Chapter 342: Eight Hundred!

Uchiha Ren’s side was resting and recovering their strength while discussing the battle plan. Meanwhile, Sunagakure had also detected the arrival of the Konoha forces.

“Lord Kazekage, a large number of chakra signatures have been detected ten kilometers away!”

Inside the main hall of Shashan Temple, a Sand shinobi wearing a special sensory device suddenly opened his eyes and reported to Rasa, who had been resting with his eyes closed.

“They’re finally here!”

Rasa opened his eyes and asked, “How many of them are there? What is the strength of their chakra?”

The Sand sensor focused for another moment before replying, “Approximately eight hundred. Their chakra signatures are extremely strong. Almost all of them are elite shinobi of jōnin caliber. There are also four chakra signatures at the level of a Kage!”

“Eight hundred?!”

Rasa was somewhat surprised.

He had already anticipated that the quality of the shinobi in Konoha’s force would be exceptionally high. After all, a mission like this would certainly call for an elite-force strategy.

But why were there only eight hundred?

Wasn’t Konoha supposed to have at least two thousand shinobi?

Where had the other thousand-plus gone?

A bad feeling suddenly arose in Rasa’s heart.

“Search immediately! Expand your sensory range and find out whether Konoha has any other shinobi concealed nearby!”

“Yes!”

The Sand sensor immediately closed his eyes and began searching again.

Rasa also beckoned another Sand shinobi over and ordered, “Immediately report the situation here to Elder Chiyo. Have her contact the various positions at once and find out whether anything unusual has happened elsewhere!”

“Yes!”

The Sand shinobi nodded and immediately disappeared from Shashan Temple, heading toward Sunagakure.

Rasa’s gaze followed him before shifting toward the area outside Shashan Temple, where he stared into the distance at the location of the Konoha forces.

Eight hundred people… What exactly is Konoha trying to do?

Does Konoha really think that a mere eight hundred shinobi can take Sunagakure?

How arrogant!

Rasa’s thoughts raced. When he considered a certain possibility, a trace of anger appeared in his eyes.

“Lord Kazekage, there are no other large concentrations of chakra within a fifty-kilometer radius. We can confirm that Konoha has only brought eight hundred people!”

After a short while, the Sand sensor opened his eyes again and delivered his report with certainty.

With the assistance of the chakra-detection device, the sensor’s effective range had been greatly increased.

Although the accuracy of his detection dropped sharply at a range of fifty kilometers, a chakra concentration consisting of more than a thousand shinobi would still be impossible for him to miss.

“Hmph. Continue monitoring the movements of those eight hundred.”

Rasa snorted and said no more. He stepped outside Shashan Temple and began arranging the defenses.

Under Rasa’s command, the large ballistae positioned throughout the Sand defensive line began adjusting their aim and drawing their bowstrings. Various large-scale ninja-tool launchers were also prepared, ready to fire at any moment.

Yes, this world also possessed long-range conventional weapons of war such as ballistae and siege crossbows.

And thanks to the unique manufacturing techniques of the shinobi world, some of these massive weapons were even capable of continuous fire.

However, such large weapons were far too cumbersome for ordinary shinobi to move around with. They were generally deployed only at particularly important large-scale strongholds.

Sunagakure had a considerable stockpile of such weapons.

In order to strengthen the defenses at Shashan Temple, Rasa had emptied more than half of the village’s arsenal, arming the position to the teeth.

Rasa was already prepared to commit a substantial portion of Sunagakure’s war resources. He planned to unleash a saturation attack across the area between one hundred and five hundred meters in front of the defensive position, killing half of the Konoha shinobi before they could even approach.

With these massive weapons providing additional firepower, Rasa was confident that Sunagakure could win this battle to defend the village, even if the quality of their shinobi was inferior to Konoha’s.

Time passed second by second.

As the minutes ticked away, the atmosphere throughout the Sunagakure defensive position grew increasingly tense.

Then, roughly half an hour later, the Sand sensor inside the main hall of Shashan Temple suddenly opened his eyes and shouted:

“The Konoha forces are moving! They’re advancing directly toward us!”

His shout caused a brief commotion among the Sand shinobi stationed throughout the defensive position.

“Stay calm! Everyone, follow my orders!”

A mass of gold dust appeared beneath Rasa’s feet, lifting him into the air.

He rose high above the defensive position and shouted so loudly that every Sand shinobi could see him.

Seeing Rasa’s figure immediately gave the Sand shinobi at Shashan Temple a tremendous boost of confidence. The brief disturbance quickly subsided, replaced by excitement and anticipation.

“Five kilometers!”

The Sand sensor at Shashan Temple shouted again.

Rasa, hovering in midair, could now see a series of black dots rapidly approaching in the distance.

“Three kilometers!”

“Everyone, prepare yourselves!”

Rasa could already make out the individual figures in the distance. He shouted down to the Sand shinobi manning the defensive position, ordering them to get ready.

But in the next instant, a series of sharp whooshing sounds tore through the air.

Rasa saw numerous black objects trailing flames rise from an even greater distance. They tore through the air at tremendous speed, rapidly flying toward the defensive position.

What are those?

Has Konoha developed some new long-range ninja tool?

A trace of doubt arose in Rasa’s heart, but he did not act rashly.

Several seconds later, Rasa finally got a clear look at the objects.

They were nothing more than strange iron projectiles roughly the length of a human arm and as thick as a thigh.

Their appearance was peculiar, but they did not seem particularly threatening.

“Although they have considerable range and speed, their attack density is far too low.”

Rasa looked at the more than one hundred iron projectiles covering the entire area around Shashan Temple and shook his head disdainfully.

He merely raised his hand and manipulated a mass of gold dust toward one of the projectiles flying directly at him, paying no attention to the others raining down around the defensive position.

In Rasa’s view, the Shashan Temple defensive position stretched for several hundred meters, with a depth of nearly a kilometer.

More than a hundred iron projectiles falling over such a vast area would be like throwing stones into the ocean. The casualties they caused would be negligible.

But in the very next moment—

BOOM!

The Fire Release Cannon Type-3 shell blocked by Rasa’s gold dust exploded.

Blazing flames erupted with tremendous explosive force, accompanied by countless fragments of shrapnel that swept across hundreds of meters.

Several sprays of blood burst from Rasa’s body as the explosion hurled him dozens of meters through the air.

He was completely stunned.

Yet this was only the beginning!

As the other Fire Release Cannon Type-3 shells struck the ground, enormous fireballs erupted one after another.

The entire Shashan Temple defensive position descended into chaos.

Cries of agony rang out everywhere, and the once-fortified position was reduced to a scene of utter devastation.

But even that wasn’t the end.

Illuminated by the raging fire filling the sky, another series of sharp whooshing sounds suddenly came from the distance.

Another barrage of Fire Release Cannon Type-3 shells rose into the sky and streaked toward the Shashan Temple defensive position.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

One enormous fireball after another erupted.

Flames raged across the battlefield. Shrapnel tore through the air. Blood and flesh were scattered everywhere, while the stench of charred flesh permeated the air.

The entire Shashan Temple defensive position had become nothing short of a living hell.