The Battle Begins

Boom! Another explosion rang out. Sand Hidden's third Giant Ninja Tool shattered into pieces, injuring several nearby ninjas. Three Giant Ninja Tools had been destroyed in less than fifteen seconds.

"Damn it!" Even Chiyo had to grit her teeth and curse at the sight. With these Giant Ninja Tools destroyed, wouldn't they be at a huge disadvantage once the battle began?

Boom! Another explosion sounded, and the fourth Giant Ninja Tool was blown apart.

"Earth Style ninjas, protect the Giant Ninja Tools. Wind Style ninjas, use Great Breakthrough to blow that thing away." Watching the fourth massive machine get shattered, Chiyo immediately issued an order.

'Earth Style: Earth Wall.' As Chiyo's order was relayed, ten-meter-tall Earth Walls rose before the Sand Shinobi formation, shielding the massive ninja tool machinery.

Boom! Another shell landed, but this time it fell into the crowd. The violent explosion instantly blasted four or five people away and even caused panic among the nearby ninjas.

However, faced with shells landing among the crowd, the Wind Style ninjas were at a loss.

"Elder Chiyo, the enemy's attacks are too fast. From far away, we can't see them, and from close up, it's already too late to use ninjutsu," one ninja reported as he faced the shells falling among the crowd.

Faced with this situation, not only were the ordinary Sand Shinobi helpless, but even Rasa and Chiyo were at a loss. They were caught between advancing and retreating.

"Elder Chiyo, launch a charge!" Seeing explosions beginning to erupt among the crowd, Rasa suggested. Retreat was not an option. Once they retreated, the ninjas' morale would plummet, and those large pieces of equipment could not be pulled back in time.

"Send a thousand men to charge. The remaining ninjas will temporarily retreat into the forest," Chiyo ordered helplessly.

"Kill!" Following the order, thunderous battle cries erupted from the Sand Shinobi formation. Nearly a thousand Sand Shinobi charged out of formation, rushing into the farmland between the two armies and charging toward the Konoha Ninja formation.

"Holy crap, that thing can actually hit targets two kilometers away, and its power is way greater than Explosive Tags." (Setting: ordinary Explosive Tags were only about twice as powerful as ordinary grenades, and lacked a grenade's fragment-killing effect. An ordinary grenade contained roughly 300 grams of explosives.)

"Two kilometers? Is that thing a Tailed Beast?"

"Could the rumors be true? Is Yueguang Han of the Hayate Clan really a super genius who has killed more than three hundred Sand Shinobi?"

Within the Konoha Ninja formation, the ninjas at the front shaded their eyes from the sunlight with their hands as they watched the explosions in the opposing Sand Shinobi formation. They exclaimed in amazement and even cursed aloud.

"Give me a refill." Watching the charging Sand Shinobi, Yueguang Han turned to the ten Lightning Style ninjas behind him.

'Lightning Style: Earth Running.' *10.

Following Yueguang Han's words, the ten ninjas immediately used Lightning Style: Earth Running on him. Yueguang Han's Energy Points instantly rose by four hundred.

"He really is immune to Lightning Style, and he can even use Lightning Style to replenish himself."

"It would be such a waste if this kid didn't go deal with those guys from the Cloud Village. He counters them completely!"

The Konoha Ninjas were even more astonished now. Ten Lightning Style techniques had struck him, yet he was completely unharmed.

Boom, boom, boom...! The cannon fire continued without pause. Shell after shell fell into the forest where Sand Hidden had temporarily taken shelter, setting off violent explosions and blasting down many trees.

Lord Han, your Bloodline Limit grows more astonishing by the day. What other surprises can you bring me? Orochimaru thought secretly as he watched Yueguang Han fire continuously. He gave no orders to the Konoha Ninjas regarding the thousand-odd Sand Shinobi charging toward them.

Very soon, the thousand charging Sand Shinobi crossed a distance of one thousand meters.

"Fire the ninja tools." Only then did Orochimaru finally issue his order.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Following Orochimaru's order, enormous Fuma Shuriken with a diameter of five meters were launched from massive machines. Spinning with howling winds, they descended upon the charging Sand Shinobi.

'Earth Style: Earth Wall.'

'Earth Style: Dodai.'

'Wind Style: Wind Pillar.'

Faced with the incoming Giant Fuma Shuriken, the Earth Style ninjas among the leading Sand Shinobi acted one after another. Thick, towering Earth Walls rose from the farmland, one after another. Thick stone pillars rapidly thrust up from beneath the Fuma Shuriken. Even when they failed to strike them directly, they could still block the Giant Fuma Shuriken flying behind them. Columns of wind also blew head-on toward the Giant Fuma Shuriken.

Crack, crash! Amid the sounds of Earth Walls and stone pillars being sliced apart, wall after wall and pillar after pillar were severed and smashed by the Giant Fuma Shuriken. Yet with the Sand Shinobi working together to stop them, the three hundred Giant Fuma Shuriken only killed a little over twenty people. Most were blocked or evaded.

After blocking the first wave of Giant Fuma Shuriken, the Sand Shinobi continued charging. Reinstalling the Giant Fuma Shuriken would take some time, and that was enough time for the Sand Shinobi to reach Konoha's formation.

"Lord Han, they're still a thousand meters away. Should the others charge?" Orochimaru asked Yueguang Han with a smile as he watched the Sand Shinobi continue their charge after blocking a wave of Giant Fuma Shuriken.

"Not yet," Yueguang Han replied calmly. He adjusted the cannon barrel and aimed it at the charging Sand Shinobi. This time, the shell in the chamber was not an explosive shell, but a Shrapnel Shell. Though the difference was only one word, their killing methods were completely different.

(Shrapnel Shell: It had a thin metal casing filled with metal pellets. Ideally, it would explode several meters above the ground in front of enemy infantry, scattering metal pellets over them like an enormous shotgun.)

Boom! With a dull cannon blast, a shell flew straight toward the charging Sand Shinobi.

Boom! The shell exploded five meters above the charging Sand Shinobi. Thousands of steel balls spread through the air, scattering toward the charging Sand Shinobi like bullets.

Pfft, pfft, pfft...! The sounds of steel balls entering flesh and soil rang densely across the battlefield. The nearest few Sand Shinobi were instantly riddled with holes. All the Sand Shinobi within a teardrop-shaped area ten meters wide and thirty meters long fell to the ground. Several Sand Shinobi beyond that range were also injured. However, quite a few among them were Earth Clones. Mixing Earth Clones into the formation could also help disperse the enemy's firepower.

(It was not that they could not defend themselves. It was that if they defended, they could not charge, and if they charged, they would not have time to defend.)

"Ah! Ah! Ah!..." Wails and screams instantly rang out. The Sand Shinobi at the edge of the steel ball spread were all struck. The lucky ones were only hit in the arms or legs, while the unlucky ones were shot in the chest or abdomen and could only lie on the ground wailing. The Sand Shinobi in the center of the spread had already fallen silent.

Sharp breaths rang continuously through the Konoha Ninja formation. That single attack had achieved results comparable to all the Giant Fuma Shuriken fired earlier. The key was that there was simply no time to defend against it.

"Elder Chiyo, the enemy's abilities are too strange. This terrain is completely unfavorable to us." In the forest where the Sand Shinobi had temporarily taken shelter, the Sand Shinobi also sucked in cold breaths as they watched their comrades fall in groups. One high-ranking Sand Shinobi had no choice but to advise Chiyo.

Boom! Another explosion rang out before the charging Sand Shinobi, and the scattering steel balls once again cleared out a group of Sand Shinobi and clones.

An attack every five seconds on average. Orochimaru silently calculated as he watched another group of Sand Shinobi get wiped out.

"Defend yourselves! Defend yourselves now!" After suffering casualties twice in a row, shouts erupted among the charging Sand Shinobi. Their charge halted, and Earth Walls rose before them once more.

"Build defenses in sequence and advance!" Following the commanders' shouts, Earth Walls rose farther and farther ahead while the Sand Shinobi approached Konoha's formation behind them.

(They had not used this method from the beginning because it consumed too much Chakra. The ninjas responsible for defense might exhaust their Chakra before they even reached the enemy.)

"Can you still attack them?" Orochimaru asked Yueguang Han as he watched the Sand Shinobi raise their defenses.

Yueguang Han shook his head and canceled the Mountain Cannon Template.

"First echelon, charge!" Seeing this, Orochimaru ordered the Anbu beside him.

"Kill!" Following Orochimaru's command, more than a thousand Konoha Ninjas charged out from their formation as well, shouting as they rushed toward the Sand Shinobi advancing under the cover of Earth Walls. Those Sand Shinobi had already consumed a great deal of Chakra.

If you enjoy this book, please remember to add it to your bookshelf so you can find it next time.