Chapter 46 — Explosion Is Also an Art
"Nobunaga-dono… it seems you're about to lose, hmm?"
Orochimaru's voice slithered through the command room, carrying a note of playful malice—
though only he knew it was half an act.
Truth was, this boy had shown him far more new things than he cared to admit.
Even this place—this command center built into the heart of Mountain fortress—
was enough to make even him, the great Orochimaru, feel like a wide-eyed peasant stumbling into a palace.
Screens hung everywhere, flickering with shifting lines and symbols that outlined enemy and allied positions in real time.
A single glance could give even a mediocre commander complete battlefield awareness.
Messengers wearing headsets ran about relaying orders.
A dedicated operations staff pored over maps and data, calmly discussing the next course of action.
Orochimaru couldn't help but marvel.
Ninja world warfare… in Nobunaga's hands, it's turning into something almost unrecognizable.
It wasn't that these things didn't exist in the shinobi world—they did.
But ninja were too traditional.
Wireless radios were rarely used.
Most communication still relied on runners, animals, or chakra signals.
Most strategy still depended on the instinct of a single commander.
Computer systems?
Ninja used them only in research labs.
Nobunaga used them to run an entire battlefield.
Orochimaru glanced at him again, inwardly amused by this absurd blend of the ancient and the futuristic.
Nobunaga opened his mouth—likely to keep the snake from slipping away before the conclusion.
If Orochimaru ran, so be it…
But if he ran after causing trouble? That would be a headache.
Before Nobunaga could speak, a voice rang out:
"Nobunaga-dono! A report from Captain Jūgo!"
A young female operator stepped forward, neat and professional.
Nobunaga took the document, eyes sweeping rapidly.
"Good," he murmured, clearly pleased.
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.
As someone who had once gathered genius orphans like trophies, he could read people well.
The boy he saw at Nobunaga's manor—Kimimaro—
and now Jūgo, seen here on the screens…
Something was changing in them.
"Hmm…"
A strange hum escaped Orochimaru.
"Their eyes…"
He watched Kimimaro's determined gaze, Jūgo's serious expression.
"They're different."
He lowered his head.
What he thought in that moment, no one knew.
Nobunaga ignored the snake entirely.
He stepped forward to the command platform.
All eyes turned to him.
---
"To all forces," Nobunaga began, voice calm yet carrying through the chamber,
"we do not love violence, nor do we seek war."
"But in every era, there are those who savor strength—who believe power exists to harm the innocent."
"Today, the Cloud-nin have taught me one thing:
that ideals and hopes for the future mean nothing unless we win."
"Since ancient times, the victor has always controlled the truth."
"So if the Cloud insist on forcing war upon us before they will even consider speaking as equals—"
"Then, my loyal protectors of the Land of Fields—"
"Show these marauders a lesson they will never forget."
"War may begin on their terms."
"But only we decide when it ends."
The declaration dropped like a hammer.
The entire fortress seemed to come alive.
---
Outside, the Cloud-nin suddenly froze.
They didn't understand what was happening—
but seasoned instincts screamed danger.
Without needing commands, most immediately sought cover.
Others raised earth walls with Doton.
Still others activated Raiton armor and sprinted forward at blinding speed, hoping to reach the next defensive line before the unseen threat struck.
If they could mix into the enemy ranks, whatever danger they sensed might be mitigated.
But the defenders of Dokutō Mountain had been waiting a very, very long time for this moment.
The Cloud would not escape.
---
"RrrrRRROOOOMMM—"
A rolling thunder of mechanical noise reverberated across the valley.
Cloud shinobi looked up.
From every vantage point, from every half-built earth wall, from every scrap of cover they hid behind, they saw—
The massive rock shields atop the fortress shifting aside.
And beneath them—
Something rose.
Something Cloud-nin had never seen, but something that any veteran would instinctively fear.
From the Land of Snow, crafted with painstaking precision at Nobunaga's request—
Kunai Launch Batteries.
The very same type that, in another timeline, had annihilated Asama Sandayū's motley rebels with a single volley.
Dozens of launchers ascended in perfect alignment.
The Cloud shinobi's pupils shrank.
The launchers tilted skyward.
"You have got to be kidding—"
"Those are—!!"
"MOVE!"
But it was too late.
With mathematical precision, each sector of the battlefield had been range-tested and mapped in advance.
The launch commanders gave the order.
And then—
"FIRE."
Dozens of kunai erupted into the sky like rising comets.
Arcing beautifully.
Silently.
Elegantly.
---
Nobunaga, watching from the command center, spoke softly:
"Explosion… is also an art."
Countless kunai erupted from the launchers—so many that their shadows blotted out the sky.
They fell in perfect formation, evenly spaced, accurately covering every inch of the battlefield where the Cloud-nin stood.
"Just kunai… mere kunai!"
One Cloud shinobi roared, half in fear, half in fury, eyes trembling as daylight turned to instant night.
"You think this can defeat us?!"
No one in the entire shinobi continent had ever witnessed an attack of such overwhelming coverage.
No village had ever unleashed a barrage so dense, so all-encompassing, that it resembled a meteor storm pouring from the heavens.
To the Cloud-nin, the sight was terrifying yet awe-inspiring.
But to Nobunaga, standing calmly within the fortress command center, the spectacle was still far from enough.
After all, in his previous life he had seen far greater firepower.
Only when the Land of Fields could rack up something approaching the Van Fleet ammunition expenditure would he consider it truly satisfying.
A downgraded imitation of the Snow Country's kunai-Katyusha launchers?
Barely acceptable.
Certainly not the final form he envisioned.
"You think something like this can defeat them?"
Orochimaru drawled, unable to hide a hint of irritation—
mostly because he could sense his prized subordinates slipping further out of his grasp.
"Oh?"
Nobunaga answered with a modest smile, gesturing for Orochimaru to be patient.
"The main performance hasn't even begun."
Truthfully, Orochimaru wasn't wrong.
Kunai alone would never defeat elites from a great shinobi village—
no matter how many were thrown.
No true powerhouse would ever fear mere thrown metal.
The Cloud-nin certainly didn't.
Every one of them was poised to show off their techniques—
Lightning Release armor to sprint through,
Earth Release walls for cover,
Wind techniques to deflect projectiles—
each preparing to carve a path through the falling storm.
Then—
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Explosions erupted in a chain,
shockwaves tearing into the ground,
heat blooming hot enough to carbonize flesh.
The kunai weren't just kunai.
They were thousands upon thousands of explosive tags disguised as kunai.
The Cloud-nin's confidence evaporated in an instant.
Konan had once used explosive tags as a weapon against Uchiha Obito—
a monster who could slip into another dimension.
Why, then, did these shinobi—
who were nowhere near Obito's level—
think they could survive such a storm?
One after another, the detonations swallowed their screams.
For the first time in their lives,
the proud warriors of the Hidden Cloud learned a harsh lesson—
In this battle… explosion itself was the art.