The fireworks in the sky were seen immediately by all the Iwa ninjas rampaging through Kusa.

  Upon seeing the signal, they abahe prison escapees they had been instigating and began running toward their pnned destination.

  At that moment, Masashi had already appeared at the entrance.

  Kusa's prison truly housed an impressive number of ihanks to the Kusa ninjas' pent for underhandedly capturing people from all over.

  Masashi gnced around and immediately saw a group of prisoners locked in battle with the Kusa reinforts.

  Biting his finger, he pressed his hand to the ground.

  With a puff of smoke from the Summoning Jutsu, the enormous body of a bck serpent appeared.

  Kuro position pced part of her massive body directly through the gate, its coils sending tremors through the ground.

  With a deafening crash, a rge se of the high wall, along with the gate, was obliterated as Kuro stretched. The debris flew high into the air before raining down on the Kusa ninjas ahead.

  The ninjas never expected their sturdy gate to suddenly e crashing down on their heads.

  Paed among them as they screamed and scrambled to avoid the falling wreckage. But pared to the size of the debris, human bodies were pitifully small.

  At least a hundred Kusa ninjas were crushed into pulp, their bodies disappearih the mountain of rubble.

  The prisoners, however, were overjoyed—they had been spared, standing just outside the range of destru.

  Seeing the enormous serpent slithering ahead, their instincts told them this creature was no ally of Kusa.

  One of them shouted, "Hey, bro! Where are you from?"

  Hearing the prisoners' enthusiastic voices, Masashi looked at their cheerful expressions, as if they'd just found a rade, a utterly baffled.

  "Masashi," Kuro spoke, equally bewildered. She had never before been summoned and theed so warmly by humans.

  Subsciously, she slowed her movements, assuming these might be Masashi's subordinates.

  "Are these your men?" she asked.

  "Don't talk nonsense. I don't have subordihat dumb," Masashi waved dismissively. "As long as they have two legs, kill them all."

  Without hesitation, she swuail down onto the prisoners.

  A loud crash ter, more than a dozen bodies joihe growing number of casualties.

  Those who survived—whether prisoners or Kusa ninjas—were eheir previous animosity fotten in the face of a on enemy.

  "Kill that beast!" both groups shouted in unison.

  The difference, however, was that the prisoners bolted after yelling, while the Kusa ninjas actually tried to fight.

  A flurry of kunai, each attached to explosive tags, rained down on Kuro, targeting her entire body.

  The resulting explosions roared deafeningly, lighting up the serpent with a dazzling array of fiery blossoms.

  The ground seemed to quake as fmes and thick bck smoke rose skyward, scattering everywhere and engulfing the creature's massive form.

  The Kusa ninjas tihrowing kunai until they had depleted their eock of explosive tags.

  The explosions sted over ten seds, turning the area into a veritable hell.

  From within the smoke, a sudden glow emerged, burning away the darkness.

  Kuro's form became visible agaiirely unscathed as she rotected by a chakra armor c her body.

  Standing atop her head, Masashi was equally unharmed, enveloped in his own chakra armor. His hands quickly moved through seals.

  With an infusion of chakra, a small, highly pressed fireball fell to the ground.

  In an instant, r fmes erupted, engulfing the Kusa ninja for a massive bze.

  The fire raged untrolbly, spreading rapidly with the wind. The dazzling light illumihe Kusa ninjas as the fmes ed them pletely. Trapped within the inferno, they had no way to escape or breach the fiery barrier to tiheir attack.

  They screamed as the fmes turhem to ash. The lucky ones who stayed clear still got their hair and eyebrows singed from the heat.

  The scorg waves of air made it feel as though they were in an unending nightmare, paralyzing them with fear and despair.

  Uo front the monstrous sight before them, they scattered ireat. The se was too terrifyiinguishing any will they had left to fight.

  Kuro rampaged onward, crushing everything in her path and leaving a trail of blood.

  Truth be told, the militant fa of Konoha's ninja had never gained signifit influehis wasn't because the Hokage articurly opposed to war, but rather because their way of thinking was too unventional.

  Believe it or not, even Danzō's methods were mrouhan theirs. While he was undoubtedly underhanded, ruthless, and unscrupulous, he at least uood Konoha's political game.

  The unventional thinking of Konoha's militant fa wasn't about being war-crazed—they weren't madmen craving battle. Instead, it was their bizarre methods that were hard to justify.

  For instahey had collectively demahat the Hokage drag Kusa, which had deceived Konoha, into the war between Konoha and Iwa.

  How they even thought that was feasible was a mystery.

  Operating under a principle of "if everyone's happy, things are fine," Masashi decided the best solution was to make Kusa's cims to Konoha—"our vilge has been severely damaged and ot participate in the war"—erue.

  Perseg the Uzumaki was ohing.

  Attag Iwa while trying to frame Konoha was another.

  These two reasons alone were enough for him to unleash devastation upon Kusa.

  Besides, Kusa had already made the first move against him.

  As for Iwa's Explosion Corps, they wouldn't escape him.

  While Deidara and Kurotsuchi might have some value if captured alive, the others did not.

  Standing atop Kuro's head, he formed hand seals.

  With a swish, Yumi aa appeared beside him.

  Although Masashi's Flying Thunder God didn't cover an excessively rge range, he could transfer individuals or objects marked with his seal to other seals—or pull them directly to his side.

  The tter was essentially a reverse application of Flying Thunder God's guiding fun.

  Both of them, forcefully transported by Masashi, looked bewildered but immediately stabilized themselves using chakra.

  Yumi, in particur, carefully steadied herself while holding a young girl in her arms.

  Masashi g the little girl, and when her fearful eyes met his Sharingan, she instantly fell asleep under his genjutsu.

  After ensuring the girl was unscious, he used his chakra sensing ability to begin hunting down the Iwa ninjas.

  Kuro rampaged through Kusa, killing any Kusa ninjas she entered.

  Her massive body was impossible to miss, and the leaders of Kusa saw everything clearly from their positions of supposed safety.

  Some were furious, others muttered pints about Masashi's ruthlessness, but none dared to stop him.

  Angry or not, remorseful or not, they only had one life to lose.

  Masashi didn't care about their thoughts. Deceiving Konoha's allies was uable in this shinobi world. If such a thied, he would simply turn lies into truth.

  Through his chakra sensing, he detected that the Iwa ninjas had begun regrouping.

  Though Kusa still needed further weakening, he decided to elimihe Explosion Corps first.

  Following his orders, Kuro twisted her massive body and charged westward, heading toward the outskirts of Kusa.

  Behind him, Yumi aa were both cloaked in his chakra armor. After all, the three of them were standing on Kuro's head, and it wouldn't do if they got hit by flying debris.

  It was fine for the three ninjas, but the little girl they were carrying wouldn't stand a ce.

  Boom!

  Another building colpsed.

  Kuro was quite patible with Manda—both of them couldn't resist charging straight at any structure in sight.

  As for how many Kusa ninjas had bee flying along the way, Masashi didn't bother to t.

  They were ninjas—that was enough for him.

  Despite his seemingly reckless behavior, he actually followed a strict principle.

  Even when fighting in someone else's vilge, he only directed Kuro toward areas poputed by ninjas.

  Eai venues were also off-limits—they were staffed by hardw civilians, some of whom might even be from other nations.

  Such workers deserved respect.

  Though there were bound to be ninjas among them, Masashi still spared them.

  He never iionally unleashed destru in areas crowded with civilians—uhey were bandits or the like.

  Before long, Kuro had torn through Kusa, emerging on the western edge of the vilge.

  Masashi immediately spotted over a dozen Iwa ninjas who had gathered there.

  The ninjas, reizing the familiar chakra armor, inwardly cursed in frustration.

  One of them pulled out a makeshift signal tube and unched a firework into the sky. The others didn't hesitate—they all charged forward like a herd of wild boars.

  "So brave," Masashi remarked, not b to stop them.

  If he weren't standing so high up, he might have even jumped down to snatch the tube a off another firework himself.

  To express his gratitude, he decided not to let them die by serpent bite or tail. He would take care of it personally.

  Leaving Kuro in pce, he leapt down from its head and nded on the ground. The impact sent small ripples through the earth.

  The charging Iwa ninjas paused for a moment in surprise, then rejoiced and charged at him with a battle cry.

  The chakra armor on Masashi began to morph. The armor's shape disappeared, transf into a chakra cloak around his body, which tio shift and ge.

  The transformation was faster than the Iwa ninjas' charge. Before they could reach him, a dozen enormous chakra hands had already formed.

  And then, the hands came down.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  As the dust cleared, there wasn't a single survivor. They had all perished peacefully, without pain.

  Ref the chakra armor around his body, he jumped bato the serpent's head.

  Kuro turned her head and charged bato Kusa.

  As the wind rushed past, Masashi was in an exceptionally good mood. He hadn't expected the Iwa ninjas to be so cooperative—it had saved him a lot of effort.

  After all, his inal pn was to: discover enemy forces within an ally's vilge, ehem without hesitation, and join forces with the ally to elimihem.

  During this process, the enemy would wreak havoc, causing the ally signifit losses.

  It was a logical and well-supported sario, ohat provided Kusa with a pusible excuse for their losses while also showg the unbreakable bond of alliaween Konoha and Kusa.

  Now, it seemed, he could also add a new element: the mutual uandiween Konoha and Iwa.

  Such a perfed siderate operation. If the Kusa leadership didn't give him an award for his efforts, it would be truly unreasonable.

  As an outsider, he was doing an excellent job of being a "Friend of Kusa."

  As for the Hokage, he didn't need a reward. Just cssify this as an S-rank mission ale the payment on time.

  Behind him, his Yumi aa had already itted his as to memory.

  They had started to uand his strategy.

  Keita, for one, had decided that from this day forward, he was a devoted fan of Masashi.

  This was the correct way to cause trouble!

  As for that retive of his—the son of his uncle's wife's cousin—who thought he could pete with him for Yumi?

  Just wait.

  Smack!

  A piece of debris hit him in the face. But thanks to the chakra armor, it was the stohat ended up boung off harmlessly.

  "Keita, what are you daydreaming about?" Yumi said irritably. "The captain's jutsu is impressive, but you o stay focused too. Don't fall off!"

  Boys, she thought with exasperation. Always getting distracted at the worst times.

  She sighed inwardly.

  Keita was always so scatterbrained and iive during missions. He wasn't reliable at all.

  And he was so dense!

  She had reminded him several times about that annoyiive of his, yet he still hadn't stood up for her.

  Be more assertive, you idiot!

  Didn't he know how hard it was firls from the Hyūga arry outside the ?

  Still, the two of them agreed ohing: w under Masashi on war missions was incredibly easy.

  All they had to do was scout for eraces, maybe track a target, or occasionally hold a baby.

  As for bat? They just had to watch.

  Whenever Masashi made a move, her they nor the enemies had any opportunity to intervene.

  They could just coast through the mission.

  So, they tio silently observe his in a.

  The Kusa ninjas were wailing in distress, while the Iwa ninjas stuck to their standard tactics of ung fireworks and charging in recklessly.

  They even had time to calcute: on average, for every Iwa ninja killed, dozens of Kusa ninjas ended up with the "all-inclusive" package of suffering.

  As time passed, the setting suhe sky a bloody red, signaling the end of the chaos that had started with the jailbreak of the Explosion Corps.

  Kusa's critical facilities were reduced to sm ruins, rivers of blood flowing through the vilge.

  The civilian areas, however, suffered retively little damage—though they weren't pletely unscathed. Some of the prisoners who had escaped alongside the Iwa ninjas had infiltrated these areas, causing casualties among the civilians before being subdued by Kusa ninjas.

  Of the Iwa ninjas, only two remained.

  Deidara and Kurotsuchi stood helplessly in front of the giant serpent.

  They had tried everything, but there was nothing they could do against Masashi's chakra armor teiques.

  Surrounded by hundreds of Kusa ninjas who blocked every possible escape route, the two young Iwa ninjas were left with no options.

  "As I said before, surrender. Konoha treats its prisoners well."

  Masashi jumped to the ground and began walking toward the two kids.

  "With talent like yours, there's o throw your lives away. A great ninja knows how to assess their situation."

  Though his chakra armor didn't make the metallic king sounds of real armor or bee stained with blood, in Deidara's eyes, even the footprints left behind by the Konoha ninja seemed to be blood-red.

  He looked around, then at Kurotsuchi, who was trying to act strong but unsciously leaned closer to him.

  He sighed in frustration.

  The Kusa ninjas were utterly useless. In the end, this really did turn into a Kusa-assisted annihition of the Explosion Corps, just as Konoha had pnned.

  He believed that Konoha wouldn't mistreat him or Kurotsuchi.

  The two of them were valuable bargaining chips in future iatioween Konoha and Iwa. Of course, this wouldn't be done openly.

  But this meant Kurotsuchi's political career was effectively over. Deidara himself didn't care.

  "You've inflicted such signifit damage on Kusa that they're now incapable of tributing to Iwa's war effort. Even if you were captured, your achievements outweigh your failures."

  In the crowd, Kusa's leaders wao protest.

  But when they saw the giant serpent and the casual gnce Masashi threw their way, they offered Deidara and Kurotsuchi just the right amount of admiration.

  It was so natural—not the slightest hint of coer.

  Deidara was taken aback.

  He had to admit, he had learned something new.

  He realized he had been wrong to look down on Kusa just because he came from a major ninja vilge. That kind ance wouldn't do.

  This was a valuable lesson.

  "I surrender," he said, raising his hand. He also grabbed Kurotsuchi's hand and lifted it. "We're just kids—please treat us kindly."

  Masashi deactivated his chakra armor, smiling warmly. "This is war, but the friendship between Konoha and Iwa runs deep. You'll be safe—no one will harm you, I promise."