"Let's return to the city first and figure out our next move there. There are still many wounded inside, and we'll need to carefully plan our retreat route. Besides, my chakra is already—"
Minato suddenly stopped mid-sentence. His expression changed dramatically.
"What's wrong?" Yoshimaru and Kosuke asked at the same time.
"The enemy… they're back."
The moment Minato expanded his sensory perception, he detected enemy forces rapidly approaching from just over three hundred meters away.
He glanced at Satomi.
She had already run out of chakra and could no longer maintain her Byakugan.
Everyone's expressions shifted.
"That's impossible!" Yoshimaru exclaimed in shock.
"They figured it out this quickly?" Kosuke frowned deeply, unable to understand. "Has Sunagakure's intelligence network become that formidable?"
Only a few minutes had passed since they had scared the Sand forces into retreat.
To turn around and counterattack this fast…
That kind of reaction time meant they must have received absolutely precise information.
Just a few years ago during the Second Great Ninja War, Sunagakure's intelligence system had been mediocre at best. Yet in such a short time, it had undergone a qualitative leap—perhaps even surpassing Konoha's.
It was hard to believe.
"How many enemies?" Kosuke asked, still clinging to a faint hope that the Sand had merely sent a reconnaissance squad to test the situation.
But before Minato could answer, over a hundred figures streamed out from the forest.
The gleaming metal of Sunagakure forehead protectors filled his vision.
This was no scouting party.
It was clear the Sand had already confirmed the truth—that Konoha's "reinforcements" were nothing more than a force of barely a hundred men.
"Fall back to Rakuyō City. Now!"
After only a moment's hesitation, Maruboshi Kosuke made the call.
If they continued running out in the open, they would inevitably be picked off one by one.
Minato's chakra was already exhausted.
And inside Rakuyō City, countless gravely wounded comrades were still trapped. No one present could simply abandon them.
Very quickly, the Konoha forces began withdrawing in an orderly retreat, pulling back into Rakuyō City.
From a high vantage point within the fortress, they looked out.
What they saw was a sea of enemies.
At least a thousand.
Sunagakure had truly mobilized everything.
They had clearly confirmed that Konoha's reinforcements were just a bluff—a small force pretending to be a large army. That was why they dared to act so boldly now.
For a moment, the atmosphere among the Konoha shinobi fell to absolute freezing point.
Even Kosuke stood there silently, his brows tightly furrowed.
"…What do we do now?" one ninja finally asked.
"We can only rely on the city's defenses and hold out as long as possible," Kosuke said slowly.
After a pause, he continued.
"While we defend, we'll also look for opportunities to break through with everyone."
"And we must find a way to notify Jiraiya—either him or Konoha headquarters must send reinforcements."
But his voice carried a heavy weight.
Jiraiya's own situation wasn't optimistic. The chances that he could dispatch additional troops were slim.
As for reinforcements from Konoha itself… how long would they take to arrive?
Would they still be alive by then?
"That's all we can do," Minato said quietly. "There's no better option."
Hearing that even the two pillars of their force had no real solution, a dark shadow settled over everyone's hearts. Did they still have any hope of survival?
"What's that?!" Suddenly someone shouted, pointing toward the center of the Sand formation.
A massive water vortex was rising violently into the sky.
The towering column of swirling water pierced straight upward, reaching toward the heavens.
This sudden phenomenon instantly drew everyone's attention.
For a moment, the entire battlefield—friend and foe alike—turned to stare at the strange spectacle unfolding between earth and sky.
"This is—"
Minato and Yoshimaru spoke at the same time, disbelief written all over their faces.
Kosuke stared at the towering column of water that pierced the clouds. Something about it felt… strangely familiar.
Within the span of a single breath, the water tornado expanded outward at terrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, it engulfed the nearby Sand shinobi.
The phenomenon only grew more violent.
And soon, fear spread through the Sand ranks.
Because in just a few moments, that sky-piercing vortex had already swallowed nearly half of their forces.
"It's a trap! Retreat—!"
The Sand commander's desperate scream echoed from afar.
Then it vanished.
From that moment on, the battlefield was left with nothing but the roaring vortex and the monstrous cyclone of water that towered into the heavens.
"The Sand's finished," one Konoha ninja muttered with grim satisfaction.
On the battlefield in the distance, not a single Sand shinobi remained standing. Anyone who had stepped out of the forest had already been devoured by the colossal water tornado—its diameter nearly a full kilometer.
"This technique…" Kosuke murmured.
Memories sealed away for decades suddenly resurfaced.
"This is the same Water Release jutsu Shimizu used before," Minato said with certainty. The impression that technique left on him was far too deep. He suppressed the excitement in his voice as he continued, "Shimizu… he's still alive!"
"What?! You're saying Shimizu cast this technique?!" Kosuke's expression finally cracked with shock.
Because that technique…
It was the strongest S-rank Water Release jutsu ever created by the Second Hokage.
And to this day, no one had ever mastered it.
The Second Hokage had once tried to pass the technique on to Kosuke.
But he had failed to learn it.
"You mean Shimizu is alive?!" Kosuke quickly realized that was the far more important piece of information. Compared to the reappearance of a lost jutsu, the life or death of his student mattered far more.
Shimizu? He's actually alive?!
"Yeah," Yoshimaru said. "Shimizu used that same technique not long ago. He even said you were the one who taught it to him, Senior Kosuke."
Yoshimaru recalled the first time he had seen the jutsu.
"That thing was terrifying. It wiped out every enemy within a one-kilometer radius like it was nothing… seriously scary."
"Huh? I taught him?!" Kosuke blinked in confusion.
Then he suddenly nodded.
"Ah… right. The Second Hokage did pass that technique down to me back then… but it's far too complex. To be honest, I never managed to master it."
The Second Hokage had indeed taught him the technique.
But it was unbelievably difficult.
It wasn't just the complexity of the hand seals.
The real challenge lay in compressing an enormous amount of Water Release chakra into a tiny spear of water.
Without extraordinary Water Release talent, it simply couldn't be done.
Even he—Konoha's current foremost water-style user—had never managed it.
And Shimizu?
Sure, the boy had impressive Water Release skills, but calling them top-tier would be an exaggeration. Learning this jutsu should have been impossible.
Just how many things had that kid been hiding from him?
"Wait… did you just say the last time it affected a one-kilometer radius?" Kosuke suddenly realized the most critical detail.
He glanced toward the center of the vortex and roughly estimated the straight-line distance from Rakuyō City.
"…Actually, it might've been closer to 1.5 kilometers?" Yoshimaru said, trying to recall. Then he turned to Minato.
"About that range, right?"
But the Minato he saw had gone pale.
"This city," Minato said quietly, "is only one kilometer from the center of the explosion."
Everyone froze.
Then they all reacted at once.
Run.
Without another word, the entire group spun around and sprinted with everything they had.
Moments later—
The terrifying azure flood swept forward and swallowed Rakuyō City whole.
And faintly, amid the roar of the raging waters, Yoshimaru's furious shout echoed across the chaos.
"SHIMIZU, YOU BASTARD—!!"
...
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