The Crouching Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix!

"Sister Kano is really quite nice."

Watching Momonoki Kano's graceful figure exit the tent, Hyuga Bin thought inwardly.

Having been in the Hokage world for so many years, most of the people he had met were "good people."

Of course, Hyuga Bin didn't misunderstand what Momonoki Kano meant by "any need."

His current body was only nine years old, and he wouldn't think about things he couldn't do.

Those who misunderstood should go and reflect!

After making the simple bed, Hyuga Bin lay down and began to rest.

After two consecutive days of travel to reach the front lines, although his body didn't feel particularly tired, his spirit was inevitably a bit weary. He wanted to slack off and rest a little.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the camp, arrangements were being made in full swing.

The overall commander of this battle against the Sand Ninja front lines was one of Konoha's Sannin, Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was in his early thirties, the prime of a ninja's life, and at the peak of his reputation.

Ever since Hatake Sakumo's "mission incident" last time, no one in Konohagakure could suppress Orochimaru's popularity anymore.

The calls for Orochimaru to become the Fourth Hokage were growing louder.

However, the current Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had been hesitant about whether to let Orochimaru become the Fourth Hokage.

Orochimaru was Sarutobi Hiruzen's most beloved disciple, and in Sarutobi Hiruzen's original plan, becoming the Fourth Hokage was a sure thing.

But in recent years, Orochimaru seemed to have become colder-blooded than before and somewhat out of his control, making him doubt whether it was appropriate to let Orochimaru become the Fourth Hokage.

And this was what gave the rising star Namikaze Minato his chance.

Namikaze Minato, after his brilliant performance in the Third Shinobi World War, narrowly defeated Orochimaru in the selection for the Fourth Hokage, becoming Konohagakure's new Hokage.

However, this was all part of the original story and later developments.

The deputy commander of the front lines this time was the current head of the Nara Clan, Nara Shikayama.

At this time, Nara Shikaku, Nara Shikayama's father, was still a Jonin under 20 years old, and it would be several more years before he would succeed his father, Nara Shikayama, as the head of the Nara Clan.

In addition, besides Nara Shikayama serving as deputy commander, the Nara Clan had also dispatched Nara Shikajo and Nara Shikato, who had the highest intelligence in the Nara Clan.

The two could be seen as the Crouching Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix of the Three Kingdoms period.

Besides them, over a third of Konoha's ninja had been assembled at the front lines this time.

With this battle, Konoha was determined to strike a painful blow to Sunagakure.

Over the next month, Hyuga Bin participated in several meetings and, apart from treating the wounded, engaged in individual ninjutsu training.

In his free time, he would occasionally worry about Hyuga Masayuki.

Hyuga Masayuki was a character whose name didn't even appear once in the original work. Even with Jonin-level strength, he was still not enough on the front lines and could die at any moment.

Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin were following Namikaze Minato, so there was no immediate danger for them.

As for himself, he was even safer, as Medical Ninja did not have to fight on the front lines.

Despite this, Hyuga Bin still hoped the war would end sooner, rather than lasting four years like in the original work. He wanted to go home soon.

In the original work, the decisive battle that determined the victory in the war between Konohagakure and Sunagakure was the Battle of Kikyo Mountain in Year 46 of Konoha.

However, this time Hyuga Bin had changed history, leading to Hatake Sakumo not committing suicide. After the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen's "three visits to his humble abode," he chose to come out of retirement and rushed to the front lines, participating in this war against Sunagakure as an ordinary Anbu ninja.

With Hatake Sakumo's powerful personal strength, Hyuga Bin felt that Konoha might be able to end the battle early.

After all, Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, was not named in vain. He was the kind of person who could solo-kill the parents of Kabuto without taking any damage.

Even if Chiyo, who was over fifty, entered the fray with her Secret Puppet Technique: Ten Puppets, she might not be a match for Hatake Sakumo.

It was also after this month that Sunagakure's first wave of probing attacks arrived.

Besides the usual intelligence-gathering teams to scout Konoha's front lines, Sunagakure dispatched several elite teams skilled in stealth to invade Konoha's front-line defenses, attempting to first ambush and eliminate a small portion of Konoha's ninja and annoy them.

However, what Sunagakure didn't expect was that Konoha's "Crouching Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix," Nara Shikajo and Nara Shikato, had already anticipated this move by Sunagakure. They directly had the White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, guard the first defensive line as an ordinary ninja.

These hunting squads from Sunagakure were utterly routed by Hatake Sakumo.

Some less skilled Chunin only saw a flash of white light before becoming casualties of Hatake Sakumo's blade.

Hatake Sakumo was simply too fast!

Another week later, Iwagakure and Kumogakure simultaneously declared war on Konoha.

Before initiating the war with Konohagakure, Sunagakure had made a verbal agreement with Kumogakure and Iwagakure to share the spoils.

Otherwise, how could Sunagakure, with less than three-fifths the number of ninja as Konohagakure, dare to challenge the strongest village, Konohagakure?

And this was exactly what Kumogakure and Iwagakure were interested in.

Konohagakure was the strongest among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and the Land of Fire had the most abundant resources. Apart from Sunagakure, which was turning internal conflicts into external ones, Kumogakure and Iwagakure had long been coveting Konohagakure, wanting to gain a share of its spoils.

To this end, Kumogakure and Iwagakure proactively dispatched a large number of ninja to the front lines.

Of course, they did not attack Konoha, merely confronting it.

After all, for every thousand enemies killed, they would lose eight hundred of their own.

Kumogakure and Iwagakure's objective was to force Konoha to divert a large number of ninja to the border to deal with them, and then wait for Konoha and Sunagakure to go to war, depleting both sides' combat strength.

When the time was right, they would deliver a thunderous blow to Konoha, forcing its surrender!

And Iwagakure and Kumogakure achieved their goal. With a three-front war, even Konohagakure, the strongest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages in terms of ninja numbers and quality, found itself stretched thin after dispersing its forces.

Konohagakure had to pull some ninja from the front lines against Sunagakure to the front lines against Iwagakure and Kumogakure.

This included Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang, and the "Crouching Dragon" and "Fledgling Phoenix," Nara Shikajo and Nara Shikato – three individuals capable of turning the tide of battle.

Furthermore, due to a shortage of commanders on three fronts, even Shimura Danzo, the "Shadow of the Shinobi" and Pot King, who had already lost an arm, was dispatched to the battlefield against Iwagakure to shine.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, remained within Konohagakure.

At all times, as Hokage, he needed to be stationed in Konohagakure, strategizing and controlling the overall situation.