Hyuga Ao killed a Rain Ninja with one palm. Relying on the Byakugan's all-around vision, she quickly surveyed the battlefield so she could rush to the rescue whenever necessary.
By now, the Rain Ninja and Konoha forces had become completely entangled, with each side mixed among the other, using chaos to fight chaos.
At a time like this, Konoha's overall quality and teamwork were fully displayed. The three-man squads worked closely together, with each member supporting the others. Then the three squads supported one another, forming tight combat groups amid the chaotic battle. They quickly established a foothold and began effectively slaughtering the Rain Ninja.
But the Rain Ninja were no pushovers either. Born as mercenaries, their coordination was not as seamless as Konoha's, but they had their own methods for fighting in a melee.
The Rain Ninja used speed-specialized Elite Jonin as their spearhead, forming elite squads that rapidly cut through the battlefield, disrupting the coordination between Konoha's squads and making the battlefield even more chaotic. They hoped to drag Konoha into a chaotic scene of one-on-one ninja slaughter, then use the experience they had gained from years of fighting in war to deal with Konoha.
But Konoha was no pushover either. Once the battle became chaotic, familiar Jonin drew closer to one another, forming groups centered around themselves and helping each other.
When Rain Ninja squads saw this, they did not charge recklessly. Whenever they encountered a formation they could not scatter, they quickly gave up and went to break apart another formation. After all, if the entire battlefield became chaotic, the remaining squads would certainly be thrown into disarray as well.
Konoha had no good solution to this. They could only hold out for now and see whether the Rain Ninja would disrupt them first and then defeat them with their abundant experience, or whether Konoha would first rely on its excellent system and teamwork to grind the Rain Ninja down completely.
At this moment, neither Konoha nor the Rain Ninja had any high-level combatant capable of deciding the battle with one blow. Nor did anyone have the ability to step forward and organize the troops. They could only rely on their squads to coordinate independently.
It could be said to be an even match.
It all depended on who collapsed first.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
A blast of force shot out, sending flying a Rain Ninja who had been lurking on the ground behind Nawaki.
Hyuga Ao instantly appeared and delivered a follow-up strike, helping Nawaki relieve the pressure. "What's wrong with you? Why do you keep falling into the Rain Ninja's rhythm?"
"Water Style: Water Wall." A water wall rose up and blocked the senbon raining down like a storm. Nawaki looked puzzled. "I don't know either. Lately, whenever I see Explosive Tags, I get scared. Can those things really kill people?"
Uh... Hyuga Ao was speechless. That sounded just like the First Hokage holding the Nine-Tails and saying, "You're too powerful. You need to be sealed."
But you were the one who died!
She patted Nawaki on the back, indicating that he should take care of himself. Then a mass of chakra noticeably stronger than the others appeared within the range of her Byakugan.
As the strongest person in this area, Hyuga Ao could only meet it herself.
Hyuga Ao was currently at the edge of the battlefield.
When they first charged forward, Konoha had used quite a few large-scale techniques. But once the two sides engaged in close combat, the high-level combatants each sought out opponents, the Quasi-Kage restrained one another, and the Jonin led their troops forward.
The Jonin squads charged into the Rain Ninja formation in an Arrow Formation. After falling under attack from both sides, the Rain Ninja decisively opened their lines and allowed Konoha to enter and throw the battle into chaos.
Konoha had achieved considerable results by sticking together while breaking through the defensive line, but the Rain Ninja quickly dragged Konoha into the mire, making those earlier gains seem insignificant.
The forces around Hyuga Ao were troops scattered during the advance, a battlefield of middle- and lower-ranked ninja.
They had originally formed groups as well, but those groups had been scattered. Only now, under Hyuga Ao's overwhelming strength, were they slowly beginning to gather again.
But the situation elsewhere on the battlefield was not so good. At this moment, half of Konoha and the Rain Ninja were fighting in chaos, while the other half remained grouped together.
Once the chaotic fighting began, however, casualties would rapidly mount. The situation would resemble a whirlpool, constantly dragging in groups at the edges that had remained intact. Just as entropy always increased, this battlefield between Konoha and the Rain Ninja would ultimately become a complete melee. By then, the Rain Ninja would have a huge advantage.
It could be said that the Rain Ninja had gained the upper hand with this decision.
Hyuga Ao stared intently at the Rain Ninja in front of her.
The Rain Ninja looked to be in his thirties. His exposed hands and neck were covered in scars, while half his face bore the marks of Fire Release burns. Ordinarily, such a person should have looked ugly and fierce, but the man before Hyuga Ao instead gave off the feeling of a kindly old neighbor, appearing gentle and weathered.
Especially his eyes.
Hyuga Ao had seen that kind of gaze before. In her previous life, the old veterans in her village sometimes drank a little wine, and whenever they recalled those turbulent years, that same look would appear in their eyes.
It was the gaze of someone with faith and ideals.
Hyuga Ao knew that if such a person was your enemy, giving him your all was the greatest respect you could show him.
The Rain Ninja stopped ten meters in front of Hyuga Ao. Looking at her youthful face, his eyes grew unfocused, and he could not help recalling his daughter, who had died amid the war.
If my daughter hadn't died, she would be about this little girl's age by now, he thought.
The thought vanished in an instant. He tightened his grip on the Kunai. He had no time to dwell on such things. Now, he had to fight so that countless families in the Land of Rain would never again lose their loved ones to war.
"Does Konoha really send such young children onto the battlefield? Little girl of the Hyuga clan."
Hyuga Ao did not answer the Rain Ninja's question. While observing him, she remained alert to her surroundings, because she knew that this man was merely asking and answering his own question.
"Vile great nations, occupying fertile lands—do you even need to send children to protect your interests?" As he spoke, the Rain Ninja's face twisted with fury. "Lord Hanzō is right! The suffering of small nations like ours was caused by the great nations! If we want the Land of Rain to escape its endless gloom, we can only raise our blades against the great nations!"
As if confirming his own beliefs, the Rain Ninja threw the umbrella strapped to his back into the air and charged at Hyuga Ao under the cover of Ninjutsu: Thousand Senbon Rain.
At the same time, he formed hand seals. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu."
Ninjas from small nations usually only knew one or two offensive techniques. But after using those techniques in battle for many years, they developed their own understanding and improvements. There was a name for people like them: specialists.
There was no need to explain how terrifying a specialist could be.
Dense water blades flew toward her like scattering flowers from Heaven, blocking every angle Hyuga Ao could use to dodge while combining with the senbon raining from the sky.
This combo was something ordinary people could not withstand.
The moment Hyuga Ao saw the water blades, she knew she could not block them head-on. Judging from their appearance and the chakra contained within them, she knew that this Rain Ninja had instinctively mastered some changes in form and nature.
Hyuga Ao drew strength from the ground and spun her entire body, while chakra erupted from the acupuncture points throughout her body.
"Rotation!"
A spinning, semicircular curtain of light inverted over the ground. The incoming senbon all bounced away, while the water blades were ground into droplets and flung across the ground before being absorbed by the soil.
A Main Family member of the Hyuga? The Rain Ninja was shocked.
This combination was his signature technique and the foundation of his status: senbon from the sky, water blades in front of him, and his own charge, with the senbon rain and ninjutsu erupting almost simultaneously. Very few people had been able to withstand it before.
But his years of combat experience let him change tactics at once. He pulled out a stack of Kunai tied to Explosive Tags and threw them around the Rotation. Timing it precisely, he detonated them the instant the Rotation ended.
Hyuga Ao naturally saw the Rain Ninja's actions from within the Rotation, but she did not continue maintaining it. After blocking the water blades and senbon, she ended the Rotation.
Once the Rotation ended, violent explosions surged toward Hyuga Ao from all sides. She stood where she was and shook her entire body. Like a character powering up in a King of Fighters game, the force erupting from her body burst outward, pushing away the surrounding air and canceling out the explosions.
The Rain Ninja outside did not stand around waiting for the result. Instead, he formed hand seals again and sent another wave of Water Dragon Jutsu at her.
Hyuga Ao burst from the smoke of the explosions completely unharmed. Having used the Rotation to block the water blades, she knew exactly how powerful they were.
This time, she did not dodge. She charged straight toward the incoming water blades.
Under the Byakugan's keen vision, the paths of the water blades were clearly visible. Relying on her unparalleled control over her body, Hyuga Ao weaved through them. Whenever she could not avoid one, she scattered it with a single palm strike. In the blink of an eye, she had reached the Rain Ninja.
The Rain Ninja had never imagined that anyone could pass through the water blades and appear right in front of him.
But now that things had come to this, he could only wield his Kunai and fight.
Riding the momentum of her charge, Hyuga Ao slapped and lifted her palm, knocking both of the Rain Ninja's hands aside and exposing his armored chest. But that offered Hyuga Ao no protection at all.
She concentrated her strength in her palm and struck with Heartbreak Palm. The Rain Ninja's heart meridian shattered instantly, killing him with one blow!
The Rain Ninja collapsed, mumbling something about Hanzō with his final breath.
Hyuga Ao's mood grew heavy. She could not help giving a bitter smile. "What good does saying all that do? I'm only a passerby."
She sighed. "You chose the wrong path. No matter how hard you work, it will all be useless."
Hyuga Ao realized that she had underestimated the Rain Ninja—or rather, the Rain Ninja under Hanzō's leadership.
She discovered that these Rain Ninja possessed faith. Even if it was misguided faith, it could still grant them a tremendous increase in combat power.
She opened her Byakugan to its fullest and observed the battlefield. Sure enough, the Rain Ninja were gradually gaining the advantage.
Konoha will definitely win, but where is the turning point now? she wondered.
Hyuga Ao sighed. Whatever it is, hurry up and come. If this continues, I won't be able to hide my strength any longer.
Before you continue