Inside the arena, the cheers had yet to die down when disaster struck.
When the proctor, Genma Shiranui, announced the start of "Sasuke vs. Gaara,"
The spectators were still excitedly discussing the results of the previous matches—Naruto had defeated Neji, Temari had beaten Shikamaru, Shino had won after Kankuro forfeited, and Kurotsuchi and Oiwa had each defeated their opponents... Yet just as Sasuke and Gaara were about to clash, Orochimaru, disguised as the Kazekage, suddenly struck and took the Third Hokage hostage!
"Boom!"
The Sound Ninja's Explosive Tags went off in the stands, and chaos spread in an instant. Sunagakure ninja tore off their disguises and launched a surprise attack on the Konoha Ninja. Sasuke pursued Gaara without hesitation, while Jonin such as Kakashi and Asuma quickly organized a defense and fought fiercely against the invaders.
"Barrier: Four Violet Flames Formation!"
Four Sound Ninja Jonin erected a barrier in the center of the arena, trapping Orochimaru and the Third Hokage inside. Those outside could only watch the battle within, unable to intervene.
Meanwhile, on the Ninja Academy playground, the children were still running around without a care.
"Iruka-sensei! When can we go watch the matches?" Konohamaru asked excitedly.
Iruka smiled, but his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the arena. That kid Naruto should be fighting in his match about now...
But the next second—
"Boom!"
The distant explosion silenced the playground in an instant. Iruka's expression changed drastically, and he immediately shouted, "Everyone! Back to your classrooms, now!"
Meanwhile
Deep in the forest, Sasuke finally caught up with Gaara.
"You... What the hell are you trying to do?!" Sasuke's Sharingan remained fixed on him.
Gaara's Sand Armor gradually peeled away, revealing a sinister grin. "Hehehe... You don't understand at all... What gives someone like you the right to have bonds?!"
Shukaku's power began to run wild. Sand gradually covered half of Gaara's body, transforming it into a monstrous form. Though Sasuke had activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he still found himself locked in a desperate struggle against the power of a Tailed Beast.
"Chidori!"
Sasuke's lightning struck at Gaara, only to be stopped by the Sand Shield. Just as the hand of sand was about to crush him—
"Sasuke!"
Sakura rushed forward and took the fatal blow with her body! Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth, but she still stood resolutely in front of Sasuke, protecting him.
Gaara froze.
Why... Why would someone be willing to die for someone else?
Memories of his childhood flashed through his mind—lonely nights, the cold Shukaku of the Sand, the warmth he had never known...
"Bastard! Don't you hurt Sakura!"
Naruto roared as he charged forward and slammed a fist into Gaara's face!
"Summoning Technique!"
Naruto bit his finger and slammed his hand against the ground. But when the smoke cleared, the one who appeared was a tiny Gamakichi.
"Hey, kid! You don't have enough chakra!" Gamakichi complained.
"Quit talking and help!" Naruto shouted through gritted teeth.
Naruto stood no chance against Gaara's Complete Tailed Beast Transformation. Even so, he kept getting back up, refusing to retreat despite being battered all over.
Inside the barrier
The Third Hokage was covered in wounds from fighting the First and Second Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage.
"Orochimaru... You desecrated the dead. Your sins are unforgivable!" the Third roared, pressing his palms together.
"Reaper Death Seal!"
The spectral form of the Shinigami appeared behind him, and enormous chains wound toward Orochimaru!
"Aaaaah!"
Orochimaru's soul was forcibly torn apart, and the First and Second Hokage's Impure World Reincarnation bodies were sealed as well. But the Third Hokage's chakra was also completely exhausted...
"Konoha's... future... I leave it to you..."
The Four Violet Flames Formation slowly dissipated, and rain washed over the battlefield. Orochimaru stood in the middle of the ruins, looking down at his trembling hands—the price of the Reaper Death Seal meant he could no longer form Hand Seals to perform Ninjutsu.
"Damn old man... You had to get me one last time before you died!" he snarled through gritted teeth, fury and unwillingness flashing in his golden snake eyes.
In the distance, Jiraiya was leading the Konoha Ninja in clearing the battlefield, his piercing gaze fixed on Orochimaru.
Now isn't the time to get entangled with him...
Orochimaru forced down his anger and coldly ordered the Sound Ninja beside him, "Retreat."
"What about the Sunagakure people?" one Sound Ninja asked quietly.
A cold smile curled Orochimaru's lips. "Let them cover our retreat and draw Konoha's anger."
Before the words had finished leaving his mouth, his figure had turned into a white snake and quickly vanished into the curtain of rain.
"Orochimaru!" Jiraiya roared, wanting to give chase, but a giant summoned snake was rampaging through Konoha's streets, and the remaining Sand Ninja were still resisting desperately.
Damn it...!
He clenched his fists and, finally, turned away with gritted teeth and charged toward the giant summoned snake.
"Everyone! Protect the civilians first! Wipe out the invaders!" Jiraiya's voice rang across the battlefield, and the Konoha Ninja quickly regrouped and began their counterattack.
The Sunagakure Jonin Baki stood atop the ruins.
Lord Kazekage... Was Orochimaru in disguise all along?
The realization made him feel as though he had plunged into an icy cavern. Worse still, the real Kazekage Rasa had likely met with disaster long ago.
"Lord Baki! Those Sound Ninja bastards abandoned us and ran!" a disheveled Sand Ninja rushed over to report.
Baki's face darkened, and he understood everything at once—Sunagakure had been used.
"Pass the order!" he barked. "All Sunagakure ninja are to retreat immediately!"
"B-but the Konoha people..."
"This is no time to explain!" Baki seized him by the collar. "If we delay any longer, we'll all die here!"
The Sand Ninja began to retreat in a panic, with Konoha's forces close on their heels. Baki glanced back at the burning village, complicated emotions welling up inside him.
What did Sunagakure gain from this war...?
Nothing but endless humiliation and losses.
With Sunagakure's retreat and the summoned beasts wiped out, Konoha finally got a chance to breathe after the fighting. But the streets had been reduced to ruins, and the hospital was packed with the wounded.
Jiraiya stood atop Hokage Rock, looking out over the rain-shrouded village, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.
Orochimaru... The next time we meet, I won't let you get away again!
In a distant forest, Orochimaru's figure slowly emerged. He looked down at his hands, unable to form Hand Seals, and suddenly chuckled.
"Teacher Sarutobi... Did you think this would be enough to stop me?"
His gaze turned toward the distance, as though piercing the curtain of rain to see some grander objective.
Led by Yugao, an Anbu special operations squad followed the traces of chakra left behind by Kabuto Yakushi and eventually found Tsunade unconscious in a hidden underground facility.
"Lady Tsunade!" Yugao hurried forward and checked her condition. "Her chakra has been sealed, but her vital signs are stable."
"Undo it," another Anbu member said quietly. "Orochimaru's sealing formula is tricky. It will take time."
"There's no need."
Suddenly, Tsunade's eyes snapped open, and her chakra erupted like a volcano!
"Crack!"
The sealing formula shattered instantly, and the violent chakra shook the entire underground base.
"Orochimaru... That bastard!" Her eyes burned with fury.
Yugao quickly reported, "Lady Tsunade, Konoha is under a joint attack by Sunagakure and the Sound Ninja. Lord Third, he..."
"What happened to the old man?!" Tsunade grabbed Yugao's shoulders so hard her bones nearly creaked.
"The Third... was killed."
The air froze in an instant.
Tsunade's pupils contracted sharply, and the face of the old man who was always puffing on his pipe and rambling flashed through her mind.
Dead? That old man they called the "Professor of Ninjutsu"... is dead?
The next second, her expression turned utterly cold.
"Let's go." She strode toward the exit, her voice frighteningly low. "Back to Konoha."
By the time Tsunade and the Anbu squad returned to Konoha, the fighting was nearly over. The streets were strewn with rubble, and the air reeked of blood and scorched earth.
Jiraiya was directing the ninja as they cleared the battlefield. He looked up and saw Tsunade standing above them, coldly surveying everything.
"Tsunade! Are you all right?" Jiraiya used the Body Flicker Technique to reach her side, a rare note of tension in his voice.
"Where's Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked bluntly.
"He got away." Jiraiya gritted his teeth. "The old man used the Reaper Death Seal to disable his hands, but..."
"That's enough." Tsunade cut him off and took a deep breath. "What about the casualties?"
"The civilians were evacuated in time, so there weren't many casualties among them, but the ninja forces took heavy losses."
Tsunade was silent for a moment. Then she slammed her fist into a broken wall beside her, and the entire wall came crashing down!
"That bastard... How dare he do this to Konoha!"
Jiraiya watched her and suddenly realized that Tsunade, who had once fallen into despair because of her fear of blood and the loss of her loved ones, now had a long-absent fighting spirit burning in her eyes.
"Tsunade, you..."
"Cut the nonsense," she said coldly. "Konoha needs a new Hokage now."
Jiraiya was taken aback, then gave a bitter smile. "You're finally willing to take over?"
"Shut up!" Tsunade glared at him. "First we need to rebuild the village!"
Rain poured down as the villagers of Konoha stood silently before the Memorial Stone.
Rainwater ran down the cold surface of the Memorial Stone and dripped onto Tsunade's fists. Her hands were clenched tight, her nails digging deep into her palms, but she felt no pain.
Jiraiya stood beside her, his usual flippant expression gone, replaced by a heavy gloom. His gaze fell on the Third Hokage's name. The old man who had always scolded him with a pipe in his mouth was now nothing more than a line carved in stone.
"What... are we even doing?" Tsunade suddenly asked, her voice as hoarse as though it had been scraped with sandpaper.
Jiraiya did not answer. He remembered his own foolishness in chasing Orochimaru's Shadow Clone out of the village, and Tsunade's carelessness in being lured away by Genjutsu. They had noticed something was wrong, yet Orochimaru had still played them both for fools.
If only I'd been a little more alert back then...
If only I hadn't been lured away by that crude decoy...
Silence spread between them. In the distance, the villagers' quiet sobs could faintly be heard. A child tugged at his mother's sleeve and asked, "When is Grandpa Hokage coming back?"
Tsunade's shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly.
Jiraiya suddenly punched the tree trunk beside the Memorial Stone, sending wood chips flying. "Damn it! We're supposed to be the Sannin!" Crows took flight from the treetops. "And yet we couldn't even protect our own teacher—"
"Shut up." Tsunade jerked her head up, tears mingling with rain as they rolled down her face. "What good does saying that do now?!"
She turned and walked toward the hospital, her white coat billowing in the wind. "I'm going to treat the wounded... At least for now... I need to do what I can..."
Jiraiya watched her unsteady figure recede and suddenly remembered the days, years ago, when the three of them had fought side by side. Back then, Orochimaru would still mock him for not taking his training seriously, Tsunade would laugh and knock both their heads, and their teacher would always sigh helplessly.
Naruto looked at the Third's memorial portrait, tears mingling with rain as they ran down his face. "Why... Why can people stake their lives for someone else?"
Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Because that's the Will of Fire."
Iruka gazed up at the sky and murmured, "Lord Third... We'll carry on protecting the village you protected."