Onoki's eyes widened, disbelief filling his face.
In Onoki's view, this was something that should have been impossible.
The battlefield between Iwagakure and Sunagakure was not even the main front. The true main battlefield was between Konoha and Sunagakure. Iwagakure's primary role was to provide containment. Small-scale casualties were understandable, but how could such large-scale losses occur?
Sunagakure could not possibly ignore Konoha and launch a surprise attack against Iwagakure.
What benefit would that bring Sunagakure?
Moreover, given the deployment of the Iwagakure army, it would not be easy for Sunagakure to defeat the Iwa forces.
No matter how Onoki thought about it, he could not understand why something like this had happened.
And there was another matter.
Even if Onoki was deeply dissatisfied with Kitsuchi—dissatisfied with his performance, feeling that he had failed to live up to his status as Onoki's child—Onoki still acknowledged this son in the end.
Onoki absolutely did not want to hear news that Kitsuchi had met with misfortune.
"Kitsuchi, he…"
The intelligence shinobi below quickly said,
"Tsuchikage-sama, it was a trap. We fell into Sunagakure's trap!"
"When Lord Kitsuchi led us to intercept the Suna army, an extremely massive object suddenly appeared on a nearby sand dune."
"It was the Sun Disk."
"Because it had been covered, buried, and wrapped in sand, we could not see it at all."
"The shinobi on Konoha's side also did not reveal any information."
"On the surface, it looked like Konoha's shinobi were pursuing, and Sunagakure's army had fled to that place. But in reality, Sunagakure's army must have gone there deliberately, precisely to lure our Iwagakure army over."
"That Sun Disk was too powerful."
"It fired beams of light, one after another. Whenever a beam fell, one of our Iwagakure shinobi would definitely collapse. Even jonin could neither dodge nor block it."
"It was terrifyingly powerful!"
"In an extremely short time, many of our Iwagakure shinobi died."
"Lord Kitsuchi fought to the very end."
As Onoki listened to the intelligence shinobi's report, he imagined the scene in his mind. His eyes instantly turned red.
"Rasa!"
Onoki could almost hear Rasa mocking him.
—Onoki, haven't you always wanted to know about the Sun Disk's intelligence? This time, I'll let you see it thoroughly.
Onoki truly had wanted intelligence on the Sun Disk.
And this time, he had finally obtained it.
But the price of obtaining it was far too great.
Over a thousand Iwagakure shinobi had died, including many elites. More importantly, even Onoki's eldest son, Kitsuchi, had died under the Sun Disk's attack.
Onoki's mood was extremely terrible.
Compared with the time Iwagakure had been defeated by Konoha's army under Orochimaru's leadership, it was no better.
"How could this happen?"
"How could this happen?"
Onoki forced himself to calm down.
"The Suna army was defeated. Konoha's army pursued. Kitsuchi led the Iwa army to intercept them. And the successful interception point just happened to have a Sun Disk stationed there?"
"Could this be a play staged by Konoha and Sunagakure?"
"On the surface, these two shinobi villages have broken into war, but in reality, they are cooperating in secret."
"Was my Iwagakure plotted against?"
Onoki's face darkened.
"But that should be impossible. Jiraiya truly becoming crippled is a fact. If this was all to scheme against Iwagakure, then Konoha paid far too heavy a price. There would be no need."
"No, wait. If Hiruzen Sarutobi originally wanted to eliminate Jiraiya, then it can be explained."
"This is not cooperation between Konoha and Sunagakure."
"It is cooperation between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Rasa."
"Sunagakure's attacks against Hiruzen Sarutobi's reputation in Ninja World Weekly were merely a cover!"
"A false appearance!"
Onoki felt that this possibility was not small.
But immediately afterward, Onoki began cursing angrily.
"Who allowed Kitsuchi to lead the Iwagakure army to intercept them?"
The intelligence shinobi froze for a moment.
"Tsuchikage-sama, was it not your order?"
"My order? When did I ever give such an order? I did not even know that Sunagakure's army had been defeated."
Onoki looked at the intelligence shinobi before him and said in a heavy voice, "It seems Kitsuchi fell for their trick."
"Sunagakure is full of schemes. They plotted against Kitsuchi. Kitsuchi failed to notice and foolishly thought it was an opportunity, then naively led the Iwa army straight into it. Foolish!"
"Far too foolish!"
Onoki spoke with deep anguish.
"How could Kitsuchi be so stupid? He caused countless elites of my Iwagakure to be lost! I'm furious!"
Very soon, the news that Iwagakure had suffered enormous losses spread throughout the entire shinobi world.
But what people discussed even more was the Sun Disk.
"The Sun Disk is terrifying!"
"It has already surpassed the scope of ninja tools!"
"It can fire extremely powerful beams of light. It can distinguish friend from foe. It is extremely fast, extremely powerful, and can fire many beams at once… It can practically be described as—show your head and you die."
"That's absurd. With Sunagakure possessing weapons like this, who can still be their opponent?"
"One Sun Disk is equivalent to an entire shinobi army."
"No. It's even stronger than a shinobi army."
Some Iwagakure shinobi who had witnessed the scene revealed expressions of extreme terror.
"I want to leave the battlefield. I don't want to keep fighting."
"Sunagakure is not an existence we can defeat at all."
The same was true on Konoha's side.
This was not merely a matter of victory or defeat.
Something had appeared that exceeded their previous understanding.
"We can't fight this. We simply can't fight!"
Orochimaru frowned deeply as he summarized the contents observed by one intelligence shinobi after another.
"Sun Disk."
"Killing radius: three kilometers."
"Attack method: laser."
"It can attack multiple people simultaneously, attack continuously, and distinguish friend from foe."
"A super-large ninja tool with essentially no weaknesses. Once near this ninja tool, Sunagakure shinobi will possess an enormous advantage. Shinobi from other villages will have no chance at all."
"Unless this ninja tool can be destroyed."
"But that will be very difficult."
"To launch an attack from within a range of three kilometers, and for that attack to still possess enough power after flying three kilometers to destroy the Sun Disk—very difficult."
"If one had to name something, a Tailed Beast Ball might be able to do it."
"But currently, only Kumogakure can use controllable Tailed Beast Balls."
"And that is only possibly."
"Sunagakure will definitely have precautions as well."
Orochimaru raised his head.
"And Sunagakure already possesses four such Sun Disks."
"Should this war continue?"
"If only I could obtain the Sun Disk's blueprints."
Orochimaru's eyes flickered.
"I remember Danzo seems to have planted quite a few spies inside Sunagakure…"
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