Chapter 134: Earth and Lightning 1
The setting sun, with its scythe-like golden rim, hung perfectly round and radiant over the sole great river stretching to the sky at the Land of Earth's border. Its dazzling light, piercing the retinas, was dreamlike and unreal.
Until the last ray of light touched the ground, merging with the dark yellow hue, dusk settled, and the residual sun resembled blood.
Gradually, night fell, and the patrol ninja at the Land of Lightning's camp were replaced batch after batch.
They were not nervous, for the Third Raikage himself was stationed there, and with the two thousand ninja in the camp, how many forces in the entire ninja world could contend against them?
These were the elites of the Land of Lightning.
The watchtower ninja gazed into the distance, drowsy with boredom. There was an unwritten rule for this kind of lookout duty: as long as one of the two people was awake, it was fine.
"I'll sleep for a bit first."
Having stared in one direction, where it was pitch dark, one of the lookout ninja quickly succumbed to the onset of weariness. Though it was wartime, it was absolutely impossible for anyone to attack a large camp with so many ninja in the dead of night at such a time.
That would be no different from seeking death, let alone with so many patrol ninja still outside.
Time passed little by little, the moon hung high.
"Hey, isn't it a bit too quiet tonight?"
Tonight was unusually quiet; even the chirping of insects had vanished along with other sounds. The only thing the still-awake lookout ninja could hear now was the breathing of his companion beside him.
"...Don't disturb me, it's not my turn yet."
Waving his hand impatiently, his companion didn't understand his concern and continued to rest with his eyes closed.
"Something's really not right. The patrol guys usually pass by us three or four times by now, but why haven't any come tonight?"
"Ugh, you're so annoying."
His companion's eerie, fearful tone made the sleeping lookout ninja uneasy, causing him to wake up. He quickly became alert, observing the surroundings.
"Maybe the patrols are just slower today?"
"Three or four times slower? That's too much. If Lord Raikage finds out, these guys will all be in deep trouble."
"Then what could be the reason?"
"I don't know, but this isn't right. I think something's happened. You wait here for me; I'm going to report to the main camp."
The lookout ninja on the left jumped down from the watchtower. His feet rustled against fallen leaves upon landing, and then his footsteps gradually faded until they suddenly vanished at a certain moment.
"No, no, why did his sound vanish so quickly?"
The last remaining lookout ninja glanced around the darkness. His unease grew heavier; he felt as though something was watching him. Even with torches, they couldn't illuminate every shadow, and the moon in the sky seemed to be obscured by dark clouds. This last watchtower was the only one with lighting on a night already lacking light.
He lit two more torches to alleviate the growing sense of impending crisis. Suddenly, the lookout ninja saw something flash by.
"What was that?!"
His only reply was silence and darkness. In such visibility, to see something hidden in the bushes, he would have to jump down from the watchtower.
This was a very unwise action without knowing the opponent's true identity.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, the lookout ninja took out a kunai, gripping it tightly in his hand, in case anything unexpected happened.
"Caw—caw—caw—."
A crow flapped its wings, fluttering up from the bushes. Under the torchlight, he saw the bird that had made him so incredibly nervous.
"So it was just a crow."
Relieved, the crow, as if drawn by the torchlight, turned back from the air and landed on the watchtower's railing, tilting its head to observe the ninja before it.
"Go, go, go."
As the lookout ninja approached the annoying crow, intending to shoo it away, he instantly saw its eyes transform from black to Sharingan, with three tomoe constantly spinning against a red background.
At that moment, he recalled a legend about a clan in the Land of Fire that used crows as summoning animals.
"U…chi…"
Instantly falling victim to genjutsu, the lookout ninja collapsed. However, he also triggered the watchtower's final ground mechanism: a loud alarm activated by his body temperature and a portion of his chakra once a guard on the tower lost consciousness and fell.
"Whooooosh———"
The extremely penetrating wail immediately caused the nearby main camp to stir into activity. The ninja of the Land of Lightning awakened from their sleep in just one minute—an instinct honed by life-and-death situations on the battlefield.
The Third Raikage burst out of his tent, his upper body bare, already gleaming with the lightning of his Lightning Release Armor.
"What's happening?! Yudei, where is he?!"
"Lord Third Raikage, it's a signal from the watchtower ninja losing consciousness. Enemies have infiltrated during the night to launch a sneak attack!"
"What about the patrol squad?!"
"All contact lost. They have likely met a grim end."
"Damn those Hidden Stone brats!"
"Lord Raikage, it might not just be Hidden Stone ninja. The sentry fell victim to a Sharingan genjutsu."
"Konoha… No, Hidden Rain? Hmph!"
Half a kilometer away, gazing at the Hidden Cloud main camp ablaze with light, Uchiha Shisui lowered the fingers he used to manipulate the crow and slowly replied to the Hidden Stone vanguard.
"The mission failed; they have other ways to alert the ninja in the main camp."
"The Uchiha aren't all that. To fail such a simple mission."
The captain of the vanguard was a burly man. He had long been annoyed by this Uchiha brat. This infiltration and sneak attack mission was crucial; success here would significantly reduce Hidden Stone casualties.
Fighting against a fully prepared Hidden Cloud and fighting against an unprepared Hidden Stone resting were two different matters.
"Once this battle is over, I will explain your blunder to Lord Tsuchikage."
Listening from the side, Kakashi almost suspected something was wrong with this guy's brain. Shisui, as an external aid, was already doing them a huge favor by helping. Shisui and he alone had dealt with all the patrol squads and even helped take down the sentries with genjutsu.
How could he not know what level of mission it was to infiltrate a Hidden Cloud main camp with 2000 ninja?
But it's fine; anyway, the vanguard's battle doesn't require him or Shisui to act. It would be best if both sides were heavily wounded; that would be more beneficial for his subsequent actions.
"Shisui, let's change locations."
"Yes, Captain Kakashi."
Leaving the vanguard's position with the Uchiha genius beside him, the two quickly headed towards the inevitable retreat path of the Hidden Cloud, where Hidden Stone had laid an ambush.
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