When the Tide Turns

Kitsuchi led a Stone Ninja unit around the frontal battlefield, marching swiftly through the forest.

Three to four thousand Konoha ninja had gathered in this vast forest. This was Konoha's final resistance. As long as the enemies here were wiped out, Konoha would have no strength left to fight back.

But this battle was different from the ones before. Their frontal assault had met Konoha's fiercest and most tenacious resistance. After losing more than a thousand comrades from the advance force, the Stone Ninja had gained no advantage at all.

Kitsuchi's task now was to take advantage of his father's full-force frontal assault, while Konoha was entirely occupied, and lead a thousand-man force to attack Konoha from the rear.

But this forest was simply too vast. It was the largest forest within the borders of the Land of Fire, and it happened to lie directly in the path of the Stone Ninja advance.

Konoha ninja were highly skilled at fighting in forests, while the Stone Ninja found themselves repeatedly constrained here.

Upon reaching a fork in the road, Kitsuchi paused. It was all too easy to lose one's bearings in this dense forest, so he questioned the ninja who had previously scouted the route.

"How much longer?"

"Very soon. If we march at full speed for another half hour, we'll arrive."

Kitsuchi looked in the direction he indicated. The trees there stood dark and deep, with no end in sight.

"These trees are so tall!" someone beside him suddenly exclaimed.

Several people gathered around a massive tree that took several men to encircle and stood a full hundred meters tall, marveling at it.

These towering trees could only be found within the Land of Fire. No one knew how many years they had grown for.

But they would soon belong to the Stone Ninja. Once Konoha fell, the Land of Earth's forces could sweep into the Land of Fire, and then their advance would surely be unstoppable.

"Keep moving." Kitsuchi shouted, taking the lead as he raced down one of the paths at the fork.

The thousand-man force behind him followed in succession, darting through the dense woods like countless black shadows.

Bang!

A sudden sound rang out. The Stone Ninja passing by that enormous tree realized there was no towering tree beside them at all. It was clearly a hundred-meter-tall giant!

Holding a gigantic iron staff, it stood there and looked down upon them like a demon god!

"What is that?"

Before the Stone Ninja below could react, the iron staff swept toward them with the force of a mountain!

Everything in its path was crushed and destroyed! Countless trees snapped apart, and any Stone Ninja struck by the staff were instantly reduced to pulp beneath that terrifying force.

"Aah!"

"Monster!"

Kitsuchi immediately shouted, "Form a defense! It's Konoha ninja! Form a defense, quickly!"

But before his words had faded, the ground suddenly began to tremble. Amid tremendous rumbling, even the nearby trees shook without end.

Kitsuchi looked toward the source of the sound and could vaguely make out only a dark shadow. Only when it crushed the trees blocking its path did he realize that the enormous "wheel" was spinning at high speed, carrying a powerful storm as it charged toward them and rolled over everything in its way.

The "wheel" crashed into the Stone Ninja formation, crushing countless Stone Ninja to death. Some tried attacking it with ninjutsu, but they could not stop it at all.

The iron staff swept through them, and the giant wheel rolled over them. For a time, screams rose everywhere as the Stone Ninja fell into chaos beneath this sudden turn of events.

Seeing the scene before him, Kitsuchi's mind fell into confusion as well.

How many are ambushing us...

He looked all around.

"Don't panic! Counterattack! Counterattack, now!"

"Kill them! Kill them quickly!"

On the frontal battlefield.

After an assault, the Stone Ninja temporarily withdrew. The surrounding forest had been devastated beyond recognition. Charred, broken trees lay everywhere, the ground was split by countless cracks, and even more horrifying were the corpses scattered across the ground. Blood flowed into the nearby stream, staining it entirely red.

Konoha's ninja were clearing the battlefield, recovering any usable ninja tools and checking whether any of the bodies still held survivors.

Their own comrades' bodies were carried to the rear, while the Stone Ninja corpses were piled together to be burned later.

At this moment, several of Konoha's higher-ups had gathered in an open space. There were not even any tents set up here, and everyone sat together in the open air.

"How many casualties?" Sarutobi asked the person beside him.

"They're still being counted... but the number is estimated to be no fewer than five hundred."

Sarutobi nodded calmly. There was no anger or grief left on his face now, as though nothing could move him anymore.

"Send those who have lost their ability to fight directly back to the village. Don't add to the medical personnel's burden here."

"Understood."

"The Stone Ninja may launch another assault soon," Sarutobi added.

"Reorganize the teams. Place anyone whose entire squad has been killed into other teams."

He then looked at the blond young man beside him. "Minato, lead a team to strike the enemy force from one side later. It would be best if you can disrupt their formation."

After considering it, Minato said, "There's no need to bring a team. I can go alone."

Sarutobi did not insist and simply nodded. "All right."

"As for the frontal battlefield, Fugaku and I will continue commanding it."

"Shikaku, stay with Inoichi and the Sensor Division. Keep us informed of battlefield developments and direct the situation at all times."

The higher-ups discussed how the next stage of the battle should proceed.

Konoha's ninja were also busy with their own tasks.

Not far from the Hokage, several people led by Inoichi sat together, each wearing a strange device on their heads. The devices were connected to a huge battery nearby.

This was Konoha's Sensor Division, monitoring everything throughout the forest. The moment any Stone Ninja entered, they would immediately detect them.

After helping finish moving the bodies, Kakashi went alone beneath a large tree to rest. He took out some rations from his bag and silently ate.

Rin came over as well, sat beside him, and untied her canteen before handing it to Kakashi.

"There are too many wounded. We can barely keep up," she sighed.

"There's no need to treat them now. It would be better to conserve your strength for the coming battle," Kakashi said indifferently.

Rin shook her head. "Some of them are badly hurt. If we don't treat them, their lives could be in danger."

Kakashi calmly looked at the people busily working around them. "They're going to die anyway."

"That doesn't mean they should die because I didn't save them."

"..."

Half a leaf, marked by black scorch marks, slowly drifted down from the tree. Kakashi caught it in his hand.

Rin began eating as well, holding a rice ball in her hand. As she rested, she occasionally hummed a tune.

Kakashi heard laughter. In the distance, two people walked side by side deeper into the forest, laughing and joking all the way.

Both of them were extremely burly, the sort who stood out in a crowd. They were from the Akimichi Clan.

"What are they going to do?" Rin asked.

"...Ambush the enemy, probably," Kakashi said after some thought.

"Are they that happy about going to ambush someone?" Rin laughed.

Kakashi could not figure it out either. He had no idea what joke those people had shared that made them so happy.

"Maybe it's because they won't be coming back."

"Oh." Rin nodded thoughtfully.

After they finished their rations, they continued leaning against the tree to rest. Rin suddenly mentioned that when they were in school, Kakashi had always liked leaving the crowd to sit alone beneath a tree at the edge of the training ground.

Kakashi said their classmates had all been too childish back then, and he could not be bothered to play ninja games with them.

Rin said that no one had been childish. They had merely been doing what they enjoyed, and whenever they tried to invite Kakashi, he always refused.

Kakashi said that all he had wanted back then was to train. He had not wanted to do anything else.

After he said that, Rin did not respond. He turned to look at her, only to find that she had fallen asleep there from exhaustion.

He hesitated before softly calling, "Rin."

"Mm..."

"..."

Kakashi did not continue. Rin, whose eyes were closed, suddenly gave a soft laugh. "Why did you stop talking?"

"It's nothing... Stay close to me when the battle starts later."

"I don't want to hold you back. What if I get you killed?"

Kakashi was silent for a while before saying that it did not matter. They were going to die anyway.

Rin said she did not want to see Kakashi die, and that the two of them should stay apart later.