Over the past two days, Sunagakure had eased its offensive. After all, the reckless assaults they had launched on the front lines earlier had cost them far more than they had cost Konoha. The death of Dosha, disciple of the Third Kazekage, had further dampened their morale, and their forces were in desperate need of rest and regrouping.
But just as Suna was showing signs of weakness, Konoha suddenly launched a counterattack, forcing Sunagakure to mobilize and meet them head-on.
Wind howled through the desert, lifting yellow sand into the air. Both sides faced each other beneath the scorching sun. Suna had deployed eight thousand shinobi today—about the same number as Konoha. The sight was nothing short of imposing.
The moment the battle began, both sides' ninjutsu units unleashed waves of mid- and long-range attacks. Dozens, even hundreds, of shinobi cast the same elemental techniques in unison, the combined effect staggering. The battlefield roared with deafening booms as fire, wind, lightning, earth, and even water chakra clashed violently, releasing dazzling bursts of light. Vast torrents of chakra swept across the sand, carrying overwhelming, destructive force that mercilessly swallowed the tiny figures caught within.
Konoha's ninjutsu forces were formidable, and in this exchange of techniques, they naturally gained the upper hand. Eventually, both sides began to run low on chakra. The ninjutsu units withdrew, and Konoha's medical corps rushed forward despite the danger, moving to aid their wounded comrades.
"Charge! Everyone, forward!" shouted Konoha's captains, swinging their arms in command. The shinobi who had been waiting in reserve surged ahead with battle cries, quickly closing in for close combat.
Konoha's assault was ferocious, as if every ninja was venting pent-up rage that could only be unleashed upon Suna.
"Lightning Release: Ground Pulse!"
A Konoha shinobi slammed his palm onto the ground, sending crackling arcs of electricity racing along the surface toward the enemy. Three Suna ninja were struck, collapsing in spasms.
Another Konoha shinobi immediately closed in, kunai flashing as he stabbed each of them twice. Blood gushed from the wounds, and the three let out pained screams. Yet he refrained from finishing them off, instead choosing a new target and pressing the attack.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive sphere of flame roared forward, forcing Suna shinobi to leap about frantically to avoid being burned alive. "Hn. Two seriously injured," the Konoha caster muttered with satisfaction before turning his attention to the next foe.
The Ino–Shika–Chō trio joined the fray as well. Still bitter over Dan Katō's injury, they vented their frustrations upon the Suna shinobi, dealing blow after brutal blow.
"Shadow Sewing Technique!"
Shikaku formed a quick sequence of seals, sending more than a dozen shadow tendrils lancing into a squad of enemy ninja, each stabbing precisely into vital arteries. He released the jutsu, leaving his victims clutching at bleeding wounds as they collapsed into the sand, groaning and writhing.
"Partial Multi-Size Technique!"
Chōza's hand expanded to enormous size, and he swatted several enemies aside like flies.
"Chōza, take it easy! Don't crush them to death!" Inoichi called out.
"Oh—right!" Chōza nodded and switched to flicking them with his now-massive fingers instead. "Ping! Ping! Ping!" One by one, the shadow-bound Suna shinobi were sent flying like marbles. None died outright, but every single one suffered multiple fractures.
…
Scenes like this played out across the battlefield.
Shinobi crippled by Konoha's attacks were left alive. Instead of delivering killing blows, Konoha allowed their opponents' comrades to carry them off. With their specially-designed kunai, Konoha's ninjas dealt quick, efficient wounds, causing enemies to gush blood and collapse. Then they would simply move on to the next target.
Even Suna's medical teams were ignored. Konoha didn't bother to attack them, letting them work unhindered to retrieve and treat the wounded.
It wasn't long before Suna's commanders realized something was wrong.
Within just one hour, out of their eight thousand troops, more than eight hundred had been injured—but fewer than thirty had been killed. Most had been rendered unable to fight due to massive blood loss. Every single one of those wounded was carried to the rear by another shinobi, meaning sixteen hundred fighters—one fifth of their force—were effectively gone from the battle.
Konoha's numerical advantage grew, and with it, their ferocity. By midday, another seven hundred Suna shinobi were wounded.
Finally, Suna's commanding officers saw the danger and ordered a retreat. By the end, they had more than fifteen hundred injured crammed into their field medical stations.
…
In her sand-walled office, Chiyo studied a battlefield map.
"Elder Sister, this is bad!" Ebizō—usually so calm—burst in, his face pale with alarm.
"What's happened?" Chiyo asked, startled; her brother rarely lost his composure.
"The medical station! If you don't come now, it'll be too late—it's on the verge of collapse!" Ebizō grabbed her arm and practically dragged her there.
When Chiyo arrived, she was stunned. The station was overflowing—not only were every bed and chair occupied, but the corridors and even the doctors' offices were crammed with patients. The crowd spilled out beyond the gates into the open ground outside.
Injured shinobi lay groaning on the bare earth, the air heavy with the metallic stench of blood.
"Doctor! Doctor, hurry! My comrade's bleeding won't stop!"
"My leg's broken—help me!"
"My teammate's burned—somebody assist us!"
The shouting never ceased. The camp was a chaos of cries, each louder than the last, as if competing to be heard.
"Let go of me! I need to check on the next patient!" a medic yelled, pushing away the shinobi clinging to him.
"Doctor! Over here first!""No, I was here first!""Stop arguing! My younger brother's wound is the worst—please, look at him!""Doctor, my leg won't stop bleeding!"
Tempers flared, and soon several shinobi were grappling over a single medic.
"One at a time! Keep order!" Chiyo barked, stepping in to separate them. The crowd fell back immediately at the sight of their commanding officer.
"Treat the most critical injuries first!" she ordered the doctors.
"Yes, Lady Chiyo!" they replied, hurrying away.
She summoned the head of the station, her expression dark as iron. "Explain this."
"Lady Chiyo… Konoha's attack today was fierce, but for some reason, they're deliberately wounding our shinobi instead of killing them, and letting us retrieve them. By midday, we had fifteen hundred wounded. They're using new kunai—tri-pronged—any slash makes the flesh fester, any stab causes unstoppable bleeding. The wounds are very hard to close." He handed her one of the weapons.
The medics were overwhelmed, having already been run ragged for hours.
Chiyo examined the kunai, sniffing it. "Poison. It makes the wounds fester quickly, but the antidote is simple enough. The tri-edged shape causes massive bleeding, and the wounds are difficult to stitch. How insidious of Konoha!"
"Yes, most of our injuries are from these," the chief confirmed.
"Prepare the antidote. Have the medics use hemostatic techniques to stop the bleeding."
"That's… difficult, Lady Chiyo. They've used up all their chakra in battlefield triage."
"What? Then use bandages, gauze, coagulants! Here's the antidote recipe—get it made at once!"
"Yes!" The chief hurried off.
Chiyo began treating patients herself, but for every few she healed, dozens more arrived. She barely had a moment to breathe.
"Report! Lady Chiyo, we're out of blood packs!"
"What? Inform the main supply station to send more—now!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Moments later—
"Report! Antidote ingredients are short—enough for only three hundred doses!"
"Then requisition more from the main station!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
And then—
"Report! We've used up all the gauze!"
Chiyo was speechless.
…
All afternoon, she worked without pause. Looking at the thousand-plus patients still lying outside, their moans filling the air, she felt her scalp prickle. The camp was shrouded in gloom.
Because of the delays, over forty had died on the battlefield, but more than two hundred eighty had perished here in the station—and the number kept rising. Only when plasma arrived and the antidote was prepared did the situation begin to stabilize.
"Elder Sister, Konoha is using our own tactics against us—crippling large numbers of our fighters, draining our manpower, exhausting our supplies, and overloading our medics. I'll bet they plan to strike our supply convoys next!" Ebizō fumed.
Chiyo glanced around at the chaos, sighing. "They probably already are…"
…
She was right.
Even as she spoke, Konoha's harassment squads were ambushing Sunagakure's desert supply convoys.
Earlier, using a Water Release technique beneath the sands, they created a patch of quicksand. One Suna transport wagon fell right in, forcing the convoy to halt. Shinobi dug frantically to save the load of supplies—they couldn't just abandon it.
The rescue took two hours. But the nightmare had only begun.
Konoha's traps were relentless—concealed trip mechanisms that launched kunai, buried explosive tags that destroyed wagons, pits lined with sharpened stakes.
And then there were the constant "sparrow raids"—a Konoha ninja would suddenly appear via Body Flicker, hurl a kunai wrapped in explosive tags to blow up a cart, and vanish underground with an Earth Release technique. Another would sprout earthen spears to wreck wagon wheels before disappearing.
Sometimes, an attacker was only a shadow clone.
By the time the convoy had gone just ten kilometers, they'd been hit more than ten times, starting and stopping so often that the captain was near breakdown.
Night brought no relief.
In a hidden tent deep in the desert, a dozen Konoha ninja were resting when three replacements entered, identifying themselves before finding places to sleep. At the same time, three others were woken.
"Your turn," they were told.
The rested shinobi stretched lazily. "Finally. You all get some shut-eye—we'll keep at it until they drop."
They slipped into the darkness.
Soon, the Suna camp erupted in chaos—drums pounding, shouts ringing, a tent set ablaze here, an explosive kunai thrown there, a flash bomb in another spot. Whenever Suna's shinobi gave chase, the enemy was gone—or just a clone to waste their time.
All night, the harassment continued, leaving the Suna shinobi exhausted, with dark circles under their eyes by morning.
After an entire day, the convoy had covered only eighteen kilometers—slower than a civilian on foot.
…
When Chiyo received the news, her anxiety spiked.
"Elder Sister, Konoha's trying to kill us without even fighting head-on!" Ebizō muttered bitterly.
"Tell the convoy to push through the night—rest only when they're back!" Chiyo ordered.
"Dispatch elite units to escort them! And put everyone on high alert!" Ebizō added.
But Sunagakure's troubles were far from over. The nightmare had only just begun.