Situation Escalates

The war between Konoha and Hidden Cloud had reached its most intense point.

Most people hadn't expected that while Konoha was encircling and ambushing, continuously repelling the reinforcement troops personally led by the Fourth Raikage and expanding their victories.

The hundreds of Hidden Cloud remnants trapped within Konoha's encirclement unleashed astonishing combat power.

Realizing that rescue from their village was hopeless and their existence would only burden their village, these ninjas chose to concentrate all their strength and launch a final, most valiant offensive.

Either they would break through successfully, or they would all die fighting, never surrendering, never clinging to life, and never becoming a pawn for Konoha to strike their village.

With this thought, as night fell, under the leadership of three Jonin, the over five hundred surviving Hidden Cloud remnants, with a resolve to sacrifice themselves for their village, launched their breakout attack.

"Everyone, follow me! Three-man teams. If the one in front falls, the one behind takes his place. Taking down one Konoha bastard is pure profit!"

The Hidden Cloud Jonin leading this breakout charged at the very front.

"Let me go first! I'm covered in explosive tags!"

A Hidden Cloud Chunin, with streaks of silver in his hair, burst from the crowd and rushed to the forefront of the formation.

"Kill the Konoha bastards!"

"Even if we all die, we won't be bait for Konoha, dragging our village down."

"Breakout! Breakout! Breakout!"

At this moment, these Hidden Cloud ninjas didn't seem like ninjas, but more like berserk warriors who had gone mad, charging in one direction towards the encirclement.

There was no formation to maintain, no elaborate tactical plan. They simply didn't want to be a burden to their village and chose to use their lives to wear down Konoha's ninjas.

Facing the desperate breakout launched by Hidden Cloud, Konoha was caught completely off guard.

The Konoha ninjas defending the west, facing the breakout, fought to the death without retreating and immediately called for emergency reinforcements.

"Konoha bastards, all of you die for me!"

The Hidden Cloud Chunin who had just shouted about charging to the front led the charge into the Konoha ranks, directly detonating the explosive tags on his body.

With a deafening roar!

The Chunin was blown to pieces. The surrounding Konoha ninjas, unable to dodge in time, were sent flying backward, their fates unknown.

"Those Hidden Cloud lunatics, they never intended to get out alive." A Konoha Jonin's heart sank as he witnessed this scene, having already guessed the plan of these Hidden Cloud ninjas.

These guys never thought about breaking through; they were here to fight to the death!

"Everyone, follow me! We absolutely cannot let the Hidden Cloud ninjas break through."

Before his words even landed, this Konoha Jonin drew the ninja sword from his back and charged forward first.

Not a single Konoha ninja holding the line retreated. They all picked up their weapons and charged forward to fight the Hidden Cloud ninjas.

The Konoha ninjas defending this section of the front line numbered barely a hundred, far fewer than the breaking-out Hidden Cloud ninjas.

However, these Konoha ninjas, relying on their ample supplies and a ferocity no less than that of Hidden Cloud's desperate charge, managed to hold off the Hidden Cloud ninjas for a short period.

More than ten minutes later, Minato, having received the reinforcement request, arrived first using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

The arrival of Minato alone helped Konoha directly reverse the tide of the battle.

Like Sakumo, Minato was like a special counter to human-shaped opponents. He became a golden flash on the battlefield, ruthlessly reaping the lives of the Hidden Cloud ninjas.

The battlefield was littered with corpses, their blood soaking the earth, dyeing the entire land a dark red.

In this battle, all five hundred-plus Hidden Cloud ninjas perished, with no survivors.

The Konoha ninjas who held the line also suffered heavy casualties. Out of over a hundred, only thirty-six survived, and all of them were wounded.

This breakout also completely reversed the overall situation of the war.

The next morning, as the sun just began to rise, the Fourth Raikage at the Hidden Cloud command post received the news that the over five hundred ninjas in the encirclement had failed to break out and had all perished.

Bang!

The enraged Fourth Raikage smashed the table in front of him with a single punch, his entire face becoming congested and distorted with fury.

The few staff officers and advisors beside him were silent, as they had actively persuaded the Fourth Raikage yesterday to negotiate with Konoha, end the war, and use money to buy back the surrounded Hidden Cloud ninjas.

"They all died!" The Fourth Raikage's bloodshot eyes swept across everyone in the tent.

"They could have lived! They were bait in Konoha's hands. As long as we didn't give up, Konoha wouldn't have moved against them."

The Fourth Raikage suppressed his rage, muttering in a low voice as he walked up to a staff officer beside him.

"Why did they go to their deaths?"

The staff officer's eyes were also red with anger and grief. He said in a low voice, "They went to their deaths voluntarily."

"Our brothers, to avoid burdening us, to avoid burdening the entire village, chose to use their lives to wear down Konoha's ninjas."

As the Fourth Raikage spoke, he looked at everyone, his face as cold as ice, his tone filled with anger and a deep killing intent, and declared, "From now on, if anyone proposes peace talks again, I will kill them with my own hands!"

"Revenge!" Dodai, a trusted confidant of both the Third and Fourth Raikage, the Hidden Cloud's strategist, seized the opportunity and raised his arms, shouting.

"Revenge!"

"Revenge!"

Everyone inside the tent raised their arms and shouted with bloodshot eyes.

The Fourth Raikage clenched his fists and stepped out of the tent, where countless Hidden Cloud ninjas had gathered upon hearing the commotion.

All eyes were fixed on the Fourth Raikage, every face filled with fury; the entire Hidden Cloud camp was like a powder keg ready to explode at the slightest touch.

"Avenge them!" The Fourth Raikage raised his right hand.

"Avenge them!"

Countless Hidden Cloud ninjas followed suit, raising their arms and shouting in unison, their voices rising in wave after wave.

The repeated setbacks suffered at the hands of Konoha and the heroic sacrifices of their comrades had pushed the anger and morale of the entire Hidden Cloud to its peak.

This battle had been a turning point, and with the sacrifice of over five hundred Hidden Cloud Champions, the situation had undergone a cataclysmic change.

Konoha had lost its greatest trump card for keeping the Hidden Cloud in check, and now they would face a desperate force sworn to avenge their fallen comrades.

"This battle is going to be difficult!"

Inside the Konoha command center, Jiraiya wore a look of concern.

The expressions of the others also turned grim, for they all knew that the coming war would devolve into a bloody, fight-to-the-death struggle.

Minato stood beside Jiraiya; as the hero who had been the first to arrive as reinforcements last night, his expression was equally grave.

Last night, those Hidden Cloud ninjas who had been fearless of death—or perhaps even actively seeking it—had left a deep impression on him.

"If the Hidden Cloud is blinded by rage, it could be a good opportunity. We can exploit this to plan another ambush, wipe out their main force, and cripple them in one fell swoop," Orochimaru offered a different perspective, licking his lips with a cold, sinister glint in his eyes.

"Orochimaru makes a valid point. While the Hidden Cloud's morale is high, we still hold the advantage in raw strength. If they want a decisive battle, then we shall give them one!" Mitokado Homura, a Hokage advisor and strategist whose spirit had not yet fully withered, agreed.

"But if we fight like that, the casualties will be too high." Jiraiya hesitated.

"Jiraiya, at this stage of the war, stop worrying about casualties! We should be considering how to win this war. As long as we can win and crush the Hidden Cloud in one blow, we will be able to rest and recover for the next twenty or thirty years," Mitokado Homura criticized sharply.

Jiraiya said nothing more, merely nodding in silence as he fixed his gaze upon the sand table before him.