Several Escaping Rabbit Shadow Clones flew in a line over Pakura and Ebizo's heads, while Exploding Tag Shuriken continuously rained down on the densely packed Hidden Sand Village Ninja.
"Those with long-range attack methods! Quickly shoot down those flying birds and be careful to block the falling explosives!"
Ebizo watched as several flying birds dropped something, and he immediately understood, guessing that these falling, Shuriken-like objects were explosives.
Ebizo's warning was timely, and many Sunagakure Ninja immediately began attacking the flying birds above them while also attempting to blow away the Shuriken.
How could the various Wind Bullets and Poison Needles used by these Sunagakure Ninja hit Second Body's Shadow Clone? Under the control of Second Body's Shadow Clone, she easily dodged these attacks.
Meanwhile, Second Body's Exploding Tag Shuriken, powered by Wind Release Chakra, tore through the Wind Release Ninjutsu used by Sunagakure to blow away the Exploding Tag Shuriken, reaching a height of over ten meters above them.
"Not good! Quickly use Earth Release for defense! Do not underestimate these scattered explosives!" Ebizo, seeing the somewhat familiar Shuriken, immediately began giving commands over the radio.
"Damn it! A coward who only dares to hide in the sky! Do you dare to come down and fight me head-on?!"
Pakura had never felt so helpless; although her Scorch Release: Fireball had explosive power, its attack range was at most a hundred meters, making her powerless against Uchiha Ling, who was hundreds of meters high.
Second Body heard Pakura's shouts and, seeing Sunagakure below preparing to use Earth Release for defense, immediately had her Shadow Clones scatter the remaining Exploding Tags back down.
With such a back-and-forth, the first wave of Exploding Tags was used to break through Earth Release and stun some cannon fodder, while the second wave was the killing blow, directly clearing the battlefield.
"Oh, I am just a weak, pitiful, and helpless Chunin, how could I dare to challenge Sunagakure's Scorch Release Pakura one-on-one? You're very angry that you can't hit me, right? Let Rasa come!"
Second Body pulled down her lower eyelid, making a face at Pakura. Her task was only to bomb, and she certainly didn't want to go down to the ground to fight, which would be both tiring and dangerous.
"You—!" Pakura was furious, feeling that this brat was truly annoying.
The first wave of Exploding Tags stuck to the Earth Release rocks above the Sunagakure Ninja's heads and did not explode as Ebizo had imagined, nor did they explode after waiting for a while.
"No explosion? Could it be an enemy conspiracy, just trying to buy time for the Konoha army to arrive?"
A Sunagakure Ninja asked his captain.
"Impossible, Lord Ebizo cannot be wrong! This damned Konoha Ninja must be planning to let them explode when we remove our Earth Release!"
The Sand Village Jonin was quite capable; he immediately guessed Uchiha Ling's intention, but Second Body had not intended to deceive smart people from the start.
She was merely trying to clear out some fools for Hidden Sand Village, and as she expected, some Sunagakure Ninja further back, fearing being caught by the Konoha army, removed their Earth Release defense intending to flee.
After all, it was better to flee than to gamble whether it would explode, otherwise staying put would surely mean death. They could already vaguely hear the Konoha army rushing towards them.
"Everyone, pay attention, the explosion is coming!" Second Body kindly reminded the two hundred or so Sunagakure Ninja who were planning to flee.
"Idiots! Quickly take cover!" Ebizo looked at these fools, nearly having a cerebral hemorrhage from anxiety. He naturally could guess what these fools were thinking.
The Exploding Tag Shuriken ignited among the Sunagakure Ninja who were planning to flee, and soon, a violent chain of explosions engulfed them, with only sparse screams piercing through.
As the smoke and fire of the explosion dissipated, some blood mist spread, extremely bloody and cruel, and those Sunagakure Ninja hiding under the Earth Release also felt that their Earth Release defense above was about to give way.
"Lord Ebizo! The Earth Release might not hold up! You must return to Hidden Sand Village alive!"
A Sand Village Jonin knew that his life was about to end and had once regretted coming to participate in the battle, but ultimately, he gave a bitter smile, preparing to meet his death.
"Captain! Don't be discouraged, I'll transfer my Chakra to you! We will definitely survive!"
These Sunagakure Ninja united, and with a massive supply of Chakra, they actually stabilized, and even two thousand mutual multiplying Exploding Tags failed to shatter the Earth Release.
However, half of the Earth Release defense was still broken, and they would then face the second wave of falling Exploding Tag Shuriken.
"Holy crap! They're so united and determined, doesn't that make me look like the villain! But it's not wrong! This is the Third Shinobi World War, not the Fourth!"
When Second Body saw their unity and tragic resolve, for a moment, she couldn't distinguish who was the invader and who was resisting the invasion.
"Damn it! Despicable coward! Come down and fight me!" Pakura's chest ached with anger, seeing that less than half of the Sunagakure Ninja had managed to hold on.
The second wave of explosions arrived, and Hidden Sand Village suffered over five hundred casualties, with less than four hundred Sunagakure Ninja surviving under the Earth Release cover.
Ebizo's cloudy eyes turned blood red at such severe losses, but unfortunately, their Puppet Master unit had already retreated, leaving them with no aerial capabilities.
Two kilometers away, in the Konoha army, Orochimaru looked at the exploding firelight ahead with excitement, a cruel glint flashing in his eyes.
"Excellent! Second Body has already bombed the enemy's position, we will follow immediately and crush them in one fell swoop! Push the front line into the Land of Wind!"
While giving orders, Orochimaru and Minato also pondered how to deal with aerial attacks like Second Body's; they both knew that Iwagakure had an Explosion Release unit, and presumed their combat style would be similar.
Second Body saw that the remaining Hidden Sand Village Ninja were trying to escape, so she immediately had her Shadow Clones unleash Five-Element Ninjutsu attacks on them, while she herself focused on Ebizo and Pakura.
Unfortunately, these two were only busy escaping and had no intention of stopping to confront her. The Chakra Second Body allocated to her Shadow Clones was only about one percent, but it was still the Chakra level of a regular Jonin.
Therefore, without aiming for kills, but only to delay, the wide-range Ninjutsu they unleashed caused the remaining Sunagakure Ninja to cry out in misery.
Various combination Ninjutsu made it impossible for them to both flee and resist. If it weren't for Ebizo and Pakura using Ninjutsu to defend, these Sunagakure Ninja would have suffered further casualties.
However, they were only two people, stretched thin, so under Second Body's barrage of combination Ninjutsu, Sunagakure Ninja continued to die or suffer severe injuries and disabilities.
Ebizo decided that upon his return, he must bring Rasa to the front lines, otherwise, they would have little power to resist aerial attacks.
In fact, this time, his command error was also a factor; if he had placed the valuable Puppet Master unit at the rear, the losses would definitely not have been so great, and it might even have been possible to defeat the Konoha Ninja in the air.
However, regret was too late. After this disastrous defeat, he would probably only be reassigned to guard the Land of Earth border.
Under Second Body's delay, the Konoha army finally caught the tail of the retreating Hidden Sand Village forces, and one by one, full of fighting spirit, they began to cut down the slower Sunagakure Ninja.
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