Chapter 468: Suna's Retreat
Land of Wind. High above a vast desert, Ishiro, having been blasted away by his own Sage Art: Five Elements Great Consecutive Bullets Technique, finally stabilized himself.
His own chakra was depleted, as was the chakra from little Saiken and little Chōmei. He was currently relying on little Son Gokū's chakra mode to stay afloat.
As the mushroom cloud from the explosion dissipated, Ishiro flew quickly back toward the epicenter.
When he arrived back at the battle zone, the entire landscape Rasa had chosen had been completely altered.
A massive crater, over five kilometers in diameter, had replaced everything that was there before.
Ishiro lowered his altitude slightly and scanned the area carefully with his Mind's Eye.
Without Sage Mode, his perception range was greatly reduced, down to only eight kilometers. Sensing targets underground reduced that range even further, forcing him to descend.
After scanning, Ishiro's brow furrowed.
"How are there still so many Suna ninja alive?"
In his perception, the Suna army was hiding deep underground. The explosion had not only destroyed their surface defenses but had also caused many of their underground bunkers to collapse.
Most of the Suna casualties hadn't been directly killed by the blast or the shockwave, but had been crushed by the collapsing earth above them.
Suna had lost about two thousand ninja, which was far fewer than Ishiro had anticipated.
"Rasa's bunker design is truly ingenious," Ishiro thought. "Otherwise, this battle would already be over."
"But this means my initial goal of crushing Sunagakure with my power alone has failed."
"It's unlikely that Suna will spontaneously start comparing me to Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju now."
"Looks like I'll have to rely on our own Bi-Weekly Report for the propaganda."
Ishiro's own condition was also terrible. Although he had weathered the shockwave through various means, he was riddled with internal injuries and was in no condition to fight.
It seemed he was still a long way from reaching the level of Madara and Hashirama.
Fortunately, Ishiro was not alone. By now, Ōnoki had left the main army and flown over. Behind him, an army no smaller than Suna's was rapidly approaching.
Seeing Ishiro still floating in the air, Ōnoki breathed a sigh of relief.
He had, of course, seen the explosion. Not only had he seen it, but being in the air, he had also been caught in it. Luckily, he was far enough away to avoid injury, though he had been blown back a considerable distance.
Ōnoki looked at the five-kilometer crater below, comparing it to the one from their surprise attack on the Land of Fire's underground base, and was speechless.
"Are you injured?" Flying to Ishiro's side, Ōnoki noticed his unnatural posture and asked with concern.
Ishiro nodded. "I'm injured, but it's not fatal. I just don't have the strength to fight anymore. The rest is up to you, Third."
Ōnoki nodded. "Where are the Suna ninja?"
Ishiro said, "Rasa is a crafty one. He dug bunkers deep underground. They're all hiding in there now."
"The explosion only killed about two thousand of them. Suna's main force is still intact."
"Rasa's final defensive jutsu was impressive; he must have used all his strength. His condition is probably not much better than mine. But Pakura should still be able to fight."
Ishiro pointed to a specific location. "There. A few meters underground is Suna's Puppet Brigade. Hit them with a Dust Release."
Originally, Suna's bunkers were deep enough to withstand a Dust Release attack, but after the "mushroom bomb," the thick layer of sand above them had been reduced to almost nothing.
Ōnoki was initially disappointed that such a huge explosion had only killed two thousand, but hearing the location of the Puppet Brigade, he didn't hesitate. Without a word, he fired a Dust Release: Boundary Stripping Technique at the spot Ishiro indicated.
After the white light of the jutsu faded, more than half the ninja in that bunker were gone.
Ōnoki wanted to attack again, but by then, the Suna ninja had begun to emerge from the ground.
Pakura was staring at Ishiro and Ōnoki with pure hatred.
Ōnoki knew Ishiro was in no condition to fight, so he held his attack.
Ishiro and Ōnoki used the Light/Heavy Boulder Technique to gain altitude, preventing a sneak attack from Suna. The two sides were now in a standoff.
Soon, Ishiro's Mind's Eye located Rasa. "Third, the Kazekage is over there. His chakra is completely depleted."
Ōnoki nodded. "Looks like a sneak attack is useless."
In the direction Ishiro pointed, not only was Rasa there, but also many other Suna ninja. All of them had their hands ready to form seals, clearly prepared to cast defensive jutsu at a moment's notice.
Ishiro looked behind him. "Our men are here."
Not long after he spoke, more and more Iwa ninja appeared at the edge of the massive crater. Leading them was Kawakita.
Kawakita and the other arriving Iwa ninja gasped when they saw the crater, momentarily stunned.
Did their Tsuchikage really do this, fighting the Suna army all by himself?
Seeing the standoff, Kawakita didn't bother with pleasantries. He immediately ordered a full charge.
Although Suna hadn't lost that many troops—Iwa only had a slight numerical advantage, not enough to be overwhelming—Suna's morale was completely gone.
Ishiro had nearly wiped them out single-handedly. If Rasa hadn't prepared the bunkers in advance, they didn't dare to imagine how many would have survived.
Not only that, but their Kazekage was now in a state of exhaustion, needing others to protect him. But Ishiro was still floating majestically in the air, his Four-Tails Chakra Cloak exuding an immense pressure on the Suna ninja below.
So when Kawakita led the charge, the Suna army's reaction wasn't to organize a counter-attack, but to look toward their command center. They were waiting to see if the retreat order would be given. Their will to fight was gone.
The command center did not disappoint. The order to retreat was given quickly.
The Suna ninja began to scramble to escape.
Pakura watched her comrades flee in panic, a strong sense of humiliation rising within her. How similar this is to last time!
Last time, because of her incompetence, Suna had been just as wretched. Since then, she had returned to the village and trained desperately, hoping such a scene would never repeat itself.
But she had never expected Ishiro's attack to be so unreasonably powerful. All her efforts seemed like a joke in the face of such an attack.
"In this situation, Iwa won't let us retreat safely," Pakura thought, looking at the pursuing Iwa ninja, a look of determination in her eyes.
"Last time, it was Granny Chiyo who stood up. This time, it's my turn."
The next moment, Pakura did not retreat. She charged back toward the Iwa forces.
In the air, Ōnoki and Ishiro saw this. Ōnoki immediately shouted, "Watch out for Pakura! Kawakita, have everyone spread out!"
Ishiro and Ōnoki had personally witnessed Pakura's near-suicidal technique: Scorch Release: Scorching Heaven. If that jutsu were to explode in the middle of the Iwa army, their losses would be catastrophic.
Hearing the warning, Kawakita's heart went cold. He ordered, "Everyone, spread out! Do not approach Pakura!"
In the sky, Ōnoki no longer cared about the other Suna ninja. He fired a Dust Release directly in front of Pakura.
Ishiro also struggled to muster his chakra, casting his Porcelain Release.
This time, he didn't use Kunai Rain; that would only force Pakura to detonate immediately. Instead, he sent as much porcelain mud as he could to the ground below, forming a barrier between Pakura and the Iwa army.
Her path blocked by the Dust Release, seeing the Iwa ninja getting farther away while Ishiro's porcelain barrier grew larger, Pakura grew anxious.
Her plan was to charge into the Iwa army and then use her near-suicidal jutsu to take them down with her, creating an escape route for Suna.
But things weren't going as planned. Even if she detonated now, she wouldn't kill many Iwa ninja, and it wouldn't serve to halt their advance.
At this point, it was more rational to stay alive and entangle the Iwa forces, to at least tie down Ishiro, Ōnoki, and Kawakita.
In the end, Pakura rationally chose not to self-destruct.
She single-handedly tied down all of Iwa's high-end combat power.
Seeing this, the Suna command left a portion of their forces to intercept, while the main army retreated rapidly toward Sunagakure.
Blocked by Pakura, the Iwa army was forced to flow around her like a river around a mountain, costing them precious time.
After bypassing Pakura, it took more time to deal with Suna's rear guard. By the time they could give chase again, it was too late.
However, the Iwa command didn't give up. They quickly dispatched an elite unit of several hundred to pursue. This elite unit managed to take another bite out of the fleeing Suna army before Iwa truly let them go.
By the time the elite unit returned, the battle at the crater was nearing its end.
After a long entanglement, Kawakita had finally managed to close the distance with Pakura. If it weren't for the many Scorch Release fireballs she had surrounding her, Kawakita would have already beheaded her.
But her life was at its end.
A white light flashed. Pakura, prepared for it, dodged to the side, managing to control her fireballs to move with her. She dared not give a swordsmanship master like Kawakita any openings.
But just as she dodged the Dust Release, something wrapped around her ankle.
She looked down. It was a clump of hardened porcelain.
Not good. Pakura knew it was over. If Ishiro could use his porcelain to bind her foot while she was distracted, he could have just as easily formed a kunai and pierced her. The fact that he hadn't meant he wasn't satisfied with just injuring her.
Sure enough, the next moment, a massive force pulled on her ankle. She lost her balance, and the force dragged her out of the protective range of her fireballs.
Before she could break free and regain her footing, a flash of a blade streaked across her vision. After a moment of dizzying disorientation, Pakura lost consciousness completely.
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