From the screeching sky, countless powerful, chirping lightning bolts poured out on the Iwa army, relentlessly striking one after another while drowning the surroundings in intense light and booming sounds that spread throughout the surrounding land.
The earth broke and quaked, burning and cratering with each impact as many unfortunate ninjas turned into charred husks before they could even react. Only the effort of a few experienced veterans counted for something as they sensed the incoming attack and instantly reacted by creating massive domes of earth, shielding hundreds of their comrades around them in various positions in the army formation.
But not everybody was fortunate enough to be stationed around somebody capable like that. In just the first three seconds, thousands of Iwa ninjas died, and their ranks were devastated.
Noticing the rising earth domes, Hinata frowned. She had just finished sending lightning strikes at the now late scouting parties, and it seemed her lapse in focus on the main army allowed them to mount some defenses.
But even if the earth ninjutsu restricted the lightning ninjutsu...
For three seconds, the lightning storm ceased, but any hope that the attack was over was instantly dashed by the intensifying chirping sound coming from the still stormy clouds as the lightning gathered.
Hinata concentrated the following lightning strikes, causing their power to surge before she unleashed them directly at these earth domes in a blinding attack, causing the earth to tremble.
Any remaining vegetation that somehow wasn't turned into a charred husk by the previous lightning attacks was instantly destroyed by the powerful shockwave that spread out of the impact area, shattering the already devastated land even more.
Some of the earth domes withstood the hammering blow of lightning, their casters working together with other Iwa ninjas enough to hold even when several consecutive concentrated lightning strikes smashed against their defenses.
But several other earth domes couldn't resist. They cracked under the heavy pressure of the attack, letting the lightning stream inside through the cracks. Screams of pain and panic instantly came out of them as the weakened lightning found a purchase on the ninjas hiding behind the now breached defenses.
More lightning bolts descended almost instantaneously, straight at the cracked domes, while the pressure on the tougher domes that stood strong lessened.
It was a brutal showdown of speed as the exposed Iwa ninjas tried to desperately repair the damage and shield themselves from the lightning attacks. Some of them succeeded and survived, while others did not, their domes collapsing as a few thousand more died within the twenty seconds this apocalyptic lightning barrage lasted.
Hinata, standing on a mountain peak several kilometers away, narrowed her eyes as the blinding light caused by her lightning cleared, revealing five tall earth domes still standing among the charred rubble of a dozen others.
She bit her lower lip and glanced toward the sky before letting out a heavy breath. Controlling such a vast amount of lightning chakra was nowhere near as easy as she made it look. It took a titanic effort on her part.
For a few seconds, silence fell on the land spanning several kilometers, but then the sky screeched once again and suddenly lit up with even more lightning coming out of the dark clouds as it quickly rushed together above the earth domes, the arcs weaving into each other, morphing into an enormous dragon-like shape.
"Alright," Hinata strenuously whispered to herself, giving the still-standing earth domes a look of respect while watching more and more earth being desperately shored up to swiftly strengthen their defenses. "If you survive this last attack, I will be completely out of my accumulated lightning chakra in the sky."
It was hypocritical to speak about kindness in this situation, but in a way, this was Hinata trying to be kind without realizing it. She could have used this attack right from the start, and the Iwa ninjas would have no chance to resist. Any hasty defenses they could put up in the second it took to prepare this attack would be shattered by it near effortlessly.
But now that they had a few seconds to fortify, at least some of them would maybe survive. It was up to them.
A wry half-smile and half-grimace appeared on Hinata's face. 'I am still too soft.' She thought with a heavy heart.
"Dragon's Fall." Hinata gently said and activated the attack with a flicker of her chakra.
A split second later, the dragon-shaped lightning construct turned into a radiant blue beam that connected the sky and earth, causing the nearby air to vibrate from the sheer amount of energy it contained.
Two seconds later, the beam had used up all its energy into the ground and slowly started to disperse, leaving behind numerous electric discharges in the sky in its wake from the charged air.
On the ground, a massive charred crater that could encompass an entire city was left behind, with residual lightning persistently streaking inside of it as if refusing to disperse.
Out of the five earth domes, three had survived.
Hinata's eyes slightly widened at the unexpected surprise, and she sincerely praised the defensive capabilities of the earth ninjutsu masters of Iwa in her heart.
As the sensory ninjas within these earth domes sensed that there was no more imminent danger, the earth dome techniques were slowly canceled. They were at the last leg anyway, and only the potent chakra held them still together by sheer strength of its casters' stubborn refusal to die after the abuse Hinata's last technique put them through.
The earth domes did not simply crumble. When the chakra was withdrawn, the enormous amount of earth directly turned into dust and dispersed in the air.
Quite a bit more than a thousand Iwa ninjas were revealed, many of them gasping for breath in various positions. Some shook on the ground in fright, others cried as they dazedly looked around and mourned their dead friends, but many were also still vigilant and looking for the enemy who had attacked them.
One sensory ninja suddenly exclaimed, and Hinata noticed him point directly toward where she was located, only for a massive mountain of a man in what looked like heavy armor, something very uncommon for a ninja to wear, to be entirely enveloped in dark red chakra with four red tails swaying behind him.
He immediately leaped forward and rushed toward Hinata's direction, practically oozing rage as each of his leaps cratered the ground further.
Hinata's attention snapped toward him in alert as she watched his approach. From Ren's lessons, she recognized it as the second version of a bijuu cloak. She still had a few seconds until he got to her. After all, she was a few kilometers away and not even a jinchuuriki could easily cross that kind of distance.
Thinking of her options, Hinata ruefully shook her head as she watched the Iwa ninjas slowly recover and form up. Here she had given them a chance to survive, yet they stubbornly wanted to press forward. She knew that Iwa people were known for their hard-headedness, but this was exasperating!
Putting her hand into her pocket, she pulled out a ten yen coin and aimed it at the jinchuuriki rushing her way. Her lightning chakra surged through her body, gathering in her hand as it wrapped around the coin. Arcs of lightning emerged and streamed around Hinata, letting out loud chirping sounds.
Moving her hand slowly to keep her aim on the jinchuuriki, Hinata charged the technique until it reached the turning point when the chakra condensed enough to be considered a low-powered but stable. By then, the jinchuuriki was almost upon her, only four hundred meters or so away and closing in fast.
Hinata's lips quirked into an amused smile as she almost casually hummed, "Railgun."
Flicking the coin triggered the technique, and with a loud boom, the coin, powered by enormous lightning energy, was hurled forward at a speed that even ninjas couldn't follow.
The next thing everybody knew was that the jinchuuriki was suddenly flung backward through the air until his body hit the ground, and then dug a massive, few-kilometer-long trench in it while tons of earth and dust were launched into the air in his body's wake.
The newly gathered, surviving Iwa ninjas barely managed to scream as their jinchuuriki was uncontrollably slammed in the middle of their ranks by the residual energy of the Railgun ninjutsu, sending newly severed limbs, blood, and broken bodies flying around as it crashed through several ninjas.
Yet, Hinata noted with her Byakugan that the jinchuuriki was still alive and recovering.
Her eye twitched. "What a ridiculous tenacity. No wonder jinchuuriki are so feared." She mumbled just as a ninja landed behind her, kneeling on one knee.
"Lady Hinata, the troops are ready for your command!" He devotedly reported, making Hinata dryly nod. They were quite fast, too. It has been what? Five or so minutes since her clone had given them the order to mobilize? She was very satisfied with their speed.
"Good. I reduced the enemy numbers a lot, but they still have a slight numerical advantage over us." Hinata spoke and glanced at the ninja. Nakano was a Jonin. Barely. He was competent, but nothing extraordinary. A perfect throw-away guy for a totally-not suicide mission. Just like many other ninjas, she was given for this front.
The man recognized it, too, and knew his chances of survival rested solely on Hinata's shoulders. But because of that, he was very diligent and almost frantically loyal.
Hinata... didn't hate him. Even if his 'notice me senpai!' attitude could be annoying at times.
"I will drag the jinchuuriki away and handle him. The rest is on you." She said and disappeared in a burst of lightning-enhanced speed.
There was nothing more to say. They made many plans for many situations previously. This was one of them, and if nothing else, Nakano was her second-in-command because he was a capable commander.
It was time for her troops to do their job and do some fighting of their own while she handled the big bad and angry with tails.
As that thought passed through Hinata's mind, her foot slammed into the jinchuuriki that was just now standing back up onto his feet, and she sent him hurling through the air into the distance, swiftly following him before the Iwa ninjas around them even registered that it happened.