If one were to list the most distinctive traits of Sunagakure ninja:
First—puppets.
Second—poison.
Third—Wind Release.
And fourth—their ability to alter terrain within a certain range through Sand Release techniques.
The first and second traits often appeared together—that was the hallmark of puppet masters.
The third was a nature transformation most Sunagakure ninja excelled at.
And the fourth, Sand Release, was a specialized art of Sunagakure—under the right conditions, it could even create effects similar to a sandstorm.
Every Konoha ninja who had experienced the Second Great Ninja War remembered one particular large-scale group technique used by Sunagakure.
Who could imagine that solid ground one second could collapse the next into deadly sinking sand?
Using this tactical ninjutsu, Sunagakure would drastically alter the terrain across a wide area, then immediately send in hidden strike teams to deliver fatal blows to Konoha ninja trapped in the sand flow.
Without thorough preparation, it often turned into a one-sided massacre.
In the early stages of the war, Sunagakure had dealt Konoha significant losses with this tactic. After all, very few Konoha ninja had experience fighting in desert environments.
As long as the casters maintained chakra output, the quicksand would cling with powerful adhesion, trapping targets indefinitely. With sufficient chakra, it could even drag victims underground entirely…
Shimizu himself had received this "VIP treatment" just a few months ago.
And for Sunagakure ninja fighting in sandy terrain, it was like fish returning to the sea.
So it had been a trap…
The Sunagakure forces stationed here had deliberately allowed a breach to form in their line, drawing in most of Konoha's assault force, exploiting their eagerness to end the fight quickly.
Such a simple ploy…
And yet—
Captain Bunshi of the Ninth Division could only watch as the four Sunagakure ninja completed their hand seals.
He couldn't stop them.
Neither could his teammates.
This had been their strongest offensive wave, committing the majority of their elite forces.
It was an attack made by staking their lives.
And yet—even with only four casters, the technique could create a quicksand zone covering several hundred square meters.
Swallowing a dozen Konoha ninja would be effortless.
At the same time, two additional Sunagakure squads emerged from the rear of their formation.
They were the executioners.
They would soon swing their scythes freely, harvesting the lives of the Konoha ninja trapped in the quicksand.
Bunshi foresaw their deaths... and the total failure of the 9th Division.
Suddenly, two streaks of pale blue light sliced through the pitch-black sky.
What is that?
The sensory ninjas on both sides detected the anomaly instantly
But the blue streaks were too fast. Before anyone could shout a warning, they landed—one after the other—precisely in the center of the two Sunagakure formations.
BOOM! BOOM!
Two deafening explosions shook the night.
The long-range application of Lightning Blade Slash—Shimizu now called it:
Lightning Release: Lightning Explosion Slash.
Two perfect hits.
The violent blasts kicked up clouds of dust, obscuring sight. But everyone knew—within more than ten meters of the explosion's center, the Sunagakure ninja there were likely…
The Konoha ninja were stunned by what seemed like divine intervention.
The Sunagakure ninja, meanwhile, fell from heaven into hell.
"This is…?" Even the experienced Bunshi had no idea what technique this was.
But it was only the beginning.
Death descended upon the Sunagakure once more.
Amid the dust-choked battlefield, two flashes of lightning burst forth again, accompanied by the piercing cry of a thousand birds.
Body Flicker Technique! Lightning Release: Dual Lightning Blade Slash!
"Save," Shimizu uttered his first word since arriving on the field.
Two Sunagakure ninja felt nothing more than a gentle breeze before they saw the world spinning wildly. Am I... flying? That was their final thought.
The shadow-like figure appeared behind two more Sunagakure ninja. They seemed utterly unaware of what the earlier lightning flashes and birdlike shrieks had signified. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
With both hands, he unleashed the Lightning Blade Slashes simultaneously!
"Them," Shimizu spat out the second word.
Blue lightning coiled instantly around the two Sunagakure ninja—
Blood sprayed.
Each clutched the grotesque wound across their abdomen as they staggered backward, retreating in horror.
Shimizu's attack did not finish them. He dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.
The momentum of his first assault had reached its limit. In just a few seconds, he had used consecutive Body Flicker Techniques along with six A-rank, no-hand-seal Lightning Release techniques.
In an instant, more than half his chakra had been drained.
Add to that the earlier Substitution Technique, the Lightning Blade Slash he had used to kill the Sunagakure ninja, and one full minute of sprinting at maximum speed—
Now, Shimizu had very little chakra left.
Extreme speed. Relentless output.
He had nearly wrung his chakra and stamina dry. In that final strike, even his movements had started to distort from exhaustion.
His original intention had been to sever both enemies' heads.
But because he had nearly lost his footing, he had no choice but to settle for severely wounding them instead.
What a pity…
Still, Shimizu had achieved his primary objective.
He had stopped the two Sunagakure squads that were about to begin a massacre, obliterated the team casting the Sand Release technique, killed two enemies outright, and critically wounded two more.
For Bunshi, everything had happened too fast to process.
And that figure within the dust—had he really destroyed an entire squad in the time it took to speak just two words?
Was he human or a demon?
Bunshi's mind blanked for a moment.
Save them?
Then it clicked.
He immediately understood—this was a reminder to do what mattered most right now.
Save them!
More than a dozen Konoha ninja were still trapped in the quicksand.
"Team 5, Team 7, save our comrades! The rest of you, cover them! Move!" Bunshi barked the order.
If they didn't act before the Sunagakure ninja recovered and resumed their Sand Release, those trapped would still be doomed. Though Sunagakure had taken heavy damage, nearly twenty of them were still glaring with murderous intent, and they were already launching a counter-offensive.
"Team 3, handle the targets in the sand flow! Team 1, 5, and 8, intercept the Konoha reinforcements!" the Sunagakure leader roared. "Team 9, kill him! He's out of Chakra!"
The captain's fury reflected the murderous intent of every Sunagakure ninja present.
It was that suddenly appearing Konoha ANBU—
The root of all this chaos.
Kill him!
Two kunai shot toward Shimizu at high speed, while two Sunagakure ninja rapidly formed hand seals.
But "Shimizu" neither dodged nor blocked.
The kunai pierced straight through his body.
Clone Technique!
"It's a fa—"
Before the warning could finish, two more blue streaks of light dropped into the midst of the Sunagakure ranks—
Boom! Boom!
Two more devastating hits.
In the package sent from the Land of Craftsmen, besides the two kunai, there had been two shuriken. Perhaps due to their lighter weight, the explosive power of the shuriken was slightly weaker than that of the kunai.
But Shimizu had tested them before.
The craftsman had installed a small mechanism specifically designed for his Lightning Release chakra shuriken.
Each shuriken had four blades.
Whenever Lightning Release chakra flowed through an internal mechanism and triggered a violent explosion, the four blades would automatically separate into needle-like projectiles, propelled outward at high speed by the blast's force.
It was a physical attack similar to senbon.
However, Shimizu still couldn't perfectly calculate or control the direction of the needles after detonation.
So the instant he threw the shuriken, he used Body Flicker to leave the area.