Chapter 317
Only Haruto Saito could see the golden light erupting within the Mist Vanguard Camp, turning the sea of fire into a golden hue. Along with it came a massive wave of dropped items, so many that he couldn't immediately determine the exact number—perhaps thousands, maybe even tens of thousands.
Without pausing to inspect, he turned and burrowed underground, escaping at full speed!
He knew that while such an enormous explosion looked terrifying, it was unlikely to kill every ninja in the camp. The power alone wasn't sufficient, and the violent energy fluctuations from the explosion would have alerted nearby ninjas before the detonation.
Lower-ranked ninjas had no chance to evade or defend against it, but higher-ranked ones stood a decent chance of survival. As for top-tier fighters like Hattori Ryuuno, unless he had a lapse in judgment, there was no way such an explosion could kill him. The explosion's destructive force was equivalent to an A-rank Fire Release technique—something Ryuuno could easily withstand.
Thus, Haruto had to run! As fast as possible!
Hattori Ryuuno wouldn't be able to pursue immediately. Neither would Mizukage's trusted general, Hozuki Ieyasu. They were too busy surviving the inferno. But given enough time, they would inevitably come after him.
No more system prompts appeared.
Haruto could be certain that at least five hundred enemies had perished, but not over a thousand. The exact number was unclear. At least half of the camp had to be wiped out, right? If over half were dead, how many were injured but still alive?
Likely a significant number.
That meant there wouldn't be too many capable of chasing him.
As he fled, an enormous number of dropped items followed him, streaking out of the burning camp as streams of light before disappearing into the underground and merging into Haruto's inventory space.
Super Pick-Up Ability!
This was the very reason Haruto had planned this grand explosion in the first place!
Without this ability, collecting the dropped rewards would have been extremely difficult.
---
Inside the ruined camp, a sudden surge of water rose, dousing the surrounding flames within a hundred-meter radius.
Standing atop the waves was Hattori Ryuuno, his expression as dark as death itself.
He could have used an even more powerful S-rank Water Release technique to extinguish all the flames in an instant. But if he had, he would have killed his own men in the process.
Many surviving Mist ninjas were already struggling desperately to stay alive. If Ryuuno had unleashed a massive, indiscriminate flood, those who had managed to survive the initial explosion would have been drowned instead.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions continued to rumble throughout the camp as powerful Mist ninjas worked together, using their jutsu to extinguish the remaining fires and rescue any surviving comrades.
Water Release techniques erupted all over the camp, and within minutes, the raging inferno had been completely put out.
Hattori Ryuuno, his aura raging, burst out of the camp!
He intended to hunt down Haruto Saito!
But after sprinting several hundred meters, he abruptly stopped. He had no idea which direction Haruto had fled. In just a few minutes, even if he had been moving underground, Haruto could have escaped several kilometers away!
Ryuuno tried using a sensory technique to locate Haruto.
But he found nothing!
If Haruto had remained on the surface, there might have been a chance to track him. But underground? That was nearly impossible.
Across the entire ninja world, very few ninjas possessed techniques capable of sensing targets underground. Even within the Mist Vanguard Camp, the few sensory ninjas with such abilities had been among the first to die in the explosion. Those ninjas, while excellent at tracking, lacked other skills and had little chance of surviving the blast.
"Haruto Saito! I will kill you! ARGH!" Ryuuno roared into the sky, his voice like thunder. His violent chakra erupted into the atmosphere, creating a powerful shockwave before he forcefully restrained it once more.
He turned back toward the camp.
The air reeked of charred flesh. Just minutes ago, this had been a well-guarded, orderly military base. Now, it was nothing but a wasteland!
Corpses. So many corpses floated atop the water, blood spilling and dyeing the pools red.
The explosion had completely reshaped the landscape!
The ground where the camp once stood had been upheaved and deformed, riddled with craters and debris.
Hattori Ryuuno joined the rescue efforts. Many ninjas hadn't died instantly. Some were buried, some were drowning in water. If they could be rescued in time, they might still survive.
The remaining sensory ninjas played a crucial role, as only they could detect faint life signatures and direct the rescue teams.
---
One hour later.
The massive amounts of water used to extinguish the fires had mostly seeped into the ground, leaving behind a muddy, devastated battlefield. Corpses had been gathered, while others remained missing, completely obliterated by the blast.
Hattori Ryuuno stood atop a dirt mound, his hands clenched behind his back, his expression unreadable—but his trembling hands betrayed his fury.
He had seen too much carnage.
Severed limbs were everywhere. Injured ninjas lay motionless, drenched in blood and barely clinging to life.
From what he could see, only about four or five hundred survivors remained. Most of them were wounded.
The death toll within the Mist Vanguard Camp had to be at least seven or eight hundred!
And not all had died from the explosion itself. Some had been burned alive, while a smaller number had been killed by their own allies!
There had been no choice. Extinguishing the fire required powerful jutsu, and those jutsu had ended up killing some of the wounded who were already on the brink of death.
For example, a Mist ninja might have survived the explosion, heavily injured, only to be swept away and drowned by a massive Water Release wave. Such cases were rare, but they had happened.
Of course, no one would dare discuss such things. No matter how many had died, every single casualty would be blamed on Haruto Saito.
The surviving Mist ninjas continued their grim work, tending to the wounded and counting the dead.
---
A moment later.
WHOOSH!
A middle-aged ninja, covered in mud and water, suddenly appeared beside Hattori Ryuuno. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked utterly exhausted. This was Hozuki Ieyasu, the supreme commander of the Mist Vanguard Army!
He had been personally involved in the rescue operations, which explained his current disheveled state.
After all, this was his army. The men who had died were his subordinates. No one felt their loss more deeply than him.
"Sir, the count is complete," Ieyasu reported grimly.
"Speak!" Ryuuno demanded, his face devoid of expression.
"Confirmed deaths: 453. Confirmed missing: 326. Critically injured: 138. Lightly injured: 192..." Ieyasu paused, then continued, "Uninjured survivors: only 164."
Ryuuno was silent, the veins on his forehead bulging.
He had no words. All he wanted was to kill someone—to vent the overwhelming rage in his heart. But there were no enemies left to fight. He had no outlet for his fury.
The losses were catastrophic!
Those listed as "missing" were as good as dead.
Which meant the true death count was 779!
And if the wounded were included?
Over a thousand casualties!
Once this news spread, it would shake the entire ninja world.
This was likely the single greatest loss suffered by any of the Five Great Ninja Villages since the First Shinobi War!