Ludiana City
Yashamaru wiped the blood from his face and walked over to Rasa. "Brother-in-law, the city has been cleared."
Rasa stood in the shadow of the tallest building in the city, looking down over the streets below.
"How many casualties?"
Yashamaru fell silent for a moment. "They resisted fiercely. Fewer than 1,600 of our people are still fit to fight. The Medical Ninja are treating the wounded."
They hadn't expected the enemy to have planted so many Explosive Tags throughout the city. They had lost many comrades in the first clash, then been dragged into the nightmare of street fighting, which had stretched the battle out.
But Ludiana City lay on the only route to Kikyo Castle. They couldn't leave it behind them.
Hoshino Maki's route was certainly the better one, but as they'd said, although the Kazekage faction had the upper hand in the Elder Council's struggle, it couldn't claim every advantage. Rasa had more troops, so the route assigned to his forces faced greater resistance.
"How many prisoners?"
Yashamaru shook his head. "Very few. Everyone was on edge and couldn't hold back."
Rasa's expression didn't change, as though he'd expected this all along.
Hoshino Maki had managed to capture Cloud Ninja largely because the two sides hadn't actually fought much. Once the Explosive Tags had carpeted the ground, the outcome was all but decided. The Sunagakure Shinobi Reinforcement Unit hadn't engaged the enemy in many life-or-death clashes, and Hoshino Maki had ended the battle with one decisive blow. Naturally, they hadn't lost their heads.
That was actually quite rare.
In most battles between ninja, both sides aimed to kill with a single strike. Often, one clash was enough to decide who lived and died, and even the longest fights lasted no more than five minutes.
They were