"Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm!"
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!]
The Iwa Jonin watched sadly as the chain of explosions erupted once again in front of them.
The thousand shinobi behind him were no longer the original group, and this was already the fourth time they had used the Tearing Earth Turning Palm.
Paying no attention to the confused genin surrounding him, the jonin instantly appeared next to Kitsuchi.
"Captain, the number of explosive tags Suna's using is suspicious. Even if they bought them externally, they shouldn't have this many!"
"Indeed."
"And in the current situation, who would even sell them that many explosive tags—and who could possibly have that much stock to begin with?" Kitsuchi said heavily.
"That's right. The total scale of these five waves of explosions has already surpassed Iwagakure's entire stockpile of explosive tags!"
Another jonin also chimed in to show his agreement.
"So what do we do now? If there are this many explosive tag traps up ahead, are we supposed to use a thousand-man Tearing Earth Turning Palm every 200 or 300 meters?" asked Jonin, his voice full of urgency.
Already, one thousand shinobi had withdrawn to the rear units where the Tsuchikage was stationed, due to chakra depletion.
And that was on top of the scouts already lost in earlier engagements.
"I'll… I'll go ask Tsuchikage-sama."
Kitsuchi thought hard but still came up with nothing. Although he was strong, thinking through complex problems had never been his strength.
But just as Kitsuchi turned to dispatch a chunin to report the situation—
From the northwest, the very direction the Iwagakure army was advancing toward, something suddenly appeared in the sky—clear and cloudless, brilliantly blue.
Black dots. Dozens of them.
As the black dots approached, they became more clearly visible.
They were human-shaped figures flying through the sky!
"They're puppets. They're puppets!!"
Several Iwa shinobi with sharper vision all cried out in alarm.
They saw strange puppets, each entirely brownish in color, slender at the waist, with limbs, a neck, and a round head—humanoid clay-like figures.
These puppets appeared to fly using two red energy jets fired from the backs of their thighs.
They were incredibly fast, and there were over a thousand of them.
"Enemy attack!!!"
Although the shinobi still didn't know exactly what these puppets were or how they were going to strike—
The Iwagakure ninja weren't fools. They immediately tensed up, heightened their alertness, and many of them had already begun forming hand seals.
However—
They soon realized that this army of puppets wasn't attacking at all. Instead, they flew straight overhead without stopping.
[Whoosh————]
This made many people breathe a sigh of relief. But just then, a rasping voice rang out—old and hoarse:
"Use Earth-Style Wall, now!"
"They're dropping explosives!!"
At the same time—
More people began noticing dark projectiles falling from the sky.
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM...]
Explosions—again and again, one after another. The black projectiles may have been small, but each one that landed triggered a blast powerful enough to hurl anyone within a five- or six-meter radius.
Waves of fire swallowed up Iwagakure shinobi one after another.
The shockwaves shook the yellow sand into towering columns that pierced the sky.
The screams of the dying were entirely drowned out, leaving only the unending roar of the detonations to echo across the sea of sand.
And the puppets paid no mind to the devastation behind them. Their objective was still ahead—more of Iwagakure's main forces.
"Don't let them get through!!"
Kitsuchi, who had already realized the situation, bellowed toward the rear lines. The elite jonin also snapped into action at once.
At the command, countless genin from Iwagakure immediately performed the jutsu—developed by the village in recent years specifically to counter airborne enemies.
In an instant—
[Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—]
The sound of the air being torn apart filled the sky as thousands of stone spears launched upward like volleys of arrows.
Faced with this scale of ground assault—
The puppets swiftly scattered in the air, using their extreme mobility to dodge the dense rain of spears. At the same time, they activated built-in weapons to counterattack.
It was then that Kitsuchi and the others saw what these puppets were truly capable of.
Some of them had firing mechanisms installed on their right arms, launching clusters of glowing red energy orbs.
Every time one of those red orbs landed in a crowd, it erupted into a powerful blast.
While their explosive force didn't match that of explosive tags, they made up for it with rapid fire. A single volley could kill or wound two to three hundred shinobi.
Meanwhile—
The Iwagakure ninja noticed that some puppets, which lacked the firing mechanisms, instead dove down and attacked directly with spinning blades attached to both hands, engaging in fearless, brutal close-quarters slaughter.
Even when damaged, they would self-detonate with explosions rivaling that of explosive tags.
...
Roughly two kilometers from the Iwagakure army.
There was an oasis—not particularly large, but not exactly small either.
The area had already been preemptively occupied by a large number of Sunagakure shinobi.
They had constructed a circular wall to block out the wind and sand, enclosing the entire area.
At the edge of the oasis stood a five-story earthen building—the largest structure by footprint in the area.
Inside the spacious room on the fifth floor...
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, along with Pakura and more than a dozen Sunagakure jōnin, were all gathered.
They were silently watching a virtual image floating in midair.
It was a live scene from two kilometers away, showing furious Iwagakure shinobi cleaning up the shattered remains of puppets.
"The first puppet unit's already down? Chiyo-dono can dispatch the second unit now."
"Understood."
Rasa suddenly lowered his head and gave instructions to a small creature in his palm that looked like a snail.
A Den-Den Mushi!
As for the virtual image, it came from the man standing by the window, using an oddly shaped monocular telescope to look into the distance: Sabatini.
When the Den-Den Mushi and Sabatini's Teigu first appeared...
Naturally, Rasa, Chiyo, and the others had been shocked.
But they were shinobi—and with the Iwagakure army bearing down on them—
They had no choice but to adapt and accept it as quickly as possible.
There was no helping it.
Crocodile didn't bother to explain much.
He simply told them what the devices did and how to use them.
At the same time—
Crocodile also ordered people to retrieve the puppets that had been collecting dust in Rōran's warehouses as scrap.
Then he had a few Sunagakure puppet masters try operating them.
These Puppets created by Mukade were crafted entirely from steel.
Their capabilities were also far ahead of their time.
Not only could they fly at high speeds and move with agility, but they were also equipped with detachable launchers that could emit chakra blasts.
In addition, their waists were ringed with kunai that could be launched and retrieved via chakra threads, and they were excellent at close combat.
It was no exaggeration to say they completely outclassed 90% of the puppets from this era.
...
Imu looked at the report on the holographic screen about the dragon vein.
In fact, thanks to the advanced intel he had provided, the World Government had dispatched scientists and alchemists to study the Dragon Vein inside the underground palace of Roran quite some time ago.
Initially, many of the standard instruments used by the Science Division failed to detect any energy from the Dragon Vein at all—some even questioned whether they had made a mistake.
But when Principal Taylor from the Truth Alchemy Academy's Academy City branch, accompanied by two professors qualified as intermediate alchemists, conducted a field inspection, they were utterly astonished.
They clearly sensed an immense, indescribable, and highly concentrated geospatial energy.
They even speculated that, in this location, simply channeling that energy with spiritual force could give rise to a solidified manifestation of earth-vein power.
However, when Principal Taylor activated a transmutation circle he had carefully drawn on the ground, only a faint burst of violet light emerged before he let out a pained groan and collapsed with a pale face.
Supported by one of the professors, Taylor's expression was twisted in both pain and disbelief. Gritting his teeth, he muttered: "The Dragon Vein beneath... it has a will of its own!"
When he activated the transmutation circle, his consciousness, which had been attached to his spiritual force, distinctly heard a furious voice: "You are not of the Roran royal bloodline—leave this place!"
Soon after, Taylor submitted a detailed report on the situation to World Government personnel.
In it, he also mentioned that while channeling spiritual energy into the transmutation circle, he encountered significant resistance.
He speculated that unless one was a high-ranking alchemist, it would be nearly impossible to overcome this barrier.
Taylor further speculated that this resistance was the result of a sealing technique applied here by a shinobi named Namikaze Minato, as reported in earlier intelligence.
In any case—
The current situation is clear: to establish proper communication with the Dragon Vein, they'll need the assistance of the Queen of Roran and must also find a way to lift the seal placed by Namikaze Minato.
At the same time, Taylor suggested in his report that they experiment with using alchemy to try breaking the seal.
He also proposed bringing in his own mentor—Headmaster Isaac, a Stigmata-class alchemist—for a firsthand assessment.
Imu had no objections to this.
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