"Oh no!"
Seeing their Commander caught in the explosion, the Cloud Shinobi still fighting nearby immediately withdrew from combat and rushed over.
As soon as they arrived to provide aid, a bolt of lightning shot out from the smoke, its lightning armor dissipating, revealing a figure.
"Lord Ai!"
This figure was Ai. He was in a miserable state, with several wounds bleeding profusely and dust covering him, making him look dreadful.
His clothes were also tattered from the explosion, but fortunately, his pants were of good quality; otherwise, he might have suffered a social death.
"Lord Ai, let me help you."
Seeing this, a Cloud Shinobi quickly stepped forward, his hand glowing with green Chakra, attempting to heal him.
"No need!"
Ai waved his hand to refuse, then tore off the tattered cloth strips hanging from his body. His gaze then fell upon Ren, who was walking away, and he gritted his teeth and shouted,
"Hoshimi Ren…"
"That's enough."
Before he could finish, Ren, who was in the distance, stopped and interrupted him.
"The Raikage is still fighting. If you truly want to save him, you shouldn't be here arguing pointlessly with me. Instead, you should go kill those who are blocking you."
Ren turned around, raised his hand, and pointed in a direction, speaking in a deep voice.
Everyone followed the direction of his finger and saw Lie standing there, looking bewildered.
"Huh???"
Seeing Ai's hostile gaze shift to him, Lie, who had been standing by, watching the show, was instantly dumbfounded. He hadn't expected Ren's two sentences to make him the center of attention.
"Uh…"
"Bastard!"
Lie opened his mouth, about to say something, but was interrupted by Ai's roar. Before he could react, he saw Ai's body once again covered in lightning armor, transforming into a bolt of lightning rushing towards him!
"Damn it!"
Lie couldn't help but curse under his breath, looking at the charging Ai. His face was extremely grim.
"Lightning Straight!"
Ai, who had instantly charged close, raised his arm, turning his palm into a blade, and slashed towards Lie's neck.
It was too late to dodge now. Lie could only grit his teeth, channel his Chakra, and punch to meet the attack.
"Boom!"
With the sound of an explosion, a figure flew out from the smoke, tumbled once on the ground, then quickly got up, clutching his left arm and panting heavily.
"Lord Lie!"
After clearly seeing the face of the flying figure, the surrounding Iwagakure Shinobi shouted in disbelief.
In their impression, whenever Lie, their Commander, made a move, he would use his powerful strength to turn the tide and secure victory. Today was the first time they had seen him suffer a setback.
"Hoo, hoo."
At this moment, Lie couldn't care about anything else. The intense pain from his left arm made a cold sweat break out on his forehead.
Caught off guard, Ai's Chakra hand blade directly severely injured his left arm, significantly reducing his combat power.
As he panted, Ai, once again clad in lightning armor, rushed out of the smoke. His gaze swept around before finally landing on Lie again. Without any hesitation, he punched again!
"Bastard!"
Lie's face turned green at this sight, but he had no choice. He could only grit his teeth, raise his hand, and then punch to meet the attack.
Meanwhile, Ren had already returned to Minato's side. At this point, most of the Konoha army had also withdrawn from the battlefield. The remaining Cloud Shinobi and Iwagakure Shinobi, having not received orders to retreat, could only continue to fight.
"Let's go, Ren."
Minato patted Ren's shoulder and then went to catch up with the army ahead. Ren followed closely behind him.
Since Ren had already been rescued, they were not in a hurry to travel. They stopped and rested along the way, and it wasn't until a glimmer of light rose from the distance that the army returned to the main camp.
After Minato settled everyone, he turned and led Ren and Ken towards the Commander's tent. Although they were very tired, they could not rest yet.
As soon as they returned to the Commander's tent, they saw Fugaku sitting at a table, reviewing documents. Hearing the sound of the curtain being pulled back, he paused his pen and looked up.
When he noticed Ren, he was first startled, then a faint smile appeared on his face.
"You're back?"
"You've worked hard, Senior Fugaku."
As soon as Minato finished speaking, Ken and Ren also spoke one after another.
"Clan Head!"
"Uncle Fugaku!"
"Mm."
Fugaku nodded, then stood up, took a document from the table, and sat down at the conference table.
"You've returned just in time. This is intelligence that the Village just sent."
"Oh?"
The group came to the conference table and sat down. Minato was the first to take the document. After reading it for a while, his expression changed slightly, and he murmured,
"I didn't expect this…"
"Oh?"
Seeing Minato's reaction, Ken and Ren, who were sitting nearby, couldn't help but feel a hint of curiosity about the content. They didn't have to wait long, as Minato, having finished reading, handed over the scroll. The two immediately leaned in together, spreading the document on the table and reading it.
As they read, their expressions also changed. Ren rubbed his chin, pondering.
So, he joined the war at this point in time?
This intelligence truly surprised several people.
No one expected that the Third Mizukage, who was stationed in Hidden Mist Village, would personally go to the front lines, secretly arriving and leading an army to raid Konoha's position. Fortunately, he was discovered in time by Kosuke during his night patrol, which allowed Konoha to be prepared.
And White Fang had been transferred to the Kirigakure battlefield as the Commander some time ago. Under their leadership, they successfully repelled the Hidden Mist army.
According to intelligence from a spy in Hidden Mist, the Third Mizukage officially replaced Yagura as the Commander of the Hidden Mist front line, while Yagura was transferred to the Suna Hidden Village Battlefield and took three of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist with him.
After all, not everyone is as talented and resource-rich as Konoha. After a year of intense fighting, the astronomical war expenses alone had already caused headaches for the high-ranking officials of various Ninja Villages.
From the Third Mizukage's direct involvement, the group could also infer that they could no longer afford to drag on the war and had to have the Mizukage personally intervene to try and change the situation.
Thinking of this, Ren subconsciously recalled the Third Raikage, with whom he had recently fought. He must have also wanted to rush to the front lines to fight.
The successive involvement of these Kage indeed greatly increased the pressure on Konoha's side. However, fortunately, the Third Raikage was trapped by Iwagakure. Judging from last night's situation, he was probably beyond saving.
It must be said that the Iwagakure Shinobi really helped them a great deal. If the Third Raikage had successfully reached the front lines, the trouble would have been much greater.
His strength was top-tier even among Kage-level individuals. Ren estimated that someone like Rasa, a so-called Kage-level, wouldn't even last through two of the Third Raikage's Finger Pokes before being defeated.