Reinforcement

"Lord Hidezumi, what should we do once we reach the Land of Whirlpools?" a member of the Senju clan asked. "I estimate the situation in the Land of Whirlpools must be very dire right now." 

Indeed, no one thought the Whirlpool Village, one of the five great ninja villages, would be victorious!

Senju Hidezumi pondered for a moment and said, "If the Uzumaki clan is in a disaster, our primary task is to protect the Uzumaki clansmen, while following the Uzumaki clan's command."

On the battlefield, the worst thing is to hear two different voices, so it's better to remind them in advance, lest they don't follow orders and cause conflicts later, right?

"But the Uzumaki clan..." They're all just a bunch of hotheads! Once war breaks out, they all charge in recklessly, yelling for the glory of the Uzumaki clan with no brains or strategy whatsoever. Are we of the Senju clan supposed to follow suit and charge in mindlessly too?

However, before he could finish, Senju Hidezumi shot him a sidelong glance, and he swallowed his words back, waving his hands apologetically.

Senju Hidezumi gazed at the increasingly closer Land of Whirlpools with puzzlement in his eyes. Shouldn't there have been huge explosions and tremors initially? Why is it so quiet now? Could it be that they're too late, and the Hidden Mist Village shamelessly released the Tailed Beasts for an all-out assault?

Ah—, hopefully, some Uzumaki clansmen are still alive. As long as there are survivors, there is hope. But if they're all...

"An ancient clan's legacy!" Senju Hidezumi sighed wistfully, uncertain of the Senju clan's future path. They had begun to feel disillusioned with Konoha. It hadn't been long since Lord Tobirama's passing, and there were already people trying to undermine the Senju clan.

He didn't know how the clan leader and the others had decided. Would they really do something like that?

...

"I'm in despair too!!"

This was Gengetsu Hōzuki's inner voice at the moment. Originally, they had come to invade the Land of Whirlpools with high spirits, but unexpectedly, they kept falling into the Whirlpool Village's traps one after another. Well, now their cannon fodder had almost all been taken out by the enemy's fierce attacks, and even their reinforcement fleet had been completely destroyed. Oh, there was still one ship left...

Damn it, who knows how the Hidden Mist Village's Yuki Nezumi was slandering him now!

Yuki Nezumi's heart, the entire Hidden Mist Village knew about it!

It was truly exhausting! Not only did he have to block the invasion force at the front, but he also had to watch out for backstabbers.

Moreover...

Had the Uzumaki clan evolved? How did they become so smart? They could now set up ambushes, launch sneak attacks! And damn it, they were using the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu throughout! The Uzumaki clan was not following the rules! Who fights a war like this?

One touch and they explode!

This war was making us fight in such a frustrating way, wasn't it? Who ever heard of a large-scale battle like this, where money was being thrown around throughout?

Now, as night approached.

Due to today's failures, the Hidden Mist shinobi had not gained any advantage, and they were almost ready to call for their mothers after being beaten down so badly. Although the heavy casualties suffered by the Hidden Mist shinobi today were mainly due to the explosive tags, not a single one was actually taken out by a Shadow Clone!

They were all Shadow Clones, and just thinking about it was frustrating. Their side had suffered heavy losses, while the other side had also suffered heavy losses...

So the Whirlpool Village was really rich, huh!

It was estimated that after this battle, the citizens of the Whirlpool Village would have to eat grass. Or perhaps this didn't matter much for the Uzumaki clan, since they had tremendous life force, and a bit of grass wouldn't kill them. In fact, supplementing with some vitamins could even benefit their physical health and development. But the Hidden Mist Village couldn't do that! After spending such a huge cost, they would return home empty-handed and disgraced. Not only would they lose face, but the entire village would be mocked by the other ninja villages.

"What do you have in mind now?" Gengetsu Hōzuki asked the Hidden Mist shinobi below.

The Hidden Mist shinobi looked at each other, clueless about what to do! Their combat strength was not inferior to the enemy's, and was even stronger, but...

The Whirlpool Village's shinobi had money, alright. They weren't losing in terms of combat strength, but rather, they were losing to the enemy's financial power!

What if the Village Leader also gave them some funding? Then they could also buy billions of explosive tags to play with?

However, this was impossible, as their Mizukage would never be so generous.

The Mizukage's advisor pondered and lamented, "We lost because of our arrogance and lack of intelligence."

They had also lost to money!!

The Whirlpool Village was wealthy. With a "one village, one nation" policy, the entire country and ninja village consisted of their own people, so it was easy for them to obtain funds. But in their case, the Land of Water's feudal lord was too stingy. To get some money, to request a bit of funding, they had to go through layers of reporting, and in the end, they might even...

Have no money!

Wasn't that frustrating?! In a major war, they weren't given any funding, and after this complete destruction of their fleet, the feudal lord was probably preparing to replace the Water Shadow. How could he possibly give them money now? If they wanted to attack people, they would get a share, but if they also wanted money?

Hearing this, the Mizukage felt like digging up Horikoku Takeshi and whipping his corpse. It was all because of the vanguard's incompetence! How could they not notice so many explosive tags for such a long time? They were practically blind! They had caused the Hidden Mist Village to suffer heavy losses.

If there were ten blame pots to distribute, Horikoku Takeshi would have to carry seven of them. No, scratch that, he would have to carry all ten. It was because their vanguard's lack of intelligence that the Hidden Mist Village had fallen into such a passive situation. If they had discovered the explosive tags early on, the Hidden Mist Village would not have been so passive.

Now, their morale was low, and the troops were hard to lead!

After losing so many people without any gains, how could their spirits not be dampened? It was all Horikoku Takeshi's fault!!!

However, Horikoku Takeshi was about to get up and write a big "tragic" character on the Mizukage's leg! How was that their fault? It was the Whirlpool shinobi who didn't give them any opportunities! Whenever they appeared, the Whirlpool shinobi would charge out recklessly to block them, not allowing them to get close. This scene made it seem like they were ready for a decisive battle to the death, but little did they know it was to prevent them from discovering the explosive tags. How could they investigate under such circumstances? They couldn't even get close!

He had mentioned that the Whirlpool shinobi's behavior seemed unusual and asked the Water Shadow to wait a few days. But the Water Shadow insisted that the Uzumaki clan was just a bunch of hotheads, and they had to act quickly! Otherwise, this fat piece of meat that was the Land of Whirlpools would have to be shared with others.

What could he do? He was also in despair, okay? No matter what he tried, he couldn't get in. How could he go and investigate?

Whipping the corpse was just a thought of Gengetsu Hōzuki's. He wouldn't actually do such a shameless thing. No matter what, Horikoku Takeshi was his subordinate, someone who had made sacrifices for the village. As the Village Leader and a high-ranking official, he couldn't bring himself to do such a dishonorable act!

After all, he had to maintain his dignity!

"What should we do next?" Gengetsu Hōzuki asked seriously, knowing they couldn't underestimate the enemy again this time.

The Mist ninja contemplated but still didn't know what to do. They lacked intelligence and had no idea what the Uzumaki ninja planned to do!

After some thought, the Mizukage's advisor said, "Next, we will dispatch sensor-type ninja. If they encounter Uzumaki ninja, do not engage in battle. Immediately send a signal!"

If they were ambushed by the Uzumaki ninja again, it would be a problem!

"If that's the case, let's rest for tonight..."

(End of Chapter)

[in some cases there might be shadow instead of kage, kage english translation is shadow]