*Left Flank Army, Main Camp.*
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in the command tent, the stem of his pipe clenched between his teeth. He took a long, slow drag, the smoke doing little to soothe his unease.
"Something's not right here," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
"What's bothering you, Hiruzen?" Mitokada Homura asked from his left, his tone laced with curiosity.
Hiruzen exhaled a plume of smoke
"Why haven't we encountered any resistance from the Land of Waves, We're only a few dozen kilometers away now, aren't we?"
"Maybe they've decided to hole up and play defense?" Homura suggested without looking up from the financial scrolls in his hands. "It's the logical move."
"Indeed. I believe so as well," Danzō Shimura chimed in.
A scoff came from the other side of the tent. C, the Kumogakure captain leading their first division, shook his head. "The Hayashi Yuto I saw in Konoha didn't strike me as the cautious type"
Danzō's eye narrowed, his gaze sharp enough to cut. "Watch your tongue, Kumo brat. Are you trying to salt old wounds?"
"I Wouldn't." C paused, then smiled. "I'm merely calling it as I see it."
"Then perhaps you should see a little less," Danzō growled.
"Elder Danzō, aren't you being a bit too sensitive?" Ōnoki's son, Kurotsuchi's father, Kitsuchi from Iwagakure, also present, added his voice in support.
"Outrageous!" Danzō glared, anger flashing in his eyes. "How dare you lesser bein—"
"Danzō, we are all allies here," Hiruzen cut him off before he could finish. "Some things are better left unsaid, or at least phrased less... severely."
"Quite," Homura said mildly, finally looking up. His eyes briefly flicked to Danzō. "Mind your words. We're all on the same side now, whether you like it or not."
That seemed to be the final straw for Danzō.
"YOU DARE LECTURE ME?!" he roared, a strange, bone-white substance beginning to creep across half his face. "Just because you control Konoha's treasury now, you think you can—"
"Yes. Got a problem with that?" Homura shot a side glance at him, his own pupils shifting into a deep, ominous yellow. "You're not the only one who's undergone Hollowfication, Danzo!"
WHOOSH.
The spiritual pressure from both men erupted, clashing violently within the command tent. The furniture and equipment inside began rattling violently.
"Enough!" Hiruzen frowned, cutting through the confrontation with a sigh. "Aren't you both a little old for this posturing?"
Danzō snorted, the white receding from his skin as he sat back down, though his anger was still palpable. Homura just offered a thin, smug smile and turned back to his scroll.
"Anyway," Homura said, his tone shifting to one of genuine excitement, "Hiruzen, we've just hit the jackpot. The Wind Daimyō is offering a billion ryo for a long-term contract. A Billion.
"Really?"
Hiruzen's face immediately lit up like a kid's on his birthday, but he quickly caught himself, clearing his throat and adopting a more statesmanlike expression. "Ahem. Well. The Sand Village has suffered a great loss with their Kazekage. It is only right that we, as allies, strive to support them in their time of need."
C from Kumo couldn't help but roll his eyes so hard it was a miracle they stayed in his head. 'You greedy old fool, now you play the saint?'
BOOM.
A deep, resonant thud echoed from outside the tent, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
"What was that?"
"What's happening?"
"An enemy attack?!"
BOOM. BOOM-BOOM.
The sounds came again, faster this time, a relentless, heavy pounding.
"Commander! Something terrible is happening!" A guard ninja rushed into the tent, his voice urgent. "The people of the Land of Waves... they're dropping something from high altitude! Our men are getting trapped!"
"Trapped?" Hiruzen was momentarily stunned, then quickly led the high-ranking commanders out of the tent.
"Commander, look out!"
No sooner had they stepped outside than a large, gloopy mass of white substance plummeted from the sky.
The guard ninja shoved Hiruzen out of the way, but was hit by the sticky white goo himself. His limbs and torso were pinned firmly to the ground, struggling uselessly against the bindings.
"What...what in the world is this?!" C stared, eyes wide with confusion.
"Given the circumstances, we should retreat for now," Homura suggested.
"NO!" Danzō roared, his cheeks trembling with fury. "What Hayashi Yuto is doing now is precisely meant to force us to retreat! The more we want victory, the less we must let him have his way!"
"Danzō, you mean..." Hiruzen's gaze shifted to him.
"Advance! Evade the attack range of these sticky projectiles! Full speed ahead!"
"Very well. We'll follow your plan this time."
Hiruzen launched a signal flare for a full-frontal assault. The ninjas who saw it didn't hesitate, charging madly towards the Land of Waves.
Uzuki Yugao was one of them.
With the blade in her hand, she could easily slice through the sticky globs falling from the sky. With her help, Anko Mitarashi and Kurenai Yuhi, fighting alongside her, also broke free from their bindings. They regrouped with the main force at the edge of a forest.
"Look! The walls of the Land of Waves are just ahead!"
"Is that a barrier?"
Looking east from their position, a dazzling, multi-coloured film enveloping the outer walls drew everyone's attention.
But in the next moment–
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH.
From within that filmy layer, beams of multicoloured light suddenly shot foward.
"Look out! Dodge!" Some ninja already sensing the danger and yelled warnings.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The beams tore into the cluster of ninjas, setting off a chain of massive explosions.
Flames shot towards the sky; dust and debris filled the air.
Avoiding this kind of area-of-effect attack was difficult. Worse still, the allied shinobi forces had been charging full force from a distance, and their chakra was already depleted.
"Fall back! RETREAT!" Hiruzen's voice, thick with despair and fury, cut through the chaos.
He and a handful of commanders led a desperate, scrambling rush, somehow making it to the bank of a wide river. Hiruzen turned, his heart sinking. Only a few hundred shinobi had made it with them.
Forty thousand troops. Gone. And they hadn't even seen a single enemy soldier.
It was the most humiliating defeat of his life.
What a disgrace!
"Commander, what do we do now?" C asked, his face covered in grime.
Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure what had just happened either.
The main force had been defeated too quickly. They never anticipated the Land of Waves possessing such methods of attack! Not just strikes from high altitude, but even their defensive barrier was offensive!
"Regroup... we regroup with the Right Flank Army," Hiruzen said, his voice low.
Given the current situation, the Left Flank Army was basically finished.
What could a few hundred people hope to accomplish here?
"Heh. How utterly predictable," Danzō said, an arrogant smirk spreading across his face. "Hayashi Yuto only knows how to fight a rigid, conventional war. He forgets that the true strength of a shinobi lies in our flexibility and mobility! Our ability to strike where we are not expected! This battle... is already won."
"?????"
Everyone just stared at him, their faces a mixture of disbelief, exhaustion, and the dawning horror that their strategic adviser might have completely, lost his mind.
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