"Split off pursuit teams," Shikamaru continued. "Part of them will keep surrounding the village, and another part will enter the forest looking for us."
Chizumi nodded.
Shizune frowned. "But we haven't been exposed, have we? How would they know you're in the forest?"
"They don't," Chizumi said flatly.
"Then—"
"So we make them suspect."
Shikamaru smiled. "Got it."
He stood up and brushed the grass from his pants.
"Leave them a few traces. Make them think soone withdrew from this side."
Kakashi put his book away, his tone relaxed. "That kind of work is my specialty."
Tenzō had already started assigning people to spread out.
A few ANBU were selected. At the edge of the western slope, they deliberately left a few shallow footprints and broken branches, then created signs of a hurried withdrawal a little farther off.
None of it was obvious, but it was enough for experienced people to pick up.
Neji stood high up, watching the movent over there. After a while, he said quietly, "They're moving."
"Which side?" Shikamaru asked.
"The west side," Neji said. "A squad… around fifteen people, heading toward us."
Shizune's heart tightened.
Kakashi gave a soft whistle. "They took the bait."
Chizumi said nothing. He simply turned and walked deeper into the forest.
"Everyone withdraw to the second forest belt," he said.
Night settled completely.
The forest was darker than outside. Branches and leaves overlapped, blocking what little light there was. The ground underfoot was damp, and stepping on it made almost no sound.
The group quickly scattered.
They didn't gather together, but instead slipped into different bushes and behind slopes along several lines chosen in advance.
Shizune stopped behind a large tree and quietly asked Tenzō beside her, "Are we… setting an ambush?"
Tenzō nodded but said nothing more.
Shikamaru crouched behind a low bush and gently parted the leaves to look out.
"They're here."
There was faint movent in the distance.
It wasn't the sound of a large force charging, but deliberately softened footsteps and the tiny rustling of branches being pushed aside.
That Allied squad was clearly being careful too.
"They're spread out," Neji reported quietly. "Three in front scouting, eight in the middle, four covering the rear."
"Standard forest-search formation," Shikamaru said softly.
Kakashi leaned against a tree trunk, his eye curving. "Too bad they don't know this forest doesn't belong to them."
Shizune couldn't help asking, "Are we fighting them here?"
Chizumi shook his head.
"No."
"Then—"
"Wait."
Ti stretched long.
That fifteen-man squad advanced little by little. They weren't fast, but they were steady. Every few steps, soone would stop and observe, and so even used simple detection techniques to confirm whether there were chakra fluctuations nearby.
"Very cautious," Neji said.
Shikamaru replied quietly, "But they still ca in."
Chizumi watched them without acting.
He waited until the entire squad had entered the first forest belt, and even started probing deeper.
Shikamaru suddenly understood sothing and said quietly, "You're not trying to hit those fifteen."
Chizumi glanced at him. "No hurry."
Shikamaru smiled. "You're waiting for more people to co in."
As if answering him, Neji spoke in the next mont. "There's movent behind them… another squad, more people, over twenty."
Shizune's breathing tightened.
"They really followed into the forest…"
Kakashi said softly, "The first squad was fine, so the later ones will be more willing to follow."
Shikamaru sighed. "That's human nature."
The second squad moved a little faster than the first, clearly reassured by the "safety" of the team ahead.
Soon, the distance between the two squads narrowed.
Farther away, scattered figures were still moving.
Neji quietly reported every movent, his voice steady as though reading from a map.
Chizumi still didn't move.
Not until the third and fourth squads entered the forest belt one after another.
Finally, Shikamaru couldn't help whispering, "About ti, right?"
Only then did Chizumi nod.
"About ti."
He lifted his eyes and looked deeper into the forest.
There, in the darkness, another group of people had long since been lying in wait.
Over a hundred ninja.
They were scattered in a wider ring of mountain forest, each of them as quiet as a section of tree trunk, even their breathing suppressed to the lowest possible level.
The one thing they had in common was the chakra faintly gathering in their hands.
Fire Release.
Only at that mont did Shizune suddenly realize what was happening.
She looked sharply at Chizumi.
"You're going to—"
Chizumi raised his hand.
"Prepare."
The word was quiet, but it was like a single taut thread being pulled tight.
Every hidden ninja in the forest moved at the sa instant.
Chakra gathered in their palms.
Even the air seed to beco a little drier.
Shikamaru cursed softly. "…That's ruthless."
Kakashi smiled instead.
"Pretty fitting."
White light flashed in Neji's eyes. "They're all inside… at least forty people."
Chizumi looked at the forest ahead, which seed peaceful.
The wind passed.
The leaves rustled softly.
The next second, he spoke.
"Do it."
His voice wasn't loud.
But it was like a spark falling into dry grass.
In an instant—
the entire forest lit up.
Not in one place, but from all directions at once.
"Fire Release—!"
Almost at the sa mont, over a hundred streams of fla erupted from different directions.
They weren't scattered fireballs, but continuous rivers of fire.
The already-dry branches and leaves ignited instantly, and the flas spread wildly along branches, fallen leaves, and grass roots.
Whoosh—!
The wind fed the flas.
The flas rode the wind.
In only a few breaths, what had been scattered points of fire had connected into one mass.
A sea of fire.
The Allied squads that had just advanced into the forest hadn't even fully reacted before they were enclosed by walls of fla.
"Ambush!!"
"Fire Release!! Fire Release on all sides!!"
"Retreat! Fall back!!"
But where was the retreat path?
The direction they had co from had already been blocked by the following squads and the fire.
To the sides, to the front—everywhere was fire.
The trees were burning, branches and leaves crackling. The firelight made the entire forest look like daylight.
Thick smoke spread rapidly.
So tried to use Wind Release to blow the flas away, only to find the fire too dense to suppress.
So ford seals for Water Release, but their scattered streams of water were like ladling a bowl of water onto an iron plate in front of a blaze of this scale.
"Too much! We can't put it out!!"
"Scatter! Head for lower ground!!"
But where was the lower ground?
They didn't know this forest well at all.
Shikamaru stood at a high point, looking down at the rolling flas below, and couldn't help murmuring, "This isn't an ambush anymore. It's a slaughterhouse."
Kakashi didn't answer.
His gaze also fell on that sea of fire.
The Allied ninja who had been carefully searching the forest monts ago were now being driven in all directions by the flas.
So were caught by tongues of fire and gave short screams before being swallowed by smoke.
So tried to climb trees to escape the flas on the ground, only to be forced back down by flas higher up.
Others desperately tried to break out, only to find Fire Release pressing in from the outer ring too.
Shizune's face had gone pale.
She had seen Fire Release before, but never on this scale.
"How… how long will this burn…"
Chizumi looked at the sea of fire, his voice flat.
"Until they retreat."
Neji continued observing. "The outer people are withdrawing… but the people inside… can't get out."
Shikamaru exhaled softly.
"They'll rember this one for the rest of their lives."
Ti passed little by little.
The fire did not weaken. Instead, pushed by the wind, it burned bigger and bigger.
Finally, the Allied side reacted.
In the distance, more urgent movent ca from outside the forest.
Neji imdiately said, "A new group… many people… approaching, but not entering the forest."
Kakashi nodded. "They're here to put out the fire."
Sure enough, the sound of Water Release soon rang out.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Several massive streams of water pressed into the forest from outside and smashed against the fire line.
Hiss—!
Water and fire collided, and steam surged upward violently.
White mist spread instantly.
Part of the fire was suppressed, but soon it rose again from other places.
"Again!!"
More Water Release ninja joined in.
Wave after wave of water crashed into the forest.
At last, the fire began to be slowly forced back.
But the price had already been paid.
By the ti the fire was fully suppressed, a large area of the forest had turned black.
The trees were charred, and the ground still smoked.
The air was thick with the suffocating mix of burnt sll and steam.
As for the Allied squads that had entered the forest, they had lost all formation.
Neji slowly withdrew his gaze.
"…Not many are still alive."
Shikamaru didn't speak. He only watched the Allied ninja in the distance frantically rescue people.
Kakashi sighed softly.
"Now they really are going to lose their minds."
Chizumi stood where he was without moving.
The wind blew over the burned forest, carrying bits of ash that had not yet settled.
He looked at the wreckage in the distance, his expression barely changed.
"Move," he said.
"Back to the village outskirts."
White smoke rampaged through the forest, and the steam kicked up by Water Release not only blocked vision, but carried scalding heat.
Chizumi crouched behind a charred tree trunk and wiped the moisture from his goggles. A dozen or so ters ahead, several staggering figures were trying to rush out of the mist.
"Left front, three people, sliding down toward the slope," Neji's voice ca from above, carrying a trace of coldness.
Chizumi didn't speak. His finger tapped lightly against the hilt of his sword.
Kakashi's figure flashed across the treetops above those people, and the chirping of Raikiri was mostly swallowed by the thick fog. Imdiately afterward, the thud of heavy bodies hitting the ground and a few short screams ca from below the slope.
"Two dealt with, one left." Kakashi dropped back to the ground, blood dripping from the kunai in his hand. "That one was carrying sothing."
Chizumi lowered his body and slipped in like a black cat, using the fog as cover.
The surviving Suna ninja had half his leg burned black and was desperately dragging a black leather pack. When he saw Chizumi rush over, he shakily reached into his clothes and pulled out a smoke bomb. Before he could pull the pin, Chizumi's blade had already cut across his wrist.
The leather bag fell into the muddy water with a dull thud. Chizumi kicked the man in the chest and drove his long sword precisely into the man's heart.
"Neji, any other survivors nearby?" Chizumi asked while pulling his sword back and picking up the leather pack.
"Fifty ters to the right, two hiding behind a pile of rocks. They're carrying a box of soldier pills and trying to run toward the village entrance in the chaos." Neji's eyes were closed, the veins around them bulging sharply.
"I'll go." Tenzō erged from the shadows of the trees, his hands forming seals rapidly. "Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"
The already-muddy ground ahead instantly collapsed. Mixed with ash and standing water, it ford a small-scale mudslide. The two Allied ninja behind the rocks didn't even have ti to scream before they were swept into the mudflow.
Chizumi and Shikamaru hurried over and stood on either side.
"Quick," Chizumi said, pointing to the corner of a wooden box exposed in the mudflow.
Shikamaru cast his shadow and forcibly dragged the wooden box out of the mud. He pried open the lock. Inside were densely packed white porcelain bottles, each sealed with tags marked in Lightning Country script.
"All high-concentration soldier pills." Shikamaru opened one bottle and sniffed it, his brow twitching. "With this purity, one pill can last three days. Special supply from the Land of Lightning headquarters."
"Take it," Chizumi said, scanning the area. "Keep sweeping. Leave no one behind."
The scattered Konoha squads began harvesting thodically.
Because the fire had been forcibly extinguished, suffocating smoke filled the forest. Routed Allied soldiers stumbled around like headless flies.
Shizune was leading two ANBU in clearing a shallow pit. Five corpses lay crookedly inside. Two Iwagakure logistics ninja hadn't died yet and were reaching toward a bundle nearby.
Squelch.
The ANBU's short blades cleanly ended their struggles.
Shizune opened the bundle, and her eyes lit up. "Chizumi! Look at these!"
Chizumi walked over and saw dozens of brand-new explosive tags roll out of the bundle, along with rows of specially made senbon glowing faintly blue.
"These senbon are coated with paralytic toxin." Shizune used tweezers to pick one up and examine it. "Special-made. They don't just paralyze nerves; they also interfere with chakra flow."
"Take them too." Chizumi looked toward Neji. "How far is the main force from the village entrance?"
Neji stood high up, his face dark. "They've already entered the village. The daimyo flags have been raised. Walking at the very front are the Land of Earth's demolition squads and the Land of Lightning's heavy infantry. They're splitting toward the forest. The fastest will reach the forest edge in three minutes."
"This mouthful of interest is enough." Kakashi erged from the thick fog with a huge pack on his back, stuffed full of captured scrolls and ninja tool pouches. "If we don't leave now, we'll be surrounded."
Chizumi stared toward the village entrance. He could vaguely see dense torches forming a long dragon, rapidly filling the alleys of Guihua Village. The sound of heavy armor clashing and orderly footsteps ca downwind, drowning out the sound of fire in the forest.
"Everyone, take the spoils and withdraw!" Chizumi barked.
The group quickly gathered. Every person carried a full load, and so still held bundles of refined-steel kunai they had just seized.
Just as they were preparing to withdraw deeper into the western forest, a dark red wave of chakra suddenly swept across from outside the forest.
Boom!
A row of charred trees was sliced off at the roots.
"You collected this much interest, and now you think you can just leave?" A cold, hard voice ca from behind the smoke.
Heidan, wearing that dark robe, stood with the tip of his foot resting on a section of broken tree. The scar on his face looked especially fierce beneath the fading firelight. He hadn't brought the main force. He had chased them down alone.
"You can't stop us," Chizumi said, halting and looking at him coldly.
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