As an old saying goes, "Many hearts build a mighty wall," suggesting that even divine power can be at play. At this moment, with countless Leaf ninja working in unison, it was as if a mountain-moving giant had effortlessly lifted the very ruggedness of the earth itself, leaving everything on the surface subjected to tremendous impact.
Where the Mist frontline had once stood became almost instantly transformed into an extremely steep slope, reaching angles of over seventy degrees in some areas, towering as high as seventy or eighty meters. While such sudden, large-scale terrain changes couldn't immediately sweep even highly mobile ninja straight into the sea, the shock alone would certainly disrupt their formation.
The attacking Konoha forces' tactics at this point weren't particularly impressive by themselves—after all, "combined techniques" weren't exactly rare. What really impressed, though, was how fast they could shift tactics on the fly.
On a battlefield where agility was pursued relentlessly, and combat strategies emphasized small-unit formations, adopting an unusually clumsy group attack method was something Hidden Mist hadn't anticipated from Konoha.
Of course, no plan is perfect—every advantage has its cost. When launching their first assault, the collective jutsu casting created an "extreme magnification" effect on ninjutsu power, which naturally made a powerful initial impression.
However, such rigid unit organization inevitably disrupted Konoha's original squad structures. Even if they could gather and cast ninjutsu collectively, how would they coordinate effectively when enemies closed in nearby?
In short, Konoha had given up their ability to keep fighting after the initial strike. Once Mist managed to stabilize its formation slightly, their experienced squads would surely dismantle Konoha's cumbersome "homogeneous-attribute attack squad."
After all, Mist's battle system was perfectly suited to ninja—it let them fight to their fullest potential.
No matter how excellent Konoha's command abilities were, trying to reorganize and return to small-unit tactical formations right on the battlefield after completing a joint attack would take time—plenty of it. Theoretically speaking, it should be impossible.
Yet since Konoha dared to fight this battle like a "volley fire execution" style, there must've been some reason behind it.
Once the earth had been upheaved, the Earth Release squad fell back momentarily before the Water Release squad surged forward... Since the "washing board" had already been laid out, naturally the next step was to pour water to wash away the filth.
[Water Release: Water Crushing Slope!]
Water without a source should have been weak and dissipating quickly. Yet at this moment, under the combined efforts of many Water Release users, the surging torrent poured down almost directly from above the Mist camp, the inertia and sheer mass creating devastating impact, forcing Mist's already disoriented troops to retreat again and again.
Just now the earth had turned upside down—now it was like the ocean itself had overturned.
This kind of attack wasn't deadly, of course. Apart from a few unlucky ones, Mist ninja rarely died like this. Trying to take out so many ninja just with a wave of water was, frankly, more than a little unrealistic.
But after suffering such an attack, the Hidden Mist side was not merely disoriented — their formation had been shattered and scattered... some ninjas were even truly swept into the sea.
This must have been one of Konoha's strategies — if the enemy couldn't quickly restore their original combat formation, then immediately pull them down to the same level... No one ever said that Konoha's concentrated attacks would only be launched once, right?
Or perhaps in a certain sense, the Hidden Mist was now in a worse state since although Konoha's formation was rigid, it hadn't fallen into chaos.
The only pity was that Konoha was traditionally known for Fire Release, yet both of their consecutive attacks had absolutely nothing to do with it.
After these two attacks, Konoha's concentrated offensive came to an end. The central force began retreating, preparing to revert back to their original squad-based structure, while the small teams originally guarding the center prepared to launch ongoing attacks against the disarrayed Hidden Mist forces... leaving the enemy no opportunity to catch their breath.
However, before this could happen, they needed to wait for a signal to advance.
Uzumaki Shikou and Nara Nagisa stood atop a newly formed hilltop, looking down upon the chaotic situation of the Hidden Mist ninjas below.
Then, Uzumaki Shikou squatted down, forming hand seals as she spoke, "This will be the final step of the 'concentrated offensive'..."
As her voice faded, her hands pressed flat onto the ground beneath her feet:
[Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide].
With a slight tremor from beneath, the upper part of the elevated slope neatly broke apart, almost as if struck by a "Ki Blast."
Uzumaki Shikou and Nara Nagisa flipped back lightly as the massive chunk of earth underfoot began plummeting downward due to gravity... tactically speaking, it was like a full-service package — not only flushing enemies down the toilet but burying them straight into the septic tank (a metaphorical expression meaning complete annihilation).
Practically speaking, any named ninja from Konoha could be seen as a master of Earth Release.
The giant earthen block crashing toward the Hidden Mist camp definitely weighed enough to crush anyone below — however, since it was just dirt and not solid rock, several powerful Lightning Release users stepped forward, ready to destroy it.
Seeing what happened, Nara Nagisa couldn't help but ask, "So… that's how it is?"
"That's how it is? You mean creating or shaping something takes effort, but destroying it can be done in an instant?" Uzumaki Shikou responded accordingly.
That was precisely what she was thinking — building a steep slope of this scale required cooperation among many ninjas, but slicing through it took just one person and one jutsu... despite Shikou's chakra reserves surpassing those of ordinary ninjas, she still remained just one individual.
"No, I meant that after being around Haseo for so long, you inevitably start adopting his way of doing things — surprising people unexpectedly, or saving the most exciting and crucial part of the plan for yourself to execute... Don't you realize this yourself?"
Who could have known that Nagisa Nara's thoughts extended far beyond what was immediately before him? He was clearly thinking much deeper than just surface-level matters.
This left Uzumaki Shikou speechless, and she began to reflect—would Haseo really have acted the way she had just done? Without Nagisa Nara's reminder, she wouldn't have realized this on her own.
From this, we can see that Haseo is someone who subtly infects those around him without them even realizing it… After all, they were originally all exemplary ninja from Konoha.
So far, Konoha had gained the upper hand with their initial assault, throwing the Mist forces into chaos. But expecting this alone to crush the enemy is impossible—such actions definitely won't destroy Mist's command structure.
Therefore…
On the sea not far away,
"Let me finally clarify our attack objective: charge toward the point within the enemy formation where the barrier density is highest and defenses are most formidable. Our target is Mist's frontline commander. The mission requires us to destroy Mist's command structure, causing the enemy to fall into complete disarray.
On the main battlefield, the Eastern Front's main force has already created conditions for us, so now we must deliver a lightning-fast strike. No matter what happens during the attack—even if some get trapped behind enemy lines or fall behind—our forward momentum must never stop…
What we're doing is kicking down the door—kicking open the front gate of Mist's forward command post."
Haseo, who excelled at making plans, was explaining the key points of the operation to his team members.
"Haseo-sama, the signal has arrived."
As the large chunk of earth crumbled within his Byakugan's field of vision, Hyuga Soei gave Haseo a warning.
Haseo nodded and gave the firm command:
"Begin the operation!"
The mission… is extremely simple when described: rush straight to the heart of the Mist frontline, then shout out:
KSI, OpenTheDoor.
And that's all there is to it.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>