Sand Ninja at a Disadvantage

Across the entire continent, the only ones truly concerned about the founding of the Sea Ninja Village—and currently cursing and stomping their feet in frustration—were the Sand Ninja Village.

For no other reason than that the Sand Ninja Village was currently at war with Kirigakure!

To be honest, the conflict between Kirigakure and the Sand Ninja Village had very obviously been started by Kirigakure. Thanks to its geographical advantages, Kirigakure had never been declared war upon; it had generally been the one going around tormenting others.

At first, Kirigakure had actually pursued a policy of continental balance. In other words, whichever ninja village was the strongest would be attacked, ensuring that no single ninja village could dominate the continent.

But later, the policy became distorted. Coupled with Obito's interference, Kirigakure's role during the Ninja World War had ultimately become much like that of a band of marauders—grab what they could and run.

Kumogakure was brimming with martial spirit and had its Secret Base, Turtle Island. Located atop a plateau, it held every advantage in attacking from high ground, making it difficult for Kirigakure to make a move against it.

The Fire Country was certainly prosperous, and the spoils from raiding it had initially been quite plentiful. But then Konoha got serious, beating the Seven Ninja Swordsmen into a pathetic joke. After that, Kirigakure no longer dared provoke Konoha so readily.

Though the Wind Country was impoverished and covered in Desert, it was still a great nation with some substance. Its prosperous regions were especially concentrated along the coast, naturally making it a frequent target of Kirigakure's raids and invasions.

The two sides traded blows, and even after the Third Shinobi World War had ended in a ceasefire, their local clashes never diminished. At first, they fought over profits, but after Obito took control of Kirigakure, the battles here became routine.

It could be said that this conflict had become a bleeding wound shared by both ninja villages, preventing either side from properly recovering and rebuilding. Yet Obito, who initially controlled Kirigakure, did not care about Kirigakure's losses at all. The only one truly driven to distraction was the Fourth Kazekage.

After the Sea Ninja Village was established, Sea Ninja's higher-ups had initially leaned toward reconciliation in this profitless conflict. However, the Sand Ninja Village showed weakness at this moment, offering to hand over their war hero, Pakura, in exchange for peace. This instead made the Sea Ninja Village's leadership want to press their advantage.

Since this had now become the Sea Ninja Village's only small-scale battlefield, it eventually turned into a testing ground for Vegapunk's technology. Though some of the experimental equipment was not particularly stable, with Vegapunk's technical support, it still beat the Sand Ninja into a thoroughly miserable state.

It could be said that the Sand Ninja were the only opponents who had truly felt the speed at which Kirigakure's strength increased after becoming the Sea Ninja Village.

The price, however, was that many coastal cities had been looted clean. The Wind Country Daimyo cursed the Fourth Kazekage viciously, and the battle casualty ratio between the two villages had reached the ugly figure of one to five...

No wonder the Sand Ninja Village kept stomping around and cursing. The rate at which their old rival had grown stronger was practically inhuman!

Especially recently, not only had the opposing side's rank-and-file ninja grown vastly stronger, with all sorts of strange weapons and abilities emerging, but even the number of Kekkei Genkai Ninja had begun to surge.

Amid the cries of battle, Pakura lightly wiped the sweat from her forehead and stared gravely at her opponent. "I never expected the Kaguya Clan to return to the battlefield! I heard that you people were deeply dissatisfied with Kirigakure. What, is this how you vent that dissatisfaction? Even your clan leader has gone to the battlefield to sell his life for the Mizukage?"

Standing opposite her was a man holding a long blade of white bone, a crazed smile on his face. After hearing Pakura's words, he tilted his head. "Why not? As long as there's fighting, isn't that enough?"

"Especially fighting you desert rats! Hahahahahaha! Dance of the Camellia!"

Even Pakura had to fight somewhat cautiously against the Shikotsumyaku. In truth, although he was the Kaguya Clan Leader and possessed the Shikotsumyaku, she was confident that she could ultimately defeat him.

However... the Kaguya Clan had not sent only this one clan leader onto the field! At least thirty Kaguya Clan members who had awakened the Shikotsumyaku were rampaging across this battlefield.

As a Kekkei Genkai that combined offense and defense while possessing tremendous regenerative power, the Shikotsumyaku was a top-tier bloodline ability that, once awakened, could rival the three-tomoe Sharingan. Its usefulness on a frontal battlefield was even greater.

Matching its immense power was its incredibly low awakening rate. More than thirty Shikotsumyaku users... Pakura simply could not figure out where the Kaguya Clan had found so many.

Based on the Shikotsumyaku's awakening rate, more than thirty users meant that the entire Kaguya Clan would need at least a thousand Ordinary Ninja! Yet in reality, the whole Kaguya Clan would be doing well to have two hundred ninja in total!

No, Pakura actually had an idea in her heart. If that idea was true, then it explained why the Kaguya Clan had joined the war, as well as why the number of Kekkei Genkai Ninja on the battlefield had increased over this period.

But for certain reasons, she simply did not dare believe her own thoughts. Merely allowing that possibility to pass through her mind made Pakura feel a profound despair.

"Stupid woman, you dare lose focus while fighting me?"

With an angry shout, the Kaguya Clan Leader raised his hand and fired several bone bullets. Pakura narrowly dodged his finger bones, then waved her hand, sending a blazing fireball crashing directly toward him.

A Scorching Fireball that would kill an Ordinary Ninja on contact merely reduced the shield formed by the Kaguya Clan's powerful bones to charcoal. It did not turn the Kaguya Clan Leader into a desiccated corpse.

However, countless wrinkles had appeared on his arm. Clearly, some of the moisture inside had been evaporated. Even with the Kaguya Clan's regenerative abilities, such an injury would not heal so easily.

"Impressive! So this is Scorch Release?!" The Kaguya Clan Leader's eyes flickered. "If it were just me fighting you, I truly wouldn't be your match! What a pity—this is war!"

As Pakura fought the Kaguya Clan Leader, a large number of Shikotsumyaku ninja had already completely torn apart the Sand Ninja's defensive line. Every Shikotsumyaku ninja possessed at least the strength of a Jonin, and those with even slightly superior basic qualities were Elite Jonin.

A mixed force of more than thirty Jonin and Elite Jonin—aside from Iwagakure, the ninja village that dragged down the lower standard for Jonin among the great ninja villages—such a force could only be seen in any ninja village during the decisive, fate-determining battles at the peak of a Ninja World War. That was already more than one-third of a ninja village's upper-level strength!