Chapter 68: The Death of Yūsa
However, even with Amegakure's total retreat reducing the main battlefield from a three-way war to a one-on-one, the situation did not become simpler. Instead, it became even more complex.
Centering on the original Suna vs. Konoha battlefield, the forces from both sides that had been fighting Ame often encountered each other while moving to regroup, leading to numerous small-scale conflicts.
If these conflicts were one-sided, it would be fine. But once a stalemate occurred, reinforcements from both sides would arrive, rapidly escalating the skirmish and stretching the battle lines even further.
Konoha was, after all, Konoha. Its foundation was deep. Even needing to guard against attacks from other villages, and unable to empty its home base like Suna (whose home base no one wanted to invade anyway), Konoha still had far more high-end combat power than Suna, and far more versatile functionality.
The Hyūga Clan, even just as Chūnin, could maintain their Byakugan for extended periods. On the battlefield, their ability to see through terrain and observe Chakra flow from beyond visual range was simply invaluable.
Paired with the Inuzuka Clan's ninja hounds and the Aburame Clan's insects, Konoha had practically no blind spots in reconnaissance.
In combat, the tactical space created by their endless stream of secret techniques and diverse elemental jutsu was far deeper and wider than Suna's, where most shinobi were naturally inclined toward Wind Release and had to learn other nature transformations later.
But in this regard, Rasa's Magnet Release and Pakura's Scorch Release managed to claw back some advantage for Suna.
Actually, when he first learned Magnet Release, Rasa had stuck to the experience he gained from using Sand Manipulation, habitually using large amounts of Gold Dust for flexible mass-attacks.
Rinko's evaluation of this was: Rigid. Too rigid. Why are you obsessed with that pile of Gold Dust? If you like gold so much, go become a miner!
Can't your Magnet Release just directly grab the enemy's ninja tools and stab them with them?
Leaving aside shinobi who use special tools, for the sake of easy access, the vast majority of ordinary shinobi strapped their tool pouches to their waist, thigh, or arm.
These three locations were either near internal organs or major arteries. It didn't require fine manipulation. Just randomly yanking a kunai or shuriken inside the pouch had a high probability of taking the victim out of the fight.
Insidious, vicious, and efficient. It sounded very Ninja. Even the Buddha would close his eyes.
After all, no matter what, a shinobi wouldn't go without kunai and shuriken. For the Chūnin who made up the majority of the forces, ninjutsu wasn't something they could spam freely.
And guys like Rasa, who could affect the battlefield on a large scale, should be diving into crowds and slaughtering those ordinary Chūnin. Didn't you see Hanzō, that super-senior citizen, spreading poison all over the battlefield?
Oh shinobi, do not blame me for being despicable.
Besides this tactic of manipulating enemy tools, Rasa seemed to have awakened some strange fetish from his experience in the Land of Rivers.
Simply put: aerial bombardment.
As one of the very few shinobi in the world currently capable of flight, he hadn't dared to go too high in the core of the Land of Rain for fear of lightning. But here on the edge, where the weather was much better, he had no such scruples.
High ground beats low ground. It was crude, but true.
Look! The people look like trash!
As for Pakura's Scorch Release, although she had only developed one move so far—Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder (Shakuton: Kajōsatsu)—the flexibility of this move was incredibly high.
Those 'fireballs' that could evaporate all moisture on contact could split and expand into various sizes at will, and their movement trajectories were extremely agile, capable of accelerating, decelerating, stopping, and turning on a dime.
Combined with the taijutsu level Rinko had personally drilled into her, although she lacked large-scale destructive means, her performance in squad assaults was excellent.
Meanwhile, those large Konoha summons that could have a huge impact on the battlefield were driven out of the main combat zone by Hiiro Rinko, disguised as 'Kokichi Muta,' piloting his large-scale puppet.
When that prototype, built in the shape of Shukaku to verify certain theories, first appeared, it caused quite a shock to both friend and foe.
The various new equipment Suna had been hiding while dealing with Ame was now fully unleashed.
Leaving aside the firepower-multiplying standard armaments equipped on the puppets, the biggest upgrade for Puppet Masters was actually the new Chakra threads Rinko had mass-produced by downgrading the neural link system of his large puppets.
Not only were they tougher, stealthier, and thinner, but they also introduced a superior control method: pre-implanting a neural interface into the body, allowing direct control of the puppet via neural reaction.
For the vast majority of Puppet Masters, this control method not only raised their precision by several levels but also allowed them to control multiple puppets simultaneously. The only drawback was that connecting too many puppets could easily overload the brain and fry it.
The stimulant bandages, derived from the Chakra-suppressing bandages, could keep the body in a high-activity state, which was significant in life-or-death moments.
Smoke bombs producing large amounts of pungent colored smoke, and flashbangs releasing noise and intense light in a short time, could inversely suppress Konoha shinobi who relied on their five senses in close combat.
Mechanical bracers capable of releasing elemental jutsu by switching modes and loading corresponding 'cartridges' also compensated to some extent for the Suna shinobi's lack of elemental variety.
The 'cartridges' came in Fire, Water, and Lightning, and the release modes were roughly divided into spread, focused, and normal.
Although not many, it was enough.
Brothers, this is truly a cross-generational product.
The beauty of firearms is that they are very simple to use. Even a child who has just gained sentience can pick up a gun and slaughter a fully armed adult. For shinobi born in a storm of blood, the value of equipment that could broaden tactical space didn't need to be stated.
Although limited by materials science and production capacity, the performance of the latter equipment had been compromised to some extent, and the quantity wasn't huge, basically only allowing limited distribution to squads or companies.
But it was precisely with the aid of this equipment that Suna's strategic wiggle room became ample enough to fight a long war of attrition with Konoha.
After all, Suna's supply lines were far harder to raid than Konoha's.
Adhering to the philosophy of 'don't seek to kill, only to wound,' the Suna troops, already adept at using poison, abandoned 'lethal' poisons in favor of mixed toxins that caused various debilitating effects.
There is no need to save a dying man, and killing him might only incite the enemy's hatred. But an injured, poisoned comrade cannot be ignored.
Suna knew clearly from top to bottom that even if they gave their all, they couldn't win this war against Konoha.
But so what?
There was never a rule in this world that said you had to surrender just because you couldn't win. Even if they lost, Suna wouldn't let Konoha have an easy time.
And then, in this bloody, anxious atmosphere, a falling leaf brought news.
"Yūsa and Chōko have been killed in action."