Naruto: Five Lives, Five Times the Excitement

Chapter 292 Sand Ninja Civil War (3)

"Shut up!"

"How dare you disrupt morale! Come with us for investigation."

Chiyo's trusted confidants were among the army. Several of them noticed the abnormality of the shadow clone and immediately rushed over to take it down.

Upon seeing this, the shadow clone ripped off his coat, revealing the explosive tags attached to his chest and back.

"Damn it, that's an explosive tag! Run!"

"Ichiro, you need to calm down!"

"Stop it!"

Upon seeing the detonation tag, the surrounding crowd erupted in uproar. Most people quickly moved away from the area, while a few of Ichiro's acquaintances loudly tried to dissuade him. Only a few of the stronger individuals turned back and rushed towards the shadow clone, attempting to prevent it from self-destructing.

Ignoring the surrounding noise, the shadow clone detonated the explosive tag while letting out a loud roar.

"Yakura is the true Kazekage, and his loyalty lies with the Eastern Army!"

The location of Yekura's camp is east of Sunagakure, so it is referred to as the Eastern Army.

The purpose of shadow clones is to create chaos and demoralize the enemy, rather than to inflict serious damage, thus giving those around them ample time to escape.

Apart from one unlucky guy who was killed in the explosion, only a few others suffered minor injuries, which was negligible for an army of several thousand.

However, the impact of this incident was extremely negative.

It sparked a thought in everyone: some in the army wanted to rebel against Luo Sha, and were even willing to give up their lives for it.

Many people who were already dissatisfied with Luo Sha breathed a little faster at this moment, their eyes secretly scanning the people around them, constantly plotting something.

Several Sand Ninja arrived at the site of the explosion, examined the surrounding environment, and then frowned.

"There are no corpses, no bloodstains. These are not our people, but enemy clones. Enemies have infiltrated to disrupt our unity and demoralize us."

"That's right, we must strengthen our vigilance and not let the enemy's plot succeed."

During their discussion, they deliberately raised their voices, trying their best to minimize the negative impact of the incident.

In short, it all boils down to one thing: this is all an enemy conspiracy, and no one has any complaints about Rasa, the Kazekage.

Unfortunately, Luo Sha's prestige had not yet been established, so their words were of little use.

Those near the explosion knew they were telling the truth, but those far away might not.

They will only believe what they want to believe.

Chiyo quickly received the report, and Ebizo suggested, "Why don't we suspend the march, investigate this matter first, and eliminate any unstable factors?"

Chiyo decisively rejected the idea, saying firmly, "That's exactly what the enemy wants. We can't be led by the nose. The army will continue to advance, and we can form several surveillance teams to conduct covert investigations."

Under Chiyo's command, the army continued to advance, and the explosions of the other shadow clones were quickly dealt with by the surveillance team without causing too much of a commotion.

"As expected of a great ninja village, petty tricks are useless; we have no choice but to take matters into our own hands."

If possible, Ooka Shin didn't want to expose himself, as this would pose some risks to Chisuke.

However, with this defeat, the best outcome for Sensuke would be becoming a rogue ninja and completely losing the chance to control the Sand Village.

Compared to the other two, the minor hidden dangers are nothing.

"Chisuke lured away Rasa and a group of Sand Ninja elites, which reduced the pressure on me. I'm not trying to defeat these thousands of Sand Ninja, I just want to maintain my fighting stance and stall for time, I should be able to do that."

Beneath Ooka Shin's feet, countless grains of sand began to boil, constantly climbing into the air and lifting Ooka Shin high above.

"What's that? A mountain?"

"Enemy! The enemy is attacking! Everyone be careful!"

"Is this really ninjutsu?"

The Sand Ninja, who were on the march, soon spotted a towering mountain in the distance. A huge shadow slowly enveloped everyone, forming a massive shadow on the ground. They were so shocked that they couldn't help but gape.

Chiyo naturally saw this scene, frowned, and muttered to herself, "This seems to be the power of a Jinchūriki."

However, she knew that Chisuke was being chased by Rasa and his men and could not possibly have come here.

"It seems this is a powerful ally that Yekura has brought in. There's no other way but to deal with him first."

With a hint of helplessness, Chiyo halted the army and began issuing orders.

Through the holes in the mask, Ooka Shin saw the tiny crowd in the distance divided into teams of different sizes. He knew that the enemy was arranging their troops and was about to launch an attack. He also created more than a dozen shadow clones, which were scattered around him to protect himself and guard against the enemy's sneak attack.

A few minutes later, the enemy launched an attack. Hundreds of Sand Ninjas dispersed and charged toward Ooka Shin in a semi-encircling formation.

"A reconnaissance unit testing my strength? Sigh, dealing with so many enemies at the same time, even if I have plenty of chakra, my mental strength and focus are not enough. I need to slow down their offensive."

Ooka Shin raised his right hand, and hundreds of sand clones appeared on the surface of the sand dune beneath his feet, launching a counterattack against the enemy.

"Although the Sand Clone is not as powerful as the Shadow Clone, it has no side effects, so it's perfect for this situation."

The sand clones collided with the sand ninjas, losing most of their number in one fell swoop. Fortunately, with the continuous chakra support of Ooka Shin, the lost sand clones were quickly replenished, barely managing to hold off the enemy's advance.

"Don't get entangled with these clones, let's charge through!"

Seeing that the sand clones could not be killed off in a short time, the Sand Ninja Commander immediately assembled an elite force of nearly a hundred men, broke free from the sand clones' entanglement, and began to charge up the sand mountain.

"First level passed, now for the second level!"

Ooka Shin stopped paying attention to the sand clone and instead formed hand seals again.

A Sand Ninja who had rushed up to the mountainside had just landed when an explosive tag appeared in the sand beneath his feet.

Boom!

In a massive explosion, the ninja was blasted away. Then, explosions continued to erupt around him, killing some Sand Ninja who couldn't react in time.

"Watch out, there's a trap here!"

The other Sand Ninjas became alert, and some of them used their taijutsu and reflexes to charge forward. As long as they were fast enough, the explosions couldn't catch up with them and could only leave behind clusters of flames.

Some people use their senses to detect the detonators in advance and then easily bypass them.

Some people use puppets or clones to trigger explosive tag traps, thus clearing mines for themselves.

"Only twenty or thirty people were killed. What a waste of so many detonating tags."

Ooka Shin felt a pang of heartache. In normal battles, killing twenty or thirty people meant wiping out the enemy, but in war, that number of people was nothing.

In the blink of an eye, the Sand Ninja had approached Ooka Shin. The puppeteers stopped in their tracks and used various puppets to launch an attack.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique!"

Ooka Shin unleashed a series of fire missiles, maneuvering them to strike the onrushing puppets, setting them ablaze and destroying them.

The destroyed puppets shattered into fireballs of various sizes and fell to the ground. The three Sand Ninja broke through these fireballs and attacked Ooka Shin with weapons such as iron rods, long swords, and kunai.

"A ninja skilled in taijutsu."

Ooka Shin immediately retreated to dodge their attacks. Just as he landed on the ground, a black barrel golem burst out of the ground and put Ooka Shin inside. Then, a thick iron chain quickly bound the black barrel tightly.

"We've caught him. The black barrel is full of poison gas; he can't escape."

The puppeteer had barely finished speaking when his puppet was shattered, turning into fragments that scattered in all directions.

Ooka Shin stood still, his right arm wrapped in chakra, maintaining the pose of throwing a punch.