White Fangs

The dagger was silver-white, and the blood was bright red.

The crimson blood smeared on the silver-white blade, only to be deflected by leaping silver arcs of electricity, and then, washed away by the rain, regained its silvery sheen.

Konoha's White Fang!

Sakumo crossed from one end of the camp to the other, standing at the camp gate, with hurried footsteps behind him.

"What's going on with the Stone Ninja?"

"It seems the Stone Ninja suddenly gave orders to evacuate the troops stationed at the camp; it's practically an empty camp now," the visitor replied respectfully.

"Just now?"

"Yes, it happened about three minutes ago. If we go after them now, we should be able to catch up."

"Go arrange for the Chunin and Genin rest. Jonin with combat strength maintained at over 80% will follow me. The rest will stay behind." Sakumo flicked his short sword lightly, and a large silver sword flower bloomed in the rain. Large raindrops fell and were shattered by the silver petals, turning into sparkling water droplets.

Sakumo his wrists to maintain his flexibility and waited quietly. Twenty seconds later, all the Jonin who could break free appeared behind him, seven in total, making eight including himself.

"Set off."

Sakumo flicked his short sword, shaking off the water droplets, and sheathed it on his back. The group then rushed out at top speed.

"Captain Otto, the people have arrived."

The tall, thin Stone Ninja on lookout stared wide-eyed as he saw a group of tan-colored shadows approaching.

"Oh, you've finally arrived." Otto strode over, his tall and imposing figure dwarfing the Iwa Stone Ninja standing beside him. "With these men, we can at least give an explanation. The Sand Ninja can no longer accuse us of shirking our duties."

With Otto arms crossed, Awato was already scheming how to kick the Sand Village out of the Land of Rain and claim all the spoils of war for himself. In his view, Konoha's defeat was inevitable, and the most important thing now was how to divide the spoils after the war.

"To be honest, I thought Chiyo from Sunagakure was so famous, but now she seems to have gotten senile. She went out of her way to fight the cornered Konoha Ninja. What a 'good person'!"

"Haha, you're absolutely right!"

The young Jonin laughed loudly, showing no respect whatsoever for their veteran, who had been famous for many years.

Otto listened to the chatter, a slight smirk appeared on his lips. He didn't think Chiyo was particularly senile; it was simply that different experiences and perspectives led to different views. However, he had no intention of lecturing them on respecting their elders.

As the son of the Tsuchikage, he knew that such arrogant words and actions were not an isolated case. The Stone Ninja's extremely strict superior-subordinate relationship was arguably the most severe among the Five Great Ninja Villages. The superior-subordinate relationship was an insurmountable wall, so much so that after finally climbing to the Jonin, he vented his pent-up feelings. His arrogant words and actions were actually quite mild.

"Huh? Something doesn't seem right?"

The lookout Stone Ninja suddenly spoke up, his tone filled with surprise and uncertainty, instantly silencing the stone house. The Jonin quickly got into focus, all gazing into the distance.

The large patch of yellowish-brown shadows seemed to have fallen into chaos, completely losing their formation, with panicked figures running around in all directions.

"The smell of blood? And it's very fresh... Looks like we've been attacked," a Jonin said, twitching his large nose.

"An attack? But where would such an enemy Genin from? Konoha can't spare any manpower to attack a group of chunin right now."

"It might not necessarily be Konoha, don't forget... there are also those big headscarves."

The crowd was abuzz with discussion, completely unconcerned about the attack on the Genin forces. They had a full fourteen Jonin here, a force that could easily turn the tide of battle. Instead, they were arguing about the identity of the attackers.

"No, the attackers are from Konoha." A Jonin interrupted the discussion; his Shadow Clone, who had gone to scout, relayed the information, the green silhouettes clearly replaying in his mind. "And there are only seven of them... about seven, all Jonin."

"Huh? What do you mean by 'approximately'?" The vague statement left people completely confused.

"Because there's another one... that was just too fast. I think I must have seen wrong. It's impossible for anyone to be that fast. Probably..." The person speaking also looked confused, as if he had seen a ghost.

"What? Such a vague explanation..." The bystander clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

"Alright, enough with the nonsense." Otto promptly stopped the argument from escalating. "We'll find out what's going on once we get there. What's the point of arguing here?"

After scanning the group, all thirteen people fell silent, Otto then led them to begin their operation.

The group swiftly crossed the plain and clearly saw the Konoha Ninja stirring up a bloody storm among the Stone Ninja forces. There were seven Jonin in total... or eight?

Everyone rubbed their eyes. The seven Konoha Jonin, including Otto, saw it clearly, but besides the seven, there was a white light that appeared and disappeared intermittently. Every time it appeared, the Iwa Stone Ninja around them fell down in swathes like wheat being harvested.

Jonin, they couldn't be sure what it was. Was it a human? Or some kind of summoning beast? Or something else unknown? It was moving too fast, too fast to make out its appearance; they could only see a white light.

"Earth Release: Earth Split Palm"

Otto's large, thick palm slammed heavily into the soft mud, and the earth trembled violently. The rocks and soil, like crisp biscuits, cracked open under the slightest external force, and dark fissures snaked forward like black pythons at an extremely fast speed.

Caught off guard, the Stone Ninja fell into the crevice like dumplings being dropped into a pot. However, no additional casualties were reported. Ninety-nine percent of those who survived the onslaught of Jonin were quite strong, and being proficient in Earth Release, they quickly used their skills to establish a foothold in the crevice. Everything went as Otto had predicted.

And he achieved his biggest goal.

Sakumo stood at the edge of the crack, holding a short sword in his right hand, squinting at Otto and the others.

"The eighth person... What amazing Earth Release, combined with Lightning Release: Body Flicker Technique! I almost didn't even notice you." Otto licked his lips, his body trembling with excitement. "You must be the Konoha's White Fang, right?"

"Yes, what is your name? It's quite something that you managed to force me to reveal it!" Sakumo's expression was calm, but a murderous intent flickered in his narrowed eyes.

"The Kamizuru Otto; compared to you, I am but a nobody!"

"The Upper Mizu Flow... the Tsuchikage clan? They're a big fish!" The voice trailed off at the end, and no one except Sakumo heard the last sentence, but the burgeoning killing intent was all too clear.