There was no time for Sumashi to dwell on whether there was something strange about Enkō Squad's situation. Truth be told, he was only a little puzzled as to what kind of ordeal they had encountered for things to end with only Koeda Kyoichi left alive. The thought that Kyoichi had betrayed them never even crossed his mind.
After all—
Even though the Koeda Clan was branded as traitors by die-hard supporters of the Third Tsuchikage, few actually believed the Koeda were the type to truly turn rogue. Remaining in the village at least left them a sliver of hope for eventual revival; but if they had truly become missing-nin… the Koeda name would have been erased from the shinobi world forever.
The other two clans who had conspired in the coup had already accepted their fate—their shinobi all perished on the battlefield.
All that remained in the village were their women and young girls.
Their future survival—and whether their clans could ever rise again—would depend on whether those women could endure life in Iwagakure without the protection of their men, secure capable husbands from outside, and ultimately on whether the Tsuchikage himself permitted their names to once again resurface in the village.
In the end, though the hope of reviving a fallen clan was faint, it was still better than utter despair.
Such a perspective was not mistaken.
After all—
The endless shinobi wars had already made it clear to anyone with insight: a ninja clan could only ensure its survival by clinging to a hidden village. Without the village's protection, even a clan as mighty as the Uchiha might struggle to survive on its own.
And yet—
In this age, few remembered that the Koeda Clan had not always been rooted in the mountains of the Land of Earth. Their lineage had come from the sea. Only by a twist of fate, in the waning days of the Warring States, had they left the vast ocean behind, migrated into these mountains, and become part of Iwagakure.
What no one would have imagined was that the Koeda Clan still maintained faint ties to their seafaring allies of old.
And, more unthinkable still—that the Koeda Clan might truly be mad enough to betray Iwagakure completely and return to their ancestral home across the sea.
In short, because no one in Iwagakure understood the Koeda deeply enough, none truly believed they would dare betray the village. Sumashi… was no exception.
Just then, in the midst of his thoughts—
From the rear, two figures came racing into view, catching the eyes of the Iwa-nin.
"Two brats?"
Sumashi raised an eyebrow.
"Don't underestimate them," Kyoichi's voice snapped from the rear as he darted around behind the dozen Iwa-nin. "Enkō and Dani fell because they took those kids lightly. One of them is the son of Konoha's White Fang, and the other is a Sharingan-wielding Uchiha. Neither of them are pushovers!"
"The White Fang's son? And a Uchiha with awakened eyes?"
Sumashi's face grew grim as he absorbed the intelligence Kyoichi had provided.
Both were threats he had to take seriously.
After all—
Though he commanded a sizeable force here, among them, including himself, there were only three tokubetsu jōnin. The other nine were all chūnin. Against opponents capable of killing Enkō and Dani—two full-fledged jōnin—and chasing Kyoichi all this way… it would be fatal to underestimate them.
But that was not to say he lacked confidence.
When it came to a real fight, Sumashi still believed the advantage lay with him.
True, a tokubetsu jōnin was not necessarily as powerful as a standard jōnin. Their strength came from mastery of specialized arts. Depending on the discipline—be it teaching or assassination—their combat power could vary drastically.
As for Sumashi—
His specialty was "Rallying."
"Move!!"
As Kakashi and Obito closed in, now barely twenty meters away, Sumashi barked his order.
In an instant—
He and the eleven Iwa-nin with him moved in unison, hands flying through seals, before slamming their palms down onto the earth.
"Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm!!"
Twelve shinobi—
Casting the same jutsu together, not merely layering their efforts but amplifying one another's power, multiplying the destructive force many times over.
In an instant, the ground before them heaved and shattered. Cracks like a spider's web split open, jagged and abyssal, racing outward and swallowing the earth ahead, erasing almost every foothold.
The destructive force was terrifying—something only a handful of Iwa's most skilled jōnin could replicate.
This was the power of Collective Jutsu—
Harnessing the strength of many to unleash a technique so overwhelming that even elite jōnin might struggle to match it.
Though it failed to finish off the two Konoha brats chasing Kyoichi, it forced them to break formation and scatter.
Immediately after—
"Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon!!"
Sumashi and his unit again moved as one, molding the earth into a colossal dragon, jagged and majestic, surging forward in an unstoppable tide toward Obito. Its destructive force was overwhelming.
But—
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!!"
A towering wall of rock erupted before Obito, halting the stone dragon for a heartbeat and buying him just enough time to retreat and narrowly evade the crushing force.
"What?!"
Sumashi's eyes blazed with shock and fury.
He had seen it clearly—neither of those Konoha brats had cast that defensive wall. No… the chakra that had shaped it came from his own side.
Snapping his head back, Sumashi's gaze fell on Kyoichi—hands flying in rapid seals, the complex sequence unmistakably that of a high-powered attack jutsu.
A dreadful premonition surged through him, but before he could react, Kyoichi had already finished.
"Earth Release: Rock Pillar Rising!!"
In the next instant, the ground erupted with massive, jagged spears of stone that tore into the Iwa-nin mid-formation.
Caught utterly defenseless while focusing on their combined jutsu, they were impaled mercilessly. Seven died instantly; three more were left critically wounded.
Only Sumashi and one other tokubetsu jōnin survived with minor injuries, spared by sheer luck.