Chapter 68: Clearing the Field with Dust Release
Seeing that Ishiro wasn't injured, Owl sighed in relief.
At this moment, a shinobi who had finished cleaning up the battlefield reported, "Tsuchikage-sama, the Aburame clan member escaped. The one we killed was just a bug clone."
Ōnoki nodded. This wasn't unusual; the Aburame clan's secret techniques were always tricky, and their battlefield survival ability was extremely high.
Seeing that Ōnoki wasn't concerned about the Aburame clan shinobi, Owl asked, "Tsuchikage-sama, should we make a move now?"
"Yes," Ōnoki nodded, then turned to Ishiro. "Confirm the enemy's position." They were not far from the center of the battle, but the terrain blocked their view, so they had to rely on sensory techniques.
"Understood," Ishiro responded immediately. He activated his sensory ninjutsu to roughly locate the positions of the fighting shinobi in the distance.
Since he had already sensed the chakra of the Suna shinobi earlier, Ishiro easily distinguished between the Konoha and Suna forces. He reported, "The Konoha and Suna forces are now in close combat. From the chakra readings, Konoha is stronger in this direction, and Suna is stronger in that direction."
Ishiro pointed out the two directions and then waited for further orders from Ōnoki.
Without delay, Ōnoki gave his command, "Target Konoha. All B-rank and higher Earth Release ninjutsu, execute B Plan. Concentrate fire."
With the order given, seven Jonin stepped forward and performed Earth Release: Earth-shattering Palm, which could flip a large area of land. For ninjas who couldn't fly, it was nearly impossible to dodge. However, the attack wasn't fatal; it was meant to restrict their movement.
After the Earth-shattering Palm, three more Jonin cast Earth Release: Yellow Spring Swamp.
Konoha shinobi, who had been focused on their battle with Suna, were unprepared for the sudden Earth-shattering Palm. Most were caught by surprise, with some getting injured and others unable to move.
As the Yellow Spring Swamp spread rapidly, several Konoha shinobi were engulfed by it. Three were immediately consumed, while the majority struggled to escape. Only a few could break free, but they needed time.
Most of those trapped were from Konoha, and although Suna didn't know where the attack came from, they saw this as an opportunity to strike the helpless Konoha shinobi. They didn't hesitate to launch a fierce assault.
Meanwhile, White Fang and Chiyo, who had been locked in combat nearby, stopped fighting in perfect sync. White Fang, with a grim expression, looked at the slaughtered shinobi. Many of those who had been with him in the Second Great Ninja War had now perished. Seeing his subordinates being killed so brutally, he couldn't remain calm.
Watching the casualties of his subordinates, White Fang began to suspect that this might be a joint trap set by Suna and Iwa.
Returning to his remaining subordinates, White Fang ordered one of the Hyūga clan members, "Search for Aburame and Wada's teams."
The Hyūga member used his Byakugan to search and then reported with a grim face, "White Fang-sama, Wada and his team have all been killed by Iwa."
Although he had expected such a result, White Fang's face grew darker still.
"Retreat!" The words came out almost through clenched teeth. There was no need to think about it; he knew that this mission's failure would severely damage his reputation.
After the failure at the Land of the Whirlpool, White Fang had already shouldered much of the blame. With this new heavy loss, it could be said that Konoha's Anbu had lost half of its recently regained strength.
However, White Fang's order met with resistance. "White Fang, don't forget the mission. With your speed, you have a chance to get to Sasori. We'll hold off Chiyo while you complete the mission." This came from a Root member under Danzo's command.
But White Fang didn't hesitate. He repeated his order, "Retreat. I'll cover our retreat."
Without further words, White Fang charged toward the Suna forces.
The remaining Anbu had no hesitation and immediately began retreating. The Root members looked at the one who had questioned White Fang. Realizing they couldn't do anything, the dissenting member said, "We'll retreat too."
The Root forces withdrew, leaving only White Fang to stall for time.
At the same time, Ishiro relayed the situation to Ōnoki.
Ōnoki then performed Earth Release: Light and Heavy Rock Technique, propelling himself into the air. He locked his gaze onto the Konoha Anbu's position and made a diamond-shaped hand seal. A few seconds later, a flash of white light streaked across the battlefield.
Immediately, Ishiro's sensory abilities detected a blank spot. Once his sensory feedback returned, he realized that the fifteen Anbu had been reduced to only eight.
"Such speed with Dust Release! I wonder if anyone will be able to dodge once the attack is executed," Ishiro thought in awe.
Before he could dwell on it, a second white light appeared, and the remaining eight Konoha Anbu had lost three more members.
Then, the third flash of light appeared, and the Root members, who had originally numbered twelve, lost four of their own.
After these three rapid strikes, Ishiro noticed that the Konoha shinobi were now scattered, and a single attack wouldn't be able to take out multiple targets anymore.
Looking towards White Fang's direction with some regret, Ōnoki ordered, "Owl, retreat."
"Understood!"
Ishiro and the others quickly retreated, heading toward the Land of Earth. After traveling for about two minutes, they spotted a large enemy force, approximately 200 strong, advancing rapidly toward the battlefield.
Without wasting any time, Ōnoki, who had noticed the enemy first, raised his hand and, after a brief moment of preparation, unleashed another Dust Release attack. A large gap appeared in the middle of the enemy's formation.
Ishiro could hear shouts from the enemy's side, "What happened? What's going on?"
"It's Dust Release! Spread out, quickly! Take E-class battle formation!"
"Don't stop them! This is Tsuchikage-sama. Our goal is Konoha!"
Amid the chaos, Ōnoki and the others had already distanced themselves from the battlefield.
As the enemy adjusted their formation, they could only watch Ishiro and his team disappear into the distance.
The single Dust Release attack had claimed the lives of at least twenty of the enemy's shinobi, including their commander.
After the danger had passed, a seasoned Jonin stepped forward and said, "Change formation. Continue toward the designated location. Chiyo-sama is waiting for us."
It was clear that this large enemy force was one of Suna's contingencies, positioned around the battlefield to trap Konoha's Anbu. They were also prepared to leave Iwa's forces behind, if necessary.
Meanwhile, other forces from different directions were also approaching the center of the battlefield. The closest teams had already regrouped with Chiyo, but the one Ishiro's team encountered was moving more slowly, as it was positioned near the Land of Earth.
Due to Ōnoki's Dust Release attack, the enemy was delayed further. By the time they reached the battlefield's edge, the battle had turned into a pursuit.
At that point, White Fang had already joined forces with the remaining Anbu and Root members. Originally 61 strong, only nine remained. Meanwhile, Chiyo was still hot on their heels.
Though Chiyo was powerful, she was not as fast as the speed-focused shinobi, and Konoha's forces, despite their struggles, managed to maintain distance in the initial stages of pursuit.
As more speed-oriented Suna shinobi joined the fray, they began pressing Konoha's forces with test attacks. White Fang, though strong, was gradually overwhelmed by the relentless ranged ninjutsu.
On the long retreat from the Land of Bears to the Land of Fire, four more bodies were left behind.
In the end, only five Konoha members, including White Fang, managed to return to the village. A few days later, an Aburame shinobi, who had previously escaped from Iwa's hands, also made his way back to Konoha.
In this battle, Konoha lost 55 of its 60 elite Anbu and Root members.
Konoha's recovery, painstakingly built over two years, was dealt a heavy blow.
Upon hearing the news, Sarutobi Hiruzen aged several years in an instant. Danzo, on the other hand, was furious and immediately blamed Hiruzen, saying, "If we had listened and sent Orochimaru, this wouldn't have happened."
Although Sarutobi knew Danzo was being unreasonable, he was unable to muster a strong defense. With such a large loss and no completed mission, White Fang's actions had left a major stain on his record.
In response, Sarutobi had to strip White Fang of all his duties and ordered him to stay home, awaiting the chance to redeem himself.
Danzo, however, wouldn't let the opportunity go. After his proposal for Hiruzen's impeachment was denied, he used the situation to expand the Root division.
Despite Sarutobi's insistence, Danzo agreed that in the event of war, Root would be integrated into regular forces.
After leaving the Hokage building, Danzo glanced back at it before heading straight back to the Root base. Once there, he called his subordinates and began attacking White Fang's reputation.
The loss was heavily exaggerated by Iwa and Suna, quickly spreading through the ninja world.
However, despite the heavy losses, the most important thing for any ninja village was their numbers and quality. Konoha had recovered much of its strength over the past few years. Even with the blow to their elite Anbu, the size and resilience of the village meant the loss wasn't crippling. There were no signs of war on the horizon.
In contrast, Suna had also suffered significant losses. Despite the deaths of many, including several elite shinobi, they still had their top fighters intact. However, the costly exchange for Sasori weighed heavily on the village's leadership.
Sasori, now outfitted with prosthetic arms made by Chiyo, had retreated to a secluded life with her and Ebizo, unaffected by the blame placed on him. His sense of belonging to the village had always been weak, and this incident only strengthened his resolve to betray his village in the future.
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