"Split up into three-man squads. Remember, don't let any squad get too far from the others."
Hiashi, who had likewise already infiltrated Iwagakure, turned and said something to the people behind him.
Before finishing, he added, "By the Hokage's orders, under no circumstances are you to lay a hand on Iwagakure's civilians. Remember that!"
The Konoha ninja behind him, all clad in green flak jackets, nodded in unison. Then, at Hiashi's gesture, this hundred-man force broke into smaller units and scattered, pressing deeper into Iwagakure.
Within his force, nearly every three-man squad included a member of the Hyuga Clan.
Once the Byakugan was activated, almost no Iwagakure ninja could evade their observation. Naturally, they could also tell at a glance whether someone was a civilian or a ninja.
In fact, it was not only Hiashi's force. All five teams that had infiltrated Iwagakure this time included members of the Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha Clan.
Divided according to the three-man squad system, practically every squad had been assigned either a Hyuga Clan member or an Uchiha Clan member.
Though the Sharingan's perceptive ability was inferior to the Byakugan's, it still possessed formidable observational power.
Very soon, a slaughter began.
Already a disorganized rabble, the Iwagakure ninja's first thought upon facing Konoha's assault was not resistance, but escape. What they did not know was that this only hastened their deaths.
Escape? Could they really get away?
Before long, one Iwagakure ninja after another fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, in a somewhat concealed location within Iwagakure.
"Konoha ninja? Weren't they outside the village? How did they get in here?" The speaker was an elderly man with a gloomy expression—the Second Elder of Iwagakure.
His face was filled with astonishment.
Facing the Second Elder's question, the masked Iwagakure Anbu standing before him did