Under the cover of night, Gekko Chizan floated in midair in Sage Mode. He wasn't using Transparent Release—after all, with Tagitsuhime helping him stay hidden, what was the point of using it?
He and Chōmei were using insect eyes to search for the enemy's traces; the darkness could not block their vision at all.
"Chizan, the numbers are a bit scattered. Can we handle this?"
"No problem. Just mark down the coordinates, the rest can be left to the explosions."
Gekko Chizan also carried a Katsuyu on his person—after all, he needed to communicate with Tsunade.
"Katsuyu-sama, I'll leave the rest to you."
"Understood. But are you sure the coordinates you gave me are correct?"
"Of course. My eyesight is perfect, and..."
Gekko Chizan smiled slightly. The best expression of sage chakra was perception. Even without insect eyes, he could sense the coordinates of the surrounding ninja.
It was just that he wasn't familiar with the chakra signature of the Kamizuru clan, so he still had some concerns.
"Chakra perception is trivial. We won't make a mistake."
"Report honestly to Tsunade, or don't blame me if I toss you off here."
Tagitsuhime, the most violent of the snake princesses, finally revealed her brutality.
But Katsuyu didn't bother replying to her and immediately went to communicate with Tsunade.
Soon, Katsuyu began slowly moving toward the various squads of Iwagakure.
It was already late at night. Many Iwagakure ninja were resting. Although there were patrols, no one could have imagined what awaited them.
Katsuyu silently approached the Iwagakure ninja squads. They stopped a few meters from the outermost tents, because a patrol team was passing by.
Once the patrol passed, Katsuyu continued forward.
Soon, Katsuyu was shocked. What did she see? Countless bees… and most importantly, these bees didn't look normal. When have bees ever radiated murderous intent? Were they harvesting hatred along with nectar?
"Don't be surprised. This is the Kamizuru clan's forbidden technique. This ambush plan is designed specifically for these bees."
"Next, get all Katsuyu into position."
"Katsuyu, can you activate the explosive tags directly?"
Gekko Chizan floated in the sky, communicating with Katsuyu on his shoulder.
Katsuyu nodded. After splitting, each Katsuyu had chakra, making it easy to activate the explosive tags with their chakra.
"Good. How many clones haven't reached position yet?"
"About half… wait, something's wrong…"
Katsuyu's voice suddenly sounded surprised. What had she seen? As Katsuyu entered the territory of the poison bees, the bees woke up and began buzzing and circling.
"These bees have detected me?"
"Impossible… Even as a product of a forbidden technique, how could these bees have such… no, it's their sense of smell!"
Gekko Chizan was stunned. He had miscalculated. Even though Ryūchi Cave's sage technique could conceal chakra, the scent and sense of insects could not be hidden.
After all, this wasn't his enhanced bloodline-limited Transparent Release. Damn it!
"Charge! Everyone charge! Even if not all are in position, it doesn't matter—detonate directly!"
"If we've been discovered, then start the attack immediately!"
"I'll attack simultaneously!"
"Help me."
Natural energy flooded his body as Gekko Chizan gathered strength.
Below, massive swarms of poison bees rose. Seeing this, the other Katsuyu increased their speed and surged toward the tents.
The Kamizuru clan ninja controlling the bees sensed something was wrong. One by one, they looked toward the front of the camp.
"Something's off…"
"Bees reacting like this…"
"Insects from the Aburame clan? No… what is that?"
The Kamizuru clan leader, Yabachi, was communicating with his poison bee king.
But his expression quickly darkened. The poison bee king told him that these things were invisible and could only be sensed by smell.
That one statement made him realize—this was definitely bad news!
The next second, a flash of fire suddenly appeared in his eyes.
Boom! Katsuyu exploded with the explosive tags.
The explosion seemed to trigger a switch. Immediately, countless red lights ignited.
"Rumble!"
"No! It's a Konoha ambush!" Yabachi shouted.
But it was too late. The shockwave from the explosion scattered the poison bees.
Ninja in the tents rushed out when they heard the commotion, only to be met with even more Katsuyu carrying explosive tags.
The explosion dispersed the natural energy, revealing Katsuyu en masse. Yabachi was shocked at the sight—there were too many.
The sheer number of Katsuyu was overwhelming. Even Yabachi, who controlled thousands of poison bees daily, was secretly alarmed.
Because in his eyes, these weren't Katsuyu—they were all explosive tags.
"Boom!"
The explosions continued. At that moment, the poison bee king suddenly looked to the sky, and Yabachi followed suit.
"There are people up there!"
"They can fly?"
"Damn, the hive!"
Yabachi raised his hands to the sky. Amid the roaring explosions, countless poison bees flew upward. Their stingers glimmered with deadly poison, terrifying to behold.
The explosions had finally awakened the Iwagakure ninja. In an instant, the Land of Grass was engulfed in fire.
"Damn! Defense! Defense!"
"Boom!"
The Iwagakure ninja's shouts were drowned out by the explosions.
After all, the Land of Grass was defended by elite Iwagakure ninja. Though the explosions were intense, they could not deal major damage, only creating chaos at the onset.
However, the sudden explosions wreaked havoc on the poison bee swarms. The blast and shockwaves inflicted heavy losses.
Yabachi realized this and directly launched an attack toward the sky. In his view, the entire series of attacks was caused by the flying enemy.
"Gekko Chizan, in front! These bees have detected us!"
"I know!"
Gekko Chizan quickly formed hand seals. His sage chakra surged recklessly within him.
"Hmph! Just a bunch of bees!"
"Sage Technique, Five Dragons World Annihilation!"
Forming the Tiger seal, Gekko Chizan revealed himself, his vertical pupils blazing with fire.
The three snake princesses appeared behind him, and the night sky was filled with eerie light.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, has he already developed his own Sage Technique?"
"Chizan really is the genius of Ryūchi Cave we haven't seen in years!"
"Five Dragons World Annihilation? But including him, we're only four!"
Each of the three snake princesses spoke in turn, signaling that the Sage Technique was about to be unleashed.