Three figures burst out of the land. Their kunai glinted menacingly as they aimed straight for Nawaki's vital spots.
Nawaki tapped his toes lightly and effortlessly dodged their attacks.
Minato had been waiting nearby for a while. With a flash, he pierced through all three with a single sword strike.
The three Iwagakure Ninjas clutched their throats and collapsed to the ground. They died without even seeing what Minato looked like.
"Not bad," Nawaki gave Minato a thumbs up, which he learned from Dai.
"To think they were taken care of so quickly."
Their clean and efficient teamwork left the Konoha Ninjas who witnessed it in awe.
According to the intelligence, every member of this Iwagakure unit was at least a Chunin.
"No wonder they're taught by Lord Kawaki."
This is a die - hard fan of Lord Kawaki. The power to beat a Tailed Beast makes Lord Kawaki a god in his eyes.
The two young ones are young, yet their strength is already so great. It must be Lord Kawaki's teaching.
"They're both geniuses," a Konoha Ninja said with a tinge of envy.
...
"Enemy attack!"
The shout of a Konoha Ninja came from afar. They had just taken out three, and now others couldn't hide anymore.
Minato flew over and saw an Iwagakure Ninja punch a Konoha Ninja in the chest.
There was a loud "bang".
An explosion went off where the fist landed. The Konoha Ninja was blasted away, his body in tatters.
Seeing that the Iwagakure Ninja was about to attack another Konoha Ninja, Minato threw several kunai to hold him off.
"Is this [Explosion Release]?" Minato had heard about it from Kawaki but had never seen it with his own eyes.
"Probably. It's quite similar to what Brother - in - law described," Nawaki wasn't entirely sure either.
"Ah, who cares what kind of release it is. Let's take him down."
If he can explode at close range, then I'll attack from afar.
Nawaki formed [Hand Seal], shrank his neck back, and spat out high - speed flying water projectiles from his mouth.
They aimed straight for the vital parts of the [Explosion Release] Iwagakure Ninja.
Minato charged forward with his sword and clashed with the ninja head - on. When the explosion sounded, he used [Flying Thunder God] for Evacuation.
In that short moment, the [Explosion Release] Ninja was pierced through the throat by Nawaki's water projectiles and died a definite death.
Apart from his strange explosion ability, his strength didn't seem that impressive.
No wonder there were quite a few ninjas who could use [Explosion Release].
They had just killed one when another explosion sounded from the other side.
Minato looked at his sword, which already had a notch. It seemed the explosion's power was quite high.
The material of this sword was no ordinary stuff.
"Let's go," Nawaki said and rushed towards the direction of the explosion.
The two young ones were like firefighters, moving around in the forest.
Under their leadership, the Konoha Ninjas coordinated with each other, and the number of the Iwagakure surprise attack force quickly dwindled.
Minato specifically counted and found they'd already killed twenty - three.
There shouldn't be many of them left.
After such a long battle, those who hadn't been found were either far away or had some special hiding abilities.
"This mission isn't that difficult," Nawaki didn't feel like he had faced any tough opponents.
"It's not that the mission is easy. It's just that we've seen so many powerful people," Minato finally told the truth. Compared to the people they had encountered...
This Iwagakure Ninja unit didn't have any members who could really stand out. However, it was a different story for ordinary Konoha Ninjas.
"Well, that's true," someone said.
Before they knew it, Nawaki and Minato had become extremely outstanding among the Jonin.
Unless they encountered an extremely troublesome Kekkei Genkai, they could easily win when working together.
If Rasa were to fight them again, it was still uncertain who would emerge victorious.
All three were improving at an extremely fast pace. It was only a matter of time before they reached Kage-level.
A few more days passed. The Konoha team searched this area several times and took out over a dozen Iwagakure Ninjas.
After that, they found nothing else. This mission could be considered a relatively successful one.
The remaining Iwagakure Ninjas were no longer a threat to Konoha's supply lines.
The two young ones led the team back to report the mission. There were forty-two people when they set out, and only thirty-five returned.
If it were just an ordinary Jonin leading the team, it would be hard to say how many would come back.
As soon as they got back, the two young ones felt that the atmosphere in the camp had changed.
A tense atmosphere was spreading in the camp. They went to Tsunade to report the process and results of the mission.
"Good job," Tsunade said, giving a rather perfunctory compliment, which wasn't like her.
"Sister (Teacher's wife), what's going on?" the two young ones guessed that something unfavorable had happened.
"Sunagakure has also sent out raiding forces. Both sides have suffered casualties," Tsunade said.
"Ōnoki has even deployed more than one unit, and some of our people have been attacked."
"The situation is very unfavorable for us now."
Tsunade briefly explained the situation, also pouring out her concerns.
Minato thought it over and quickly understood why Tsunade was so worried.
"Did the teacher lead a team out?" Minato asked. He was also a bit surprised not to see Kawaki, since the two of them were usually always together.
"Yes, he just left not long ago," Tsunade replied.
"There are Iwagakure Ninja units lurking around here."
Tsunade confirmed Minato's suspicion.
"Sister, then we'll be going," Nawaki said, pulling Minato towards the door. Minato had no clue what Nawaki was planning.
"I have a plan," Nawaki whispered mysteriously in Minato's ear as soon as they stepped out of the door.
"What plan?" Minato's eyes showed doubt rather than excitement. What good plan could this guy come up with?
"Nawaki's idea made sense. It's a matter of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Who didn't have a raiding force?
This question gave Minato a thought. It was indeed feasible, but it needed further refinement.
The two rushed to a room in a hurry to do some research, trying to relieve their teacher's wife (sister) of her worries.
On the other side, Kawaki led a team to the location where they were supposed to engage with the Iwagakure Ninjas.
By the time they got there, the Iwagakure Ninjas had already run away. There wasn't a single one to be seen.
In the end, he could only lead the injured back, which really frustrated Kawaki.
Sunagakure followed suit, but they weren't as bold as the Iwagakure Ninjas.
As long as they saw a Konoha team in the Land of Rain, they would attack them.
By this time, Konoha had become very passive. This kind of small - scale battle was exactly their biggest weakness.
The lack of manpower was an irreparable drawback, and Konoha didn't have the ability to create White Zetsu.
Kawaki and Sakumo successfully wiped out several enemy squads using the Flying Thunder God[b]Flying Thunder God[/b] technique.
However, later on, they frequently ran into ōnoki and Bunpuku. With the cover of these two, the losses of Iwagakure and Sunagakure were not substantial.
In the end, cornered, Konoha launched several large - scale offensives.
But the enemy simply declined to fight. They'd retreat when Konoha advanced and attack when Konoha retreated.
Kawaki seemed to sense the helplessness Hanzō of the Salamander once felt, as that's exactly how he dealt with the Demigod of the Ninja World.
Iwagakure and Sunagakure seemed to have conspired. They were determined not to have a head - on confrontation with Konoha. Instead, they planned to gradually wear down Konoha's strength through a war of attrition.
They fully leveraged their numerical superiority over Konoha.
As time went by, Konoha's personnel losses grew. It had started to shrink its operational area.
But this could only be a temporary fix and couldn't reverse the current downward trend.
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