In the blink of an eye, the grand elder charged out first, heading straight for Hidden Mystery Village's ranks. He wanted to cut down every last one of those bastards before they could react.
Seeing the grand elder coming at them, Hidden Mystery Village's Shinobi raised their weapons and moved to meet him.
In midair, both sides' Ninja Blades clashed repeatedly, scattering sparks as their blades flashed. Two enormous surges of chakra shot skyward, crushing outward in every direction.
The Konoha villagers who had been fighting all stopped and ducked into hiding places along the edge of the valley.
Seeing this, Hidden Mystery Village's Shinobi stopped pursuing them and all held back.
They quickly gathered together and drew all their Ninja Blades. A murderous aura roiled over the blades; clearly, they meant to fight Konoha's people to the death.
"What are you people from Hidden Mystery Village trying to do? Fight us to the death?" The grand elder's brows knitted tightly, and he inwardly tensed. He knew they were no weaklings. If it really came to a head-on clash, the outcome would be hard to predict.
A Shinobi from Hidden Mystery Village stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the grand elder. "Grand elder, we choose-war!"
Hidden Mystery Village wanted to declare war on Konoha? That was quite a bold claim.
Konoha's grand elder sneered and curled his lip, his face full of disdain. "With your handful of people, you think you deserve to fight us? You really don't know your limits. You're nowhere near qualified."
The Hidden Mystery Village Shinobi snorted coldly, staring fixedly at him. "Grand elder, don't think having more people means you'll win. We of Konoha have never feared any opponent. We won't back down in this battle. We'll raze Konoha completely and erase it from history!"