Sunagakure's Retreat

In the Land of Wind, above a desert, Yichen, who had been blasted away by his own immortal technique— the Great Five Elemental Bullet Technique —finally regained his footing.

At this moment, his own Chakra was exhausted, and the Chakra of the Little Rhino Dog and the Little Chōmei was also used up. He was now relying on the Chakra mode of the little Four-Tails Son Goku to sustain himself.

Once the mushroom cloud from the explosion dissipated, Yichen quickly flew towards the center of the blast.

When Yichen arrived at the battle zone again, the terrain of the battlefield that Rasa had originally chosen had completely changed.

A massive crater, over five kilometers in diameter, replaced everything that had been there before.

Yichen lowered his altitude slightly and carefully sensed the surroundings with his using Mind's Eye.

Without Sage Mode, Yichen's perception range was greatly reduced, with the furthest perception distance only reaching 8 kilometers.

For sensing targets below the ground, the distance is even smaller, so they had to descend to a certain altitude.

After sensing it, Yichen frowned slightly.

"So many Sunagakure are still alive?"

In Yichen's perception, the Sand Ninja Army was hiding underground. However, the explosion just now destroyed the Sunagakure's ground defenses.

The explosion also caused many of the Sunagakure's underground fortifications to collapse.

Most of the Sunagakure were not killed directly by the explosion or blasted away by the shockwave, but were crushed to death by the collapsed thick ground.

The Sunagakure suffered approximately two thousand casualties, which was far fewer than Yichen had anticipated.

"Rasa's design of this air-raid shelter is truly ingenious; otherwise, the battle would already be over," Yichen thought to himself.

"But in doing so, my initial goal of single-handedly defeating the Sunagakure has failed."

"It's probably unlikely that the Sunagakure will spontaneously compare themselves to Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju in the later stages."

"Looks like we'll have to rely on our own Bi-Monthly Report for publicity."

Yichen is also in bad shape. He was hit by the shockwave and although he managed to withstand it through various means, he is covered in internal injuries and is no longer able to fight.

It seems that reaching the level of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju is still far from enough.

Fortunately, Yichen wasn't alone. By now, Ōnoki had abandoned his main force and flown over, and behind him was an army no smaller than the Sunagakure, rapidly approaching.

Seeing that Yichen was still floating in the air, Ōnoki breathed a sigh of relief.

He certainly saw the explosion; not only did he see it, but he was also caught in the blast while he was in the air.

Fortunately, he was far enough away that he wasn't injured, but was thrown quite a distance by the impact.

Ōnoki looked at the crater, which was 5 kilometers in diameter, and compared it to the crater he had created during the surprise attack on the Land of Fire's underground base. He was speechless with astonishment.

"Are you injured?" After flying to Yichen's side, Ōnoki noticed that Yichen's posture was not right and asked with concern.

Yichen nodded and said, "He is injured, but he won't die. He just doesn't have the strength to fight anymore. From now on, it will depend on you three generations."

Ōnoki nodded and asked, "Where are the Sunagakure?"

Yichen said, "Rasa is cunning enough. He dug air-raid shelters deep underground, and now Sunagakure are in those underground caves."

"The explosion just now only killed about two thousand people; the main force of the Sunagakure is still alive."

"Rasa's last defensive Ninjutsu was quite good; he must have used his full strength. He's probably not in much better shape than me now. But Pakura should still be able to First Shinobi War."

Then Yichen pointed to a certain spot and said, "There, a few meters underground, is the Sunagakure Ninja's Puppet Master unit. Let's use Dust Release on them."

The crater in the Sunagakure was originally very deep, enough to withstand Dust Release, but after the devastation caused by the Mushroom Bombs, the thick layer of sand covering the crater has been reduced to a tiny bit.

Ōnoki was somewhat disappointed to hear that such a huge explosion had only killed two thousand people.

Upon finally learning the location of the Sunagakure Puppet Master, Ōnoki didn't hesitate. Without saying a word, he unleashed a Yichen Dust Release in the direction Yichen pointed.

After the white light of Dust Release Limit Splitter Jutsu faded, more than half of the ninjas disappeared from the air-raid shelter.

Ōnoki wanted to launch another attack, but by then, the Sunagakure had begun to emerge from underground.

Pakura looked at Yichen and Ōnoki with hatred in his eyes.

Ōnoki knew that Yichen was not in good condition, so he did not attack again.

Yichen and Ōnoki used the Light-Weight Rock Technique to raise their bodies and prevent the Sunagakure from launching a sneak attack.

The two began a standoff with the Sand Ninja Army.

Soon, Yichen's Mind's Mind's Eye pinpointed Rasa's location and said to Ōnoki, "Third Hokage, the Kazekage is over there; his Chakra is depleted."

Ōnoki nodded and said, "It seems a sneak attack won't work."

The direction Yichen pointed to not only led to Rasa, but also to many Sunagakure.

Their hands were all poised to form Hand Seals, clearly ready to unleash Ninjutsu for defense at any moment.

Yichen looked behind him and said, "Our people have arrived."

Not long after Yichen finished speaking, more and more Iwa ninja appeared at the edge of the huge pit.

The leader was from Kawakita.

When Kawakita and the other Iwa ninja in front of them, they all gasped in shock, and were all somewhat stunned.

Did this really happen when the Tsuchikage fought against the Sand Ninja Army all by himself?

Seeing that the two sides were locked in a stalemate and that neither side intended to greet the Sunagakure, Kawakita immediately ordered his entire army to charge.

Although the number of Sunagakure casualties was not particularly high, the Iwa ninja only had a slight advantage in terms of numbers, and did not achieve a crushing victory.

However, the Sunagakure's morale was gone.

Yichen nearly wiped them out by himself. If Rasa hadn't had them prepare an air-raid shelter beforehand, how many of them would still be alive? The Sunagakure didn't even dare to think about it.

Not only that, their Kazekage is now in a state of extreme exhaustion, needing protection from others.

But Yichen still floated majestically in mid-air, and the Four-Tails Chakra Cloak around him brought a tremendous sense of oppression to the Sunagakure below.

So when Kawakita led the Iwa Ninja Army in a general offensive, the Sunagakure's reaction was not to organize a resistance, but to look in the direction of the Command Center.

They were waiting to see if Command Center would issue a retreat order. The Sand Ninja Army had completely lost its fighting spirit.

The Command Center did not disappoint them and quickly issued the order to retreat.

Upon receiving the order, the Sunagakure began to retreat hastily.

Pakura watched the Sunagakure flee in panic, and a strong sense of humiliation rose in her heart. How similar this scene was to her own!

Last time, because of his incompetence, the Sunagakure were in a similar sorry state. Since then, he has returned to the village and trained desperately, hoping that the same scene would not be repeated.

However, he never expected Yichen's attack to be so unreasonable, and all his efforts seemed extremely ridiculous in the face of such an attack.

"Under these circumstances, the Iwa ninja won't let us retreat safely." Pakura's eyes showed a resolute look as she looked at the pursuing Iwa ninja.

"Grandma Chiyo stepped forward last time, this time it's my turn."

The next moment, Pakura did not retreat, but instead charged back towards the direction of the Iwa ninja.

From the air, Ōnoki and Yichen also witnessed this scene. Ōnoki immediately shouted, "Watch out for Pakura! Kawakita! Tell everyone to scatter!"

Yichen and Ōnoki witnessed firsthand Pakura's nearly self-destructive technique: Scorch Release - Blazing Heaven.

If this move were to be unleashed among the Iwa Ninja Army, the Iwa ninja would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses in this battle.

Upon hearing this, Kawakita's heart tightened, and he said, "Everyone, spread out and don't go near Pakura."

At this moment, Ōnoki was in the air, no longer cared about the other Sunagakure and fired Dust Release directly in front of Pakura.

Yichen also strained his Chakra and used Porcelain Release.

Yichen didn't use the Kunai Rain this time, as doing so would only force Pakura to perish together with him immediately.

Yichen did his best to send the Porcelain Mud to the bottom, forming a barrier between Pakura and the Iwa ninja.

Pakura's actions were disrupted by Dust Release. Seeing that the Iwa ninja were getting further and further away from him, while Yichen's Porcelain Release was increasing, he became somewhat anxious.

Her plan was to charge into the Iwa Ninja Army and then use a near-self-destructive Ninjutsu to perish together with the Iwa ninja.

This method creates opportunities for the Sunagakure to escape.

However, things are not going as he expected. Even if he rashly launches a large-scale Scorch Release now, he won't kill many Iwa ninja and it won't be able to stop the enemy.

At this point, it's better to live than to self-destruct and fight the Iwa ninja, at least enough to hold off the Three Kage-level, Yichen, Ōnoki, and Kawakita.

In the end, Pakura wisely chose not to perish together with the Iwa ninja.

She single-handedly held back all of the Iwa ninja's top-tier combat power.

Upon seeing this, the commander of the Sand Ninja Army left a portion of his troops to intercept them, while the main force quickly retreated towards the Sunagakure.

The Iwa Ninja Army was blocked by Pakura, like a river encountering a mountain, and had to detour around it, wasting a lot of time.

After bypassing Pakura, the Iwa ninja spent some time dealing with the Sunagakure's rearguard, and it was too late to pursue them further.

However, the commander of the Iwa ninja did not give up immediately, but instead dispatched an elite force of several hundred men to pursue them as quickly as possible.

This elite force then took another bite out of the fleeing Sand Ninja Army.

Only at this moment did the Iwa ninja truly let the Sunagakure go.

By the time these hundreds of elite troops returned, the battle at the large pit was nearing its end.

After several rounds of back and forth, Pakura has been successfully brought closer to Kawakita.

If it weren't for Pakura setting up numerous Scorch Release fireballs around him, he would have been beheaded by Kawakita long ago.

However, her life also came to an end.

A flash of white light appeared, and Pakura, who was prepared, dodged to the side with all her might. While dodging, she still had the strength to control the small fireballs around her to move with her.

She dared not give Kawakita, this expert in knife skills, the slightest chance.

But just as she dodged the Dust Release attack, something suddenly wrapped around her ankle.

Looking down, I saw a lump of solidified Porcelain Rock.

"Not good." Pakura knew things were going to get bad. Yichen was able to use Porcelain Release to entangle her feet while she was distracted, and he could also choose to use mud to turn into Kunai and pierce her.

The Yichen didn't do that can only mean that Yichen wasn't satisfied with merely injuring her.

Sure enough, the next moment, Pakura felt a tremendous force on her ankle. Then she lost her balance and was pulled away from the range of the Scorch Release fireball by this force.

Before Pakura could break free of the Porcelain Release and regain her footing, the next moment...

A flash of light appeared before her eyes. After a dizzying spin, Pakura completely lost consciousness.