The two Iwa-nin exchanged glances. The Sand-nin had fallen so quickly before that opponent, though they believed themselves stronger, even they might not stand a chance against him.
"Withdraw!"
The order came from both of them almost simultaneously. They nodded at each other, then shouted, "Withdraw, everyone withdraw!"
The Iwa and Sand ninja heard their captains' command. The Iwa-nin pulled back without hesitation, and though the Sand-nin hesitated for a moment, they too began to retreat.
Seeing their enemies retreat so suddenly, the Konoha ninjas were taken aback — and even Lock was a bit surprised.
But since they wanted to retreat, Lock wasn't inclined to let them go so easily. He darted after them, cutting down the slower Iwa and Sand-nin stragglers before returning to the battlefield once the rest had vanished into the trees.
When he came back, Nara Shikaku and the others had already arrived.
"Lock, how's it going?" Yamanaka Kai asked as he approached.
Lock replied evenly, "Killed a few. The rest escaped. Have you figured out what happened?"
Nara Shikaku stepped forward. "We've got it sorted out. They were sent by the village to deliver supplies to the front lines. They were ambushed by Iwa and Suna-nin on the way and took heavy losses.
If we hadn't arrived in time and driven the enemy off, those supplies would have been lost — and the front line would've run out of rations before long."
The shipment, carried by more than forty men, was meant to sustain the forward units for some time. If it had been lost, the front lines would have gone hungry — and a hungry army cannot fight.
"That's… lucky," Lock murmured. Indeed, their timing had been perfect. If not for their intervention, Iwa and Suna would have succeeded.
"Let's move," Shikaku said. "We'll escort them back and report to Lady Tsunade."
Konoha's main forces were still some distance away, so Lock and the others advanced slowly, guarding the injured shinobi and the supply carts. Meanwhile, the Iwa and Suna squads that had fled earlier had already reached their base camp.
At that moment, in a captured town within the Land of Fire, a large number of Iwa and Suna-nin had gathered. It was now enemy territory; the townspeople had been rounded up, though not harmed — only forced to work for the occupying forces.
In one of the grandest buildings in the town stood the joint command headquarters of Iwagakure and Sunagakure.
The two Iwa-nin who had retreated returned immediately to report to their superiors.
Inside the command room, over a dozen high-ranking shinobi from both villages were gathered.
On the Suna side were Rasa — one of the strongest candidates for the next Kazekage — and the veteran puppet masters, Chiyo and Ebizō, along with other key figures.
On the Iwa side were several elite jōnin, though the Third Tsuchikage himself was not present.
Presiding over the meeting was a forty-year-old Iwa jōnin — the personal guard of the Second Tsuchikage, a man deeply trusted and now leading Iwagakure's contingent in the joint army.
Seeing the two return, he raised an eyebrow. "You're back. Mission accomplished?"
The two looked at each other awkwardly. "We would have succeeded, but… something unexpected happened. A powerful Konoha shinobi appeared — if we're not mistaken, it was the one Tsuchikage-sama warned us about, that prodigy we were to keep an eye on. Because of him, the mission failed."
"The two Sand jōnin were killed by his hand," one added grimly. "His abilities are… unnatural. We couldn't deal with him, so we ordered the retreat."
The retreat without further battle was humiliating, especially in front of their Suna allies — but better humiliation than death.
Chiyo and the others from Sunagakure frowned. Though they didn't yet know the full story, it was obvious that something had gone very wrong. Still, they restrained their anger and said nothing for now.
The Iwa commander's expression darkened. "You mean that boy — Fujiwara Lock?"
This man, Lietu, had personally witnessed Lock's abilities during the earlier Iwa campaigns. He knew full well what the boy was capable of.
Their report, though shameful, didn't surprise him at all.
"Yes, him," the jōnin confirmed. "He's incredibly strong. The two Sand-nin were beheaded in under a minute. And it wasn't just him — Konoha had reinforcements nearby, so we had no choice but to fall back."
Whether or not that was true, both Iwa-nin were clearly trying to shift blame — but Lietu didn't challenge it.
Chiyo and Rasa exchanged puzzled looks.
"Lietu," Chiyo said, "who is this Fujiwara Lock you're talking about? Is he really that dangerous?"
As neighbors of the Land of Fire, Sunagakure had always kept tabs on Konoha's notable shinobi. But none of them had ever heard the name Fujiwara Lock.
Lietu's tone grew solemn.
"It's not strange you haven't heard of him. He's young — barely a teenager. But don't underestimate him.
He's a genius — he possesses a form of invisibility and specializes in space-time ninjutsu. Most shinobi don't even realize they've been attacked before they're already dead."
He continued, "What makes him truly dangerous is that his technique lets him strike from behind without warning. Even a jōnin could fall in a single blow. He also commands a flying summoning beast — making pursuit nearly impossible."
The room fell silent. Even the veterans of Sand grew serious.
Chiyo finally spoke, her voice measured. "In the past, Konoha's Second Hokage wielded time-space ninjutsu — few in the shinobi world could match him. I didn't expect Konoha to produce another of his kind after so many years."
Then she frowned slightly. "But this boy… Fujiwara, you said? Does Konoha even have a clan by that name?"
"Never heard of one," someone murmured, and the others nodded in agreement.
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