem of the country of pools?
At that time, not only will the credit not be counted, but a big mistake will be recorded in her file, then she will be so angry that she vomits blood.
Therefore, these people must not have accidents on the way, and must be foolproof.
"Yes."
Receiving an order from Kazuhime, the accompanying ninjas quickly rushed to the place where the daimyo of Ikenokuni and his family scroll were being held.
As soon as a ninja left, another ninja walked in and came to Kazuhime's side.
"Ichchihime-sama."
"What's the matter?"
Ichihime tilted his head slightly.
"Konoha's ninja asks to meet."
"Oh, is it finally here? Unfortunately, they came a step too late. β
Kazuhime knew that the Konoha ninja who came to ask her to see at this time was not the seventh class she met last night, but the Konoha ninja squad who had officially accepted the commission of the Daimyo of Ikeno Kuni.
"Let's go, meet them a little bit, and send them away."
Kazuhime looked away from the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, turned and walked towards the door of the main hall.
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