Chapter 136
Chapter 136
Similar to the hospital in the River Country, the main battlefield was also fiercely contested.
Broken puppets, kunai, shuriken… countless weapons of death littered the battlefield.
As the sun set and night fell, both Konoha and Sunagakure called a temporary truce, allowing the battlefield to fall silent. Only vultures circling above slowly descended.
At the Konoha camp, news of the hospital ambush reached Sakumo, and his face grew worried. Not only were injured shinobi there, but also his three students and his son.
Reading the intelligence scroll Tsunade had written, his expression grew increasingly astonished. Three hundred Sand shinobi attacked the hospital, only to be repelled by a hundred Konoha shinobi, who achieved a resounding victory.
Haneda Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake joined forces to defeat Rasa, capturing him. The mysterious puppeteer, rumored to have assassinated the Third Kazekage, reappeared, and Haneda single-handedly forced him to retreat.
Sakumo's eyes widened as he re-read the scroll, taking in each word carefully. His son and student had managed to capture the famous Gold Dust shinobi, Rasa of Sunagakure. And Haneda had even bested the puppeteer Sasori, who'd previously challenged them in the Land of Rain!
The report mentioned both Rasa and Sasori wielded powerful Kekkei Genkai: the Magnetic Release. Both iron and gold sand techniques were vast, deadly jutsu capable of massive battlefield destruction, requiring elite shinobi to withstand even briefly. Yet his most prideful student had overcome both!
Taking a deep breath, Sakumo closed the scroll, preparing a report for the Third Hokage. Just then, the Nara clan leader entered, his face weary.
"Lord Sakumo, we've completed the casualty count. We have 576 lightly injured, 83 heavily injured, and 300 dead, mostly genin, though even ten jonin perished."
Sakumo frowned slightly, but thinking of Haneda's achievement, his expression eased. Handing the intelligence scroll to the Nara leader, he said, "Regardless, this war is nearing its end. By year's end, Sunagakure will likely sign a peace treaty with Konoha."
The Nara leader read the scroll, his expression shifting to utter astonishment. Haneda Uchiha had once again performed a great feat, capturing the renowned Gold Dust shinobi, Rasa, alongside Kakashi Hatake. He grasped Rasa's significance to Sunagakure—likely a future Kazekage candidate with the ability to extract gold, a critical asset for the resource-poor village. Sunagakure had lost this prodigious shinobi to two young Konoha geniuses!
Remembering how Haneda had brought Tsunade to the battlefield, the Nara leader thought to himself: Haneda Uchiha has turned the tide of this war twice now. Without him, this conflict would have dragged on longer and cost twice as many lives.
"A hero from the younger generation… Haneda and Kakashi will surely be renowned across the shinobi world after this war," he remarked.
Sakumo smiled faintly, though it faded as he remembered those who had fallen—clan members, friends, comrades. He looked out of the tent toward the night, where cries of the wounded mixed with the vultures' ominous calls.
---
Meanwhile, at the Sunagakure command center, several weary figures appeared before Lady Chiyo.
One of the jonin reported, "Lady Chiyo, the assault failed."
Judging by their expressions, Chiyo could tell the ambush had not gone well. After all, Konoha's rear hospital was guarded by her old friend Tsunade. Rasa may have stood a chance, but it would have been a hard fight.
"What happened? Where is Rasa?" Chiyo demanded coldly.
"Only a few of us made it back from the failed attack. Rasa… Rasa was captured by Konoha," the jonin replied, his face full of shame.
Chiyo was stunned but secretly felt a hint of satisfaction.
"What?! Rasa captured? With 300 shinobi attacking a group of medics and wounded, how could this happen?!" she cried in disbelief.
Her mind raced through possible scenarios, but what the jonin said next left her even more shocked.
"At first, we made swift progress, advancing right to the hospital's doorstep. I even saw some fighting within the hospital itself. But then… Rasa was defeated by two young Konoha shinobi."
"The attack had to retreat, and we lost many in the process," the jonin said, struggling with embarrassment, as Rasa's defeat came at the hands of two young shinobi.
"Who? Uchiha Haneda and Hatake Kakashi?" Chiyo immediately thought of these two young geniuses.
Knowing Haneda and Kakashi were strong, she hadn't thought they could defeat Rasa.
"Did Tsunade intervene?" she asked.
The jonin shook his head silently. Apart from summoning her slug once, Tsunade had not entered the battle. Konoha seemed more than capable of fending off the ambush.
Seeing the jonin's somber expression, Chiyo knew the grim reality—an absurd one, but the truth.
"Alright, alright! Sakumo Hatake, I underestimated you! You left your son and student at the rear intentionally, knowing full well their strength. You were one step ahead of me," Chiyo acknowledged grudgingly, her strategy entirely undone by Sakumo's tactical foresight.
At least Rasa was still alive. She grimly anticipated that Sunagakure would face repercussions from the feudal lord over their losses, making Rasa's gold manipulation abilities essential for the village's survival. With this in mind, Chiyo thought through negotiation strategies to ransom Rasa back.
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Some distance away from the battlefield, Sasori stopped, glancing back at the place where he had fought Haneda in silence.
After a long while, he murmured to himself, "I was too arrogant."
"If I'd threatened his companions from the start, he wouldn't have dared unleash such a powerful jutsu," he reflected, thinking of Haneda's fearsome lightning technique, the Kirin. For a moment, Sasori had even thought Haneda's artistry surpassed his own. Had he not been grounded, using the earth to neutralize the Kirin's power, he might have died there.
"Haneda Uchiha, someday, I'll make you recognize my art," Sasori vowed, recalling his potential solution for countering Kirin's lightning with newfound confidence..