Chapter 311: Fear and Dread
Everyone present was all that remained at the camp. Most of the nearby outpost forces had already been deployed to surround and kill the Third Raikage—only a few were left behind to monitor the border.
"Abi, Gin… you three squads spread out and inform the other outposts along the border to be on high alert. If they're attacked by Sand shinobi, tell them not to engage. Let them in, then monitor their movements."
When manpower was pulled from this area, Ōnoki had left Huangtu a message: if Sunagakure tried to use the opportunity to invade the Land of Earth, then let them enter.
But not blindly. They had to monitor the number of invaders and identify any elite shinobi. Track their movements and hold them in check.
Once the operation to kill the Third Raikage was finished, they could reallocate forces to wipe out the invading Sand shinobi.
Huangtu gave the orders accordingly.
Three squads split up. The remaining seven stayed with him to support the border scouts and investigate the number and strength of the intruders.
"Earth Release—Ear… urgh!"
A flash of a blade—just as one Iwagakure squad leader prepared to use Earth Release: Earth Flow Destruction to slow Li Yao's Wind Clone and the others, a thin line of blood appeared across his forehead. The jutsu was cut off mid-chant.
"Land of Sand!"
Rasa pressed his hands to the ground. Endless yellow sand surged up from the canyon, instantly filling it and leveling the terrain, allowing the group to pass.
Whoosh!
Li Yao's Wind Clone dashed past the Iwagakure squad leader he had slain in a single strike, heading straight toward Huangtu a kilometer away.
"So that's the Fourth Kazekage's Wind Release slash…"
"What a terrifying jutsu…"
The Sand shinobi following closely behind were stunned. That Iwa shinobi had died with a clean line of blood across his forehead—despite having stood a full hundred meters from the Fourth Kazekage. Their hearts trembled.
After developing his Wind Release Slash, Li Yao's Wind Clone had only used it once—during the battle where he subjugated Shukaku. Many Sand shinobi had never seen it, only heard it was fearsome.
Now that they saw it with their own eyes, they realized—it was far scarier than they had imagined.
Terrifying speed.
Terrifying range.
Terrifying power.
Even though they had been right next to the Fourth Kazekage, none of them had seen how or when he launched the attack.
Silent. Invisible. Untraceable. Yet deadly.
Everyone felt the same thing: against the Fourth Kazekage, they would be no different from that Iwa shinobi—dead before they even realized it.
Rasa, who had been right beside Li Yao's Wind Clone, felt his chest tighten. He glanced at Li Yao out of the corner of his eye, a deep fear flashing through his gaze.
He prided himself on his sensory skills—he should have been able to detect any jutsu cast within such close proximity.
And yet, he hadn't sensed a thing. Just like the genin and chūnin around him, he only realized what had happened after seeing the blood trail on the Iwa shinobi's forehead.
It was terrifying.
Rasa had known he wasn't a match for the Fourth Kazekage, but he never imagined the gap would be this wide—not even knowing how he was attacked.
If they were to face off for real… he didn't dare even imagine the result.
"Good thing the Fourth is on our side."
Rasa quietly rejoiced. The Fourth Kazekage was from Sunagakure, not another village. He wouldn't have to face him on the battlefield.
"Lord Huangtu, the Fourth Kazekage has entered the Land of Earth with a group of Sand shinobi!"
Elsewhere, as Huangtu and his men approached their destination, a scout rushed over and delivered the shocking news.
"What!!?"
"The Fourth Kazekage came in person!?"
The Iwagakure shinobi were stunned. This was a Kage—not an ordinary fighter. By all logic, he should've been leading the battle on the more intense Konoha front.
Why was he here?
Hadn't Sunagakure pulled most of their forces to the Land of Rivers?
Why was the Fourth Kazekage personally attacking this front?
None of them understood.
"Why now of all times…?"
Huangtu was thinking deeper. His face showed uncertainty as his mind spun through the current strategic situation.
This was the most critical phase of their operation to kill the Third Raikage.
What Huangtu didn't know was that the Raikage had already died—much earlier than in the original timeline—thanks to the appearance of Earth Release Clone - Shiyan.
The arrival of Li Yao's Wind Clone made Huangtu suspect the worst: Had the Fourth Kazekage learned of their plan to kill the Raikage and come to stop it?
Maybe he was here to force them to pull troops back…
Or maybe—while most of their army was deployed against the Raikage—he planned to use this opportunity to raid Iwagakure Village itself.
"No… we must stop him here. Even if we can't stop the Fourth Kazekage completely, we have to delay him."
Huangtu clenched his fists.
The man hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history. The one with the terrifying power to subdue Shukaku.
He was not someone easily stopped.
But whether his goal was to force a retreat or launch a deep strike into the heart of their land, Huangtu couldn't let him succeed.
The Third Raikage had to die.
And their village couldn't fall either.
"Everyone, follow me. We must delay the Fourth Kazekage here!"
"Yes, Lord Huangtu!"
The Iwa shinobi responded with fierce determination—eyes full of resolve to fight to the death.
Li Yao's arrival had made it clear—their original plan was now obsolete.
Letting Rasa enter was one thing. Letting the Fourth Kazekage in was something else entirely.
Rasa had brought only a small squad. He could be monitored, contained, and possibly even eliminated.
But a Kage's incursion was never small-scale. It meant a full force or a highly elite unit.
If they didn't delay him here and he managed to break through to the village, the consequences would be catastrophic.
No one wanted to imagine it.
Their families, their children were in that village. They couldn't let the Fourth Kazekage reach them.
So they had to stop him.
With that determination burning, Huangtu and his men soon encountered Li Yao's advancing force.
"Earth Release – Mountain Soil Technique!"
From 200 meters away, Huangtu launched a large-scale Earth Release jutsu in a preemptive strike.
Crack crack crack… The ground split open.
Two massive mountains, each over 100 meters tall, erupted from the earth on either side, rushing inward toward Li Yao's Wind Clone and his unit, ready to crush them like a giant stone sandwich.
The terrifying sight left the Sand shinobi frozen in place, stunned.
Huangtu's Earth Release jutsu was far beyond what they'd expected. In their shock, their eyes instinctively turned to Li Yao.
But Li Yao's Wind Clone didn't slow down at all. He continued forward, calmly raising both arms.
And then, in the stunned gazes of the Sand shinobi—
The two massive mountains instantly crumbled like weathered sand and scattered to either side in torrents of flowing dust.
"Impossible!?"
"Lord Huangtu's Mountain Soil Technique… was neutralized so easily!?"
The Iwagakure shinobi stared, slack-jawed, expressions of disbelief frozen on their faces.
They had thought, at the very least, Huangtu's jutsu would kill some of the Sand forces if not the Kazekage himself.
Instead… it had done nothing. They couldn't even tell what kind of technique had neutralized it.
Only Huangtu's expression changed—his face pale with fear.
He had figured out what technique had destroyed his jutsu.
And precisely because he had figured it out—that's what frightened him most.
"How could this be…?" he whispered.
(END CHAPTER)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Kira1997