HSU: Ch. 292

The skies over the Land of Earth were far less pleasant than those in the eastern countries. Though the skies near the eastern border were still blue, they had taken on the color of the Land of Earth, making them feel heavy.

Beneath this oppressive sky, Muzo advanced head-on toward a force of no fewer than two hundred Iwa ninjas. His shadow clones trailed behind him, slaughtering the remnants of the Iwa ninjas with ruthless efficiency. By now, all the Iwa ninjas stationed in this town had been forced into action.

"Attack! Even if we can't seal him, we must stall him as long as possible. The intel has already been sent. The village will send elites to deal with him. Don't be afraid! Edo Tensei individuals are far weaker than when they were alive!"

Trying to boost morale, the chunin rallied their subordinates.

Everyone fears death, but nothing is more terrifying than letting Muzo infiltrate deep into the Land of Earth.

His obsession with Edo Tensei was known throughout the shinobi world. Though no one in this era knew how he used Edo Tensei, just knowing what kind of jutsu it was, was enough to imagine the horror.

This ninja from the Warring States period was merciless and inhuman. Wherever he passed became a realm of the dead.

Suddenly, Muzo split into several figures, moving to surround them.

The Iwa ninjas, who had originally focused on the exploding-tag-laced kunai, had no choice but to split their attention, including preparing Earth Release techniques.

A coordinated attack by a hundred ninjas was immensely powerful.

The ground cracked and split, rising and falling as if a great dragon stirred beneath it. Explosions lit up the sky. But even though all the clones were hit by jutsu, none were harmed, their bodies simply phased through the attacks.

"Genjutsu?!" they all exclaimed in shock.

In the next moment, Muzo burst out from beneath them. His twisted grin appeared right in front of one of the Iwa ninjas. With a flick of his hand, a kunai pierced through the ninja's mouth and out the back of his head, spraying blood as it embedded into another Iwa ninja behind him.

Infused with Wind Release, the kunai wriggled into the second ninja's body like a worm. Dust immediately rose up around the second Iwa ninja, engulfing him in an instant. His comrades could only catch a glimpse of his horrified expression.

The next second, the dust exploded, he had already been resurrected as an Edo Tensei ninja and charged out, punching the nearest Iwa ninjas.

"What the hell is this?!"

"Scatter! It's Edo Tensei!"

Panic spread. The Iwa ninjas scattered as the resurrected comrade, eyes pitch black, pinned down a fellow ninja and pounded his head in, brain matter flying after just a few blows.

Having succeeded in his first strike, Muzo was already closing in on another chunin. Using the same technique, the chunin was instantly eliminated. The others wished they had a thousand legs like a centipede as they sprinted away, desperate to distance themselves from this walking nightmare.

This taijutsu was unstoppable. They couldn't match his strength or speed, and even the Hardening Technique was useless.

Yet, what they were seeing was just an afterimage.

One Iwa ninja hadn't even taken his second step when Muzo appeared before him, smiling faintly, and drove a kunai into him, creating the second Edo Tensei soldier. By the time Konoha's ANBU finally arrived, all they saw were the mangled corpses of the Iwa ninjas, with over a dozen Edo Tensei ninjas standing behind Muzo.

All the chunin among the fallen Iwa ninjas had been resurrected.

He waved his hand, and the dozen Edo Tensei soldiers silently charged toward the town.

At that moment, the ANBU recalled the stories passed down in their unit about this ancestor.

It was said he once single-handedly annihilated every named ninja organization in the Land of Rice Fields. He wiped out the entire Fūma clan, who had once led the shinobi world in that country.

Their sin? They had orchestrated the death of a Konoha ANBU by manipulating rival ninja groups in the Land of Rice Fields.

No one remembered why the Fūma did it anymore.

But ever since then, until the founding of Oto, the Land of Rice Fields remained a country without any ninja organizations.

They had been completely wiped out.

It was said that when Muzo returned to the village afterward, the Second Hokage scolded him for an entire day and beat him for a full hour in the office.

Then docked a month's pay.

Ever since then, while he was still around, no ordinary organization in the shinobi world messed with Konoha's ANBU, afraid it might be a sting operation by Konoha. Back then, the ANBU operated with unmatched swagger. They were the real deal.

"There shouldn't be any more ninja in the town," one ANBU said as smoke started rising from the buildings, feeling it was best to inform their ancestor.

"Did you go in and check?" asked Muzo.

"No…"

"Let me teach you a principle," Muzo said, patting the ANBU on the shoulder. "Hearing something isn't the same as seeing it for yourself. And besides, do I look like the kind of guy who would kill innocents to claim credit? I'm already dead, what would I need that for?"

"You're absolutely right…"

"There you go. Now think about this, this town is so close to the front lines. Can it not serve as a supply point for the enemy? There's no need to harm civilians, we've got no grudge with them, but this is still enemy territory. As long as the enemy turns a blind eye, all these facilities basically become military assets. So burning them down is the correct choice."

After he finished speaking, Muzo withdrew his hand and said, "You all go too. Evacuate the civilians, burn the town, and then escort them to the next settlement."

The ANBU all nodded and rushed toward the town.

A ninja war not controlled by any one nation had already begun. The ANBU wouldn't be sentimental, this was a fight for survival for Konoha.

As for how ninjas and nobles would coexist in the future, that was not something they concerned themselves with.

Muzo looked at the backs of the ANBU and thought, although these young guys weren't as in sync as the old comrades from his time, with enough training, they'd get there.

Professionalism, it was something you beat into them.

Also, the sooner they could gain the upper hand on the western front, the sooner they could coordinate with the northern line. The earlier they finished this war, the sooner he could return to the village. Madara was still holed up in the Uchiha clan. Who knew what he was really planning?

The main front had Hashirama, there was no need to worry about that. But real-time communication was the biggest weakness of any ninja army.

The chunin had wildly varying levels of skill, and Konoha was no exception. In the age of nation-states, ninja wars spanned vast areas, and their pace was actually determined by the quality of these chunin. Given that, he needed to disrupt Iwa's rear lines as quickly as possible, to destroy their war potential.

Back then, the Second Hokage had developed Edo Tensei exactly for that reason: to mass-produce cheap, endlessly reusable suicide squads and sabotage units.

It was only because Hashirama kept a close eye on him that Tobirama never really got to use it himself. Ironically, Muzo, who was always out in the field, ended up using it constantly.

Now it was a matter of time. As long as he could form a sizeable Edo Tensei army before Iwa deployed its main force, he was confident he could block their advance right at their doorstep.

When the first town that Muzo reached turned into a blazing sea of fire, it marked the beginning of his destruction in the Land of Earth.

But he indeed managed not to harm any civilians.

He forcibly relocated the residents out of the town and even made them prepare food and fresh water for the journey. If this task had been handed to ordinary people, it would have been truly difficult.

But for a ninja, it was fairly simple.

No matter how stubborn the residents were, they couldn't resist genjutsu. By the time they came to their senses, they were already staring at the ruins of their destroyed hometown.

The sky was stained red by fire. The heat in the air was palpable even from a distance. The residents could see buildings collapsing in flames one after another. The forcibly relocated civilians watched this scene in silent despair.

As for their sorrow, he remained indifferent. He immediately ordered his subordinates and the Edo Tensei soldiers to monitor these people, no longer residents, but now refugees, and move on to the next town.

Unlike the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth had very few large villages, mostly small towns like this. If not for the war, and the town being so close to the front lines, there wouldn't have been so many Iwa ninjas stationed here.

In destroying the town, the facilities that Iwa ninjas had been constructing confirmed Muzo's suspicions, this was one of Iwa's planned logistics hubs.

The civilians were pitiful, but he didn't think Konoha should be blamed for that. After all, there were too many villages, too many countries in this world.

Yet, in his previous life, Konoha had been unable to do something like this, it was an era where everyone could only fend for themselves first. But now that he had been reanimated, he should be able to do it.

Still, wasn't his reincarnation being a bit too cautious? Or had life been too comfortable, making him reluctant to stir things up?

That wouldn't do. Without a bit of turmoil, people wouldn't realize how excellent they really are. He had already learned of the northern front's operational strategy. Now that was more like it.

He was reanimated, not a personality swap.

He glanced at the moving stream of people and curled his lips into a slight smile.

"Let's go."

"Yes!"

Muzo took the lead. Behind him followed fewer than ten Edo Tensei soldiers and several members of the ANBU.

The Edo Tensei soldiers created by this method weren't especially agile, only retaining combat instincts and basic friend-or-foe recognition. Kind of like how mobs worked in video games from his past life.

Half of the soliders had already blended into the crowd. Considering that they might need to break through strongholds, he had equipped them with explosive tags and Edo Tensei seals.

The Konoha ninja forces had prepared an entire explosive tag warehouse for him, with dedicated personnel managing and replenishing it. He could summon them at ease.

The stream of people began to move faster. Grief for their lost homes could not override the instinct to survive.

The citizens of the Land of Earth, now homeless, also knew that with the war now reaching their own land, staying exposed in the wild for too long could only lead to one end. Even though they suspected the "escort" offered by Konoha's ninjas had ulterior motives, they had no choice, and couldn't afford to worry about it.

He stayed at the back of the crowd, not rushing them. On the contrary, he paid special attention to anyone falling behind. If anyone did fall behind, they could really end up dead out there.

Luckily, it was still early, and the number of people wasn't overwhelming yet. As an Edo Tensei individual, he was always in peak condition and could still manage to keep an eye on everyone. This hypocritical kindness was the only form of compassion he could offer these people of the Land of Earth. And his ultimate target was Iwa.

Muzo had once visited Iwa to attend the coronation of the Second Tsuchikage, so he still remembered the general location of the village fairly clearly.

Although, as the head of ANBU at the time, he had been closely guarded by the Iwa ninjas throughout his visit, these honest sons of the mountains had still lacked finesse.

Finally, the second town appeared ahead.

The Konoha ninjas who had been stationed there had already withdrawn. With no Konoha ninjas present, the column of refugees grew slightly chaotic, some people had already begun running toward the town.

The ANBU gathered behind Muzo, watching the stream of people rush past them.

"No rush. Just wait," he said calmly.

Snowballing something always takes patience in the beginning. From within the town ahead, a bell began to ring, fast and urgent.

Before long, ninjas leapt down from the town walls. In this world, despite the existence of ninjas who could leap high and far, people still insisted on building tall walls.

If you didn't build them, enemy ninjas could sneak in without anyone knowing. If you did build them, at least the enemies had to exert some effort to jump over. And if the walls were tall enough, non-jonin couldn't even get over them, they'd have to blow them up or break through the gates, like the three fortress-towns built by Kumo along the coastal route.

A black mass of people surged toward the walls, but the flow of ninjas from the top had already stopped. From a distance, Muzo counted them.

There were very few, less than ten.

Still, it gave him a sense of the defenders' strength. Those who could leap from the walls usually had at least chunin-level abilities.

The crowd had now jammed tightly at the village gates.

At this moment, if he launched an attack, the ninjas surrounded by civilians would be helpless to respond.

But he had no need to play the villain here. In fact, he hoped the people would make it into the village.

That way, when it came time to clear the town, the ones who had already lost their homes once would be much more efficient in fleeing the second time. They could also influence the local residents to evacuate. Eventually, the gates opened, and under organized efforts from within the town, the flow of people became orderly.

"Muzo-sama, we're not making a move?"

"No rush. Let the civilians all enter first."

After a while, all the refugees had entered the town, and the gates began to close.

He waited just a bit longer. Then, he raised a hand and performed hand signs.

BOOM!

With a thunderous roar, the closed village gate shattered in an eruption of flames. Massive chunks of brick and stone were blasted into the sky.

Without pause, he formed a second set of hand seals.

Behind him, the remaining half of his Edo Tensei soldiers vanished one by one.

At the now-blazing village gate, the sounds of ninjutsu detonations could already be heard from afar.

"Attack," he said with a grin. He stepped forward at the front of the line, marching straight into the town.

By the time he emerged from the opposite side of the village, flames were already engulfing the buildings behind him.

His Edo Tensei soldiers had increased to twenty. And the number of refugees had also grown significantly.

Without slowing his pace, under Muzo's orders, the ANBU began guiding the now more-than-doubled crowd of refugees northwest, toward the next town.