Chapter 91: Let the World Feel Pain
Unlike the horror-movie vibe on the Uchiha's side, the Sunagakure battlefield on the flank was playing out like an absurd "commercial film."
*Squelch.*
A pitch-black Earth Grudge Fear tentacle pierced through the heart of a Sunagakure Jonin with surgical precision.
"The fifth one."
Kakuzu stood on a section of broken wall, holding a bounty manual from the Bounty Station, his green eyes reflecting the cold indifference of an actuary.
Without even looking at the fallen corpse, he directly manipulated a tentacle to skillfully sever the head and stuff it into a Seal scroll behind him; the movements were fluid, without a single wasted step.
"What's going on? Where are the people in front?"
When the Sunagakure squad captain from the rear rushed over, he saw only a headless corpse.
"Right here." Kakuzu turned around and pointed to his scroll, his tone as calm as if he were discussing the price of vegetables. "This head is worth eight million Ryo. Although it's a bit lower than the market rate on Konoha's side, it makes up for it in quantity."
"You bastard!!"
Several Sunagakure Chunin roared and charged forward, their Puppet mechanisms firing in unison.
Kakuzu only shook his head slightly, a hint of disdain showing in his eyes.
"Chunin... the bounty is only five hundred thousand Ryo. After deducting the cost of exploding tags and combat wear-and-tear, I'd even have to pay out of pocket for the labor costs."
At that moment, all the Sunagakure Ninja felt extremely insulted.
In this monster's eyes, they weren't warriors, or even enemies, but a pile of walking wallets. And the kind of loose change that was too troublesome to collect because the denominations were too small.
"If it's a loss-making business, then I won't do it."
One of the Wind Release Mask Monsters behind Kakuzu suddenly opened its mouth.
Wind Release: Pressure Damage!
A high-pressure air mass blasted out like a heavy cannon, directly blowing those charging Chunin along with their Puppets into the mud.
Just then, several scorching fireballs came spinning in, and the moisture in the air was instantly evaporated.
"Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder!"
The tall Pakura arrived with a Body Flicker, surrounded by orange fireballs, her eyes brimming with Killing Intent.
"Oh? Pakura, the Hero of Sunagakure?" Kakuzu's gaze lingered on Pakura for a second, then he flipped through the small book in his hand. "A bounty of twenty-five million Ryo... Hmm, that's a big order."
But he didn't make a move.
Because he keenly sensed several other strong Chakra signatures approaching.
"Forget it, that's enough for today. I'm clocking out." Kakuzu put away his book, his body merging into the shadows behind him.
"Trying to run?!" Pakura barked, her Scorch Release fireballs slamming into the broken wall, melting the bricks into lava, but Kakuzu had already vanished.
Pakura stood in the rain, her chest heaving. Looking at her demoralized subordinates, a deep sense of powerlessness washed over her.
This wasn't a war.
This was a game of cat and mouse.
Two hours later. Allied Forces Temporary Command Post.
It was less a command post and more a slightly drier bridge tunnel.
Nara Shikaku looked at the battle reports gathered in his hands, his brow furrowed tightly.
The casualty numbers weren't large. Out of an allied force of five thousand, fewer than fifty were dead, and over a hundred were seriously injured. For a war of this scale, such an attrition rate was abnormally low.
But that was exactly the most lethal part.
Among these fifty people, thirteen were Jonin and twenty were Special Jonin.
Every single one who died was a backbone!
The opponent was like someone using a pair of precision tweezers, plucking out the Allied Forces' fangs one by one. Meanwhile, the remaining ordinary Ninja were being driven to mental breakdowns by endless traps, poison gas, and Orochimaru's perverse voyeurism.
"We can't keep advancing like this."
Grandmother Chiyo's face was grim, her fingers still trembling slightly—just now, one of her Puppets from the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets had been ambushed and dismantled into parts by that bastard named Sasori, who even left a note critiquing her puppetry as "outdated and lacking aesthetic sense."
"We are in the light, and they are in the dark. The terrain of this abandoned industrial zone is too complex; it's practically a hunting ground tailored for them." Chiyo gritted her teeth. "We must pull out."
Shikaku nodded.
As Konoha's strategist, he quickly reviewed the situation in his mind.
The core of Amegakure's "asymmetric warfare" was to use the terrain advantage for piecemeal attacks. If they continued to tangle in these ruins, pipes, and alleys, the Allied Forces would be bled to death bit by bit, eventually collapsing without even seeing the enemy's faces.
They had to pull back their fist before they could strike out.
"Pass the order!"
Shikaku stood up abruptly, his finger pointing heavily at a blank area on the map.
"All troops stop searching the ruins and retreat three kilometers immediately!"
"We're going here—the open plains to the northwest."
Rationality gleamed in Shikaku's eyes: "The field of vision there is open, with no buildings to obstruct us. The enemy's traps and ambushes will have nowhere to hide."
"We will camp and rest there, waiting for dawn."
"Once the sun rises and visibility is restored, we will use our numerical advantage to flatten the Hidden Rain Village!"
When facing guerrilla warfare, the best way is to force the enemy into a pitched battle. And in an open area, the combined Ninjutsu fire of five thousand Ninja is enough to drown any individual powerhouse.
Even an S-Rank Rogue Ninja wouldn't dare to charge head-on into a five-thousand-man phalanx.
"Good idea." Fugaku also expressed his agreement. "In that kind of place, the visual advantage of the Sharingan can be utilized to its fullest. If Orochimaru dares to come, I'll turn him into a roasted snake."
As the order was issued, the Allied Forces, who had been scattered in the ruins like headless flies, seemed to find their backbone.
They quickly left the eerie industrial zone and gathered toward that open ground... The rain was still falling, but the wind seemed even colder.
Just as Shikaku had predicted, it was flat, open, and had no blind spots where filth could hide.
Five thousand Allied Ninja gathered here densely and lit campfires. Layer upon layer of defensive barriers rose, turning the area into an iron-clad fortress.
It was the instinctive reaction of humans to huddle together for warmth when facing darkness and the unknown.
Looking at the thousands of comrades around them and feeling the massive Chakra gathered together, the fear previously dominated by Orochimaru and Kakuzu finally dissipated quite a bit.
"This should be safe now."
A Konoha Ninja warmed himself by the fire and let out a long sigh of relief. "As long as those Rain Ninja dare to show their heads, we could drown them with just our spit."
Even Shikaku, standing on high ground and looking at this impregnable circular formation, felt his furrowed brow relax slightly.
This was the foundation of a Great Nation.
No matter how bizarre the methods, they had to give way in the face of absolute numbers and formations.
However.
Mortal wisdom is, after all, limited by the perspective of what they can see.
Just when the Allied Forces thought they had found the safest haven, several kilometers away, at the top of the Hidden Rain Village Central Tower.
Two figures were on the rooftop, looking down at the land.
Nagato's pale purple Rinnegan pierced through the curtain of rain, clearly seeing the glow of Chakra gathered on that plain.
On the pitch-black land of the Land of Rain, that camp of five thousand people was like a firefly that had actively lit up its rear in the night, conspicuously eye-catching.
"They really went to that plain."
Nagato sat in his wheelchair, his voice carrying a divine indifference. "Five thousand people, all squeezed together. Is this the judgment of the so-called number one brain of Konoha?"
"You can't blame Shikaku."
Yahiko stood at the edge of the railing, letting the gale blow his short orange hair into a mess.
"In the logic of conventional warfare, that is indeed the correct judgment."
"Facing the fear of the unknown, humans always tend to gather together to find a sense of security," Yahiko whispered softly. "But they don't know that when ants huddle into a ball, that is the best time to crush them with one foot."
"Notify everyone to withdraw."
"The stage is set, and the audience is seated."
"Next..."
Yahiko turned around, and in the shadows behind them, the six pairs of cold Rinnegan of the six paths of pain lit up simultaneously.
"It is time to let the world feel pain."
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