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A group of rowdy kids gathered together, idle and bored, speculating whether war was imminent.
The camp's recent atmosphere was thick with a sense of impending slaughter, making these children, who had never experienced the battlefield, somewhat uneasy.
Their missions had also been canceled. They were all kept in the camp doing odd jobs.
"How should I know?"
Seeing everyone looking at him, hoping to pry some latest information from him, Shikamaru couldn't help but roll his eyes.
People of the Nara clan might have high IQs, but we're not gods!
If you're so capable, go ask Hinata. She probably knows a bit more than I do.
This last thought, Shikamaru only dared mutter inwardly. He dared not say it aloud.
He was afraid of being targeted by Kazuki.
Remembering the experience of being punished by Kazuki, Shikamaru couldn't help but shiver. Too terrifying.
Better be cautious.
"Everyone, stop guessing. Just follow orders and do your tasks. Some things we don't need to worry about. Even if war breaks out, we probably won't be on the battlefield anyway."
"Why?" Naruto asked, unconvinced.
"Shikamaru, are you looking down on us?"
"Yeah! We're strong!"
Many agreed with Naruto's statement. They also didn't want to be underestimated.
"....."
Strong, my ass! So you can go get yourselves killed?
Shikamaru decisively chose silence, afraid someone might lose control and make a scene, dragging him into it later.
While the kids were merely speculating, the ninja in the camp were almost certain the village was about to go to war.
Whether they would attack Iwagakure was still unknown; they needed to await orders for a definite answer.
Some things couldn't be determined by mere speculation.
That single day felt agonizingly long for many.
Including Kazuki's shadow clone, who had been forcibly left behind to handle official duties. He was not happy.
Unfortunately, being unhappy was useless. A clone is a clone; it obediently accepted the original's arrangements.
Kazuki spent the entire day in the command post, not going anywhere.
As night fell, Kazuki finally emerged from the command post.
The three thousand elite troops were also ready to move out at a moment's notice.
Under the cover of darkness, the three thousand elites left the camp in batches.
And Kazuki, taking the lead, walked ahead, traversing the Land of Rain, steadily approaching the Land of Earth's border.
After the siege several years ago, Amegakure was almost completely destroyed. Following that, the Land of Rain's Daimyō chose to give up.
He no longer had any intention of establishing a ninja village. The former site of Amegakure remained a ruin to this day.
Approaching the Land of Earth's border, Kazuki deliberately waited for the main force to arrive.
Once the main force arrived, Kazuki continued forward alone.
"Will Lord Advisor be alright crossing the border alone?"
"He should be fine. You need to trust in Lord Advisor's strength."
"I still think Lord Advisor should be holding down the village. This is too risky."
Kazuki was responsible for tearing open Iwagakure's defenses. Such an action couldn't be hidden from the elite troops assembled from the village. So Kazuki simply didn't bother concealing it.
He wanted everyone to know what he intended to do.
As for the village, they could discuss that after the defenses were breached.
The subsequent resource-plundering mission wouldn't require Kazuki's further involvement.
He would remain in Konoha, awaiting news.
Unless Tsunade had returned, he would then come to the front-line camp.
Without concealing his tracks, Kazuki boldly approached the border line and crossed it.
He advanced directly toward Iwagakure's border camp.
Crossing the border, Kazuki soon encountered an Iwagakure patrol squad.
"Who goes there?"
In the darkness, seeing someone heading straight for the village's camp, the patrol squad was momentarily stunned before hurriedly firing off a warning flare.
Alerting their comrades behind them and the camp: an unidentified person had infiltrated the Land of Earth, heading straight for the camp.
"Damn! So fast!"
After hastily firing the signal, the patrol squad gave chase in the direction Kazuki had gone. To their frustration, their speed was significantly slower than Kazuki's.
Before they could chase far, Kazuki's figure had already vanished from sight.
"Where did this guy come from? Looks like he's heading for the camp. Good thing we spotted him; the camp should be responding by now."
In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures were needed.
Whether a large force approaching or a single individual, the camp had to make arrangements as quickly as possible.
Quickly dispatch reinforcements to capture the infiltrator.
One after another, ninja teams left the camp, spreading out in all directions, preparing to envelop Kazuki.
BOOM!!!
Ninja who had just left the camp suddenly heard a low, complex rumbling.
What's that sound?
Before they could react, the sky seemed to brighten. Dazzling golden flames nearly illuminated the entire night sky. An absurdly oversized weapon, one end dragging on the ground, rapidly approached the camp.
Even more terrifying, a mountain-like giant appeared before their eyes.
"Susanoo..."
Someone recognized the giant's identity.
Ever since Kazuki used Susanoo to stomp the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, like a groundhog, the other villages had gathered intelligence on Susanoo. Iwagakure was no exception.
A golden giant, thick armor, its entire body burning with dazzling golden flames, dragging a sword over a hundred meters long.
"No! It's Uchiha Kazuki..."
The sound they heard was Susanoo's weapon dragging across the ground.
A flash of blinding golden light, accompanied by a deafening roar. Iwagakure's border camp was split in two. A deep trench ran through the entire camp. Those unlucky enough, too slow to dodge, were reduced to dust, not even leaving corpses behind.
"Defenses?"
Standing atop the mountain-like giant, Kazuki looked down at the camp split in two and shook his head slightly.
Easily broken.
However, to leave a lasting impression on Iwagakure's ninja, Kazuki chose to use absolute power to crush them, to crush everything in his path.
BOOM!!!
A colossal foot wreathed in golden flames stomped down into the camp. Controlling Susanoo, Kazuki was like a primordial beast, violently destroying Iwagakure's border camp.
"Ah!!!"
"Save me!!!"
"I don't want to die! Save me!"
"Run!!!"
The entire camp descended into chaos. Faced with the complete, mountain-sized Susanoo, the ninja in the camp had no courage to resist.
Even if some suppressed their fear and counterattacked, the results were dismal. Their various ninja tools and ninjutsu attacks were simply ignored by Kazuki.