Just as the explosive tags detonated, unleashing a catastrophic flood that surged through the valley beneath their feet—
Umino Yoru completed the final hand seal and unleashed an S-rank forbidden jutsu.
"Water Release: Water Severing Blade!"
In an instant—
A massive, spiraling water spear—over three meters in diameter—tore through the air with a piercing shriek, hurtling straight toward Suna's Thousand Puppet Formation.
True to its status as an S-rank forbidden technique, the Water Severing Blade blasted a gaping hole nearly ten meters wide into the formation. The spear's momentum didn't stop there—it pierced clean through the entire Suna defensive line.
The violent, high-pressure vortex shredded everything in its path, flinging shattered puppet fragments like shrapnel and carving a bloody trench through the Suna ranks.
Wherever it passed—
Ninja were reduced to crimson mist.
Finally, the spear slammed into the base of the reinforced earthen wall at the rear, nearly shearing through the five-meter-thick fortification.
And at the exact moment the Water Severing Blade shattered the formation—
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
Umino's nine shadow clones finished their own jutsu.
Nine colossal water dragons erupted from the floodwaters, crashing into the breach with the force of a natural disaster.
Their combined assault was so overwhelming, it rivaled the might of an S-rank technique like Water Dragon Fang Crusher.
The Thousand Puppet Formation held for less than two seconds before collapsing entirely.
The backlash sent puppet masters reeling—even Ebizō suffered heavy injuries.
Hundreds of puppets dropped like broken marionettes, swallowed by the raging torrent of mud, debris, and water.
And with the formation gone, the three hundred Suna ninja stood completely exposed to the flood's fury.
Now, nature itself unleashed its wrath.
The valley looked as if it had been struck by a Sage Art: Massive Waterfall—nothing could withstand such devastation.
Downstream, Umino's forces swallowed soldier pills they'd kept in their mouths. A squad of chūnin quickly formed hand seals, reinforcing the earthen wall with a joint Earth Release barrier.
At the same time, the unit retreated to higher ground, wary of the flood's force breaching their defenses and drowning them like the Suna forces.
When the waters finally receded—
The valley had become a watery graveyard.
The Suna battalion had suffered horrific casualties.
Most low and mid-rank ninja had been wiped out, and even the survivors were badly wounded.
The remaining puppet masters, now puppet-less, were a shadow of their former strength.
Seizing the opportunity, Umino's forces struck like a hammer.
"Water Release: Turbulent Water Wave!"
The Water Release platoon unleashed a coordinated assault, while Lightning users added crackling voltage to the mix.
Meanwhile, the Fire Release platoon ignited the battlefield with "Fire Release: Conflagration City Burn", amplified further by Wind users casting "Wind Release: Thousand Cutting Storm".
As the surviving Suna ninja struggled to surface—
They were met with another wave of annihilation.
Some, stubborn to the end, tried to charge uphill and disrupt Umino's formations.
Their reward?
A rain of explosive-tagged kunai—courtesy of Shukudō, Yamigaro, and Kōsenshi's trap division.
The Tactical Tools Battalion proved even deadlier than the ninjutsu teams.
Kunai and shuriken rained down like hellfire, saturating the valley in explosions.
The entire area became a living nightmare.
Meanwhile, Umino himself didn't join the assault.
Instead, he blanketed the upper valley in a dense Hiding in Mist Technique, while his shadow clones—fueled by Yellow Curry Pills' chakra boost—multiplied rapidly.
His goal?
Cut off all escape.
The surviving Suna forces tried to disperse the mist with Wind or Fire Release—but every attempt was interrupted at the critical moment.
Some tried scaling the cliffs, only to find their chakra control failing mysteriously, sending them plummeting back down.
Even those who tried running atop the water met the same fate.
The reason?
Umino's clones were flooding the area with subsonic vibrations, disrupting their chakra balance.
While these vibrations couldn't deal direct damage, they made chakra adhesion impossible.
Trapped in the floodwaters, the Suna remnants were picked apart—save for a few puppet masters who salvaged broken puppets to stay afloat, rescuing comrades.
Ebizō, in particular, proved terrifyingly resilient, single-handedly shielding most survivors.
But even he knew—
Breaking through downstream was suicide, especially with the barrage of explosive kunai.
"CHARGE!"
With no other choice, Ebizō led a desperate push upstream—into the mist.
By now, his forces had been reduced to twenty.
But these were the strongest survivors—every one of them at least a special jōnin.
And waiting for them in the fog?
Umino Yoru.
With an army of shadow clones.
And ten armored puppets.
The first to clash was Ebizō vs. Might Dai.
Dai, with the Sixth Gate unleashed, fought fiercely—but even injured, Ebizō overpowered him.
Umino swiftly dispatched two armored puppets to support Dai—specifically to block Ebizō's puppet attacks.
"My Mirror Matrix Puppets?!"
Ebizō's eyes burned with fury when he recognized the modified versions of his own creations.
Memories of the dust explosion that wiped out his 300-puppet corps flashed through his mind.
And now—
They were being used against him.