Chapter 54: Preparing to Ambush the Cloud Pursuers

Upon receiving Yamanaka Chujiu's order to retreat, each squad immediately complied.

The Konoha Ninja followed the plan, using their most powerful Ninjutsu or recklessly scattering Explosive Tags to create the largest possible clouds of smoke.

Within the smoke, one Clone and Shadow Clone after another ran about in all directions, attacking and creating chaos at will.

In a battlefield where chakra fluctuations were intense, even ordinary Clones were indistinguishable; the Cloud Ninja, with eyes reddened, often killed nothing but a puff of white smoke.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the Konoha Ninja calmly disengaged from the battle, seized the opportunity to escape from the initial northern hillside, and crossed the slope to wait and regroup.

Before withdrawing, the Illusion Squad used a large-scale Illusion Technique: Phantom Light once more, mixing real flames with illusory ones, making them difficult to distinguish.

The chaotic valley fell into total disarray, and the difficulty for the Cloud Ninja to conduct disaster relief nearly doubled.

In fact, it was already impossible.

The waiting time was only three minutes, yet every one of those 180 seconds felt as long as a year.

The final time limit arrived, but the people had not all gathered; three Konoha Ninja were trapped in the valley.

Yamanaka Chujiu was fully focused on controlling the emotions of the Cloud Ninja and had no spare energy to attend to his own subordinates; he, too, did not know what had befallen those three ninja.

But he did not hesitate and calmly issued the order: "Time is up, retreat!"

Yamanaka Chujiu gave the order calmly, and the other Konoha Ninja acted calmly, as if no one had sacrificed themselves.

Even young ninja like Shisui Uchiha, though their eyes held unbearable pain and tears, said nothing either.

This is war!

These are true ninja who have rolled through the mud of war!

They knew sacrifice was unavoidable; they knew they could not risk the lives of more comrades for the sake of a few.

A freak like Uchiha Obito only appears once in a millennium.

But the road to retreat was not easy to walk.

The Cloud Ninja had indeed been stunned, and after their organization was thoroughly disrupted, they could not fight as a ninja army; however, those Elite Jonin standing at the pinnacle of ninja, even if only one reacted, possessed enough power to threaten the Konoha Ninja.

Yamanaka Chujiu's Mind Severing Realm sensed that within the tide of chaotic emotions behind them, several sources of emotion had already broken free from the confusion.

This meant the Cloud Ninja's pursuit would arrive soon.

Someone had to cover the retreat, or launch an ambush to eliminate the pursuing Cloud Elite Jonin and deter any potential subsequent pursuit.

Heh heh heh, I had the Mixed Reconnaissance Squad set up an ambush position in advance, it wasn't a waste at all; I am truly clever!

Yamanaka Chujiu smiled triumphantly and led the team forward at full speed.

With his Mind Severing Realm's emotional perception fully open, he bypassed the scattered Cloud Ninja he encountered and ordered the infiltrating Konoha Ninja he met to follow along.

With the Cloud supply center destroyed, the retaliation and encirclement by Kumogakure would be triggered automatically, without needing an order from the Fourth Raikage.

If the infiltrating Konoha Ninja did not follow the retreat, they would inevitably meet disaster in the ensuing encirclement.

The strength of the infiltrating ninja was uneven, and their conditions were even more varied; bringing them along to retreat caused the entire team's speed to slow down significantly.

But no one opposed Yamanaka Chujiu's decision.

When comrades could not be saved, Konoha Ninja could calmly choose to abandon them, but when there was a chance to save people, they were also willing to risk it.

No one wanted to follow a cold-blooded commander, like that bastard Shimura Danzo.

But more importantly, the Konoha Ninja of the assault force believed that if Yamanaka Chujiu could accept his comrades, he must have absolute certainty in bringing everyone back.

This was the prestige forged by victory, an unshakable confidence.

Yamanaka Chujiu did not let down his subordinates' trust; he successfully led the team to the first rest point and rendezvoused with the First Mixed Reconnaissance Squad.

Captain Aburame Shangyu had confirmed their identities in advance via Kikaichu; knowing they had lost three comrades, his mood became slightly dejected.

But on the surface, everything remained as usual; he calmly arranged for the Konoha Ninja to rest and provided hot water and hot food for everyone.

Inuzuka Shota, who was responsible for preparing the food and water, shouted: "How come there are so many more people?"

Nara Luye said: "We brought along all the comrades we met on the way; the Cloud Ninja have suffered huge losses, and they will surely make a big move next, so it is too dangerous to stay here."

Inuzuka Shota, worthy of being a ninja of the Inuzuka clan, immediately cast aside his worries and went to prepare more food and hot water.

His Ninja Dog ran back and forth obediently, clumsily providing insignificant help.

The dog-boy's overflowing vitality made all the Konoha Ninja smile knowingly, and their tense emotions relaxed quite a bit.

Yamanaka Chujiu did not smile; he closed his eyes, gently pressed his temples with his fingertips, and focused his mind on the perception of the Mind Severing Realm.

He discovered that his operation of the Mind Severing Realm had advanced a step further; when concentrating, he could constrain the perception range from a sphere into a column, directionally sensing emotions further away.

After confirming there were no Cloud Ninja within a range of several kilometers, Yamanaka Chujiu focused his attention on the path he had come from, and sure enough, he sensed feelings of agitation and anger, as well as undisguised killing intent.

It was a group of ninja with similar emotions, among which one source of emotion fluctuated particularly intensely, the killing intent almost boiling over.

Yamanaka Chujiu opened his eyes and said to Nara Luye: "The Cloud pursuers are coming, one Elite Jonin and a reinforced squadron of forty people."

"The Cloud pursuers are very fast; although they haven't determined our direction yet, they are already less than eight thousand meters away from us."

Nara Luye said: "What is Chujiu-sama's decision?"

Yamanaka Chujiu smiled: "They must have found the sacrificed comrades and obtained the intelligence that we only have twenty-eight people from their brains, which is why they dared to pursue with a force of forty."

"They might even think that not only are we few in number, but we also have many wounded."

"But in reality..."

The Konoha Ninja gathered around Yamanaka Chujiu all smiled.

The Konoha Ninja of the assault force did indeed have wounded, but only five had minor injuries, which did not affect their combat effectiveness.

On the way to retreat, Yamanaka Chujiu had gathered fifteen Konoha Ninja, all of whom were Elite Chunin capable of executing infiltration missions.

In other words, the Konoha Ninja side had more people and stronger power.

By the time the Cloud Ninja arrived, they would have already eaten, drunk, and rested for half an hour, making the gap in strength even greater.

Yamanaka Chujiu also smiled: "Of course, it's to ambush them and wipe out the Cloud Ninja!"

He looked around at the surrounding environment; the back of the gently sloping hills did not have the steep, narrow passages best suited for an ambush, but there was waist-high withered grass everywhere, making it easy to hide forty-some ninja.

"This place is well-chosen; at first glance, it doesn't look like the most suitable terrain for an ambush, which is just right for lowering the Cloud Ninja's guard."

"We will ambush them right here."