This won't do!
Watching the surging wave rushing toward them—just moments ago still within sight, but now already a hundred meters away—along with the cracks and chunks of earth on the ground that split and rose even faster than the wave, a string of thoughts flashed through Kitsuchi's mind before finally converging on a single conclusion.
At this moment, although they stood high on this earthen hill, the hill itself was not very tall. They could not even overlook the grasslands from here; otherwise, they would not have lost Kumogakure's trail long ago and been forced to rely on the sensory network to track them.
Moreover, they were below the hillside's midpoint, only three to five meters above the ground. That towering wave could completely swallow them! Judging by the force with which it had shattered the raised chunks of earth—at least two meters tall—in an instant, being hit head-on by that wave would definitely cause no minor damage.
At a time like this, they could not afford losses.
And that wave was very likely the work of Kumogakure's elites. No matter what, there had to be some scheme behind it. Not only did they need to avoid casualties, they also had to keep their formation as stable as possible. At the very least, the sensory network could not fall into disorder. If this was Kumogakure's doing, then there was no need to guess—the towering wave was either a breach meant to tear apart their encirclement or part of some other escape plan. Their opponents were the Third Raikage and Dodai. Even with an absolute advantage, Kitsuchi could not let down his guard. And now was the critical moment; not a single mistake could be allowed! Iwa had taken enormous risks this time. This plan could only succeed, not fail.