The Allied Shinobi Forces ninjas stationed on the battlefield suddenly heard a strange noise from above and hurriedly looked up.
They saw a mass of dark, gloomy clouds swallowing the sky like a beast, blocking the sunlight and casting a vast shadow that shrouded the battlefield.
The Hyuga ninjas acting as the eye dared not be careless; they immediately activated their Byakugan and concentrated intensely on the clouds.
They observed cluster after cluster of chakra emerging from within, as grey monsters resembling manta rays hid inside the cloud layer.
"Careful, there's something in the clouds!"
The Hyuga ninja responsible for reconnaissance immediately issued a warning to the entire Allied Forces.
Every ninja present quickly went on high alert the moment they heard the warning, but they were still a step too late.
As a strong wind blew the clouds apart, countless flying monsters appeared before everyone's eyes.
Furthermore, a dense, rain-like downpour of kunai poured down from above, each with an attached Paper Bomb burning away.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The Hyuga ninjas who saw this coming screamed frantically.
However, their screams were soon swallowed whole by the violent roaring of explosions.
The entire battlefield was submerged in the terrifying sound of blasts.
Under the guidance of the Eagle Eye, these kunai landed with extreme precision near many ninjas before detonating.
Even though these ninjas reacted quickly, they still suffered heavy losses in the face of such an offensive falling from the sky with extremely high blast density.
In just one wave of attack, the entire battlefield fell into a state of painful wailing and the thick smell of burning.
Looking back to see this scene, Jiraiya's eyes nearly split with rage. His face darkened to the extreme, yet he was utterly helpless.
Even if he summoned Gamabunta to leap into the air and slash down a few monsters, what difference would it make?
At this moment, there were far more than just a few monsters floating in the air.
With the number of flying monsters clearly reaching triple digits, it was simply not something Jiraiya could resolve on his own.
"Damn it..."
Jiraiya clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on his forehead and arms.
A sense of immense frustration enveloped him. In his decades as a ninja, there had never been a moment where he felt as lost and powerless as he did now.
He actually couldn't find any way to resolve the crisis before him.
The two Leaf ninjas following Jiraiya also had expressions of grey defeat on their faces.
After all, if even Lord Jiraiya was at his wits' end, what could they possibly do?
This emotion appeared not only in Jiraiya's trio but in the hearts of every ninja in the Allied Forces.
With attacks falling from the sky and enemies positioned high above, it seemed they had no means of retaliation whatsoever.
"As expected of Lord Simu. Just one summoning beast with flight capabilities has left a legendary Sannin completely helpless."
Rie Uzumaki stood on the back of a Flying Ray, watching the rolling thick smoke rising below at her leisure, her eyes full of pride.
As a member of the Uzumaki Clan who had experienced great suffering, she could no longer restrain her desire to share that suffering with everyone in the Shinobi World!
As the saying goes, since she had been soaked by the rain, she really wanted to tear everyone else's umbrellas apart!
However, Jugo, standing beside her, shook his head. "Things might not be that simple. After all, the Leaf and Sand are two of the five strongest hidden villages in the Shinobi World."
"Hmph, the mere Five Great Shinobi Nations can't do anything to Lord Simu!"
Rie still maintained a near-blind level of trust in Simu.
Soon, the second round of bombing began. Violent flames bloomed on the battlefield like flowers welcoming spring, and scorched marks spread like ink, mixed with blood and wails.
During this time, it wasn't that no ninjas tried to fight back, but whether they used Fire Style, Lightning Style, or even Wind Style, they couldn't damage the enemies above.
The range of their attacks simply wasn't large enough!
Accompanying the sounds of explosions ringing everywhere, this Allied branch of five hundred people actually fell into a desperate situation.
If it weren't for the pride and sense of duty they had held for years as members of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, they would have already scattered in the face of such despair.
But if the negative atmosphere of the battlefield were allowed to continue like this, even the firmest convictions would eventually collapse.
It was only a matter of time.
Suddenly, in the center of the battlefield, a flock of crows was summoned.
A Leaf ninja stood atop the speeding murder of crows. He didn't speak or shout; he simply maintained a fearless posture as he led the black flock and charged fiercely toward the sky!
Many Flying Rays above instantly surrounded him, and the Jashin followers standing on their backs also launched an assault.
But this Leaf ninja was completely unafraid. He swung the shinobi blade in his hand frantically, slashing at the emotion known as despair.
His attacks weren't aimed at those Jashin followers but at the Flying Rays beneath their feet.
He knew that if the Allied Forces wanted to win, they had to find a way to counter these monsters.
What he could do now was reduce the number of these monsters as much as possible before he died.
Allowing the enemies' sharp weapons to pierce his body, the Leaf ninja swung his blade, every strike aimed at the Flying Rays in the sky.
One, two, three!
He controlled the flock of crows to maneuver through the air. As the wounds on his body increased, the number of Flying Rays he killed grew as well. The sight of the monsters' corpses constantly falling greatly inspired the Allied Forces' morale!
Finally, just as he killed the sixth Flying Ray, Rie Uzumaki could finally hold back no longer.
"I'm going to kill him!"
Her figure suddenly emerged from behind a Flying Ray. Subsequently, a massive amount of chakra gathered in her fist. She crushed all the crows blocking her path with a single punch and charged toward the Leaf ninja with invincible power.
The latter seemingly realized that the power of this punch was something he couldn't block. Therefore, he actually abandoned his survival instinct and condensed all his remaining chakra onto the blade in his hand, delivering one final strike!
The crescent-shaped chakra slash split the air, bypassed Rie Uzumaki, and sliced through the two Flying Rays behind her!
Such an action undoubtedly enraged Rie Uzumaki severely. Consequently, her punch unmistakably smashed this nameless Leaf ninja until he was deformed, sending him crashing into the ground like a cannonball and creating a massive crater!
"Damn it, to let a single Leaf ninja destroy so many Flying Rays."
Rie Uzumaki's expression was quite ugly.
Jugo sighed and said, "Not only that, but even worse is that the morale of those guys below seems to have recovered quite a bit."
Sure enough, under the heroic sacrifice of their comrade, the courage of these ninjas was completely ignited.
They cast aside their previous fear and stared warily at the sky.
"Everyone! Although our attacks can't reach that height, we can use our ninjutsu to block the Paper Bombs falling from above!"
After experiencing the initial frustration and helplessness, the Allied ninjas finally snapped out of it and quickly performed Earth Style ninjutsu.
Thick rock pillars rose from the ground and then connected to each other, forming a massive and heavy dome that blocked the Jashin Religion's third wave of attack.
Countless kunai landed on the dome and exploded, but the shockwaves only caused the dome to tremble.
Even when parts were occasionally shattered, the ninjas below had plenty of time to dodge.
Therefore, compared to the first and second surprise attacks, this bombing wave could be said to have had very little effect.
Of course, the first and second bombings alone were enough to cause quite considerable damage to the Allied Forces.
"What a shame. I thought we could get a few more waves in. It's all that crow guy's fault!"
Rie Uzumaki complained with great dissatisfaction.
If he hadn't delayed them and shifted the morale, the Allied ninjas wouldn't have reacted so quickly.
Jugo, on the other hand, didn't have much of a reaction. Although he also felt it was a pity, it wasn't unacceptable.
"Begin the retreat. It looks like Jiraiya is about to lose his patience."
He turned his gaze in another direction.
On that side, Jiraiya had already shaken off his initial frustration and summoned Gamabunta, preparing to use the toad's powerful jumping ability to whittle down the number of Flying Rays.
Unfortunately, Jugo and Rie Uzumaki quickly ordered a retreat. The dark clouds that had covered most of the battlefield quickly receded, leaving behind only wounds and devastation.
"Call for reinforcements immediately, treat the wounded, and suspend the operation plan against the Jashin Religion!"
Jiraiya issued orders decisively. Hyuga ninjas were to monitor enemy movements, medical ninjas were to put all their effort into treating the wounded, and other combat-capable ninjas began moving the injured and retreating quickly!
An hour later, these ninjas returned to the camp in an extremely wretched state to rest and reorganize.
Tonami Nara said with a grave expression, "Commanders, today's casualty figures have been compiled. 134 ninjas killed, 156 ninjas lost their combat effectiveness, totaling a loss of 290 combatants. There are 564 ninjas currently receiving treatment."
As this string of data was read out, Jiraiya's face darkened to the limit once again.
Although he knew the losses this time would be staggering, a reduction of seventy or eighty percent of his force's effectiveness pained him deeply.
Clearly, the Jashin Religion's strike this time hadn't just targeted the branch Jiraiya was leading; other Allied forces and even the camp had suffered heavy blows.
"This is a failure of my intelligence gathering. I didn't obtain the enemy's vital information in time."
Jiraiya stood up and took the initiative to accept responsibility.
If he had known earlier that the opponent was hiding such a trump card, he could have completely avoided these losses.
"You can't be blamed for this, Jiraiya," Ebizo spoke up to comfort him.
"After all, the Jashin Religion's abilities are incredibly bizarre. It's normal not to have discovered it in time. We must be even more cautious moving forward."
"Yeah."
Jiraiya nodded heavily.
Such a setback did not crush the will of the two hidden villages. After properly sending the heavily wounded back to their villages for care, the Allied Forces advanced into the Jashin Religion's territory once again.
During this period, the Jashin Religion's Flying Ray bombing unit returned to patrol several times.
But the Allied Forces had learned their lesson. The Hyuga Clan ninjas were divided into several squads, taking turns to constantly observe the sky, especially when there was cloud cover.
Additionally, Earth Style ninjas were grouped together; once the Flying Ray unit appeared, they used Earth Style to create domes to counter the attacks.
Although some unlucky individuals were still wounded or even killed by explosions, the number of casualties had been greatly reduced.
But the Jashin Religion's hidden cards clearly didn't end there.
On the eighteenth day since the war began, the Allied Forces encountered a new setback.
An offensive from underground!
While all the ninjas were focused on the sky, a large number of centipede monsters erupted from the ground. Their sharp claws were like a reaper's scythe harvesting lives, and several ninjas fell with every swing.
For a time, the Allied Forces suffered heavy losses.
Ultimately, it was the Earth Style ninjas who played a major role again, using ninjutsu to raise the ground and expose the monsters, then gathering their strength to drive them back.
"What? This attack actually cost us 11 Hyuga ninjas?!"
Jiraiya shouted angrily as he looked at the report in his hand.
Tonami Nara nodded. "The casualties among other ninjas were only 57. The main purpose of this attack was likely to destroy our eye."
Due to the limitations of the fog of war, the most effective reconnaissance method the Allied Forces had right now was the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan.
Once they lost this eye, the Allied Forces deep in enemy territory would become nothing more than targets for a beating!
Jiraiya pressed his temples hard with his fingers. The veins beside them were pulsing vigorously, proving the inner turmoil he was currently feeling.
He felt as if he and the Allied Forces were like a sparrow that had flown head-first into a spiderweb woven by the Jashin Religion. As the web tightened, he, the sparrow, was gradually becoming unable to breathe.
Just as Jiraiya was at a loss, Ebizo finally spoke.
"If that's the case, Jiraiya, let's leave the work of the eye to the children of our Hidden Sand Village from now on."
"The Hidden Sand Village?"
A flash of surprise crossed Jiraiya's eyes.
After all, the Sand was never known for its reconnaissance capabilities.
Ebizo nodded with an air of mystery. "Don't worry. After observing for so many days, I've found that the Hidden Sand's secret techniques are very well-suited to the mist covering the Land of Rivers. We can use our secret techniques to drive desert creatures for reconnaissance."
"Is that so? Well, that's great then."
Although there was still doubt in Jiraiya's eyes, he looked relieved on the surface.
Tonami Nara was also pondering something.
Over at the Jashin Religion's side, after several days of recovery, Sasuke finally stepped out of the blood pool.
He clenched his fist, feeling the power contained within, and muttered to himself, "I feel like I've become stronger again."
Hearing this, Simu gave a faint smile and lightly pushed up his glasses.
"Sasuke-kun, this isn't exactly becoming stronger. It's just that your body and the power within you have become more compatible."
Sasuke looked at his palm and whispered, "The power within my body?"
Simu smiled and nodded. "That's right. As you and that power merge together, the power you can demonstrate will gradually become stronger. Once the fusion is complete, you will have the capital to defeat Itachi Uchiha."
Hearing Itachi Uchiha's name, Sasuke's eyes instantly brightened, filled with a thirst for revenge.
Of course, Simu had a half-sentence he didn't say.
And that was...
When the power was completely fused, Sasuke would transform into a true Apostle!