Naruto: I'm in Konoha, my name is Uzumaki Menma

Chapter 563 S-Rank Ninjutsu? Artillery Barrage!

The ninjas engulfed in flames let out piercing screams, rolling on the ground trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies, but soon fell silent.

Crack!

Another Lightning Release: Thunderclap Technique shot out from the Star Ninja's position. Blue arcs of electricity leaped in the air, shocking several approaching Allied Ninjas, who fell to the ground, their bodies convulsing violently in the electric current.

Immediately afterwards, ninjutsu such as Earth Release: Earth Rising Spear, Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, and Water Release: Water Fang Blade erupted from the Star Ninja's position.

These ninjutsu techniques were mostly either large-scale bursts or small-scale precision strikes. The sudden attacks repelled dozens of allied ninjas who were trying to approach.

However, a burly Iwa ninja wearing a brown ninja vest used Earth Release: Earth Release technique to sneak underground, avoiding all ninjutsu and bullets, and silently reached the edge of the trench.

"Die!!!"

He burst out of the trench wall, his entire body encased in a layer of hard rock armor, and punched a Star Ninja in the neck.

"Ugh!" The Star Ninja left only with a scream.

Blood splattered and spilled into the trenches, leaving shocking dark red spots on the grayish-brown soil.

"Hideki!!!"

"You bastard!!"

But then, another soldier, who was closest to him in the trench, advanced instead of retreating, and thrust his rifle at him directly.

A bayonet was attached to the bottom of the rifle muzzle, turning the rifle into a spear, and he engaged in close combat with the Iwa ninja.

As the saying goes, "An inch longer, an inch stronger."

Although this Star Ninja was slightly at a disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat, his advantage in weapon length temporarily gave him the ability to entangle with the enemy.

He gripped his rifle tightly, the bayonet drawing an arc in the air, forcing the Iwa ninja to retreat continuously.

In those brief two or three seconds, the other Star Ninjas nearby reacted and came to their aid.

They formed combat teams of three, taking advantage of the terrain and trenches to corner the Iwa ninja.

The two attackers in front took turns attacking to draw the attention of the Iwa ninja, while the third attacker in the back looked for an opportunity to launch a fatal blow.

Ultimately, through the three's coordinated efforts, the Iwa ninja was forced into a corner with nowhere to retreat.

A Star Ninja seized the opportunity to stab from the side, the bayonet plunging deep into the Iwa Ninja's ribs.

The Iwa ninja let out a furious roar of resentment, swayed a few times, and then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

But other lines of defense were also engulfed in battle.

Ninjas from the allied forces continued to rush into the trench positions, engaging in close combat with the Star Ninjas defending the positions.

Kunai clashed with bayonets, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and shouts and screams mingled together, creating a bloody and cruel scene.

The ninjas of the allied forces initially thought that their opponents only had the advantage of long-range weaponry and would be no match for them in close combat.

After all, they were trained to kill from a young age, while the Star Ninjas seemed to rely more on those strange weapons.

But soon, explosions and various ninja techniques echoed from the trenches.

The Star Ninjas fought in units of three. The two in front engaged the enemy in close combat, using bayonets and taijutsu to restrain the enemy's movements, while the third launched various ninjutsu attacks from a strange device on his wrist.

Those devices are small scientific ninja tools that can activate and release pre-stored ninjutsu with minimal chakra cost. Their advantage lies in speed and concealment, and skilled users can even release it without any hand seals or summoning.

This defensive line, which was only a few hundred meters long, was manned by more than a hundred Star Ninjas who managed to hold off the offensive of more than a thousand Allied Ninjas, and even showed signs of driving the enemy out of the position.

Meanwhile, on a high ground behind the Allied Forces, Huang Tu, the frontline commander of this Allied Ninja Army, was observing the battle situation ahead.

He observed that although the Star Ninja's defenses had been breached in some areas, their overall defensive system remained solid.

Those Star Ninjas displayed astonishing resilience and tactical proficiency, showing no signs of collapse even when facing an enemy several times their size.

"This can't go on any longer," Huang Tu said in a deep voice.

He turned to look at the messenger ninja behind him.

"Order the Second Force to attack! Push forward from the front and capture the outer defenses of Toriga Castle before nightfall!"

"Yes!" The ninja who gave the order quickly left.

On the desolate land, in the direction of the Allied Ninja forces, another two thousand ninja soldiers rushed to the battlefield. They marched in a mighty force, heading straight for the Star Ninja defense line that had been breached.

However, just as they left the Allied camp and were on their way to the front lines, a series of sharp whistling sounds suddenly came from the sky.

"What's that noise?"

Some of the ninjas who were running couldn't help but look up at the sky.

The sound was sharp and piercing, as if something was falling from the sky at an extremely high speed.

Some sharp-eyed ninjas with strong senses noticed that something seemed to be falling from the sky.

Those were several small black dots, which were rapidly growing larger.

Then boom!

The first large-caliber shell landed in the Allied lines that were rushing to the battlefield.

The immense explosive force blasted dozens of ninjas to ashes, and hundreds of allied ninjas around the blast were blown dozens of meters away by the shockwave.

A small, fiery red mushroom suddenly lit up on the desolate land, followed by a cloud of dust and gravel.

As the densely packed Allied forces' formation dissipated, a smoke zone several kilometers wide gradually cleared, leaving a crater five meters deep and six or seven meters wide on the ground!

Dark red bloodstains and fragments of torn clothing remained at the bottom of the pit.

The area around it was cleared out to the size of a football field.

Within that area, the ninjas were either dead or injured; not a single one remained standing.

"What... what kind of ninjutsu is this?!"

A ninja from a small village in the Allied Forces looked at the empty open space and the mutilated corpses lying on the ground, his legs went weak, and he knelt down.

Even some veteran ninjas who had participated in the Third Shinobi World War were now pale-faced, their lips trembling, and their eyes filled with fear.

They had never seen such a silent, sudden, and deadly ninjutsu that could take dozens of lives in an instant.

"Damn it! Is that an S-rank ninjutsu? Fire Release? Or Lightning Release?"

"Where is the enemy?"

"It looks like it was attacked from the air!"

"Could the enemy fly?"

Before the other allied ninjas could recover from their shock, a barrage of shells rained down on them, the ninjas who were preparing to support the front lines.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless large-caliber shells landed, and the explosion of each shell would take the lives of dozens of ninjas and injure hundreds of others to varying degrees.

Explosions rang out one after another, turning the entire area into a sea of ​​fire.

Dirt and rubble were blasted into the air and then rained down on the heads of the fleeing survivors.

The allied ninjas, thinking they had been attacked by a large-scale S-rank ninjutsu, fled in terror because they couldn't even see the enemy.

What orders, what will of stone, what mission—none of it matters at this moment.

They just wanted to survive.

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