"Explode!"
Didaze smiled as he watched the Nano Bomb's tremendous success.
Then he formed another hand seal, and the remaining Clay Spiders exploded one after another, killing nearly another hundred people!
As for why the death toll was noticeably lower this time?
It was mainly because all the weaker fighters had already died, and after two rounds of bombing, barely any Chunin remained.
The two hundred or so people left were almost all Jonin.
After all, anyone below Jonin would have struggled to survive such earth-shattering explosions, and even quite a few Jonin had died!
Didaze steered his clay Giant Bird straight toward Iwagakure. He did not intend to keep attacking these Konoha Ninja.
After all, the survivors were all Jonin, and killing them with his area attacks would be difficult. He might as well join the others and see whether they could finish off Hatake Sakumo!
"Cough, cough, cough... hurry and reinforce Sakumo!"
The Nara Clan Head choked amid the tremendous blasts, then immediately ordered everyone to reinforce Hatake Sakumo!
Meanwhile, on Iwagakure's side...
"Damn it... how is this guy so strong?!"
Although Hatake Sakumo had taken a blade wound in a surprise attack, he remained incredibly fierce. Surrounded by over a thousand Iwagakure ninja, he had still slaughtered over a hundred of them!
Even Suna from the Explosion Release Corps had been gravely wounded and carried away!
Yet Hatake Sakumo still seemed to have plenty of chakra. Ignoring that blade wound, one might even have gotten the impression that he was still in peak condition!
"No, we can't let this continue!"
Kōdo's expression turned grave after he blocked another slash from Hatake Sakumo.
"Let me!"
Han leaped forward. He had not joined the fighting earlier because he needed to observe Hatake Sakumo's fighting style so he could counter him more effectively!
Although many people had died while he watched Hatake Sakumo's fighting style, those sacrifices were necessary. If he had rushed straight in and ended up injured or dead, the losses would have gone well beyond a few dozen or a hundred people.
Han had dared to go out with Didaze earlier because Didaze had absolute control of the skies. But Hatake Sakumo was different. With his deadly swordsmanship, the slightest lapse could leave someone cut in two!
"Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength!"
Huge clouds of steam poured from Han's entire body, and he threw a punch at Hatake Sakumo!
Hatake Sakumo raised his blade to block, but Han's heavy punch still drove him back three steps!
"The Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han the Steam Ninja..."
Hatake Sakumo stared at Han with a solemn expression.
But the people around them were not about to let Han fight Hatake Sakumo alone. Even while Hatake Sakumo was talking, they attacked him by surprise!
After all, this was war!
Yet Hatake Sakumo seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Even attacks from his blind spots were easily blocked!
"Didaze is back!"
Watching Hatake Sakumo fight like a god of war, Kitsuchi wore a troubled expression. This was the strongest enemy he had ever faced.
But the instant he spotted Didaze, his expression changed, his troubled look visibly giving way to excitement!
So this is the one who inflicted such heavy losses on the Konoha Ninja...
Hatake Sakumo watched Didaze fly toward them, a trace of killing intent in his eyes.
Just then, Han's attack arrived, forcing Hatake Sakumo to raise his blade to block.
This time, however, Hatake Sakumo used the force of Han's blow, then planted a foot on an Iwagakure ninja and leaped straight out of the encirclement with a graceful backflip!
Hatake Sakumo could have done that long ago, but he had not, because he believed he could kill more efficiently while surrounded!
After all, everyone surrounding him wanted to kill him. To kill him, they had to come close, and once they did, their time was up.
But now that Han had joined the battle, his killing efficiency had dropped, so he no longer intended to remain surrounded.
"Lord Sakumo!"
Just as Hatake Sakumo leaped free, the Nara Clan Head arrived beside him with the others.
Every one of them was covered in dirt and dust, looking as though they had just been through a major battle.
"Why are there so few people left?"
Hatake Sakumo's face darkened as he looked at the mere two hundred or so Konoha Ninja remaining.
I've been killing nonstop here, and after all that, I've only killed a hundred or so. Didaze killed around eight hundred in such a short time? How on earth did he do it?
"Didaze has a kind of bomb that's so small it's invisible to the naked eye, but if you breathe it in, it explodes inside your body!"
"If you can't protect yourself with chakra, the bombs will explode right inside you..."
The Nara Clan Head was still a little frightened. He was not afraid of overt killing methods on the battlefield, but these invisible methods truly scared him.
Because that meant even devising tactics was difficult. Just as before, he had failed to come up with any tactics at all. At most, he had warned everyone.
Nanoscale Bombs...
The way Hatake Sakumo looked at Didaze changed. Previously, he had considered Didaze an ordinary genius, like Rasa and Pakura of Sunagakure.
But now his thinking had changed. He regarded this youth as a formidable enemy!
"Didaze, did you do that to the enemy..."
The instant Kōdo saw Didaze, he hurried over to his side, then looked at the dirt-covered Konoha Ninja and questioned Didaze in utter shock.
Although he had seen it happen before, those ninja could not compare to these people at all!
And he was no fool. He could tell that there were many clan heads among them.
The clan heads of Ino-Shika-Cho, the Inuzuka Clan Head, the Aburame Clan Head, the Shimura Clan Head...
With these people leading them, Didaze had still managed to slaughter so many of their force. Kōdo could not help being astonished.
"Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Shimura Danzō was in a terrible mood. Didaze had sent him fleeing for his life, and after he found the main force, Didaze's Nanoscale Bombs had bombarded him again.
Although someone of his caliber could suppress the Nanoscale Bombs with his own chakra as long as he did not inhale the bulk of them, Shimura Danzō was still extremely displeased!
Shimura Danzō unleashed his ninjutsu straight at the Iwagakure ninja, sending a huge mass of wind hurtling toward them!
"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"
Kitsuchi blocked the attack with an Earth Style Wall.
Although the Earth Style Wall was as ordinary a ninjutsu as could be, it was simply too useful.
"Move out!"
Hatake Sakumo spoke, then took the lead in charging at the Iwagakure ninja!
"The Hyuga Clan and Akimichi Clan at the front! The Inuzuka Clan and Yamanaka Clan, support them on either flank! The Uchiha Clan, disrupt them with genjutsu!"
Everyone nodded, having no objections to these assignments.
Although only around two hundred of them remained, these ninja were all elites.
Iwagakure only had around a hundred Jonin in total, just half as many as the opposing side!
"Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"
The Hyūga Clan ninja activated their Byakugan, and twenty Hyūga Jonin charged straight at Iwagakure!
"Human Bullet Tank!"
The Akimichi Clan had already launched one wave of attacks earlier, and because they had not been within Didaze's bombing zone, they had suffered almost no deaths.
More than thirty balls of flesh rolled toward the Iwagakure ninja once again, exerting immense pressure in coordination with the Hyuga Clan!