The Sweep Begins

A gentle breeze swept through the forest, carrying a pungent smell of blood that lingered among the trees.

On the other side of the battlefield, the two Cloud Hidden Ninja and three Iwagakure Ninja were wholly immersed in the battle. Relying on their seasoned experience, smooth ninjutsu, and tacit coordination, they had suppressed the three civilian Genin from Konoha. However, against Asuma and Kurenai, they were kept in check at every turn and suffered heavy losses.

The overall battle situation had barely reached a stalemate.

Even though they had witnessed the bizarre ability of Nara Tsukimi earlier, which deeply shocked them, a shred of wishful thinking still lingered in their hearts.

If they remembered correctly, Nara Tsukimi was only eight or nine years old. No matter how bizarre his ability was, his chakra reserves could not possibly be very high. As long as they could drag it out until Nara Tsukimi's chakra bottomed out, they could turn defeat into victory!

Please, you must hold on!

The five of them gritted their teeth and cheered themselves on inwardly, wanting nothing more than to end the battle quickly so they could go and support their teammates.

Yet right in the middle of an opening during an exchange, when a few of them instinctively glanced over the main battlefield with their peripheral vision, the scene that met their eyes caused the blood in their bodies to nearly freeze.

There was no imagined scene of both sides trading blows, nor was there any look of exhaustion from Nara Tsukimi consuming a massive amount of chakra. All they could see were corpses covering the ground and mutilated ninja tools.

Along with that single figure standing in the center of the battlefield, smiling and waving at them in greeting.

In that instant, shock, terror, and disbelief—all