Chapter 90: 90 - Five Hundred Lies, One Truth [Bonus]
In northern part of the Land of Whirlpools, the allied forces formed by the four minor ninja villages, Ame, Kusa, and two others, were fleeing desperately toward the coastline like fish that had slipped through a net, running for their lives.
Even though there was clearly nothing behind them at that moment.
Still, not a single ninja among the small village coalition stopped running. They only wished they had more legs to run faster.
This place was hell, they didn't want to stay here even a moment longer.
After the temporary meeting of the major ninja villages confirmed the coordinated attack time, the four-village coalition and Kumo's forces privately agreed to join up.
The leaders of the small villages didn't actually want to agree, but Kumo was overwhelmingly domineering.
On their way to the rendezvous point, the ninjas of the four small villages were all in terrible moods, more than half of them were considering retreating from the Land of Whirlpools.
Though the land was rich, Uzushio had already adopted a scorched-earth policy, and the civilians had long been evacuated. If they didn't go deep into Uzushio, there was nothing for them to loot. But if they did go deeper, with the major villages present, what could they possibly gain?
Were they supposed to rob Kumo or Iwa ninjas? Did they have a death wish?
Just as morale was crumbling, and they were still 15 km from the rendezvous point, the four-village coalition suddenly fell into an ambush led by Tsunade and the Uzushio ninjas.
With their morale already gone and a clear power disparity, the small village ninjas were utterly routed upon contact, scattered like leaves in the wind.
Tsunade, in particular, erupted with terrifying strength once more, devastating the four-village coalition and throwing them into total disarray.
Only the Ame ninjas managed to hold their ground to some extent.
But when they saw the other three villages' forces fleeing for their lives upon first contact, there was no way the Ame ninjas, faced with an unknown number of enemies, would sacrifice themselves to cover the retreat. And so, the small village alliance barely put up a fight before they all started running for their lives.
The Uzushio ninjas pursued and killed them along the way, killing over 500 enemies at minimal cost.
However, they stopped after chasing for only 5 km, regrouped to collect bodies and clean up the battlefield, and began planning their ambush of Kumo. After all, the four small villages had never been part of their main target, they didn't want to waste energy on them.
From the start, their target was Kumo.
Under Tsunade's command, they had even already taken care of Kumo's scouts in advance. To everyone, the small village coalition was just a disorganized rabble, not worth worrying about.
And that was exactly the case.
The only troublesome force was the Ame ninjas, but by joining up with the other three weaker villages, they had only dragged themselves down, and were forced to retreat with them in that kind of situation.
Soon, 500 Uzushio ninjas put on the clothes of the fallen and wore the forehead protectors of the four small villages.
After a short rest, a new pursuit drama began.
The disguised 500 ninjas ran wildly ahead as if fleeing, while another 500 Uzushio ninjas gave close chase behind them, all heading toward the main Kumo force.
At that moment, the Kumo ninjas were also marching toward the designated rendezvous point with the small village alliance.
"A-sama, we're just 5 km away!" a nearby ninja reported. "But all the scouts we sent out have gone missing. Should we change the plan?"
A furrowed his brow and waved his hand to halt the entire unit, falling deep into thought. His plan was simple but practical: first, meet up with the rabble, then let those guys scout ahead while his forces picked up the spoils from behind.
But the sudden loss of contact with their scouts gave him a sense of danger. Just as he was about to order a detour to the rendezvous point, he noticed something.
"What is it?"
Following A's gaze, the Kumo ninjas saw four to five hundred ninjas rushing toward them at full speed. These ninjas were in miserable condition, covered in blood and running for their lives.
"It's Kumo! We're saved!" one of the fleeing ninjas shouted tearfully.
"Help! There's an ambush ahead, we walked right into it!" another yelled.
Seeing this, a nearby ninja quickly asked, "A-sama, what should we do?"
At this rate, the two groups were about to collide, and that would surely lead to chaos. If the pursuing enemies reached them at that moment, they would be caught in a vulnerable position.
A rushed forward and roared at the fleeing ninjas, "Stop where you are! Take one more step, and you'll be treated as an enemy!"
"We can't stop! We'll die if we stop!" one of the fleeing ninjas sobbed.
"We're allies! You can't just leave us to die!" another shouted.
A was just about to order an attack when a series of explosions suddenly rang out from the rear of their formation.
"Ambush! The enemy is attacking from behind!" a loud cry rang out, sending a chill through everyone's heart.
"Don't scatter too much! Stay together or we'll be picked off one by one. Also—"
Just as A was about to issue another command, the five hundred "fleeing" ninjas suddenly split off to the sides, circling around to flank both sides of the Kumo ninjas formation.
Then, the pursuing ninjas, about a hundred meters behind, began launching volleys of kunai in perfect synchronization toward the Kumo army.
A's heart skipped a beat as he saw that every kunai had an explosive tag tied to it. And just when he felt unease surging within him, the two flanking groups, disguised as the small village ninjas, also started throwing kunai with explosive tags from a hundred meters away in a slow, advancing pattern toward the Kumo army.
The Kumo ninjas quickly activated defensive jutsu, blocking many of the explosive tags. But with attacks coming from four directions at once, quite a few still landed among their ranks, triggering a series of violent explosions.
"Damn it!" A roared in rage and instantly entered Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
With his body pushed to the limits of strength and speed, he charged straight at the enemy formation in front of him. But just then, a figure nearly as fast as he was shot out from the opposing formation and came rushing toward him.
"Get out of my way!" he shouted. Behind him, explosions continued to rock their camp, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Right now, all he wanted was to disrupt the enemy formation before they could launch a second wave of attacks.
But one question gnawed at his mind: Where the hell did Uzushio get so many explosive tags?
Explosive tags were expensive, yet Uzushio was using them without restraint.
Were they really that rich?
That didn't make sense. Even if they had money, buying that many tags wouldn't be easy. Where did they get them? Why had no one heard of this?
If Shin could hear A's thoughts, he would've told him: Scientific technology is the primary productive force.
But A had no time for such thoughts now. With a thunderous roar, he unleashed a Liger Bomb at the incoming figure.
The opponent also threw a punch in response.
A woman?
Seeing her clearly shocked him for a split second, but he didn't hold back his strength in the slightest. This was no time to care about gender.
A roared, as the two fists collided with a tremendous impact.
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200 = +1 bonus chapter
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70+ Advance chapters!
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