The Cloud Ninja stood atop his summoned beast.
His eyes were fixed on Gin.
The thunder bull beneath him was struggling violently, but the more it struggled, the deeper it sank.
Seeing an opportunity, there was no way Gin would just stand by—he had already launched an attack.
Darkness quickly spread towards the Cloud Ninja, swiftly enveloping him.
Wood Release hidden within the darkness pierced his body.
The Cloud Ninja didn't even resist.
The next moment—
His figure turned into lightning and dissipated.
Lightning Clone Technique.
With the disappearance of the Cloud Ninja, the summoned beast also turned into smoke and vanished.
Gin frowned, retracting the darkness, and searched the surroundings with his Sharingan.
The entire area had been flattened by the Cloud Ninja's earlier charge, making everything clear at a glance.
There was no trace of the Cloud Ninja anywhere.
And the opponent didn't seem adept in Earth Release.
Which left only one possibility.
"Ran away?"
"When?"
During their fight, Gin's gaze had never left his opponent.
It wasn't just a series of clones; a skilled ninja could sense when their opponent was preparing a jutsu.
If a jutsu had no effect, it was often guessed to be a clone technique.
So—
Even if the opponent used a Lightning Clone, Gin should have detected it immediately.
But he hadn't noticed anything.
"Unless the opponent could use jutsu while charging without affecting it."
Gin furrowed his brows. The opponent was shrouded in lightning, and he hadn't seen what they were doing.
He had kept his eyes on that lightning sphere the entire time.
Originally, he thought the opponent was maintaining the jutsu.
In theory, a ninja could maintain multiple jutsu at once, but that required advanced skills, not something achievable with simple one-handed seals.
And he didn't think his opponent had that capability, otherwise, they wouldn't have only used single jutsu and swordplay in their confrontation.
But if the opponent's jutsu didn't require direct maintenance—
Then it made sense.
Still—
This was the first time a ninja had fled from a fight against him.
Gin hadn't even realized it at first.
"My current strength is probably on par with Orochimaru before he mastered Basic Inner Technique."
At least Gin now had a deeper understanding of his own power.
With this strength, he could fight those with the title of Kage head-on.
But not win.
Gin then saw a firework rise from the distant forest into the sky.
"Whoosh, bang!"
The firework exploded in the sky, forming the pattern of a Cloud Ninja forehead protector.
It wasn't far from his location.
Gin used Shunshin to rush towards it quickly.
By the time Gin arrived, the people had already disappeared.
He picked up some peculiar black soil from the ground.
"Gunpowder."
He looked towards the main battleground.
He wondered how things were going there.
Sakumo's blade cut through Troy's body.
Before his death, Troy sighed helplessly.
"I wonder if my son will inherit this title."
Only after the previous one died could the next inherit the name.
Though he had ultimately fallen to Sakumo's blade.
He had succeeded in stalling Sakumo's movements.
But the effect wasn't ideal.
Many Cloud Ninjas were incapacitated by Sakumo's Conqueror's Haki and then killed by Konoha ninjas.
Fortunately—
The remaining elite Jonin from the Cloud inflicted significant damage on the Konoha forces.
As a firework exploded in the sky—
All the Cloud Ninjas glanced upward.
One Cloud Jonin formed hand signs.
"Raiton! Juppou Reiyuu!" (Lightning Release: Ten Directions Thunder Field!)
He extended his hands skyward, and gathered lightning surged into the sky. It then exploded and fell to the ground, transforming into spheres of lightning, turning the surrounding area into a thunder field.
The lightning obscured the Konoha ninjas' vision.
One by one, Cloud Ninjas fended off Konoha ninjas, some dragging unconscious comrades into the spheres, while others entered alone.
The Konoha Chunin looked at each other. It was clear the enemy had received a retreat signal and decided to leave.
Everyone looked to Sakumo.
They were unsure whether to pursue.
Sakumo sheathed his blade.
This meant he had no intention of chasing them.
They watched as the last Cloud Ninja disappeared from sight.
All that was left were corpses.
Several Konoha ninjas collapsed on the ground, while those still capable of moving began collecting the bodies of their comrades.
"We drove off the Cloud Ninjas, Sakumo-sama."
Gin had appeared at some point, standing on a higher branch.
His scarlet Sharingan focused on Sakumo.
"What about our sacrifices, Sakumo-sama?"
Sakumo's gaze quickly scanned the area—more than twenty Konoha ninjas had died.
In a normal battle, such numbers wouldn't have much of an impact.
But they had started with less than fifty, and the losses were substantial.
It was equivalent to losing half of their forces.
The bigger concern was how to handle the next battle.
Sakumo then turned his gaze to Gin.
"The rest of the war will depend on you."
He directly passed the responsibility to Gin. If they had stronger jutsu, they could fight.
But if things continued as they were, they would eventually be overwhelmed by the Cloud Ninjas.
"However," Sakumo pondered for a moment, "it's unlikely the Cloud Ninjas will send such a large force again."
"What do you mean?"
Gin was curious. They had already sent three hundred men; why would they send fewer next time?
Sakumo thought for a moment. "The enemy probably wanted to see Konoha's reaction. The Cloud's desire to engage in this battle isn't strong."
Gin understood.
Three hundred Cloud Ninjas, including two elite Jonin—this was a considerable force anywhere.
This kind of strength was on par with the team Orochimaru had led initially.
If Orochimaru hadn't increased his strength, the Rain Country battleground wouldn't have gained any advantage.
Had Sakumo not held them off with fewer than fifty ninjas—
Konoha would have been forced to send reinforcements here, which meant withdrawing troops from the other four battlefields.
The Cloud Ninjas would undoubtedly dispatch troops to pin down Konoha's reinforcements, weakening the other fronts, and the situation would gradually become critical.
This was a blatant strategy.
But before it could be implemented, they had already thwarted it.
The Cloud Village wouldn't dare send more forces; to them, it meant Konoha had the capacity to open another front.
The Cloud Village just wanted to gain some benefits, not be fully dragged into the war.
This war had already lasted a year. Did the other two villages want to keep fighting?
They couldn't afford to stop.
Who knew if their opponents would attack the moment they paused?
"But the enemy will keep sending smaller units to harass us."
If it were just small groups of ninjas, Sakumo was confident they could intercept them.
"Let's hope the fighting ends soon."
Sakumo spoke calmly as he looked at his fallen comrades.
But he had no idea.
This war—
Would last for another year.
(End of Chapter)