Ambush

In the woods not far from the other side of the camp, a Jonin watched coldly as the camp blazed with fire and fell into chaos.

"Now!" The Jonin waved his hand, the blazing fire illuminating the Konoha Forehead Protector on his head. A signal flare exploded in the sky. (bgm: Rising Fighting Spirit/斗志, Musashi)

The Hidden Sand ninjas who had charged into the camp froze and looked up at the signal flare bursting in the sky. "Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Before the flare's sound had faded, noises of objects cutting through the air rang out from all sides. Countless Kunai suddenly flew out of the thick smoke and flames, striking the ninjas at the front. Many were left looking like pincushions.

Immediately afterward, more than a hundred Konoha ninjas guarding the convoy charged out from underground, from the tents, and from the woods, surrounding the enemies who had attacked the camp. The attackers were caught completely off guard, and dozens of ninjas fell in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it, we've been tricked!" the Hidden Sand ninjas cried in alarm. As soon as the words left his mouth, a Konoha ninja rushing toward him cut through the back of his neck with a single slash.

In their panic, the Hidden Sand ninjas had no idea how many Konoha shinobi were attacking them. They began to lose their nerve, their cries of alarm rising without end.

The Konoha ninjas, by contrast, calmly formed squads and coordinated to take down their opponents. They gradually tightened the encirclement, closing the net bit by bit.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Two Konoha ninjas combined their techniques. The wind fanned the flames, and the blaze swallowed several Sand ninjas in front of them, leaving only two human torches struggling and screaming in the sea of fire.

"Lightning Style: Earth Flash!" A ninja formed Hand Seals, then slapped his palm against the ground. Lightning Release Chakra surged out along his arm, and electric arcs danced across the earth, forming a net that electrocuted several nearby Sand ninjas until they could no longer move. His two companions rushed in at once and stabbed the paralyzed men one by one with Kunai.

The Hidden Sand ninjas fought as they retreated, suffering heavy casualties, but they had already recovered from their initial panic. They began to fight desperately to break out. Cornered beasts fought to the death! The Hidden Sand raiders had started out with three times as many ninjas as the Konoha guards. Although they had already lost more than eighty men, it was still difficult for Konoha's hundred ninjas to wipe them out.

Inside the camp, several Konoha ninjas surrounded two enemies. The two Hidden Sand Chunin stood back-to-back, covering each other, and the Konoha ninjas couldn't break through their defenses.

"Jiro, can you hold on?" the Sand ninja asked, Kunai raised.

"Big brother, I won't go down!" His companion Jiro's gaze was resolute.

"Then we brothers will die in battle here today! Jiro! You..." The Sand ninja speaking looked utterly disbelieving. He had never imagined that his brother Jiro, standing back-to-back with him, would drive a Kunai into his side. A faint smile crossed his companion's face, as if mocking his ignorance.

"Traitor! Die!" Enraged, he decided to take someone down with him. Summoning all his strength, he plunged his Kunai into the other man's chest, his face alight with the satisfaction of venting his rage.

The instant the Kunai pierced him, his companion's expression turned to shock and confusion. "Big brother? Why...?" He took his last breath.

The Hidden Sand ninja felt bewildered, but he no longer had the strength to think about it. He could only close his eyes in frustration. The two men fell to the ground, one after the other.

At the same time, not far away, Inoichi, who had been slumped beside Shikaku and Choza, suddenly came to. He smiled at his companions. "I took out two with the Mind Transfer Technique."

"Inoichi, be careful. If the body you're possessing gets hurt, your own body will be hurt too," Shikaku reminded him with a nod.

"It's fine. I returned to my own body the moment my opponent attacked," Inoichi said confidently.

Just then, Choza stepped forward. "Then it's time for the Ino-Shika-Cho squad to take the field!"

The three nodded and charged toward the enemy. A dozen or so enemies ahead were holding back the Konoha ninjas to cover their comrades' retreat. Shikaku approached and took advantage of the blazing firelight. "Shadow Possession Technique!" His shadow stretched far across the ground, splitting into more than a dozen tendrils that rushed toward the enemy. Four Hidden Sand ninjas leaped aside and dodged the shadows, but the others couldn't get away in time and were bound.

"Ninja Art: Mind Destruction Technique!" Before the ones who had escaped the shadows could even celebrate, they were caught in Inoichi's technique.

"Damn it, I can't control my body!" Their bodies moved against their will, turning to face one another in pairs as they drove their Kunai toward each other's hearts. "No! Stop! I don't want to die like this!" They stabbed each other and fell to the ground.

"Partial Multi-Size Technique!" Choza's arm grew long, and his hand became enormous. He swung sideways, batting the enemies Shikaku had bound away like baseballs. They landed dozens of meters away, dead beyond any doubt. "Bam! Bam!" Choza then slapped several enemies standing farther away flat, like mosquitoes. More than a dozen enemies were dealt with in just two minutes.

Elsewhere, at the camp gate, the Hidden Sand ninjas fought their way out through a bloody path and escaped through the same gate they had used to attack.

"Retreat!" Their leader waved, and the group fled down the road, sprinting as fast as they could. They ran several hundred meters without stopping, but the Konoha ninjas didn't pursue them.

"Phew... Did we get away?" Dozens of Sand ninjas breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hm? What's this?" A sharp-eyed man spotted hundreds of Explosive Tags densely stuck to the tree trunks, rocks, road, and ground around them.

"Oh no! It's an ambush! Run—" Before he could finish, the Explosive Tags were detonated. "Boom, boom, boom..." Blinding light swallowed the dozens of men, and the enormous explosions echoed through the forest. A huge fireball rose from the road, and the shock wave snapped trees in half. Smoke and dust billowed in every direction as flames shot into the sky. Only after more than ten seconds did it slowly clear, revealing a crater fifteen or sixteen meters in diameter.

A few Hidden Sand ninjas who had run more slowly had actually escaped the blast. They staggered to their feet and dusted themselves off. Still shaken, they muttered, "That was terrifying..."

"There's worse to come!" A voice sounded among them. The men stared in alarm and saw a small figure flash into the middle of their group of four. They had no idea when he had appeared.

"Gentle Fist Art: Thirty-Six Death Point Rotation Strike!"

Riyue's Byakugan was already activated. He moved his foot, pushed off the ground with his right leg, and began spinning rapidly in place. He raised both hands, stabbing his fingers out in every direction at a frantic pace. Finger afterimage filled the space around him, dazzling the eye.

"Feishu Point! Jueyin Point! Xinshu Point! Shenshu Point! Mingmen Point! Zhishi Point! Qihaiyu Point! Weilü Point! Baihui Point! Shenting Point! Taiyang Point! Ermen Point! Jingming Point! Renzhong Point! Yamen Point! Fengchi Point! Renying Point! Jianjing Point! Taiyuan Point! Zusanli Point! Sanyinjiao Point! Yongquan Point! Danzhong Point! Jiuwei Point! Juque Point! Shenque Point! Qihai Point! Guanyuan Point! Zhongji Point! Qugu Point! Yingchuang Point! Ruzhong Point! Rugen Point! Qimen Point! Zhangmen Point! Shangqu Point!!!"

Riyue's fingers struck faster and faster, blue Chakra dancing at his fingertips. After spinning several times, he suddenly planted one foot and stopped. The afterimages only vanished once he had finished his flurry of strikes.

The four men stood like wooden puppets. Riyue didn't pause for a moment. With the Body Flicker Technique, he appeared in front of another enemy farther away.

Clearly startled by Riyue's speed, the enemy shouted, "Damn it, don't underestimate the Hidden Sand ninjas!" He raised his hand to attack. Riyue had already read the movement in his arm muscles. He intercepted the incoming Kunai with his left hand and struck toward the man's chest with his right.

"Gentle Fist Art: Five-Finger Heart-Piercing Break!" Riyue had mastered this technique far better than when he had fought Dan Katō. It looked as if he had merely patted the man's chest lightly. In fact, he had shaped his fingers like claws and rapidly struck the man's heart, using finger strength and Chakra needles to damage the autonomic nerves and sinoatrial node. His final finger strike landed on the heart, feeling no stronger than a gentle pat from an open palm against the chest.

The enemy froze, then his face twisted. Clutching his chest, he collapsed to the ground, his muscles spasming.

At the same time, the four men Riyue had struck earlier suddenly vomited blood. Their eyes glazed over, and they fell dead.

Gentle Fist Art: Thirty-Six Death Point Rotation Strike was a new technique Riyue had devised to deal with multiple enemies surrounding him. It incorporated the spinning footwork of Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Spin and the multidirectional attacks of Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, striking the enemies' vital points in every direction.

Depending on the enemy's position, he struck the points on the back of those facing away, the points beneath the arms and on the limbs of those turned sideways, and the points on the chest and face of those facing him. An ordinary person would die from a single full-strength strike to a vital point. Ninjas had Chakra to protect their bodies, so Riyue needed to strike three or four vital points to ensure a fatal blow. He estimated that once he had mastered the technique, he would be able to kill nine to twelve enemies around him in a single burst.

At the same time, "Secret Technique: Insect Sphere!" Shibi spread a vast swarm of black insects across the area, then abruptly drew them together, wrapping several men in the swarm. The enemies screamed as the Kikaichū devoured them without leaving a trace. Mizuki also used Gentle Fist to deal with the last two enemies before coming over to join Riyue.

Riyue looked at the huge crater and pursed his lips in amazement. "Shibi, your army of insects is incredible. You even planted all those Explosive Tags."

Shibi expressionlessly pushed up his sunglasses. "This is my secret army."

Mizuki looked at Riyue and said with a smile, "Riyue, thank goodness you spotted the enemy in time and took action. Otherwise, things could have ended terribly." Riyue nodded.

A few hours earlier, after Mizuki had rested, Riyue had activated his Byakugan and taken a look around. He had activated it eight times that day, and each time there had been one problem: he hadn't seen any small animals nearby. The animals must have been scared away by something. Looking more carefully, he saw faint Chakra movement beneath the camp, which meant people were hiding underground.

That was why Riyue had discovered the ambush before the camp was built and informed everyone. To avoid alerting the enemy, he had said, "It 'looks' like there's nothing unusual." In fact, he was telling everyone to stick to the plan.

Shikaku had predicted that the enemy would attack around three or four in the morning. Everyone had closed their eyes to rest and recover their Chakra in preparation for battle. Choza had been eating constantly to stock up on energy for the fight. Inoichi had left the tent and gone for a walk to pass along the information he had gathered. Shibi's insects had been assigned to monitor the enemy.

Most of the main force had quietly hidden during the camp's construction. Many had concealed themselves in the nearby trees, while all the supplies had been moved to an inconspicuous corner. The tents in the middle contained nothing but empty boxes. Most of the sentries were Substitution Puppets; those on patrol and those lying in the tents were Shadow Clones. The cries and screams had all been made by Konoha ninjas.

The enemy thought their sneak attack had succeeded and charged into the camp, only to be caught off guard by the Konoha ninjas lying in ambush. They suffered heavy losses, but the enemy still outnumbered Konoha two to one. So Riyue had planned to let some of them escape, both to finish them off and to make it easier to close the net.

The enemy "broke through" along the road they had come by, and the encirclement tightened again. After the enemy entered the camp, Shibi's insects carried Explosive Tags onto the road and planted them in ambush. Once the dozens who escaped had been wiped out by the Explosive Tags, Shibi, Riyue, and Mizuki finished off the stragglers.

At this point, only half the enemy remained inside the encirclement. The hundred Konoha ninjas would surely be able to wipe them out.

At that moment, watching the blaze ahead and hearing a deafening crash, the shadow could no longer stay calm.

"Go see what happened!"

"Yes!" One of the seven shadows behind him left using the Body Flicker Technique.

A short while later, he returned and knelt before the shadow to report. "My lord! We've fallen into a Konoha ambush! The enemy has surrounded our forces!"

"Damn it! Has Konoha found out? It looks like we Jonin will have to join the fight too. We'll fight for Lord Kazekage! If the mission fails, we'll die when we return anyway!"

"Yes, my lord!" all seven replied in unison.

They were Jonin in the Kazekage's inner circle. If the mission failed, the Kazekage would inevitably be attacked by the council of elders, so there would be no point in going back.

Suddenly, the ninja who had delivered the report leaped into the air and lunged at the shadow. The shadow was completely unprepared. The Kunai sliced straight across his neck, and blood gushed out. Clutching his throat, the shadow collapsed to the ground.

"My lord!" The other six cried out, thrown into disarray. They attacked the ninja who had ambushed him, but the man stood still, neither dodging nor retreating. They stabbed straight through his chest, but at the same time, his Kunai sliced open another man's artery. The two died together.

"Damn it! What is this...?" The five remaining Jonin were horrified.

A fully transparent figure emerged from the body of the ninja who had fallen dead. Faint white light radiated from him, and a soft, pale blue halo surrounded his body. He had no feet; instead, a long trail of light formed by the halo extended below him.

It was Dan Katō, in his Spirit Transformation Technique form.