"Retreat."
Chiyo ground out the word through clenched teeth. Her gaze was vicious, filled with hatred, locked firmly on Kawakaze.
Anyone capable of killing Hanzō was undeniably powerful.
Every time she thought of the relatives she had lost, a dull pain stabbed at her heart.
The Chikamatsu Ten Puppets were creations she could never replicate again.
After retrieving four of the puppets, she had no choice but to abandon the Ox-Head puppet.
"Come when you please, leave when you please,"Kawakaze said coldly."Do you think this is your home?"
He watched as the Sand ninja fired a signal flare into the sky from his arm. Kawakaze knew—it was the signal to retreat.
"Sword Art: Requiem of Death."
This was the very technique Kawakaze had once used to split a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Accompanied by thunder and lightning, he charged straight toward the Sand ninja and Chiyo.
"Master Chiyo, please go first."
The Sand ninja shoved her forward, determination filling his eyes. He might die—but Chiyo must not.
"Retreat!"
Chiyo shouted loudly after glancing back, coordinating cover with the scattered night assault unit.
Without looking back, she withdrew into the territory of the Land of Wind.
"Sand Release: Shukaku's Shield."
The Sand ninja swallowed a chilling pill and rapidly formed hand seals.
A wall of sand rose before him, embedded with the head of Shukaku.
He was, in fact, a ninja capable of using Sand Release. This defensive technique had been developed by imitating Shukaku.
The moment Kawakaze's sword struck the Shukaku Shield, it met immediate resistance. The sword's speed slowed, and the deeper it cut, the stronger the resistance became.
Behind the shield, the Sand ninja continuously pouring chakra into it had already turned pale. In terms of chakra output alone, he was nowhere near the level of Gaara from the original timeline.
If he hadn't taken the chilling pill beforehand, it was hard to say whether this method would have worked at all.
When the power of the attack was fully absorbed, Kawakaze's sword became stuck in the center of the Shukaku Shield.
"A fine move."
Kawakaze was about to pull out his sword and deliver the final blow when he noticed the shield slowly dissipating.
Then, a Sand ninja appeared behind him—silent.
He had given his life to save Chiyo.
The Sand Village's night raid had completely failed.
"First, evacuate the wounded back to camp. Then take the surviving Sand ninja for interrogation."
Tsunade's voice came from afar as she organized the post-battle arrangements.
"So this is an elite jōnin of Sunagakure—a Sand Village jōnin?"
Yamanaka Hayato arrived alongside Tsunade. The Yamanaka clan specialized in interrogation and intelligence-gathering techniques.
When he saw the dead Sand ninja, his eyes froze in shock for several seconds, as if he had been struck by lightning.
"Is there something unusual?"Tsunade didn't think much of it. After all, the man was merely an elite jōnin—far inferior to Hanzō of the Salamander.
"Uh… Lady Tsunade, let me put it this way," Hayato said.
"This Sandstorm ninja was a master of Sand Release, with extremely strong defense. It's said he once withstood a Tailed Beast Bomb head-on."
Hayato snapped back to reality as Tsunade spoke, realizing he had already pieced together the intelligence regarding Sandrake.
He hadn't expected the man to die right in front of him.
After saying this, Hayato looked at Kawakaze with a noticeably different gaze.
The idea that Kawakaze had killed Hanzō the Salamander felt distant—far less shocking than witnessing Sandrake's death firsthand.
"His defense was quite impressive."
Kawakaze sheathed his sword. The aura around him faded, and his pupils returned to their normal color.
"A Tailed Beast Bomb? It's nothing special."
"As long as you're fine, I'm relieved. Many people have been poisoned, so I need to deal with that first."
Tsunade curled her lips. She didn't think a Tailed Beast Bomb was anything extraordinary—it had still been cut in half by Kawakaze's sword.
With that, she turned and left, leaving Kawakaze and Hayato staring at each other.
"Lord Kawakaze, I'll be leaving as well."
After a moment, Hayato broke the awkward silence and followed the Konoha ninja escorting the prisoners back to camp.
Kawakaze's thoughts were in turmoil. He desperately wanted to know how things were going on his brother's side.
In fact, while the Sand ninja were attacking the Konoha camp, Sakumo had already led his team straight into the Sand Village's defensive line.
He didn't bring many people. In this operation, Sakumo's objective was to burn supplies and create chaos.
The main reason he was so cautious was that he didn't know Chiyo had taken a large force of elite troops with her—otherwise, he wouldn't have acted this carefully.
"Three hidden sentries, two hundred meters ahead."
A Hyūga clan member with the Byakugan stood beside Sakumo, reporting what he saw.
"Deal with them."
Sakumo waved his hand. Three sword-wielding ninja vanished silently.
A short while later, the three returned and made a gesture indicating the task was complete.
When Sakumo finally led his team into the camp inside the defensive line, he was stunned to see sand structures scattered everywhere.
Unable to tell which way was correct, he seized a sentry and interrogated him.
"Stay here. I'll be back soon."
Sakumo left a Flying Thunder God mark on the spot and vanished instantly at incredible speed.
When he returned, he was carrying an unconscious Sand ninja—apparently a chūnin.
He deliberately avoided choosing someone physically strong, to prevent unnecessary noise.
A chūnin knew more than a genin, making him the ideal target.
Once the subordinate skilled in torture extracted the location of the supply depots, the Sand Village chūnin's life came to an end.
"Burn all supplies and carry out the plan."
The team split up and moved in groups.
The Sand Village's supplies were not all stored in one place.
When the first pillar of flame shot into the sky—
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The entire Sand ninja camp sprang into action.
However, the destruction of supplies was already a fait accompli.
When everyone regrouped, Sakumo noticed two squads were missing. As expected, they were soon found.
Fighting could already be heard in the distance.
"You go first. I'll go back and save them."
Sakumo chose to turn back without hesitation.
The others exchanged glances, thought for a moment, and decided to follow him.
With a leader like that, what else was there to say?
When Sakumo reached one of the battlefields, he saw that of the five Konoha ninja, only two remained, fighting desperately.
The numerical disparity was too great—they couldn't hold out much longer.
"Damn it."
Sakumo cursed under his breath, drew his short blade, and charged in.
The blade gleamed white, like the scythe of death itself.
Wherever he passed, along every straight line, one strike meant one kill—precise and flawless.
He plunged into the fray, grabbed the arms of the two Konoha ninja, and in the next instant burst out of the battle zone, arriving at a safe location.
Though Sakumo had become more proficient with the Flying Thunder God Technique, the distance covered this time wasn't great—they were still near the camp.
These were places I had scouted before.
"Wait here. I'll come back as soon as I can."
Sakumo pulled out a military ration pill from his ninja pouch and swallowed it, restoring the massive chakra he had expended.
The situation on the other side was even worse. All the Konoha ninja who had returned for rescue were now locked in battle.
None of the discovered Konoha ninja had died.
Looking at the chaotic scene before him, Sakumo felt a splitting headache.
He couldn't extract them—so he could only charge in.
Once again, Sakumo drew his short blade and joined the fight.
Fortunately, Chiyo had taken away a large number of elite troops; otherwise, the Konoha ninja wouldn't have survived this long.
"Fight while retreating. Don't drag it out!"
Sakumo blocked an attack aimed at a Konoha ninja.
He slit the Sand ninja's throat and shouted loudly,
"You think you can win? Keep dreaming!"
A young Sand ninja couple stood with grim expressions, their fingers flying as they controlled their puppets to attack the Konoha ninja.