Reinforcements Arrive

Ding ding ding ding--

Zabuza with his Kubikiribōchō held horizontally in front of him, the impact of numerous ninja tools striking it like a billiard ball.

After successfully defending, he swung his greatsword and slashed several times, forcing back several Sunagakure while taking the opportunity to jump backward.

"Call..."

I had barely caught my breath when another bright red fireball came hurtling towards me.

He immediately spotted the attack trajectory and used the side of his Kubikiribōchō to deflect the fireball, but the sword was also burned with pitted black holes, as if it had been bitten by a giant monster.

Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!

Knowing that Zabuza was having a hard time facing Pakura, the Red-haired Middle-aged Man immediately stepped in to help relieve his pressure.

Instead of directly Scorch Release fireball, the Water Dragon skillfully circled around to the side and attacked Pakura's main body.

As the village's most outstanding genius in recent years, Pakura has received great training. In addition to his signature Scorch Release, his Fire Release Wind Release are also quite powerful.

She completed the Hand Seals in the blink of an eye, unleashing several large Wind Ball that struck the top of the water tap and destroyed it.

The two sides hadn't been fighting for long, and there were only about a dozen corpses on the ground. Sunagakure had temporarily gained an advantage by losing two fewer people.

However, most of the elite troops of the Kirigakure are still alive, making it impossible to achieve a major victory in a short period of time.

BOOM! BOOM!

Despite the Kirigakure's undiminished fighting spirit, a soft sound suddenly came from the distant sky, and two plumes of thick smoke, one red and one green, rose up in a staggered pattern.

The Red-haired Middle-aged Man ninja looked grave upon seeing this; something had happened to Oro of the Third Unit.

At this point, their own reinforcements couldn't arrive, and they might even encounter a powerful enemy attack. Their chances of winning weren't high, and they couldn't afford to continue this stalemate.

Beep!

After the sounds of retreat were heard, the Mist Ninja began to huddle together, covering each other to resist the Sunagakure's offensive, and retreated slowly and orderly.

"Stop chasing, Pakura!"

The Sunagakure captain, his head wrapped in bandages, reached out to stop her. The female ninja, who had just displayed her formidable power, could only reluctantly halt in her tracks.

After being taught a lesson by Purple Aurora, the higher-ups were actually quite dissatisfied with her because her recklessness gave Konoha a handle to use against her, causing the village to lose a lot of benefits.

Having fought against Kirigakure in the Land of Tea many times, they had seen this kind of retreat many times before, and it rarely revealed any weaknesses.

Ninjas shouldn't be driven by hot blood and insist on fighting to the death. This time, they gained the upper hand in exchanging "cannon fodder."

This can definitely be considered a victory; most of the survivors deserve credit.

The number of casualties was less than two teams, which was insignificant to the village.

"Remember the direction the Kirigakure retreated. We'll follow their footsteps to search, and we can't overlook any other suspicious locations."

The Sunagakure Village leader calmly commanded, "Find out their true purpose for coming here."

"Yes!"

After the Kirigakure faction successfully retreated, they did not immediately return to the Seven Star Tree area, but instead chose to head north, which puzzled many members of the team.

"Senior Hong, why don't we retreat?" the black-clad, Exploding Sword man asked Daichi.

There's no way around it. Despite his extraordinary bravery in battle, he actually only obtained the Exploding Sword after joining the Terumi Clan. It's inevitable that he wouldn't be able to stand up to the leader.

Terumi Hiro's expression was rather grim. The fight with Sunagakure hadn't gone smoothly, and to make matters worse, something major had happened on Oro's side. A series of unexpected events meant they were definitely not accidental.

"That invading Shadow Clone is suspicious. I can sense it now. There's an unknown entity hiding in this area, not moving."

"You must understand that this is part of the Land of Fire; the worst-case scenario is..."

"They've been discovered by Konoha and are coming after us," Daichi said in a deep voice, his tone immediately becoming urgent. "Then we need to quickly get rid of these little rats in front of us."

If all else fails, cut down all the trees, or just burn them all down!

"We've already done it again, idiot." Zabuza frustrated and angry from the previous fight, Daichi resisted Daichi.

As a demon who slaughtered all his fellow graduates to become ninjas, he didn't care about such bullshit things as seniority.

"You..."

"Shut up, all of you!" Terumi Hiro hissed, accelerating as he charged forward. "They've spotted us too. Those who can keep up, come with us. Don't let them get away."

Swish Swish Swish--

Hyuga Akiha, Shisui, and Itachi were running continuously. Except for Shisui, who was in relatively good condition, the other two looked exhausted.

Despite being pursued by a large number of Mist Ninja, they showed no sign of panic.

"That's about enough, let's stop here."

Akiha was the first to climb halfway up the hillside, where the view suddenly opened up, and upon turning around, she immediately saw several black dots moving through the jungle.

The enemy was closing in at an incredible speed, but the Konoha Squad remained completely calm.

Akiha immediately shut down her Byakugan. Itachi and Shisui stood side by side with her, and the three of them seemed to regard their opponent as nothing.

"A woman and two little devils?"

This arrogant attitude was quickly noticed by Kirigakure. Daichi and Zabuza, carrying their swords, walked to the foot of the mountain. Without paying Terumi Hiro hesitated and stopped, the two charged straight at him.

"As expected, they are Konoha Ninja, and from the Hyuga Clan!" Terumi Hiro's mind raced, his face darkening, but he ultimately refrained from speaking to stop their attack.

They've found Konoha so close; it seems we have no choice but to retreat according to plan. Now, we don't know the specifics of the situation on Oro's side.

What if it's a large force from Konoha? Would they still be able to succeed...?

Swish--

Before Zabuza and Daichi could get close to Akiha and the other two, two black figures rushed out from the back of the hillside like lightning, each facing one of the two Kirigakure Ninja Blade.

"Who goes there? So fast!"

Zabuza was startled; the newcomer moved with astonishing speed, far exceeding the level of an average Jonin.

He easily dodged Zabuza's instinctive sword swing as he got close, and at the same time punched him in the abdomen, which faintly contained extremely violent chakra, making Zabuza's hair stand on Zabuza.

His intuition told him that he was facing a life-threatening danger, and at this moment, he could only twist his body with all his might to avoid it. Even if the movement was too big and he injured his muscles, it was better than dying.

Bang!

The fist grazed Zabuza, and an explosion occurred upon contact, successfully scraping away nearly a pound of flesh from him.

"Wow..."

Zabuza clutched his side and staggered backward. Several Kirigakure who had arrived from behind immediately rushed forward to assist him, leaping over him to surround and attack the sudden attacker.

Only then did everyone see who it was: conspicuous white hair behind the Cat Mask, and two "6" tattoos on the deltoid muscle of its left hand. "Be careful, it's Konoha Anbu!"

Lightning Release: Chidori Stream!

Boom--

A massive burst of lightning erupted from Kakashi, Mist Ninja nearby and paralyzing them. Then, one of them kicked them all off the mountain. Kakashi then remained in place, waiting quietly.

Daichi, who attacked alongside Zabuza, fared no better. His Exploding Sword didn't even touch his opponent before a terrifying surge of chakra sent him flying backward, coughing up blood.

Eight Trigrams Palms - Mountain Breaker!

A large number of Hiroshi Terumi Hiro Mist Ninja rushed to his side, but his expression was unusually grim as he gritted his teeth and whispered, "Konoha!"

Swish swish swish swish--

As if in response, a large number of ninjas jumped out from around Itachi and his companions, confronting the Kirigakure Village members without showing any weakness.

Two teams of Anbu and three teams of elite family members—their total numbers were slightly fewer than the opposing side, but their momentum was far stronger.

"Gentlemen of Kirigakure..." Hizashi Hyuga's eyes bulged with veins, "You've sent so many ninjas into the Land of Fire, are you trying to start a war?"