"Pfft."
"Aaaaagh!!"
Kakashi's short blade cleaved into the Suna-nin's chest, sending the enemy collapsing to the ground in a wailing heap.
Meanwhile, Shōgetsu, holding his own against two foes, took a solid kick to the chest from a Chūnin of the Hidden Sand. The impact sent him hurtling through the air.
One of the Genin flanking the enemy formation wasted no time. With synchronized timing, he launched a barrage of Fire Release techniques at the airborne Uchiha.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
But Shōgetsu wasn't helpless in the air. As one of the Suna Genin prepared his own fire attack, Shōgetsu retaliated with a Fire Release of his own.
BOOM!!!
The clash of jutsu ignited in a fiery explosion. Using the momentum, Shōgetsu landed beside Kakashi—his foot smashing down on the head of the Suna-nin Kakashi had just felled.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Minato was in a perilous duel, caught between Kaneya and Yinbu. Their synchronized attacks left little room for maneuver, and even someone of Minato's caliber struggled to maintain footing amid the barrage.
As Minato calmly parried a strike from a hornet-shaped puppet, his sharp eyes caught sight of the Suna-nin Kakashi had kicked into the fray.
In that instant, Minato made a bold move.
Instead of retreating, he surged forward. Deflecting the puppet's next strike with a kunai, he let go of the blade just as the enemy lunged again.
CLANG!!!
"Rasengan."
Dropping low into a crouch, Minato drove a swirling chakra sphere into the puppet's midsection with his left hand, knocking it clean off balance.
At the same moment, Kaneya lunged—his kunai poised to drive straight into Minato's side.
But what happened next caught him entirely off guard.
A figure streaked through the air overhead—slamming directly into him.
"Damn it…"
Kaneya cursed as the incoming Suna-nin ruined his perfect angle. The two of them tumbled backwards, crashing to the ground in a tangled heap.
Minato didn't let the opportunity slip by. He immediately retreated several steps, pulling a fresh kunai while narrowing his eyes at the puppet master, Yinbu.
Yinbu, meanwhile, was seething.
If not for that Suna-nin's interference, Minato would already be critically injured.
"Kaneya, are you alright?!"
Shielding himself with the puppet, Yinbu refrained from attacking and called out to his downed comrade—who now lay beneath the Suna-nin.
But instead of Kaneya's voice, he heard something entirely unfamiliar.
"Secret Technique: Parasitic Destruction Insect Cluster."
In that moment, Yinbu turned toward Kaneya—and his eyes went wide in horror.
Kaneya was engulfed in a mass of writhing insects.
"You're…!"
"The Aburame Clan!!"
Yinbu's voice trembled as the truth hit him. The one who crashed into Kaneya wasn't a Suna ally at all—it was a shinobi of the Aburame Clan from Konohagakure.
But realization came too late.
Kaneya wasn't the only one ensnared. Yinbu felt a crawling sensation—
"Aaaah—!"
He screamed as black insects swarmed around his legs, binding him in place.
A heartbeat later, silence.
Minato appeared beside him in a blur of speed, kunai in hand. With surgical precision, he slit Yinbu's throat.
"Insect Imitation Technique: Release."
The "Suna-nin" atop Kaneya rose to his feet, the bugs receding from his face and body, revealing his true form.
Minato's eyes lit up with recognition.
"Shibi… Was it you Lord Third sent to rendezvous with us?"
It was none other than Shibi Aburame, a fellow shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village.
At the exact moment Minato eliminated Yinbu, Veigar concluded his own battle.
After dispatching the most dangerous threat—the Suna Chūnin puppet master—the remaining three Genin puppet users were no match for him. Veigar cut them down with ruthless efficiency, like scything wheat.
SHING!
He sheathed his blade and glanced toward Kakashi and Shōgetsu. Both had simultaneously dispatched their final opponents.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
"Lightning Release: Fang Thrust!"
Kakashi's blade pierced a Chūnin's heart under the cover of Shōgetsu's fire, while another Suna-nin was engulfed in searing flames.
Shibi scanned the battlefield. Thirteen Suna-nin—all neutralized.
He turned to Minato and said, "Long time no see, Minato."
He then made a subtle hand gesture—the secret recognition signal of their ANBU network—confirming his identity beyond doubt.
"We have to fall back," Shibi said solemnly. "The intel I carry is critical. It must reach the village."
Minato nodded. This wasn't the time for reminiscing.
"Understood."
Turning to the others, he gave the command:
"Withdraw."
Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish.
The five vanished from the field without a trace, leaving even the bodies untouched. The mission now was clear: Escort Shibi Aburame—and his intelligence—safely back to the village.
Over two days of relentless marching later, led by Minato and Shibi, the five-man squad finally caught sight of the gates of Konohagakure.
Only then did they truly breathe a sigh of relief.
During the journey, Veigar and the others learned much from Shibi—of turmoil brewing within the Hidden Sand, the rising tension in the Land of Wind, and of the chilling certainty in his voice when he said:
"War is coming."
At the same time, Jiraiya had already crossed into the Land of Wind from the Land of Rivers. His destination: Sunagakure.
And he wasn't alone.
Ninjas from the Hidden Cloud Village of the Land of Lightning had entered the region as well—unlike Jiraiya, however, they came not as lone operatives, but as a full-scale unit nearly one hundred strong.
Once inside the Land of Wind, they split into squads of three—scattering like stormclouds across the nation.
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