Six days later.
The sky over the Land of Rain was as gloomy as ever. Thick, dark clouds obscured the sun, casting a gray and oppressive atmosphere over the land.
Meanwhile, under the cover of dark clouds, a battle is taking place at a Sand Ninja Sand Ninja on the southern front of the Land of Rain.
In a battlefield with hundreds of people, the most eye-catching thing is still the giant puppet in the center of the battlefield.
"Sizzle~"
A violent crackling sound of electricity suddenly rang out in the center of the battlefield, followed by a terrifying surge of Chakra.
Lightning Release: Great Lightning Spear!
The current gathered in Shin'un's right arm and instantly solidified into the shape of a lightning spear, with thick, menacing currents flowing continuously along its body.
With a slight bend in his knees, Shin'un suddenly launched himself forward, charging swiftly towards the giant humanoid puppet standing on the ground ahead, aided by his Lightning Body Flicker.
"Whew!!!"
Despite the enormous size difference, the giant humanoid puppet seemed to have encountered its natural enemy, ignoring the dozens of Konoha Ninja surrounding it, and unleashed its strongest attack directly at Shin'un.
A massive Wind Release shot out rapidly, striking Shin'un directly on the head as he advanced, much to the anticipation of the puppeteer controlling the humanoid puppet.
"Sizzle~"
Amidst the fierce gale, a faint crackling of electricity rang out. Shin'un swung the massive Lightning Spear on his right arm, piercing straight through the large wind projectile that was hurtling towards him, and escaped the attack range unscathed.
Seeing that his large wind blast was easily breached, and that figure resembling a thunder lord continued charging towards him unaffected, the puppeteer in the humanoid puppet's expression changed drastically.
"But... but Wind Release is clearly the counter to Lightning Release!"
In disbelief, the puppeteer quickly controlled the humanoid puppet beneath him to turn and flee.
The puppeteer reacted quickly, but unfortunately...
The moment the prey turns its back on the hunter, its fate is already sealed.
A lightning-fast figure swept across the battlefield, wielding a massive lightning spear, aiming directly at the lower abdomen of the humanoid puppet.
"Boom~"
A tremendous roar resounded, and the thick steel armor on the humanoid puppet's abdomen was easily pierced by the lightning spear, which made it look like butter.
Before the puppeteer could even utter a cry of agony, his entire upper body was vaporized by the lightning spear, leaving this world without any pain.
As the lightning spear, which was now mostly depleted and attached to his right arm, dissipated, Shin'un leaped down from the abdomen of the humanoid puppet.
"Smack!"
It landed heavily on the ground in a puddle, splashing water everywhere.
"Phew~"
Standing up straight, Shin'un slowly exhaled.
"No. 29."
Thump!
The humanoid puppet in front of him, having lost its core control point, just like the beast-type puppet he had encountered before, lost its balance and wobbled to the ground.
Upon seeing this, the numerous Konoha Ninja surrounding the humanoid puppet quickly stepped forward and launched a righteous barrage of fire at the puppet, which was now unable to perform any effective actions.
Shin'un shook his head, looked away, and looked behind him.
Besides the humanoid puppet he had just seen, three more giant puppets lay behind him, which had already been dismantled into scrap metal by numerous Konoha Ninja.
" Shikaku he gets a chance..."
Four days have passed since Orochimaru went to the Land of Wind and I summoned Shikaku Nara to help with the deployment of ninjas.
According to Shikaku Nara, the only way to trap ninjas, who are creatures that can traverse any terrain, is through the most basic and simple method.
That is, abandon all shortcuts and use ninjas to surround ninjas.
Once this approach was determined, the plan to besiege all the Sand Ninja on the battlefield in the Land of Rain was born.
Deploy suitable ninja teams to attack the Sand Ninja, anticipate the reactions of the Sand Ninja commanders, and let them lead all the Sand Ninja to gather in one place.
Then, before the Sand Ninja could react, they quickly mobilized all the Konoha Ninja on the Sand Ninja front to surround them.
Simple and straightforward.
Fortunately, Chiyo is still trapped inside the One-Tail Beast, preventing the Sand Ninja from achieving unified command on the battlefield. Even the Elite Jonin with command authority have their own ideas.
This greatly increases the likelihood of the plan being realized.
Of course, this doesn't mean that all the Sand Ninja are fools who can't see Konoha's intentions.
The problem is, even if they figure it out, what can they do?
Nara Shikahito, who was in the Land of Wind, had already cut off all of the Sand Ninja's supplies.
Starting six days ago, none of the Sand Ninja on the front lines received a single grain of food or a single Kunai.
With supplies dwindling with each use, Konoha continued to send ninja teams to harass all known Sand Ninja Village strongholds, exacerbating the Sand Ninja's resource depletion.
Meanwhile, Chiyo, the only renowned Shinobi World among the Sand Ninja, was sealed inside a Tailed Beast and has been trapped for seven days.
Even if they abandoned the One-Tail, which was still in its wild state, and disregarded One-Tail inside it, and immediately retreated to the Land of Wind, Chiyo still couldn't do it.
Their retreat had already been cut off by Nara Shikahito from behind.
Want to take a detour through the Land of Grass and the Land of Birds?
Leaving aside whether the remaining supplies would be enough to sustain them until they returned to the Land of Wind, the slow movement of the main force would be more than enough for the Konoha Ninja to easily catch up.
It can be said that although Konoha has not yet formed an encirclement, the Sand Ninja on the front lines are already unable to leave the Land of Rain.
To minimize risks, Shin'un and Shikaku Nara discussed the matter and decided to personally lead an elite team of 500 men to destroy the remaining giant puppets of the Sand Ninja.
This is also why Shin'un is here.
During these six days, Shin'un, as the only Konoha Ninja on the Sand Ninja front who could directly suppress the giant puppet, basically spent every day looking at the map of the Land of Rain and calling out the known Sand Ninja strongholds one by one.
Sometimes, with good luck, you might encounter seven giant puppets in a Sunagakure camp; other times, with bad luck, you might not even see a single giant puppet in a sizable Sand Ninja camp.
After six days, the harvest was quite substantial.
Shin'un stood in the center of the battlefield, quietly watching as the humanoid puppet that had lost its balance was torn to scrap metal by the concentrated fire of dozens of Konoha Ninja.
I don't know if it's because I'm familiar with the attack patterns, or because I've seen Chiyo's unique Valkyrie Puppet.
At this moment, Shin'un was no longer as surprised as he had been the first time he saw these giant puppets, and he began to deal with these big guys with ease.
Although ordinary Konoha Ninja were still unable to deal with the giant puppets, they gradually began to get used to the presence of giant puppets on the battlefield.
Just like now, Shin'un killed the puppeteer in the Optimal Control Position. After the giant puppet lost its balance, dozens of Konoha Ninja around him rushed forward in unison.
In a short time, the originally tall, imposing humanoid puppet was dismembered.
After observing quietly for a moment, Shin'un took out a signal flare from his ninja tool pouch and launched it into the sky.
The crimson signal flare stood out starkly against the dark clouds; it was a signal to retreat.
Although the current situation favors their side, Shin'un still decides to withdraw...
First, the giant puppets at this base had all been destroyed, and he was in a hurry to lead his team to the next Sand Ninja base; second,...
"Let fewer of you die. Once the Third Kazekage surrenders, each of you will be worth a fortune..."
Upon seeing the signal flare, both the Konoha Ninja and the Sunagakure stopped fighting and retreated in unison.
The Konoha Ninja stopped fighting because they had issued a retreat order.
The Sand Ninja stopped fighting because their commander had already given the order not to fight to the death.
After all, they had already guessed that Shin'un 'Shin'un target was the giant puppet from his behavior of calling out the names of the nearest strongholds one by one.
They gradually realized that Shin'un wouldn't exterminate ordinary Sand Ninja unless absolutely necessary.
To be honest, with supplies cut off, the giant golems that require frequent maintenance and parts replacement have become a burden.
Shin'un's actions, in fact, relieved some of their pressure.
Given the current dire situation, this was the only order they could issue.