Chapter 498: The Konoha Army Marches Into the Land of Lightning
The border of the Land of Lightning.
This was a harsh plateau region where the air grew dangerously thin, and thick, bruised cumulus clouds shrouded the jagged peaks year-round. Cutting through this desolate landscape, a massive troop of shinobi moved like a giant black python, its winding form carving a path forward through the mist.
At the very front of the vanguard.
Jiraiya stepped onto a protruding rock outcropping. He narrowed his eyes against the biting wind, gazing out at the vast, treacherous expanse of mountains looming ahead.
"Finally, we have arrived."
Jiraiya muttered the words under his breath, his voice barely carrying over the howling wind.
"Lord Jiraiya."
A Jonin from the Hyuga Clan materialized beside the Toad Sage, the sharp displacement of air signaling his use of the Body Flicker Technique.
"Five kilometers ahead, our Byakugan has discovered Kumogakure's border defense line."
"However..."
"The defensive forces are severely lacking."
Jiraiya let out a cold, disdainful snort.
Once, Kumogakure had been insufferably arrogant. They had proudly touted themselves as a militant faction where every single citizen was a soldier ready for war. Could this same village now not even scrape together enough decent manpower to secure its own border?
It made perfect sense.
The Fourth Raikage had been captured, and their main military force had been utterly crushed in the Land of Rice Fields. The current Kumogakure was nothing more than a toothless tiger.
It looked intimidating from a distance.
But in reality, it was just a sick, dying cat.
"Let the Vanguard Unit take action."
Jiraiya waved his hand dismissively toward the distant peaks.
"Do not let them delay the main army's progress."
The Hyuga ninja bowed his head, accepting the order before vanishing into the mist.
On a high ridge not far away.
Sasuke slightly lowered his stance, his hand resting casually on the hilt of his chokuto.
In the next second.
The solid rock beneath his sandals instantly shattered into dust.
Sasuke turned into a blur of black lightning, vanishing from the spot with a thunderous crack.
"Keep up!"
The thirty-plus Uchiha elites gathered behind him gave a low, synchronized shout, their figures blurring as they followed closely on their young leader's heels.
The slaughter...
had officially begun.
Kumogakure border, the First Outpost.
This fortress was built directly between two steep, sheer peaks, heavily guarding the mandatory choke point leading straight into the heart of the Land of Lightning.
In the past, at least several hundred Kumogakure elites would have been stationed here, their patrols tight and unforgiving.
But now.
Inside the sprawling outpost, there were only a scattered twenty or so Kumogakure ninjas huddled against the cold.
"Captain..."
A young Kumogakure Genin looked nervously at the veteran beside him, his teeth chattering loudly.
"Are we... going to die?"
"Shut up!"
The bearded Kumogakure captain scolded harshly, but the violent trembling in his own voice betrayed the deep-seated fear gnawing at his heart.
"Our purpose here is to relay intelligence to the Village..."
Before he could even finish his sentence.
Clang.
A crisp, singular ring of a drawn blade suddenly echoed through the howling wind.
Immediately after.
The Kumogakure captain, who had just been lecturing his subordinate, felt his voice come to an abrupt, choking halt.
His vision began to spin wildly. The sky and the rocky ground flipped over and over, the world turning completely upside down.
It was not until his rolling head came to a stop, forcing him to stare at a headless torso geysering crimson blood into the dirt, that his fading mind realized the truth.
'That is my own body.'
"Enemy attack!"
"Where are they?"
"Quick! Form hand signs!"
"Lightning Release: Earth Flash!"
The remaining Kumogakure ninjas broke out in a cold sweat, their hands frantically weaving signs to release their ninjutsu.
Violent blue electrical currents scurried across the rocky ground, tearing up the earth in a desperate bid to catch the intruder.
But it was entirely meaningless.
The attacker was simply too fast.
He moved with such blinding speed that the naked eye could not track his trajectory at all.
The dull, wet sounds of sharp steel slicing through muscle and bone rang out one after another in rapid succession.
Every single time a silver flash of a blade passed through the mist, a Kumogakure ninja was bound to fall, their throats opened or their chests pierced.
"Over there!"
Finally, someone spotted the attacker's position through the spray of blood.
Sasuke stood atop the outpost's wooden watchtower, holding his blade casually with one hand.
The tip of his chokuto pointed downward, a single, thick drop of blood slowly sliding off the metal to splatter onto the wood below.
He looked down at the panicked Kumogakure ninjas scrambling in the dirt, his dark eyes entirely devoid of any human emotion.
"Is this all you have got?"
Sasuke spoke, his voice carrying a chilling, absolute coldness.
"Uchiha... It is the Uchiha Clan!"
An elderly Kumogakure ninja recognized the red and white fan crest stitched onto Sasuke's back. The old man stumbled backward, his face draining of all color.
"Those are the Sharingan!"
"Do not look into his eyes!"
"Bastard!"
A burly Kumogakure Jonin roared at the top of his lungs, desperately trying to dispel the suffocating fear gripping his men.
"It is just one person!"
"What are you afraid of!"
"Attack together! Kill him!"
Under the Jonin's desperate lead, over a dozen Kumogakure ninjas forced down their terror, biting their lips until they bled as they quickly formed hand signs.
"Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration!"
"Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!"
A dozen high-level Lightning Release techniques converged in the air, merging into a blinding storm of electricity that surged directly toward Sasuke at the top of the watchtower.
Watching the destructive lightning fill the sky as it approached, the corners of Sasuke's mouth curled up slightly.
He wore a sneer of absolute disdain.
"Boring."
The three tomoe in Sasuke's crimson eyes spun violently, bleeding together to instantly form a complex, jagged pattern.
Mangekyo Sharingan, activated.
"Susanoo."
A massive surge of freezing, extremely violent purple chakra instantly erupted from Sasuke's body, dropping the temperature of the entire gorge.
A colossal purple skeletal frame appeared out of thin air, its thick ribs instantly enveloping Sasuke in an impenetrable fortress.
Sasuke stood calmly within the glowing ribs of the Susanoo, his arms crossed over his chest.
The barrage of Lightning Release techniques slammed heavily into the purple skeleton. Although the sheer force of the combined jutsu caused hairline cracks to spider-web across the Susanoo's surface, they completely failed to harm the boy standing inside.
"It is over."
With a single, dismissive thought.
The Susanoo's massive skeletal arm suddenly rose high into the air.
Its five enormous fingers clenched tightly into a fist.
It smashed down violently toward the rocky ground below.
The earth trembled violently under the apocalyptic impact.
Debris flew everywhere like shrapnel, and a massive cloud of dust and pulverized stone billowed into the sky.
Several Kumogakure ninjas did not even have the time to scream before the sheer weight of the chakra construct crushed them into unrecognizable mincemeat.
"Kill!"
As the devastating punch from Sasuke's Susanoo shattered the very last remnants of Kumogakure's will to resist, the Uchiha elites, who had been waiting patiently in the shadows for this exact moment, charged into the fray like starving wolves pouncing on wounded prey.
Meanwhile, in the deepest, most fortified part of the outpost, a desperate Kumogakure Jonin had already sent the intelligence back to the Village via a winged Summoned Beast.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
A dozen Uchiha Clan members landed on the surrounding walls, forming hand signs simultaneously in perfect, terrifying synchronization.
Massive, roaring fire dragons erupted from their mouths, merging together into a churning sea of flames that instantly swallowed the fleeing Kumogakure ninjas who were trying to use the rocky terrain to escape.
"Do not let a single one escape!"
Uchiha Honoka held a long blade in one hand, his swift figure flickering in and out of the raging firelight as he cut down anyone who managed to crawl out of the inferno.
It was a completely one-sided slaughter.
In just five short minutes.
The battle was over.
The first Kumogakure outpost, which had once proudly guarded a strategic mountain pass, had now been reduced to a silent wasteland of scorched earth and shattered stone.
Charred and dismembered corpses were strewn everywhere.
The thin mountain air was now thick with the nauseating, heavy smell of burning flesh and spilled blood.
Sasuke deactivated his Susanoo, the purple chakra dissolving into the wind.
Standing on a still-burning broken wall, he indifferently flicked his wrist, snapping the remaining blood droplets off his ninja blade.
"How truly boring."
He then sheathed his blade with a soft click, his pitch-black eyes filled with deep disappointment.
Opponents of this pathetic level failed to pique his interest in the slightest.
The next two hours...
were a total, waking nightmare for the Kumogakure ninjas stationed along the border of the Land of Lightning.
The Uchiha Vanguard Unit led by Sasuke broke into the enemy territory without facing a single ounce of genuine hindrance.
Almost all the border outposts, no matter how heavily fortified, were systematically destroyed by the Vanguard Unit.
Not long after the final watchtower fell.
Jiraiya arrived at the clearing with the main army trailing behind him.
"Lord Jiraiya."
Sasuke and the blood-soaked Uchiha Vanguard Unit flashed into existence before the Toad Sage.
"The obstacles have been cleared."
"Wiped out completely."
Jiraiya looked over the smoking ruins and nodded with deep satisfaction.
"Well done."
Then, Jiraiya stepped forward and waved his hand, pointing a commanding finger toward the vast, shadowed mountains ahead.
"All troops, hear my command!"
"No rest! Advance at full speed!"
"While Kumogakure has yet to react, we will drive a blade deep into their heart!"
"Yes!"
The thousands of Konoha ninjas behind him roared in unison, their combined voices surging like a tidal wave against the peaks.
The army set out once more.
The black torrent surged forward, rolling unstoppably toward the very heart of the Land of Lightning.
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