Chapter 169 – Assault on the Capital of the Land of Lightning
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The storm over the Land of Lightning had not yet subsided.
Thunder rolled in the distance, echoing like a drumbeat of war.
Below the clouds, a column of Konoha shinobi advanced toward the capital — swift, disciplined, and deadly.
Ordinary arrows rained down from the city walls, but they were useless.
Kunai flashed through the air, slicing the shafts mid-flight, while others performed rapid hand seals — "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Streams of flame burst forth, scorching the sky. Arrows ignited and disintegrated into cinders before even touching the ground.
The guards on the walls flinched, but did not panic.
They had long been warned about ninja warfare.
"Light the chakra cannons!" one shouted.
A moment later, the walls thundered as massive chakra artillery roared to life.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Their first few shots were meant to calibrate the aim, exploding harmlessly a few dozen meters away. Even so, the shockwaves were fierce, each blast strong enough to rival a B-rank jutsu.
The Konoha shinobi halted briefly. Even seasoned veterans of the Third Great Ninja War felt a chill — if one of those shells hit, it would not end well.
"Intercept them in midair!" their leading jōnin commanded.
A synchronized flurry of hand signs followed. Fire techniques merged, forming a wall of blazing heat across the sky.
Cannonballs met the inferno — BOOM! — exploding violently midair.
The guards atop the wall gaped in disbelief.
"They countered the chakra cannons? How… how can they move like that?"
Their confusion quickly turned to dread.
Who would dare attack the capital of the Land of Lightning?
Didn't they fear retribution from Kumogakure?
They had no idea that Kumogakure no Sato had already fallen — reduced to ashes by the power of one man: Uchiha Yuta, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha.
The rest of the Konoha forces were merely here to sweep up the remnants.
Ironically, the capital lay only fifty li (about 25 kilometers) from Kumogakure itself.
And yet, the city still hadn't received word of the village's annihilation.
Even Iwagakure — across the sea on the far side of the continent — already knew.
But the Daimyō's residence? Oblivious.
The relationship between the Daimyō of Lightning and the Hidden Cloud Village had always been one of servant and master.
The Daimyō provided gold and resources.
The ninja of Kumogakure provided protection.
Now, with Kumogakure gone, the "servant" stood exposed to the storm without realizing it.
Meanwhile, merchants who had fled the ruined village avoided the capital entirely.
Ordinary though they were, their instincts were sharp — they knew war was coming, and they wanted no part of it.
Thus, no one had yet warned the capital of the approaching disaster.
On the walls, the guards raised the drawbridge in panic.
But it was a futile gesture.
To shinobi who could sprint up cliffs and dance on water, such defenses were meaningless.
"Up we go!" shouted a Konoha ninja.
In an instant, dozens of them leapt onto the vertical stone, running upward as if gravity itself had forgotten them. They vaulted onto the battlements, kunai flashing.
Guards screamed.
Steel clashed.
Blood splattered.
The fight was over in moments.
A dying guard, clutching his wound, looked up at his killers. His gaze fixed on the leaf-shaped emblem gleaming on their foreheads.
Konoha?
Why were Leaf shinobi here — in the heart of the Land of Lightning?
Wasn't Kumogakure supposed to protect them?
His final thoughts were bitter.
They take the Daimyō's coin, but can't even defend him… freeloaders, all of them…
Then, darkness claimed him.
On the wall, Uchiha Yashiro led the team forward.
"Don't waste time. We head for the Daimyō's compound!"
The squad leapt from the ramparts, sprinting across rooftops like phantoms.
Civilians below pointed and gasped.
Hundreds of shinobi — their flak jackets marked with the Leaf insignia — swept through the streets in perfect formation.
"Enemy shinobi!" someone cried.
Moments later, three squads of Kumogakure ninja appeared — each led by a jōnin with three chūnin at their side.
They'd been stationed in the capital as security detail for the Daimyō.
When the guards reported an attack, they assumed it was some rogue band.
But when they saw the army of Konoha shinobi — organized, uniformed, and moving like a single blade — their blood ran cold.
One Cloud ninja rubbed his eyes, refusing to believe what he saw.
"The Leaf? Here?"
Impossible.
To reach the capital, the invaders would have had to pass through Unraikyō, the canyon fortress before Kumogakure — where dozens of elite Cloud shinobi had been stationed.
And yet, these Leaf shinobi had arrived without so much as a whisper of warning.
"How did they get past our village?" one jōnin muttered.
He would never get his answer.
Because by the time realization struck — the Konoha troops had already surrounded them.
The battlefield was set.
The storm over the Land of Lightning was about to erupt again — and this time, the thunder would not come from the clouds.
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