Yoru pondered for a while, then made his decision.
First, he ordered,
"Kazushi, report our intelligence to the Konoha ninja army."
"Yes. I'll arrange someone to transmit the intelligence immediately."
Uchiha Kazushi immediately stood up and went to arrange a messenger shinobi.
Yoru's gaze turned to Uchiha Shigenobu.
"Shigenobu, have your First Squadron spread out and inspect the five sea areas where battles occurred again."
"I'll arrange it right away."
Before Uchiha Shigenobu could leave, Yoru grabbed him and seriously reminded him,
"You must emphasize this to everyone. They are going to scout, not to throw their lives away."
"When they encounter Kirigakure shinobi, test them as much as possible. If the enemy is weak, annihilate them. If the enemy is strong, retreat immediately and counterattack only after gathering enough companions."
Uchiha Shigenobu nodded heavily.
"I remember, Big Brother Yoru."
After sending off the First Squadron, Yoru looked at Uchiha Tadamichi and ordered,
"Tadamichi, gather your entire Second Squadron. Sweep back and forth along this line and strangle the Kirigakure shinobi within this region."
Uchiha Tadamichi answered without hesitation,
"Yes."
"Remember. The Second Squadron's strength is only qualified, so your main mission is to support the divisions of the First Squadron and cooperate with them to surround and kill those powerful Kirigakure shinobi."
"If you encounter a fierce Kekkei Genkai shinobi or a powerful Kage-level shinobi, then…"
Uchiha Tadamichi immediately answered,
"I will retreat immediately."
Yoru smiled and patted his shoulder.
"Very good. With your guarantee, Tadamichi, I can feel at ease."
Then he loudly said to all the Uchiha shinobi,
"Kirigakure shinobi's sudden movement this time may be the prelude to a new large-scale offensive."
"The current situation is that Konoha shinobi are scattered across the Land of Hot Water and the sea. They need time to gather."
"Therefore, we have no reinforcements."
"We are even the reinforcements for other Konoha shinobi."
"We are the support Konoha has against Kirigakure's offensive. We absolutely cannot lose our heads and fight the enemy to the death. Understood?"
"Yes!"
As the Tiger Unit's First Squadron attacked, the entire sea region immediately became lively.
This squadron, built around the first-generation members of the Tiger Unit, had an exaggerated psychological advantage against Kirigakure shinobi, and an overwhelming tactical advantage as well.
Even though the sea was Kirigakure shinobi's home field, they were still killed by the Tiger Unit until heads rolled and blood dyed the sea red.
Very soon, the Kaguya clan shinobi acting as the vanguard noticed the abnormality in the northern sea region.
When Kaguya Yoshi received the intelligence, he immediately sensed the threat.
After considering it briefly, he ordered,
"Kaguya Noboru, take your people and continue clearing out Konoha shinobi. I'll go north and kill those rats."
Kaguya Noboru smiled and said,
"Clan Leader, why not let me go north? It would be better for you to preside over the main advance here."
Kaguya Yoshi nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm. Alright. Let's do that."
Kaguya Noboru's smile instantly stiffened.
"Ah?"
The Kaguya clan leader's smile was brilliant.
He patted this fellow with hidden ambitions on the shoulder and said,
"Since it is your request, Kaguya Noboru, it would be improper for me to refuse, right?"
"Take your people and go."
After Kaguya Noboru led his people away, Kaguya Yoshi's smile became even brighter.
He brought his trusted clansmen and continued advancing toward the Land of Hot Water.
But the route he chose clearly began shifting left.
It was very obvious that he intended to avoid the northern defeat as much as possible, and avoid the enormous threat that would follow.
He did it far too obviously.
Although the Kaguya clansmen were simple-minded, they were still experienced shinobi.
Quite a few people noticed it, and naturally, they were rather shocked.
One of Kaguya Yoshi's trusted shinobi could not help asking,
"Clan Leader, there aren't many Konoha shinobi in the north. Is it really that dangerous?"
Kaguya Yoshi's face was full of smiles, but there was not the slightest smile in his eyes.
He said,
"The number indeed isn't large, but the current shinobi world is no longer one where strength is decided by how many people there are."
"Tell me, why have we now changed into squads of four?"
"Because Konoha's Uchiha Tiger Unit uses four-man squads. Their attack power is indeed stronger, and their flexibility has not decreased."
"Correct. Then those Konoha shinobi killing our Kirigakure shinobi on the northern sea, where everyone is a Fire Release expert—who do you think they are?"
"Ah? The Uchiha Tiger Unit… impossible, right?"
"Before receiving the intelligence, I also always thought that as Konoha's strongest unit, the Tiger Unit must be gathered and waiting at Konoha's core main camp, just like Iwagakure's Explosion Corps. A reserve force and trump card that would not be easily deployed."
"But to use Fire Release and still inflict heavy casualties on our Kirigakure shinobi on the sea, other than the Uchiha Tiger Unit, who else could it be?"
Kaguya Yoshi smiled and asked,
"It can't be the Sarutobi shinobi from the Third Hokage's family, right?"
His trusted subordinate immediately ruled out that possibility.
"That's impossible. Sarutobi clan shinobi never go to sea. They have never even appeared near the eastern coastline."
"Then, does that mean the northern force really is that Konoha Tiger Unit?"
"Although it is very unbelievable, since Konoha Village sent the Uchiha who excel at Fire Release to the Land of Hot Water, it is not impossible for them to go one step further and send them to station at sea."
The Kaguya shinobi sucked in a breath of cold air and said with emotion,
"Kaguya Noboru is dead for sure."
Kaguya Yoshi said,
"That isn't necessarily so. If he is alert enough and can discover in time that his opponent is the Uchiha Tiger Unit, he still has a chance to escape back…"
"Ah, no, no, no. He will not escape back. Absolutely not. Right?"
In Kaguya Yoshi's eyes, the intimidating killing intent spoke very clearly.
If he came back, Kaguya Yoshi would personally kill him.
The clan leader's trusted shinobi looked at the clan leader's smile and broke out in cold sweat.
Trembling, he said,
"Right. He absolutely won't come back."
Kaguya Yoshi laughed loudly and said in satisfaction,
"Correct."
"Let's go. Our side won't be easy either. In the unluckiest case, we might run into Orochimaru, the head of Konoha's Sannin."
"If that happens, even I will have to fight with everything I have just to save my life."
Kaguya Yoshi spoke with heroic intensity, but he knew clearly in his heart that Orochimaru would not appear.
Orochimaru was an outstanding commander.
A qualified commander would not, when alarms were sounding across the entire line, personally run to the front to collect first-hand intelligence and abandon the duty of coordinating the overall situation.
Because his own side had moved suddenly, Konoha shinobi across the sea were completely unprepared and organizationally chaotic.
Only the Uchiha clan's Tiger Unit had shown powerful organization.
Considering the miraculous performance of the Tiger Unit in the war four and a half months ago, their danger could not be estimated at all.
Kaguya Yoshi did not know that his caution was correct.
But his expectation of the Tiger Unit's danger was still not enough.
Yoru's positioning of the Tiger Unit he had released was not as combat power to annihilate enemies.
It was his neural network.
They sensed battlefield intelligence for him and eliminated weak targets not worth his attention.
When a powerful group of Kaguya shinobi broke into this network, because of Yoru's instructions, the Tiger Unit recoiled like it had been electrocuted.
In an extremely short time, the intelligence about the appearance of the Kaguya clan reached Yoru's hands.
But this time, the recoil after being electrocuted seemed not so smooth.
They had actually been bitten by Kirigakure shinobi.
Dissatisfied, Yoru asked,
"Seventeen Uchiha shinobi injured. That means an entire division was injured. What exactly happened?"
Uchiha Shigenobu, who returned along with the intelligence, explained the battle process in detail.
It turned out that when they had been surrounding and killing a group of Kirigakure shinobi, they were suddenly attacked by Kaguya shinobi in the thick mist.
"We didn't expect this group of Kaguya shinobi to charge up regardless of everything. They caught us off guard and disrupted our formation, triggering a melee."
Yoru interrupted Shigenobu and asked,
"Even inside the Hidden Mist Technique, even if the formation was disrupted, the entire division should not have been dragged down. Did you fail to follow tactical principles and order the division to disperse by squads?"
Uchiha Shigenobu stammered,
"I issued the order to disperse and regroup, but… but the team members did not execute it."
Yoru's gaze suddenly became as sharp as a blade.
He asked sternly,
"Who? Who refused to execute your order?"
His gaze frightened Uchiha Shigenobu badly.
But this fellow actually held on and said nothing.
Yoru laughed from anger.
He stood up, looked down at Uchiha Shigenobu, and said softly,
"You think that if you don't say it, you can protect this little brother?"
"Wrong. You can't even protect yourself."
Yoru's gaze was like a blade.
His eyes instantly became the three-tomoe Sharingan.
The enormous ocular power only needed one rush to crush Shigenobu's two-tomoe Sharingan, turning him into a dull puppet.
He asked again,
"Who refused to execute the order?"
Shigenobu, wooden as a chicken, answered uncontrollably,
"It was… Fourth Division… Fourteenth… Squad… captain, Uchiha… Goro."
"Did he come back?"
"He… came back. He… was very brave… suffered… serious… serious injuries…"
Yoru could not help freezing.
He had not expected that even after being hypnotized, Uchiha Shigenobu would subconsciously want to protect the little brother and explain a few words for him.
He smiled coldly and said,
"You really are a good older brother. But what use is that?"
"Kazushi!"
"Here."
"Go control Uchiha Goro and have the Fourth Division assemble. Even if the injured have to be carried, carry them over."
"In addition, blow the assembly whistle. Gather all standby Tiger Unit members."
"Yes."
But after Uchiha Kazushi accepted the order, he did not immediately leave.
Instead, he asked nervously,
"Big Brother Yoru, how will you handle them?"
Yoru's blade-like gaze swept over and nailed itself onto Kazushi.
Uchiha Kazushi trembled all over.
He no longer dared delay and quickly left to carry out Yoru's order.
After the Fourth Division assembled, Yoru indeed saw that all members of the division were injured.
The most serious was Uchiha Goro, tied to a stretcher.
He was wrapped like a mummy.
Even his eyes only showed one.
The lightly wounded struggled to stand in formation.
The two severely wounded could only lie on stretchers.
But this miserable appearance had no effect on Yoru at all.
He coldly swept his gaze over everyone.
After confirming everyone was present, he asked,
"After Uchiha Goro ignored Squadron Leader Uchiha Shigenobu's order, what were the other three squad captains doing? What was the division captain doing?"
The First Squad captain stepped forward and answered loudly,
"Report! We… we thought we could win, so we stayed to continue fighting!"
Yoru asked,
"And the result?"
The captain's head was still raised, but his voice dropped.
"…We lost."
Yoru asked again,
"In the Tiger Unit's military orders, what is the result of disobeying orders before battle? Do you know?"
The captain swallowed, his voice trembling as he answered,
"I know! Disobeying orders before battle is punishable by death."
"Very good."
Yoru nodded and coldly announced,
"Squad Captain Uchiha Goro, for taking the lead in disobeying the commander's order and causing a vile influence, is sentenced to death. Execution immediately!"
Uchiha Shigenobu and Uchiha Kazushi at the side were greatly shocked and cried out,
"Big Brother Yoru!"
Yoru pointed at all the other Uchiha and said to the eighteen-year-old Uchiha,
"Look at the eyes of those little brothers. Unruly, arrogant, unconvinced, provocative… ha. Where is the discipline of the study group? Where is the discipline of the Tiger Unit?"
"If someone violates a military regulation punished by death and can still avoid death, where is discipline?"
"Without discipline, what does the Tiger Unit rely on to be strong? Just the two-tomoe Sharingan of you few?"
"You think these several hundred Uchiha little brothers can survive this war? Dream on!"
"It is better for me to execute one now than for the enemy to kill several hundred later!"
After Yoru finished explaining, he continued announcing,
"The Fourth Division captain and the three squad captains subjectively had the same intention to disobey orders, but objectively followed the crime. Remove the four captains from their positions. All of them will be transferred to serve in the Third Squadron."
"The twelve squad members were obeying their squad captains' orders and fought bravely. They have no fault."
"The four squads will each nominate a squad captain. Missing squad members will be transferred from the Third Squadron to fill the gaps."
"As for the division captain candidate, we will discuss it after you recover."
Yoru looked at Uchiha Shigenobu and asked,
"Will you kill him, or shall I?"
At this moment, everyone already understood that Yoru's will was firm and unshakable.
No one dared persuade him to change the decision he had already made.
Uchiha Shigenobu took several deep breaths before stepping forward and saying,
"Please leave it to me."
Yoru nodded, his expression stern as he reminded,
"Move cleanly. Don't make him suffer too much."
"Oh, right. Kazushi, remember to write a report saying he died in battle against Kaguya clan shinobi."
"This way, he won't leave behind a disgraceful name, and it won't affect his family."
After rambling through several more instructions, Yoru confirmed there was nothing more to add and left without looking back.
He had always felt that he was a transmigrator and not close to the relatives of the Uchiha clan.
But human beings would feel reluctant to part with even a cup they used for a long time, let alone a person.
He had spent several months with Uchiha Goro and had carefully taught him for several months.
Naturally, feelings had still been cultivated.
He knew that with just one sentence, he could spare Goro.
And no one in the Tiger Unit would feel anything was wrong.
They might even become closer to him, Uchiha Yoru.
But he knew even more clearly that if he spared Uchiha Goro, the Tiger Unit's discipline and combat strength would collapse from the roots.
The Tiger Unit's strength was built on tactics.
And the foundation of tactical execution was discipline.
Today was the first occurrence of disobeying orders before battle, and it had nearly caused the entire Fourth Division to be wiped out.
The importance of discipline had been revealed clearly.
Therefore, Uchiha Goro had to die.
There was no discussion.
For the Tiger Unit's future, ordering the execution of Uchiha Goro, who had disobeyed orders before battle, was something Yoru could logically understand.
But emotionally, he found it difficult to accept.
This was the first time he had executed one of his own.
His mood sank to the extreme.
It even made him feel faintly nauseous.
The long-lost loss of control of the heart-shapes appeared.
The heart ape, spleen pig, lung civet, and the still-unformed…
Especially…
Yoru sensed the changes in his inner world, but he knew that the current problem lay with himself.
At this time, it was not suitable to suppress internally.
Because if the source of the heart-shape mutation was not resolved, suppression would be far too inefficient.
The best method was venting.
To go kill people.
To solve the root of his gloomy mood.
Then he could easily handle the four great heart-shapes.
So Yoru redirected his anger.
He decided to kill the Kaguya shinobi who had caused this matter.
[It's all because of you that I'm this unhappy. Go die.]
[Wait. Miwa Masayo is still limp and sleeping soundly. What method should I use to conceal it?]
[Hahahaha, I remember now. Miwa Masayo can't follow, but I also don't need to let the Tiger Unit follow. I'll go myself!]
[Right. I'll go alone. With no Konoha shinobi watching, on this vast sea, as long as I kill all the Kirigakure shinobi and scatter their ashes afterward, who will know how I killed them?]
[Let's do this!]
After thinking it through, Yoru no longer hesitated.
He fully used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished before everyone.
Not long after, he appeared above the sea.
After slightly identifying the direction, he advanced southeast at extreme speed.
His current physical quality was unimaginably powerful.
When he exerted strength to run, his speed was astonishing.
The strong wind raised by his body and the water spray kicked up by his feet split the waves on the sea, carving out a straight waterline.
When the island where the Tiger Unit was stationed disappeared from his sight, Yoru no longer concealed his immortal cultivation.
Surging natural energy rolled out from his meridians and instead wrapped around the chakra inside his body's cells, making him invisible in the chakra sense.
Wind-spirit natural energy transformed behind him into six pairs of invisible wind wings.
Fire-spirit natural energy attached to them.
Wind and fire worked together to stir the airflow, boosting Yoru's speed explosively.
Lightning-spirit natural energy connected with heaven and earth.
Within the perceptible range, it condensed thunder energy and nurtured a thunderstorm.
Earth-spirit natural energy strengthened his body, enhancing the strength and toughness of his flesh.
Yoru, with his full strength unleashed, was like an orange fire meteor, racing forward close against the sea surface at extreme speed.
He left behind a terrifying scar across the ocean.
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