Successfully completed

The village was surrounded by rocky mountains, giving it sturdy defenses that made it difficult for enemies to penetrate. The trade-off, however, was poverty. A saying had been widespread in his previous life: to get rich, build roads first. The same held true here.

No wonder the Tsuchikage wanted to wage war. Living among rocky mountains like these, the conditions had to be harsh. Compared with Konoha, it was like the difference between heaven and earth. But there was no helping it. They had been unable to defeat Konoha back then.

Back when Konoha had Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, it had been practically invincible. They had no choice but to submit. It was only because Hashirama had been kindhearted. Had it been him instead, the Five Great Nations probably would never have come into being. He would have unified them long ago.

These were Anyo's thoughts as he looked at Iwagakure. He was standing atop a rocky mountain, overlooking the village below. The other three had already found their positions and were ready to infiltrate at any moment.

Looking at the unique protective barrier formed by these mountains, Anyo took out the explosive tags he had prepared and placed them in a ring around the mountain beneath his feet. Then he formed hand seals. "Lightning Release: Lightning Explosion!"

A massive bolt of blue lightning activated the explosive tags. With a deafening blast, half the mountain was destroyed. Countless rocks imbued with lightning rolled down from above, kicking up clouds of dust.

"Enemy attack!" Alarms quickly sounded inside Iwagakure. Soon, a group of ninja arrived before the falling rocks and formed hand seals. "Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"

The lightning-covered rocks smashed through several walls in succession before finally stopping, but more rocks soon came tumbling down behind them.

A burly man among them gave orders. "You few, hurry and find the enemy. The rest of you, stay here and hold them off with me. Don't let these rocks roll into the village!"

Watching the Iwagakure ninja approach, Anyo gave a cold smile, the short sword in his hand already poised to strike.

"Iaido!"

A flash of white light flared. Before the ninja encased in protective rock could even see who had attacked, an icy chill swept through their bodies. Then their vision went black, and they departed this world.

After disposing of them, Anyo rushed toward the next peak, preparing to begin another round of destruction.

Just then, an enormous mountain peak rose out of nowhere, completely blocking Anyo's path. The burly man who had been giving orders had actually used the peak to reach Anyo and now kept him firmly in his sights.

Anyo frowned at the burly man. "Your Earth Release can actually create a mountain?"

He's no pushover. That amount of chakra alone is terrifying.

The burly man stared at Anyo and asked, "Who are you?"

Anyo did not mind stalling him for a while and asked in return, "Shouldn't you give your own name before asking someone else's?"

"My name is Kitsuchi."

Hearing him actually answer left Anyo a little dumbfounded. Is that a fake name? Or is this guy just honest?

Then Kitsuchi continued, "Now it's your turn."

Anyo answered reflexively, "My name is Baiyun."

Kitsuchi demanded angrily, "Baiyun, I saw your forehead protector. You're a ninja from Kumogakure, aren't you? Why are you attacking our village? Aren't you afraid we'll retaliate?"

"Retaliate?" Anyo gave a disdainful smile. "Our Lord Raikage is the strongest ninja in the entire shinobi world. Besides, our Lightning Release naturally counters your Earth Release. You think you stand a chance? Lord Raikage could wipe out your village all by himself. I only came to say hello."

"Damn you!"

Sure enough, Anyo's words enraged Kitsuchi. An enormous chunk of rock encased his fist, and he threw a punch at Anyo.

Anyo did not dare meet it head-on and used the Substitution Technique to move elsewhere.

When his strike missed, Kitsuchi formed hand seals and slammed his hands onto the ground. "Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation!"

Anyo felt immense pressure erupt from the ground. A huge volcanic crater split open, spewing endless earth that covered every direction in which he could dodge.

Anyo snorted coldly and drew his blade. His short sword, coated in lightning release chakra, shattered all the earth one piece after another. Then he ran without looking back.

"Trying to leave?"

Kitsuchi immediately gave chase.

Meanwhile, Minato and the other two had found an excellent position. With Kushina's sealing formation, even someone standing right in front of them would be unable to detect them.

Dan Katō said, "We'll follow the original plan and destroy their symbolic Tsuchikage's office. I'll cut off communication between everyone and leave them running around like headless chickens."

Minato clearly already knew about Dan Katō's abilities. He nodded and set off.

Moving at full speed, he was so fast that his figure could not be spotted in the air with the naked eye. Even when a ninja noticed something amiss and was about to call out, their vision went black, and they fell to the ground, never to rise again.

These bizarre deaths caused widespread panic throughout the village.

Amid this chaos, Minato approached the Tsuchikage's office. Without a word, he formed hand seals. "Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"

A tremendous gale blew from Minato's mouth. Under his chakra's control, it formed a powerful ball of high-pressure wind capable of sweeping away everything in front of it.

When the enormous swirling gale struck the Tsuchikage's office, it exploded over a wide area. Every surrounding building collapsed with a crash, and the terrain was left riddled with pits, as though a dog had gnawed at it.

The Iwagakure ninja who saw this went red-eyed and roared, "Find the enemy! We'll tear them to pieces!"

Having successfully provoked their fury, Minato left without another word, taking the same route back. With Dan Katō's help, he did not have to worry about being discovered at all.

After reaching the sealing formation, Minato grabbed the other two and left Iwagakure. The entire process went unnoticed, leaving the village's ninja raging helplessly.

Meanwhile, Anyo's battle with Kitsuchi had reached a fever pitch. They traded attacks, neither giving ground. Although Lightning Release countered Earth Release, Kitsuchi had far more chakra than Anyo and was no ordinary jonin. Moreover, his strength made Anyo unwilling to take his blows head-on.

But Anyo's swordsmanship was just as troublesome for Kitsuchi. That icy gleam kept targeting vulnerable spots such as his throat and eyes. A single careless mistake would mean dying on the spot.

Realizing that neither could secure victory, Anyo spoke first. "Still chasing me? Keep this up and you'll cross the border."

Kitsuchi snorted. "You started the war. Even if we cross the border, we're still in the right."

What a blockhead, still talking about being in the right at a time like this. If it had been Anyo, he would not have bothered responding to that remark at all. They were already at war. Wasn't discussing borders ridiculous?

Anyo continued bluffing. "I only went over to say hello this time. I didn't actually intend to go to war with you. Once you cross our border, I won't be fighting you one-on-one. Think carefully about the consequences."

"How despicable." After considering it, Kitsuchi said bitterly, "Just you wait, Kumogakure. We won't let you get away with this."

With that, Kitsuchi turned around and headed back to his village.

Anyo dropped to the ground, shook out his aching arms, and breathed a sigh of relief...