Only when the explosive eggs had fallen to a lower altitude did the Mist shinobi finally make out what they were.
"Explosive eggs!"
"It's Yatagarasu!"
"It's Rasa!"
"Enemy attack!"
One Mist shinobi shouted at the top of his lungs, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
But even if he had not shouted, others had already noticed the explosive eggs plummeting from the sky.
For a moment, all of them tensed.
Even though some of them had just been boasting that even if Rasa attacked personally, they had nothing to fear—that this was their home ground, and they could intercept the explosive eggs in midair—
when the moment truly arrived, they still could not suppress the instinctive tension gripping them.
Extreme tension.
"Prepare to intercept!"
"Watch the surroundings!"
In an instant, every Mist shinobi around the great lake entered a state of the highest alert.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
Several Mist shinobi formed hand seals at the same time.
The next moment, huge water dragons surged up from the lake and lunged straight toward the falling explosive eggs.
Boom!
A deafening explosion rang out.
One water dragon shattered instantly, breaking into countless droplets that splashed in every direction.
But that was only the first.
Behind it were more than a dozen others.
At Rasa's command, Yatagarasu immediately descended a little lower.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Spears!"
One spear after another formed around Rasa, each made entirely of gold dust.
With a shift of his thoughts, they shot downward.
Under the pull of gravity, they accelerated rapidly.
Compared to the explosive eggs, they fell even faster, and there were many more of them, spread over a huge area.
They provided excellent cover for the explosive eggs.
Which meant that if the Mist shinobi wanted to stop the eggs, they would have to pay a much greater price.
"It's useless!"
"No matter how many attacks you throw down, it's useless!"
"You're only one man, Rasa! We have this many people. We can absolutely stop you."
"And there'll be even more reinforcements on the way."
"But if you dare come down…"
"Today, you won't leave alive!"
One Mist shinobi threw his head back and shouted mockingly at Rasa in the sky.
"Rasa! You think a single man can attack the Mist army?"
"If you have the guts, come down and fight!"
Most of their attention was fixed on Rasa in the air.
None of them noticed that an invisible figure was rapidly approaching the great lake.
Splash.
The chameleon slipped into the water.
Following the current, it entered the great lake.
Once inside, it immediately began sinking.
It descended all the way to the bottom of the dam.
Then, suddenly, a figure appeared.
She took out large quantities of explosive tags and began plastering them across the base of the dam one by one, moving at astonishing speed.
Soon, the bottom of the dam was covered densely with them.
Only then did some of the Mist shinobi notice the abnormality in the water below.
"Something's wrong!"
"There's something in the lake!"
"Rasa is using a feint! Sunagakure's target is the lake!"
One shinobi shouted the warning.
At once, more than a dozen figures plunged into the water.
"There's someone at the bottom of the dam!"
"It's Pakura!"
"Kill her!"
The Mist shinobi already hated Pakura beyond measure.
Now, realizing they had been tricked and seeing Pakura tampering with the dam that protected their greatest advantage, their fury instantly erupted.
Some shinobi formed seals.
Others gave orders directly to the predatory fish in the water.
The entire great lake descended into chaos in an instant.
Every target, every intention, converged on Pakura.
But Pakura showed no sign of panic.
She remained calm all the way until she placed the final explosive tag in her hand.
"Explode!"
She triggered the tag at the very end of the chain.
Immediately afterward, she drew Samehada from her back—no, not Samehada—
She drew Hiramekarei.
A massive amount of chakra poured into it.
"Hiramekarei—Release!"
An enormous sphere of chakra erupted into being.
Boom!
A tremendous explosion sounded beneath the water.
Violent force spread outward in every direction.
It was as if a tsunami had been born at the lakebed.
The entire surface of the lake shook violently.
Huge amounts of water rushed inward, then burst upward—
before crashing heavily back down again.
A massive whirlpool formed in the center of the lake.
And still, the Mist shinobi hated Pakura too deeply.
Even in that kind of situation, some of them continued charging after her—and even caught up.
"Pakura, die!"
One after another, their eyes red with hatred, they bore down on her.
And at that moment—
they suddenly saw Pakura vanish.
Disappear out of thin air.
Not only her body, but even her chakra presence disappeared.
The Mist shinobi froze.
"What happened?"
"Where did she go?"
"Where is she?!"
One Mist shinobi still in the water below suddenly showed a terrified expression.
Because he noticed that Hiramekarei's release effect had already ended—
but the explosions had not stopped.
In fact, they were growing more violent.
"It's the explosive tags!"
"There are huge numbers of explosive tags at the bottom of the dam!"
"Sunagakure's goal is to blow up the dam!"
The shinobi beside him reacted at once.
"Then hurry and get rid of the other tags! The dam cannot be destroyed. The great lake cannot be destroyed. This is one of the Mist army's most important advantages!"
The first shinobi tried to rush toward the bottom of the dam—
but the person beside him grabbed him.
A bitter smile spread across that man's face.
"It's too late."
"Run."
"If you stay, we'll die in the explosion too."
"Sunagakure's main force has definitely already begun moving."
"We'd do better to preserve our lives and fight them to the death afterward!"
A chain of explosions rang out, faster and louder with each passing second.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The water's surface burst apart again and again.
Then, finally, as if some critical threshold had been crossed—
BOOM!
With one overwhelming roar, the dam collapsed.
Without the support of the dam, the water in the great lake came crashing downward in a violent flood.
It transformed into a raging torrent, like a stream after a catastrophic storm, like a river in full disaster.
The lake's water level began dropping visibly before the naked eye.
The flood was like a wild beast.
"Help!"
"The dam has collapsed!"
Everything downstream was submerged at once. Some Mist shinobi were hit by the force of the flood before they could even react and were swept off their feet, never rising again.
The entire Mist army descended into utter chaos.
The Sand army, which had been waiting outside for this very moment, heard the disturbance and immediately knew the time had come.
"Kill!"
"Charge!"
"Slaughter these Mist shinobi!"
"Crush Kirigakure!"
By now, the hatred between the two villages had already intensified on this battlefield to a horrifying extent.
There would be no mercy.
No sympathy.
Only hatred.
Only killing intent.
The Mist army fell into an overwhelming disadvantage almost at once.
Yagura's expression turned hideous.
"Men!"
"Stabilize the troops!"
"Send to Konoha for reinforcements—now!"