The New Situation

Hatake Sakumo's White Fang Sword Style inherently contained techniques involving both Wind and Lightning Chakra Nature Transformations, with Lightning Chakra Nature Transformation as its core. Uchiha Feiyu had always focused on the Lightning attribute before.

Only recently, through Hatake Sakumo's possession training and the wholehearted contributions of more than twenty Sand Shinobi souls, had Uchiha Feiyu's Wind Chakra Nature Transformation caught up to his Lightning attribute. Only then could he unleash the White Fang Sword Style at its full power.

Wind Chakra Nature Transformation had two uses in the White Fang Sword Style. One was to wrap it around the body to form airflow, eliminating air resistance, reducing noise, and increasing speed. The other was the long-range sword energy attack Uchiha Feiyu had just used, one that was practically a Flying Slash.

This long-range sword energy attack was no less powerful than the B-rank Wind Cutter Technique, yet it required no hand seals in battle. A light swing of the blade was enough to unleash it. With sword energy making up for its weakness at range, Hatake Sakumo's White Fang Sword Style had truly reached perfection, becoming flawless.

The Iwagakure Ninja squad captain opposite him had first been confused by Uchiha Feiyu's greatly improved Sharingan Genjutsu, freezing for a second or two. He was then bisected at the waist by the sword energy, instantly cut into two.

The other three injured ninja, on the other hand, had not looked directly into the Sharingan. Though the sword energy Feiyu unleashed without hand seals threw them into a frantic scramble, they still barely managed to evade the attack.

"Captain! Damn it!"

The towering Iwagakure Ninja roared, but the other two Iwagakure Ninja brothers grabbed his arms from either side.

"Don't act rashly. We have no chance of winning! Besides, this mission has already failed. Konoha's reinforcements will be here soon!"

"Damn Uchiha... just you wait!"

The towering Iwagakure Ninja glared hatefully and made a threat that sounded like a childish "don't run after school." In the end, he retreated with the pair of Iwagakure Ninja brothers.

Uchiha Feiyu glanced at the chasm in the ground and ultimately chose not to pursue them. But by now, Konoha's entire perimeter had descended into chaos. With his keen five senses, he could even detect numerous battles breaking out.

"It seems Iwagakure sent more than just this one squad for their surprise attack. But with my signal, I doubt these Iwagakure Ninja will gain much of an advantage."

As he considered the situation, Uchiha Feiyu reached out and collected the Iwagakure Ninja squad captain's soul.

That was indeed the case. After several chaotic hours, the fighting near Konoha Camp subsided, and Uchiha Feiyu soon met Orochimaru.

"Feiyu-kun, we have you to thank for this."

A trace of anger lingered in Orochimaru's expression as he thanked Uchiha Feiyu.

"It was nothing. It was just a coincidence that those people were close to my Training Ground... What exactly happened? Did Iwagakure declare war on us as well?"

Orochimaru's expression turned cold, and anger flashed in his eyes.

"An urgent message arrived through the Summoning Technique just now. Iwagakure's declaration of war has been delivered to Konoha. Heh, that old man Ōnoki really played his hand well—launching a surprise attack and declaring war at the same time. That old ghost loves these underhanded tricks!"

"How many people did they send? What is their strength?"

Uchiha Feiyu paid no attention to Ōnoki's schemes. Frankly, tearing up agreements and attacking without declaring war was practically routine throughout the Shinobi World. Ōnoki combining the surprise attack with the declaration of war was child's play. The Sand Shinobi would pull far fancier tricks during the Chunin Exams in the future. What Feiyu cared about now was Iwagakure's strength.

"We don't know the size of their main force, but the squads that launched the surprise attack numbered five in total—twenty people altogether. Every one of them was at least at the level of a Special Jonin!"

"These ninja either excel at the Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage Technique or possess large-scale Camouflage Concealment Techniques. That was the only way they could infiltrate so close. If their surprise attack had succeeded, the losses would have been substantial."

A team of twenty attacking a camp of several thousand sounded like a joke, but if every one of them possessed strength above that of a Special Jonin, they truly could not be underestimated.

Ninja were glass cannons by nature, capable of immense offense but poor defense. Jonin-level ninja almost all possessed wide-area destructive ninjutsu. If they suddenly struck, a coordinated barrage of ninjutsu wiping out more than a thousand lives within the camp would have been entirely normal.

Konoha Camp would not have been crippled, but it would still have suffered a serious blow.

Uchiha Feiyu was not particularly concerned about Iwagakure's failed scheme. What concerned him more was that Iwagakure had now openly declared war on Konoha.

"Iwagakure is preparing to go to war with Konoha too? So now we're fighting two enemies at once?"

"That's right... However, the Land of Rivers battlefield should only be Iwagakure's secondary front. They won't commit too many ninja here."

Uchiha Feiyu nodded in understanding. The Land of Rivers already held large numbers of Konoha and Sand Shinobi forces. If Iwagakure also committed a massive army, it would likely recreate the events of the Land of Rain battlefield during the Second Ninja World War.

During the Second Ninja World War, Konoha, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and the Rain Ninja had all gathered in the tiny Land of Rain, fighting until rivers of blood flowed. In the end, none of the four sides gained anything. All were severely weakened, with some nearly wiped out.

That was because no ninja village trusted another. Iwagakure and Sunagakure could not truly join forces to attack Konoha. Instead, they would regard each other as enemies as well, with only a slightly lower combat priority than Konoha. As a result, the two together amounted to less than one plus one equals two.

Under such circumstances, dividing the battlefield and attacking Konoha from multiple fronts was the best choice for the ninja villages seeking to carve flesh from Konoha.

That said, while this strategy worked well in the early stages of every Ninja World War's siege against Konoha, it always devolved into a complete mess later on and turned into a chaotic free-for-all. The major ninja villages' mutual hatred, suspicion toward one another, desire to weaken their rivals and claim the spoils of victory alone, as well as their schemes and attempts to sow discord, would always lead them to beat each other senseless.

"Iwagakure likely sent no more than a thousand ninja. Their main goal is probably to increase the pressure on us, attacking from multiple points to tie down Konoha's forces."

"Unfortunately, even knowing that, we still have to request more reinforcements and prepare for every possibility."

Orochimaru analyzed the situation calmly, but reinforcements still had to be requested. As long as Iwagakure maintained forces on the Land of Rivers battlefield, they could not let down their guard.

Ninja were naturally skilled at deception. Their strategic direction might be a complete mess, but their tactics could never be underestimated. For all they knew, the enemy might shift from harassment to a main assault, bringing in large numbers of elites to crush their front line.