Chapter 123: Absent Mizukage

Ohnoki, despite feeling immensely annoyed and anxious because of the urgency brought by the Cloud's raid on Konoha, did feel grateful for how easy a job it had been to get everyone onboard with his plan.

Well, almost everyone, a few fools that refused to adapt to the situation or take calculated risks disagreed and tried to get in the way, but failed when facing the vastly outnumbering opposition.

That being said, they weren't the only problem Iwagakure had to face.

The Land of Earth and Water were extremely far apart, they would also have to get through the Land of Fire without alerting them, which at the moment seemed to be an impossible task.

The current measures to conceal their tracks was quite basic, being to split up and take routes without a large population.

Of course, these actions caused their march speed to become significantly slower and unknowingly allow the army that set off after them to over take them.

So whilst they had yet to see the Land of Water's shore, the shinobi they were trying to hide from were already assaulting their target.

...

...

"Water Style: Rushing Sea Wave!"

A high-level water style technique derived and modified from the notes of Tobirama Senju by Mei.

The technique created a great flood that smashed into the gate of Kirigakure and slowly forced it open.

Ignoring, the angry yells of Mist Shinobi, she leapt on top of the wall, and concentrated chakra around her throat.

"Yagura!!! Come out and face the punishment for your sin!"

She knit her eyebrows at the lack of response from her target.

"Ahhhh! Die bi-"

She heard a shout as one of the gate keepers tried to discreetly stab in her back, unfortunately, a piercing pain interrupted his actions.

Thud!

The now lifeless body fell onto the ground as a few of his companions rushed forward, trying to avenge him and destroy the intruders.

However, they likewise flopped to the ground suffering a similar fate while one Jonin shouted upon realising the nature of the attack.

"Everyone look out, they're senbons!"

The speed at which they fell increased until eventually the attentive Jonin from earlier was the last one standing.

"Who's there!?"

Knowing that he didn't stand a chance against the ghosts preying upon them from the dark, he decisively bit his finger and said, "Summoning Juts-"

His words were cut off by the appearance of a beautiful, sleek, blue Ice blade.

The connection his head and body shared was severed as its wielder, Haku looked towards the center of the village where the woman from earlier went.

After landing on top of a pole, he scratched his pale cheek and muttered while glancing through his surroundings, "So many people, and they're all going for the kill. Kimimaro was right, I shouldn't show any mercy unless I want to risk the life of myself or everyone participating in the raid."

Another group of Kirigakure ninja jumped towards him.

His feminine face showed a frown, as he formed a shiny dome of icy mirrors around them.

"I'll be quick."

The attacking shinobi looked stunned.

Ice release?

Wasn't the Yuki clan annihilated?

But, ending their train of thoughts, bones shot out of the ground riddling them with holes.

Haku sighed, observing the bloody sight.

He shook his head and decided against trying to advise Kimimaro.

He glanced behind him and noted that the rest of their forces were catching up.

...

...

Minutes later, it became more and more apparent that there was a drastic difference in quality and quantity of the two armed shinobi forces.

Despite possessing a home ground advantage, the Mist shinobi were completely overwhelmed.

However, one thing that stuck out to those watching was the lack of village leaders.

The Fourth Mizukage had yet to appear causing Mei to grow impatient.

As such, a massive snake-like construct made from water was found to be visiting the Mizukage's office with a rather violent approach.

Boom!

The top half of the Mizukage's building had been completely removed from the world as a pretty woman looking quite fiesty used a wind style jutsu to clear the rubble.

Feeling annoyed, she whined with a hand on her hip.

"Where is he when his village needs him, is he suffering from constipation? Gosh, that's got to be embarrassing."

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning appeared and formed the figure of Hachiro.

"80 kilometers southwest, he'll soon be at the coast."

She looked at him startled from the sudden appearance before nodding and leaping off according to the direction he had given.

Intending to follow behind her, Hachiro came along too before spotting a signal flare of thick red smoke forming a flower.

He stopped and frowned, and moved his perception from

the four edgy looking men escorting a child, to Haku and a couple others standing beside a bunch of men and women dressed in a mixture of rich or shinobi like clothing.

He pondered whether his presence was necessary before coming to a decision.

"Izumi, chase after Mei and make sure she doesn't end up in danger."

An Anbu, suddenly appeared in front of him and said, "Understood."

Disappearing as fast as she arrived, she tried to catch up in an effort to complete her mission.

With that done, Hachiro nodded to himself and dashed over to find out the problem.