Choice

"Are you going to betray Iwagakure?"

Rōshi asked, almost furious.

"Rōshi, you've merely usurped the position of Tsuchikage. You've acted arbitrarily, sending everyone to their deaths. Do you think Iwagakure belongs to you alone?"

"That's right, we all have elderly parents to support and young children to raise, unlike you who's all alone!"

"..."

Several loud-voiced ninjas, under Kokuō's protection, immediately responded.

As he watched the Iwagakure Ninja rushing towards his side, Shikaku remembered what Iwagakure had said about a powerful figure from Dodai secretly contacting Hidden Cloud Village.

However, when the Iwagakure Ninja reached halfway across the battlefield, even Dodai, who had been in contact with Han, raised his hand to stop Iwagakure Ninja from advancing further.

Even though Han contacted Dodai early on, even though the Iwagakure Ninja defected and destroyed Iwagakure on the battlefield, and even though these ninjas expressed their dissatisfaction with Rōshi, surrendering seemed reasonable.

But that's not enough!

"Stop, or we will begin our attack. Now, seal your Chakra as instructed in the surrender document, and then slowly move towards the flank!"

Dodai also shouted at the top of his lungs, and even though the Iwagakure ninja sealed their Chakra, Dodai had no intention of letting them join the Hidden Cloud Village forces.

The group of surrendered guys obediently stopped and began Hand Seals hand seals to seal their Chakra.

Lian Han also returned to his original state and began Hand Seals as well.

The Allied Shinobi Forces naturally observed the unfolding events and were happy to see them succeed.

If Iwagakure were to sit idly by and do nothing, then something would seem amiss.

"Flying units, wipe out these traitors! And didn't they want to protect their families? Let the Anbu activate the 'Jade Shatter' plan and make their families pay the price for Iwagakure!"

Rōshi shouted orders almost frantically, and then one by one, the masked ninjas in the Iwagakure formation vanished in Body Flicker Technique.

At the same time, large white birds began to advance towards the Allied Shinobi Forces.

Before the air force reached the airspace above the surrendered ninjas.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

A series of muffled thunder-like sounds came from the direction of Iwagakure, and then black smoke began to spread throughout the Iwagakure.

Even though they were far apart, everyone in the Allied Shinobi Forces could imagine that Iwagakure had been turned into a hellish place.

It wasn't just the Allied Shinobi Forces that discovered this, but also the Iwagakure Ninja had surrendered.

Not knowing the full truth, they were all ashen-faced, and even their hands stopped moving.

"Don't worry, everyone. I already secretly moved your families beforehand; they're no longer in the village!"

Han shouted loudly in the crowd, which made the previously lifeless procession move again.

Meanwhile, the Iwagakure air force had caught up with the group whose speed had been greatly reduced due to sealing their Chakra.

One after another, white clay explosives fell from the sky, and the surrendered Iwagakure Ninja were doomed.

Even Han stared wide-eyed at this unexpected turn of events.

Rōshi didn't tell Han about this!

Shikaku, who had taken in everything, frowned. The actions of Iwagakure were too obvious.

Whether it was defection at the last minute or these ninjas decisively surrendering and sealing their Chakra, it all went too smoothly, as if it had been planned.

On the other hand, it wasn't that Shikaku looked down on Rōshi, but rather that he understood that even with Ren's current reputation in Konoha...

The idea of having Konoha Ninja attack civilians and their defenseless comrades might ultimately be carried out.

But things don't always proceed with such strict discipline or with such rapid action.

Unless it's the old Root, it might be a bit different, but these ninjas who actually take action are nothing like the killing machines of Root.

But they didn't hesitate at all when they started, and the surprise in the eyes of these surrendered men was undeniable.

Almost instantly, Shikaku deduced a situation close to the truth.

These surrenderers from Iwagakure were pre-arranged!

As for the attack on the surrendered soldiers, it was likely that they were not informed of it.

The purpose was simple: to test the coalition forces, and also to help them.

If the Allied Forces don't care about the lives of these Iwagakure ninjas, then it's easy to imagine that these surrendered ninjas will suffer a miserable fate in the future.

Rather than that, it would be better for him, the Tsuchikage, to take matters into his own hands and give them a quick death, so they would not suffer in the future.

In another scenario, if the allied forces rescued these Iwagakure members, they could earn their basic gratitude.

Furthermore, by not informing the surrendered individuals of all this, Rōshi would instill hatred in them towards Iwagakure, thus eliminating any possibility of them surrendering and then rebelling again.

What a decisive and ruthless approach!

Shikaku stepped through the crowd and looked at the figure with a crazed expression, wearing a somewhat comical Tsuchikage.

It wasn't particularly tall, but it commanded respect.

Even though they were enemies, Shikaku couldn't help but feel respect; Rōshi had done everything he could.

Sigh~

Sighing inwardly, although forced to make a choice and appearing somewhat passive, Shikaku followed his heart and issued the order.

"Air defense team, save them!"

The situation wasn't complicated, and Shikaku wasn't the only intelligent person who could understand it.

Baki: "Range teams, move in!"

Dodai: "Let those firecrackers become duds!"

Qing: "Shoot them down!"