The cries of the Sand Ninja were endless. Pakura merely swept her gaze over the surroundings and saw that although the battle had only just begun, the Sand Ninja on the battlefield were already on the verge of collapse.
There was nothing to be done about it. Including Pakura herself, the Sand Ninja side had only barely gathered ten Jonin. That was only because the recent situation had been unfavorable and the fighting showed signs of escalating, prompting Sunagakure to send considerable reinforcements.
During the normal months before this, the combined number of Jonin from Kirigakure and the Sand Ninja on the entire battlefield probably had not even reached double digits. Moreover, the Jonin on both sides had mostly remained stationed at their main camps, with few truly fighting to the death.
However, as Kirigakure—no, it should now be called the Sea Ninja Village—continued raising the stakes, Sunagakure had no choice but to grit its teeth and meet them head-on.
The Sea Ninja Village claimed to be escalating step by step, but in truth, it was merely using this place as a testing ground. The Sand Ninja, meanwhile, had already been driven to the end of their rope. The Third Shinobi World War had been sparked by the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, and the Sand Ninja had suffered the heaviest losses. When the war first ended, their number of Jonin had even fallen to just thirty or forty.
Then there had been the friction with Kirigakure during this period. After losing the war, the Wind Country Daimyo had reduced the funds allocated to the Sand Ninja Village. All these factors had kept the Sand Ninja from properly recovering.
After Kirigakure became the Sea Ninja Village and intensified its attacks, the Sand Ninja had lost several more Jonin. It could