Baiyun Zaojian's Nth Shock

"Almost..."

He sensed the faint disturbance from the barrier at the canyon entrance being broken, as well as Tekka's anxious shouts drawing closer.

After taking one last look in the direction where his Shadow Clone had silently led thirty-six puppet-like Hidden Sand ninja into a concealed passage on the other side of the mountain wall, the corner of his mouth curled into an imperceptible smile.

Then, he relaxed his control over his body.

He let the immense exhaustion and sense of overexertion swallow him like a tidal wave. His vision went black, and he fell stiffly to the ground, landing not far from Chahachiro's head.

He perfectly played the part of a severely wounded man who had fought desperately against many enemies, won by a narrow margin, and collapsed from exhaustion.

"Ugh!"

Shadow Lan's sigh pulled his thoughts back to reality. Looking at the thirty-six vacant pairs of eyes before him, he felt that his original body was just too... shameless.

"The original body's addicted to playing dead and dumps the mess on me..."

Shadow Lan shook his head resignedly.

"Whatever. Let's disguise ourselves first. Destination: Akina Mountain, southern Land of Rivers. Move out!"

He snapped his fingers, turned first, and swiftly headed toward the designated direction.

The thirty-six Hidden Sand ninja under the control of genjutsu moved like machines receiving orders, making simple disguises.

Their movements were stiff, but their steps were uniform as they followed after him, soon vanishing into the boundless desert and mountains.

At the canyon entrance, Tekka, Inasui, and the others had only just carried the "seriously injured and unconscious" Uchiha Lan out.

In Broken-Spine Valley of the Land of Rivers, the main battlefield had finally come to an end as well.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed Broken-Spine Valley a bleak golden red, but the sight within the valley was far more glaring than the evening clouds.

The cries of battle had ceased, replaced by the muffled groans of the wounded and the heavy footsteps of those cleaning the battlefield.

Konoha's banners fluttered over the bloodstained valley.

Baiyun Zaojian stood atop a relatively tall rock, his signature white hair somewhat disheveled.

His face was stained with dust and several spots of dried blood, and his Jonin vest bore several more scratches, but his gaze remained as sharp as an eagle's.

He surveyed the entire battlefield.

Seven hundred Konoha ninja, after paying a considerable price, had finally relied on their overwhelming numbers, exquisite tactical coordination, and Baiyun Zaojian's powerful command to utterly defeat Sand Village's force of over two hundred ninja!

Hidden Sand corpses lay scattered across the valley, far outnumbering Konoha's dead.

Most of the Hidden Sand ninja had been killed while resisting stubbornly. Only a dozen or so, too severely wounded or depleted of chakra, had been captured. They were currently under strict Konoha guard, their faces filled with despair and numbness.

"Report, Lord Zaojian!"

A Special Jonin of the Nara Clan with abrasions on his face hurried over, his voice weary but unable to conceal his excitement.

"The battle is over. Other than Jonin Maki and approximately fifteen accompanying Chunin who successfully broke through and fled into the depths of the desert, the rest of Hidden Sand's southern force... has mostly been wiped out!"

"We lost eighty-nine ninja, with thirty seriously wounded. The medical unit is treating the injured!"

"Mm, Maki..."

Baiyun Zaojian frowned slightly. That cunning Wind Release expert had still escaped. It was a regret.

However, Hidden Sand's southern force had practically been uprooted, and their strategic objective had already been achieved.

At the very least, their garrison force in the Land of Rivers could now free up five hundred ninja to support other battlefields.

"Well done."

Baiyun Zaojian's voice was steady and forceful.

"Treat all wounded immediately! At the same time, send out sensory teams and expand the perimeter. Guard against Hidden Sand launching a desperate counterattack!"

"Also, interrogate those prisoners. Find out where those hundred Hidden Sand ninja went, so they don't exploit an opening to harass the Land of Fire."

"Yes!" The Special Jonin accepted the order and left.

Baiyun Zaojian took a deep breath of air thick with the stench of blood and gunpowder, his gaze turning toward the depths of the canyon—the direction where Uchiha Lan's team had been tasked with wiping out the enemy.

The violent explosions and chakra fluctuations that had come from there earlier concerned him somewhat, but now that the battle was over, Lan's team should soon return to regroup.

They were only dealing with a dozen or so puppeteers. Uchiha Lan's force had nearly a three-to-one advantage. The advantage was on his side!

"Uchiha Lan... he should be all right, shouldn't he?"

He murmured to himself, then shook his head and returned his attention to the chaotic battlefield, directing the cleanup and defensive preparations.

Uchiha Lan: Three to one? Screw you, I was fighting a one-against-one-hundred-and-twenty battle!

If it weren't for the Mangekyo Sharingan, I'd have been dead long ago.

"Report, Lord Zaojian! Emergency!"

The Nara Clan Special Jonin returned after leaving, but the weary excitement had vanished from his face, replaced by unbelievable shock and even more shock.

"Speak."

Baiyun Zaojian's heart tightened, and his sharp gaze locked onto the other man. Had Maki come back for another attack? Or had another Hidden Sand force launched a surprise assault?

"It's... it's about Jonin Uchiha Lan's team!"

The Nara Special Jonin took a deep breath.

"We... we just interrogated the prisoners, especially those severely wounded Hidden Sand squadron captains... They... they revealed where those missing hundred Hidden Sand elite ninja went!"

Baiyun Zaojian's brow furrowed tightly as he sensed something was wrong.

"Where did they go? Weren't they sent to harass the rear?"

"No! They weren't!"

The Nara Jonin shook his head hard, his tone carrying an almost absurd sense of shock.

"Those hundred men... including at least ten puppeteers, were all sent by the Hidden Sand commander to Gale-Splitting Gorge. They had only one target—Jonin Uchiha Lan and his team!"

"What?!"

Baiyun Zaojian's composed expression instantly froze. His pupils contracted sharply as a chill shot from his spine to the top of his head.

"More than a hundred people? Just to target one Uchiha team..."

"Yes, Lord Zaojian!"

The Nara Jonin's voice trembled.

"Sand Village's higher-ups judged that Jonin Uchiha Lan was a crucial point and a massive threat on Konoha's Land of Rivers battlefield.

Those dozen or so puppeteers were not the main force at all. They were merely bait and disposable pieces meant to stall for time. The real killing move was those hundred elite ninja lying in ambush!"

Baiyun Zaojian felt an immense sense of absurdity and cold fury surge into his heart at once.

He had thought Uchiha Lan's team was using a three-to-one advantage to encircle a dozen puppeteers. Yet... the enemy had used an overwhelming force of more than a hundred men to set a death trap and surround Uchiha Lan and his twenty-some teammates.

"Then... then Uchiha Lan and the others..."

Baiyun Zaojian's voice was dry. He did not even dare to ask further.

Under normal circumstances, with such an information disparity and such a huge difference in numbers—

If Uchiha Lan's team could have one or two people escape to deliver the news, that would already be good news.

Most of the time, when teams encountered such an ambush, they might not even get the chance to use a single ninjutsu before being sent to the Pure Land.

He could only hope that the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan would allow one or two of them to escape.