Six Hundred Sharingan Illuminate the Snowfield

On the plains of the Land of Grass, the daylight was bleak and pallid. Large chunks smashed into the frozen ground with soft, muffled thuds.

Kitsuchi had just led the main force out of the canyon and into this open stretch. Crouched behind a hastily constructed barricade, he still refused to give up.

He viciously hurled the remaining lumps of mud-like "Explosive Clay" in his hand onto the ground.

Even after Chakra was poured into them, they remained dead clumps of mud, without so much as a pop.

Still unwilling to believe it, he pulled out the stack of Explosive Tags he had urgently purchased from the Black Market.

A rub of his thumb made his heart sink at the texture beneath his fingertip.

The paper was too smooth.

Kitsuchi picked one up and held it beneath his nose, catching the scent of talcum powder.

Just like those from Sunagakure, the so-called Chakra circuits had all been casually drawn with plant ash.

He rose to his feet and flung the entire stack of waste paper into the snow.

As he gritted his teeth and swept his gaze over the bewildered demolition troops around him, a chill climbed up Kitsuchi's spine.

No Explosive Tags. No Explosive Clay.

The two-thousand-strong Iwagakure main force had been stripped by this move of its very foundation, reduced to a unit with only conventional ninjutsu.

"All demolition units, fall back!"

Kitsuchi slammed both hands against the ground, his booming voice echoing above the two thousand Iwagakure Shinobi.

"Form up with conventional Earth Release! Expand the defensive perimeter fifty meters!"

He suppressed the unease in his heart.

"Since Konoha is playing tricks, we'll advance using the dumbest method possible. Alternate Earth-Style Walls for cover and reduce our speed to the minimum!"

Low rumbles rang out without end.