Naruto: I'm Nine-Tails and My Host is Kushina-Chapter 99 : Death Of Choza , Angry Shikaku

Konoha Camp

Kurama and the others were resting when they suddenly felt it—a massive portion of Konoha's army's chakra had disappeared.

Kushina sensed it too.

"Kurama, those guys... they're suffering," she muttered, her expression darkening.

"This is the way of war," Kurama replied, his voice calm but firm. "People talk about the bitterness of battle, but unless you experience it yourself, you won't understand."

If he wanted to, Kurama could intervene and change the course of the battle. But he didn't.

This was all the result of the Third Hokage's reckless decision.

This time, Konoha's shinobi would grow to despise their leadership. It was a senseless order.

The higher-ups sat comfortably, sipping tea, giving commands from safety, while those on the frontlines fought for their lives.

Forget Red Island.

Looking at the battlefield, the entire sea had turned bright red.

Blood on the Waves

"Damn it, Konoha is still strong. Some of them managed to escape!" Ao muttered bitterly.

"What does it matter? Their commander had his leg cut off by my Samehada," Fuguki Suikazan said, smirking.

He couldn't sit still earlier and had gone into the sea to face the Konoha shinobi himself. His opponent was Sarutobi Yaomaru.

Mist's previous attacks had drained most of Yaomaru's chakra. Add to that Fuguki's Samehada, which absorbed another portion, and the Sarutobi leader had nothing left.

A few exchanges, and Yaomaru lost a leg.

He barely managed to escape under the cover of his comrades.

The battle to take Red Island had ended in Konoha's defeat.

Over sixteen thousand Konoha shinobi had been deployed.

Only around six thousand made it back.

That meant Konoha had lost nearly ten thousand shinobi in this fight alone.

The scale of the loss was unimaginable.

Return in Defeat

By evening, the surviving Konoha forces returned to camp in disgrace.

Every single one of them bore injuries. Some minor, others severe.

They looked at the soldiers who had stayed behind, regret clear in their eyes.

If I had known, I never would've gone.

Nara Shikaku was among them, his face contorted with guilt.

As a strategist, he had believed this mission was sound.

He had been wrong.

He should have examined the situation more closely. He should have pushed back against the higher-ups' commands.

The Nara clan had suffered heavy losses in this battle. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio had been broken—Akimichi Choza had died covering their retreat.

Shikaku clenched his fists. His heart twisted with grief.

I was the one who killed Choza.

Tears slipped from his eyes.

This wasn't just a failure of Konoha's leadership.

It was his own failure, too.

But there were no tears allowed on the battlefield.

Of the three of them, only he and Yamanaka Inoichi remained. And Inoichi was seriously wounded.

The Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans had suffered devastating losses.

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Resentment against Konoha's leadership festered among the survivors.

Why?

Why did they issue orders so carelessly?

Why did they send them on such a reckless mission?

But the worst losses belonged to the Sarutobi clan.

Nearly three thousand of the deployed shinobi had been Sarutobi.

Only five hundred returned.

The survivors were broken, shattered in both body and spirit.

Sarutobi Yaomaru, their commander, had lost all credibility.

Those who had stayed behind in camp listened as the battered survivors vented their frustrations.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have gone."

"Damn it, what kind of mission was that?"

"That wasn't a battle. That was a slaughter."

"You were lucky you didn't go."

"Mist was waiting for us. We walked right into their trap."

"That's why I trust Kushina-sama. She said there was something wrong with this mission. I listened. And look—I'm still here."

Aftermath

Uchiha Fugaku returned to his clan limping, his body aching from the fight.

Mikoto greeted him, concern on her face.

"Fugaku, what happened?"

He told her everything.

She listened silently, then nodded.

"Kurama was right. He saw this coming."

Konoha's leadership would have to answer for their failure.

This wasn't a minor mistake.

It had cost more than ten thousand lives.

The clans would never trust the leadership again.

Kushina's forces, the Hyuga, and the Uchiha had refused to go.

Now, the survivors would rather follow them than the so-called "leadership."

Shikaku had calmed down. He realized his mistake.

If he had refused the mission, the Nara wouldn't have gone.

If the Nara refused, the Yamanaka and Akimichi wouldn't have gone either.

Then Choza wouldn't have died.

It was his decision that killed his friend.

Morale in the Konoha camp had plummeted.

Sarutobi Yaomaru sat silently, his leg bandaged, being treated by medics.

He said nothing.

He knew the truth.

He had been played by Mist.

He had led his men into an ambush.

He would forever be remembered as the commander who lost ten thousand men in a single battle.

He had lost the respect of his fellow shinobi.

The only hope left in Konoha's ranks was Kushina's forces, the Hyuga, and the Uchiha.

Mist's Next Move

In the enemy camp, Mist-nin gathered around Ao.

"Ao-sama, we've identified the remaining Konoha forces."

"Oh? Who's left?"

"The Blood Red Pepper's forces, along with the Hyuga and Uchiha. Five thousand in total."

Ao frowned.

"That idiot Sarutobi Yaomaru actually had the sense to hold some people back?"

He thought the decision to leave behind Kushina and the others had been a tactical move by Yaomaru.

But that wasn't the case.

Kushina's name still carried weight.

Ao narrowed his eyes.

Mist had wanted to use this war to steal Byakugan and Sharingan.

But none had been present on the battlefield.

There had been only one Uchiha—

Uchiha Fugaku.

"That Uchiha was strong," Ao admitted. "And he escaped."

Fugaku had fought alongside Minato Namikaze.

The wounds on Fugaku's body had been minimized thanks to Minato's interventions.

Minato was only fifteen.

Yet, he was already an elite Jōnin.

Before the war, the Third Hokage had given him the Flying Thunder God scroll. Minato had only learned half of it.

If he had more time, he would have mastered it.

But war had come too soon.

Even so, Minato had lived up to his title as a genius.

Despite the ambush, he hadn't hesitated. He had fought without taking a single injury.

He alone had killed dozens of Mist-nin.

But even Minato couldn't take on the entire Mist army alone.

So he had led the retreat.

If he and Fugaku hadn't been at the rear, Konoha's losses would have been even worse

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