It was just past noon. The freshly cooked miso soup was too hot to drink, but the grilled rice balls, with their golden, crispy exterior, smelled amazing. Paired with canned meat and dried vegetables, everyone even had a ration of cigarettes and tea. The female ninjas received candy instead of cigarettes, making this a rather lavish lunch.
As the saying goes, "a single leaf falling marks the beginning of autumn." From the Cloud Ninjas' meals, one could clearly see the immense strength of the Land of Lightning. It truly was worthy of being the second-strongest nation, second only to the Land of Fire. The Sand, Rock, and Mist Ninjas didn't enjoy such good provisions—only the Hidden Leaf surpassed them in this regard.
Just as the Cloud Ninjas were about to dig in, a signal fire rose, forcing them to put down their bowls and rice balls.
Judging by the direction of the smoke, it was clear without even thinking—the Hidden Leaf Ninjas were counterattacking. But these Cloud Ninjas weren't afraid or panicking. After a series of recent victories, where they had driven the Hidden Leaf Ninjas to a disgraceful retreat, their morale had soared to new heights. At this moment, the only emotion they felt toward the Leaf Ninjas' counterattack was the frustration of having their meal interrupted.
Without needing orders from their superiors, the Cloud Ninjas were already assembling on their own, just waiting for the command to attack and crush the Hidden Leaf Ninjas, then resume their meal.
"Move out!" Darui ordered with a furrowed brow.
Unlike his high-spirited subordinates, Darui hadn't forgotten what had happened to Yūkimaru. Even now, Yūkimaru still detested the war, going around trying to persuade others to end the conflict with the Leaf. As a result, the Raikage had placed a restriction on Yūkimaru. Yūkimaru's sudden change was the reason their southward march had been delayed.
The transformation in Yūkimaru was too unsettling. The longer Darui observed, the more he sensed how drastic the change had been. What frightened him the most was that Yūkimaru seemed oblivious to it, instead sincerely regretting his past violent behavior.
Every time Darui recalled Yūkimaru's look of deep remorse, a chill crept up his spine.
"Uchiha Shisui," Darui muttered under his breath.
The Cloud Ninjas hadn't remained idle during this time of inaction. Under Tutai's command, the Cloud's intelligence network had been fully activated, gathering as much information as possible about the Uchiha. They had learned that the one who fought Yūkimaru that day was none other than "Shisui of the Body Flicker," Uchiha Shisui, and they had even managed to obtain a photograph.
"Darui, a large chakra presence is approaching," said C, Darui's second-in-command. The two of them were responsible for fortifying the Kusatsu Mountain defense line.
"They're fast!" Darui paused, his mood heavy as he stared at the densely wooded mountains in the distance. The Hidden Leaf's advance was shockingly quick. He was certain that from the moment the signal fire was lit, the patrolling Cloud Ninjas would have rushed over to intercept the Leaf's forces. Newest update provided by novel⸺fire.net
Yet, despite this, the Leaf Ninjas had pushed this far in such a short time.
It was as if they had been sprinting all the way, and the Cloud Ninjas on the path couldn't even delay them for a few minutes.
"Send the order: prepare for battle," Darui commanded, shaking off his distracted thoughts. He instructed his subordinates to form a defensive line to repel the Leaf's attack. He too prepared himself, performing the "Water Tiger" seal and summoning two shadow clones.
"C, be careful. Don't fall for Uchiha Shisui's tricks," Darui warned his friend.
"I'll be cautious," C nodded, maintaining his hand seals as he used sensory ninjutsu to monitor the approaching Leaf forces. His eyes suddenly widened as he shouted, "They're here!"
"Attack! Throw!" Darui shouted as he waved his hand.
In an instant, kunai adorned with explosive tags rained down like a storm on the forest in front of the Cloud Ninjas. A series of explosions rocked the area, and the resulting firestorm resembled a serpentine blaze, reducing a large swath of forest to rubble.
"Damn it!" Darui's expression darkened. Without needing C to confirm, he could already see the giant, half-formed, green figure standing with arms outstretched. The massive figure was 'Susanoo.'
"Special Ops Squad, move up," Darui ordered, no longer able to focus on C. As the highest-ranking officer, it was his duty to lead the battle. Directing the battle with a shadow clone would suffice, but as the strongest ninja among the thousand Cloud Shinobi, Darui couldn't stand idly by.
It was tradition for the commander to lead the charge.
Leaving one shadow clone behind to command alongside C, Darui joined the Special Ops Squad and charged toward the green Susanoo. This squad had been specifically formed after Darui witnessed the battle between Uchiha Shisui and Yūkimaru.
In the Kusatsu Mountain outpost, they didn't have a Jinchūriki, so they needed a plan for facing Susanoo. Darui had selected ninjas adept in Earth and Water Release and other powerful attack jutsus, forming a squad with the simple yet direct name of "Special Ops."
This wasn't a new concept. The Cloud had long established special squads for sealing-tailed beasts. However, Susanoo was not a tailed beast. After consulting with Killer Bee, Darui abandoned the idea of forming a sealing squad, instead opting to gather ninjas specialized in attack jutsus.
According to the Eight-Tails, Susanoo wasn't an independent chakra entity like a tailed beast, but still a person of flesh and blood. Sealing jutsus meant for tailed beasts would be ineffective against it.
And as for cursed seal jutsu, very few people could use it. None of Darui's thousand men could.
He also knew that Susanoo's defense was incredibly strong, and ordinary attacks wouldn't penetrate it. That's why he had gathered Cloud Ninjas skilled in high-power jutsus.
"First wave, Earth Release. Second wave, Water Release. Attack in sequence," Darui commanded urgently.
Earth Release: Earth Flow
The Cloud Ninjas adept at Earth Release executed the jutsu they had been practicing rigorously for days. Over ten ninjas punched the ground in unison after completing their seals. The earth trembled, and the once-solid ground disintegrated into fine dust.
Next, the Cloud Ninjas skilled in Water Release attacked. They unleashed Water Release: Wild Water Wave, causing surging torrents to mix with the fine particles of dust, forming a vast area of quicksand-like mud, clearly aiming to trap Susanoo and restrict its movements.
It was partly because the Cloud Ninja lacked Earth Style experts; otherwise, using "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld" would have been clean and efficient. Unfortunately, most Cloud Ninja specialized in Lightning Style, and due to the unique culture of Cloud Village that valued swordsmanship and taijutsu, even their Jonin rarely explored other chakra nature transformations. They were mostly focused on honing their Lightning Style nin-taijutsu and swordsmanship.
Darui had already put in a lot of effort to gather this many ninjas skilled in Earth and Water Style.
"Now! Attack with me!"
Seeing Susano'o sink into the swamp, Darui quickly formed hand seals and unleashed one of his most powerful techniques:
"Storm Style: Laser Circus."
Mist formed around his clasped hands as beams of shining lasers shot out, instantly closing the distance and striking Susano'o's abdomen—the chakra source of its half-body form, based on their earlier observations.
"Lightning Style: False Darkness."
"Lightning Style: Furious Lightning Tiger."
"Lightning Style: Great Snake Lightning."
Following Darui's lead, the ninjas he had gathered launched their attacks. According to their plan, which focused on precision strikes, their most powerful offensive jutsus hit the exact spot Darui had targeted—the abdomen of Susano'o.
A sharp-eyed Cloud Ninja spotted the rapidly expanding crack in Susano'o's abdomen. Under the gaze of many Cloud Ninjas, the massive Susano'o shattered like a domino, with cracks spreading quickly from its abdomen until it collapsed.
"Haha! So, it was just all show, no substance after all."
"Looked huge, but turned out to be weak!"
The Cloud Ninjas burst into laughter.
In less than 30 seconds, they had taken down the massive Susano'o. Coupled with their previous victories, it was hard for them not to get a bit cocky. Even Darui was momentarily stunned, as he hadn't expected it to go down so easily.
However, as the number one among the younger generation of Cloud Village…
Darui quickly regained his composure and shouted, "Stay alert! The battle isn't over yet! You… be careful!" He hadn't finished speaking when a flash of white light suddenly tore into their formation. Alarmed, Darui shouted a warning to his subordinates, but it was too late.
Blood sprayed across the battlefield.
Headless bodies hadn't even hit the ground before fountains of blood spurted from the necks of fallen Cloud Ninjas. Shisui, moving at blinding speed with his Body Flicker technique, mercilessly cut down the Cloud Ninjas. His "Sky Blade" looked like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, and every swing claimed a life.
He finally encountered a Cloud Jonin skilled in swordsmanship and Lightning Style nin-taijutsu, who barely managed to block one of Shisui's strikes.
Shisui's crimson Sharingan eyes gleamed.
The Cloud Jonin, who had forgotten the warning about avoiding eye contact with the Uchiha, was instantly pulled into a genjutsu world, his body paralyzed. Shisui swung his Sky Blade, and the Cloud Jonin, trapped in a daze, was sent off to the afterlife.
That brief moment of Shisui being stalled had served its purpose.
"You bastard! Fight me head-on if you've got guts!"
Darui, swinging his sword, charged at Shisui. He kept his eyes downcast, avoiding eye contact with Shisui, while focusing intently on Shisui's hands and feet. Darui's long sword, wrapped in blinding lightning, clashed fiercely with Shisui in close combat.
The swirling clash of sword and blade left the surviving Cloud Ninjas dizzy just watching from the sidelines.
Shisui was surprised as well.
On his way here, almost no one could withstand even one of his strikes, except for a few rare cases like the Jonin earlier who required two. But Darui was the first person able to avoid eye contact and still endure Shisui's attacks!
Shisui's interest was piqued.
The fact that Susano'o had been destroyed was a surprise, but part of the reason was that he had intentionally allowed it to break to mislead the Cloud Ninjas into underestimating him. As Susano'o was being destroyed, he used Body Flicker to escape the swamp and infiltrated the Cloud Ninja ranks, catching them off guard.
In just one move, he had killed nearly twenty of the forty Cloud Ninjas.
Darui had been the only one to successfully stop him.
"I've seen your photo. If I'm not mistaken, you're Darui, right?"
While Darui avoided looking at him, Shisui freely examined Darui, matching him with the information stored in his memory. Just as the Cloud Ninja spied on Konoha, Konoha also collected intel on the top experts of the Cloud Ninja.
Especially those like Darui, who had stood out in the Kusatsu Mountain defense battle and nearly pushed Hyuga Hiashi to the brink. Naturally, Darui was a key figure in Konoha's intelligence files, and Shisui had memorized it well.
"Didn't expect to catch such a big fish. Looks like my luck's pretty good today!"
A fierce fighting spirit burned in Shisui's eyes.
If he could defeat Darui, the defeat of this entire Cloud Ninja force would be inevitable!
Hearing Shisui's words, Darui's face darkened. He dared not look up, keeping his focus on Shisui's feet and hands. This awkward combat style was frustratingly limiting, and Shisui's attacks were only getting faster, with his sharp blade striking from every angle, slowly pushing Darui's defenses to the limit.
Darui keenly realized the danger he was in.
If this continued, he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. Engaging in close combat with an Uchiha was far too risky. The threat of the Sharingan's genjutsu was like a sword hanging over his head, preventing him from going all out. However—
"Damn it! I need a chance… an opportunity to create some distance!"