Ninja War, Entry Is the Grave

Yuhara could only feel the tense atmosphere spreading across the battlefield, while the Konoha ninjas further ahead were already drenched in blood.

A little earlier in time, just as the enemy entered the range of this battlefield, a Konoha ninja had already charged forward.

Without any need for communication, the two opposing ninjas closed in at high speed, and in a single exchange, that Konoha ninja lost an arm.

After the strike, they pulled back slightly. The Konoha ninja clenched his teeth tightly, not even glancing at his wound. Instead, he used his other, non-dominant hand to draw a kunai, then charged without hesitation at the enemy who far surpassed him.

At that moment, his other teammates merely watched him act, showing no intention of providing support... because this was the role he had been assigned.

As a pale flash of lightning flickered across the enemy's body, a large hole was easily torn through the Konoha ninja's chest.

And then he fell to the ground, with no chance of ever rising again.

After witnessing the enemy's technique, another observing Konoha ninja immediately began relaying information. He blew a special whistle hidden in his mouth, and a bird-like call rang out:

"Target confirmed. Begin the lure operation."

The Konoha ninja who had seemingly charged recklessly into battle and died was merely carrying out a mission to gather intel and confirm the enemy's identity. Strictly speaking, he wasn't even a true Konoha ninja—at best, he was a "ninja aligned with Konoha's forces."

Next, Konoha's vanguard unit, as if intimidated by the enemy's strength, immediately began retreating.

The enemy pursued without hesitation, and during the process of luring them forward, several more Konoha ninjas paid with their lives.

Without flashy ninjutsu or exceptional physical ability, for many ordinary ninjas, so-called combat was simply charging in to clash blades with the enemy. If you couldn't win, you died.

Soon after, Konoha realized the enemy wasn't a two-man squad but a four-man squad.

But the battle had already begun. There was no way to abort the operation now, and the enemy wouldn't easily allow the Konoha ninjas to disengage.

Standing at the very rear, Yuhara knew he couldn't stay this tense forever. He had to do something... With that thought, he reached behind him to his ninja tool bag and pulled out several shuriken, kunai, and a stack of explosive tags.

Then he began tying each explosive tag to a kunai.

Seeing this, Xinliang silently moved a little farther away... When someone who doesn't know what they're doing starts fiddling with explosives, any normal person would react the same way.

But for Yuhara, explosive tags were the most powerful thing he had. The more volatile the explosive, the more secure he felt.

After finishing this meager preparation, he fell silent again.

Gradually, the sounds of the forest grew chaotic. Suddenly, a violent explosion rang out ahead. Even from such a distance, Yuhara could feel the ground tremble.

It must have been one of Konoha's traps being triggered.

A thick cloud of dust rose in the forest, lingering between the trees and refusing to dissipate, making the surrounding light even dimmer.

After the explosion faded, a bird call sounded near Yuhara.

Yuhara quickly turned to look at Xinliang, his sharp gaze making the other flinch slightly.

But Xinliang didn't hesitate. He said quickly, "The trap failed!"

At this point, there was no longer any need to use coded signals to relay information, because no one could respond to Tigo's signal anymore.

"They're here!"

It was Tigo who shouted this time.

The moment the words left her mouth, Yuhara felt something approaching at high speed.

Their position was exposed! The enemy knew where Yuhara and the others were. In the blink of an eye, a Cloud Hidden ninja appeared right before them.

Tall and burly, with dark skin, around thirty years old, two deep scars running across his face... Yuhara sized up the enemy from head to toe, but when his gaze drifted downward, his eyes froze.

The enemy was dragging something in his hand.

As if noticing Yuhara's stare, the man casually swung his arm, and the thing in his hand rolled to a stop not far in front of Yuhara and Xinliang...

It was Captain Rindou—or rather, Captain Rindou's corpse.

Though Yuhara wasn't particularly familiar with the captain, only knowing him by sight, seeing someone who had been alive just moments ago suddenly reduced to a corpse was not an easy thing to accept.

For a moment, Yuhara didn't know how to describe what he was feeling. But then a realization dawned on him... So this is war.

In truth, when Konoha's trap failed to work, the operation was already doomed. How could ordinary chunin and genin possibly stand against an elite jonin?

No matter how brilliant the tactics and plans, if they couldn't bridge the gap in raw strength, they were meaningless.

And just as Yuhara was lost in these scattered thoughts, Xinliang beside him suddenly moved—not to recklessly attack the enemy, but to rush toward Rindou's body.

But just as Xinliang was about to retrieve the corpse, a short sword swung toward his face. He had to stop abruptly and change direction, barely avoiding a fatal blow.

The enemy's weapon sliced down from top to bottom along Xinliang's left arm, leaving a long, deep gash... like a green onion split open by a kitchen knife.

"Xinliang, Yuhara, you two hold him off. Leave this to me!"

As Jian Dong's voice fell, a blazing fireball hurtled toward the enemy.

Yuhara was jolted awake by his squad leader's shout. Gritting his teeth, he could only charge forward alongside Xinliang.

Though the Cloud Hidden enemy was large, his speed was equally impressive. He easily dodged Jian Dong's fire release, and by then, Xinliang and Yuhara had already flanked him from both sides.

With one arm injured, Xinliang could no longer perform hand signs, so Yuhara, who was still in full condition, became the main attacker. The problem, however, was...

He didn't know a single jutsu.

Without hesitation, Yuhara pulled out the prepared kunai and, without a second thought, hurled them wildly at the enemy.

At such close range, if the explosive tags detonated, the attack would certainly be indiscriminate.

The enemy saw a barrage of Explosive Tags hurtling straight at him and couldn't help raising an eyebrow. At this moment, he could only retreat quickly to dodge.

He thought he'd run into some Konoha hardliner willing to launch a suicide bombing attack.

But those kunai with Explosive Tags didn't explode. After flying a certain distance, they all clattered to the ground.

"..."

Huh?

"Uh, sorry, how do you set these off again?" Yuhara scratched the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed.

Just now, both sides had been perfectly in character—the tall, imposing enemy had been alert and swift, and his face still carried a hint of cunning and disdain... If the Explosive Tags had gone off, his expression would have been spot-on. But the problem was, they didn't.

A waste of everyone's emotions.

That Cloud Hidden Ninja locked his gaze onto Yuhara. He'd been wrong just now—this guy wasn't some hardliner; he was an idiot.

And just as he thought that, one of the kunai lying on the ground suddenly shot up like a rabbit springing from the grass. It darted toward the enemy with lightning speed, and then the Explosive Tag trailing behind it began to glow red. Next...

Boom!

With a massive explosion, orange-red flames instantly engulfed the enemy.

At the same time, Jian Dong had already rushed to Rindou's side.

Since the one who died in battle was her own older brother, Yuhara assumed Jian Dong was trying to retrieve and take away her brother's corpse. But that wasn't the case.

Jian Dong held a kunai in her hand. Though her fingertips trembled slightly, the next moment she unhesitatingly drove the kunai straight through her brother's eye socket.

Then, with a push of her arm, she buried the kunai deep into Rindou's brain.

"..." Catching this scene out of the corner of his eye, Yuhara had no idea what was happening.

But this was the absolutely correct way to handle a teammate.

From a small-scale operation plan to a battle-level strategy, from the fine details of personnel capabilities to the macro-level expansion or contraction of a nation's front lines... a team leader's mind held all kinds of intelligence, and such intelligence could never be leaked to the enemy.

And as long as the brain remained intact, even from a dead man, the enemy could potentially extract that intelligence from the corpse.

That was why Xinliang had charged straight for the team leader's body.

Jian Dong had neither the strength to protect her brother's life nor the ability to carry away his corpse. As a Konoha ninja, the only thing she could do was help her dead brother uphold his position as a Konoha ninja.

So...

Since that was the case, there was no room for hesitation.