Nara Shikaku's face stiffened.
Damn it, you came over at a time like this just to steal the job again.
Wait… stealing the job is one thing, but why did I say "again"?
While Nara Shikaku was contemplating life, several elite squads of Rain ninja had already sprinted up to the first defensive line they had set up.
"All units, prepare. First wave—release. Second wave—stand by."
Hyūga Hiyasu commanded.
Three hundred Hyūga were divided into three teams. Each person held piles of kunai attached with Explosive Tags.
The first team threw theirs first.
Enemies charging straight at them?
That was exactly what they liked.
Boom boom boom boom boom.
Under the overwhelming barrage of kunai and Explosive Tags, the momentum of the Rain ninja charge was completely suppressed.
Fortunately for them, this batch of Rain ninja were fairly elite, so their losses in this round of suppression weren't too severe.
They quickly found cover and hid for the moment.
But just because they wanted to take a breather and think of a countermeasure didn't mean the Hyūga clan would cooperate.
The leader of the second team, Hyūga Hiashi, stepped forward.
"Second team. Activate the Byakugan. If you see one, throw one. Don't let them rest."
"Yes."
How should this feeling be described?
X-ray vision while throwing grenades.
It felt amazing.
As for the Rain ninja elite squads?
They were blown into chaos, jumping around everywhere.
Those who found good cover could withstand a few more blasts.
Those with poor cover had to watch not only for Explosive Tags flying toward them, but also for debris from the explosions.
Slowly, the Rain ninja elite squads lost nearly half their numbers.
The captains of the elite squads realized this couldn't continue.
They shouted in unison:
"Offer your hearts to Hanzo-sama!"
"Charge!"
They rushed straight toward the Hyūga battle formation.
As long as they broke through those white-eyed people, they could deal with the giants behind them.
Charge!
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms."
Charge my ass.
As everyone knows, when facing the Hyūga branch family, you should never attack from the front.
Even attacking from behind doesn't help much—but at least it forces them to turn around, giving you a tiny blind spot of about one degree.
Charging head-on?
Full X-ray vision + chakra point sealing + internal damage.
How boring.
"Sigh. Why are you all charging? We still have piles of kunai and Explosive Tags we haven't even thrown yet."
Hyūga Hizashi held a Rain ninja squad captain by the neck. His face was covered in bulging veins—the natural "cosmetic effect" of an activated Byakugan.
He spoke helplessly.
Our Hyūga Third Division became the first group to engage in close combat with the enemy. That's embarrassing, okay?
"Hizashi. The living ones—throw them directly to the Nara clan in the back. The dead ones—collect them for Shiken. They're all good materials."
"Understood, cousin."
Though…
Calling them materials—isn't that a bit disrespectful to the enemy?
Rain ninja: That's extremely disrespectful, alright.
Well, they probably won't mind. Hurry up and clean this up—finally we have something to do. So nice.
Rain ninja: Did you even ask us? You didn't ask! How do you know we wouldn't mind? You overconfident jerk.
Of course, Hyūga Hizashi probably couldn't hear them.
But the Sage of Six Paths in the Pure Land might.
The Sage of Six Paths: Achoo.
The Hyūga clan cleaned up the battlefield.
Anything that could be recovered was recovered.
Anything that couldn't be recovered was abandoned.
Meanwhile, in the rear, Nara Shikaku looked at how cleanly Hyūga Hiyasu had handled things.
Crap. This is bad.
Doesn't that mean only the Nara clan and the Yamanaka clan didn't do anything?
Wouldn't that become a stain on our record when we go back?
"Inoichi, let's go find Chōza."
"Ah, okay."
...
At the Akimichi throwing position, Akimichi Chōza was discussing the next rotation with several elders of the clan.
The Akimichi clan had brought forty jōnin.
There were also sixty-five chūnin who could use the Super Expansion Technique, but unfortunately they could only maintain it for five minutes.
The jōnin could last more than half an hour.
How should they arrange this efficiently?
Sigh. Thinking like this really isn't suitable for the Akimichi clan.
"Chōza, Tōdō-san."
Akimichi Chōza and Akimichi Tōdō looked up as Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi arrived with a large group.
Chōza's face lit up.
"Shikaku! Come help calculate!"
"Chōza, with the Ino–Shika–Chō formation, we need to change our tactics now."
"Ah, okay."
Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Akimichi Chōza took the lead.
"Super Expansion Technique!"
In an instant, Akimichi Chōza grew larger than a small mountain.
Yamanaka Inoichi placed one hand on Nara Shikaku's head.
"Mind Body Transmission Technique."
He connected to Akimichi Chōza.
Nara Shikaku: "Chōza, Chōza. Everything OK?"
Akimichi Chōza: "No problem, Shikaku."
Nara Shikaku: "Inoichi's technique is really a huge help."
Yamanaka Inoichi smiled slightly.
"Chōza. Thirty-six degrees to the left. Nine hundred eighty-six meters. Throw."
"Got it."
"Straight ahead. One thousand five hundred thirty meters. Throw."
"Got it."
Behind them, the members of the Ino–Shika–Chō clans watched the three working together in perfect coordination and all smiled knowingly.
These three would be their future leaders.
Akimichi Tōdō said, "Shikakaku, sorry to trouble you."
Nara Shikakaku replied, "What are you talking about? Besides, the ones being troubled seem to be someone else. Right, Meirin?"
Yamanaka Meirin sighed.
"Seems so. No escaping you two."
"Hahahahaha!"
"Let the youngsters see the power of the older generation."
"Alright!"
One Akimichi giant after another rose up.
This time it wasn't simple firepower coverage.
It was firepower coverage after precise targeting.
...
On the Rain ninja side, the high-ranking commanders watched as massive boulders followed them no matter where they hid.
They realized that relying on evasion was no longer viable.
"We originally wanted to preserve the jōnin's full combat strength. But if Konoha keeps bombing like this, the chūnin might hold, but the genin will probably scatter and flee."
"Jōnin squad, deploy. One-third of you—destroy all incoming boulders."
"Yes."
Boom boom boom.
Bang bang bang.
Boulders flew through the air.
Boulders shattered midair.
However, the Rain commanders failed to notice something.
To reduce the number of times they needed to destroy the rocks and conserve their jōnin strength, their formation had gradually begun clustering together.
Akimichi Chōza also noticed that the boulders weren't as effective as before.
"Shikaku, this method seems to be losing effectiveness."
"It's fine. Keep throwing. Our mission was to gather them together anyway."
"Got it."
They kept throwing.
The enemy kept breaking them.
It was as if both sides had rehearsed this in advance.
Their coordination was strangely perfect.
But the Rain ninja formation was slowly advancing.
At this time, Hyūga Hiyasu arrived at the location where Aburame Shiken was stationed.
In front of a group of Aburame clan members were piles of scrolls.
Nearby lay heaps of dead blue insects.
Aburame Shiken stood before a series of glowing blue screens.
"Well then… you've completely figured out information warfare."
Hiyasu asked, "What's the next step? The Rain ninja have already clustered past the first line."
"Let Orochimaru-sensei make his move."
"No problem."
Hyūga Hiyasu activated his Byakugan and located the position of Orochimaru and the other two.
In his left hand he held a red flag, and in his right hand a green flag.
He sent out a flag signal indicating the start of the operation.
A Hyūga member standing beside Orochimaru saw the signal and returned one indicating receipt.
"Orochimaru-sama, the operation can begin."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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