"Damn it!!!" Jiraiya's heart suddenly jolted. Before he came, he had already suspected Naruto had some scheme, but he never expected his premonition to actually come true!
This abnormal situation instantly alerted everyone. Everyone became wary of every rustle around them, but... as time passed minute by minute, nothing happened.
All five hundred Grass Ninjas around the stronghold turned into smoke and dispersed. Aside from them, there wasn't a single living person on the entire battlefield.
Konoha's ninjas looked at each other in dismay. Kurenai Yuhi reacted immediately, dispatching personnel to search for suspicious traces everywhere, but still found nothing.
Ultimately, Konoha could only quickly rescue their besieged comrades in the stronghold, then immediately evacuate from here and return to the defensive strongholds in the rear.
Although successfully rescuing their besieged comrades made them happy, this situation was truly too bizarre. They were all utterly confused.
Jiraiya and the others gathered in the meeting hall. He inquired in detail about the Konoha ninjas who had been trapped in the stronghold.
But they hadn't discovered any abnormal situations. No one knew when those Grass ninjas were replaced by Shadow Clones, and similarly, no one knew where those Grass ninjas had gone.
At this moment, Kurenai Yuhi pushed open the door and walked in. She said to Jiraiya, "Lord Hokage, the situation at our command tent is the same. All the ninjas there were disguised by Shadow Clones. The reconnaissance team found no valuable intelligence inside. It now appears that those Grass ninjas probably all retreated on the first night of the battle."
Simply put, they had been played by Naruto again!
Jiraiya's brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this. He had no idea what Naruto was trying to achieve.
Those five hundred Shadow Clones, as a trap, were very effective. They indeed looked completely ignorant as they stepped in, but what was surprising was that Naruto made no further moves in the subsequent process.
Even if they had just buried some explosive tags, it could have caused considerable damage to Konoha. Yet, they didn't do so. What else did they want to do?
It couldn't just be to lure him here to eliminate Konoha Village's defensive power, right?
As this thought popped into Jiraiya's mind, sweat instantly broke out all over his body. He immediately stood up. Before he could even begin to speak, an intelligence ninja quickly pushed open the meeting room door and then handed the intelligence scroll he had just rushed over with to Jiraiya.
"Lord Hokage! Urgent report from the village!" Indeed, it was Naruto!!!
Jiraiya hastily opened the intelligence scroll.
Rewinding time a little, after setting up the Shadow Clones to mislead the enemy, Mugen and Homura shifted positions with the Grass ninjas.
Ohnoki had already sent a commission. The Iwagakure forces would launch an attack on another Konoha defense line at a nearby location. He needed the Grass ninjas to launch a sneak attack from the flank during the early stages of the battle to distract Konoha's defensive forces, allowing them to capture Konoha's strongholds at minimal cost and firmly establish a foothold within the Land of Fire.
This time, unlike previous Ninja World Wars, Konoha had already lost too many people. They could only passively defend within their own territory; they couldn't put the battlefield in other countries' lands as before.
Mugen and Homura led the Grass ninjas to the designated location, and also obtained the two secret jutsu scrolls from Ohnoki.
Ohnoki glanced at Mugen and Homura, said nothing more to the two, only confirmed the attack start time, then returned to his camp.
Mugen opened the scroll and scanned it. It recorded the Super Added Weight Rock Technique and the Super Light Weight Rock Technique. He smiled as he handed the scroll to Homura, then said, "We'll go. The battle here will be left to the Shadow Clones to command. Let's go make the fire burn brighter."
Homura put away the scroll. Both ninjutsu were Earth Release, so it was natural for her to learn them.
The two left the main army of Grass Village, then found an uninhabited place to take off, quickly rushing to where Shinno was located.
Shinno's previous stronghold had already been abandoned, but what he didn't know was that Homura had left a Shadow Clone before leaving.
The Shadow Clone had always been monitoring Shinno's movements, so even though Shinno had wandered around for a long time afterward, his position had always been within Homura's sensory range.
The two quickly arrived at Shinno's location after flying at supersonic speed and then cautiously hid.
Their last communication with Shinno was very unpleasant, so this time, they decided not to bother him again.
Moreover, they didn't need to communicate with Shinno this time. They just wanted to hitch a ride on his 'tailwind'.
Shinno was the leader of the Sora Ninja Village. He was pursuing the Zero-Tails Scroll to fulfill his ambition.
In the last trade, Mugen traded the scroll hidden in Konoha to him. Shinno had been waiting for an opportunity to enter Konoha to search for the scroll's whereabouts.
Therefore, the things Mugen had done on the front line were mainly to lure Jiraiya out of Konoha, creating a vulnerability in Konoha's defenses to facilitate Shinno's plan.
As for whether Shinno could seize this opportunity, Mugen was not worried. If he couldn't even do this well, then Mugen might as well just destroy Shinno and the entire Sora Ninja Village.
Mugen's judgment was not wrong. Not long after, intelligence from Sora Ninja Village was sent to Shinno, stating that a Fifth Hokage-level ninja had led a ninja army away from Konoha.
The intelligence also showed that at this moment, Konoha, to support its four-sided defense lines, had already dispatched nearly ten thousand ninjas, and their village's defensive strength was extremely weak at this time!
Normally speaking, this wasn't a big problem, because even if the enemy wanted to invade Konoha Village, they would first need to break through the outer defense lines to get in.
However, for Sora Ninja Village, this was a rare opportunity, because they didn't need to advance from the ground at all!
After Shinno received the intelligence, his eyes immediately glowed. He couldn't find a better opportunity than this!
And before this, to wait for an opportunity that might arise in the Ninja World War, he had already gathered three aerial battleships (airships) in the Land of the Sea. Now, the opportunity had appeared, he had manpower, everything was ready!
Under Shinno's command, the Sora Ninjas, who had been on standby, immediately began to act.
Countless Sora Ninjas busied themselves like ants inside the huge aerial battleships. With the help of logistics, they put on flight suits similar to gliders, then picked up their rifle-like kuna and boarded the flight platform.
Then, with the assistance of the wind-style ninjas, they swiftly rose into the sky, flying into the air.
Of course, mere rifle-like kuna could not allow Sora Ninja Village to sweep across the battlefield.
Another door opened at the front of the aerial battleship. A torpedo slowly extended out. Then, a 'bomber' was stuck onto the torpedo launch rail, and at the same time, a ninja with massive Chakra entered a launch-tube-like area and sat down cross-legged.
Then, with a roar, the bomber was quickly launched, also flying towards Konoha.
Mugen and Homura used the Hiding in Camouflage Technique to disguise themselves as members of the Sora Ninja, controlling gliders and following the main army.
Hundreds of Sora Ninjas and more than ten bombers cast large shadows on the ground under the moonlight. They easily pierced through all of Konoha's defense lines. The Konoha ninjas below could only look up in stunned silence as the enemies in the sky swiftly flew towards Konoha.
They even released smoke signals and dispatched intelligence ninjas, hoping to send back news of the enemy's attack to Konoha, but it was already too late!
The Sora Ninjas had already arrived directly in front of Konoha Village around midnight, before the intelligence could be sent back!
Too few people in the ninja world possessed flight abilities. Even Sora Ninja Village was just a fleeting sight back then.
Therefore, no one in the current ninja world would guard against enemies attacking from the sky. This allowed this group of Sora Ninjas to easily bypass the defenses and enter Konoha!
A piercing alarm instantly blared within the barrier unit.
The barrier ninjas on duty turned pale. At this moment, in their perception, more than five hundred unfamiliar Chakra signatures, moving at extremely high speed, had already intruded into Konoha Village. They initially thought it was a problem with Konoha's sensory barrier due to disrepair over the years!
But what happened next dispelled their doubts, because...
Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb!
Countless explosive tags were thrown to the ground by the Sora Ninjas. Continuous explosions generated fire, and raging flames instantly made all of Konoha as bright as day!
Konoha's defending ninjas quickly began to counterattack, but they had almost no way to deal with enemies dozens or even hundreds of meters above them!
Because apart from a few powerful ninjas, most ninjas' maximum attack range was only twenty to thirty meters!
Even the kuna in their hands, when thrown upwards, would be greatly reduced in power due to having to fight against their own weight.
The Sora Ninja bombers flew directly above a guarded house. The ninja in the bomber's belly immediately began to concentrate all his Chakra. These Chakras were then absorbed by the surrounding devices and then transformed into an energy shockwave light pillar, which he released towards the enemy!
Bomb!
With a loud roar, the entire house was instantly destroyed, turning into a pile of rubble. The Konoha ninjas inside all collapsed in a pool of blood, their fate unknown!
Konoha's ninjas quickly jumped onto nearby rooftops, throwing kuna and shuriken at the enemies in the sky in retaliation. But those Sora Ninjas would quickly dodge with a sideways movement, then inject Chakra into the rifle-like kuna in their hands. Then, with a gentle flick, continuous sharp kuna would shoot down towards the Konoha ninjas below!
Less than ten Sora Ninjas fired hundreds of kuna in just two seconds!
The Konoha ninjas below had no time to react. They only knocked away a few kuna in front of them, then were instantly pierced and collapsed into a pool of blood like a group of porcupines!
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