Chapter 725 : Unexpected Casualties of the War!

[A/N: Sorry guys. Fell asleep while writing last night 😅 Was gonna upload the chapter earlier today, but had a few ideas and I kept writing. Anyway, today's chapter will be out later as well. Hope you guys been doing well :)]

"Shikaku-sama! One group of enemies have broken through and are heading towards the village!" Yamanaka Shin opened his eyes and reported with a grim expression.

Several Yamanaka ninjas in the room had grim expressions as well. They were responsible for sensing the position of enemy ninjas. A group entering the village meant that there would be a lot of death and destruction.

Shikaku wasn't too disturbed. He had already calculated that this would happen as a couple of spots hadn't been protected that well and had long made arrangements for both spots. He asked, "Which group is it? The third or the seventh?"

Yamanaka Shin replied, "It's the seventh group. They are about to reach the 23rd Training Ground and will reach Fujin's Compounds soon. There are 3 giant snakes and 26 ninjas in their group."

Worry could be seen on Shin's face. Even though he hadn't interacted with Fujin much, he had taught him the basics of sensing when Fujin was still in the Academy. He didn't want to see his house and compound being destroyed. However, to his surprise, he saw a smile appear on Shikaku's face. He wondered, 'What the hell? Was it a trap prepared by Shikaku-sama?'

Shikaku ordered, "Dispatch 4 Anbu squads to intercept them."

For a moment, Shin couldn't believe his ears. He asked to confirm, "Only 4 squads?"

Shikaku plainly nodded and said, "Yeah, it should be more than enough. Now go."

Shin left immediately while Shikaku thought, 'I left that group as the last one to be dealt with because of what stands in that direction. To think that they would run straight to it. Poor souls…'

Despite being enemies, Shikaku couldn't help but feel bad for them. By now, every strong ninja in Konoha knew that Fujin's compounds were the last place to mess around. Even someone as lazy as Shikaku wanted to witness that battle. Unfortunately, he couldn't move around freely.

"What do you mean by losses?" Fujin's clone asked while looking at the giant snakes. Monkey was dumbfounded. He wondered, 'Is he saying that we can win without taking any loss? But how? Does his clone have enough chakra to deal with them?'

Bunjiro and Tatsuya flickered behind Fujin and said, "Fujin, we're here. What should we do?"

Fujin's clone replied, "Just watch and learn what you should never do on any battlefield or mission."

Both were confused. Just like Monkey, they were preparing themselves for a difficult battle. However, the way Fujin's clone spoke was very casual. It was as if he didn't consider the incoming enemy a threat.

Even though they were confused, they just decided to put their trust in him. After all, if Fujin was so confident, then there was no reason for them to be worried.

The giant snakes entered the training ground while the Suna and Oto ninjas followed them. Fear appeared in their eyes as they finally saw Fujin's clone standing on top of his house.

"Why is the Spectral Swordsman here? Wasn't he supposed to be in the arena?"

"Fool! He is in the arena. This one should be his clone. Or maybe someone transformed into him. Stop being cowards and crush his compounds!"

Hearing the Jounin's words, everyone calmed down and confidence appeared in their eyes. An Oto ninja shouted, "If he is only a clone, then we don't need to worry! Orochimaru-sama's summons will crush him!"

As if following his command, the 3 gigantic snakes opened their mouths wide and dived straight at the compound, wanting to swallow everyone inside it! Seeing the massive snakes, the young trainees became fearful. Thankfully, they were trained enough not to cause chaos. Even so, almost all the trainees retreated backwards. Several weaved hand seals and prepared jutsus in case the snakes weren't stopped.

Sayaka and other students of Fujin glanced at him and wondered, 'What is he doing? Why hasn't Sensei cut them up already? Even though he's just a clone, this should be child's play for him, shouldn't it?'

Seeing the young kids frightened, the confidence of the Suna and Oto ninjas soared. They weaved hand seals while shouting, "Crush them! We will continue until the entire Konoha is destro…!"

Their words got stuck in their throats and their eyes widened in shock. A massive dome-shaped transparent barrier appeared out of thin air around the entire compound. The massive sharp teeth of the snakes failed to put even a scratch on the barrier.

The Konoha ninjas were surprised as well. They wondered, 'There is a barrier surrounding the compound? Since when was there a barrier here? More importantly, how did it activate suddenly when he didn't make any move?'

The Anbu trainees breathed a sigh of relief while the Suna and Oto ninjas began wondering what to do. The fact that the barrier stopped the giant snakes so easily indicated how strong it truly was.

It made them fall into a dilemma. Considering their situation, they immediately realized that they had two options. The first was just to avoid the compound and go around it to get deeper into the village. However, doing so left them vulnerable to being attacked from the rear. Once more Konoha ninjas appeared to stop them, they'd be attacked from every direction.

Their second option was to attack the barrier until it broke down and kill everyone in the compound before continuing forward. However, if the barrier was too strong, they would be stuck at that location and allow Konoha's reinforcements to arrive. At the same time, destroying the barrier will consume their chakra rapidly.

The experienced Anbu on Fujin's side realized this as well. Monkey glanced at Fujin and wondered, 'Does he want them to exhaust their chakra first before we launch a surprise attack? After all, even though they are trainees, everyone here is well-versed in Ninjutsu. If we time our attack to just when the barrier breaks, we could hit them with over a hundred jutsus at the same time!'

Before Suna and Oto ninjas could come to a decision, the giant snakes hissed and retreated backwards. Their actions surprised everyone. The Oto ninja who had summoned them with Orochimaru's scroll wondered, 'Why are they retreating? Didn't Orochimaru-sama say that they'll continue moving forward until they take a lot of damage? Don't tell me… Did they sense some great danger ahead?'

As the snakes retreated, it became very visible that they were terrified of something. Their massive bodies shuddered uncontrollably, scales rippling as if crawling with unseen horrors. They thrashed their heads from side to side, slamming into the ground in frantic desperation as if trying to shake off an invisible menace clinging to their skin.

Their forked tongues flicked out rapidly as a hissing sound filled the air. However, instead of being intimidated by them, the Konoha ninjas could see dread in their eyes. The powerful serpents, who dominantly made their way to the outskirts of Konoha, were now slithering back in frantic, erratic patterns!

The sudden change shocked the Suna and Oto ninjas. None of them could understand what was happening. However, it suddenly became extremely clear. Every scale on each of the giant snakes began glowing as the snakes panicked even more.

Everyone first thought that this was an ability of the snakes. However, when they realized what it was, their eyes widened in horror as they shouted, "Holy Crap! Take cover!"

What was glowing wasn't the scales themselves. Instead, it was the explosive seals that somehow appeared on every scale of each snake! Within moments, each and every explosive tag exploded!

Two giant snakes were blown into smithereens as their blood and flesh rained into the nearby area. A part of the transparent barrier was now covered in blood as well!

As for the third snake, it became too terrified and undid the summoning jutsu. It suddenly appeared in the Ryuchi Cave while hissing fearfully. Its hissing attracted the attention of all the powerful snakes in the Ryuchi Cave. However, before they could do anything or even understand the situation, the snake exploded!

The explosion was so powerful that tremors were felt throughout the Ryuchi cave! Countless small snakes in the vicinity died due to the explosion. The ground underneath the explosions collapsed as well, crushing hundreds of snakes living underground to death. The sudden attack shocked the Ryuchi cave. Powerful snakes like Manda and their sages felt the loss of life and immediately moved in rage!

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