Shasha! Thousands of Iwagakure ninjas rushed toward the area, their dense footsteps echoing on the muddy road, creating a cacophony of noise. Minato raised his eyes and stared at the Iwagakure troops, his azure blue eyes filled with surprise.
"How did they know about Konoha's camp?" Minato's heart trembled. If it had been a small group of Iwagakure ninjas, he wouldn't have been surprised, but the presence of such a large force indicated that Konoha's position had been completely exposed. This was an unprecedented situation. Konoha, with its dojutsu-wielding clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga, along with clans like the Aburame, had always held an advantage in intelligence during wars. Whether in the Second or Third Ninja War, Konoha had rarely suffered significant losses from enemy forces—certainly not on this scale.
However, the current situation left no time for Minato to ponder the reasons. He quickly formed several hand seals, and with a "swish," his figure suddenly disappeared. The leaves rustled slightly, and a sensor ninja from the Rock Ninja Corps looked toward where Minato had been, but found no trace of him.
Swish! In the tree hollow, Minato reappeared in front of the Flying Thunder God Kunai left by his clone. "I need to inform Jiraiya-sensei and the others as soon as possible!" Minato thought, but he couldn't approach the high-ranking officials directly on the battlefield. He had to remain hidden, and more importantly, there was no time! The Rock Ninjas would launch their offensive in less than thirty seconds.
In the Battle of Kannabi Bridge during the Third Ninja War, Minato had killed numerous Rock Ninjas instantly with his Flying Thunder God Jutsu. He knew their fighting style well. Thousands of Rock Ninjas were enough to completely alter the terrain of this dense forest, catching Konoha's ninjas off guard.
Without hesitation, Minato formed a seal with both hands, and the shadow clone behind him disappeared instantly. He released the shadow clone jutsu and formed another seal. He didn't even have time to retrieve the special kunai in front of him before disappearing again.
Swish! Somewhere else in the dense forest, Minato's figure emerged. He had left a kunai near the camp where Tsunade and the other high-level shinobi were. "Bang!" Minato quickly formed a cross seal, and another shadow clone appeared beside him. The two glanced at each other before swiftly forming seals.
They completed several seals almost simultaneously. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Blazing! Two ninjutsu with different attributes intertwined in an instant, turning into a blazing inferno. The flames shot up into the sky, illuminating almost the entire forest. The shadow clone next to Minato vanished immediately after releasing the jutsu. Without hesitating, Minato formed another seal with both hands.
The flames spread toward the camp, but the ninjas inside had already rushed out. "Who is it?" Tsunade frowned, and not far behind her, Suzuka had begun to make hand seals with one hand to sense the situation. Swish! However, amidst the flames, a figure had already crossed time and space, disappearing.
In the dense forest, Konoha ninjas who saw the flames at the base camp, originally on sentry duty, all gathered toward the blaze. Meanwhile, hundreds of meters away, the Iwagakure ninjas who had just reached the edge of the dense forest were also stunned. The flames shooting up into the sky in the dense forest were not part of "their" plan.
"Didn't we agree on an ambush?" a jonin among the thousands of Iwagakure ninjas asked, confused. The Iwagakure ninjas were momentarily disoriented, but among them, a slightly plump figure with a calm demeanor said, "Don't panic. Continue with the plan. No matter what, we must wipe out all the Konoha ninjas this time!"
As his voice fell, the expressions of the Iwagakure ninjas gradually calmed down. Hundreds of Rock Ninjas immediately jumped out and began forming hand seals. Swish! At the same time, Minato reappeared in the tree hollow. "Instant Step!" He used his incredible speed to move out, and at that moment, due to the fire, Nawaki and Uchiha Yoruki, who had been hiding in the dark, also emerged in the dense forest, though still somewhat dazed.
"Be careful!" Even from hundreds of meters away, Minato could clearly sense an extremely dense chakra gathering together. Hundreds of Rock Ninjas struck the ground with their palms simultaneously, shouting, "Earth Release: Earth Core Movement!"
Boom! The ground throughout the dense forest began to shake violently, wide cracks spreading, and the earth surged like waves. The scene was particularly spectacular, but the consequence of the entire earth turning over was the complete transformation of the terrain in the dense forest! In just a few seconds, the once-dense forest was gone, replaced by a massive field of rocks spanning hundreds of meters, razed to the ground.
Boom! In the next instant, amidst the vast pile of rocks, an indescribable lightning surged out, shattering the boulders within a ten-meter radius. The figures of several Konoha ninjas were revealed, with Hatake Sakumo holding a short sword, a grim look in his eyes. "Bastard!" Not far from him, a furious voice rang out, and countless huge rocks seemed to scatter under the force of an immense power. That was Tsunade's strength! Around her, the Konoha ninjas were unharmed.
"Thank you, Master Jiraiya," a Konoha ninja said behind Jiraiya. If not for the large-scale Earth Release ninjutsu that had protected them in the few seconds when the terrain changed, some of them might have been injured, though not killed.
Jiraiya stood up. "Iwagakure," he said coldly, before leaping out from where he was. Though the distance was hundreds of meters, with the sharp eyesight of ninjas—especially strong ones—they could see the thousands of figures just a hundred meters away on the now-unobstructed pile of rocks.
Boom! Boom! In the pile of rocks, figures continued to break through the boulders, revealing more Konoha ninjas. This time, under the command of Tsunade and the others, Konoha's most elite forces were prepared, and with the sudden warning of the fire, they were on high alert. Even if Iwagakure altered the terrain, most of them managed to survive.
Boom! Dozens of meters away from Jiraiya and the others, three slightly thin figures also burst out from the rocks—Minato, Nawaki, and Uchiha Yoruki. After emerging, Minato ignored the Rock Ninjas and looked back to see that in the hundreds of meters of rocks, the ninjas at Jiraiya's camp were almost unharmed, and those performing guard duties in various parts of the dense forest were also safe.
He breathed a sigh of relief, then refocused and turned to face the thousands of Rock Ninjas just dozens of meters away. There was no fear in his eyes. Instead, a stern murderous intent, rare for the usually gentle Minato, floated on his face.
=========================
[Read up to 135+ chapter ahead and more Weakly Chapter Update at p@treon.com/goldengaruda]
=========================