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15 Advanced Chapters @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0
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The smoke from Kumo's signal fires had barely thinned when the first tremors struck the ground. The warning from the Konoha sensor unit came a heartbeat too late.
"Two massive chakra signatures approaching! It's—Lord Ay and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki!"
Dan Katō's expression tightened. The camp had been resting—half-reclined shinobi with weapons stacked beside them, cooks stirring thin rations, genin cleaning wounds. That fragile moment of respite shattered under the sensor's cry.
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Then the ground itself tore open.
Dozens of Kumo shinobi, who had lain buried under earth with chakra-suppression cloaks, erupted from beneath Konoha's camp like a swarm of black-scaled serpents. Kunai and lightning-charged spears stabbed into startled genin and chunin before most even reached for their weapons.
Screams cut through the air. Fifty young shinobi crumpled in seconds, their bodies twitching with burns or pinned to the dirt. Blood sprayed across the mess-tents and supply crates.
The veterans reacted.
Elite jōnin spun into motion, hands flashing through seals, blades snapping from scabbards. Elemental blasts roared out: water torrents, wind slicing blades, fire streams igniting the Kumo ambushers. The camp became a storm of counterstrikes.
Dan Katō's voice rose over the chaos. "Formation Gamma! Drive them out of the camp perimeter—now!"
His frustration burned hotter than the fires spreading across supply wagons. He had expected Kumo to regroup after the last skirmish, not strike within hours. Konoha shinobi didn't have a complete rest or even a night's breath.
But he understood why. If Konoha rested, Kumo would recover its momentum.
That is what was supposed to be the situation but here all kumo shinobi seems to be in their complete strength and they are expecting us. Is there a spy in the camp? and worst of all now Ay himself was leading.
The Lightning Commander crashed into view, a blur of living thunder. His Lightning Release Armor blazed blue, arcs dancing along his arms and shoulders. He moved faster than the eye could track, tearing through Konoha shinobi like paper screens. Bones cracked under his elbow smashes, shields split, and earth walls shattered with every hit.
Beside him, Killer B came bounding, blades already in hand. Seven swords glinted as he spun, slashed, and stabbed, moving in a flowing, erratic rhythm that left jōnin struggling just to defend. And when his blades couldn't reach, the raw chakra of the Eight-Tails seeped out, black tendrils swatting aside attackers like flies.
Dan Katō's gut sank. This wasn't just a raid. It was extermination.
"Konoha sensor corps—track Ay's movements only! Leave B to the strike units!" he barked. His own hands blurred through seals. "Spirit Transformation!"
His body slumped, vacant-eyed, as his spirit form tore free—a blazing white phantom that screamed across the battlefield. The spectral form dove at Ay, aiming to take over his body.
But Ay's reflexes were monstrous. Lightning armor flared, and with a speed that blurred beyond normal human sight, he sidestepped. The spirit lashed empty air.
Dan cursed. His spirit spun and lunged again, and again Ay danced aside, his instincts saving him at the last instant.
So this is man is the Raikage's son, Dan thought bitterly. Even death itself can't pin him.
On the ground, Konoha's forces shifted under his shouted commands.
"Do not meet them head-on!" Dan's voice carried even as his body remained collapsed. "Tire them out! Split them apart!"
He knew Ay and B together were a hurricane. To fight them side by side was suicide. But their stamina had limits—even the Eight-Tails' host couldn't fight forever, not while juggling swords and suppressing bijuu chakra. And Ay, for all his raw power, burned chakra like wildfire every second his lightning armor flared.
[A/N: Bee is suppressing his bijuu chakra. So as to not damage the chakra ore mine]
So the plan was simple: drag them into the mud, bleed them slowly, and separate them.
Wind users formed squads to harry Ay, pushing him back with slicing gales and forcing him to overcommit with bursts of speed. Earth users raised walls to isolate him, guiding his charge into dead zones where traps lay. Every time he shattered free, another set of shinobi pulled back, never clashing head-on, always forcing him to chase.
Meanwhile, water and fire teams swarmed B. His swords danced, cutting down shinobi in sprays of blood, but Konoha didn't stay still. Water users soaked his footing, making the soil slippery, breaking his flow. Fire users ignited the mist, turning the field into a furnace that forced him to burn more chakra.
The battlefield howled with clash after clash.
Ay smashed through a line of jōnin, his fist punching through an earth dome and collapsing it in an explosion of stone. But before he could follow through, Dan's spirit form lunged again, forcing him to twist, disrupting his charge. Behind him, a squad of explosive tag specialists hurled volleys that blew chunks of dirt into the air, filling his vision.
B whirled, his seven blades dripping crimson. A young chunin charged recklessly and was cut down, but the death created a half-second distraction. Three jōnin seized it, slamming chains of sealing tags across B's arms. He roared, chakra flaring red-black as the Hachibi inside him lent its fury. The chains snapped like threads, but every flare cost more chakra.
Dan's jaw clenched in his still body. His spirit soared, weaving between comrades, striking again and again, not to kill but to disrupt. Every moment Ay hesitated meant another squad could regroup. Every time B raged, another seal could be slipped into place, even if only for seconds.
But the cost was blood.
Konoha shinobi screamed as Ay tore through them with the unstoppable momentum. Every time he accelerated, someone died. Every time B spun, a cluster of bodies fell. Already a hundred lay broken across the camp, many too mangled for burial.
Still, Konoha refused to break.
Dan's frustration turned into iron resolve. He had to keep Ay locked on him, keep B busy, until the attrition ground them down. This wasn't a battle that would be won in minutes. It was survival through hours.
"Hold the line!" his spirit bellowed, though only the strongest could sense it. "Make them bleed for every step!"
The war of attrition had begun in full again.
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[Ay & B, after the battle against the 850 konoha shinobi, even though his chakra has recovered. Their bodies are tired]
[1st battle: Konoha loses 850 shinobi, kumo loses none]
[2nd battle: Konoha loses 70 shinobi, kumo loses 35]
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A/N: In war, the strong pretend to be weak, the perfect pretend to be tired, and the tired pretend to be perfect. War itself is deception.