One Piece: I am Imu-Chapter 375: From Ministry of Construction to Frontline Disaster

Chapter 375: Chapter 375: From Ministry of Construction to Frontline Disaster

"Calm down—combine your defensive jutsu!!!"

As he entered Lightning Release Chakra Mode, A roared at the top of his lungs, trying to be heard over the deafening explosions erupting all around them.

Unfortunately, his voice was completely drowned out.

To be honest, he himself was a bit stunned.

He’d seen cannons before, of course.

But artillery with this kind of range and this kind of firepower? This was a first.

Weren’t cannons supposed to fire heavy iron balls that only blasted things within a few hundred meters?

But regardless of what he thought—

He had to find a way to shield the entire army from these ridiculous shells.

If he didn’t, even if the coalition forces made it all the way to the gates of Roran, they’d arrive in a half-crippled state.

A, now wrapped in crackling lightning and a blazing aura of blue chakra, leapt into the air.

Once airborne, he unleashed the most suitable Lightning Release jutsu for the current situation—a dense web of electrified threads that spread across the sky above half the coalition army, prematurely detonating over a dozen incoming howitzer rounds.

This finally gave the shinobi below a brief moment to breathe.

They immediately scattered and picked up speed, sprinting to escape the bombardment zone.

But in doing so, A was left alone in the sky—

Bearing the brunt of the shockwaves from the surrounding explosions on his own.

Luckily, his sheer physical toughness and the protection of Lightning Release Chakra Mode kept him alive.

Anyone else would’ve been rattled to death mid-air.

"That brat..."

Hanzō squinted up at A’s back, feeling a flicker of unease.

He hadn’t expected the guy to be this strong—

Still, that realization gave him a sense of relief.

With the sudden appearance of this heavy artillery barrage, he honestly hadn’t known how to respond.

His best skills were either impractical to use here or completely unsuitable for defense.

He had even been about to summon his giant salamander to protect himself.

Fortunately, the bombardment didn’t last long.

Maybe the attack was limited in scale—

Or maybe the shinobi, driven by sheer survival instinct, had managed to move fast enough.

In any case, after that single round of shelling, no more artillery fire followed.

Not long afterward—

A, Hanzō, Yahiko, and the others regrouped on the ground and caught sight of what lay ahead: reinforced concrete bunkers, defensive trenches, and—just beyond them—the shadowy silhouette of Roran City.

They also saw the pitch-black barrels of guns protruding from the firing slits and trenches.

"So many long-barreled firearms..."

The frontline shinobi frowned deeply.

The very idea of charging straight into that wall of coordinated gunfire was terrifying—

Countless shinobi would die before even reaching the enemy.

Not to mention, those cannons from earlier clearly indicated that the enemy possessed even more terrifying thermal weapons.

What a nightmare...

"Hmph. Try using a coordinated jutsu barrage. If that doesn’t work... then so be it. I will handle it."

Hanzō crossed his arms and spoke in a cold, firm voice.

"Got it."

A nodded in agreement and immediately gave orders to several nearby Kumogakure shinobi. "Prepare the Thunderclap Arrows. Hurry!"

"Yes, sir!" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

With a few sharp whooshes, the shinobi disappeared in a blur of afterimages.

"And also—gather all the shinobi who can use Earth Release."

Hanzō made another suggestion. A instantly understood and relayed the new command.

Soon after—

A large number of Kumogakure shinobi assembled into a line stretching several hundred meters wide. Each of them began forming hand seals rapidly in front of their chests.

But of course, the enemy had no intention of simply sitting and watching.

Once again, the shrill screech of incoming artillery whistled through the air.

The heavy cannons were back!

"Hmph... Use the same trick again, and you won’t get the same result!"

[BOOM!]

With a thunderous roar, lightning chakra surged from A’s body as he exploded off the sand beneath him and shot skyward once more.

As expected—

Faced with the dense, wide-spread electric net, most of the howitzer shells were intercepted mid-air.

This bought precious time for the Kumogakure shinobi below to complete their jutsu.

A moment later—

Tens of thousands of streaks of white lightning filled the sky, forming an overwhelming downpour of thunder and electricity!

Just as the dense storm of lightning reached its peak and began to rain down on the enemy positions, crackling explosions erupted mid-air.

No matter how relentless and aggressive the Thunderclap Arrows were—

They simply couldn’t break through a certain invisible wall that couldn’t even be seen with the naked eye.

"What is that..."

A, Hanzō, and the other shinobi were all momentarily stunned—until Nagato, standing behind Yahiko, narrowed his eyes and muttered softly, "I think... I saw a membrane?"

"Membrane?"

His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone was close, and they were shinobi—blessed with keen hearing.

"Yeah... it does look like something’s reflecting light."

Hanzō stared closely at the point where the Thunderclap Arrows burst mid-air and nodded slowly.

He then turned toward Nagato with a rare note of praise: "Not bad, kid. Sharp eyes."

The bashful Nagato simply pursed his lips and stayed silent.

"Looks like the enemy deployed some kind of shield-type jutsu."

A craned his neck and stared into the distance, his tone growing heavy.

[Crack!]

Just as the barrage of Thunderclap Arrows neared its end—

Everyone suddenly heard a strange cracking sound.

They looked up and saw a small portion of the arrows breaking through the defense, finally reaching the enemy positions.

But almost immediately, figures draped in black coats appeared and intercepted them using various techniques.

In the end, despite all the dramatic buildup, the joint Lightning Release attack didn’t injure a single person.

"So it was glass... But to produce something that large and that resilient—must be a Kekkei Genkai, right?"

Hanzō speculated, "And whoever cast it is definitely Kage-level."

Hearing this, A fell silent, his mood growing heavier.

Meanwhile—

At a position within the Roran front lines—

Teach stood next to a concrete bunker, frowning at his hands in obvious dissatisfaction.

"Looks like I still need more training with the Glass-Glass Fruit... This is too damn fragile—it really does shatter like actual glass!"

As for why he’d taken action on his own—

Teach hoped this little ’performance’ would catch the military’s attention.

Maybe then, he could finally transfer out of the damned Ministry of Construction.

He definitely didn’t want to spend the rest of his life as a glorified construction worker!

"Ugh... What if this pathetic display ends up hurting my chances with the military?"

Teach clutched his head and crouched down in frustration, mumbling nonstop.

He was... just a little bit regretful.

[Bang!]

"Hmm?"

Just as Teach was crouched on the ground, caught in a spiral of anxiety and indecision—

Two hands suddenly burst out from beneath him, grabbing his ankles and yanking downward.

"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!"

"What do you think you’re doing, you fool?!"

Teach roared in fury.

An overwhelming aura and killing intent exploded from his nearly 3.5-meter-tall frame.

Like a black bear, his right palm, wrapped in a powerful coating of Haki, slammed down and shattered the ground.

Then he grabbed the neck of the Kusagakure ninja hidden beneath and yanked him up.

At that moment—

He noticed many other shinobi launching attacks from underground as well.

These shinobi first dragged several army soldiers into the concrete floor...

Then tried to slit their throats with sharp kunai.

But with the soldiers’ use of Iron Body, the shinobi were astonished to discover that their kunai could not even pierce the skin.

At best, they managed to leave shallow scratches.

Some shinobi instead leapt out of the ground and hurled kunai embedded with explosive tags in all directions.

As the tags detonated, blasts and flames erupted across the battlefield.

And to be fair—it did cause a good bit of chaos, injuring quite a few.

However—

In the army, even the lowest-ranking soldier had excellent combat training.

It took them less than three seconds to respond.

They immediately dropped their heavy assault rifles—

And drew the long blades sheathed in black at their backs.

Others directly used Soru from the Six Styles—or various other forms of taijutsu—to engage the enemy in close-quarters combat.

In a place like this, the army’s numbers naturally outmatched the shinobi.

But the shinobi clearly understood their objective was to create chaos—

To buy time for their main force to close the distance from the front.

As such, they prioritized survival.

Some shinobi didn’t engage the army head-on at all—instead, they retreated underground again, waiting for the next chance to strike.

At the same time—

The Allied Shinobi Forces indeed used this opening to launch a charge on the army’s position.

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