"Hurry! Destroy important documents, scrolls, and supplies and retreat!"
Konoha's camp was desolate. All Genins were secretly evacuated and only Jonins and Chunins were left to destroy few important documents and supplies in the camp.
"Hmm?!!!"
Then a Hyuga ninjas with Byakugan and bulging veins exclaimed,
"Iwa noticed our movements! Trigger the traps and evacuate!"
Jonins and Chunins decisively left the supplies in their hands and quickly exited out of the camp.
In Kannabi front, Sarutobi Sasuke was holding the command of this detachment.
"How many are there?"
Hyuga-chunin anxiously replied,
"There are about 3,000 of them."
"3,000… with 6,000 in Tenchi bridge…. Hiruzen was right then. Hahaha! As expected of my son! Then Tsuchikage and his disciple must be here as well….."
"Sasuke-sama, we have high ground and numerical advantage. Perhaps we–"
"Homura! Lead the troops in retreat! Iwa's Tsuchikage and his disciples aren't something numerical advantage can overcome."
"But!"
"Can't you see that the formations and traps we laid are vanishing rapidly through means we cannot even perceive!"
Sasuke shook Homura's shoulder.
"Follow your commander's order! Trust Hiruzen's instinct!"
He then handed Homura his armbrace and a folded letter.
"And deliver this to Hiruzen when you meet him."
"Sasuke-sama.. You!"
"There is a need for someone to act as a bait to hold them off and draw them into the trap. You know what to do."
Sarutobi Sasuke gave a meaningful stare at Homura.
Mitokado Homura adjusted his glasses and nodded his head with determination and lead 4,000 Jonins and chunins back. There were originally 500 genins stationed in Kannabi bridge front, but they were ordered to retreat first. Now, about 20 jonins and 500 chunins were left to act as a bait and trap for Iwa forces. These ninjas consisted mostly senior ninjas past their prime.
Homura gritted his teeth and reluctantly turned his back.
"Alright! Rest of you! Follow me! We are regrouping in the rear!"
Homura and rest of Konoha ninjas retreated while gritting their teeth.
Not too long after they departed from the camp, they could hear cacophonies of explosions and jutsus colliding against each other.
The white cubic jutsus especially stood out among them.
"DO NOT LOOK BACK! Do not let their sacrifice be in vain! Keep this frustration and anger in your heart and focus on preserving our strength! Hokage-sama is coming and we will have our revenge!"
Homura yelled out with grave tone. He saw the wavering hearts and morale in their eyes. He had to let them know that they were only taking a step back to take two steps forward.
***
The forest turned silent.
Sarutobi Sasuke stood at the edge of the desolate Konoha encampment as the last of the retreating shinobi disappeared into the treeline behind him. Smoke curled from burning scrolls and shattered supply crates. The air tasted of ash and ozone.
"Hiruzen… Sarutobi clan is in your hands now."
He inhaled slowly and turned towards his comrades.
"Remember! We are not just buying time here. If we learn anything new about the Tsuchikage or his disciples. Jonins! You know what must be done!"
Regardless of the rank, those who remained were all experienced enough to know what must be done.
As the Konoha Death Squads began to harden their resolve, the ground began to tremble. A low hum, which was faint at first, began to vibrate through the soil.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as a bright white beam of light entered his vision.
"Is this the Dust Release…"
Smoke cleared out and the once grand camp site of Konoha force was left in ruin filled with dusts, craters, and fire.
***
On the opposite ridge, young Onoki hovered several meters above the ground as his small frame outlined by a cube of shimmering white chakra.
Mu stood behind him with arms folded, as he recovered his chakra.
"Onoki," Mu said quietly, "clear the path."
Onoki's hands formed the familiar triangle.
Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu塵遁・原界剥離の術(Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World)
The cube hummed, vibrating wildly as it expanded and distorted the air it encompassed.
Then it fired.
A beam of white annihilation tore through the forest, erasing trees, earth, and every Uzumaki seal array in its path. Everything in its path simply ceased to exist.
Sasuke shielded his face as the shockwave blasted across the camp.
When the dust settled, a perfectly straight corridor of erased terrain stretched from Iwa's position to the heart of the Konoha encampment.
A killing lane was formed.
Mu proudly nodded in satisfaction then raised his hands to command.
"Good. Explosion Corps — advance."
Under his command One hundred elite Iwa shinobi surged forward in perfect formation.
They moved in three-man cells rotating positions, each carrying a role. The sequence starts as special jonin forms explosive chakra followed by a chunin planting his own charka and Jonin stabilizing the mixture and launching/controlling the bomb.
Following the procedure, countless volatile chakra spheres formed.
"Bakuton: Kōgeki Shūdan! 爆遁・攻撃集団 (Explosion Release: Assault Formation!)"
The first volley launched as dozens of explosive chakra spheres arced through the air, detonating in mid-flight to scatter shrapnel-like chakra fragments that ignited on contact.
"Kuaak!"
Sasuke's eyes widened by the sheer firepower of explosion corps, as he witnessed his subordinates shredded one-sidedly. He had to admit, he was too focused on Mu and his disciple and underestimated the explosion corps.
"Raise earth walls and brace for impact!"
However, before they could even recover from the first volley, the second volley followed immediately — a wave of concussive blasts tore apart the remnants of Konoha's defensive trenches and formations.
Then came the third volley and the killing blow — a coordinated barrage that collapsed the entire front line into a cratered wasteland.
Sasuke shielded his face as shockwaves hit him violently.
"So this is the famed Explosion Corps…"
He exhaled.
"Hiruzen... Live well."
Sasuke cast away the despair in in his eyes and filled it with resolve as he took a pinched thumb and slammed his hands together.
Kuchiyose no Jutsu口寄せの術(Summoning Technique)
A massive brown-furred ape gripping a spiked iron staff materialized beside him.
"Sekikou!" Sasuke barked.
The ape roared and slammed the staff into the ground, sending a shockwave that disrupted the next volley of explosive chakra.
Sasuke followed up immediately.
Fūton: Shinkū Renpa風遁・真空連破(Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves)
Blades of compressed air sliced through the front ranks of the Explosion Corps, forcing them to scatter.
His hands did not rest for a second as he inhaled deeply and lurched back.
Katon: Haisekishō 火遁・灰積焼 (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning)
A smoke screen surged forward, filling in the vacuum created by the wind.
"Smoke screen? Do you think you can escape us!"
Few hot blooded Iwa chunin grew confident and launched forward, breaking away from the formation.
"You Imbecile!"
Jonins quickly intercepted them, but hand full of chunin sunk into to the smoke. Those chunin didn't have a chance to escape as the smoke bloomed into a massive firework.
The fire and dust parted as Sarutobi Sasuke emerged before the crowd.
"Is this all Explosion corps can do? Can't even defeat an old timer like me?"
Sasuke taunted the crowd of Iwa shinobi as they started to encircle him. Sekikou, his partner, stood back to back as he muttered.
"Sasuke, what the hell are you up to?"
Sasuke let out a small laugh as he smirked.
"What? Is the great monkey king afraid of this small crowd of humans?"
Sekikou rolled his eyes and let out a snort.
"Hmph! It's not a time to banter now, Sasuke!"
"Partner. There must be few surviving comrades out there. We need to buy them some time to recover. They will know what to do. They will bring the intel back to — NO!"
Sasuke shielded his eyes as two blinding white lights swept the surrounding. Clearing out any hope of survival for others. As he lowered his hands, Mu floated forward emerging like a ghost folllwed by Onoki hovering beside him with sweat beading on his brow from the earlier Dust Release.
"Sarutobi Sasuke," Mu said calmly, "your resistance is admirable."
Sasuke silently slipped his hand into his pouch.
"But pointless."
Mu raised one hand, as the Explosion Corps completed the encirclement.
Kuchiyose Kai 口寄せ・ 解 (Summoning Forced Dismissal)
Contrary to Mu's expectation, Sasuke dismissed his partner, Sekikou. Though unexpected and quite admirable, Mu snorted and dismissed Sasuke's last act of desperation as the Explosion Corps unleashed a final synchronized barrage.
Sasuke exhaled and launched forward while spending all of his explosive tags and kunais in return.
"FOR THE HONOR OF SARUTOBI! AND FOR KONOHA!"
The world vanished in white light.
***
As the dust from the concentrated barrage cleared out, Mu approached a bloodied and charred figure kneeling with his head hanging down.
"Sarutobi Sasuke… Head of Sarutobi clan, it seems like you think you made a difference, but in reality, nothing changed. I originally intended to just take the Tailed Beasts and leave, but it seems Konoha is insistent on sacrificing its vitality for this war. Kiri, too, will soon attack Uzushio once Suna declare war. Though Raikage became a little timid after his brother's death, but that does not matter. Konoha's supremacy is no more. With this War, other hidden villages will catch up to you!"
Mu spoke coldly as he walked past Sarutobi Sasuke's still body and intently stepped on the cracked but unbroken forehead protector laying beside Sasuke.
Iwa suffered little to no casualties in recent exchange. Mu watched Konoha split into two forces and immediately figured out that 500 or so chunins and jonins and their shadow clones left behind were baits and traps. Instead of charging the troops in, he gave up on gathering intelligence and immediately made explosion corps bombard the Konoha camp with explosion release jutsus. He and Onoki needed some rest after continuously utilizing their dust release to clear the path for their troops.
Moreover, the goal of this war was to obtain Tailed beast and weaken Konoha. So far, in past few months, Iwa suffered total of 4,539 casualties. But Konoha suffered total of 5,504 casualties; 2,658 from Kusa, 2,846 from Yu. The rate at which Konoha suffered casualty was different from other hidden villages. And now there was signs of Suna and Kiri joining the war.
Mu saw that there is no need to risk Iwa's ninjas anymore. When Suna finally declares war, then Konoha's strength will be reduced to a similar level as other Hidden villages.
"Tsuchikage-sama, should we chase after rest of Konoha's troops?"
"No, let them go. Tobirama will soon arrive and our force alone will not be able to handle Konoha. We lack information on their troop deployment right now. We need to regroup and consolidate our forces. Now that Kannabi bridge is secure. We can easily traverse Eastern part of Kusagakure. Continue our search for Five Tails!"
"Yes Tsuchikage-sama!"
Ten Iwa-anbu shunshined away, while Mu and Onoki led rest of Iwa-nins and Explosion corps towards Tenchi bridge front.
***
Huu~ Haa~ Huuu~ Haaa~
Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly inhaled and exhaled to stabilize his breathing and chakra as he covered for Konoha's retreat.
By the time he arrived the original 2,000 ninjas were reduced to less than 1,200. Hiruzen relied on Enma and his ability to switch between five elemental ninjutsus to repel Iwa's attack.
Hiruzen's reputation as Tobirama's number one disciple did not disappoint Konoha-nins and ninja clan heads. Sarutobi Hiruzen showcased his strength and capability as Kage-level ninja on the battlefield. Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clan heads and Yuhi clan head nodded at Hiruzen with appreciation and admiration as they ordered rest of the troops to retreat.
Hiruzen watched Konoha retreat as he faced Iwa's 6,000 troops.
Kage bunshin no justsu 影分身の術 (Shadow clone technique)
Four other Sarutobi Hiruzen formed and stood few distance apart from each other.
Hiruzen then circulated as much chakra as he can before executing his newly developed jutsu.
Goton Dairendan no Jutsu 五遁大連弾の術 (Five elemental release: Great Combo technique)
Each clone spat out a massive tidal waves of Fire, lightning, wind, earth, and Water. Iwa-nins instinctively casted earth walls and some other elemental walls to block the attack, but each jutsus were defeated by their countering elements. The front rows of Iwa vanguards collapsed instantly.
Otsuchi watched the process in alarm and quickly ordered the Iwa-nins to retreat before they suffer even more casualties. Just now, they lost over 100 ninjas and 1,000 or more seriously injured. At this stage of the war, he knew that Tsuchikage was focused on preserving Iwa's strength. He could not afford to suffer more casualties.
Hiruzen's shadow clones dispelled and he quickly shunshined towards the rear as he saw that Iwa began to retreat. He depleted more than half of his chakra from this battle.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had rare condition of having affinities to all five nature elements. His chakra to elemental chakra exchange rate was 1.2/1.3 to 1. Moreover, This five-element combination jutsu was not perfect yet. He sensed that the firepower of each elements weakened a lot when they started to combine together, so he had to exert more chakra to increase the firepower to desired effect. Moreover, he already used a lot of chakras before he executed this new jutsu.
He was lucky that Iwa did not choose to pursue him, but instead retreated. In fact, Sarutobi Hiruzen was ready to sacrifice himself, knowing that his sensei was on his way and will take care of the front with ease. He only sighed in relief that it did not come to that end.
***
"Mu already arrived to the front!"
"Yes Hokage-sama."
"… How did Monke… I mean commander Hiruzen reacted."
"Commander immediately ordered the troops to retreat from Tenchi and Kannabi bridge front and regroup in the rear. Rest of the troops moved closer to the border of Land of Fire to establish final defensive line, in case of emergency. Commander himself set off to Tenchi bridge front to aid our forces retreat."
"Alright." Senju Tobirama in his blue Armor, crossed his arms in front of his chest and pondered for a moment.
'Monkey… You didn't disappoint me at all. It seems like you are the one that will succeed me in the future.'
Senju Tobirama unfolded his arms as he ended his thoughts and began to quickly move with his troops.
By midnight, they arrived at a new base camp where Konoha troops were regrouping and waiting for Tobirama's arrival.