Meanwhile, at the Kumogakure Ninja Village's counterpart, the Iwagakure Ninja Village outpost, every Iwagakure ninja squad leader barely dared to breathe, cautiously studying Henghe's expression. Their first clash with the Konoha ninja had ended in utter defeat. Despite securing an early advantage, they had taken a vicious blow in less than a day. Their losses might not have been severe, but the Iwagakure Ninja Village had lost all face.
Henghe felt dejected. He had hoped to let the Konoha ninja crash against their sturdy fortifications, then counterattack and inflict heavy losses on their forces. Yet heavy losses were now out of the question—the Konoha ninja's casualties had been pitifully few. Even the relatively light casualties suffered by the Iwagakure ninja were at least twice theirs.
That was not even the worst of it. More importantly, the Konoha Ninja Village had deployed a new ninja tool in this battle. From what they could tell, it could launch explosive tags in rapid succession, producing unprecedented firepower. It had directly undermined the Iwagakure Ninja Village's defensive tactics, as demonstrated by the near-total destruction of their field defenses.
Although this ninja tool consumed an astonishing amount of ammunition, Henghe believed that after this battle, the Konoha Ninja Village would devote its full efforts to producing explosive tags to meet demand. Making explosive tags was not easy, but it was not terribly difficult either. With an entire village's resources concentrated on production, the output would be staggering, especially given the Konoha Ninja Village's abundant resources.
Previously, explosive tags had to be thrown by hand. Delivering a powerful, sustained bombardment while maintaining a safe distance could easily leave a ninja's arms aching and numb, indirectly affecting their ability to fight afterward. As a result, explosive tags had not been used especially frequently on the battlefield. They