sbdcsierra Chapter 465 The Dark Curtain
Chapter 465 The Dark Curtain
The rain, without gaps, was like endless steel needles, chiseling at every inch of scorched earth on the western plateau of the Land of Lightning.
The sky was a somber gray-black, so heavy it seemed about to collapse, burying this infernal realm completely.
The mud swallowed everything.
Mutilated limbs, twisted metal headbands, scrolls soaked in blood... the corpses of countless ninjas are mixed together with the garbage of war, forming an abstract and cruel picture.
Some of the bodies were torn to pieces by the violent explosion and scattered everywhere.
Some were completely purple, their faces frozen with the terror of death—marks left by the Sand Village's deadly poison.
Beneath a watchtower that had been partially destroyed by a bomb, three surviving Cloud Ninja huddled behind a stone wall, among the few living creatures in this dead land.
"Well……"
The Yunren on the far left looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. He was biting a piece of dead wood tightly, his whole body trembling like a leaf, trying his best not to cry out from the pain.
His right leg is gone.
The part below the knee was severed cleanly, and the cut was marked with black scorch marks from being burned by high-temperature ninjutsu.
The makeshift bandage had long been soaked in mud and blood, turning into a filthy red cloth.
The middle-ranking Yun ninja was slightly older and was the surviving leader of the squad. He gripped an explosive tag tightly in his hand, his knuckles stiff and white from excessive force.
His gaze was fixed on the rain-washed slope ahead, and each breath he took felt like pulling a broken bellows.
"Iwagakure...those reckless lunatics..."
He then spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with mud and sand, his voice hoarse, "They directly used earth magic to alter the terrain..."
The wounded young Cloud Ninja forced out a painful whimper, having already switched to biting down on a kunai handle: "The Fifth Squad... is completely gone... not even a complete corpse can be pieced together... that old bastard Onoki was flying in the sky, just like that, he clasped his hands together..."
He seemed to see that blinding white light again.
"The brothers in front... were instantly reduced to ashes!"
On the far right, Yun Ren leaned against the cold wall, his life force rapidly draining away.
The Sand Village's puppets left more than a dozen holes in his body, and he was barely breathing.
"Has the medical team... been withdrawn...?"
"The retreat route was cut off by the puppet army of Liemen half an hour ago."
The older Cloud Ninja carefully affixed the explosive tag to the rock in front of him.
"Now the sky is filled with poisoned puppet sand birds. If they show their heads, they'll be riddled with bullets and won't last even ten seconds."
"We're going to die here... Where's Lord Raikage... Where are the village reinforcements...?"
Despair spread like a plague among the three.
The older Cloud Ninja remained silent for a long time, then pulled out the last two kunai from his body, holding them in his hands, the metallic touch bringing a sense of illusory comfort.
"No reinforcements."
His voice was eerily calm.
"The entire defensive line has been wiped out by three teams."
He turned his head and looked at the gray-black sky reflected in the puddle on the ground.
"Get ready to fight to the death. If the Iwagakure people get close, I'll detonate it."
The fierce wind whipped up icy rain that poured into the ruins, mercilessly taking away the last bit of warmth from the wounded soldiers' bodies.
……
The temporary command camp of Yunyin Village.
A loud bang drowned out the continuous thunder outside the tent.
The thick ironwood table burst open from the very center, cracks spreading like a spider web across the entire surface in an instant. The next moment, the tabletop shattered into pieces, and countless wooden splinters shot out in all directions.
The Fourth Raikage, A, maintained his downward punching stance.
Frenzied lightning chakra surged across his towering body, blue arcs of electricity crackling restlessly, striking the air with ear-piercing crackling sounds.
The white bandage wrapped around his right arm had been torn, and the wound that had not yet healed burst open again, with large amounts of bright red blood seeping out, dripping down his fingertips and hitting the broken wooden board.
"Retreat on the northern front, retreat on the western front as well!"
Ai's roar seemed to rip open the tent roof, and the veins on his neck bulged.
"Are we going to retreat the entire defensive line all the way to the doorstep of Kumogakure?!"
Four high-ranking members of the Cloud Village stood inside the tent, but none of them dared to face the Raikage's wrath.
The Raikage, assisting Tsuchishiro, stood on the other side of the long table ruins, as if separated from A by an insurmountable chasm.
He held a stack of battle reports stained with mud and blood in his hand, his gaze lowered to the broken table leg on the ground.
He reached out and brushed away the wood chips that had fallen onto his sleeve before slowly raising his head.
"Lord Raikage, rage cannot change the reality that the defenses have completely collapsed."
Tsuchishiro's voice was steady, every word clear and distinct, completely unaffected by A's Lightning Release Chakra.
"Iwagakure Onoki's demolition squad advanced another five kilometers into our territory ten minutes ago."
He paused, then stated a cold, hard fact.
"The Fourth Defense Battalion, responsible for the blocking action, was completely wiped out."
Ai suddenly turned his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Tsuchishiro.
"Then send the Third Defense Force up there! Tell them that even if they die, they must use Lightning Release to blast a bloody path for me! I don't want to see that old bastard Onoki running rampant on the land of Lightning again!"
The local official did not receive the order.
He simply and calmly turned to the second battle report in his hand.
"The Third Kazekage, Retsumon's Magnet Release puppet army has completely cut off our only supply route from Rai Shou Peak. The sky is full of his puppet sand birds."
Tsuchishiro placed the battle report on a relatively intact wooden box next to him.
He finally looked up and met Aina's fiery gaze.
"We... no longer have the strength to launch a direct attack."
Ai strode across the broken wood on the ground; the imposing presence of his tall figure was enough to suffocate an ordinary ninja.
He approached Tsuchiya so close that their faces were almost touching.
"So, you're telling me to sit here and wait to die?"
Ai pointed to the torrential rain outside the tent, his voice filled with an almost palpable anger.
"Outside, every second, our compatriots are being blown into the air by explosive tags, their hearts pierced by poison sand! And you, as my advisor, are suggesting we cower here?"
"This is the only option at the moment."