The battle instantly turned white-hot!
Kimimaro charged into the Sunagakure's Ninja group like a tiger among sheep.
His Shikotsumyaku was incredibly sharp, easily cutting through the Sunagakure's Ninja's defenses; the bone spikes occasionally bursting from various parts of his body were even more impossible to guard against.
Ordinary Sunagakure's Genin and Chunin were almost instantly killed in a single encounter before him.
"Shikotsumyaku? Byakugan?! What kind of person is this guy?!" A few Sunagakure's Jonin barely exchanged blows with him for a few rounds but were soon forced into dire straits by the frenzied yet precise bone dance, exclaiming in shock.
Neji followed closely beside Kimimaro. His Byakugan could not only perceive the enemy's weaknesses but also take in the subtle changes across the entire battlefield.
"Three people on the left, preparing Wind Release!"
"Puppet in the rear, weak joints!"
"Watch out for poison mist spreading on the right flank!"
Neji's calm voice continuously sounded, providing crucial real-time battlefield intelligence to his teammates through communication devices.
His Gentle Fist precisely struck the Sunagakure's Ninja's Tenketsu, disrupting their Chakra Flow. Any Sunagakure's Ninja he got close to felt their Chakra Circulation stagnate, their strength greatly reduced.
"Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
Haku chanted softly, instantly creating multiple ice mirrors.
His Ice Release displayed astonishing power in this scorching desert, not only disrupting the Sunagakure's Ninja's formation but also using the mirrors' reflection for high-speed movement and attacks, though the hot environment consumed his Ice Release Ninjutsu greatly.
Icy senbon shot towards the Sunagakure's Ninja like a rainstorm, and the occasional [Ice Rock Dome] could create small-scale ice barriers, providing cover for teammates.
Most of the Sunagakure's Ninjas, who had lived their entire lives in the desert and never seen snow, were dumbfounded and felt fear facing this defying common sense power.
Meanwhile, Yukimi's figure drifted unpredictably on the battlefield. Her [Smoke Transformation] Kekkei Genkai allowed her to be to a certain extent immune to physical attacks, moving through the battlefield like a ghost.
She sometimes appeared behind Sunagakure's Ninja to deliver fatal blows, sometimes turned into smoke to disrupt the enemy's Ninjutsu release.
Simultaneously, two young Ninjas in the team wearing Uchiha Clan's attire over their Star Ninja's uniforms also displayed astonishing combat prowess.
Their movements were swift and deadly. As they wielded their swords, their Sharingan precisely predicted every enemy move, successively killing over a dozen Sunagakure's Ninja attempting to organize counterattacks. They were like two sharp knives, deeply wedged into the center of the Sunagakure's formation.
"Sha... Sharingan! They're Uchiha Ninja!" A Sunagakure's Ninja, before dying, stared fixedly at the opponent's Sharingan and let out an utterly terrified scream.
Yura and Fugi were now covered in blood, their hearts filled with incredible shock.
Not only was the opponent well-equipped and had tacit tactical coordination, but this mere twelve-person team actually gathered Byakugan, Shikotsumyaku, Ice Release, Sharingan, and even the legendary Wood Release!
What kind of monstrous team was this?!
The final collapse came from Yukimi.
She took a deep breath, pressed both hands onto the scorching sand, and attempted her newly mastered Kekkei Genkai.
"Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
Rumble-!!!
Under the incredulous, near-despairing gazes of Yura, Fugi, and all surviving Sunagakure's Ninjas, a vibrant green forest actually broke through the ground from this sea of death at a visible speed, growing madly!
Thick trees tore through the sandy ground, vines entwined upwards, instantly transforming a small patch of desert into a bizarre woodland!
"Wo... Wood Release?! How is this possible?!!" Fugi's voice completely cracked, his eyes behind his glasses almost popping out!
'The power of the legendary First Hokage, appearing here?!'
'A forest growing in the desert!'
This completely defying common sense sight, like a miracle or a nightmare, completely shattered the last shred of fighting spirit of the remaining less than fifty Sunagakure's Ninjas!
They stared dumbly at that forest, their will to fight finally completely collapsed. Their weapons dropped one after another, their faces filled with despair.
"Sharingan... Byakugan, and now Wood Release... damn it, are we fighting the Star Ninja or Konoha?!" Yura felt it was utterly absurd.
"Ah…! Monsters! They're all monsters!" Some Sunagakure's Ninjas dropped their weapons and fled in panic.
"Can't win... we'll all die here..." Some Sunagakure's Ninjas trembled and shivered.
Kimimaro coldly watched the collapsing Sunagakure's Ninjas.
He said softly: "It's over."
The moment Yura made eye contact with an Uchiha Ninja, he felt the three tomoes in the other's crimson eyes rotate slightly, and his consciousness became dazed, his movements instantly stiffened.
Thud!
A cold, blood-stained kunai silently pressed against his throat.
The one holding the kunai was precisely an Uchiha Ninja.
On the other side, Fugi was also pierced through the shoulder by a sharp bone spike from Kimimaro, nailed heavily against a newly grown tree trunk, completely losing the ability to resist.
The battle was over.
The desert returned to silence, only the sound of the wind whipping yellow sand, and the faint moans of the wounded.
Twelve Star Ninjas stood like rocks in the center of the battlefield, surrounded by the dead and wounded Sunagakure's Ninjas, whose numbers far exceeded theirs by more than tenfold.
Yura looked distraught at everything, as if transported back to the battlefields of the Third Great Ninja War over a decade ago, facing the elite Konoha's Ninjas in their prime, feeling that same powerlessness.
No, this team before him was more terrifying than any Konoha unit he had encountered back then!
…
After arranging for the cleanup of the battlefield, Kimimaro walked over to Neji, who was leaning against a newly grown tree, breathing heavily.
Haku was carefully treating a wound on Neji's arm grazed by a poisoned kunai… they had already retrieved the corresponding antidote from the captured Sunagakure's Ninja.
"How do you feel?" Kimimaro's voice remained flat, but his gaze towards Neji held a trace of recognition.
"It's fine, the antidote was timely, so it doesn't affect movement." Neji wiped the sweat from his forehead. The high-intensity battle and sustained Byakugan use had taken a toll on him.
Kimimaro nodded: "Your performance in today's battle was outstanding. Whether it was the use of the Byakugan or the execution of the Gentle Fist, it was impeccable."
"As expected of the top graduate of this year's Ninja Academy early graduation!" Yukimi, sitting on the ground resting, as using the Nativity of a World of Trees had consumed a huge amount, leaving her face somewhat pale, still said lively: "After the war broke out, I heard many classmates applied for early graduation, but it seems only Neji passed the super strict assessment!"
Haku also added with a gentle smile: "The early graduation standard for the Ninja Academy requires at least the ability to stably oppose a Chunin. Neji's performance has already far surpassed that of an ordinary Chunin."
Neji felt a bit embarrassed by his companions' praise. He subconsciously touched his smooth forehead, where the Caged Bird was no more.
He changed the subject and asked: "Captain Kimimaro, what do we do next?"
Kimimaro looked around. The team members were methodically rounding up prisoners, treating the wounded from both sides, and collecting useful intelligence and supplies.
Even for Sunagakure's Ninjas, after surrendering and becoming prisoners, the Star Ninjas, based on the Land of Stars' battlefield regulations, would provide some treatment, though whether they survived depended on themselves.
"The threat from this flanking force has been eliminated." Kimimaro judged calmly: "Escort the prisoners back to the Shasansen frontline base. If we move quickly, we might still catch the big battle on the main front."
...
Meanwhile, at the edge of the Sea of Death, on the outskirts of the Shasansen Oasis.
The intensity of the battle on this main front far exceeded the ambush Kimimaro's team encountered.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had almost emptied Sunagakure's reserves.
Aside from necessary defensive forces, he deployed over two thousand five hundred Ninjas into this battlefield, attempting to crush the Land of Stars' defense line with absolute numerical superiority.
However, the progress of the battle completely exceeded the expectations of Rasa and all Sunagakure's higher-ups.
The two Star Ninja Army Divisions, plus auxiliary forces, totaled less than four hundred troops.
But the combat prowess they displayed made the numerically superior Sunagakure's Ninjas feel suffocated.
The Chakra Kinetic Armor commonly equipped by the Star Ninjas provided excellent defense. Conventional Sunagakure's kunai and shuriken could hardly cause effective damage unless they scored direct hits.
What made it even more difficult for the Sunagakure's Ninjas to comprehend was that many Star Ninjas could instantly release various small-scale elemental techniques without hand seals, or with extremely simplified gestures!
Fireballs, wind blades, earthen walls came effortlessly. Although their power was less than that of techniques requiring hand seals, on the ever-changing battlefield, this rapid technique release provided a huge tactical advantage.
And the conspicuous clan emblems within the Star Ninja's ranks made Rasa's heart bleed.
The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan's insight, copying and Genjutsu were like nightmares on the battlefield.
The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, combined with the Gentle Fist, were the bane of Taijutsu specialists and Sunagakure's Ninja relying on Tenketsu Release. They also provided the Star Ninja's forces with a wide-area reconnaissance field of view, rendering many of the Sunagakure's small-scale maneuvers ineffective.
There were also those from the Chinoike Clan manipulating strange blood abilities with their Ketsuryugan, and those with Akaigan who could interfere with sensing...
Various unheard-of, unseen Kekkei Genkai and abilities shone brightly on the battlefield.
Rasa stood on a high ground in the rear, watching his nearly two thousand Ninjas besieging the enemy's less than four hundred, yet being beaten back step by step, the front line constantly retreating. A feeling of utter absurdity surged within him.
Was this facing a newly risen small country?
This felt exactly like facing Konoha at its peak during the Third Great Ninja War!
Perhaps even worse!
On the battlefield, the light of Ninjutsu constantly flashed and exploded, fragments of Sunagakure's puppets flew everywhere, poison mist and the Star Ninja's purification techniques canceled each other out.
The efficient 'kunai guns' in the Star Ninja's hands continuously spat fire, shooting explosive tag kunai into areas with dense Sunagakure's Ninjas, causing ongoing chaos and casualties.
Four hundred Star Ninjas were actually pressing down two thousand Sunagakure's Ninjas!
A day of fierce fighting temporarily came to a halt under the setting sun's afterglow.
The Sunagakure's Ninjas retreated like a tide back to their camp set up within the oasis.
The camp was filled with the sound of mourning, wounded everywhere wrapped in bandages, moaning in pain. The heavy smell of blood and herbs mixed together, nauseating.
Rasa's face was livid with anger as he inspected the camp, accompanied by an equally grim-faced Baki.
"Kazekage-sama, preliminary statistics for today show we lost over eighty more Ninjas." Baki's voice was dry: "After four consecutive days of fighting, our total casualties have exceeded five hundred. Among them, two Jonin were killed, two severely wounded. The losses among Chunin and Genin are even more..."
Rasa's heart sank sharply, interrupting him: "The results? How many Star Ninjas did we eliminate?"
Baki shook his head, a trace of bitterness and disbelief on his face: "The enemy... is very tough. They are well-organized, coordinate tacitly. Even when a comrade falls, nearby teammates will desperately retrieve the body or the wounded. We... we have only confirmed collecting five Star Ninjas' bodies so far. Preliminary estimates put the enemy's casualty numbers at... possibly less than thirty."
"Less than thirty?!" Rasa almost squeezed the words out from between his teeth, an icy chill instantly spreading through his body.
A nearly one-to-seventeen casualty ratio!
He couldn't understand, no matter how he thought about it, why the combat power disparity between the two sides' Ninjas was so vast?
'Those strange armors, those seal-less Ninjutsu, those emerging one after another Kekkei Genkai...'
'What kind of monster was the Land of Stars?'
At this moment, an elderly woman with a haggard face but eyes burning with hatred walked over. Her voice was hoarse and heavy: "Rasa, the casualties are too great... comparable even to the most brutal battles of the Third Great Ninja War. More importantly, the enemy's casualties are minimal. If we continue fighting like this, we'll break Sunagakure's foundation! We can't keep fighting this head-on battle!"
Rasa took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the irritation and fear in his heart, and asked: "Elder Chiyo, any news from the left and right flank surprise attack forces? Have they successfully infiltrated the Land of Stars' territory?"
The force he sent wasn't just Yura and Fugi's, as there was another force led by the Scorch Release User, Pakura, and Jonin Yashiro, conducting a wider flanking maneuver from the west, targeting the Land of Stars' newly annexed Swamps Province.
Chiyo shook her head: "No messages have come back yet. However, the Star Ninja's main force is pinned down here by us, so their defensive forces in other directions within their country must be relatively weak. The likelihood of a successful surprise attack is high."
She paused, then suggested: "To create opportunities for the surprise attack forces and maintain the front line, I suggest... continuing to intensify the frontal attack tomorrow. We can't let them detect the potential chaos in our rear."
Rasa was silent for a moment. Looking at the countless pained faces in the camp, he knew Sunagakure had no way back.
He had started this war. If they retreated now, not only would the Land of Wind's interests be unprotected, but Sunagakure's status in the Ninja World would also plummet.
"Pass the order, tomorrow at dawn, continue the attack!" Rasa's voice carried a hint of desperate resolve: "Tell everyone, hold on! Konoha's promised reinforcements will arrive soon! As long as we wait for Konoha, wait for Iwagakure to also declare war on the Land of Stars, victory will ultimately be ours!"
He seemed to be speaking to Baki and Chiyo, but more like hypnotizing himself.
Rasa could only pin his hopes on Konoha's slim promised support and pray that the Land of Earth's Iwagakure would be dragged into the water soon, launching an attack on the Land of Stars' east.
Only then might Sunagakure have a glimmer of hope.
Unaware that the surprise attack force he placed high hopes on had already been completely crushed in the depths of the desert by a mere twelve-member team of Star Ninja.