Chapter 328: Stepping into the Sea (5)

There is a small hill in the southeast of Konoha, about two hundred meters high, far away from the village. It is the only commanding height around, so Kushina's delivery room was set up here.

Elite ANBU ninjas had moved in a month ago. They had searched the hill inside and out to make sure there were no barriers hidden by the enemy. Then, Minato Namikaze personally laid a top-secret guard barrier, which was very cautious. The power of the Nine-Tails is enough to burn the sky and the sea. Once it takes advantage of the loose seal and wreaks havoc, it will be a devastating blow to Konoha. The village had not yet been established when the previous Jinchūriki gave birth. The relevant information is no longer available with the retirement of the Senju clan, but with the absolute suppression power of the first Hokage, it is not of much reference value. It is not that no one in the village can compare with the first Hokage at this stage, but the ninjutsu of Hashirama Senju is naturally suppressive to the tailed beasts, just as easy as a cat catching a mouse.

Hundreds of elite troops, all of them jonin and above, were deployed by Ye Shan in the barrier. Even when he knew that the enemy was about to arrive at the city, he did not think of deploying them. With hundreds of elite troops and Minato Namikaze's ultimate space ninjutsu, even if the Nine-Tails broke out of the seal, they could suppress it in the first place. Considering the relevant consequences, Ye Shan even sent the village's only candidate for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

In the cave covered with black tadpole runes, Namikaze Minato unexpectedly saw Hyuga Hiashi rushing over. According to the plan, the other party was not the candidate to guard the Nine-Tails anyway: "Why are you here?"

Hinata Hiashi didn't waste any words. He directly took out the handwritten letter from the Hokage and handed it to the other party. Then he cast his eyes on the ground without even taking a second look at the composition and layout of the barrier.

Namikaze Minato raised his eyebrows and took the letter. After taking a look, his face became unusually gloomy, and he clenched the knuckles of his right hand holding the letter. The content of the letter was very simple. Ye Shan briefly described the crisis the village was facing. The last sentence was particularly concise and striking: "If something happens to me, you will be the fifth Hokage."

"This is a lawless order!" Namikaze Minato squeezed out a voice from his throat: "Hokage-sama, this is a naked lawless order. As a member of Konohagakure, I refuse to accept it!"

The current Hokage only has the right to nominate his successor, but not the right to appoint. Ye Shan's actions do not comply with legal procedures. But since the new policy began, the influence of the Fire Country Daimyo on Konoha has been minimal, and his right to appoint was naturally taken away. Namikaze Minato certainly knew about this, but he still didn't want to believe that things had gotten to this point. He knew exactly how strong Ye Shan was, but how big a wave could he make with those legendary eyes?

Namikaze Minato took a deep breath, turned around and walked to the phone, muttering to himself: "I want to talk to Ye Shan. The war is coming, so why should we lose our composure? As long as the whole village is united, we will definitely win."

The phone rang once and was picked up. Ye Shan's steady and powerful voice came: "I am Ye Shan."

"Hokage-sama, I am Minato Namikaze, and I beg you to take back my life!"

After a few breaths of silence, Ye Shan's calm voice came along the phone line: "This is not a random order. As the Hokage, I have the obligation to consider the worst possible outcome. Deputy Hokage Minato, I hope you can accept the order and fulfill your duties."

"If that's the case, I request to rush to the front line immediately. The Hokage of Konoha should fight on the front line with his companions and must not delay official duties because of personal matters."

"Vice-Hokage Minato, your duty is to stay inside the barrier until Kushina gives birth successfully. Before that, you must not leave even if you see the frontline being defeated. And the birth of the Jinchūriki is not just your personal matter, but a matter of vital importance to the village. Of course, after Kushina's birth is over and the Nine-Tails is sealed, I require you to go to the Hokage's office immediately and eliminate any enemies at all costs!"

"As for my arrangements, you must comply and implement them 100%. This is also the wish of Vice Hokage Keiji and Vice Hokage Fugaku."

Namikaze Minato gritted his teeth, feeling heavy in his heart: "I will absolutely obey the village's orders!"

"That's it. I'm going to arrange for talented young ninjas to enter the barrier ahead of time. See you!"

"I hope everything goes well!"

Bofen Minato put down the phone and sat down on the stool with a very ugly look on his face. He reached out and touched his body, turned his head and asked, "Do you have any cigarettes?"

Hinata Hiashi didn't smoke, but he had a pack of good cigarettes on him, so he quickly took it out and handed it over. Minato lit the cigarette and took a deep puff, his sky-blue eyes narrowed slightly due to the smoke.

"You are to stay in the barrier for the time being and not go out. You will be in charge of the first team, and will be mainly responsible for guarding the external security. Someone will hand over the relevant matters to you."

"Yes!"

Hinata Hiashi left without any objection. Namikaze Minato looked at the closed stone door inside, where his wife and unborn child were. The scheduled delivery time was less than twelve hours away.

"Son of a bitch!"

Namikaze Minato sighed, not knowing who he was scolding.

Time passed by little by little, and Minato Namikaze sat on the stool with a pale face. This was a crucial moment for him personally. He was about to welcome his own flesh and blood, adding a touch of color to his decades-long love affair. But he did not feel too happy or excited at this moment, but instead felt a sense of guilt.

For him, the safety of the village is above all else. From the moment he put on the Konoha forehead protector, Minato was determined to defend the honor of the village with his life. Even though the Jinchūriki's childbirth was inevitable, Minato still felt heavy-hearted.

The stone door was pushed open, and Tsunade hurried out. Seeing cigarette butts scattered all over Minato's feet, she frowned and said unhappily, "It's already this late and you still have the mind to smoke. With me personally in the delivery room, there will be no mistakes. Just put your anxiety into your stomach."

Just kidding, even though Tsunade Senju’s gambling skills are not very good, her medical skills are far ahead, and delivering a baby is a piece of cake for her.

"Go arrange for someone to prepare some hot water. Kushina already has a slight stomachache."

Namikaze Minato threw away the cigarette butt in his hand, slowly stood up and was about to leave. After thinking for a moment, he handed the letter in his pocket to Tsunade: "Take a look, this is the handwritten letter from Ye Shan that I received this afternoon."

Tsunade took the letter with a grumble, a bit of impatience on her face: "He is such a fussy Hokage. We women have to make such a big fuss just to give birth to a child. It delays me..."

The complaints stopped abruptly, and Tsunade stared at the letter in disbelief with her eyes wide open. Her cherry-sized mouth was big enough for an egg to fit in.

"The enemy is really coming..."

"Kumogakure, Kirigakure... do these bastards want to start a ninja war..."

"Is Ye Shan really going to die..."

Minato rubbed his brows and said, "Everything is just speculation. The village is not completely sure either. The main reason is that the enemy's Impure World Reincarnation Technique is too tricky. The worst result is that the Shodai and Uchiha Madara join forces to clear the field. All of this has been written down by Yeshan."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows and tore the letter into pieces, shouting, "Absolutely impossible! Grandfather's body is guarded by ANBU ninjas, how could the enemy obtain his cells?! There is a problem within the village, there must be an enemy spy, and his status is not low!"

"Calm down! Our mission now is to successfully overcome the difficulty of the seal loosening during childbirth. Leave other matters to Yeshan. Lady Tsunade, please go to the delivery room immediately. I will guard one side after making arrangements. The barrier will be completely locked later to ensure that no one can sneak in."

Tsunade snorted coldly, her dissatisfaction reaching its peak: "Got it."

.......

At the forefront of the village's first line of defense, there were about five hundred elite ninjas stationed, led by Nara Shikaku. Less than five kilometers behind him, Uchiha Keiji was at the center in charge of command, with a mobile force of about three hundred people around him.

Nara Shikaku is a typical intelligent ninja. His strength is not outstanding. He is just an elite jonin. However, he showed amazing command ability in the Third Ninja World War, so he was given the first-line command. At this time, he frowned and looked at the map, thinking about where he needed to further recruit manpower and where he needed to set up interference traps.

"Time is too short. What we lack most now is time!"

After a moment of contemplation, Nara Shikaku said to Konishi Kakuei, "It has been a few years since the Ninja World War ended. It is inevitable that the ninjas in the village have become slack. It is really worrying that they suddenly enter a combat state."

"This can't be helped. We are used to living in peace. Who would have thought that the enemy would attack so cruelly? But our condition is not good, and neither is the enemy. The individual quality of Konoha's soldiers must be stronger than theirs. What we have to do now is to guess the enemy's attack method, whether to make a concentrated breakthrough or disperse and fight. You have to come up with an idea."

"That's exactly what makes me unsure," Nara Shikaku said with a headache, "Konoha hasn't experienced a battle with a lack of intelligence for a long time. The enemy's strategic deployment is blank to us. If the enemy chooses to use the Impure World Reincarnation as the vanguard and the ninja as the main force to break the formation, we will be in big trouble. The Impure World Reincarnation ninja is immortal, and at this stage we can only choose to solve it by sealing. But the Impure World Reincarnation ninja is extremely powerful, and ordinary ninjas find it difficult to deal with it. It often requires several elite teams to be involved. In this way, our high-end combat power is inevitably stretched."

"The Impure World Reincarnation Ninja are indeed difficult to deal with, but our duty is to disrupt the enemy's formation and try to disperse them. Lord Keiji in the back and the second line of defense will deal with the remaining stragglers."

"Let's take a step back and say that even if the enemy breaks through the two lines of defense, we still have Lord Fugaku in charge of the security department, so I don't think there will be a large-scale destruction of the village."

Konishi Kakuei comforted him: "As long as we perform our duties well and everyone is united, the enemy's conspiracy will never succeed."

The small command tent was filled with smoke. Nara Shikaku wiped his face tiredly. The lamp on the ceiling was shaking in the autumn wind.

It is the night of October 9th, and the front-line combat troops are about to face a tough battle.