One Piece: I am Imu-Chapter 374: The Sands of Rōran Run Red

[Ratatatatata!]

[Boom! Boom! Boom!]

It should’ve been a quiet night.

Instead, the air was torn apart by relentless gunfire and thunderous explosions. Smoke and fire filled the sky as battle cries erupted from all directions.

Bright tongues of flame spat out torrents of bullets, forming a crisscrossing web of firepower too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Now and then, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades whistled overhead before slamming into the vast sea of sand ahead, detonating in one blazing fireball after another.

One hour earlier.

This was deep in the Land of Wind.

While Aramaki had launched a grand assault on Konohagakure over in the Land of Fire—

Here, a combined ninja coalition nearly 6,000 strong—comprising troops from Kumogakure, Amegakure, Kusagakure, and Takigakure, led by A and Hanzō—had finally reached the desert region near Rōran.

As seasoned shinobi, A and Hanzō naturally deployed three reconnaissance squads to approach Rōran and assess the situation.

Soon enough—

The three squads split off, each choosing a different direction as they sped away from the coalition’s main encampment.

Soon, the squadrons camouflaged themselves using stealth techniques and stealthily approached the illuminated watchtowers in the distance.

At the top, black-clad soldiers with rifles swept powerful searchlights across the dark desert landscape, scanning for intruders.

Each squad consisted of four shinobi, and when they were close enough to the watchtower they split up without saying a word.

The jōnin leader, took responsibility for eliminating the sentry at the top of the watchtower. Meanwhile, the other three slipped into the structure from different directions, each tasked with taking out any soldiers inside.

However, they didn’t notice that, just over a hundred meters away on a sand dune, a pair of sharp eyes were watching their every move, and a black sniper cannon had already emerged from the shadows.

"There are four people in total. The one with the strongest aura is clearly heading to attack Donnie at the top. You should find an opportunity to deal with him. Don’t worry about the other three."

"Donnie, did you hear that? Stay sharp. He’s already beneath you. I’m just behind you."

Ever since Namikaze Minato and others infiltrated the city and abducted Queen Sara of Rōran, the World Government had ramped up security around the outer watchtowers.

The solution wasn’t anything extravagant—

They simply assigned a master of Observation Haki to each outpost.

The jonin had crept up just beneath the tower, pressed against its wall.

As killing intent surged in his eyes, he tightened his grip on the kunai in his hand and lunged upward, aiming straight for the rifle-wielding guard.

[Shff!]

"Watch out!"

At that very moment, a sharp warning pierced through Donnie’s earpiece.

Prepared in advance, and driven by the instinctive rush of looming death, Donnie moved with the fastest reflexes of his life—drawing the black-sheathed long blade strapped to his back.

In a split second—

His descending blade flared with crimson flame, and with a sharp clang, he just barely managed to block the kunai aimed straight for his throat.

The jonin’s pupils shrank.

He hadn’t expected his assassination attempt to be parried by a mere foot soldier.

But a jōnin was still a jōnin.

The moment their blades clashed, he immediately flung a shuriken laced with killing intent from his left hand.

This time, Donnie had no chance to react.

[Clink!]

Just as the shuriken was about to pierce his throat, a slender, pale finger flicked it aside.

At the same time, a powerful force yanked Donnie backward.

[Clang!]

Now standing atop the tower, the jonin was stunned to see his kunai halted in midair—caught by the finger of a black-clad figure who had suddenly appeared before him.

In the next second—

The jonin noticed that the man’s left index finger was already aimed straight at his throat.

Without thinking, the jonin sprang backward from the tower rooftop, leaping into the air to evade the strike.

At the same time, both hands began forming seals at lightning speed.

[Bang!]

Just as he completed his hand seals—

A sudden, searing pain exploded in his skull, followed by a loud noise in his ears, unlike anything he’d ever heard before.

His world plunged into darkness.

From the outside, it looked as if his entire head had burst apart mid-air—like a watermelon splitting open.

At the same moment—

Below the watchtower, the three chūnin had already clashed with four soldiers pouring out from inside the structure.

One unlucky chūnin, whether by desperation or blind confidence in his taijutsu, insisted on engaging his opponent in close-quarters combat.

He managed to block two strikes.

But on the third, his body was destroyed.

These frontline troops from the Army’s main divisions were elite warriors, each selected through grueling trials.

They might not have been overwhelmingly powerful in every area—but for a mere chūnin to go up against them in a sword fight was pure suicide.

The other two chūnin were horrified by the scene and immediately leapt back to widen the distance.

It was right then that—

[Bang!]

The same sniper shot that had blasted the jonin’s head now echoed through the air, causing both chūnin to instinctively look up in alarm.

But neither of them noticed—

As soon as they backed off, two of the soldiers stopped their pursuit, raised their heavy assault rifles, and took aim.

[Ratatatatata...]

Hot tongues of fire spat from the muzzles.

In an instant, the two chūnin were torn apart, riddled with bullets.

And just as the shooting died down—

Another barrage of gunfire erupted in the distance.

Clearly, other watchtowers had come under attack as well.

—Ten minutes later—

A bloodied figure staggered into the command tent of the ninja coalition, leaving a trail of crimson in his wake.

Inside, A, Hanzō, and the elite jōnin representing Kusagakure and Takigakure sprang to their feet, eyes snapping toward the intruder.

"Kamijima, you—!"

A’s eyes went wide in disbelief at the sight of the jōnin he’d dispatched, now clutching a bleeding abdomen and grimacing in pain.

"Lord A... they were ready for us... The watchtowers didn’t just have sensory ninja who could detect our stealth techniques—they also had hidden snipers waiting outside with firearms... ugh!"

With those final words, Kamijima collapsed and breathed his last.

"What the—!"

A rushed to catch his falling comrade and was shocked to see a massive, gaping wound in the man’s back.

The fact that he had taken a sniper round to the gut and still made it back this far—it could only be attributed to the mysterious power of chakra.

"Looks like infiltration won’t work,"

Hanzō stepped forward, utterly unmoved by the loss of yet another shinobi. His cold gaze turned toward the direction of Rōran.

"We’ll have to take them head-on. Sweep out these outer watchtowers and press the full force of our army toward the city."

—Several hours later—

As dawn began to break over the desert—

A vanguard force of nearly 1,000 shinobi from Kusagakure and Takigakure surged forward, crashing toward the isolated watchtowers like an unstoppable flood.

They had prepared themselves for heavy gunfire.

But strangely—

Not a single shot rang out.

"All the watchtowers are empty?"

Upon hearing this report, Hanzō let out a cold laugh. "Not bad—they’ve got some brains after all. Looks like they pulled out during the night. All the better. Now we can confront them directly."

"Agreed."

A nodded in approval, then growled with fury: "Let’s move out. If they haven’t harmed my father, fine. But if they have... I’ll utterly destroy Rōran and slaughter every living soul inside!"

Hanzō smiled faintly. "Very well. I’ll do everything in my power to assist you."

With the Two-Tails already secured, his mood was excellent—he was more than happy to help A fulfill his wish.

But none of them noticed the look of deep unease on Yahiko’s face as he overheard their words.

In that moment, he resolved that if they truly intended to commit mass slaughter, he would step in to stop it—no matter what. Even if it meant offending Hanzō... or losing his life.

Still, a flicker of hesitation remained in his heart—because of the two standing behind him: Nagato and Konan.

That inner conflict gnawed at him.

Regardless—

The 6,000-strong ninja coalition had already begun their grand march toward Rōran.

Ahead of them—

At some unknown point in time, rows of gray-white bunkers had been constructed on the yellow sands of the desert, flanked by two long, deep trenches.

Inside these fortifications, soldiers clad in black tactical armor stood ready, gripping heavy assault rifles in their arms.

And behind them—

Fifty pitch-black heavy howitzers had already been lined up in formation, their long barrels aimed high into the sky.

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

With each thunderous command from the artillery officers, the thick barrels erupted in blasts of searing flame.

Several kilometers away, A, Hanzō, Yahiko, and thousands of other shinobi—

First heard a shrill whistling scream from above. Before they could even react, the explosions began—one after another—erupting across their massive formation.

Blazing fireballs soared into the sky and then came crashing down, engulfing any unprepared shinobi in their blast.

Even those lucky enough to survive the initial impact but standing too close were hurled through the air by the overwhelming shockwaves.

On this day—

The ninja world bore witness to the terrifying reality of a beyond-line-of-sight heavy artillery strike.

---

I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar

---

Follow current novels on (f)reew𝒆bnovel