Surprise Attack

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The sound of explosions was incessant, and the entire forest was shrouded in thick smoke.

Shuriken and kunai flew through the air. In the mottled light and shadow, figures flickered, blades clashed, and sparks showered down. Wind, lightning, water, fire, and earth—all manner of ninjutsu were unleashed in a continuous barrage.

The charred tree trunks were covered in crisscrossing slashes.

In a corner far from the main battlefield.

THUD!

A figure was sent flying, slamming heavily into a tree trunk. The violent impact left him limp, and he slid slowly down the bark, his Konoha Headband nearly slipping from his forehead.

At that moment, a kunai flew toward him, its sharp edge glinting with a cold, lethal light.

The Konoha ninja's eyes widened, his Byakugan pupils trembling violently. He desperately wanted to dodge, but the weakness flooding his body left him helpless, forced to watch as death approached.

The next second, a kunai descended from the sky, knocking the incoming blade aside just before it could strike.

"Who's there?!"

The Sand Ninja who had launched the attack quickly retreated to put some distance between them, his body hunched and his expression hideous.

He had been so close to finishing the job, only to have someone interfere.

Killing a ninja from the Hyuga Clan was a great achievement, a rare opportunity indeed!

He shifted his gaze upward and quickly locked onto his target.

A brat!

"Tch, is Konoha running out of people?" Despite his mocking words, the Sand Ninja didn't let his guard down; he reached behind him, silently pulling several shuriken from his ninja pouch.

The Hyuga Clan ninja, back pressed against the tree, also looked up. What met his eyes was an incredibly youthful face. The boy was squatting on a branch, looking him up and down.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you," the Hyuga ninja replied instinctively.

"Tch." The boy clicked his tongue, looking somewhat... disappointed?

He shook his head vigorously to cast the absurd thought aside. Out of the corner of his eye, the Hyuga ninja noticed the Sand Ninja's subtle movements and hurriedly shouted a warning: "Watch out!"

"I don't care who you are, just die!" the Sand Ninja roared with a savage grin. He threw the shuriken in his hand; they traced graceful arcs through the air, three flying toward the boy in the tree and one toward the Byakugan user below.

The Hyuga ninja struggled to stand, but he felt utterly drained, a sharp pain radiating from his chest and abdomen.

His ribs were broken!

Cold sweat broke out across his skin.

"Don't worry," the boy's calm voice rang out. As he jumped from the branch to avoid the three shuriken, he drew his blade and swung it in one fluid motion.

CLANG!

The single shuriken aimed at him was also deflected.

"Damn it!" the Sand Ninja cursed under his breath.

The boy was too agile; throwing weapons was useless. Since that was the case... he looked at the boy's slender frame and smiled coldly, drawing a kunai and gripping it in a reverse hold.

He would close the distance and finish him off with taijutsu!

With that thought, he took a step forward, then froze in place, a bead of cold sweat rolling down his temple.

He looked up mechanically. All around him, in the surrounding trees, more than twenty Konoha ninjas had appeared, all of them staring at him with icy glares.

Gulp.

The Sand Ninja swallowed hard, his face deathly pale. "Are, are you kidding me?!"

The Hyuga ninja was equally stunned, then he watched as the boy turned his back on the scene and gave a casual wave of his hand. "Clean it up."

The twenty-plus ninjas swarmed forward, instantly swallowing the Sand Ninja. Only a single scream echoed out.

Watching this, the Hyuga ninja's gaze went blank.

At that moment, the boy asked, "Can you still move?"

"Ah, yes, I can!" The Hyuga ninja nodded hurriedly.

"Then head back to the camp on your own."

"Right, understood." The Hyuga ninja forced himself up and obediently walked toward the Konoha Base Camp, disappearing into the forest shortly after.

Sen Chisato finally turned around. "Position."

"No deviation, two kilometers from the main battlefield," someone replied in a low voice.

"Any news from the front?" Sen Chisato asked again.

"None..." The ninja in charge of communications had barely started when a figure emerged from the shadows.

"Latest intel: large-scale puppet ninjas have appeared on the front lines. The Sand Hidden forces are being led by the advisor, Chiyo!"

Sen Chisato frowned, the "Move out" he had been about to shout dying in his throat.

Chiyo, known as the "Flower of Shinobi," was the wife of the First Kazekage. She was a master of puppetry, taijutsu, medical ninjutsu, sealing techniques, and poisons—a truly all-around female ninja.

Not only that, but this old woman possessed an extremely high level of political acumen; even though Sunagakure had already transitioned to the Fourth Kazekage, she still wielded immense influence within the village.

To say nothing of anything else, one of the major reasons the Fourth Kazekage felt so constrained within the village was precisely because of this old woman.

However, according to previous intelligence, this old woman should have remained in Sunagakure to oversee logistics, so how could she have suddenly appeared on the battlefield?

If the commander of the front line was this old woman, then where had the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, gone?

Thinking of this, Sen Chisato's eyes lit up.

Oh ho!

Perhaps Rasa was sneaking around with his men, doing the exact same thing he was!

Sen Chisato immediately asked, "If Sunagakure wanted to launch a Surprise Attack on the Konoha Base Camp, which route would they take?"

The ninjas of the surprise attack unit looked at each other in confusion, and finally, someone asked, "The First Unit of the surprise attack?"

"No, a Surprise Attack on the Konoha Base Camp!" Sen Chisato said with a look of certainty.

With Rasa leading the team, how could it possibly be for a mere thousand-man First Unit? Even adding the Second Unit, it would only be two thousand people.

How could that compare to the thrill of raiding the home base?

"That's impossible," someone questioned. "Lord Orochimaru is in the base camp."

"Don't be so quick to refute; do as I say, and I will take responsibility if anything goes wrong!" Sen Chisato remained firm in his view.

These guys had a point; with Orochimaru stationed in the base camp, it was impossible for Rasa to succeed in a surprise attack.

But what if it wasn't just Rasa launching the surprise attack?

The members of the surprise attack unit stopped questioning and took out a map to analyze the situation according to Sen Chisato's line of reasoning.

A few minutes later, they identified the most likely route—Guchuan Gorge!

Full of anticipation, Sen Chisato gave the order, directly changing their mission and route as he led the surprise attack squad darting into the forest.

Guchuan Gorge, located in the southern part of the Land of Rivers, was a massive canyon over ten kilometers long and nearly a hundred meters wide; even at its narrowest point, it was dozens of meters across.

Due to the terrain, although Konoha had dispatched ninjas to guard the area after the war began, they hadn't paid much attention to it.

After all, launching a large-scale offensive from here was simply too difficult.

But now, a battle had just concluded here.

On the open ground on the banks of the gorge, on the side closer to the Land of Fire, the corpses of Konoha ninjas lay scattered about, with shuriken and kunai strewn across the ground.

The only person standing in the field was a man with short brown hair, dressed in a black ninja outfit.

The Fourth Kazekage—Rasa!