The Iwagakure shinobi could already see the Konoha shinobi. Besides the continuously created rock walls, there were the explosions of explosive tags, the fire they produced, and large amounts of flying earth and stone fragments. Only by using reconnaissance ninjutsu, and observing from other mediums, could the Iwagakure shinobi see the Konoha shinobi who were simply advancing their positions.
"Oh god, when will this ever stop?" One of the Iwagakure shinobi had never heard such a prolonged series of explosions before. He felt his ears buzzing, as if he was about to go deaf.
"Alright, instead of talking, you might as well rest a bit more," an Iwagakure shinobi next to him said with a weary expression.
Up until now, the Iwagakure shinobi had primarily been using Earth Release to build defensive barriers, completely unable to organize any counterattacks. Once they stepped out of the rock wall's defensive perimeter, they would face a barrage of explosions. Forget about counterattacking, just surviving was cause for celebration.
Some young Iwagakure shinobi, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, thought they could solve the problem with their own abilities. Disregarding orders, they left the defensive perimeter. They were also smart; instead of directly charging out, they used Earth Release to travel underground. Strictly speaking, these individuals showed commendable courage. If they had succeeded, they might have been rewarded upon returning to the village, and their status could have risen significantly. However, the Hyuga clan of Konohagakure could directly see the unusual chakra fluctuations beneath the ground.
The moment their young lives sounded a warning bell for all the Iwagakure shinobi, no one ever brought up the idea again. Indeed, sneaking underground was a very clever method, but unfortunately, the enemy could directly perceive their positions. Small units going out would be seeking death, and large units would become targets. Even if they managed to stop those special ninja tools with numerical superiority, the casualties would undoubtedly be heavy. How could they then deal with those Konoha shinobi who seemed to be waiting at their leisure?
What was difficult for the Iwagakure shinobi to accept was that they discovered the explosions of these explosive tags did not deplete the Konoha shinobi's chakra! This was not a figment of the Iwagakure shinobi's imagination, because from the observations of their reconnaissance ninjutsu, the Konoha shinobi had hardly rotated for rest. There could only be one explanation; otherwise, such a massive number of explosive tags exploding would not require so few people to rest.
"What kind of technology has Konohagakure developed to be able to sustain such a loss?" An Iwagakure shinobi lifted his head from the rock wall he was leaning against, looking at the distant flickering flames and collapsing earth, feeling that everything was so unreal.
"Who knows. Anyway, we can only stay here, either until Konoha shinobi's explosive tags run out, or we figure out how to bypass those explosion zones to attack Konoha shinobi, though I don't think those above will choose that."
"That's true, we can only build walls and recover our strength here now." This Iwagakure shinobi felt a bit melancholic, saying this while biting into a military ration pill.
Even with an endless supply of land to use, constructing so many rock walls was a tremendous drain on the Iwagakure shinobi. Fortunately, the Iwagakure shinobi forces were numerous, and they could alternate their efforts and supplement their stamina with military ration pills, allowing them to persevere.
Of course, because they couldn't organize a counterattack, no matter how many rock walls the Iwagakure shinobi built, due to the damaged terrain and other factors, their defensive line was still retreating. This was an undeniable fact. Yet, no matter how furious the Iwagakure shinobi were, they could only choose to swallow their anger.
Commander Shima sighed, his gaze fixed on the rising flames in the distance, a sense of helplessness in his heart. After this period of fighting, the Iwagakure shinobi had already expended immense strength. Although personnel losses were minimal, the drain on their energy and stamina was truly astonishing, leading them to abandon many previously planned strategies. For example, Shima had already given up on eliminating Hatake Sakumo on the left flank, focusing only on ensuring the left flank's defensive line would not be breached, preventing enemy forces from entering their interior.
In response, Shima began to contract his defensive line, concentrating the Iwagakure shinobi's forces inland. The outer areas were entirely used to create complex terrain with Earth Release.
Thanks to this, even with a powerful Lightning Release user like Hatake Sakumo on the left flank, their advance was temporarily halted. While it couldn't be completely stopped, it bought the Iwagakure shinobi forces some breathing room.
This gave the Iwagakure shinobi some confidence, however small. Although they couldn't counterattack, at least in terms of the name "Stone," they hadn't lost face. Even though they could only defend for now, most Iwagakure shinobi believed they would surely have a chance to counterattack.
However, Shima couldn't guarantee when such an opportunity would arrive. He had already sent a letter to the main force's base, informing them of the situation here. Once new reinforcements arrived, they could launch a pincer attack from both sides, not hoping to heavily wound the Konoha shinobi forces, but at least to curb their arrogance.
"But, can we really wait for reinforcements to arrive?" Shima brought his water pouch to his mouth, drinking large gulps of water, wiping away the water that spilled from the corner of his mouth, asking himself in his heart.
Shima felt that if they retreated now, the unit's losses could be kept limited. However, doing so would make him somewhat derelict as a frontline commander. Even if someone else took over, they would likely face the same situation, but responsibility, nevertheless, had to be borne.
"At least I have to achieve something, I can't really be so cowardly as to just hide," Shima cautiously walked to the highest point, gazing at the distant Konoha position, muttering in a low voice.
"Captain." At this moment, an Iwagakure shinobi ran up from below, waving a scroll in his hand. "I brought you what you asked for."
Upon hearing this, Shima excitedly jumped down from above, snatched the scroll from the Iwagakure shinobi's hand, and immediately unrolled it to examine it carefully. This was a rough statistical data he had ordered the intelligence shinobi in his unit to collect, summarizing the duration and intensity of the enemy's firepower. It naturally wouldn't be perfectly precise, but it allowed Shima to deduce certain things.
"Hmm—" Shima pondered for a moment, then said, "It seems Konohagakure's explosive tags aren't infinite, and those special ninja tools aren't truly permanent items either."
As a ninja, Shima had worn out countless kunai during his training. Even the most durable special ninja tools couldn't maintain their original strength indefinitely, unless they were legendary Sage Tools, but such items that could be deployed on a large scale were clearly impossible.
"Perhaps there really is a possibility of a counterattack, even if it's small, it's worth a try." Shima emphatically pointed at a line of text on the scroll. "If it fails, then I'll just have to be a complete coward."
In the following time, Shima demanded that all Iwagakure shinobi execute his orders. First, a portion of the Iwagakure shinobi were responsible for reinforcing defenses, while another portion used long-range Earth Release to launch attacks. Before starting, everyone had to take military ration pills to restore their stamina to optimal levels. As for the side effects of consuming a large number of military ration pills, they couldn't worry about that much.
All the Iwagakure shinobi were puzzled. It wasn't that Iwagakure shinobi hadn't tried using long-range attack ninjutsu like Earth Dragon Bullet or Earth Spear before, but they were all blown up by the enemy's explosive tags mid-air, serving no purpose other than contributing some fireworks to the sky.
However, Shima's attitude was very firm, stating that everyone, including himself, had to comply. Thus, the Iwagakure shinobi all obeyed Shima's decision and began to act. Soon, everyone reached their respective positions. Apart from the Iwagakure shinobi protecting the two flanks, all remaining forces were concentrated on the frontal battlefield.
"Let's see what the outcome is." Shima, looking eager for action, gathered a large amount of chakra. With his command, the Iwagakure shinobi simultaneously unleashed long-range Earth Release ninjutsu. Earth Dragon Bullets, Earth Spears, and other techniques flew towards Konohagakure's position, covering the sky.
The Konoha shinobi merely raised a portion of their explosive cannons. The Talisman Bullet (fú dàn - talisman bullets) fired from them struck the incoming techniques, shattering them and turning them into countless earth and stone fragments that rained down, burying the front in a thick layer of rock ash. After this period of intense bombardment, the Iwagakure fortress and the ground in front of it looked as if they had been plowed over and over again, completely unrecognizable from their original state, even faintly glowing red.
The Konoha shinobi noticed that the enemy's counterattack had suddenly intensified. Although they didn't know what the enemy was planning, they calmly used their explosive cannons to deal with the incoming ninjutsu. To be honest, after their first attempt with the explosive cannons, they had completely fallen in love with this ninja tool. It only required simple operation and didn't consume their own chakra, yet it could form a massive network of firepower that suffocated the enemy.
At this point, the Konoha shinobi finally understood why they needed to carry so many explosive tags and chakra reserve blocks when entering the Land of Grass battlefield to deal with the Land of Earth. The effect was clearly excellent, though the consumption of resources was also terrifying. After the initial excitement wore off, the Konoha shinobi realized that the consumption of explosive tags and chakra reserve blocks was astonishing, already nearly half of their total reserves.
Therefore, later on, the Konoha shinobi began to reduce the intensity of their explosive cannon usage, alternating their rhythm. While maintaining pressure, they maximized the reduction of consumption. Since the Iwagakure shinobi were completely suppressed and couldn't raise their heads, this approach didn't cause any problems. However, due to the change in rhythm, some variations in intensity were inevitably introduced.
And Shima noticed this. He ordered his troops to initiate an attack, forcing the opponent to respond, thereby depleting the explosive cannon's resource reserves. The Konoha shinobi, having tasted the benefits of the explosive cannon, were now somewhat reliant on the explosive tags and hadn't considered other methods to resolve the situation, which played right into Shima's hands.
When he noticed the enemy's firing line had significantly decreased, Shima's heart began to pound rapidly. He vaguely felt his plan had succeeded, and upon receiving the reconnaissance report on the enemy's reaction, he nearly jumped for joy, because the report stated that the Konoha shinobi, who had always seemed so nonchalant, were for the first time showing some panic.
Shima knew well that opportunity knocks but once. The enemy was probably using this ninja tool for the first time, so they hadn't anticipated the consequences. Once they calmed down, he wouldn't have a chance to counterattack. So, he waved his hand, beckoning the Iwagakure shinobi who had been on standby, and shouted, "Everyone, charge!"
With that, Shima and the Iwagakure shinobi began to form hand signs. To a certain extent, everyone's ninjutsu could be combined and amplified, especially ninjutsu of the same element. This was undoubtedly a huge advantage for Iwagakure, where all shinobi could use Earth Release.
"Earth Release: Mountain Stone Technique!"
Accompanying the shouts of Shima and the other Iwagakure shinobi, the rock walls rapidly rose, then, under chakra manipulation, shot out like cannonballs, smashing towards Konohagakure's position. The Earth Release, used by multiple people together, was massive in scale, like a small mountain. If the explosive cannon fire had been intense, and others had also used ninjutsu in concert, it might have been intercepted midway. But with the current strength, even if most of it was shattered, the remaining fragments would still fall into the position. If the Konoha shinobi wanted to avoid casualties, they could only choose to retreat.
The rocks formed by the Mountain Stone Technique crashed heavily onto the ground. Although the Konoha shinobi evacuated the affected area in time, they were unable to rescue the explosive cannons, which were all crushed beneath the rocks. Without a doubt, they were all destroyed and could no longer be used under such pressure.
At this, every Konoha shinobi's face turned grim. Although they still had a supply of explosive tags, they could, to some extent, organize a similar firing line as before if they used manpower, but it would incur immense losses for their side. In other words, their initial battlefield advantage no longer existed.
"These guys, they weren't just cowards after all." The Konoha shinobi at this moment finally cast aside the advantageous influence brought by the explosive cannons and confronted the previously underestimated opponent. The reason they had reached this point was entirely due to their overconfidence, allowing the enemy to exploit a weakness, resulting in the loss of all the new ninja tools developed by the village.
The Konoha shinobi who came this time were just one large squad, responsible for this particular area. In other places, there were also Konoha shinobi forces engaged in combat. Of course, because the commander placed more importance on this area, the allocated supplies were naturally more abundant. Precisely because of this, the outcome of the enemy's sudden counterattack, contrasted with their previous advantage, filled them with a sense of indignation.
The Konoha shinobi forces on the other two flanks had not yet encountered any major problems, but unexpectedly, the first problems arose with the frontal combat unit. The Konoha shinobi present all began to rub their fists together. Since the explosive cannons were gone, they would personally enter the fray. This time, they were going to settle the score properly.
And Shima, seeing that those special ninja tools had all been dealt with, laughed loudly despite his dwindling stamina. Even if the Konoha shinobi couldn't hear him, he yelled out from his spot, "Do you see?! This is the will of our Iwagakure! Don't think you can conquer us with just a few random items. Such things don't have that qualification!"