Onoki led his squad across the battlefield, dodging any Hidden Blade equipment.
Stopping every so often, the group rested for half an hour before continuing on their way.
Although they could reach the Leaf camp in a few hours if they went at full speed using chakra, it would attract the attention of the Leaf ninjas and they would be surrounded.
With the Tsuchikage present, they were not afraid of being surrounded and could escape, but the mission to destroy the Leaf camp and deal a heavy blow to the enemy would fail.
After losing so many ninja teams in recent weeks, they must strike back at the Leaf ninjas to avenge their fallen comrades.
Even if what the spies found out was true and that the hidden blade was not the culprit behind these attacks, they must still attack so that the Rock ninjas can regain their morale.
Therefore, it didn't matter if it took many more hours as long as he didn't attract attention and reached his destination.
!!!!!!!
"LOOK OUT!" Onoki shouted as he jumped back and warned his subordinates.
The others reacted quickly and withdrew, obeying their leader without hesitation.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
And luckily for them that they did, because several explosions occurred in front of them and destroyed several hundred square meters of land and trees.
The Rock ninjas quickly protected themselves using Ninjutsu to shield themselves from the rocks or pieces of wood that flew at full speed.
The earthen walls in front of them or earthen armor protecting their bodies were the reason why none of them were injured by the aftermath of the explosions.
Of course, his ears were affected by the power of the shock wave.
Slowly, the place calmed down as they regained their sense of hearing and looked around, ready for a deadly battle.
Grabbing their weapons and ready to use Ninjutsu if the situation required it, the Rock ninjas looked around as they surrounded Onoki.
Onoki himself was also on the lookout for any enemies in his field of vision, ready to eliminate them with the dust element.
The seconds ticked by and nobody let their guard down.
But as time passed and no one appeared, the dust settled and suddenly they realized that there was no one surrounding them.
Onoki felt the earth beneath his feet and his chakra spread through the ground like sonar, confirming that there was no one hiding, waiting to attack them when they were off guard.
"Let's go"
Onoki did not hesitate and ordered a retreat, cursing his bad luck.
It appeared that they had accidentally triggered a booby trap, and it was not a deliberate attack by the Leaf ninjas.
But it doesn't matter.
An explosion of that magnitude will attract attention, and enemies will be on the lookout for this area of the battlefield.
Although he wanted to keep moving forward and there was a possibility that they wouldn't be found until it was too late, Onoki didn't want to risk being surrounded so soon.
The Rock ninjas were ready to come to their aid if they sent a radio request for help, but Onoki didn't want to take any chances when the main mission had failed so suddenly.
Although he is powerful and his squad is made up of elites, he cannot guarantee that nothing will go wrong if they are forced to fight in the middle of the leaf army.
He prefers to retreat and rejoin the other Rock ninjas before launching an attack against the hidden blade.
After a ninja from the squad turned on the radio and sent the message, the team sped forward.
The other ninjas of the Rock knew of the danger and did not object to their leader's decision even if they wanted to continue the mission.
Besides the danger, it also wasn't a good idea to offend their leader by doing this.
And as they expected, the explosion caught the attention of the Leaf ninjas and several squads headed towards the location.
"Release of dust: Detachment from the primitive world"
And the first team of ninjas had bad luck.
Since he would be discovered anyway, Onoki stopped holding back and a beam of light from the dust element swept hundreds of meters in front of him.
That approaching team of Leaf ninjas, consisting of 8 ninjas between chunin and genin, could only see a beam of light approaching before it turned into nothing.
Wiping out an entire squad of ninjas with a single attack, he demonstrated the power of the Third Tsuchikage, and the Rock ninjas behind him looked at him with even more reverence.
While the Rock ninjas were ecstatic with the power of their leader, the other Leaf ninjas who approached felt terror filling their bodies.
Since most were Genin and the rest were Chunin, he had no chance against the Tsuchikage.
Without bothering to send the message about the Third Tsuchikage's appearance, because the Yamanaka would take care of that, all the nearby teams turned around the instant they saw that destructive beam of light.
"They will not escape," Onoki said as he quickly formed hand seals.
"Dust Release…!"
But although he wanted to eliminate as many Leaf ninjas as possible, Onoki was only able to target and kill a few teams before the rest retreated at full speed.
With a grimace, Onoki led his squadron at full speed towards the Rock ninja camp.
Since they didn't bother to suppress their chakras this time, the half-day trip will only take an hour.
But since the ninjas of the Rock were already expecting the radio message, they will launch their attack and find them in half the time required.
As they traveled, Onoki could sense several Leaf teams following them.
But since he didn't want to waste time, he ignored them as long as they didn't get too close.
The Leaf ninja knew the danger of approaching the Third Tsuchikage, so they kept their distance while communicating with the Yamanaka clan ninja and announcing their position for the Third Hokage's arrival.
Several kilometers away, a group of Leaf ninja stood guard while keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.
Although several teams of Hidden Rock ninja approached, they did not move and allowed other squads of Leaf ninja to intercept them.
The reason they didn't move could be seen from the presence of a man in the middle of them, meditating on a rock.
Dressed in his battle uniform, the Third Hokage sat as he circulated his chakra throughout his body to prepare for the next battle.
"Lord Hokage!" shouted a ninja from the Yamanaka clan, and Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his eyes.
In a short time, the entire squad headed towards the direction where the presence of the Third Tsuchikage had been confirmed.
.
.
.
Putting away his food tray, Natsuo wiped his mouth with a napkin and smiled as his clones told him the good news.
The booby traps worked perfectly to stop the Third Tsuchikage's advance.
Of course, he didn't expect to be able to hurt them, since obviously only elite ninjas would accompany the Third Tsuchikage on a mission as dangerous as venturing into enemy territory.
But it was a good thing the explosions had stopped them so far from the camp.
Otherwise, the Third Tsuchikage would have risked racing at full speed towards the camp to wipe it off the map.
His clones told him that the Hidden Stone Village ninjas were ready to stop fighting separately and join forces to fight the Hidden Leaf Village ninjas all at once if they received the order from the Third Tsuchikage, so preventing them from reaching the camp and being surrounded was a good decision by Natsuo.
Otherwise, the final battle between the two villages would occur prematurely.
Natsuo didn't know if the village was ready for a decisive battle, so he preferred to avoid trouble.
Of course, what Natsuo wanted was different from what the Third Hokage wanted because he quickly caught up with Onoki and began fighting the Third Tsuchikage.
As long as the Tsuchikage dies here, he can force the Hidden Stone Village to stop the war.
Natsuo retreated to his personal tent and watched the entire fight through his shadow clones.
Using wood element chakra, his shadow clones were able to hide in the earth and flora to spy on the battle.
As long as they make sure they are not in the direct line of fire from both Kages, they cannot be discovered by the collateral damage.
Summoning Enma, the Monkey King didn't need an explanation because he already knew about the war and immediately transformed into a staff.
And with 4 clouds of smoke, Hiruzen created 4 shadow clones and they surrounded Onoki.