Ren opened his eyes again and saw a familiar figure standing by the bed.
"Anko, why are you here?"
Indeed, the grinning girl in front of him was Anko Mitarashi, Orochimaru's apprentice. In the past two years, when Ren was Orochimaru's assistant, he had several interactions with Anko. The two were originally classmates, and since both were assisting Orochimaru, their relationship was quite good.
"Ahaha, Orochimaru-sensei said I needed experience, and then… You know."
Ren's mouth twitched twice. It was indeed Orochimaru's style to throw his disciples onto the battlefield for experience. Although Jonin were leading the teams, the risk of death was still high. Didn't Senju Nawaki, as Orochimaru's disciple, get blown up by an Exploding Tag trap right in front of Orochimaru?
Thinking of this, Ren shook his head and said to Anko,
"Go get some rest, or there won't be any time left."
After speaking, Ren turned his head and had just closed his eyes.
"Boom!"
A huge explosion broke the silence of the night.
"Enemy attack!"
A shout suddenly came from outside the tent, followed by a cacophony of sounds.
Damn it, are they not letting anyone rest today?!
Ren opened his eyes and leapt from the bed. He pulled out two Kunai from his Ninja tool pouch, his gaze fixed on Shinnosuke, waiting for the command.
"Those Sunagakure bastards, let's go, meet them! Gaku, we'll go ahead."
"Yes! X3"
The group walked out. Shinnosuke nodded to Inuzuka Gaku, then lifted the tent flap and walked out, leaving Inuzuka Gaku to repeatedly caution his own squad.
There was no other way; Ren's squad was ostensibly a combination of one Jonin and three Chunin. Inuzuka Gaku, a Jonin leading three Genin, had to be careful.
On the other side, after exiting the tent, the Shinnosuke Squad saw three Sunagakure Ninja charging towards them.
Before Shinnosuke could act, the three of them struck first.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire!"
The Water Dragon and Fire Dragon charged towards the three. The three Sunagakure Ninja panicked for a moment but quickly stabilised, their hands rapidly forming hand seals.
"Earth Release: Earth Wall! X2"
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Two earth walls rose from the ground, shielding the three of them, and the remaining Water Formation Wall firmly protected them within.
"Rumble!"
The two attacks intertwined in mid-air and rushed towards the earth walls. The collision produced a huge sound, and in an instant, the two earth walls collapsed completely, then directly hit the Water Formation Wall, whose surface rippled slightly under the impact. However, the dragon heads also lost their power, and both attacks dissipated one after another, leaving the Water Formation Wall in a precarious state.
"Phew… X3"
The three Sunagakure Ninja had just let out a sigh of relief and dispersed the Water Formation Wall. Just as they were about to retreat, a figure silently approached their right flank.
"Vacuum Sword!"
A cold light flashed. The three Sunagakure Ninja had no time to react before several vacuum blades swept past them. Their escaping steps stiffened, their eyes widened, and they collapsed in terror.
"Amazing, Hayama-san."
Ren gave a thumbs-up to Hayama, who was sheathing his blade. Their first coordinated battle was not bad; they had good synergy.
Hayama returned to the group and nodded to Ren. Then, the group turned their attention back to Shinnosuke.
"Good. With your strength, if you cooperate well, you shouldn't encounter any danger. Let's go, we'll check over there."
Shinnosuke first affirmed their cooperation, then turned and led the group towards the centre of the battle.
Along the way, the group saw many invading Sunagakure Ninja instantly killed by concentrated attacks from Konoha Ninja before they could even release a second wave of Ninjutsu. Ren and the others could only kill two Genin incidentally before continuing to the main battlefield.
"Sunagakure's plan was wrong."
A mocking smile appeared on Shinnosuke's face.
Sunagakure seemed to still think that Konoha's reinforcements hadn't arrived, planning a direct night raid to eliminate the remaining border defence forces. They didn't expect to hit a steel plate. The two thousand vanguard troops led by Sakumo Hatake and Jiraiya were not inferior to Sunagakure in either low-end or high-end combat power. Ren estimated that Sunagakure's night raid probably didn't exceed a thousand people. This night raid, Sunagakure had already failed.
Suddenly, two figures crashed into a nearby tent, causing it to collapse. Shinnosuke and the others were about to go check on the injured, but to their surprise, one of the figures stood up as if nothing had happened and continued to rush back into the battle.
"That is…"
The group's eyes narrowed. The figure was clad in a white robe, with long black hair, but its facial features were artificially painted. A long Chakra thread was connected to its back.
A puppet!
The group quickly followed behind the puppet and soon arrived at the main battlefield. The quality of Ninja here was much higher than in other places; it was basically a battle between Jonin, with very few Chunin. In the very centre of the battlefield, terrifying aftershocks continuously spread, and both sides of the forces tacitly avoided that area.
Visibly, one side was Sakumo Hatake and Jiraiya, while the other side was an old woman and a young man.
The old woman stood with ten strange-looking puppets clad in white robes around her. The Chakra threads from her ten fingers corresponded to the ten puppets, and the long-haired puppet Ren and the others had seen earlier was clearly among them. Under the old woman's control, they continuously clashed with Sakumo Hatake, with flashing blades and dancing puppets.
In another part of the battlefield, Jiraiya was fighting the young man. Golden sand gathered around the young man, who continuously used the gold sand to attack Jiraiya, but it always disintegrated by Jiraiya's Fire Release. As time passed, the sand's speed noticeably slowed, and the young man's face was somewhat pale, clearly indicating excessive Chakra consumption. In contrast, Jiraiya appeared completely relaxed and at ease.
After a few more rounds, the young man retreated to the old woman's side, panting heavily.
"Chiyo-Elder, let's retreat. The night raid has failed."
Chiyo glanced at the young man beside her, then scanned the battlefield, her expression grim.
She hadn't expected Konoha to react so quickly. It was a miscalculation.
"Sakumo Hatake…"
Chiyo recalled the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu, glaring hatefully at Sakumo Hatake in front of her. This was the man who caused her family to be torn apart. In the Second Ninja World War, Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law both died at the hands of Sakumo Hatake, causing her grandson, Sasori, to lose his parents from a young age. Now Sasori was also missing. She only had her younger brother Ebizo left as family. Such deep-seated hatred was irreconcilable. But as the Commander, she could not act impulsively. She could only grit her teeth and reluctantly give the order to retreat to avoid greater losses.
"Retreat!"
Hearing the signal from Chiyo, several Sunagakure Ninja exchanged glances, then simultaneously pulled out signal flares from their pockets and fired them, signalling the Sunagakure Ninja on other battlefields to retreat.
The scattered night raid forces began to cover each other, withdrawing towards the Konoha Camp.
The Konoha Ninja also lowered their weapons, looking at the corpses of comrades and enemies around them, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Sunagakure's night raid plan: Failed!