In that instant, everyone suddenly felt that the sunlight falling from high above was no longer as scorching.
The light was dimming.
The temperature was dropping.
A trace of coolness appeared out of nowhere.
There was no wind.
The Suna army was retreating.
The Konoha army was pursuing.
The Iwa army was intercepting.
Not until they reached that enormous towering sand dune did the Suna army and Iwa army collide.
For a moment, the Sunagakure shinobi were shocked.
"It's Iwagakure shinobi!"
"They've come to intercept us!"
"Those damned Iwa bastards! How did they get here? Were Lady Chiyo and the others defeated? Impossible!"
"Now we're caught between enemies in front and behind us. What do we do?"
"Damn it. If they want us dead, then we absolutely won't let them have it easy!"
"Fight them!"
…
The eyes of the Konoha shinobi lit up.
"Excellent! Iwagakure has come to surround them. The Suna army has nowhere left to run!"
"Wipe them out! Wipe them all out! This is the best chance to annihilate them!"
"Don't let a single one go!"
…
Orochimaru's eyes flickered.
"Could it be that my feeling was wrong?"
"Is the Suna army truly only this much?"
"They really are no match for Konoha, and their escape… is truly an escape?"
"It isn't a trap? It isn't a scheme?"
"Could it really be this simple?"
Orochimaru once again called over the Hyuga shinobi.
But the Hyuga shinobi's reply remained the same. He saw nothing unusual.
The Iwagakure shinobi were greatly excited.
"Kill the Suna shinobi and earn merit!"
"Together with Konoha, slaughter these Sunagakure scum!"
"Kill them all!"
One Iwagakure shinobi said excitedly, "These Suna shinobi are trapped in a pincer attack from front and back. They no longer have the strength to resist. This is practically merit picked up for free. This feels amazing."
Another Iwa shinobi said, "We really have Konoha to thank. It was Konoha that paid a heavy price to drive them here."
"But now, at least half of the Suna shinobi's heads will belong to us!"
"Half is too little. Konoha has already fought a major battle. Their strength definitely can't compare to us waiting here fresh and ready."
"Those Konoha people must be furious."
"But they should be satisfied."
"After all, without us, they wouldn't have been able to catch up at all."
"The ones even angrier must be Sunagakure."
An Iwagakure shinobi snorted coldly.
"Ever since they defeated Kirigakure, they started thinking they were something incredible. But in reality, they're only so-so. It wasn't that Sunagakure was strong. Kirigakure was simply weak."
"Look at Kirigakure now. They can't even be considered a great shinobi village anymore."
"Our Iwagakure is not trash like Kirigakure!"
Suddenly—
"Click!"
It sounded like some mechanism being activated.
All at once, the earth shook and the mountains trembled.
The entire sand dune began to quake.
Then, a beam of light emerged from within the sand dune.
Two beams. Three beams…
The number was enormous, densely packed, blanketing and covering the entire nearby area like a rain of light, falling toward every Iwagakure shinobi.
"Pfft!"
"Pfft!"
"Pfft!"
One after another.
"Ah!"
A scream rang out.
"What is this? Who is it? What is this thing?"
"Where did it come from?"
One Iwagakure shinobi after another fell. They fell quickly. Whenever a beam of light descended, it would precisely strike an Iwagakure shinobi, and the Iwa shinobi struck by it would die without exception.
No one could block it.
Whether genin, chunin, or jonin—
Under this light, all were treated equally.
Very quickly, hundreds upon thousands of Iwagakure shinobi fell.
"No!"
Finally, the Iwagakure shinobi saw it clearly.
As the sand on the dune slid downward, the thing hidden within finally revealed its true appearance.
A structure.
A massive, towering structure.
Its lower half was a cube, while its upper half was a sphere.
A very large, perfectly round sphere.
The sphere hovered in midair.
"What is that?"
"Is that the thing attacking us?"
"It can actually release so many beams of light with such terrifying power?"
"What kind of ninja tool is this?"
One Iwagakure shinobi's expression turned grave.
"That is the Sun Disk!"
"That is the Sun Disk Sunagakure secretly built. No wonder they were willing to spend so much manpower and material resources constructing this thing. Its power is far too astonishing."
"No one can block it at all."
"And it's too fast. There's no way to dodge it either."
The light continued to fall.
The Iwagakure shinobi continued to collapse.
An Iwagakure jonin looked at the fallen Iwa shinobi, his eyes bloodshot.
"This is too much!"
"Damn Sunagakure!"
"This is a trap! A trap aimed specifically at our Iwagakure! They deliberately arranged the Sun Disk here and waited for our Iwa army to approach before activating it."
"Its killing power is too strong!"
"In such a short time, our Iwa army has already lost over a thousand shinobi!"
"Damn it!"
Panic appeared on Kitsuchi's face.
On one hand, the current situation had far exceeded his expectations, leaving him unsure of what to do for a moment.
On the other hand, this action had not been reported to Onoki. It had been his own independent decision.
The opportunity had been too rare. Kitsuchi did not want to let it slip away. If he had asked Onoki, the back and forth would have taken too much time.
Opportunities did not wait.
But Kitsuchi had never expected that what he thought would be an enormous achievement, one that would make others look at him differently, would become such a catastrophic failure.
He had buried so many Iwagakure shinobi in one move. How was he supposed to explain this?
Kitsuchi panicked. Even his face turned pale.
"How am I supposed to explain this to the people in the village?"
"How am I supposed to explain this to Father?"
"Father is already disappointed enough in me!"
The Iwagakure shinobi had fallen straight from the mountaintop into the bottom of the valley.
In contrast, the Sunagakure shinobi all grew excited.
"This thing isn't attacking us! It only attacks the Iwa shinobi!"
"Is this our Sunagakure's secret weapon?"
"Wonderful. This is incredible!"
"With a weapon like this, how could our Sunagakure possibly lose?"
"We will win this battle!"
"We will win!"
"We will win!"
The voices of the Sunagakure shinobi gathered together, erupting in a roar that shook the heavens.
On the other side, the Hyuga shinobi finally saw the existence of the Sun Disk.
His eyes widened, and an expression of extreme disbelief appeared on his face.
"That is… what?"
Orochimaru frowned.
"What happened?"
Only then did the Hyuga shinobi come back to himself.
"Lord Orochimaru, this is bad!"
"Sunagakure has created a strange structure over there. It can fire beams of light. Those beams can distinguish friend from foe and accurately fall onto every Iwagakure shinobi."
"And their power is extremely strong!"
"Whether genin, chunin, or jonin, they are all killed in a single strike!"
Orochimaru's pupils shrank violently.
"What?"
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