Complete Encirclement

The wilderness outside Kikyō Mountain City had already become a living hell. After paying a tremendous price, Sunagakure's retreat order was finally beginning to take effect. Under the hoarse cries of commanders at every level, the main force barely broke free from its entanglement with the defenders on the front walls and Orochimaru's flanking troops. Like a wounded beast dragging its shattered body, it began to inch toward the Land of Rivers.

The fierce battle in the skies continued. Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, pushed his Magnet Release: Gold Dust Technique to its absolute limit. The golden tide no longer sought to attack, instead becoming countless flowing shields, walls of interception, and giant grasping hands, desperately restricting that elusive golden flash. Every flashing assault by Minato Namikaze was forcibly driven back or disrupted by Rasa's large-scale Gold Dust defenses. Though they could not harm him in the slightest, they truly managed to barely restrain an existence that ordinary Sunagakure ninja found impossible to deal with, buying the crucial breathing room needed for the retreat.

On the flank, Elder Chiyo and Ebizo were already at the end of their strength. Ebizo's face had gone pale from excessive chakra consumption, while one more puppet from Chiyo's Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets had been torn apart by Manda. Yet, relying on the understanding forged through decades of fighting side by side and their resolve to burn away their lives, the siblings still held their ground. With puppets, poison mist, genjutsu, and traps, they built a defense line that teetered on the brink of collapse yet never fell, barely holding back the devastating advance of Orochimaru and Manda and preventing them from completely crushing Sunagakure's rear ranks.

At the very rear of the retreating army, Shaye had been entrusted with a critical duty and displayed