For several months in a row, both Kumo and Konoha were in a stalemate at the border of the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost. Both of the forces didn’t launch any frontal attack. Even the number of small assassination squads that sneaked into the other’s territory was very few.
The number of Leaf ninjas who died in the battle was lesser than the number of Leaf ninjas whom Uchiha Tonan used for experiments. For him, the longer this war dragged on, the better.
It would be best if it dragged on until the other two ninja villages were completely settled and then when the attention of the entire Ninja World was shifted to this side, he could achieve victory in one fell swoop in a high profile.
In fact, whether he got military achievements or not was already not important. The most important thing was the live human experiments and ensuring that the development of the plot was back on the original track.
On Kumo’s side, Sandaime Raikage’s injuries had healed well. But all the high-ranking Kumo officials including Sandaime Raikage refused to discuss anything about the battle with Tonan. Because they were afraid.
Last time, the Cloud ninjas had seen the defeat of their Raikage-sama. If it weren’t for Tonan showing mercy, their leader might have already died. So what if Sandaime Raikage’s injuries were all healed now?
On the day of the defeat, Cloud ninjas had gathered all the information on Tonan and studied it over and over again. The more they studied, the more terrified they became.
Tonan had fought against Suna and Iwa and was able to suppress tens of thousands of ninjas in that battle. He possessed the legendary Susanoo, which was simply a killing machine on the battlefield. He summoned lightning all over the sky and condensed it into a lightning cutter, killing Sandaime Raikage in one strike.
What was even more frightening was that before Suna retreated, its troop was attacked by someone unknown. And the ninjas in their camp had no power to resist. Except for a few jonin, everyone else had died.
Based on the estimation, it happened to coincide with the time just before Tonan left that battlefront. The only good news they discovered was the so-called backlash. Most of the senior Kumo officials thought that Tonan didn’t take the initiative to attack because of this backlash.
But they also didn’t dare to launch an all-out attack. If by chance Tonan was forced into a corner and fought back desperately, they wouldn’t be able to afford it regardless of whether Sandaime Raikage was killed or Cloud ninjas were massacred.
What’s more, Sandaime Raikage had lost last time. Could he win this time just after recovering from his previous injuries? Tonan would not be merciful again. Sandaime Raikage was not afraid of death. The only thing he was afraid of was that if he died, there would be no one in Kumo who would be able to compete with Tonan and Kumo would truly be done for.
Just in this fashion, for several months, the Northern battlefront was the most peaceful of all the fronts. By now, Hatake Isan had already grown and broken out from the glass container. Considering that it was not suitable to bring an infant to the battlefield, Tonan sent some Leaf ninjas to send him back to Konoha’s welfare institution.
As for him, he focused on researching the new cultivation method. During this time, Tonan’s research was stuck in a bottleneck. This was because the cultivation method of cell vibration had met with several difficulties, and he had no way to break through them.
The first difficulty was that the human heart and lungs had a certain rhythmic frequency and amplitude, and when the cells vibrate, it could easily cause organ failure in the body. The second difficulty was resonance. There were too many cells in the human body, and as long as all of them vibrated, resonance would occur instantly, causing the amplitude to soar, which led to cell rupture.
To break through these two difficulties, Tonan and Kabuto practically forgot to sleep and eat. They used many alive humans for experiments, which caused panic among the ninjas in the Konoha base camp, thinking that Kumo had been launching high-intensity assassination missions.
Unfortunately, their chief commander was Tonan. In context to this situation, he just told them to strictly be on guard against sneak attacks and strengthen their vigilance.
……
On the dark blue sky, there were countless half-bright, half-dim stars. On the border of the Land of Grass and the Land of Earth, the great river surging from the Land of Rain passed through the mountain range and flowed towards the great ocean.
The great river cut the mountain range in half, and there were cliffs on both sides. It was like someone had used a huge ax to cut it. It was straight and very steep. The waterfall between the cliffs cascaded down vertically, smashing into the mountain stream below.
This place was a naturally dangerous place without a human trace. The shortest distance between the cliffs on both sides was nearly a thousand meters. Unless one knew a flight-type ninjutsu, it was impossible to cross it. As for the so-called ninjas treading water and climbing trees, all of it was almost useless here.
First of all, the cliff was too high. Without the chunin-leveled chakra amount, no one could tread down this cliff. Not to mention, one still needed to climb up a cliff of the same height after reaching the other side of the river. Also, the river here was flowing too fast. It wasn’t a calm water surface.
If one’s chakra control was not proficient to a certain level, one would be swept away by the current immediately after stepping on the water.
Even if it was an elite jonin who met all the conditions of chakra amount and chakra control, there was still one more fatal obstacle he must overcome. The water vapor was too thick in this place, and the cliffs were covered with liverwort-like plants.
As a result, the cliff’s face was too smooth and slippery. It was impossible to step on it stably. But in such a place that nobody cared about, a large number of Stone ninjas appeared tonight.
Onoki, who held a long iron chain in his hands, flew from one cliff to the cliff on the other side. He tied the chain to the big tree that even several people couldn’t hug. Afterward, tens of Stone jonin, who also held iron chains, stepped on it and ran towards the other side of the cliff.
Not long after, a rope bridge made up of hundreds of iron chains appeared between the cliffs. Seeing this, Onoki nodded his head in satisfaction, and ordered in a low voice, “The logistic staff should quickly make a bigger bridge as soon as possible. And it must be strong enough to endure the transportation of materials.”
Hundreds of Stone ninjas began to lay planks on the rope bridge. Later, various types of reinforced concrete were used to strengthen both ends of the bridge. Although the ninjas moved quickly, it was still very difficult to make such a bridge in one night.
This time, Onoki intended to take advantage of the fact that most of the Leaf ninjas were scattered throughout the Land of Rain. He wanted to carry out a sneak attack on Mount Kikyo from the Land of Grass.
The function of this bridge was not just to allow the chunin and genin behind to pass. It was also necessary to ensure that after the surprise attack on Kikyo Mountain, the follow-up materials could be supplied in time.
For instance, things like explosive tags and various traps. These things would be needed for the defense at that time. The most important thing was that if the attack failed, Iwa would have a route retreat. They wouldn’t be trapped in Kikyo Mountain.
The place was within the Land of Grass’ territory, so there were no Konoha ninjas patrolling. Onoki and his team built a bridge with peace of mind. But no one among these Stone ninjas noticed that there was a flock of wild geese several kilometers high in the air that happened to be flying past these cliffs.
And at the rear of this flock, there was a white pigeon that had a similar build as those wild geese. The white pigeon crooked its head to one side and looked down.
At this time, Tonan, who was performing live human experiments in the laboratory, was a little surprised. His eyes suddenly changed into Mangekyo Sharingan and began to spin slowly. Gradually, the scene of a group of Stone ninjas building a bridge was reflected in his eyes.
Then, a pleasantly surprised look slowly appeared on his face as he muttered, “Is it finally happening… It seems I must slow down the experiment.”
After speaking, he didn’t even look at the tortured Sarutobi clan ninja on the operating table. He calmly took off the medical gloves and mask, and then took off the white coat he was wearing. Afterward, he turned to look at Kabuto who was recording the data and instructed, “I’m going out for a while. You should also rest during this time. If anything happens, ask the pigeon to inform me.”
After hearing Tonan’s instructions, Kabuto didn’t ask any questions. He just nodded his head quietly. Tonan wore a black windbreaker, made a hand seal with a single hand, and then flicked towards the ninja of the Sarutobi clan on the operating table.
A tiny air ball pierced through the ninja’s forehead in an instant. And feeling the chakra within his body rise slightly, Tonan said with an indifferent look, “Remember to clean up thoroughly and spray more disinfectant.”
After this, Tonan left the laboratory. Now that the construction of the Kannabi Bridge had started, it represented that the Battle of Kannabi Bridge was about to break out. And to be on the safer side, Tonan was going to personally escort Obito. The only thing he was uncertain of was whether Uchiha Madara would save Obito as the original work or not.
