Ignoring the distant calls, Tatsuma saw Hoshi actually grabbing his shoulder, his face showing a hint of madness, making his heart skip a beat involuntarily.
However, he quickly reacted, launching Rasengan directly, and blasting it onto Hoshi's chest.
"Boom~"
"Hoshi!!!"
In the distance, the Sand Ninja ordered by Chiyo to support Hoshi, seeing this scene, turned red with anger, veins popping on his face one after another. He wanted to save Hoshi, but... he was too far.
He watched helplessly as a hole, larger than a head, opened in Hoshi's chest, and a buzzing sound rang in his ears.
He knew his future prospects were bleak. Now the only thing he could do was to capture Tatsuma, the murderer who somehow managed to kill Hoshi and reduce his own responsibility.
The Sand Ninja quickly rushed towards Tatsuma, who was now also in a crisis. At this moment, Hoshi's skin kept swelling, something seemed to be moving beneath the surface, and it could burst out at any moment.
"Tear~"
Tatsuma, unable to free himself from Hoshi's grasp, simply tore apart the clothes Hoshi was holding onto. Just as he finally broke free and attempted to Body Flicker away, he stumbled underfoot.
"Gugu~"
At that moment, from within Hoshi's lifeless body, there suddenly came a sound. Tatsuma's eyes clearly saw several pitch-black bird beaks pecking through Hoshi's skin, about to emerge.
"Revolving Heaven!"
Just as those strange birds were about to peck towards Tatsuma as they emerged from Hoshi's body, Tatsuma suddenly felt his body weightless.
When he came to his senses, he found himself being grabbed by the back of his neck by someone, while the person's other hand pushed forward creating a sphere of Chakra that protected the two of them inside.
It was precisely this sphere that isolated those strange birds outside, and Hoshi's body was also pushed far away.
"Damn it!"
Suddenly, Tatsuma seemed to hear a grumbling full of resentment. Then, several figures landed in front of him, landing before the sphere created by Revolving Heaven
Almost simultaneously, several flames ignited, and those birds caught fire. They fluttered in the air for a moment before falling to the ground.
"Damn it! Break through and kill them!"
The Sand Ninja shouted at the people who came to support him. In an instant, ninja tools and Ninjutsu flew towards Tatsuma.
Hyuga Itsuki frowned, about to expand the range of Revolving Heaven and strengthen its intensity, but this time, Uchiha Fugaku finally acted faster.
"Yashiro!"
Fugaku shouted, nodding to a Ninja several years older than him beside him, who gestured with his hand. Suddenly, the Uchiha team spread out, flames igniting on each person's hands.
"Uchiha Flame Formation!"
Several Uchiha Ninja almost simultaneously clapped their hands toward the ground, directing the flaming Chakra on their hands towards the earth. In the instant before the Sand Ninja's attacks reached them, the ground in front of Uchiha Fugaku suddenly emitted a bright light.
"Boom~~"
A crimson firewall rose up, engulfing all Ninjutsu that collided with it, while the ninja tools that entered the firewall were instantly burned into molten iron, evaporating completely before they could even touch the ground.
At the same time, more Hyuga Ninjas and Konoha Ninjas arrived, forming a pincer attack formation, blocking the Sand Ninjas' flanks. They closed in around the Sand Ninjas team, leaving only the path back the way they came.
More and more Konoha Ninjas continued to arrive, which made Tatsuma breathe a long sigh of relief. The tension that had been gripping him relaxed, and suddenly his head drooped, his body suspended in midair, with his toes pointing towards the ground.
Hyuga Itsuki, seeing Tatsuma faint, swallowed back the words he was about to speak and instead looked around incredulously with his white eyes.
The number of Sand Ninjas corpses around, compared to the figures Minato previously reported, was definitely more or less the same. However, under his white eyes and Chakra Sensory, there were no traces of anyone else around.
Most crucially, on the bodies of several Sand Ninjas, there lingered Tatsuma's Chakra signature, forcing Hyuga Itsuki to consider an inconceivable answer.
That answer being Tatsuma had taken out all the Sand Ninjas here.
This was clearly illogical, but the undeniable fact before Hyuga Itsuki told him that Tatsuma had indeed accomplished this feat.
However, Tatsuma achieving this was advantageous and harmless for Konoha, as well as for his Hyuga Clan, given that Tatsuma was effectively reducing the enemy's numbers.
Hyuga Itsuki turned back, looking at his younger brother and two sons, and said, "Ketsu, Hiashi, Hizashi, protect this child."
"Yes, elder brother."
"Yes, father!" x 2
Seeing the three respond, Hyuga Itsuki gently tossed Tatsuma, and Hyuga Ketsu reached out to catch him. Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Hizashi then stood on either side of Hyuga Ketsu in perfect harmony.
The conflict between Konoha and the Sand was on the brink of eruption. Konoha, harboring the intention to wipe out the Sand, had set up ambushes, and they would not easily let them off, a fact the Sand Ninjas were well aware of.
But none of this mattered to Tatsuma anymore; he was now no different than a pendant held by Hyuga Ketsu.
...
"Victory in the Land of Rivers battlefield!"
Tatsuma's unconsciousness did not affect the world's operations. The frontline news quickly reached the village, and Konoha erupted into celebration instantly. Countless people sang praises to the greatness of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
There were also some who successfully praised the strategic command of Orochimaru on the frontline, but as it trickled down, those who truly fought received little applause.
In the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been in his twilight years for several years now, couldn't help but show joy on his face. The wrinkles on his aging face were now adorned with the smile of a farmer during a bountiful harvest.
Different from the villagers who only knew about the victory but not the details of the battle, as the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen received the most detailed reports.
Seeing Orochimaru almost completely annihilating the Hidden Sand Village's vanguard with just half of the predicted casualty rate, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but feel some emotions. He marveled at how his disciple had become such a formidable ninja in his own right.
However, as he continued to read the report, a look of astonishment quickly appeared on his face because he came across a name that surprised him immensely.
"Sakamoto Tatsuma!"
Even though the report in Sarutobi Hiruzen's hands was the most detailed version available at the moment, it couldn't possibly record the deeds of every participating ninja. Only those ninjas who played a significant role and their deeds would be recorded.
As he read about Tatsuma single-handedly fighting off dozens of Sand Ninjas, counterattacking to annihilate the enemy squad, and even killing two Jonin from the Hidden Sand Village, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but open his mouth in disbelief.
"Sakumo, what do you make of this?"
"This..."
"It's impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
In an underground base, Shimura Danzo, the shadow of the ninja world and the roots of Konoha, listened to his subordinates' reports. Upon hearing about the civilian child mentioned in the report, Danzo immediately waved his hand to interrupt, saying discontentedly:
"Where did you get this intelligence? Was the person who transcribed it caught in a Genjutsu?!"
The Root ninja who was reporting closed his mouth, sweat starting to bead on his forehead. Shimura Danzo, who had been looking at his subordinate's reaction, stood up and addressed the darkness:
"Hmph! Sarutobi, are you actually stooping to this level of distrust towards me? Sending such false intelligence, are you mocking me?!"
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