Although the smokescreen had faded and Loess's speed was returning, he was already surrounded by Lock's water bullets with no way to dodge. His expression darkened, and he quickly raised a defense.
Boom—
An explosion tore through the air. The Water Fang Bullets slammed into Loess all at once—six in total—and two of them hit especially hard, tearing through his defenses and engulfing him in a roaring torrent.
"Loess!"
The surrounding Iwa-nin cried out in shock. The Tsuchikage's son—commander of this operation—was under attack. If he fell here, it would be a massive blow to the village.
"Protect Lord Loess!"
One of the Iwa jōnin shouted and quickly formed a long chain of seals, launching an earth-style technique directly at Lock's position.
"Earth Release: Civil Engineering Technique!"
Two massive earthen domes erupted from the ground on either side of Lock, closing in to crush him.
The move came suddenly, but Lock was no ordinary opponent. Before the domes could close, he flickered out of sight and reappeared behind the caster—his kunai flashing once before the man fell lifelessly to the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth Spirit Dumpling!"
Another massive boulder hurtled down from above. Lock looked up just in time to realize there was no room to evade.
He triggered his dimensional escape technique—his last resort—and vanished an instant before impact.
When he reappeared, several more earth-style attacks came flying his way. Lock flickered again, vanishing to a safer distance.
"He's gone again!"
Iwa's sensory ninja had been tracking him the entire time. "His chakra just reappeared—about three hundred meters north!"
"Damn that brat!"
The Iwa shinobi cursed. Lock's ability was maddening—appearing and vanishing at will, fighting when he pleased, and escaping unharmed. None of them could pin him down.
"Lord Loess! Lord Loess is alive!"
A relieved cry rang out. Loess clawed his way out from beneath the broken earth, battered and covered in dust but alive. He had managed to form an earth defense at the last second. Though it shattered under the impact, it saved his life.
"Father was right…" Loess muttered darkly. "If we don't eliminate that kid, he'll become a serious threat one day."
Even a short exchange with Lock had left him shaken. The boy's teleportation technique alone made him a nightmare to deal with—but what unsettled him most was how much power Lock could draw from seemingly ordinary jutsu. His water-style shouldn't have been that destructive, yet it had nearly taken his life.
"Loess, are you alright?"
A middle-aged Iwa jōnin ran up, clearly worried.
Loess waved him off. "I'm fine. The real problem is that the brat escaped again."
"The enemy's abilities are too unpredictable," the jōnin said grimly. "Unless we set a trap in advance, he's almost impossible to kill. On a battlefield like this, he can run wild and no one can stop him."
"Even our sensory units can only track him, not catch him. Unless the Tsuchikage himself strikes with overwhelming force, he can't be taken down."
Loess frowned. "Then what should we do now?"
"Our mission isn't to wipe them out—just to stall them," the jōnin replied. "We've already achieved that. It's time to pull back."
"Understood. I'll give the order."
Loess turned and issued commands to the Iwa forces.
Meanwhile, far from the front, Lock crouched behind a shattered ridge, watching the battlefield below. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he caught his breath.
He was disappointed—he hadn't managed to finish Loess. That one blow should have ended it. The man's defense was far tougher than he'd expected.
"Chakra's running low," he muttered.
He'd fought continuously, used multiple high-level techniques, and faced several elite opponents in a row. Even with his strong reserves, his chakra was more than half drained. Recovery was faster than most, but not limitless.
Just as he was weighing whether to rest, a strange shift caught his eye.
Across the battlefield, Iwa-nin were suddenly disengaging from combat and falling back.
"Retreat? What's going on?"
Even the Konoha shinobi paused in confusion. Iwa wasn't losing badly—only slightly on the back foot. There was no reason to retreat so abruptly.
"What's happening? Why is Iwa pulling back?"
At the command post, Mitokado Homura frowned, leaning forward.
"I don't know," Yamanaka Inoichi said, eyes closed in concentration. "But it doesn't feel like a feint. They're genuinely retreating."
Jiraiya turned toward Nara Shikaku. "Shikaku, your thoughts?"
Shikaku's expression was grim. "Think about it— they attacked suddenly, fought hard for less than an hour, and now they're retreating. This wasn't meant to be a decisive battle at all. It's too deliberate."
"You mean… they never planned to win this fight?" Jiraiya asked.
Shikaku nodded. "Exactly. Iwa's up to something else. This whole battle might just be a diversion—but the question is, if this is the decoy… what are they really after?"
He folded his arms, eyes narrowing. "They struck east—but what's happening in the west?"
No one answered. The battlefield was quieting, but unease settled over every Konoha shinobi still standing.
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