The rebels stared in horror, as their defenses were first punctured by the Lightning spears before being crushed by the overwhelming Fire-Wind jutsu! Without the need for a single order, every single one retreated!

    As they ran, one of the senior ninjas looked back and thought grimly, ''This is a scheme! We were fooled! If we knew it was Konoha, we would have retreated right away irrespective of our casualties. However, now...''

    Another thought, ''This isn''t the first time we were ambushed. Under normal circumstances, we would launch a strong combination attack and slow down the enemy just enough for us to escape. Of course, depending on how strong the enemy was, we would lose somewhere between 5-20% of our forces.

    But, Konoha crushed our attack directly! We failed to slow them down. That fire alone would wipe out more than a third of our forces! And, we''ll soon be hunted down by them. We''ll be lucky if 20% of us escape alive today.''

    Similar thoughts ran through the minds of the experienced ninjas. As for the young ones, terror had long flooded their minds. Despite their proficiency in escaping, the fire engulfed 125 ninjas! Their legs just couldn''t outrun the wind-assisted flames. Shrilling screams echoed through the grassland as all of them were burned alive!

    Needless to say, only the weakest ninjas failed to escape the range. Hence, they didn''t have any means to resist the scorching flames. Even the ones who had jutsus to move underground failed to do so in time. The remaining rebels gritted their teeth in rage but continued escaping without looking back. They could only swear to avenge their comrades. However, in order to do that, they had to escape alive.

    Konoha''s army split into platoons and chased after the scattered rebels. Since the rebels failed to retreat orderly, they were easy pickings for Konoha ninjas. The slower rebels were eliminated one by one. Realizing that they would die, several fought to buy some time for their comrades.

    Unfortunately, the slowest ninjas were once again the weakest among those who remained. They couldn''t do much. However, Konoha ninjas paid careful attention to them. They were wary of suicidal tactics and didn''t want to lose ninjas needlessly. As such, they successfully managed to slow down the Konoha army.

    The faster rebels sensed that the distance between them and Konoha was increasing and sighed in relief. However, they suddenly froze and stopped running. Their relief changed to horror and helplessness in a moment! Even the experienced ninjas were stunned. A few were so shocked that they even dropped their weapons and muttered, "Why...? Why is there another Konoha army here?"

    The sensors realized, ''There are over 2000 ninjas... Konoha sent 3 divisions... Fuck! They aren''t here just for us! They want to eliminate Kagero-sama and all those who support him!''

    The army that attacked the base was merely Hoka''s division. Using the combination attack, they killed 125 rebels and hunted another 68 as they escaped. The remaining 107 rebels were welcomed by the remaining two divisions. Without exchanging a single word, Konomi and Illumi''s divisions started the assault.

    From some distance away, Fujin and Renjiro witnessed the massacre. A few Nara Jounins stood behind them. Renjiro teased, "It looks like the new combination attack worked."

    Fujin shamelessly nodded and muttered, "Hmm, I didn''t think that the answer would be so simple. We only need to attack with ten times the number our enemy has and with stronger ninjas. We''ll always win overwhelmingly."

    Renjiro chuckled and said, "Maybe we should ask Shikaku for six thousand more ninjas to maintain our advantage in the next battle."

    Without hesitation, Fujin nodded. The Nara Jounins were left speechless at the duo''s plan to mess with their clan leader. Needless to say, none of them had any intention of defending their clan leader. It was too troublesome. They thought, ''No matter what trouble these two create, our leader is intelligent enough to deal with them. If we help, he might feel humiliated. We can''t humiliate our clan leader!''

    While the rebels were being slaughtered, two silhouettes were moving at a rapid speed. Hisato said fearfully, "Luckily you realized the threat, or we would have been dead too! Damned Konoha! Not only did they launch an attack on our base, but they also established a perimeter around the base! We were almost caught!"

    He was interrupted by Hoka, who asked in surprise, "Why did you attack me? I only wanted to talk. Who would assist you?"

    Reiko and Hisato felt like Hoka was mocking them. Reiko replied, "You are clearly strong. Why are you trying to stall us instead of fighting directly?"

    Confusion appeared on Hoka''s face as he asked, "Stall? I''m not doing anything like that. Rest assured, no one will come here. So, why don''t you answer my question?"

    Reiko shouted angrily, "Kill us if you want to, but you can''t humiliate us! We''ll never betray Sensei! Even if I have only one leg, I''ll still crush your skull!"

    The innocence vanished from Hoka''s face, replaced by an indifferent gaze. He asked, "One leg? Are you sure you still have it?"

    Hoka''s change and question caught the two off guard. They felt a tremor and looked below. Before they could react, a pair of arms appeared and grabbed their legs. They immediately stabbed kunais into the figure that appeared from the ground, but not before the chakra points in their legs were damaged!

    As the figure dispersed in a cloud of smoke, they heard, "Aren''t you forgetting something?"

    They couldn''t even turn their heads before being hit by the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms technique! Hoka sealed all their chakra points before knocking them unconscious!

    ————

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