The Mist’s Retreat

The following day, Konoha and the Mist went to battle again. As before, Ryo went straight to fight the 3rd Mizukage.

Since Jirraya arrived with [Reverse Summoning]. Only Ryo and Shikaku knew about his presence.

Ryo ordered that the matter should not be exposed for the time being. After his battle with the 3rd Mizukage began, the plan was for Jiraya to kill the Mizukage's guard before joining Ryo to finish to the Mizukage himself.

The 3rd's usually had the 3rd's Anbu for opponent. Both were reliant on Ninjutsu, and close in level. None of them had ever got an edge of the other during the past 6 month.

The Aim of Ryo's plan was to finish a Quasi-Kage and Kage at one battle, so that the Mist take a severe hit when it comes to high-end combat power.

There were only three of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist left alive, with Jūzō Biwa's and Raiga Kurosuki's morals being shattered by the incident.

Ryo also speculated that they still had powerful Ninjas left in the village. it is impossible for a village such as the Hidden Mist to have Kage tier Ninja being the Mizukage. But since they have spent so much time fighting Ryo and his team without bringing in any reinforcements, there must be something wrong happening within their village.

Killing a Kage and a quasi kage should most probably push the Mist to retreat ending the warfare in the Wave Country. This should lead to him not having to worry about supporting his camp here when he goes to the Lightening Country.

Jiraya was a veteran Kage Tier Ninja. It wasn't much trouble for him to kill a Quasi Kage, so he put his attention on the Mizukage's guard at first.

Their Ninjutsu showdown didn't take too long before Jiraya found his opening to finish him, leaving spectacularly as usual.

On the other side, the battle between Ryo and the 3rd Mizukage was at its peak. Having fought each other many times before, the two knew very well each other's strength.

With the help of the electromagnetic field produced by his Denjiki Rasengan, Ryo practically killed his opponents potential to use Hydrification, thus limiting his power by around 30%.

But the 3rd Mizukage's power was so simple to be limited to Hydrification. Just like Mangetsu Hozuki, the 3rd was capable of wielding all 7 Legendary Swords, switching between those of the 4 swordsmen killed by Duy. That was the main reason why Ryo could not take him down for so long.

With the added power brought by their swords, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist could actually pose a threat to a Kage. The power of such swords in the hands of the Mizukage himself was immense.

He relied on the these knifes in battle. So even without his Hydrification techniques, he was still very powerful.

It was just that Ryo was getting slowly familiar with the four swords, and his consecutive battles against the 3rd Mizukage allowed him to accumulate a lot of combat experience.

Even without Jiraya's help, if Ryo keeps this progress he should probably be able to take the 3rd Mizukage down around within two months.

Ryo kept fighting his opponent, while keeping attention to the guard's Chakra. Once it faded, he used his Ice to limit the Mizukage's movement while once again condensing an Ice Bow.

Like before, Ryo pulled the bow's string, as crystal clear Ice Arrow appeared.

The 3rd Mizukage felt a huge threat from the little arrow, and quickly waved the sword he had in his hand to carve out path in the ice around him, in order to be able to escape.

But at the same time, Jiraya rushed in blocking his path, so the Mizukage could not escape in time.

Following the plan, Jiraya then directly hid into Mount Myoboku he saw Ryo's arrow coming. The arrow directly hit the Mizukage's shoulder.

It then blossomed, just like before, into an Ice Flower that grew bigger and bigger, engulfing the 3rd Mizukage in Ice.

"Shatter!" Ryo controlled his ice, and just like the thousand Ninjas before him, the 3rd Mizukage also shattered with the ice, turning into red-blood Ice Mist.

A short while later, Fukasaku who had reversed summoned Jiraya to Mount Myoboku, returned with the latter to the battlefield. The blood-red Ice Mist had not dissipated yet, allowing them to witness the plan's success.

"Haha! Kid, you're getting stronger and stronger, worthy of being my disciple!" Jiraya laughed over Ryo's shoulder.

He has just been facing Ryo's Ice arrow, and felt the strong natural energy condensed within it.

It was also very clear to him that it was condensed to an extent that insured the birth of great power once it exploded.

"Jiraya san, I still need your help! We need to force a thousand Mist Ninjas into getting close to each other. I want to end this battle!"

"Alright!" Jiraya nodded in agreement. While he hated war and killing, on such a battlefield, he could only afford to have compassion towards Konoha's Ninjas.

He went on to summon Gamabunta, his trusty partner with whom he had fought for many years, and they attacked. Together, they managed to gather a large number of Mist Ninjas in the center of the battlefield.

The Mist Ninjas were very familiar with this scene. Last time this happened, Ryo killed over a thousand of them. They were not willing to sit still and follow, and they tried to escape.

But it was too late. By the time they realized they were being gathered, Ryo's arrow was ready.

The bright Ice Arrow hit the middle of the ground, and constantly grew bigger and bigger, engulfing close to thousand Mist Ninjas in ice. Ryo then shattered the Ice as before, dying the center of the battlefield red.

"Monster! He is a monster!" the Mist Ninjas finally collapsed completely, fleeing without any resistance.

Ryo did not make his men chase them. He knew that their suffering has only began, and he didn't need to add to it.

Two days after the battle ended, the Hyuga twins reported that the Mist camp started to retreat.

It was just like Ryo had thought. There is a problem within the hidden mist, since killing the Mizukage made them basically unable to fight back.

After the complete evacuation of the Mist Camp, Ryo held his last meeting, saying what he was about to do, and handing over the command of the camp to Shikaku Nara.

Ryo knew he had to get the medical team to accompany him, but unfortunately, he could not bring them with [Reverse Summoning]. They just had to walk their way to the Lightning country.

In the evening, Inoichi Yamanaka called Ryo to his tent, where Shikaku Nara and Choza Akamichi also waited for him.

The one talking the most was Shikaku, mainly warning Ryo about the 3rd Raikage.

Unlike the Hidden Mist with their secrecy policies, the 3rd Raikage's glorious acts were known to everyone. Even the 3rd Hokage could not dare to claim that he knows he could beat him.

But Ryo felt he had nothing to worry about. According to the original storyline, Minato should have already developed the Flying Thunder God to great extents.

In this world of Ninja, victory is brought by the ultimate speed brings victory. Minato has developed Flying Thunder God and Rasengan, reaching the level of the 3rd Hokage and Raikage.

With such an ally, Ryo did not worry about the Raikage, especially that he wasn't weak himself. Sure, he was not at that level, but he was not to be underestimated either!