As Rasa gave the order, the Sand Village ninja who were already exhausted and gasping for breath felt as if they had been granted a pardon, and all of them sat down wherever they could find a relatively flat and comfortable spot.
Right after that, they quickly pulled out their dry rations and water from the packs they carried with them and ate and drank in big mouthfuls, trying to restore the stamina they had completely burned through.
After all, this time they were running for their lives, and the team could only barely stay together.
For most of the Sand Village ninja, just barely being able to keep up with the main group without falling behind was already pretty good.
While everyone was making use of the time to rest, the half hour that had originally felt endlessly long passed in the blink of an eye.
However, what nobody expected was that not a single member of the reconnaissance squad that was supposed to come back and report had shown up.
Seeing this, Maki hurried over to Rasa and reported in a grave tone,
"Kazekage-sama, the people from the reconnaissance squad still have not returned."
Rasa's face was extremely dark at this moment, as he silently thought through all kinds of possible situations.
To be honest, he would rather believe that the reconnaissance squad had run into some sudden accident on the way and that was why they were delayed, but reason told him that this possibility was extremely small.
After all, every ninja selected to form the reconnaissance squad was experienced and strong.
If it had just been some ordinary trouble, there was no way they would not even be able to do something as simple as sending back a report on time.
So the only reasonable explanation was that the entire reconnaissance squad was probably already as good as dead.
Thinking of this, Rasa felt a chill run straight up his spine.
"Set off immediately," Rasa did not dare leave any room for wishful thinking and immediately ordered the team to move.
But—
It was already too late.
The Sand ninja heard the huge sound of wings beating in the sky.
They all unconsciously raised their heads and looked toward the horizon.
In the distant sky, there was a gigantic figure more than two hundred meters tall.
A huge Susanoo was flapping its wings that covered the sky, flying toward where they were like a moving mountain with overwhelming momentum.
Through the hazy view, it could faintly be seen that inside the body of this Susanoo there were no fewer than a hundred figures.
"Rasa, did I allow you to leave?"
As that enormous voice echoed again and again through the high sky, like a god of death from the depths of hell, it mercilessly declared that these Sand Village ninja had already stepped onto a one way road of no return.
The moment Maki saw that Rengoku could fly, he immediately understood.
The reason Rengoku had deliberately let the Sand Village gather here was to wipe them all out in one net and kill them to the last.
Thinking of this, he shouted without hesitation, "Run! Everyone scatter and run right now!"
Before Rasa could even give an order, Maki had already taken the lead and decisively commanded the Sand Village ninja to scatter and flee in all directions in search of a slim chance of survival.
At this moment, Rengoku, high in the air, suddenly swung the long blade in his hand. An enormous blade light slashed down like a waterfall, carrying a world destroying force as it came crashing down from the sky.
With a deafening explosion, the ground was instantly torn open, ripped apart into a deep and terrifying ravine.
That ravine was like a bloody mouth opened by the earth, mercilessly swallowing everything around it.
In an instant, hundreds of Sand Village ninja who did not manage to dodge were killed on the spot, their blood dyeing the yellow sand red.
The remaining Sand ninja who had narrowly escaped disaster cried out in terror and fled for their lives.
For a moment, miserable wails pierced the sky. The whole scene was chaos, like hell on earth.
"Run!"
"Demons!"
"There is no way we can win!"
"Save me!"
Rengoku flapped his huge wings and landed on the ground, and large numbers of Uchiha clan members filed out from within.
Along with Hatake Sakumo, Tsunade, Kato Dan, Itachi, Shisui, Makumi, and Karin, Naruto, Sasuke and the others, all of them came out from inside Susanoo as well.
Everyone looked at this gigantic Susanoo with indescribable amazement in their eyes. They had not expected that Susanoo could even carry so many people.
"All of you, immediately begin the extermination of the Sand Village ninja!"
As soon as Rengoku gave the order, the Konoha ninja who had just come down quickly gathered themselves into neat and orderly combat squads.
With their well trained speed, they rushed toward the Sand Village ninja who were fleeing in all directions.
As for Rengoku himself, he was inside Susanoo, beating those huge black glowing wings on his back, rising into the air once again like a fierce hunting hawk and soaring across the sky.
He held that black glowing sword tightly in his hand. With what looked like a simple, casual swing, the power of it was enough to shake heaven and earth.
In an instant, a deep crack hundreds of meters long appeared on the ground, as if the earth itself had been torn apart by this terrifying strike.
At the same time, hundreds of Sand Village ninja did not even have time to let out a single scream before they died, becoming ghosts under Rengoku's blade.
For a moment, the entire battlefield was filled with a thick stench of blood.
Exploding sand flew everywhere, mixed with the desperate cries of countless Sand Village ninja and those horrifying severed limbs.
Amid flying flesh and blood, the originally golden desert had now been dyed a deep red, looking unbearably tragic, like hell on earth.
Faced with such a brutal battle, the Sand Village ninja had long since been scared out of their wits, completely losing the courage and will to keep fighting.
All they could think about was how to save their own lives, so they did everything they could to flee.
Some people panicked and ran straight into the vast desert, then used the camouflage cloth they had prepared in advance to cover themselves tightly, trying to escape disaster that way.
Others made use of the earth style techniques they were good at, trying to open up a path underground in hopes of getting away.
Unfortunately, all of these tricks of the Sand Village ninja were completely useless in front of Rengoku's god level perception, Kagura's Eye.
Within his range of perception, every move of every enemy was perfectly clear. Even Sand Village ninja who hid extremely well could not escape his sight.
Whenever he discovered a place where a lot of people were gathered, Rengoku would mercilessly dive down, his sword slashing down with sharp sword energy.
Along with a thunderous roar, the ground shook violently, and right after that, large amounts of hot blood burst out of the earth like a fountain.
Those pitiful Sand Village ninja were just like that, dying in confusion in this scorching sand.
[T/N: There's a monthly discount ongoing on my P@treon page for the next three days. You can get 20% off on your membership. Enjoy~
p@treon. cum/AmbitiousTranslator ]