Kaede Tsukasa suddenly halted and shouted sharply, "Everyone, move faster!"
"Kaede Tsukasa-sama, what's happening?"
"I have a general understanding of the enemy's plan. Our comrades are in grave danger. In the worst case, the entire force could be annihilated."
Annihilated?
Everyone froze for a moment, their expressions shifting, then suddenly increased their pace, pushing their bodies northward to keep up with Kaede Tsukasa.
Such a terrifying term should have been far away from the people of Konoha.
Three hours passed.
Iroha suddenly pointed ahead, shouting, "Look! What's going on over there?"
A small insect appeared on Shibi's finger. Man and insect communicated silently. Shibi frowned, his eyelids twitching rapidly beneath his sunglasses.
Even standing here on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water, they could faintly feel subtle vibrations in the ground.
The deeper they moved into the Land of Hot Water, the stronger the tremors became. Moreover, the distant sky changed abruptly, shifting from blue to a blood-red hue, as if soaked in blood, or like the sun setting at dusk.
This did not signal the fall of Iwagakure—it meant that Konoha's forces were on the verge of destruction.
"The ground is cracking, stretching from north to south, from the northern coastline deep into the territory! Massive lava is erupting from the fissures. What on earth is happening?"
Iroha was stunned. Of all the people present, he was probably the one witnessing the scene most directly and could clearly feel the terrifying force of nature.
"Is it an earthquake?"
"No. If it were a natural earthquake, both sides would be affected. Judging from Kaede Tsukasa-sama's reaction, this is clearly the enemy's plan."
"What kind of plan can alter the terrain and the sky? Unless—"
The discussion abruptly stopped. In everyone's minds, a monstrous presence emerged: a being capable of creating disasters of natural magnitude.
A Tailed Beast!
None of those present—even Kaede Tsukasa—had ever witnessed the full power of a Tailed Beast. No one had experience fighting one.
"Hmph, Iwagakure really goes all out, sending a Tailed Beast to open a second front. They have guts, risking the Beast being captured by Konoha forces," Kaede Tsukasa said in a low voice.
He had first learned from White Zetsu that Roshi led a thousand Iwagakure ninja to the Land of Hot Water's border.
But even Kaede Tsukasa hadn't expected such a grand scheme. It wasn't just a simple brute-force attack using Tailed Beast Bombs—no, it seemed they were leveraging the Four-Tails' power to manipulate the Land of Hot Water's underground earth veins.
"Four-Tails' Lava Release… the underground volcanoes of the Land of Hot Water… I see. Unexpectedly clever—fully utilizing the power of the earth veins."
Kaede Tsukasa recalled Sasuke's Kirin and Madara Uchiha's Tengau Shinsei—both were jutsu capable of manipulating natural phenomena, delivering devastating S-rank forbidden jutsu-level destruction, even exceeding standard evaluations.
So, in all likelihood, this would be the moment Kato Dan met his end.
"Everyone, increase your speed further. Save as many comrades as possible. Since we're here, we can't do nothing—we must show the enemy some resistance."
Kaede Tsukasa added quickly, "The temperature is dropping rapidly, and there's a lot of moisture here. Severe weather changes may occur, which could further impede our actions. Be mentally prepared."
A simple support mission had suddenly become a full-scale rescue operation. Everyone present was stunned, caught completely off guard.
Whoosh!
Kaede Tsukasa moved first. Sliding his hands from his waist, two scrolls spun at high speed into his palms. With a flick to the left and right, the scrolls unrolled, releasing a massive surge of zombies.
Shadows sprang from the figures, spreading outward, completely disregarding the physical strain that overexertion would inflict on the zombies, drastically shortening their operational lifespan.
Under Kaede Tsukasa's will, the fifty zombies clustered around him, moving at high speed, forming a solid, functional frontline.
"Gate of Life, open!"
Maitede activated the Eight Gates, and while the others stared in astonishment, he looked at Kaede Tsukasa, waiting for his next command.
"Don't rush too recklessly. Maintain spacing with the others," Kaede Tsukasa instructed. "The enemy's forces probably won't advance deep into the Land of Hot Water at this moment. That will ease some of the pressure on us."
"Kaede Tsukasa-sama, what about you?"
"No matter what, I must find Kato Dan. The village's elite ninja shouldn't die under the enemy's schemes."
Kaede Tsukasa led the team fully into the Land of Hot Water. The central and southern regions were manageable, but the farther north they went, the more dramatic the terrain became.
His zombies dispersed, exploring in all directions. As soon as one spotted Kato Dan, Kaede Tsukasa would know.
Iroha stayed close, scanning with Byakugan for any trace of the village ninja, and soon made a discovery.
"Is that reinforcements?"
"There are dozens of them… wait, many don't look like normal humans. Their bodies are damaged but show no blood—could these be the corpses controlled by Kaede Tsukasa?"
"Sigh… reinforcements are too few. Our forces have already been defeated. This small number won't help much; we can't rely solely on a bunch of zombies to contain this disaster. There aren't even that many corpses to use here."
Several Konoha ninja moved clumsily, lucky to have survived, while hundreds more fell into fissures, consumed by scalding steam and lava.
Along the coastline, waves continually surged onto the land—a natural disaster in itself.
Occasionally, ninja from the Land of Hot Water appeared, helplessly watching their once-beautiful country fall into chaos. But whether from Iwagakure or Konoha, no one cared about the local ninja's feelings.
In front of the great ninja villages, unless it was Rain with Hanzō in command or Takigakure controlling the Seven-Tails, small villages had no say.
The only consolation for the Land of Hot Water ninja was that only the northern coastline had undergone terrain shifts; most of the country remained intact.
Once the war ended and the earth veins stabilized, the Land of Hot Water might still be the nation known throughout the ninja world for its therapeutic hot springs.
Kaede Tsukasa's expression remained serious. Whether the surviving Konoha ninja were exhilarated or despairing, he did not slow his pace. Those who could be saved, he dispatched zombies to pull them out; those who could not, he did not dwell on.
Until one zombie's discovery drew Kaede Tsukasa's attention.
"Finally found it… is the Four-Tails Jinchūriki fighting Kato Dan?"
Kaede Tsukasa glanced at the rapidly shifting weather. He could only hope that Kato Dan could hold on a little longer—the Spirit Transformation Technique could not be lost so easily.
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