"Run for your lives!"
"They're catching up, run faster!"
Panicked voices echoed through the forest as Konoha shinobi, their foreheads bearing the village symbol, darted desperately through the trees.
Behind them, arcs of electricity crackled through the air, emitting sharp, menacing sounds—like the growls of a demon.
"Konoha scum, just give up and go straight to hell!"
With a roar, A's golden hair spiked upwards, his steel-like muscles glowing with lightning chakra.
Suddenly, his speed surged, and he became a streak of blue lightning. In an instant, he appeared above the fleeing shinobi, his hulking figure casting a dark shadow over them as the electricity surrounding him roared.
"Guillotine Drop!"
A raised his leg high and brought it crashing down onto the shinobi below.
A deafening explosion shook the forest as violent lightning descended. The sheer speed and force behind A's kick generated unimaginable power, crushing a Konoha shinobi instantly and splitting the trees around them in half.
"You bastard!"
A nearby Konoha ninja, fueled by a sudden burst of courage, lunged at A with a kunai in hand, aiming for his chest.
A didn't even flinch. He let the kunai strike his lightning armor head-on.
Clang!
The attack was futile.
The well-worn kunai shattered under the immense power of A's lightning armor. The ninja, realizing the futility of his attack, paled in despair.
A, uninterested in playing games, swiftly decapitated the man with a single chop. The heat generated by the lightning instantly cauterized the wound, leaving no blood to spill.
Soon after, another figure appeared in the forest.
His speed was extraordinary, moving like a ghost across the battlefield.
Every flicker of his movement was accompanied by the spray of blood.
Within minutes, Killer B efficiently slaughtered every remaining enemy in the area.
"Yo! Eight bodies down, brother! These Konoha ninjas are weaklings; they don't excite me at all, yo!"
Wearing his signature sunglasses, B swayed to his rhythm as he rapped.
A sighed in exasperation. "I told you to conserve your energy. We'll need your Tailed Beast Bomb to clear out enemy strongholds later. Leave the small fry to the others."
B waved off the concern, still grooving. "Relax, bro! These weaklings don't drain my energy, yo!"
He patted his chest confidently. "And even if I run out of strength, Hachibi's got my back, yo!"
"Do whatever you want," A replied, clearly done with the conversation. His focus shifted to wiping out the remaining Konoha stragglers.
Moments later, another figure descended from the sky before them.
It was none other than the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, gliding down using his Magnet Release to manipulate gold dust.
As he landed, he warned, "Danzo Shimura has already dispatched reinforcements to retrieve the retreating Konoha shinobi."
A's eyes lit up with excitement. "Perfect! That just means we can take out their reinforcements along with them!"
This attack hinged on one major concern: Konoha might use its geographical advantage to avoid direct confrontation. If they could eliminate some of Konoha's forces early on, their own casualties would be significantly reduced.
However, Rasa shook his head. "The enemy has a large number of sensory ninja. The moment we try to approach, they'll immediately retreat."
"Tch, it's that annoying Byakugan again, isn't it?" A grumbled, clearly irritated. The Hidden Cloud had coveted the Byakugan for years.
The Byakugan wasn't just invaluable for scouting and detecting traps; its true power lay in the massive boost it provided to taijutsu. If the Hidden Cloud could obtain it, they could further refine their ninja techniques, elevating the village's overall strength to unprecedented levels.
This desire was why one of their strategic goals this time was to pressure Konoha into surrendering the Byakugan.
---
Night deepened, but Kakashi, tasked with gathering the fleeing forces, hadn't yet found time to sleep.
In the makeshift camp they'd set up, scattered groups of survivors continued to trickle in.
In just one day, they'd managed to collect over 100 ninja.
Most of them, however, were low-ranking genin with minimal combat ability. Although they were slower and less capable, their sheer numbers made it difficult for the enemy to completely wipe them out when they scattered.
On the other hand, jonin and special jonin—being more powerful—were often prioritized targets for the allied forces of the Hidden Sand and Cloud. Their survival rates were significantly lower.
Shisui let out a heavy sigh, his worry evident. "At the rate the enemy is advancing, we'll be lucky if we can gather 300 people."
Though Shisui was an Uchiha, as a descendant of Uchiha Kagami, he was a true inheritor of the Will of Fire.
His heart ached seeing his injured comrades, and the thought of the impending battle filled him with anxiety.
At that moment, Kakashi spoke, revealing a grim truth.
"According to intel from the Anbu, it's highly likely that Killer B has already mastered the perfect jinchūriki transformation. This means he can use the Tailed Beast Bomb to easily destroy the defenses of Kikyo Mountain."
For the first time, Kakashi's usually cold tone carried a trace of emotion as he mentioned the Tailed Beast.
Shisui's eyes widened in realization. "So that's why Lord Danzo ordered us to construct underground shelters within the mountain as a fallback."
Kakashi nodded slightly.
He had grown to respect Danzo's almost unnervingly accurate foresight and intelligence-gathering capabilities. Truly, this man was Konoha's shadow.
"Lord Danzo is incredible," Shisui said, admiration clear in his voice. Danzo's image in his mind was becoming ever more mysterious and imposing.
Seeing Shisui's excitement, Kakashi unceremoniously brought him back to reality.
"Don't celebrate too soon. You've probably never witnessed the power of a Tailed Beast Bomb. Even with Kikyo Mountain as a shield, it won't stand a chance against a direct attack from a Tailed Beast."
Kakashi's voice carried the weight of personal experience—he had seen firsthand the destructive might of a Tailed Beast. Its power was nothing short of a natural disaster.
Shisui fell silent, his fists clenched in frustration. "Is there really no way to stop it?"
He couldn't bear the thought of Kikyo Town being reduced to ruins or his comrades engulfed in flames, yet he felt utterly powerless.
Kakashi didn't respond immediately. Only after Shisui left did he murmur to himself, "There is... one way."
He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. Written on it was a top-secret directive from Konoha's leadership:
At any cost, disrupt the allied Sand and Cloud forces' supply lines. Delay them and create an opening for reinforcements.