Natural Disaster, Divine Punishment

"Enemies?!" Kakashi's gaze sharpened.

Sen Chisato nodded, pointing toward the forest ahead. "About thirty of them. They must have all been driven here by our Clearing Operation."

"All the stragglers?" Kakashi asked.

"Pretty much. Master Jiraiya and Shikaku-senpai should have finished up on their side long ago. If any Sand Ninja who infiltrated managed to slip through, they would definitely all run here!" Namikaze Minato said with certainty.

After all, because they had to provide guidance to Kakashi and his two teammates, their pace had inevitably slowed. Before they arrived, this area was the safest place for the Sand Ninja.

As for crossing the border into the Land of Fire... unless the Sand Ninja were fools, they wouldn't dare.

"What do you say? Thirty of them—want to give it a try?" Sen Chisato asked with a smile.

"Of course!" Uchiha Obito replied excitedly, while Kakashi and Nohara Rin nodded along.

Thirty enemies would be difficult for them to handle; wiping them all out was nearly impossible, and even escaping safely after making contact would be a feat. But this was a rare opportunity, and they certainly wouldn't refuse.

"In that case, you guys..."

Sen Chisato was just about to agree and offer some instructions when Namikaze Minato interrupted him.

"Wait!"

Namikaze Minato sensed something. He formed hand seals and slammed his palms onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"

Poof!

A cloud of smoke rose, and a toad half a person's height appeared from within.

"Minato, Jiraiya has intelligence for you." The toad opened its mouth and spat out a scroll.

Namikaze Minato immediately took it, opened it, and his brow furrowed tightly.

"What is it?" Sen Chisato asked, and the members of Team Minato looked on with curiosity.

"Led by the Fourth Kazekage, the Sand Hidden launched a large-scale offensive against Konoha last night!" Namikaze Minato said gravely.

Sen Chisato's expression darkened, and he hurriedly asked, "What are the casualties on both sides?"

"Our side lost over a hundred ninja, and the Sand Hidden suffered the same."

"Over two hundred people!" Sen Chisato gritted his teeth as he said the number, his face full of rage.

Damn you, Rasa, what exactly are you doing?!

Over two hundred people—just wasted like that!

If I had been there to bury them all, how many rewards could I have earned?

Even if the bodies of the Konoha ninja had to be brought back to the village for burial, there would still be over a hundred left.

Couldn't you have waited until I got back to start the war? What's the rush?!

A sense of urgency welled up within him. Sen Chisato said in a deep voice, "Minato, let's both move. I need to get back to the front lines immediately!"

After last night, such large-scale combat was now inevitable, and the frequency would only increase until the final, decisive war.

Sen Chisato had missed out once; he absolutely could not miss out a second time.

"Fair enough." Namikaze Minato did not refuse. He also intended to speed up the clearing mission and then rush back to the Konoha camp to assess the situation.

"Huh? But we agreed to let us handle it." Uchiha Obito looked disgruntled, his mouth pouting high.

"Idiot, shut up!" Kakashi scolded.

He was also disappointed to miss such a good practical combat opportunity, but he knew better than anyone what took precedence.

Sen Chisato was in a foul mood now, his face cold, having lost the smile he had worn for the past while.

With Uchiha Obito still grating on his nerves, if he weren't worried about wasting time, he would have hung the boy up and beaten him.

Even so, Sen Chisato wasn't planning on letting him off. He would take this opportunity to knock him down a peg—it would be best if he could shatter the boy's confidence entirely!

"You refuse to admit you're weak? This time, I'll show you what a true powerhouse looks like. Keep your eyes peeled and watch closely; we're only demonstrating this once!"

After glaring at Uchiha Obito and saying this, Sen Chisato turned to Namikaze Minato. "Give me some of your special kunai. I'll move first and create an opening for you to enter the fray."

"Alright."

Namikaze Minato pulled out a scroll, performed a seal, and produced thirty special kunai.

These kunai had a unique design—heavier than standard ones with two extra blades, resembling a trident. The handles were all inscribed with the "Sword of Ninja Love" seal, the very formula used to trigger the Flying Thunder God.

Sen Chisato formed hand seals and immediately split into nine shadow clones. Including his original body, there were ten of them. After dividing the thirty kunai, they immediately scattered using the Body Flicker Technique.

This sequence of movements was incredibly fluid, leaving the three members of Team Minato stunned.

It wasn't until Sen Chisato's original body and his clones had all vanished that Uchiha Obito finally snapped out of his stupor. Staring in disbelief, he gestured wildly and said, "Ni, nine shadow clones!"

Kakashi was equally shocked.

The Shadow Clone Jutsu was a technique that required an even distribution of the user's chakra to create physical clones; the more clones created, the greater the chakra consumption.

For instance, in his own case, his limit was about six shadow clones, but if he wanted to ensure he still had enough combat strength left after creating them, he could only manage two.

For someone like Sen Chisato to create nine at once—even an adult Jonin wouldn't dare attempt such a thing.

With so many shadow clones out, how much chakra could Sen Chisato possibly have left? Was he planning to abandon ninjutsu entirely and rely solely on taijutsu to handle this battle?

Or was he only planning a feint, leaving the main attack to Namikaze Minato?

As he pondered this, Namikaze Minato said, "It's about to begin. Watch closely, all of you; opportunities like this don't come often."

Hearing this, the three of them immediately focused their attention on the forest below.

On the other side, Sen Chisato had already quietly taken his position, about fifty meters away from the nearest Sand Ninja.

This group of Sand Ninja was gathered together, every face etched with exhaustion. Although they had assigned a few to keep watch, it was completely useless against Sen Chisato.

Before splitting into Shadow Clones, Sen Chisato had already finalized his plan. Together with his original body, ten of them moved in unison, secretly surrounding the group of Sand Ninja. Once the Shadow Clone that had taken the longest route was in position, they would all strike at once, unleashing a barrage of ninjutsu!

Not long after, powerful surges of chakra erupted suddenly from the surrounding forest, centered on the group of Sand Ninja.

Several Sand Ninja noticed immediately, rising to their feet while shouting a warning: "Enemy attack, defend!"

Before they could fully react, the attacks arrived in the blink of an eye.

BOOM!

A terrifying inferno swept in like a storm. Ten Great Fireballs of extraordinary power flew at them from all directions, shattering and incinerating every tree in their path.

Screams rang out as the Sand Ninja tried to flee in terror, only to be instantly swallowed by the flames.

The ten massive Great Fireballs finally converged. The moment they collided, the terrifying heat pushed the flames to explode, forming a massive mushroom cloud at the center.

Actively cutting off the chakra maintaining the Great Fireballs, Sen Chisato quickly formed hand seals and spat out a sphere of high-pressure wind.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

The high-pressure wind sphere landed and instantly transformed into a hurricane. The ground was peeled away layer by layer, mud and stone were swept up by the gale, and the flames that had not yet died out first flared up, only to be instantly extinguished by the high-speed vacuum wind pressure.

BOOM!

Ten high-pressure wind spheres collided, and another massive explosion erupted in the forest, with the shockwave reaching several kilometers.

A second before the shockwave arrived, Sen Chisato used a Body Flicker technique and retreated immediately.

As the aftermath gradually dissipated, a rock was overturned, and a Sand Ninja crawled out from beneath it.

Snap!

A tree, now reduced to little more than charcoal, snapped in the middle, revealing a figure covered in burns...

The few Sand Ninja who had miraculously survived looked at everything before them, their expressions vacant and their eyes hollow, wearing miserable smiles.

As the smoke cleared, a wasteland nearly a kilometer wide lay before them. The center resembled a meteor crater, and the trees for hundreds of meters around were all toppled outward.

A scene like a natural disaster!

Clang. A ninja sword fell from the hand of a Sand Ninja.

Another Sand Ninja collapsed to his knees, feeling as though all the strength had been drained from his body: "You've got to be kidding me... is this... divine retribution?"