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What was that?
Chiyo stood at the front of the camp, staring in astonishment at the sky, watching the white umbrellas fall like snowflakes after that barrage, and for some reason, she felt as if she was seeing a vast curtain of snow.
However, as a Commander on the battlefield, she needed to remain calm the most.
This inexplicable thought only lingered in the old woman's mind for a moment before immediately turning into a blaring alarm.
She didn't have time to investigate what those snowflakes actually were, and immediately realized their threat, shouting to the staff officer behind her:
"Everyone scatter!"
"Yes!"
Sure enough.
The moment those airborne troops landed on the ground, large plumes of smoke immediately billowed out from the backpacks behind them, providing both a cushion for the rapidly falling individuals and completely obscuring the vision of the surrounding Sand Ninja with this vast white mist.
However, the Sand Ninja's reaction was also swift.
Upon realizing their vision was obstructed, they immediately reacted.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
The Wind Release Ninjutsu used jointly by several Sand Ninja immediately blew away most of the mist curtain in front of them.
However, what then entered their vision was a flashing cold light.
"Clang—"
The sharp blade cut through the air with a piercing tearing sound, and a pale blue flame erupted from behind the airborne troops' standard exoskeletons, propelling their figures forward at a speed faster than most Taijutsu Ninja.
With just one slash, it cut horizontally across the chests and abdomens of two people in front, and large plumes of blood mist gushed out.
Shirakumo Asaoki straightened his body, turned his head to avoid a Kunai shot from a distance, and looked forward with sharp eyes at the vast multitude of Sand Ninja.
Then, he stepped straight forward.
Unstoppable.
Following closely behind him were the couple Umino Ikkaku and Umino Kozue.
The tacit understanding cultivated over many years of marriage made their cooperation incredibly seamless; they reacted extremely quickly, following behind Shirakumo Asaoki, fending off the Sand Ninja who were encircling them.
Even at over forty years old, they were still at the peak of their Ninja profession.
Looking at the three individuals who were cutting through the waves straight towards the Sunagakure command post, the surrounding Sand Ninja all seemed to go mad, collectively manipulating their puppets or Ninja tools to rapidly converge in their direction.
Looking down from above, it was as if grains of sand, blown by the wind, were gradually forming into rocks.
The closest puppeteer had already rushed to within ten meters of the trio's side.
He stared intently at the three in front of him, his eyes red, manipulating his fingers, rapidly controlling a menacing puppet with precise Chakra threads to shoot directly towards Umino Ikkaku on the far right, with blades, spears, and halberds popping out from the wooden puppet's surface; just one more step closer, and he could directly tear apart this Konoha bastard in front of him.
However, Umino Ikkaku didn't even turn his head.
'Got him!'
The moment this thought emerged in the Sand Ninja puppeteer's mind.
A dull explosion suddenly sounded in his ear.
"Bang!"
The roar was deafening.
The next moment, his entire head exploded like a rotten watermelon.
In the distance, grotesque meridians covered both sides of Hyuga Hizashi's forehead, channeling a large amount of Chakra into the center of his Byakugan.
Resting on his shoulder was a dark long gun, over one hundred fifty centimeters in length.
A slight wisp of gunpowder smoke rose from the muzzle.
Sawara was right.
With the Hyuga Clan's talent, fighting in close quarters truly wasted the ability of these eyes.
Just as he was thinking this.
"Hooah—"
A loud shout suddenly came from behind.
Before Hyuga Hizashi could turn to look, he saw a figure, from the opposite direction of the sound, shoot out from the white mist, concealed by the smoke, directly swinging a sword.
The blade in his hand gleamed with a chilling light, aiming directly for his head.
However, before his blade could fall.
Hyuga Hizashi swung the gun barrel in his hand, his footwork sliding open, and a swift Eight Trigrams Palm roared out, explosive Chakra flowing out from his palm with extreme restraint, deflecting the blade while a precise and powerful strike horizontally hit under the armpit, emitting a dull thud.
The Taijutsu-type Sand Ninja didn't even utter a sound, softly collapsing to the ground.
If one were to dissect his corpse at this moment, they would find that his entire internal organs, centered around his heart, had been churned into a bloody mess.
Hyuga Hizashi's movements were continuous; he shifted sideways, followed by another gunshot, once again blowing up a head.
'It's not entirely useless, after all.'
He thought this to himself, his smooth forehead subtly reflecting light.
It wasn't just their squad.
Although there were only a little over a hundred airborne troops descending from the sky, their impact was far beyond imagination when they suddenly scattered and landed among the Sand Ninja.
The Sand Ninja, who were already a cohesive group relying on a few elites, were thrown into an uproar after the sudden attack from behind; many Sand Ninja who suddenly lost contact didn't know what to do and scattered from their original orderly advancing formation, fighting individually.
"Reinforcements!"
Upon discovering the commotion behind the Sand Ninja battle group, the Konoha forces immediately regained their morale; the previous feeling of isolation and despondency vanished, and they rushed out of the fortress, confronting the enemies at the barrier's opening and holding them in place.
The Kakashi squad, looking down from the cliff, also felt a surge of excitement and quickly rushed down the cliff.
They couldn't enter the fortress line enveloped by the barrier now, but the airborne troops' position wasn't far from them.
Newborn calves fear no tigers.
Youths of this age naturally didn't put life and death in their hearts at all.
They just wanted to win!
The entire battlefield was churned into a muddy mess at this moment, with only the airborne Ninja thriving like fish in water, assaulting every enemy in front of them in small units.
Chiyo in the rear realized this in a very short time, and the sense of urgency in her heart grew even stronger.
Ignoring the staff officer's attempts to stop her, she roared, leading her bodyguard squad to charge forward, vowing to crush these damned Konoha bastards right here.
At the same time, Chiyo was also very clear in her heart.
As long as her actions were decisive enough and she dealt with the problem quickly enough, she could devour this airborne detachment and, at the same time, regroup and shatter the front line.
"Damn Konoha bastards!"
Despite being in her fifties or sixties, Chiyo's combat power at this moment was no less than that of a peak Jonin in her twenties; her figure deftly moved past the obstacles in front of her, while she suddenly tore open several Sealing Scrolls she was clutching to her chest.
Amidst a series of thuds, ten figures with white hair and white clothes, controlled by Chakra threads, firmly guarded her surroundings like a small military formation.
Their target was the Shirakumo Asaoki squad, who were charging the furthest forward.
"White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu Ten Puppet Troupe!"
"Puppet Technique: Manipulated Assault Blades!"
Under Chiyo's control, three figures in all white, like phantoms, rapidly interwove and shot towards the squad in front, with flying short blades continuously shooting out.
Faintly, one could also see tiny, almost imperceptible threads attached to the ends of the handles of those short blades.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
Shirakumo Asaoki's swordplay was sharp; he swiftly swept away the three blade shadows in front, and then heard a loud shout from behind.
"Watch out!"
Umino Ikkaku, guarding his side, shouted and pounced to his side, his reversed Kunai knocking away a short blade hidden in the shadows, while his torso was suddenly pierced by a faster whip-tail, making a dull thud and splashing a faint bloom of blood.
"Ikkaku!"
Umino Kozue's steps faltered for a moment.
But just as she cried out, she was flung back by a roaring shield that crashed into her, tumbling to the ground.
Shirakumo Asaoki's eyes widened instantly, his vigilance reaching its peak, but his feet didn't stop at all, quickly charging towards the white-clad puppet wielding roller blades head-on.
The puppet, holding a pair of wooden saw rollers, was controlled by just one finger, yet its dexterity was no less than a regular puppeteer's full control; the pair of rollers spun up and down, incredibly agile and astonishingly fast.
Shirakumo Asaoki's blade struck repeatedly, but each blow was parried by the rollers, sparks flying in circles with each clang of metal.
After only three or five exchanges, the surface of his ordinary Ninja blade was already pitted and scarred.
Seeing this, he no longer cared about the risk, and relying on the exoskeleton suit he was wearing, he fearlessly charged straight into the puppet in front of him.
First, he took a direct hit on his shoulder's metal plating, letting out a crisp tearing sound of metal, and then immediately followed up with a close-quarters uppercut.
"Clang!"
As the blade split the puppet's head, his Ninja blade also broke with a snap.
However, just as the obstructing puppet in front of him disintegrated, three more puppet figures blocked his path, all raising their hands.
"Puppet Technique: Three Treasures Suction Crash!"
"Damn it!"
In an instant, roaring gusts of wind rapidly churned, pulling Shirakumo Asaoki's body with an immense force that was impossible for ordinary people to resist, seemingly intending to drag him into the center of this maelstrom and crush him.
"Buzz—"
The exoskeleton on his torso pushed in the opposite direction, emitting tiny trails of fire.
However, this peculiar Sealing Technique seemed to have the ability to absorb Chakra as well, actually pulling the gushing flames into scattered, fine streams.
'Is my level still too insufficient to take down a expert like Chiyo?'
Shirakumo Asaoki thought with reluctance in his heart.
Suddenly, a figure descended from the sky with a crash.
The violent wind pulling his body abruptly paused, and Shirakumo Asaoki's expression also solidified.
Then, he saw the figure that had crushed the three puppets slowly rise, waving away the swirling dust around him.
In front of him, Chiyo's expression seemed to suddenly freeze at that moment.
Sawara Kiri looked at her with a gentle expression, his tone unkind:
"Chiyo-sama."
"You're already so old, why continue participating in these young people's fights and killings?"
"Isn't it better to die peacefully on your bed?"
"Sawara Kiri."
Chiyo stared at him, enunciating each word: "Had I known you would grow to such a degree, even if it meant losing the war back then, we Sunagakure should have crushed you, you little bastard, on the battlefield."
Sawara Kiri listened with interest, his gaze falling on the old woman, feigning confusion:
"Just Sunagakure?"
"Just this old woman!"
The moment her words fell, Chiyo's actions were without hesitation; she immediately plunged the three Shikon no Tama fragments, which she had always held in her palm, deeply into her skin.
The next moment.
Violent surges of Chakra suddenly erupted from within the old woman's body.
Seeing this, Shirakumo Asaoki's expression immediately tightened, and he loudly warned:
"Sawara-sama!"
He had just witnessed how powerful this old woman truly was.
Although already aged, she was still firmly at the threshold of Kage-level strength!
More importantly.
How could they let her enter a second phase transformation during a Boss battle!
However, Sawara Kiri raised an eyebrow, as if he had sensed something, and raised his hand towards Shirakumo Asaoki.
His deep blue eyes looked at Chiyo in front of him.
He suddenly discovered that people who gained power through the Shikon no Tama could also be judged within the range of his 'Auswählen'.
Was it because the Shikon no Tama itself was formed by his power?
If so, then he might as well give her a hand.
Thinking this, Sawara Kiri's smile grew even more sinister.
At this moment, Chiyo's Chakra rapidly surged within her body, and along with it, her body also underwent a rapid 'evolution', showing a reaction as if reborn.
Her originally decrepit muscles regained their vitality, her loose skin returned to the tightness of her youth, and her sagging figure became fuller amidst this drastic change; her entire being seemed to radiate a faint glow from within, and the deep blue flames formed by Chakra enveloped her entire body, as if she was reborn from fire.
Even Chiyo herself hadn't imagined that the magnification provided by the Shikon no Tama would be so immense.
She looked down at her fair, strong hands, feeling an almost unbelievable sensation.
Was it because previous village experiments were conducted on strong young people, which was why this benefit wasn't discovered?
Besides that, she also seemed to have gained a mysterious ability?
Feeling the unprecedented power within her, Chiyo's confidence also began to rise boundlessly.
She turned her head, looked in Sawara Kiri's direction, and raised her taut chin, saying arrogantly:
"Sawara Kiri."
"To blame, blame your carelessness back then, daring to let such a divine object fall into the Ninja World."
"Today, is your death day."
As she spoke, a massive Chakra projection, shaped like a giant tiger and over five meters tall at the shoulder, appeared out of nowhere behind Chiyo.
If one looked closely, they would see fine Chakra threads extending from behind her, controlling this giant projection like a puppet.
It seems this is the ability she developed through 'Auswählen'?
"Sawara-sama, be careful!"
Shirakumo Asaoki's expression was calm; he drew a Ninja blade from his waist again, faithfully guarding him with his sword.
Sawara Kiri, however, merely glanced at the projection behind her, pushed away Shirakumo Asaoki who was blocking his way, and stepped towards Chiyo.
"Kill!"
Seeing this, Chiyo's expression turned fierce; she gave Sawara Kiri no chance to activate his Limitless.
She immediately controlled the immensely large projection behind her, making it pounce violently towards Sawara Kiri.
"Roar—"
With a deafening roar, the massive Chakra giant tiger instantly covered Shirakumo Asaoki's entire field of vision.
Faintly, he could even feel his body trembling.
However, before he could even feel afraid.
The figure in front of him suddenly became a blur, disappearing in a flash.
"Whoosh."
He only managed to hear a whooshing sound.
At that instant, Chiyo's fierce eyes seemed to freeze for a moment.
The next moment, Shirakumo Asaoki saw Sawara's figure already appear behind Chiyo.
"Thud."
The headless corpse fell to the ground.
Sawara Kiri held the beautiful head in his hand, then casually threw it to the ground, where it rolled a few times.
The head still bore a look of disbelief until its death.
Sawara Kiri looked down into Chiyo's eyes, whispering chillingly:
"Just you?"
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | 16 novels being updated, I can't read all comments