Only I can make Konoha Village great again.

Upon receiving the retreat order from the mountain, each squad immediately complied.

As planned, the Konoha ninja used their most powerful ninjutsu, or simply scattered explosive tags, to create a massive cloud of smoke.

One after another, clones and shadow clones ran around in all directions amidst the smoke, attacking and creating chaos at will.

On the battlefield where chakra fluctuations are intense, even ordinary clones cannot distinguish them. The Cloud Village ninjas, with their bloodshot eyes, often kill nothing more than a puff of white smoke.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the Konoha ninjas calmly withdrew from the battle, escaping from the initial northern hillside and waiting to regroup after crossing the hill.

Before retreating, the illusion team used the large-scale illusion spell, Illusionary Light, once again, mixing the real flames with the illusionary flames, making them difficult to distinguish.

The chaotic valley was in complete disarray, making it nearly twice as difficult for the Cloud Village ninjas to carry out their rescue mission.

Actually, it's already impossible.

The wait was only three minutes, but each of those 180 seconds felt like an eternity.

The final time limit was reached, but the group had not all gathered, and three Konoha ninjas were trapped in the valley.

Yamanaka Chukyu was focused on controlling the emotions of the Cloud Village ninjas and had no energy left to pay attention to his subordinates. He was also unaware of what had happened to the three ninjas.

Without hesitation, he calmly gave the order: "Time's up, retreat!"

Yamanaka Hatsukyu calmly gave the order, and the other Konoha ninjas acted calmly, as if no one had been sacrificed.

Even the young ninjas, including Uchiha Shisui, though their eyes were filled with reluctance and tears, remained silent.

This is war!

These are true ninjas who have been through countless battles!

They knew that sacrifice was inevitable, and they knew they couldn't risk the lives of more comrades for the sake of a few.

A monster like Obito Uchiha is one of a kind in a thousand years.

But the retreat was not an easy one.

The Cloud Village ninjas were indeed stunned. After their organization was completely disrupted, they were unable to fight as a ninja army. However, even if only one of the elite Jonin at the pinnacle of ninjas reacted, they would still have enough power to threaten the Leaf Village ninjas.

Shan Zhongchu sensed from his heart-severing boundary that several sources of emotion in the chaotic tide behind him had broken free from the chaos.

This means that the pursuit by the Cloud Village ninjas will arrive very soon.

Someone must cover the rear, or launch an ambush to eliminate the elite Jonin from the Hidden Cloud Village who are pursuing them, thus deterring any potential follow-up attacks.

Hmph, I had the mixed reconnaissance team set up an ambush position in advance, and nothing was wasted. I'm so clever!

Shan Zhongchu smiled smugly and led the team forward at full speed.

With his Heart Severing Boundary fully activated, he bypassed any scattered ninjas from Kumogakure and ordered any Konoha ninjas who had infiltrated to follow him.

With the Kumogakure supply center destroyed, the village's retaliation and encirclement will be triggered automatically without the Fourth Raikage's orders.

If the infiltrated Konoha ninja do not retreat, they will surely perish in the encirclement and suppression that follows.

The infiltrators' strengths varied greatly, and their conditions were inconsistent. Taking them along during the retreat significantly slowed down the entire team's retreat.

But no one objected to Yamanaka Chujiu's decision.

When their comrades are beyond saving, the Konoha ninjas can calmly choose to give up, but when there is an opportunity to save someone, they are willing to take the risk.

Nobody wants to follow a cold-blooded commander, like a bastard like Danzo Shimura.

But more importantly, the Konoha ninjas in the raiding force believed that if Yamanaka Hatsugu was able to accept his comrades, he must have an absolute certainty of bringing everyone back.

This is the prestige built by victory, and the unshakable confidence.

Yamanaka Chujiu did not disappoint his subordinates' trust. He successfully led the team to the first rest point and reunited with the first mixed reconnaissance team.

Team leader Shang Yu confirmed the identities of the three comrades-in-arms through the parasitic insects in advance, and was slightly depressed upon learning that she had lost three comrades-in-arms.

But on the surface, he acted as if nothing was wrong, calmly arranging for the Konoha ninja to rest and providing everyone with hot water and hot food.

Shota Inuzuka, who was in charge of preparing food and water, exclaimed, "How come there are so many more people?"

Nara Kano said, "We've brought all the companions we met along the way. The Cloud Village ninja suffered heavy losses, and they're bound to make a big move next. It's too dangerous for us to stay here."

As expected of a ninja from the Inuzuka family, Shota Inuzuka immediately put aside his worries and went to prepare more food and hot water.

His ninja dog obediently ran around, clumsily offering insignificant help.

The puppy boy's boundless energy brought a smile to the faces of all the Konoha ninja, easing their tense mood considerably.

Shan Zhongchu Jiu did not laugh. He closed his eyes, gently pressed his temples with his fingertips, and focused his mind on the perception of the Heart Severance Realm.

He discovered that his manipulation of the mental boundary had advanced further; with focused attention, he was able to constrain his perception from a spherical shape to a cylindrical one, allowing him to sense emotions from a more distant point in a more directional way.

After confirming that there were no Cloud Village ninjas within a radius of several kilometers, Yamanaka Hatsukyu focused his attention on the path he had come from and, as expected, sensed agitated, angry emotions, as well as undisguised killing intent.

They were a group of ninjas with similar emotions, one of whom had a particularly strong emotional surge, his killing intent almost boiling over.

Yamanaka Chujiu opened his eyes and said to Nara Kano, "The pursuers from Kumogakure are here. There is an elite Jonin and a reinforced company of forty men."

"The pursuers from Kumogakure are moving very fast. Although they haven't determined our direction yet, they are less than eight kilometers away from us."

Nara Kano asked, "What is Lord Hatsukuni's decision?"

Yamanaka Chujiu laughed: "They must have found their fallen comrades and obtained the information that we only have 28 men from their brains, which is why they dared to chase after us with 40 men."

"They even thought we not only had fewer people, but also had quite a few wounded."

"But in reality..."

The Konoha ninjas surrounding Shan Zhongchu all laughed.

The Konoha ninja in the raiding force did have some wounded, but only five of them sustained minor injuries, which did not affect their combat effectiveness.

During the retreat, Yamanaka Hatsukyu gathered fifteen Konoha ninja, all of whom were elite Chunin capable of carrying out infiltration missions.

In other words, the Konoha ninjas have more people and are stronger.

By the time the Cloud Village ninjas arrive, they will have eaten and drunk their fill and rested for half an hour, making the difference in strength even greater.

Yamanaka Chukyu laughed too: "Of course, we'll ambush them and wipe out the Cloud Village ninja!"

He looked around at the surroundings. The back of the gently sloping hills, while lacking the most suitable narrow and treacherous passages for an ambush, were covered with waist-high dry grass, making it easy to hide forty or so ninjas.

"This location is well chosen. It's clearly not the most suitable terrain for an ambush, which will lower the guard of the Cloud Village ninja."

"We'll ambush them here."