Baiyun Zaojian's Nth Shock

"Almost there..."

He sensed the faint disturbance of the barrier at the canyon entrance being broken, along with Tekka's anxious shouts drawing nearer.

After one last glance toward the hidden passage in the mountain wall on the other side, where his Shadow Clone had quietly led thirty-six puppet-like Hidden Sand ninja away, the corner of his mouth lifted in an imperceptible curve.

Then, he relaxed control over his body.

He let the overwhelming exhaustion and depletion swallow him like a tide. His vision went dark, and he collapsed stiffly to the ground, landing not far from Chahachiro's head.

Perfectly playing the part of a severely wounded man who had fought desperately against overwhelming enemies, won a narrow victory, and finally collapsed from exhaustion.

Shadow Ran'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 is addicted to playing dead, dumping this mess on me..."

Shadow Ran shook his head resignedly.

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

He snapped his fingers, turned first, and swiftly headed in the predetermined direction.

The thirty-six Hidden Sand ninja under genjutsu control, like machines that had received an order, made simple disguises for themselves.

Their movements were stiff, but their steps were uniform as they followed after him, quickly disappearing into the vast desert and mountains.

At the canyon entrance, Tekka, Inasui, and the others had only just carried the "heavily wounded and unconscious" Uchiha Ran out.

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

The setting sun dyed Broken-Spine Valley a bleak, gorgeous gold-red, but the sight within the valley was far more glaring than the evening glow.

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

Konoha's banners fluttered above the bloodstained valley.

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

His face was smeared with dirt and a few dried bloodstains, while several new scratches marked his Jonin vest, but his eyes remained as sharp as an eagle's.

He surveyed the entire battlefield.

Seven hundred Konoha ninja, after paying a considerable price, had ultimately relied on overwhelming numerical superiority, exquisite tactical coordination, and Baiyun Zaojian's own powerful command to utterly crush Sunagakure's force of over two hundred ninja!

Hidden Sand corpses lay scattered throughout the valley, vastly outnumbering those on Konoha's side.

Most of the Hidden Sand ninja had been killed while resisting stubbornly. Only a dozen or so who were too badly wounded or had exhausted their chakra were taken prisoner. They were now under tight Konoha guard, their faces filled with despair and numbness.

"Report, Lord Zaojian!"

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

"The battle is over. Other than Jonin Baki of the Hidden Sand southern force and roughly fifteen accompanying Chunin who successfully broke through and fled deep into the desert, the rest... have mostly been wiped out!"

"We have lost eighty-nine ninja, with thirty seriously wounded. The medical teams are treating the injured!"

"Mm, Baki..."

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

However, Sunagakure's southern force had practically been uprooted, and the strategic objective had been achieved.

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

"Well done."

Baiyun Zaojian's voice was steady and powerful.

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

"Also, interrogate those prisoners. Find out the movements of those one hundred Hidden Sand ninja, so they can't exploit an opening to raid the Land of Fire!"

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

Baiyun Zaojian took a deep breath of air thick with blood and gunpowder, his gaze turning toward the depths of the canyon—the direction where Uchiha Ran's squad had been tasked with the encirclement.

The violent explosions and chakra fluctuations that had come from there earlier concerned him somewhat, but now that the battle was over, Ran's squad should soon return and rendezvous with them.

They were only a dozen or so puppet masters. Uchiha Ran had nearly a three-to-one advantage in manpower. The advantage was his!

"That kid Uchiha Ran... should be all right, shouldn't he?"

He muttered to himself, then shook his head and turned his attention back to the chaotic battlefield, directing the cleanup and defensive preparations.

Uchiha Ran: Three to one? Go fuck yourself, I was fighting a one-against-one-hundred-and-twenty battle!

If not for the Mangekyō Sharingan, I'd have been dead long ago.

"Report, Lord Zaojian! Emergency situation!"

The Nara Special Jonin returned, and the tired excitement on his face had vanished, replaced by disbelief mixed with shock—and shock plus.

"Speak."

Baiyun Zaojian's heart tightened as his sharp gaze fixed on the man. Had Baki circled back for another attack? Or had another Hidden Sand force launched a surprise assault?

"It's... it's about Jonin Uchiha Ran's squad!"

The Nara Special Jonin took a deep breath.

"We... we just interrogated the prisoners, especially those severely wounded Hidden Sand squad captains... They... they revealed the whereabouts of those missing hundred Hidden Sand elites!"

Baiyun Zaojian's brows drew tight as he sensed something was wrong.

"Where did they go? Weren't they sent to raid our rear?"

"No! They weren't!"

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

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

"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.

"Over a hundred people? Just to target one Uchiha squad..."

"Yes, Lord Zaojian!"

The Nara Jonin's voice trembled.

"Sunagakure's higher-ups judged that Jonin Uchiha Ran was a key point and a massive threat on Konoha's Land of Rivers battlefield.

Those dozen or so puppet masters weren't the main force at all. They were merely bait and disposable pieces meant to stall for time. The true killing move was the hundred elite ninja lying in ambush!"

Baiyun Zaojian felt an immense sense of absurdity and icy rage rise within him at once.

He had thought Uchiha Ran's squad was using a three-to-one advantage to encircle a dozen puppet masters. Instead... instead, the enemy had used an absolute advantage of over a hundred men to lay a deathtrap and surround Uchiha Ran and his twenty-odd men.

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

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

Under normal circumstances, with such an information imbalance and disparity in forces—

It would already have been good news if one or two members of Uchiha Ran's squad had managed to escape and return to report.

Most of the time, when squads encountered an ambush like this, they might be sent to the Pure Land before they could even cast a single ninjutsu.

He could only hope the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan had allowed one or two of them to escape.