The attack had come suddenly. During the fight, Hizashi hadn't had time to give many orders—but afterward, there was plenty to command.
He sent two Hyūga branch-family chūnin to check the Iwa corpses for any tricks, and had the surviving chūnin collect the bodies of their fallen comrades… The remaining genin were tasked with reorganizing the supplies and wagons.
Tōji was among those helping reorganize the supplies. He could see that most of the younger ones were still shaken, while the older shinobi wore only expressions of resignation.
Those who showed grief beside the fallen Konoha shinobi were mostly their squadmates. Apart from one female chūnin with red-rimmed eyes, the others showed only subdued sorrow—nothing more.
Beyond the fact that Konoha's shinobi code forbade open displays of emotion, years of war had also numbed most surviving shinobi to life and death…
Tōji found the atmosphere truly suffocating.
Boom! The supply convoy was still busy reorganizing when suddenly—the distinctive sound of a signal flare rang out from up ahead!
Tōji looked up. Against the dusk sky, gradually tinted orange by the setting sun, the signal flare burst open—red. That was a request for emergency support!
Another ambush up ahead!
Tōji's first thought was—the attack on their convoy was only the first part of the Iwa plan… They'd chosen to hit the transport convoy at this distance precisely to lure the garrison out!
It seemed the Konoha squads that had been sent from camp to support them were the ones the Iwa forces had truly set up an ambush for!
『For a village that's always been unremarkable on the macro-strategic level, Iwa sure knows how to play tactical games on the battlefield!』 Despite being on the opposing side, Tōji couldn't help but silently admire their move.
He turned to look at Hizashi…
Hmm… Hizashi wasn't stupid. He made no move—just kept his Byakugan active, scanning the surroundings of the convoy.
If they'd already thrown twelve jōnin as bait, this was clearly a big play by Iwa. The ambush ahead would be even fiercer!
The remaining forces in the convoy were far too few to send in—the best course of action was to hold position and wait.
『For the enemy to have slipped around to the rear for a surprise attack… this generation of commanders is pretty weak, huh!』 Tōji kept silently roasting the leadership as he formed up in the defensive formation with the others, as if the danger didn't concern him.
No one present dared to breathe loudly. Many strained their eyes to look as far as possible. The convoy was so quiet that they could hear the sounds of fighting in the distance—especially the explosions of Exploding Tags, which were the most attention-grabbing. They made everyone want to know what was happening at the battlefield, yet terrified at the same time…
Everyone was on high alert. They hadn't even finished collecting the bodies of the fallen Konoha chūnin on the ground. But no one had the mind to dwell on that anymore—if things went wrong, they could end up in the same state.
Time dragged on interminably. Though the battle wasn't right in front of them, a huge sense of danger hung over everyone.
Tōji glanced at Natchi beside him. Natchi happened to look back at him, forcing a strained, almost stiff smile…
Konoha's strategy of quantity over quality was most vulnerable to Iwa's wide-area guerrilla tactics and small-team ambushes.
It felt like a long time had passed—but in reality, it was less than ten minutes. Then—then, from further away, likely from the main Konoha camp—another signal flare rose into the sky!
『They can't be playing it that big, can they! A two-step decoy—feint east, strike west! They're going for the base now!』 Tōji felt that this mission was now a matter of life and death…
At that moment, Hizashi called out, "Everyone, maintain maximum alertness. Don't think about or do anything unnecessary!"
『Good man—Hizashi can still keep a cool head.』
A few kilometers—neither too far nor too close—but the explosions and flames from the main camp had already begun to outshine the dying sunset!