The vast yellow sands swept over the Earth Flow Wall, with sand and wind swirling everywhere.
The Konoha people's vision was obstructed. Amid the flying yellow sand, they could barely open their eyes.
Fighting the Sand Ninja while enduring the stinging in their eyes—the outcome was easy to imagine.
The Sand Ninja had lived in the desert for years and had long since adapted to this environment. The people from Konoha, encountering it for the first time, were as if someone kept using sand-throwing techniques against them. The blinding effect was remarkable.
"This won't do."
The only person on the field unaffected was Hyuga Ao. She closed her eyes and activated the Byakugan, searching for Rasa's figure.
"Tsunade!"
Hyuga Ao shouted loudly.
Although the treatment had been interrupted, freeing a high-level combatant and an entire Medical Team from their duties greatly improved Konoha's situation.
Although Tsunade was low on chakra, even a starving camel was bigger than a horse—especially since she was nowhere near starving yet.
"What is it?"
Tsunade came over.
"Throw me up there!"
"Okay!"
Tsunade instantly understood Hyuga Ao's idea.
Calling for her teammates to hold the line for a while, Tsunade lifted Hyuga Ao's petite body onto her shoulder. With her monstrous strength, Hyuga Ao shot toward the top of the Earth Flow Wall like a cannonball.
With Tsunade's monstrous strength and the help of the Wind Cloak, Hyuga Ao sailed through the Sand Ninja's scattered defenses in midair and landed atop the wall.
Rasa was concentrating on pushing the sea of sand, making sand continually drift down from the top of the Earth Flow Wall and creating an advantageous environment for the Sand Ninja.
The moment Hyuga Ao landed, she charged straight at Rasa. Three Sand Ninja leaped out to intercept her.
The three Sand Ninja Chunin were dealt with by Hyuga Ao in an instant, but they had successfully bought Rasa time.
Looking at Hyuga Ao, whose face was even more youthful than his own, Rasa showed disdain. Proud as he was, he decided to deal with her himself.
Rasa waved his hand. A mass of sand leaped out of the sea of sand, transformed into a swimming fish, and suddenly rammed toward Hyuga Ao.
Hyuga Ao rolled forward, dodging the impact, then rose and sent an Air Palm flying toward Rasa.
In this battlefield, everything was in short supply except sand.
Rasa did not even need to form hand seals. With a thought, a sand barrier blocked the Air Palm.
Rasa folded his arms. A proud smile curled at the corners of his mouth as he leisurely watched Hyuga Ao struggle miserably against the sand assault.
Hyuga Ao understood that some things simply could not be helped. Taijutsu truly was difficult to use against this kind of tortoise shell.
You Wind Shadows either play with puppets or play with sand. Why are you still called Wind Shadows? You might as well be called Sand Shadows.
Although Rasa currently had only the strength of an ordinary Jonin, the advantage of the terrain and the type matchup allowed him to reach the level of a Quasi-Kage.
Fortunately, the original story had already provided a solution.
Hyuga Ao's speed erupted. Her figure flickered as she circled Rasa, striking him without pause.
To outsiders, all they could see were grains of sand repeatedly exploding in midair, along with the occasional afterimage.
Hyuga Ao unleashed her full power. With the triple enhancement of Dan energy, chakra, and the Wind Cloak, her fists and feet were heavy and fast, forcing Rasa to increase his chakra output just to block them.
Sweat appeared on Rasa's forehead. His Sand Release defense was ultimately nothing like Gaara's sand, which was filled with a mother's love and possessed a will of its own.
Rasa's defense relied entirely on his own control, putting it far behind Gaara's. However, Rasa's basic physical qualities were better than Gaara's, so he could still barely maintain his defense.
Like slowly boiling a frog, Hyuga Ao increased her strength little by little, draining Rasa's chakra and stamina.
When Rasa's reactions slowed, Hyuga Ao circulated her chakra and brought down a Mountain-Breaking Strike. It successfully shattered Rasa's sand net, and the chakra blast struck him.
Rasa was sent flying by Hyuga Ao's palm, sailing outside the Earth Flow Wall. She intended to put distance between him and the sand.
Rasa tumbled through the air. Cracks like shattered porcelain appeared across his body. Then several Air Palms flew over, and Rasa spat out a mouthful of blood in midair.
The Sand Armor shattered into fine sand. From the corner of his eye, Rasa saw Hyuga Ao running down the wall and heading toward his landing point to wait for him.
He was suddenly startled. The sand from the Sand Armor peeled away and was immediately manipulated by Rasa, transforming into an aerial platform that caught him.
Hyuga Ao was depressed. Was that my Mercy Palm?
Rasa spat blood in a sorry state, but he still could not help smiling smugly.
Surprised? I can fly.
Hyuga Ao wore an annoyed expression. She turned and climbed back onto the wall, preparing to pounce on Rasa and kill him.
Rasa's smile froze. He hurriedly urged the sand to carry him toward the sea of sand, then dove into it and disappeared beneath the surface.
Hyuga Ao's face puffed up like a bun with anger. She watched Rasa's chakra dive deeper and deeper into the sea of sand, grinding her teeth in hatred. Wasn't this just cheating?
But Hyuga Ao truly had no way to deal with him at the moment, so she could only turn back and inspect the battle below.
The final and most elite forces of the Sand Ninja and Konoha had become entangled below.
Once the Sand Ninja's terrain advantage was interrupted, the Konoha forces led by Tsunade beat them into steady retreat.
Tsunade was far too effective against Puppeteers. No matter how flashy your tricks were, one punch from her made them disappear.
No one among the Sand Ninja could take a single punch from Tsunade.
The balance of victory slowly tilted toward Konoha.
Just then, Orochimaru returned, with Chiyo close behind.
With the return of both sides' commanders, the Sand Ninja and Konoha gradually disengaged, and the two sides fought to an even draw.
Both commanders knew that the battle could no longer continue.
After a period of confrontation, Ebizo and Jiraiya each gathered their troops and arrived. Seeing how exhausted their forces were, both sides exchanged a few harsh words before leaving.
Inside the main tent, the firelight blazed as the Sannin spent the entire night handling the aftermath of the battle.
This battle between Konoha and the Sand Ninja could only be considered a draw. Both sides had suffered heavy losses.
When Tsunade's treatment had previously been interrupted, the elite battlefield had held together, but the Konoha shinobi elsewhere had collapsed instantly. Many people had died in that moment.
The Sand Ninja had also fared little better because of their mistaken decisions. Given that they had launched a surprise attack first yet ended up in this state, it was indeed a failure.
After the great battle at Konoha's camp, they could only set up camp elsewhere. On the way, they discovered traces of a large force that had stopped behind them.
It had remained there for a long time.
It might even have watched the entire battle.
Konoha was terrified in retrospect. They had no idea why that force had not attacked, and could only feel fortunate.
"Should we continue sending reinforcements?" Jiraiya asked.
"The Sand Ninja have been crippled and only the Rain Ninja remain. If the Rain Ninja insist on fighting, we'll still have to send reinforcements." Tsunade sighed.
Orochimaru's expression shifted uncertainly as he recalled the force that had stopped behind them earlier. He seemed to have thought of something.
He shook his head, deciding that it was all speculation, and said nothing.
Besides the casualties, Konoha now faced another major problem.
The lethal weapons of the Sand Ninja Puppeteers were not limited to mechanisms. They also had poison.
All the poison that had entered the bodies of Konoha's shinobi on the battlefield had previously been suppressed by Tsunade and had not erupted.
Now that they had investigated the situation, they discovered that the poison afflicting most of the shinobi was the same kind. Konoha had never encountered it before and had no antidote for the time being.
Therefore, to reduce noncombat losses, Konoha had to seek an antidote.
"When are you leaving?" Jiraiya asked.
"Soon. Let's try to make it a quick trip there and back."
Before you continue