Engaging in Battle

Hoo!

Four tall walls of Gold Dust rose around the sand vortex, the Gold Dust interlocking to seal it completely. Looking down from above, it resembled a rectangular house of Gold Dust built on the Gold Dust ground.

And on the inside of the Gold Dust house, protrusions emerged from the walls. The protrusions rapidly enlarged, stretching out to become incredibly sharp golden spears.

Souya prepared to unleash a volley at Orochimaru the moment he broke free.

But events unfolded beyond Souya's expectations. A bang suddenly erupted from within the "Golden Thorn House."

Orochimaru must have broken free from the Sealing Technique. Without a moment's hesitation, Souya directly commanded the golden spears to shoot straight into the center of the sand vortex.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The golden spears made dull thudding sounds as they embedded themselves in the Gold Dust, but Souya's brow furrowed. He hadn't received any information about Orochimaru being hit.

Suddenly, from the lower right side of the "Golden Thorn House," a figure shot out. This figure had been lurking within the Gold Dust and was now swimming away at an extremely high speed.

For a moment, Souya was bewildered. Orochimaru shouldn't be acting cowardly...

Judging by Orochimaru's speed, his Earth Style Chakra nature transformation level was clearly very high. Even with Souya controlling the Gold Dust, he couldn't keep him there...

However, not having to continue a deadly struggle with Orochimaru was a good thing.

Souya took a soldier pill from his ninja tool pouch and put it in his mouth.

He crushed it with his molars, chewed it haphazardly a few times, and then swallowed.

A bitter, pungent, and somewhat foul taste quickly spread through Souya's mouth, following down his throat and into his stomach.

These were soldier pills that Souya had specifically requested extra ingredients for from the medical team. While pursuing greater medicinal effects, the taste naturally became challenging.

Stomach acid quickly enveloped the powder of the soldier pill. Souya felt Chakra beginning to generate in his meridians and all over his body, and he finally felt a little relieved.

In war, doing your best to maintain abundant Chakra was a matter of survival.

He gripped the Starfall Rod in his right hand, stepped onto the golden clouds, and sped off in the direction of Kikyo Mountain.

"Fire Style? Great Fireball Technique!"

"Earth Style? Earth Style Wall!"

"Wind Style? Great Breakthrough!"

"Water Style? Water Wall..."

Toyokawa Etsushi stared at the Konoha ninja before him, his two- tomoe Sharingan locked onto the figure.

"Give up! Sand Ninja!"

"With your clumsy taijutsu and ninjutsu, how can you possibly be a match for the Sharingan!" The Uchiha clan ninja stood on the branch of a large tree, his blood-red eyes filled with mockery and disdain.

"Ah! Without these eyes, you are nothing!" Toyokawa Etsushi panted heavily, blood flowing down his forehead and soaking into his eyes.

This made his eyes extremely uncomfortable, and the world in his vision seemed to be tinged with a hazy crimson.

He held a kunai in his right hand and covered a deep wound on his abdomen with his left. His internal organs could already be vaguely seen wriggling.

"If you have to blame someone, then blame your lowly origins!" The Uchiha ninja's eyes sharpened, the tomoe spinning faster. Immediately, his figure flashed.

Toyokawa Etsushi propped himself up, gritting his teeth, trying to locate the enemy.

A faint whistling sound came through the air. Toyokawa Etsushi instantly turned his body, using his kunai to deflect two shuriken.

Hiss!

The sound of a taut steel wire suddenly rang out, but his pupils dilated sharply. An intense warning of danger almost consumed his mind.

But his body no longer obeyed him. No matter how he commanded it, his legs remained rooted to the spot, unable to move.

Suddenly, he felt his vision abruptly recede a considerable distance.

With a bang, he realized he had been bound to a large tree by a steel wire. The reason his body had been unable to move earlier was because his limbs had already been bound by the steel wire.

Toyokawa Etsushi was still trying to track his enemy's movements. Finally, he saw his enemy, standing to his front right.

"Attack..."

This was Toyokawa Etsushi's last thought, but he could no longer launch any effective techniques.

Hiss...

The guy with the blood-red eyes looked on with disdain. He didn't even glance at Toyokawa Etsushi again, merely tugging hard on the steel wire.

Snap!

The breaking tree trunk toppled to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The next moment, a large amount of blood flowed from the lush green branches, resembling a pool of blood.

However, no one on the battlefield would notice the torn-apart meat chunks within, because the eyes of both warring sides only saw living enemies!

The brutal slaughter continued, a massacre of the weak by the strong. Without a doubt, most of the Uchiha clan ninjas belonged to the stronger category.

Generally, those who participated in war were mostly at the two-tomoe level. The Sharingan's excellent dynamic vision, Chakra reserves exceeding those of ordinary ninjas, coupled with the diverse ninjutsu taught within their clan...

This resulted in Sand Ninja at the Chunin level being unable to last more than a few rounds against Uchiha clan members of the same Chunin rank, and even ordinary Jonin could not defeat them.

It was only because the number of Sand Ninja was greater at the moment that the phenomenon of the front line continuously advancing appeared.

If someone were to count the number of ninjas who died in battle, they would discover that the Sand Ninja's death rate was rapidly increasing.

After all, most of Konoha's ninjas had been tempered by the flames of war, while many of the young Sand Ninja were only experiencing the blood and brutality of war for the first time.

"Human Boulder!"

A perfectly round sphere the size of a house suddenly shot out from the shade of the trees, crushing towards over a dozen Sand Ninja with fierce momentum.

The grass on the ground was directly crushed into scattered foam, revealing the brown earth beneath.

"Dodge quickly!"

A Sand Ninja in his forties shouted loudly. A hideous scar ran across his jaw; if it had been just a little lower, he probably wouldn't have been able to stand here.

Even though someone had already issued a timely warning, a Sand Ninja who looked to be in his teens froze in place out of fear.

His face, still showing signs of youth, was filled with terror. Fine beads of sweat continuously slid down his face, and saliva unintentionally dripped from the corners of his mouth. It seemed his mental defenses had been completely shattered.

"Jump away, quickly!"

The middle-aged Sand Ninja's eyes were about to split open. He yelled while throwing several kunai.

But the young Sand Ninja still stood frozen in place, and the massive sphere showed no mercy, rolling directly towards him.

"Ah!"

A sharp, piercing scream rang out, but it stopped abruptly the next instant.