Earthmound Hill.
More than a dozen Iwa ninja stared in disbelief, eyes wide.
"H-He punched the mountain rocks away with one blow?"
One of them rubbed his eyes, jaw nearly hitting the ground.
"No—his fist didn't even touch the falling rocks!" another shouted in panic.
"He just used the air wrapped around his punch!"
A veteran Iwa ninja swallowed hard and spoke grimly.
"He didn't make contact. He blasted the air itself."
Silence fell.
Using nothing but the compressed air from a punch to blow away massive falling boulders—
what kind of monstrous taijutsu strength was that?
"Stop staring! He's charging up!"
The shout snapped them back to reality.
"Prepare piercing techniques!"
"Got it!"
In the next instant, the Iwa ninja formed seals and slammed their palms onto the ground.
"Earth Release — Earth Spear!"
"Earth Release — Earth Spear!"
"Earth Release — Earth Spear!"
The soil churned violently.
Sharp earthen spikes erupted from the slope, slanting upward and completely covering the hillside.
"Childish."
Drake rushed forward at full speed, disdain clear on his face. His hands snapped together.
Clap!
"Wood Release — Four-Tree Ascension!"
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Four massive wooden trunks burst from the ground, lifting Drake high into the air and extending straight toward the mountaintop.
The Iwa ninja froze.
"???"
"He's… Wood Release Drake from Konoha!"
Someone finally recognized him.
Unfortunately—
It was already too late.
Hovering in midair, Drake sneered and casually threw a punch toward the slope.
BOOM!
Another sonic explosion erupted.
A terrifying wind current tore forward like a high-speed air cannon, ripples spreading through the air itself.
RUMBLE!!!
In the blink of an eye, the hillside detonated.
Thud.
Landing amid the smoke and dust, Drake scanned the fallen bodies before fixing his gaze on a sunken patch of rock.
"Come out yourself," he said calmly,
"or I'll pull you out."
Scrrk—
The stone shifted, and a battered Iwa ninja crawled out.
"Wood Release Drake… why are you invading the Land of Earth?"
Pff!
Before he could finish, a pebble shot through the air and pierced his skull.
"Talking nonsense gets you killed."
Drake shook his head and looked toward another pile of rocks.
Scrrk—
Knowing his concealment had been exposed, another Iwa ninja emerged, face pale.
"W-What is your purpose here?" he asked shakily.
"Negotiation," Drake replied flatly.
"I-I can contact Lord Huang Tu!"
"You may."
Drake nodded.
Whoosh!
The Iwa ninja leapt away from the slope, fleeing at top speed.
"Drake… you just let him go?"
Minato Namikaze flashed in beside him, watching the retreating figure.
"Sensei," Drake reminded calmly,
"aren't we here to negotiate?"
"That ninja will definitely call in the main force," Minato said seriously.
"They won't negotiate. They'll try to surround and kill us."
Drake smiled.
"Whether they surround us," he said lightly,
"or we surround them—that's not so certain, Sensei."
Minato fell silent.
He could only think that Drake's courage bordered on the absurd.
"By the way," Minato suddenly asked,
"that punch just now… was it a taijutsu technique?"
"Taijutsu?" Drake blinked.
"What's that? Do I know it?"
Minato pressed a hand to his forehead.
"You compressed the air at extreme speed and fired it like a cannon.
You didn't realize what you did?"
"Oh. That."
Drake thought for a moment.
"I made it up."
"…You what?"
"I just threw a punch," Drake said modestly.
"I didn't know it counted as anything special."
Minato: "..."
A simple punch?
Even the Raikage probably couldn't produce something like that.
"Rest for now," Minato finally said, giving up.
"It won't be long before we're facing a large enemy force."
Iwagakure — Outpost No. 1
Huang Tu sat at his desk, carefully reading a scroll.
Moments later, he snorted and threw it to the ground.
"As expected… the information from the Sand was fake."
He had been deceived.
The seal on the scroll belonged to the Third Kazekage—
yet Sunagakure was now ruled by the Fourth Kazekage.
That single inconsistency was the reason Huang Tu had withdrawn after the border raid.
Thud thud thud!
Urgent footsteps echoed as a subordinate rushed in.
"Lord Huang Tu! Messages from the Sand and the Cloud!"
"Oh?" Huang Tu perked up. "Finally."
He took the letters and skimmed them quickly.
A look of realization crossed his face.
"So it really was like this… They were fooled too."
Murmuring to himself, Huang Tu frowned.
Everything had started with a so-called joint invasion plan from the Sand.
According to the plan, the Sand would strike first, with Stone and Cloud following to assault the Land of Fire.
But the seal was wrong.
Would the Fourth Kazekage use the seal of the previous generation?
Impossible.
If Huang Tu hadn't noticed in time, Iwagakure might already be in all-out war.
Now, with both Sand and Cloud confirming they'd been deceived, the problem was serious.
"First, rule out the three-party alliance.
Second, rule out Konoha."
None of the three villages would trick themselves, and Konoha would never invite a three-front war.
That left only one possibility.
"Kirigakure…"
Had the Mist's internal chaos ended?
Was the new Fourth Mizukage behind this?
Huang Tu was about to report his theory to his father when—
Thud thud thud!
Another set of hurried footsteps.
A tattered Iwa ninja burst in.
"Hmm? Tieyan?" Huang Tu frowned.
"Why are you here?"
"Lord Huang Tu! Earthmound Hill has fallen!"
"What happened?"
"Wood Release Drake of Konoha—and the Yellow Flash—attacked the outpost."
"How many of them?" Huang Tu asked sharply.
"Just… the two of them."
"Excellent!"
Huang Tu's eyes lit up.
One-on-one, he couldn't beat Drake or Minato.
But Outpost No. 1 housed over a thousand elite Iwa ninja.
A thousand men—each throwing even a single stone—would crush them alive.
"Men! Assemble the troops!"
Huang Tu's blood boiled.
"The debt from the Mist Mountains—today, we settle it!"
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