White Fang

Hatake Sakumo swung the White Fang short sword in his hand, the condensed blade light spreading like a bolt of white cloth.

The Dual Blade Puppet was forced back step by step.

Chiyo threw several kunai to attack and pin him down, but Sakumo knocked them away with a few slashes, though this also saved the Dual Blade Puppet from being destroyed.

Chiyo's methods naturally didn't end there. Similar to the Uchiha's manipulation of shuriken, the kunai she threw were connected to invisible threads.

For puppetry, if one could manipulate chakra threads, what were ordinary threads?

The threads formed a large net that spread toward Hatake Sakumo, carrying sharp Wind-natured chakra along the strands. For a ninja's fragile body, the result of touching them was easy to imagine.

But the moment the threads touched Sakumo, Chiyo already sensed something wrong from the feedback.

Sure enough, the smoke cleared, revealing a log cut into several pieces.

Behind! Chiyo's combat experience was extremely rich. She immediately manipulated the puppet beside her to use Machine Light Shield Seal.

"Konoha Style Swordsmanship: Lightning Flash."

White lightning clung to the blade, radiating a dazzling light.

Sakumo slashed toward Chiyo with an aura that seemed to split everything.

Under the blade light, chakra shields shattered one after another until, after breaking through the Minotaur Puppet's chakra shield, it was finally stopped by "Father"'s chakra shield.

"Father" and "Mother" opened their chests and fired rows of poison needles at White Fang.

At such close range, there was absolutely no time to form hand signs and use a defensive ninjutsu to block.

Sakumo remained unfazed. He simply swung his blade with such density that it deflected every single poison needle, even having the spare strength to send some of them ricocheting back toward Chiyo.

Hatake Sakumo's speed wasn't just in his movement—his blade was even faster!

Chiyo leaped several times to dodge the poison needles Sakumo had bounced back. By now, Sakumo was already entangled by several of the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu that specialized in close combat.

Among the remaining puppets, three didn't launch long-range attacks from the perimeter.

Instead, they formed a triangular formation, opening the "Buddha," "Dharma," and "Sangha" mechanisms in sequence, unleashing the Three Treasures Crushing Wave. A powerful tornado was generated, attempting to suck Hatake Sakumo into its vortex.

Sakumo slashed out a single sword strike, forcing back a puppet that had closed in, then flashed away with lightning speed.

Sakumo's speed far exceeded Chiyo's imagination. Her ultimate technique missed.

Sakumo quickly regrouped, but instead of charging in recklessly, he obediently began forming hand signs.

"Lightning Release: Raging Thunder Tiger!"

Unlike other ninjas who used this technique to conjure a blue tiger, the massive amount of white Lightning Chakra around Sakumo condensed into a white tiger taller than a man!

The white tiger roared at the sky, then pounced toward Chiyo, with Sakumo following closely behind it.

Chiyo didn't immediately send her puppets to intercept. Instead, she used Wind Release: Beast Wave Gale Palm to clash with the thunder tiger.

Even though Sakumo's Lightning Release was extremely advanced, Chiyo's Wind Release happened to counter Lightning. The beast-paw-shaped wind bullet and the white tiger vanished simultaneously upon collision, but behind the gale palm, several puppets that had used the technique as cover charged toward Sakumo.

One puppet swung a large blade at Sakumo. Unable to dodge in time, Sakumo took the hit.

With a "bang," the smoke cleared. Sakumo had turned into a log, covered in Explosive Tags.

With a thunderous "boom," the surrounding puppets were blasted into wreckage.

This was Sakumo using the white tiger's bulk as cover to prepare a Substitution Technique in advance. The frontal assault was just a feint to draw the enemy's attention.

"Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage Technique!"

Sakumo unexpectedly chose to attack from underground. At this close range, Chiyo had no chance to use a defensive ninjutsu!

A flash of white blade light cut upward from below. Accompanied by a pained scream, an arm sprayed blood as it fell from the air.

Even with Chiyo's rich combat experience and extremely quick reactions, she could only avoid the vital spot of her heart. Still, one of her arms was severed by Sakumo.

But strangely, though Chiyo's face was twisted in pain, she trembled into a smile.

"Got you, White Fang! Come with me to the Pure Land and repent!"

Chiyo's face was filled with madness. With her remaining hand, she tightly grabbed hold of Sakumo. She had used herself as bait, certain that White Fang would take the bait.

"Puppetry Technique: Three Treasures Crushing Wave!!"

Chiyo bound herself to Sakumo, clinging tightly. With Sakumo's speed, the Three Treasures Crushing Wave was too slow to activate—it would have been started and escaped from before it could even fully form.

Chiyo had already resolved to die together with the enemy who had killed her son and daughter-in-law!

At that moment, the Third Kazekage, drawn by Chiyo's scream, abandoned his entanglement with Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others. Flapping his wings of Sand Iron, he flew above Chiyo. Several hands made of Sand Iron grabbed her, trying to pull her to safety.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Jiraiya, who had been chasing the Third Kazekage, immediately attacked the three puppets performing the Three Treasures Crushing Wave.

One was smashed to pieces by the Adamantine Staff, another was bound by Jiraiya's hair, and the last was sat on by Gamaken.

Taking advantage of Chiyo being entangled by the Third Kazekage's Sand Iron, Sakumo's blade flashed. He was about to cut off Chiyo's remaining arm to free himself, but the Sand Iron that split off from the arm blocked him.

Sparks flew in all directions. The shield of Sand Iron was cut in two, but it had bought time.

Chiyo's momentum was broken by the Third Kazekage and the others. Her arm, which had been explosively strong at the start, weakened, and Sakumo broke free.

The Third Kazekage manipulated the Sand Iron to wrap around Chiyo, handed her over to a Sunagakure Jōnin who had just killed a Rain Ninja with great effort, then flew into the sky and shouted:

"Sunagakure ninja, retreat! I'll hold them off."

Covering the rear—this was the responsibility borne by any ninja who carried the name of Kage, whether it was the Second Hokage, the Third Raikage, or the current Third Kazekage.

The Third Kazekage had decided to wage war on the Land of Rain to plunder resources. Though they had successfully seized a considerable amount of supplies, Sunagakure's ninja had suffered no small losses. As the Kazekage, he bore significant responsibility for this.

"Magnet Release: Sand Iron World Law!"

Countless branches of sand iron surged forward, striking at both the Rain Ninja and the Konoha Ninja. This large-scale jutsu successfully bought the Sand Ninja the time they needed to flee. Even Orochimaru, who had been pursuing the One-Tail, was blocked.

With a flight-capable jutsu at his disposal, as long as he didn't seek death, the Third Kazekage had a strong chance of escaping even while covering the rear.

None of the Konoha elites present possessed particularly effective anti-air measures. The Third Kazekage only needed to stall long enough for the Sand Ninja to retreat to safety.

Sand iron and raging winds tore through the battlefield.

The Third Hokage, together with Orochimaru and Jiraiya, unleashed a combination jutsu. The Third spewed fire, Orochimaru released gale-force winds, and Jiraiya spat oil, forming a sea of flames on an unprecedented scale that surged toward the Third Kazekage.

This attack was so vast in scope that the Third Kazekage could not evade it. He pulled together his sand iron, forming a massive cube gleaming with metallic luster to block the assault.

Molten iron, glowing red-hot, dripped continuously. Molten iron had no magnetic properties, so the Third Kazekage could not manipulate it.

Perhaps heaven had not yet abandoned Sunagakure. At that moment, a contingent of Sand Ninja appeared on the horizon.

This was an emergency reinforcement force hastily assembled by Sunagakure, led by Chiyo's younger brother, Sunagakure's intelligence chief, Ebizo.

"Konoha's White Fang!"

Seeing Sakumo, Ebizo showed no surprise, clearly already aware of the White Fang's deployment.

He saw that Chiyo was gravely wounded; without timely treatment, her life would be in danger.

Thus, he abandoned any thought of fighting the White Fang to the death, directed his troops to support the routed Sand Ninja survivors, and then immediately withdrew. Next, he needed to check on Chiyo's injuries.

The Third Kazekage flapped his iron wings high in the sky, using sand iron to continuously block any Konoha Ninja attempting to pursue. After spotting from above that the Sand Ninja had already retreated far enough, he gave a single flap of his wings and departed.

Some Konoha Ninja suggested giving chase, but the Third Hokage refused.

Konoha had already achieved a significant victory. Continuing the pursuit would only drive the desperate Sand Ninja to counterattack fiercely, leading to mutual destruction. The Third Hokage understood the principle of not cornering a fleeing enemy.

In this battle, three thousand Konoha Ninja had been deployed, but over two thousand survived.

The Sand Ninja, having first had their formation shattered by Orochimaru chasing Shukaku, and then suffering further casualties from the White Fang's entry into the fray, had lost more than half their forces.

Achieving a casualty ratio of two to one was an exceptionally rare and great victory, especially with Tsunade absent.

Now came the time to clean up the battlefield. As Deputy Commander, Orochimaru had not only a mountain of work before the battle but also plenty to handle afterward.

Treating the wounded, tallying the ninja's battle merits, and finding ways to skim a profit from the spoils—cooking the books was a laborious task in itself. Thus, Orochimaru quickly threw himself back into his busy work.