Over the course of two days, the ninja of Konohagakure kept a tight watch to the north in the direction of the Land of Waves, while to the south they concentrated their forces, reorganizing their ranks and preparing for battle.
At the same time, the command headquarters issued an order: aside from intelligence personnel specially authorized by headquarters to maintain contact with the village, no one was permitted to use any means whatsoever to communicate with the outside world. Anyone discovered doing so would be uniformly treated as a spy.
Once the planned time for the counteroffensive arrived, all participating Konoha ninja were organized with squads as the basic unit. Based on ability and overall strength, they were combined into more than a dozen assault teams, which launched a sudden strike against the Kirigakure defensive line.
Everyone had fully stocked their ninja tools, their blood boiling with fervor, ready to press the attack in one decisive push—either to wipe out these detestable Kirigakure invaders completely, or to drive them back to their homeland.
Whoosh, whoosh—rustle, rustle—thud, thud!
Squad after squad of Konoha ninja moved at a steady pace through the forest, advancing southward. Each assault team was led by a ninja with sensory abilities at the front, tasked with discovering and eliminating every enemy encountered in advance, doing everything possible to delay the Kirigakure ninja from transmitting intelligence back to their rear lines.
Sensory ability did not refer solely to chakra detection. In a broader sense, perception encompassed any capability that allowed one to discover enemies ahead of time.
Makoto—or previously, Chūkichi of Kirigakure—used the most typical form of sensory perception: detecting the chakra fluctuations of ninja within a certain range through special means.
Both were experts in this field, with sensory ranges far exceeding those of others. However, Makoto's abilities were far more diverse and extraordinary. With natural energy acting as a cheat-like advantage, Chūkichi—blindly trusting in his own perception—fell into Konoha's trap, resulting in the annihilation of his entire force.
The Hyūga clan's long-range clairvoyance was another kind of sensory perception. The distance varied depending on the ninja's strength, but most of the time it was within one or two kilometers.
If they could mobilize chakra and focus their line of sight in a single direction, they could see farther. However, not all Hyūga ninja could use this method. It might be a main family secret technique, and only with the main family's permission would one have a chance to learn it.
Besides that, the Inuzuka clan used scent to scout, and the Aburame clan spread out insects—both were also forms of sensory perception.
In fact, the Uchiha's Sharingan also had the function of seeing through chakra, but the range was too short. It served only for one's own combat; strictly speaking, it could not be counted as a sensory ninja technique.
As for the Uzumaki clan's Kagura Mind's Eye? Sorry—extinct. The direction Konohagakure was advancing toward now was exactly where they had once lived.
The land of the Land of Whirlpools was still there, but Uzushiogakure, the hidden ninja village, had already disappeared forever.
...
As a small but capable sensory specialist recognized by the command headquarters, Makoto was naturally assigned to the front of the formation to open the way, positioned within the centrally placed Seventh Assault Team.
Not only did they have to eliminate any Kirigakure ninja they discovered at the fastest speed, they also had to provide support to allied forces on both flanks at any time according to signals; their role was extremely important.
The Seventh Assault Team was the spearhead at the very front of this counteroffensive.
Darting through the forest, as they drew closer to the Kirigakure defensive line, Makoto's hot blood began to boil uncontrollably.
The D-rank missions after graduation were only to fulfill the task quota for promotion to chūnin; the C-rank missions were to make them adapt to the ninja's life of killing.
A few days ago, the battle against Chūkichi's unit had been a sensory engagement and an annihilation operation, limited in scale.
But today, they would be facing a true ninja war head-on.
As members of the same squad, Hayate and Yūgao were naturally to act together. Both of them were somewhat nervous. Originally, Kumomi had wanted them, like the other genin, to follow behind the main force, but the two of them refused.
Their strength was not lacking. They were only one procedural step away from becoming chūnin once they returned to the village.
Yes—frontline command headquarters did not have the authority to promote ninja. It was only responsible for reporting each person's battle merits. Promotions, as matters that embodied honor, could be decided only by Konoha's true upper leadership.
Kumomi comforted his disciples. "Don't be nervous. Trust in your own strength."
Makoto followed up with a reminder. "Always pay attention to your positioning. Maintain the coordination we're used to. Don't stray too far from me, and don't charge blindly."
"Understood!" ×2
As the force pushed deeper, chakra reactions soon appeared within Makoto's sensory range. However, it was not yet the moment to act. Judging from the enemy's response, they had not discovered them.
A monster like Chūkichi, with a sensory radius of around six kilometers, was extremely rare to begin with; even if the other four great ninja villages were combined, one still could not find many like him.
After continuing forward for some distance, Makoto suddenly stopped. "One kilometer straight ahead, there's an enemy patrol—four people total. Based on the chakra, it's a genin squad led by a jōnin. Other than that, nothing has been detected in the other directions."
The Uchiha clan jōnin in charge of command made a hand signal to the rear, and several vanguard squads quietly closed in.
The Kirigakure patrol squad was only carrying out a routine task today, responsible for checking whether any Konoha ninja had wandered near the front of the defensive line.
However, the jōnin leading the team soon sensed that something was wrong—an intuition born of extensive experience.
But everything was already too late.
From all around the forest, dense volleys of kunai and shuriken suddenly shot out, instantly pinning three unfortunate Kirigakure rookies into hedgehogs.
The jōnin leading the patrol reacted quickly. Without sparing a thought to rescue his subordinates, he drew his blade to guard his vital points while retreating, because there were simply too many projectiles for him to block them all.
Enduring the piercing pain coming from all over his body, the jōnin accelerated and fled.
Konoha bastards had attacked—he had to transmit this information back. But what greeted him was a pair of crimson, three-tomoe Sharingan.
'Shimatta!' the Kirigakure ninja cursed inwardly. His mind suddenly went blank, and then his throat was cut open with a single strike.
Kunai and ninja blades came first; no one used ninjutsu. That would cause too much commotion and alert the Kirigakure defenses in advance.
After all, for ninja, ambush was justice, and covert killing was the mark of greater skill.
No one cared about the deaths of these four— even though three of them looked very young, younger than Uzuki Yūgao.
Surrounding them with multiple squads was not because they could not win, but to ensure they were killed as quickly as possible, preventing any information from reaching the defensive line.
After advancing a bit farther, Makoto stopped once again. "We're already close to the Kirigakure defensive line. The defensive positions and numbers within my sensory range have been confirmed."
The Uchiha commander of the Seventh Assault Team beckoned with his hand. The captains of each sub-team stepped forward and watched as Makoto marked the distances, positions, and personnel information of the enemies along the defensive line on the map, silently committing everything to memory.
The commander was named Uchiha Sōsuke. He looked at everyone and asked, "Have you all memorized it?"
"Yes."
He checked the time. "Good. Launch the attack in ten minutes. Now—disperse."
With the order given, the teams began to split up and advance toward their designated target points. When the time came, they all lunged toward their respective opponents.
Kunai fitted with explosive tags stabbed accurately into the various strongpoints along the Kirigakure defensive line. As explosions rang out one after another across the area, the battle officially began.
It was not just here—sounds of fighting also erupted from the left and right in the distance.
Once contact was made with the defensive line, it was impossible to continue advancing silently. That was unrealistic. Therefore, the objective now was to break through Kirigakure's multiple layers of defense at the fastest possible speed, inflict as many casualties as possible, and reduce the forces Kirigakure could concentrate at its command camp.
Inside one of the strongpoints, Makoto swung his blade aside to deflect a kunai thrown by a Kirigakure ninja about his own age, then ended the opponent's life with a single strike amid the other's terrified gaze.
When had this young boy graduated? What was his name? What dreams did he have?
None of that mattered anymore. Now he was a corpse. This was war.
With the intelligence provided by Makoto's sensory perception, the Seventh Assault Team wiped out the enemy at top speed, broke through the first line of defense, and then immediately rushed toward the distant second defensive line.
They had to push forward as quickly as possible while the enemy had not yet fully grasped the situation, smashing Kirigakure's entire defensive system and maximizing the early-stage strategy of dividing the enemy and destroying them in parts.
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