In the time that followed, the assault team swiftly moved across the battlefield.
Because the previous Sand Ninja squad had been quickly annihilated, they couldn't even send out a signal.
By the time the closer Sand Ninja squads sensed something was wrong, the assault team had already pounced on them.
After eliminating three Sand Ninja squads in a row, the Sand Ninjas finally realized that enemies had appeared.
However, due to unclear intelligence regarding the enemy's exact numbers and locations, the Sand Ninjas' response was very passive.
No one dared to act rashly, fearing that any careless move might lead to an avalanche-like collapse.
Even so, the assault team continued its operations, tearing one gap after another in the entire Sand Village force.
The Sand Ninja squads they faced were either completely wiped out, or their sensory ninja, who served as communicators, were killed.
The former needs no explanation; the latter, while still able to transmit information, could only do so in the most primitive way.
Facing the fast-moving assault team, by the time the information reached others, it was already outdated, at most serving as a reference to guess which direction the assault team would head next.
Given the combat quality of Sand Ninjas, even a single squad could display strong combat capabilities.
Initially caught off guard, now that they realized the enemy's presence, their spirits were focused, and it wouldn't be easy to wipe them all out.
However, due to the lack of intelligence, the Sand Ninjas couldn't concentrate their forces to deal with the fast-moving assault team.
Even if they could protect their own squad's integrity, they were destined to be unable to eliminate the enemy.
Thus, as the assault team continued its actions, the fragmentation between squads within the Sand Ninja force became increasingly severe.
Some were relatively well-off, able to coordinate with nearby squads, while others completely lost contact and could only fight alone.
This situation was quickly reported to Chiki, the commander of the Sand Ninja force.
Upon learning of this, Chiki was greatly alarmed and immediately inquired about the positions of each squad in the force.
The subordinate quickly informed him of the positions of the squads that could still be contacted.
Chiki envisioned the situation in his mind, and what appeared was a fragmented Sand Ninja force, and not in any regular pattern.
He had a very bad feeling about it.
Since the enemy adopted such a combat method, they surely didn't just send out one squad; there would be follow-up forces.
Thinking of this, Chiki immediately inquired about the investigation situation ahead.
As expected, the Sand Ninjas responsible for the investigation frantically sent back intelligence—a large number of ninja forces were rushing towards them, including not only Leaf Ninjas but also Rain Village Ninjas!
"Damn it, I knew these lackeys from the Leaf Village would show up at this time," Chiki cursed involuntarily.
But no matter how much he cursed, the Rain Village Ninjas had indeed allied with the Leaf Village Ninjas.
Just moving his lips wouldn't change anything; he had to come up with a solution.
Chiki had participated in the First Great Ninja War, fighting alongside the Second Kazekage against enemy forces.
Both his strength and experience made him an outstanding figure in the Sand Village.
When Ebizo and Chiyo had to take charge of more important areas, the vanguard was led by veteran ninjas like him.
After more than twenty years, the forces of each ninja village had been replaced by new generations.
The old ninjas from the First Great Ninja War had either passed away or served as mid- or high-level commanders.
Most of the basic ninjas were new recruits, and the situation in the Sand Village was even more severe.
Due to budget cuts, the development of the Sand Village was very limited.
Most of the old ninjas from back then had left, and the remaining ones had all been promoted to high-level positions.
Although other ninja villages also had their basic forces replaced by young people in their twenties, they still had squad formations composed of old ninjas.
However, the Sand Village, on the other hand, had none; in fact, all of their forces were new recruits.
Therefore, veteran ninjas like Chiki were extremely rare, and even if his abilities weren't exceptionally outstanding, he was still entrusted with such an important task.
Chiki knew that if the assault team continued to fragment the force, the Sand Ninja force would definitely not be able to withstand the momentum of the allied forces.
He couldn't think of any other good method; the only thing he could think of was to gather the squads that could still be contacted, reunite them into a whole, unify command, and concentrate their strength to fight the enemy.
However, looking at the current fragmentation of the force, Chiki felt that some squads that had basically lost contact or were very difficult to contact could only be abandoned.
Otherwise, bringing them along would only expose their own vulnerabilities to the enemy, likely failing to achieve his goal and being exploited by the enemy.
After making his decision, Chiki issued the order for the contactable squads to maintain communication, confirm their positions, and begin converging with the nearest squads to reunify the entire force.
And just as he thought, those areas that couldn't be contacted or were severely fragmented could only be abandoned.
This was a very helpless way to cut losses.
Chiki believed this decision was correct, but for those Sand Ninja squads that couldn't be contacted but still held hope, it was a very cruel decision.
They still didn't know that they had been abandoned by those above.
When the Hyuga ninja in the squad reported the enemy's movements to Hatake Sakumo, Hatake Sakumo keenly noticed the anomaly and pondered for a moment.
At this time, they were engaged in combat with a Sand Ninja squad, and the battle was nearing its end.
The quality of the Sand Ninjas was indeed very high, but with an expert like Hatake Sakumo in the squad, even if the quality difference among basic members wasn't very large, the overall calculation would show a very significant disparity.
Asuna agilely leaped over a Sand Ninja's head, dodging his attack, and tugged on a thin wire.
The wire, imbued with wind-nature chakra, only needed a slightly stronger pull to leave a very large wound on the Sand Ninja's body, causing blood to gush out instantly.
The opponent had just cried out in pain when Asuna rushed forward, kicking him in the chest.
At the same time, she spun her body, moving above the opponent, and using her body weight, pressed down, pinning him to the ground.
As she did so, she plunged her sword into his throat and twisted it sharply, instantly killing him.
Asuna gently exhaled, staring at the Sand Ninja who died with his eyes open, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Even though she knew he was an enemy and she had killed many people in succession, she still felt that killing was not a pleasant thing.
Because the opponent was an enemy, she had to kill them, but she truly felt nothing good from it.
Asuna pulled out her sword, the blood on the blade gradually fading under the rinsing rain.
She looked up at the sky, wondering if even the heavens were weeping for those who died in this war.
The rain, which hadn't stopped, was now showing signs of becoming even heavier.
Everyone present was drenched, rainwater flowing down their ninja gear to the ground.
Their faces were silent as they turned their gaze to Hatake Sakumo, awaiting his next command.
However, they didn't expect Hatake Sakumo to announce that they should stop their assault and immediately rendezvous with the main force.
Many people were surprised by this decision, and Hatake Sakumo directly explained the reason—according to the intelligence received, the enemy force had started moving, and judging by their speed, it was clearly by command.
This indicated that the enemy commander had made a specific judgment.
At this point, pursuing them would be very dangerous, and missions are judged according to the situation.
Therefore, Hatake Sakumo believed they needed to regroup with the main force, get new instructions, and then execute the mission.
Upon hearing this, everyone had no objections.
Hatake Sakumo was both a Jonin and the leader of this squad, holding significant authority.
Moreover, what he said made sense; assuming the enemy truly had orders, they would certainly consider their pursuit, and there might be a trap waiting for them.
By now, the assault team's mission had actually been completed very well, creating gaps throughout the entire Sand Ninja force.
Even if the Sand squads on that side started moving, the Sand Ninja squads on this side had not yet shown any obvious changes, clearly having lost contact and not received the commander's orders.
Just counting these people, there were nearly two hundred, which was a significant force for the Sand Village.
Wiping out all these people would be a great achievement.
The assault team had no doubt they could eliminate these people.
Although there was a difference in numbers, firstly, they were all fragmented squads, their strength not unified, so individually, the assault team had an advantage.
Secondly, the Leaf Ninja force led by Uchiha Kagami was in this direction.
Uchiha Kagami and Hanzō intended to attack from two flanks, each leading their forces to attack the left and right wings.
The side with more severe fragmentation was Uchiha Kagami's attack area, and the ninja force led by Uchiha Kagami was even larger, making the outcome without suspense.
The only concern might be the left flank, which Hanzō was responsible for.
His subordinates were mostly Rain Ninjas, with only a portion of Leaf Ninjas among them.
And looking at the movements of the Sand Ninja force, it was highly likely that they would gather on the left flank, meaning Hanzō would face a direct confrontation with the Sand Ninjas.
Hatake Sakumo understood this and didn't plan to rely on his own people to help.
If he were to bring anyone, he would bring the ninja force led by Uchiha Kagami.
During this time, he could only pray that Hanzō would be able to hold on.
According to Sensei Kazamori's assessment, Hanzō's strength was very formidable.
Although he had spent several years in the Rain Village, Hatake Sakumo didn't have a clear understanding of Hanzō's strength.
After all, they weren't adversaries, nor did they have any intention of sparring with each other.
It was just that experts could instinctively feel that this person was very strong.
While leading the assault team to rendezvous with Uchiha Kagami's unit, Hatake Sakumo instructed Yamanaka Risa to send a message to that side.
When Uchiha Kagami received the firsthand information, he pondered for a moment and then made a decisive move.
He divided his troops into two groups; he would lead one group to quickly advance towards the Sand Ninja force, flanking Hanzō's unit from front and back, while the other group would deal with the abandoned Sand Ninjas.
Considering the mission undertaken by the assault team earlier, they were clearly unable to capture Sand Ninjas during their assault.
But now the situation was different; firstly, these Sand Ninja squads could be confirmed as abandoned, and Uchiha Kagami's experience confirmed this.
Since they were abandoned, it meant they were isolated and helpless, and isolated and helpless teams could be dealt with slowly and captured.
During the First Great Ninja War, when dealing with the Cloud Village, Uchiha Kagami knew what role prisoners could play.
In the Warring States period, prisoners were mainly used to prevent mutual destruction, providing a step for mutual compromise—of course, if there were truly important figures who could allow one to completely annihilate the opponent, these considerations wouldn't apply.
In the context of a Ninja War, prisoners also played such a role, and due to the larger scale, their importance could be magnified.
Fumori Masaki believed that when a ninja village could not be completely annihilated, prisoners held great value, with their importance increasing based on their status.
This would facilitate the influence on other ninja villages and various other aspects after the war ended.
Therefore, he ordered that as many as possible be captured; those who couldn't be captured could only be sent to the Pure Land, lest they be exploited again by ruthless ninja villages.
These abandoned Sand Ninja squads were now the best candidates for capture.
The Leaf Ninjas didn't even need to be overly aggressive; they could slowly deal with these people, and in the best-case scenario, capture everyone without injury, unless the Sand Village came to support these people.
But would anyone come to support them?
The current situation was very favorable.
As long as Hanzō's side could hold out until Uchiha Kagami arrived, the Sand Ninja force, caught in a pincer attack, would be lucky not to collapse, let alone have the energy to care for these Sand squads that would require a great cost to rescue.
If the Sand Ninjas truly dared to pay such a price, it would mean there were very important people among them, and then Uchiha Kagami should even more so capture these people.
During the First Great Ninja War, Sora, who was captured by Fumori Masaki, put great pressure on the Second Raikage, who was then the second-in-command.
Humans are not plants; how can they be emotionless? Especially when it's a disciple he meticulously trained.
At that time, the Cloud Village was eager to end the war, and Uchiha Kagami believed that a part of the reason was the Second Raikage, especially after the First Raikage died and the Second Raikage succeeded him, his influence became even greater.
Now, as a high-ranking official, Uchiha Kagami knew that there were indeed some transactions between the Leaf Village and the Cloud Village behind the scenes at that time.
Uchiha Kagami led his troops forward and happened to see the assault team.
For the assault team, who had worked so hard and achieved so much, Uchiha Kagami didn't intend to let them continue helping.
He prepared to take care of the aftermath.
After all, even with new nutritional food and chakra reserve blocks, the mental pressure couldn't be easily smoothed out.
The rest should be left to Uchiha Kagami's unit, whose morale was high.
Neither side said anything; everything would wait until after this battle.
The only thing Uchiha Kagami could do was nod slightly to Hatake Sakumo and his subordinates behind him, indicating his approval.
Then, the two sides passed each other, heading in different directions.