A voice came from the surrounding forest.
The ninken that was running at the front was hit by a kunai it could not dodge in time.
"Ow!"
The big khaki-furred ninken only had time to let out a whine before it was turned into a hedgehog of projectiles.
"Tsumaru!!!" came a heart-piercing shout.
"Be careful!"
The ninja behind him prevented him from approaching the hound.
The chasing party had to stop.
Boom.
The ninken that was shot fell heavily to the ground.
"Tsumaru!" A ninja with a painted face yelled when he saw the dog's eyes still open.
"Why didn't you say there was an ambush?" the ninja of the Inuzuka clan complained loudly to a ninja with all-white pupils beside him.
"My Byakugan can't be kept open all the way," the ninja of the Hyūga clan retorted angrily.
"Then is there still an ambush now?" asked the leader, a ninja in a black jacket with a Konoha forehead protector on his arm.
"No more. I can't see anyone, but there are traps," the Hyūga said after carefully observing the surrounding area. "The ninja who attacked the camp is ahead."
"Let's go, continue the pursuit," the leading ninja in the black jacket said, waving his hand.
"Tsumaru!" Hearing that there was no ambush around, the Inuzuka clansman ran to the khaki ninken in an instant.
Tears filled his eye sockets, overflowed, and dripped onto the hound's body. He gently stroked Tsumaru's head with his hand.
Seeing his master crying, the large dog lay powerlessly on the ground, opened its mouth, and wanted to lick his hand with its tongue as usual. But its head only moved; it didn't lift up. It could no longer be with its owner as before.
The Inuzuka ninja stepped forward and picked up the ninken.
The moment he picked up the hound, a piece of paper underneath it burned quickly.
This is…
Before the Inuzuka ninja could react.
Boom.
Tsumaru and his master turned into a spray of blood.
"Delayed Explosion Tag!" the leader said. "It's a clever design."
"Let's go. Without the ninken of the Inuzuka clan, long-distance pursuit with just the Byakugan isn't suitable. What's more, we're facing a local ninja who's proficient in traps," the leader in the black jacket declared.
It stood to reason that in the process of fleeing, a straight line was the optimal escape route. No wonder Ye Cang kept changing directions on her way to escape. She must have spotted the signal from her reinforcements long ago.
In a situation where the enemy was hidden and they were exposed, it was no longer suitable for chasing. The other party's support had obviously arrived, and it was an experienced puppeteer.
If they continued to chase blindly, it would only increase their own casualties.
Led by the ninja in the black jacket, the pursuit team of eight or nine began to retreat.
---
Not long after they retreated, Ye Cang and an elderly ninja appeared where Tsumaru had died.
"Unfortunately, they didn't pursue any further. My arrangements were wasted," an old voice came.
"It's already done. Hey, Granny, couldn't you have made a move earlier? I was being chased like a ninken!" Ye Cang complained from her thin red lips.
"Now, now, Ye Cang, don't complain. This old woman is slow to move. You should take more responsibility this time!"
"Hey, hey, hey, I wouldn't dare blame you. I never thought that command would trouble you this time," Ye Cang said, her previously careless tone turning cautious upon hearing the old woman's words.
"Let's go." The old woman stretched out her hands, with more than a dozen chakra threads extending from her slightly withered fingers.
She shook her hands, and the chakra threads instantly retracted the kunai nailed to a tree not far away.
With a slight movement, the embedded kunai were pulled out and flew back to her hand.
"Hee hee, Granny, you are really thrifty!" Seeing the old woman's behavior, Ye Cang's charming voice sounded again.
Just as Ye Cang and the old woman jumped onto a tree trunk, Ye Cang felt a sudden chill run down her body.
The old woman instantly threw the kunai she had just retrieved behind her.
She and Ye Cang separated in an instant, staring closely behind them.
A black crow was staring at them intently. What was strange was that the pupils of this crow were as red as blood.
"Is this a summon?" Ye Cang pulled out the single sword from behind her back and laid it across in front of her, assuming a posture ready to attack at any time.
After throwing the kunai, the old woman held two scrolls, one in each hand, their edges pulled apart slightly. She kept a close eye on the crow.
"Caw."
The black crow croaked twice and slowly grew in size. In the blink of an eye, a ninja wearing a black shirt and a Konoha forehead protector walked out slowly.
"Chiyo?" The ninja who walked out was the one who had led the pursuit team earlier.
"Boy, are you from the cursed clan?" Chiyo looked at the visitor's scarlet pupils, her old voice extraordinarily powerful.
"Uchiha Fugaku, the captain of the pursuit team this time," Uchiha Fugaku said, the tomoe in his pupils slowly turning.
"Oh, boy, do you want to be buried here? You're overestimating yourself!" Chiyo said, her voice thick with murderous intent.
Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law had all died at the hands of Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo. Chiyo held a natural hatred for Konoha's ninja.
Moreover, in this declaration of war against Konoha, Elder Chiyo and her younger brother Ebizō acted as the main combatants.
The nominal commander of this war was Rasa, but in case of accidents, Rasa did not come to the battlefield.
The actual commander on the battlefield was still Chiyo and a few other elders from their group.
This war was more to create momentum for Rasa to secure the seat of the Fourth Kazekage. If the war could be won, Rasa would take the opportunity to sit on the throne. If the battle was lost, there would be old-timers like Chiyo and Ebizō to bear the blame, allowing Rasa to sign a treaty with Konoha as the new Kazekage.
The unexplained disappearance of the Third Kazekage had caused chaos in the village, so they urgently needed a new Kazekage to declare their status in the ninja world.
In the past few years, apart from the Land of Water, which had always been under the policy of the Bloody Mist, Sunagakure's status and that of the Land of Wind was the weakest. All the ambitious villages among the Five Great Nations were ready to make a move.
Uchiha Fugaku didn't pay attention to Chiyo's meaning. Instead, he walked straight towards Chiyo and Ye Cang.
Seeing Uchiha Fugaku's abnormal behavior, Ye Cang retreated instead of advancing, and the single sword in her hand became entwined with thick wind-nature chakra.
"Wind Release: Thousand Flying Blades!"
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
The continuous wind blades slashed towards Uchiha Fugaku.
Strangely, the wind blades pierced straight through Uchiha Fugaku's figure.