Ninja warfare differs from ordinary conflicts. Terrain is not much of an obstacle for Ninjas who can fly and teleport.
Therefore, compared to the wars of ordinary people and the naval battles between ship fleets, the common sense of conventional battlefields loses its effectiveness.
Those who are typically hindered by terrain are the civilians displaced by war, as well as the various commercial organizations within a nation's borders.
At this moment, in the many villages along the border of the Land of Frost, ordinary people who have heard that Kumogakure and Iwagakure are at war in the north are organizing their evacuation.
Torches light up the night. The entire valley is crowded with people, forming long lines. Amidst the noise of the crowd and the cries of children, this night is anything but peaceful.
This scene is observed by a man with a venus flytrap growing from his body and a face split in black and white.
"It looks like your tendrils have infiltrated them, Hiruko!"
"Yes, thanks to the Hashirama's cells you provided, my technique can be perfected to this extent! Wahahahaha!"
A small cluster of black sprouts emerges from beneath the hard rock, forming the face of a white-haired youth, erupting in fanatical, distorted laughter.
"Good. The Kirigakure scouts will be drawn here soon. I hope they'll get to enjoy the spectacle of Konoha's Ninjas wielding their butcher's knives!"
His body begins to writhe in an inhuman manner. The flytrap on Black Zetsu's collar gradually closes, carrying him as he breaks through the hard ground and moves underground.
"Of course! Just watch!"
The face formed by the black sprouts extends its perception, contacting the many sprouts he has implanted into the brains of the Land of Frost's civilians, manipulating them to walk toward the encampment of the Konoha's Ninja forces.
…
On the other side, in the Konoha's camp, the construction of defensive fortifications is underway.
Company Commander, Hatake Kakashi is leading a group of Earth Release Ninjas in building a massive wall. Without regard for Chakra Consumption, they heighten and thicken it relentlessly. A fifty-meter-high giant defensive wall gradually takes shape.
It is extremely thick. While it won't stop an enemy assault, if the enemy attempts a long-range Ninjutsu surprise attack on the camp, it should at least give the Konoha's Ninjas some reaction time.
The wall has protruding star-shaped angular sections with internal cavities and observation platforms, making it easy for patrolling and warning Ninjas to hide inside.
In the offense and defense of Ninja warfare, these observation platforms tend to leave blind spots beneath the vertical walls. If someone sticks their head out to release a Ninjutsu downward, it becomes easy for the enemy to take aim and blow their head off.
So, at this time, a Ninja company that has arrived at the front lines with the allied forces plays a vital role… the Sealing Squad!
Besides providing support with Sealing Techniques, applying protective barriers to the camp and defensive fortifications is also one of their important duties.
Atop the wall right now, an emotionless girl with long silver-white hair is watching the Ninjas below flit across the wall, setting up barbed wire tripwires and embedding sealing runes.
"Interested in Earth Release? I could teach you, you know~."
A low voice sounds behind the girl. A man who uses his forehead protector and mask to cover nearly eighty percent of his face walks over.
"Useless. This and this are too brittle. Setting these up is useless."
The emotionless girl, Sato Sakura, casually raises her hand and grabs the wall. With a crack, she crumbles a piece off the edge, the cracks spreading several meters.
Kakashi, who had come as an elder to experience the joy of playing with his grand disciple, sees this scene and can't help but twitch at the corner of his eye.
In his forty-plus years of life, this is the first time he's seen someone crush a Ninjutsu construct with their bare hands, without even using Chakra!
'— This strength is definitely Sakura's child, no doubt!'
"With abilities this weak, can you really protect yourself?" Sato Sakura tilts her cute head expressionlessly, her large emerald eyes fixed on Kakashi.
"Sigh. Why are all the kids these days so hard to deal with?" Kakashi sighs. "But you know, you're just like your mother in that regard."
Hearing Sakura's name, a ripple appears in Sato Sakura's usually calm eyes. "Can you tell me about Mother?"
"Mm, of course I can!" Kakashi shows a gentle smile, raises his finger, and uses chakra to repair the section of wall Sato Sakura damaged, then walks over and sits down beside her.
"The first time I met your mother, she had just joined the Anbu..."
The two lean against the city wall, reminiscing about the past. The Ninjas passing by see them and can't help but smile warmly, quietly detouring around them to give them space to talk.
But then, a sharp alarm sounds throughout the entire camp.
The Ninjas on rotation duty on the wall quickly follow the pre-arranged plan, diving to their respective posts, ready with Ninja tools and explosive tags.
Sato Sakura and Kakashi's conversation is forcibly interrupted, and they follow the other Ninjas to the edge of the wall to look down.
At the far end of the border, a large number of ragged, gaunt, ordinary people begin to appear, dragging their families along as they walk toward Konoha's defenses.
"Kakashi-sama, they're citizens of the Land of Frost!" A Chunin in a green vest flashes to Kakashi's side with the Body Flicker Technique and reports to him.
"Troublesome. It's pretty much what Commander Jiraiya and Sakura and the others guessed..." Kakashi pulls up his forehead protector, revealing the Sharingan in his eye socket.
With the power of his Dojutsu, he glimpses quite a few people among the fleeing Land of Frost residents who have strange clusters of chakra on their heads.
"Not good! Everyone, be on alert!!!"
As Kakashi shouts sharply, among the crowd of refugees below, people's faces and bodies begin to distort. Black sprouts rapidly proliferate and extend out of their bodies.
Then they pierce through the other normal residents around them, pulling limbs and broken bodies toward a center to converge, forming chimeras assembled from limbs and severed torsos.
"Ugh~"
Some Konoha rookies on the wall see this and can't help but vomit on the spot.
Even many veteran Ninjas, having seen countless battles, turn pale at this hellish sight.
Kakashi shifts his gaze, about to reach out and cover Sato Sakura's eyes, only to find her completely unaffected. Beneath those calm, watery eyes, there even seems to be a faint flicker of... fighting spirit?
"Roar—!"
Below the wall, the completed monsters emit roars from some unknown organ and begin frantically charging toward Konoha's border.
The Ninjas, authorized from the very beginning, no longer hold back. Earth Release, Fire Release, Water Release... various Ninjutsu rain down on the battlefield below as if they cost nothing.
But unexpectedly, the monsters' bodies aren't tough at all. Instead, the moment they're covered by the bombardment of Ninjutsu, they shatter one after another, turning into pools of blood and debris, dyeing the entire earth red.
"How can they be this weak?" Kakashi, who has observed the entire battle, is stunned.
'It doesn't make sense. Would they send mere rabble just to annoy us if they dared to attack Konoha's encampment?'
'The only result was consuming a little of the defending Ninjas' Chakra, likely replenished after a single meal.'
"No. The enemy's goal is just to make us kill them!" Sato Sakura tugs on Kakashi's sleeve, pointing her finger at the Ninja force in the distance, constantly approaching them.
Her wide-area Observation Haki perception spreads out. Seeing the Kirigakure's symbol on the forehead protectors of the approaching Ninjas, Kakashi's expression grows grim.
"Well, this really is... troublesome."