The ambush in the valley had ended. Though Kagami Uchiha and his men had been caught off guard and put at a disadvantage, the enemy's plan seemed to have slipped beyond their control as well. Not one of the ambushers was strong enough to hold Kagami Uchiha in check, and that alone had doomed the ambush to failure.
On a battlefield involving many combatants, a powerful fighter might not be as decisive as in a one-on-one fight, but they still wielded tremendous influence. The way to neutralize that influence was to bring in someone who could match them or keep them occupied, creating more room to maneuver during the battle.
In other words, without someone capable of holding a powerful fighter in check, even a tactical advantage could be shattered by sheer strength. Kagami Uchiha was a perfect example.
Even so, the Surprise Attack Unit had suffered considerable losses in the ambush. Aside from the ninja killed in battle, many more had inadvertently inhaled the new Gaseous Poison, losing most of their fighting strength.
Kagami Uchiha's battle instincts, honed over many years, had warned him at once that something was wrong, and he had instinctively put on his Gas Mask—it had originally been meant to lull the enemy into complacency, yet now it had actually proved useful. It was not just the Surprise Attack Unit's route that had been leaked, but also information about which poisons Konoha Ninja Village's Antidote could counter.
Although the Antidote Tsunade had developed offered some resistance to this new poison, it was not specifically designed for it, and the men still felt ill. Fortunately, under Kagami Uchiha's leadership, they had wiped out the enemy, so they no longer had to worry about their symptoms causing further casualties.
Kagami Uchiha used his secret sickle-and-chain technique to