After the specters died, the entire ghost army that had invaded the Five Great Nations turned into a scattering of ash.
Kiyosuke returned to Konoha with the three of them to report the situation. Kakashi and the others hadn't come back yet — it seemed they had something else to deal with.
Konoha's Naruto squad was temporarily put on hold, and Kiyosuke began training Hinata and the others to raise their strength, supplementing their training with the secret medicines belonging to each of their families.
Aside from Shino, Kiba and Hinata favored taijutsu — the solution was simple: hit until they couldn't stand.
Kiba's style was all about overwhelming force: one fierce strike after another, a relentless onslaught from start to finish. So Kiyosuke decided to learn some useful physical techniques himself, and began putting Kiba and Akamaru through hellish training.
Every day Kiba and Akamaru went home bruised and battered, only to come back the next morning with dejected faces and train again.
During one training session, Akamaru lifted his head; his ears twitched as though he'd heard something. A dog's hearing is far keener than a human's. Akamaru flattened his legs to the ground, bared his teeth, alert in every fiber, and let out a low growl — then suddenly began howling at the sky.
"Kiyosuke-sensei," Kiba said, "Akamaru says something strange is flying toward Konoha."
"Flying?" Kiyosuke looked up at the horizon. There were many small black dots far away. Sensing it, he realized it was a group of shinobi. "Return to Konoha. I'll go report to the Hokage-sama. Enemy attack! You guys evacuate the civilians!"
"Yes!"
The squad immediately headed back to Konoha's training ground and on to the village. Kiyosuke had barely reached the Hokage's office when he heard the whistling of wind and the sound of explosions.
"What the hell—?"
He looked up and saw a swarm in the sky, each wearing a forehead protector from some unknown village, using special tools like glider wings to stay aloft.
They dropped bombs and caused explosions in Konoha.
"They're shinobi from the Land of the Sky — stop them! Someone, help!" Tsunade ordered.
"Yes!" The Anbu appeared. Tsunade issued commands. "Evacuate civilians, get people to shelters, and issue a counterattack order!"
"Yes!"
Kiyosuke and the Anbu rushed out. He leapt high, grabbed one of the sky-nin, and yanked them down.
"Get down!"
Boom!
The sky-nin slammed into the ground.
"Kiyosuke-sama!" Neji called, holding two children, veins standing out around his eyes. "They inject chakra into the wings to create airflow between the surface and the interior, and that lets them fly."
Kiyosuke landed beside him. Konoha's shinobi began to fight back, but because these guys were airborne the defenders could only use shuriken and certain ninjutsu.
Thrown shuriken were deflected by gusts of air, and ninjutsu met the same fate.
The sky-nin took out weapons that looked like guns, then unleashed a barrage of kunai from them. They threw bombs and attacked Konoha. Kiyosuke snorted, raised his fist, and struck hard.
Boom!!!
A scorching sea of fire covered the sky. Screams echoed. Then Neji saw one charred body after another fall from the sky along with their flying rigs.
"Any more enemies?" Kiyosuke scanned the sky. A larger flying vessel was approaching, moving toward Konoha.
"Hey, how's the civilian evacuation going?" Kiyosuke asked an Anbu.
"Report: civilians nearby are still moving!" the Anbu replied.
"It won't be enough. Let the shinobi escort those civilians — Neji, you go too. These guys are beyond what you can handle!" Kiyosuke said, then leapt into the sky. He shot upward on a burst of flame from his legs and landed on the flying craft.
"Who's there?"
A sky-nin poked his head out, saw Kiyosuke, and sneered.
"You're looking for death! Times have changed — open fire!"
The large craft exposed gun muzzles; kunai shot out.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Kunai rained down toward Kiyosuke.
They didn't understand Kiyosuke's ability — and they were doomed to get crushed. With terrified eyes they watched Kiyosuke, riddled with holes yet wearing a feral grin.
"Die!"
One punch tore through the craft's hull like paper, ripping the sheet metal wide open. Kiyosuke strode in, slapped a sky-nin out of the air, grabbed another, and threw him out of the craft.
"Die!"
A man in strange clothing with paper affixed to his face ran forward, lightning arcs flaring around him — he charged.
Then Kiyosuke finished the fight.
Bang!
Kicked out, the attacker flew. Kiyosuke reached the control room, took out the two who were piloting the vessel, and let the craft crash onto an open space in Konoha.
People poured out from inside and fled, and Kiyosuke watched a group of sky-nin retreat in disarray — not because of him, but for other reasons.
Soon after, Neji arrived. "Kiyosuke-sama, their chakra's depleted. They have to return."
"Oh, so their fuel ran out?"
Kiyosuke didn't pursue them.
"Search for survivors. Bring any living ones to Konoha's intelligence division. I'll go find Tsunade-sama."
"Yes."
Neji nodded. Kiyosuke found Tsunade cleaning up the aftermath. Konoha had suffered considerable damage from this attack; there were suddenly many things to handle. Fortunately the response was timely, and casualties were not too heavy.
"So what exactly are these sky-nin?" Kiyosuke asked.
Tsunade said, "The Land of the Sky was a land wiped out during the Second Shinobi World War. I didn't expect them to reappear."
During the Second Shinobi World War, a group used chakra to perform flight techniques. They called themselves the Land of the Sky and openly provoked the Five Great Nations. They even went to war with them. In the end, they were annihilated by Konoha in its heyday.
"So they've come back for revenge," Kiyosuke murmured, stroking his chin. It seemed a lot had happened during that war — too bad he hadn't known about any of it.
"That's right. And they probably aren't just targeting Konoha; they might be after the whole Land of Fire. After all, we destroyed their entire village." Tsunade sighed. The order to carry out that mission had been given by Orochimaru — only he could have ordered such a cold-blooded act.
Unfortunately, it seemed the Land of the Sky hadn't been completely wiped out after all. Decades later they'd come back and caused Konoha a huge headache.
"So, should I find the Land of the Sky's base and blow the whole place up?" Kiyosuke asked.
"That's certainly one way to look at it." Tsunade fell into thought, then decided it was feasible. "Pick a few people to go with you. They'll mainly assist you."
"Has Kakashi come back yet?"
"He's back."
"Alright. Kakashi, Shino, Shikamaru, and me — the four of us form a team and can head out immediately."
"Okay."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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