A cataclysmic explosion had just ended. From within the smoldering remains of his Shield of Gold Dust, a disheveled and ash-covered Rasa staggered out, barely holding himself upright.
He looked around at the obliterated battlefield, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Konoha… Veigar…"
Rasa's elite force, three thousand shinobi, joined by over a thousand more Sand ninja summoned from the sky, more than four thousand warriors in total, had been completely routed by Veigar's orchestrated onslaught. Over three thousand had perished.
Most of them had been obliterated so thoroughly, not even corpses remained.
Compared to this decimated frontline, the five-hundred-man detachment Rasa had ordered underground to divert attention were astonishingly fortunate, having avoided the brunt of the explosion.
Elsewhere, another unit, known only to the upper echelons of Sunagakure's leadership, had remained hidden on the outskirts, four thousand shinobi waiting for the signal. When they saw the mushroom cloud blooming in the distance, silence fell among them like a shroud.
Rasa, still bleeding from the mouth, locked eyes with the massive serpents encircling them. His fury now had a target.
At the same time, a fully intact puppet corps of five hundred emerged, their operators directing intricate puppet constructs into battle against the snakes.
"Kill."
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The surviving Sand shinobi, clinging to life in the aftermath, launched their counterattack against the serpents.
It wasn't long before all eight serpents lay slain, their blood soaking into the scorched earth of the Land of Fire's border, the frontline that once belonged to Konoha.
Despite their immense size, the serpents had inflicted shockingly little damage, falling to the coordinated assault with almost no casualties.
Yet just as Rasa and the surviving Sand shinobi began to believe the worst had passed, no one could have foreseen that this was merely the beginning of the nightmare.
"Hah..."
"We survived."
Faces of the remaining Sand shinobi bore grief and disbelief. This battle had come at an unimaginable cost.
In a single day, one-third of Sunagakure's shinobi had been wiped out.
"It itches..."
One ninja scratched at a patch of skin soaked in serpent blood. His nails tore open bloody lines, and in that instant, his life was forfeit.
"My head… it's spinning…"
Thud.
With a sickening drop, the shinobi collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth.
Another nearby ninja rushed to him.
"Hey, are you—"
He never finished his sentence. His eyes widened as he saw his comrade convulsing in agony, mouth frothing.
Poison.
Thud. Thud. Thud...
One after another, Sand shinobi began collapsing, the telltale foam at their mouths confirming the grim diagnosis.
"Kazekage-sama! This is bad!"
"They've been poisoned!"
Poison? From where?
Even Chiyo, battered and shaken, immediately turned her eyes toward the fallen. Her brows furrowed deeply.
Observing for just a moment, she noticed the common trait among the afflicted, they were all stained with serpent blood.
Chiyo's heart sank. This entire catastrophe had stemmed from her obstinate insistence on pressing the assault. The cost was catastrophic. Even if she returned to the village, her prestige, influence, and honor would be shattered.
No, she would become the scapegoat of Sunagakure.
Still, she knew the village couldn't afford more deaths. Not now. If the slaughter continued, Sunagakure's position among the Five Great Shinobi Villages could be irreparably weakened.
Even the presence of a Tailed Beast Jinchūriki wouldn't be enough to preserve their standing.
Her grandson, the missing Sasori of the Red Sand, her brother Ebizō, assassinated by Veigar amidst overwhelming odds, and now this. Blow after blow had broken Chiyo's resolve.
Yet she was still thinking of her village.
When she pieced together the cause, she shouted:
"Don't touch them! Stay away from the serpent blood! That's the source of the poison!"
Her command stopped countless shinobi in their tracks. Those who had not yet come into contact with the serpent blood hesitated, their faces frozen in disbelief.
Poisoned blood?
Of course it was.
These eight serpents, summoned from the depths of Ryūchi Cave, were infamous for their lethality. Their bodies dripped with venom.
Poisonous snakes. No, these were true vipers, the embodiment of toxic warfare.
Veigar hadn't summoned them for their fangs, but for their venom. In war, poison was the deadliest weapon.
His plan wasn't brute force, it was strategic encirclement and biological warfare.
His true objective wasn't to kill the Sand shinobi alone, but to corrupt the soil of the Konoha forward base.
He would not let Sunagakure claim it so easily.
Without an antidote, the serpent blood's toxins were virtually incurable. In mere minutes, those who had been poisoned lay lifeless, their bodies still and silent.
"Everyone, evacuate!"
"Retreat, now!"
Now fully grasping the situation, Chiyo had no choice but to order an immediate retreat.
Stay any longer, and no one would leave alive.
Ssshhk, sshhk, sshhk...
Before one disaster could be mourned, another rose in its place.
The retreating Sand shinobi left behind a graveyard of their own comrades.
At the edge of the blood-soaked battlefield, Rasa stood untouched by the serpent blood. His gaze swept over the last of the standing Sand shinobi, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood.
"Three thousand eight hundred. Three thousand eight hundred people."
"Advisor Chiyo, do you understand what this means?"
This was the first time Rasa raised his voice in fury, aimed squarely at Chiyo.
"I will take responsibility, Lord Fourth."
Her voice was hollow, her spirit broken. She didn't even call him by name anymore.
Someone had to be held accountable for this catastrophe.
It wouldn't be Rasa. That was impossible.
Only one person could shoulder this burden: Chiyo.
No other shinobi had the authority, nor the responsibility. The disaster had unfolded because of her obstinate will.
Rasa bore secondary blame at most.
And this defeat, could not be hidden.
Konoha had suffered zero casualties.
Zero.
To over 3,800 dead.
An absolute victory.
Even if Sunagakure tried to cover it up, Konoha wouldn't allow it. They'd seize this moment, trumpet it across the continent, to weaken Sunagakure's morale, and to display the full might of Konoha.
This was exactly why Veigar had once told someone: this war was his protective talisman.
When he returned to the village, he would stand before Hiruzen and Danzo, and they wouldn't dare lay a hand on him.
Because this achievement… couldn't be hidden. Wouldn't be hidden.
And for that, Veigar Koshima would become a hero of Konoha.
With this single victory under his belt, so long as he didn't court disaster, Sarutobi and Danzo would be forced to think twice before acting against him.
The great clans of Konoha wouldn't let them move against him lightly. If they did…
Veigar was certain of one thing:
Konoha would descend into chaos.
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