Gari, the captain of the explosion squad, was a quasi Kage of the Hidden Rock. He knew all too well about the interaction between lightning Ninjutsu and the explosive clay, as he was a user of lightning release himself.
Looking at the attack that had just happened, he found that it was extremely powerful, and estimated that it should be able to drain even a Kage out of Chakra, let alone inferior Ninjas.
According to the intelligence his camp has gathered, Konoha have only one Kage tier sent to the Earth Country, and that is Orochimaru who was fighting Onoki at the time. So, the one who had used this massive Lightning Attack just now should be inferior to Kage tier.
Someone below that level using such a large-scale attack, should definitely be unable to move right now.
Gari decided to bypass all the fighting and sneak into the backline to directly take care of this threat. This way, the explosion squad won’t have their offence interrupted when the next battle comes.
Ryo had already noticed that Gari was trying to infiltrate to Konoha’s backline, and he was able to guess his intentions correctly by the way he was sneaking in.
“Maan, someone came to kill me!” Said Ryo with a smile
“Who? How did he sneak in?” Maan wasn’t as cheerful about it as Ryo, and hearing that an enemy had snuck got him fully alert.
“Don’t be nervous! I’ll get rid of him and get back in no time!”
“Ryo, how much of your Chakra have you recovered? Do you want me to assist you?”
“I recovered a little bit of Chakra, but for a quasi Kage that should be enough.” Saying that, Ryo turned and went to Gari.
“A Quasi Kage, and he talks about him like his nothing. This Ryo guy is really abnormal!” Whispered Maan at Ryo’s back.
Ryo didn’t hear him, and he would care even if he did. Over the years, he got accostumed to him and Ming Hyuga.
He found Gari, and without hesitation, he entered the Ice-Lightning Chakra mode, blinking immediately behind him, and putting an Ice Scalpel on his neck.
Ryo didn’t want to kill him. A living Quasi-Kage is definitely more valuable than a dead one. Captured, he can be a valuable card on the negotiation table. But when dead, they should be getting anything more than some intelligence via autopsy.
“You... who are?” Gari was shocked by Ryo’s sudden appearance. The cold touch of the Ice Scalpel on his neck irritated him to the extreme, and he was in full disbelief.
“My identity is not the matter now! Who are you? And what are you doing here?” Ryo asked.
Gari didn’t answer, and he turned throwing a clay bomb at Ryo.
In the Ice-Lightning Chakra mode, Ryo was wrapped with lightning Chakra. But in order to prevent the bomb from hitting anyone, he split it with Chidori.
“It’s useless to struggle. Now answer me! What...” Ryo wasn’t through talking, when Gari committed suicide with the Ice scalpel on his neck!
“He went that far?” Ryo never saw such a man. He shook his head helplessly, sealed the corpse in a scroll and left.
He returned to where he was chatting with Maan.
“So fast? Did you take care of him?” Maan asked with surprise.
“He committed suicide. I actually wanted to capture him alive. Didn’t expect him to be so resolved!” Ryo had had some regret in his voice.
“How!” Maan was about to ask some more, but he saw Ryo’s face changing greatly before he blinked out with thunder.
Just then, Ryo felt Gari’s Chakra again! The corpse was still in his scroll. How is he alive?!
Suddenly, Ryo remember one of the 2nd Tsuchikage’s techniques, the Fission Jutsu! During the 4th World War, Mu was able to split himself in to identical, yet independent halves right before being defeated, getting one of them sealed while the other was free to move. Even Naruto with his Kyubi mode didn’t notice him back then.
“Damn it!” Thinking of this ability, Ryo understood how Gari was able to escape. He should have done that back when Ryo was splitting the Clay Bomb.
Meanwhile, Gari’s presence was fading from the scope of Ryo’s far reaching perception. He could only give up the chase.
This was the 2nd time that Ryo had been out-calculated!
Mad to the bone, he said hatefully: “You dare to play tricks with me?! Next time we meet, you’re definitely dead!”
He was so angry that he had to get back to the battlefield. He took his Short-Knife that he hadn’t used for a long time, and rushed into the crowd to vent his anger on the poor Rock Ninjas.
Ryo was targeted by an elite Jonin. Ryo didn’t care about him that much, as targeting Jonins should take more energy and he just wanted to vent his anger.
The Jonin attacked Ryo, but it didn’t take long before his was killed.
“[Summoning]” One man wasn’t enough, and Ryo summoned Gamahiro.
With the participation of Gamahiro, the Rock Ninjas began to retreat, and Konoha’s moral’s rose to the extreme. They have been being crushed time and again, and today was the day for them to stand tall!
On Orochimaru’s side, Onoki was too strong. Konoha’s powerful Sannin could only hold him off, sending his wrath away from Konoha’s common Ninjas.
However, Onoki was being pressured by the situation on the battlefield, and Orochimaru was for once able to gain great pressure over him.
“This time Onoki, you’ve lost!”
“Even if we lost, this old man is going to kill you! [Earth release: Stone Golem]!” Onoki was enraged and covered himself with the Golem, becoming a Stone Giant.
“[Summoning]” Orochimaru immediately summoned Manda to able to face his foe.”
“Orochimaru, what’s this stone monster?! I’ll help you, but remember to send me 200 sacrifices later!” Manda attacked the stone giant as he finished talking.
“Good!” Orochimaru knew well Manda’s character, and immediately nodded.
The appearance of the Stone Golem and Manda interested Ryo greatly. He has been always very intrigued by the 3rd Tsuchikage.
In the Manga, he was absolutely crucial in the 4th war, and practiacally leading all 5 Kages.
“Hiro, take me there to see!” Ryo jumped up on Gamahiro’s head, pointing at Orochimaru’s direction.
“Good!” Gamahiro jumped, landing in front of Manda.
Gamahiro wasn’t like Gamabunta, he had no grudge against Manda. It was the same for the massive serpent, and the two did had no quarrel.
Upon their arrival, Onoki, who knew all to well that the strength of the summoning is often proportional to the size of the summoned, noticed that Ryo was standing on Gamahiro’s head. He was extremely vigilant looking at the kid before him.
“[Dust Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu]” After he forced Orochimaru off for a second, he attacked Ryo directly with that powerful Jutsu!
“This old man actually had time to attack! Hiro, attack with Water Gunshots!” Gamahiro did just that, and Ryo instantly froze the great masses of water, molding them into two massive Ice Shields.
Onoki’s attack was extremely powerful, disintegrating the 1st shield quickly. The second was mostly destroyed, but in the end, the Atomic dismantling Justu failed to reach Ryo.
The Tsuchikage didn’t expect his attack to be that easily blocked, and his faced became heavy.
“Alright Konoha, you’ve won this one!” Right after, he issued a retreat order, and left with a gloomy face.