The allied army hadn't even seen where the enemy was, yet they were attacked. This was the power of long-range, beyond-visual-range strikes.
At this moment, aside from passively getting beaten, they didn't have the slightest way to respond.
"Why are there missiles? Didn't they say Ryosuke cherishes the lives of civilians!"
The mercenaries shouted anxiously, and quite a few already rushed to the railing, about to jump off the warship.
If it was up to them, they probably would've run off before the fight even started. Luckily, there were still samurai and regular ninja troops on board. A squad-leader-level figure shouted, "Ninjutsu Corps!"
The ninjutsu squad rushed out, just about to set up defensive ninjutsu together, but the missile exploded above their heads first.
Kurotsuchi raised both hands to cover her head, ready to endure the shockwave.
But there was no impact, no high temperature, only a cool, refreshing breeze.
It brushed across faces, refreshing the mind. Some seasick warriors instantly recovered quite a bit.
"This is…"
Everyone stared blankly at the sky, not understanding what the Land of Water meant by this.
Seeing them travel from so far, were they being welcomed with salutes?
A mercenary sneered, "Does the Land of Water think that doing this makes us go easy on them when the fight starts?"
Hearing this made others burst into laughter, saying that Ryosuke's people were probably scared out of their minds, using this kind of trick to please them.
One by one, they conveniently forgot how they were about to jump ship just moments ago.
The laughter spread on deck, but only a few furrowed their brows, faintly sensing something wrong.
Kurotsuchi was one of them.
She clenched her fist, always feeling her chakra flow was acting weird.
Suddenly, a panicked cry sounded from behind her.
"Milady! Save me!"
Kurotsuchi turned and saw dozens of civilians working menial jobs on the deck. Their skin was gradually turning gray, hardening. In the blink of an eye, large patches of their bodies were showing unnatural petrification.
Civilians had never seen anything like this. They were terrified out of their wits. Thinking about what the mercenaries and samurai had said about Ryosuke after capturing them, they screamed, "Devil!"
"This must be the devil's curse!"
Civilians couldn't tell, but how could Kurotsuchi not see, this was clearly natural energy invading the skin, causing imbalance.
Ryosuke had used this move in Warsaw City, clearly recorded in the intel.
But this kind of move was useless against trained ninjas and samurai, so they hadn't prepared countermeasures.
'The earlier missile was to scatter air infused with natural energy? Turning the civilians doing chores into stone?'
'But… what was the point of that?'
Kurotsuchi thought about it, subconsciously scratching her skin. Only when she scraped her arm red did she suddenly realize,
Her chakra flow had a problem.
To resist the overly dense natural energy from outside, their bodies instinctively mobilized chakra.
Because of this, when they cast ninjutsu, they would definitely be interfered with.
Either weakened power, or unstable control.
And weaker mercenaries might not even be able to use ninjutsu at all.
'Turning civilians into stone… once we land, it's impossible to carry a bunch of stone people while charging.'
'That means we can only leave the civilians, our human shields, on the ships.'
'In that case, whether Ryosuke comes personally or sends the annihilation troops, they can freely use large-scale attacks without worrying about harming innocents!'
A refreshing breeze brushed their faces, and they hadn't even seen a single enemy.
Yet beads of sweat dripped down Kurotsuchi's forehead.
The enemy was smarter than she thought. They used a move seen before, something previously deemed 'useless', to crack their trump card, and weaken their fighting strength.
"Don't get distracted."
A rough voice sounded beside her.
It was her senior, Akatsuchi.
Akatsuchi was the Third Tsuchikage's senior disciple, senior to Kurotsuchi and Deidara, known as the "Shield of the Tsuchikage."
In terms of offense, he might not compare to the deceased Kitsuchi, but in defense and protection, Akatsuchi was superior.
So he was ordered by the Third Tsuchikage to act alongside Kurotsuchi for protection.
Akatsuchi stared at the gradually approaching coastline, saying, "Ryosuke's forces possess numerous unheard-of special abilities. That was already known from intel. There's no need to be shocked."
Kurotsuchi understood.
No matter how many flashy tricks Ryosuke's side had, no matter how many people died in between, they only had to keep charging forward blindly. Eventually, it would come down to steel-on-steel combat.
According to intel from the financial groups' spy network, the Land of Water's combatants, including Kirigakure ninjas, annihilation troops, and official samurai, totaled no more than fifty thousand.
After all, the Land of Water was the smallest nation, sparsely populated, and not long ago they went through the chaotic April, losing many people.
Fifty thousand might even be an exaggerated number.
Fifty thousand vs. one million, a twenty-to-one difference.
If they still lost…
Just go home.
Go home and farm.
Thirty minutes later, the warships from the Land of Earth arrived at shore.
The coastline was empty. Only the sound of waves lapping against sand.
Soldiers got off the ships, and a small recon team split off to scout ahead.
The recon squad moved cautiously. Even after traveling five or six hundred meters with no enemy in sight, they turned back to wave toward the main force, signaling all clear.
The next second, an iron ball flew over and crushed his skull.
The rotating iron ball flew back into Mayuri's hand. She waved and dispelled the Magic Mirror Ice Crystal.
Where the land had appeared empty, dense armies suddenly revealed themselves.
Haku stood beside his mother, holding binoculars.
"The enemy has disembarked. Fire!"
Hundreds of coarse-looking cannons were pushed forward.
The cannons' material was ice blocks, clearly temporary constructs using Haku and Mayuri's kekkei genkai.
But inside were engraved countless runes and chakra channels.
Those techniques came from the research institute.
The production of black armor took too long, so they couldn't equip everyone yet.
Fortunately, Hidan's flesh grew absurdly fast, so they took a step back and equipped all frontline troops with kekkei genkai weapons.
Hearing the order, people immediately loaded "Hidan Flesh Boxes" into the cannons. Then hundreds of streams of blood mist erupted, and streaks of blue lightning shot from the cannon barrels toward the allied army.
A saturation coverage attack instantly caught them off guard.
But their advantage in sheer numbers kicked in. Unlucky people in front were used as human shields, buying time for people in the back to use ninjutsu.
Defensive ninjutsu, barrier defenses, fire-style, wind-style attacks, and countless kunai and shuriken thrown.
The battlefield became chaotic in an instant.
Mercenaries drew their blades.
"Kill!"
"Kill people! Grab money! Get military merits!"
Mercenaries and samurai charged through the defensive barriers under cannon fire.
Mayuri crushed the last enemy with her iron ball. Seeing them about to reach her, she put away the iron ball and drew a sharp rapier from her waist.
She flicked it, holding it upright in front of her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Years of training, gone was the woman kneeling before a county magistrate begging for mercy for her son.
Standing here was a battle-hardened annihilation soldier.
She snapped her eyes open.
"Annihilation Army… charge!"
From the sky, the two armies looked like two roaring iron floods, fiercely colliding.
Everywhere were shouts, blood, and flying severed limbs.
Kurotsuchi immediately locked onto Mayuri, who fought in the vanguard. She drew her ninja blade and slashed downward, blocked by Mayuri's rapier.
"You're their leader, right?"
Kurotsuchi glared into Mayuri's eyes, "Where is Ryosuke? He's just watching you die? Why won't he come!"
Mayuri said calmly, "Lord Ryosuke is where he's more needed."
"Needed? Heh,"
Kurotsuchi snorted coldly, "If he doesn't come, you'll all die!"
The difference in numbers was absurd.
Mayuri shook her head, unmoved, "Our orbital troops are about to arrive."
"Orbital troops?"
Kurotsuchi looked around.
Just empty ground. A deserted village in the distance. No rails, no even decent roads.
But right then, she heard a sharp shriek from high above again, like a pressure cooker releasing steam beside her ear.
Kurotsuchi, and everyone fighting, instinctively looked up.
Ten pitch-black "boxes" were shooting flames from their backs, speeding toward them from afar.
Their speed had clearly surpassed sound, that sharp shriek being the sound barrier breaking.
They streaked across the sky, leaving long, thin white clouds, just like tracks laid across the sky.
"Lord Ryosuke once said, soldiers… are tracks."
Kurotsuchi was stunned.
That was the meaning of "track"?
Mayuri lightly leapt backward.
"This is our orbital force."
BOOM!
The black boxes arrived overhead and hovered.
Their walls suddenly split open and fell, crushing a few dozen unlucky mercenaries.
Inside each box were four annihilation troops in black armor. They stepped forward, dropping straight down, smashing into the ground with a deafening impact.
The earth cracked around them. Allied soldiers within three meters had no chance to even struggle before being pulverized into paste.
Kurotsuchi happened to be standing before one of them.
The armored soldier inside was Amber.
Amber slowly straightened up. The improved second-generation armor was thicker; once worn, the height reached nearly three meters.
Clack!
Amber drew a huge sword from his back. Two crimson lights lit up in his helmet, silently staring down at Kurotsuchi.
The silent pressure was suffocating.
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