Unlike the Flight-Locusts that had blanketed the sky the previous night, the primary force of the swarm this ti consisted of ground-crawling Poison-Sting Beetles. It had taken them a full two days to reach the front.
The desert was truly an inhospitable environnt for Tetsumaru's swarm. Of the four million Flight-Locusts that flew from the Land of Rivers to Sunagakure, over 600,000 had been lost in transit. The ten million Poison-Sting Beetles fared even worse; after a two-day march, 3.5 million had died of dehydration under the scorching sun.
Many Suna ninjas had faced these beetles before. They knew well that beyond a ten-ter range, these insects were effectively harmless. Confident in this knowledge, they opened fire without hesitation.
A carpet of insects crawled out of the darkness toward the village. The Suna defenders unleashed Ninjutsu, kunai, and shuriken, but nothing could halt the swarm's advance.
When the beetles hit the sa cliffs, they began to climb. Their vertical speed was naturally slower than their pace on flat ground, causing the swarm to pile up at the base of the cliffs. Like a rising flood, the mass of chitin grew slowly but irresistibly upward.
Accuracy was no longer a concern. Suna ninjas who had exhausted their ninja tools simply grabbed rocks from the ground; every stone hurled down crushed a dozen or more beetles.
But it was a futile gesture. The entire village of Sunagakure felt like a lonely island surrounded by a rising tide. Like people trapped on a reef watching the water rise, they could only wonder: how do you push back the ocean?
Even the Kazekage was seeing such a nightmare for the first ti. Any Suna ninja who had witnessed this kind of horror in the past hadn't lived long enough to tell the tale.
Desperate, the Sand brought out their chemical stockpiles. Even precious Salamander Venom was poured down like water, creating patches of lethally toxic dead zones.
Tetsumaru watched from afar, letting out a disdainful chuckle. Compared to the ti Hanzo had flooded an entire lake with venom in the Land of Rain, this was amateur hour. That had been a toxic wasteland; this was a puddle.
"Everyone, listen up," Tetsumaru commanded. "Ignore the poison. Just maintain the rhythm and keep releasing the swarm. The tide will bury the toxins soon enough."
Nara Yoshito and Uchiha Hiro were stunned. Just send them out? That's it? You didn't need a tactical genius for this; you could train a dog to do it.
The "dog" in question, Inuzuka O, was having the ti of his life. He released batch after batch, laughing hysterically as he watched the Sand ninjas scramble to deal with the overwhelming numbers. He was clearly in his elent.
Tetsumaru overheard his students' internal complaints and made a ntal note in his "grudge book."
Yes, Abura Tetsumaru was currently a "dog" himself—a man hopelessly addicted to the sheer, unadulterated pleasure of the "Select All A-Move" strategy.
In his previous life, he'd always been constrained by a 200-unit population cap, forced to micromanage production and economy. Now, he had six million beetles. He just had to A-move. Again and again. It was glorious.
Over three million beetles were sacrificed to exhaust the Suna poisons, their mounting corpses eventually forming a bridge that insulated the rest of the swarm from the toxic ground.
As the tide continued to rise, the Sand were forced to use their manual Thermobaric Bombs against the ground units. The vacuum explosions finally cleared sections of the sa, slowing the ascent.
Before the Kazekage could catch his breath, a scout rushed over, frantic. "Lord Kazekage! There's trouble at the main gate!"
"What now?"
"We've detected movent on the boulders blocking 'The Gap.' Soone is digging... they've already bored deep into the rock!"
The Kazekage's heart sank. He began striding toward the gate. "What is that Leaf insect-user planning? Is he trying to tunnel in and deliver those explosive bugs?"
The scout followed closely. "No need for alarm yet, sir. The tunnels are incredibly narrow—thinner than a man's arm. The explosive locusts shouldn't be able to fit."
Confused, the Kazekage decided to see for himself. "Gather the staff officers. I want everyone figuring out what the enemy is up to."
The assault on Suna's main entrance was being led by Uchiha Hiro. Since the siege began, the Sand had completely sealed "The Gap" with massive boulders; they were ninjas, after all, and didn't rely on the front door for ingress.
Hiro, however, had been obsessed with that door ever since he learned about the Mole Crickets. He had designed a plan: under the cover of the main beetle swarm, the Mole Crickets would use their corrosive acid to bore holes into the boulders, allowing them to plant explosive tags deep within the structural weak points.
Tetsumaru hadn't offered any criticism. He simply summoned six thousand Mole Crickets and handed them over to Hiro, letting the boy experint.
To be honest, Tetsumaru didn't expect much from this "sneak attack." He knew his swarm's greatest strength was volu, and volu required space to deploy. Even if they blew the gate, the bottleneck of "The Gap" would limit the number of insects that could enter per minute. The Sand could easily hold such a choke point with Ninjutsu until the swarm's own corpses plugged the hole again.
However, if Hiro believed breaking the gate ant victory, the Suna defenders likely shared that ntal bias. A breach of the "Front Door" would cause panic and over-reaction. In a war of nerves, that was more valuable than the breach itself.
Suna's manpower was already stretched to the limit. One wrong tactical deploynt could trigger a total collapse of their defense.
"Heads up! The Sand have noticed the attack on the gate. They're moving reinforcents!"
Hiro bit his lip. "How did they spot us so fast? I haven't finished planting the last set of tags!"
"Don't panic, Hiro," Yoshito comforted him. "They're trapped inside. It's nearly impossible for them to stop your work from the other side of those boulders. You have ti."
"Damn it!" Hiro punched the sand. The elent of surprise was gone, making the capture of the village that much harder.
Tetsumaru's voice cut through the comms. "Hiro, proceed with the plan."
"Yoshito, O—prepare for a full-scale assault. The mont Hiro triggers the blast, release every locust. No more holding back the Scythe-Mantises, either. We're putting all our chips on the table."
"Understood, Sensei!"
Two minutes later, a deafening roar shook the sa as the boulders blocking the gate were pulverized. A fountain of insects erupted from the smoking breach.
Simultaneously, hundreds of thousands of Flight-Locusts took to the sky from the north, south, and west, converging on the village. From the ground, six-ter-long tunnels opened up, and Scythe-Mantis units began to pour out in a silver stream, flanked by an endless sea of beetles.
Tetsumaru had committed everything. Aside from himself and his three students, every resource he had was in play.
Suddenly, a torrent of Iron Sand erupted from over a hundred buildings within Sunagakure. Suna had apparently pre-positioned stockpiles of iron in warehouses across the village. Without needing to gather sand from the earth, the Kazekage deployed a massive curtain of tal in under twenty seconds.
Magnet Style: Iron Sand Storm!
A gargantuan cyclone of iron sand wreathed the entire village, shredding everything that tried to enter.
Dammit, Tetsumaru thought. Suna had a hidden ace. We aren't getting in today.
He simply didn't have the numbers. If he had another ten million bugs, he could have outlasted the Kazekage's chakra reserves. But the 6.5 million lost during the desert march had robbed him of that chance.
Tetsumaru assessed the situation and imdiately shifted tactics. He ordered his disciples to slow the attack, prioritizing the swarm's survival over lethality to reduce the effectiveness of the iron storm.
Regardless of the outco, the swarm had to maintain the pressure until dawn. If they burned out too early, it would weaken Konoha's hand at the negotiating table tomorrow.
Dawn arrived.
As Orochimaru issued the order to cease hostilities, Tetsumaru recalled the remaining beetles. An official armistice was in effect.
Half an hour later, the "brave" advisors Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane entered Sunagakure to conduct the peace talks.
A gaunt, pale Kazekage received them. Alongside Chiyo, he entered a heated session of bargaining.
Homura and Koharu presented Konoha's terms. They were surprisingly simple:
1. Sunagakure officially admits defeat.
2. Suna withdraws all ninjas from the Lands of Rivers, Rain, Fire, and Tea. They are barred from re-entering for one year.
3. Suna pays Konoha an indemnity of one billion Ryo, to be paid over two years.
When the Kazekage read the terms, his face went white. His hands trembled so violently he could barely speak. "Excuse ... I need a mont to compose myself."
He and Chiyo stepped out of the tent. The mont they were out of sight, the Kazekage—a Kage-level powerhouse—felt his knees buckle. He nearly collapsed.
The terms were... incredible. He couldn't believe his eyes. He had to reach down and pinch his thigh so hard he drew blood just to confirm he wasn't dreaming.
"Steady, Lord Kazekage! Steady!" Chiyo hissed, her own hands shaking. "You can't just agree imdiately. We have to pretend to negotiate."
The Kazekage swallowed hard. "Right. I need to be steady. Can't say yes too fast. Steady..."
An hour later, the Kazekage returned, his thigh bandaged and his expression stone-cold. He slamd a hand on the table.
"Sunagakure cannot accept such humiliating terms! If Konoha insists on this, we would rather fight to the last man! We will drag the Leaf into the grave with us!"
Koharu looked into the Kazekage's bloodshot eyes and felt a killing intent like she had never experienced. After being ignored for an hour, the sudden threat broke her nerves.
"Then... what are Suna's counter-conditions?" she blurted out.
The hook was set. No—the Leaf was in deep trouble.
The Kazekage cast a silent glance at Chiyo: Should we stop talking and keep fighting?
Chiyo gave a slight shake of her head: We can't hold out. Use this opening to minimize our losses. We won't get a better deal than this.
After a day of "grueling" negotiation, the armistice was signed. Suna refused to budge on the full amount of the indemnity, requiring further talks. The advisors would stay behind to finalize the details, while the Konoha army was cleared to begin its journey ho.
Amidst the confusion and disbelief of the troops, Orochimaru released the new intelligence reports as ordered by the Hokage.
Just as the war was ending, a new player had erged: the Sky Ninja Village. They had launched a direct air raid on Konoha, successfully suppressing the village's defenses.
On paper, the Sky Ninja were far weaker than the Rain. They had less than three thousand combatants. But they had one advantage: they could fly.
Every single Sky Ninja was equipped with a flight device. They refused to engage on the ground, focusing entirely on air raids. Konoha's legendary masters could only stare at the sky in frustration, forced into a purely defensive posture.
Worse, with 30,000 ninjas deployed to the various fronts, Konoha's heartland was full of holes. Outposts, intelligence hubs, mines, docks, and warehouses were all vulnerable. The 10,000-man ho guard couldn't cover everything.
Konoha desperately needed to end the war with Suna to bring its veteran legions ho to defend the capital.
The Sky Ninja were currently the biggest "badasses" in the world.
Sunagakure had caught a massive break. They had survived a total collapse by the skin of their teeth. No matter how much Orochimaru and the other front-line ninjas resented the withdrawal, they had no choice. Ho ca first.
Orochimaru had ignored the Hokage's initial "stand down" order, launching that final three-day assault that cost both sides over five thousand lives.
But that loss was a calculated necessity. By crippling Suna's remaining strength, he had ensured they were too broken to pursue. Suna would be forced to abandon their interests in the Land of Bears and focus entirely on defending their ho from the Iwa. They were effectively removed from the board as a threat to Konoha.
Furthermore, because Suna was so thoroughly beaten, they hadn't dared to "negotiate" with anything other than a quick bow of the head.
If he hadn't broken them, the withdrawal from the Land of Wind would have been a disaster of ambushes and harassnt.
However, the two advisors were either blind or stupid. They wouldn't stop harping on Orochimaru's "insubordination," blaming his final assault for making them "look weak" at the table.
Orochimaru didn't argue. He didn't even explain.
He simply extended his tongue and licked his own eye, completely ignoring the two old fossils.
What was there to say to such fools?
If it had been Shimura Danzo, he might have bothered with an explanation. Danzo was evil to the core and not particularly bright, but at least he understood the reality of the battlefield.
Perhaps, Orochimaru thought, I can cooperate with Danzo in the future.
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