Chapter 49: The Battlefield’s Killing Machine

At the border of the Land of Fire, Mirai sped through the dense forest. Upon reaching a secluded area away from the main Konoha camp, he closed his eyes quietly.

"Kagura's Mind Eye!"

With his sensory ability extended, Mirai's mind was filled with countless red dots—each one representing a ninja.

"Let's start clearing out the closest ones."

He opened his eyes, and his figure vanished from the spot.

It had been a week since Mirai arrived on the front lines. In that time, Orochimaru had taken Mirai's advice and deployed various assault teams to launch surprise attacks on Kumogakure's forces, with excellent results. Mirai himself had already eliminated many Kumogakure ninja and reaped quite a few rewards along the way.

After all… with Kagura's Mind Eye, it was as if he had a god's eye view of the battlefield. No matter how the Cloud shinobi tried to camouflage themselves, they couldn't escape his detection. And with a sensory range of ten kilometers, even Kumogakure's own sensory ninjas couldn't detect his movements.

This battlefield had practically become his personal playground.

"Move faster, as soon as we're done here, we're pulling out," a burly Kumogakure ninja urged.

"Got it. We're not looking to waste time either," another replied with a sigh. The border conflict had intensified lately, and several recon teams had mysteriously disappeared—even some Jonin were missing. Due to this, the usual Genin and Chunin recon squads had been replaced by teams consisting of Chunin and Jonin.

Their team was no exception: one Jonin and two elite Chunin. Yet, even with this upgraded formation, casualties still piled up each day.

They had only scouted part of the area when a dark figure suddenly shot toward them.

"Enemy attack!"

The Kumogakure ninja immediately drew their weapons, taking a defensive stance. When they realized it was just a teenage boy, they exchanged glances and charged at him without hesitation. They knew better than to underestimate anyone on the battlefield.

But before they could move, their bodies froze as if held by an invisible force. Glancing down, they saw their shadows connected to a mass of darkness.

In the next instant, a surge of golden sand engulfed their bodies.

"Sand Waterfall Funeral!"

Squelch!

Only the Jonin managed to break free at the last second with a secret technique, while the other two were crushed into pulp by the sand.

"Magnet Release… Is that Rasa from Sunagakure?!"

The Kumogakure Jonin stumbled back, his eyes wide with fear. This distinctive kekkei genkai was unmistakable—only Rasa had the power to control gold sand.

But why would Rasa come all the way from Sunagakure to attack them? Weren't Sunagakure and Kumogakure supposed to be on the same side?

Glancing back, the cold, expressionless youth was closing in. His eyes were icy, and he threw a kunai that whizzed toward the Jonin with deadly precision.

Whoosh!

The Kumogakure Jonin twisted to avoid the kunai, pushing his speed to the limit. He had to return to the village with this crucial intel—Rasa might be nearby and was attacking their forces.

But before he knew it, the youth was right in front of him.

"Rasengan!"

As the system notifications rang out—

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully looting: Chakra +1!" "

Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully looting: Physique +1!"

The dark-haired youth cast a Fire Release jutsu, reducing the three Cloud ninja's bodies to ashes. Without a pause, he sped off toward his next target.

The slaughter continued until sunset. In a single day, Mirai had wiped out over a dozen ninja teams, eliminating more than thirty Cloud ninja. The only reason the count wasn't higher was due to how scattered they were, otherwise, his tally would've easily doubled.

With a combination of Kagura's Mind Eye, the Flying Thunder God Technique, Rasengan, Shadow Imitation Jutsu, Chidori, and Magnet Release, Mirai was unstoppable. Even elite Jonin couldn't hold a candle to his relentless combo techniques.

"That's enough for today," he said, casting a satisfied look at his inflated status screen as he made his way back to the Konoha camp. In just a few days, he'd accumulated nearly 300 attribute points—a pace even he found astonishing. If he'd been relying solely on sparring rewards instead of battlefield kills, it would've taken him a year to amass that many points.

...

Kumogakure

Crash! With a furious shout, the massive wooden desk splintered into pieces as Ay raged, his body crackling with electricity and fury filling the room.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on here? How have we lost so many shinobi? Did none of you gather any useful intel?!"

The war had been going well with him and Killer Bee leading the charge, forcing Konoha to retreat at every turn. But recently, their forces had been inexplicably vanishing, including a staggering twenty Jonin. And the missing Genin and Chunin were countless. At this rate, they might as well surrender now!

"Ay-sama," Mabui said calmly, stepping forward, "Konoha may have adopted a similar tactic to ours, sending out elite assault squads specifically to hunt down our recon teams. That would explain these losses."

Only Mabui dared to speak up in Ay's wrathful presence.

"Of course I understand that! What I'm questioning is… how could they be this effective?"

Even if Konoha had adopted the same strategy, tracking down their recon teams along the vast border was no small feat. To inflict such devastating losses, Konoha had to know their positions precisely.

"That's the part I can't quite figure out either," Mabui replied with a frown. The location and missions of each Kumogakure squad were tightly guarded information, known only to her as the command center. Even Ay and Killer Bee weren't privy to those details. How, then, was Konoha ambushing their teams so accurately?

"Enough! Recall our ninja and prepare for a full-scale assault on Konoha!"

Mabui nodded at Ay's command. Kumogakure couldn't afford to keep bleeding forces like this. With their previous tactics neutralized, the only way to win this war was with a decisive, all-out attack.

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