The Beginning

The order for the general assault came down abruptly to every ninja a day later, without much waiting.

Military orders were as unyielding as mountains. Though the ninjas were puzzled by the sudden shift in the situation, Konoha's war machine had already been set fully in motion.

The entire Konoha camp pressed forward, while White Fang led the forces lying in ambush at the border to strike the Rain Ninja's flank.

With that, the war erupted in full force!

"Earth Style - Yomi Swamp"

Jiraiya formed hand seals and pressed his hands to the ground, channeling a massive amount of Chakra into the earth. The defensive fortifications and traps on the outskirts of the Rain Ninja camp all sank into the soil.

Jiraiya stopped the Chakra flow, catching his breath quietly. The jutsu dissipated, leaving a wide, flat path leading straight to the Rain Ninja. From then on, there was no barrier between Konoha and the Rain Ninja.

Orochimaru bit his finger.

Boar, Dog, Rooster, Monkey, Ram—Summoning Jutsu!

"Boom!" A massive triangular-headed snake with purple stripes appeared beneath Orochimaru.

Manda flicked its tongue, sensing the scents ahead. Its sinister, arrogant eyes gleamed with excitement. It lifted its head slightly and hissed:

"Orochimaru, this is quite the setup. I want twenty cows afterward."

Orochimaru gave a slight nod in acknowledgment. He pointed a single finger forward: "All forces, advance!"

Seeing such overwhelming power from their two commanders, the ninjas behind them howled with fervor as they charged alongside Manda.

The Konoha ninjas used Manda's massive body as cover, trailing behind to throw shuriken and release jutsu, executing a Fire Shadow version of infantry-tank coordination.

Manda's scales were smooth and tough; ordinary shuriken strikes couldn't break through. Small-scale jutsu could be tanked head-on, while large-scale ones were blocked by combined Konoha ninja jutsu.

With Manda's charge, the Rain Ninja's defensive line, stripped of its fortifications, was instantly pierced.

Hanzō had no choice but to summon Ibuse to tangle with it.

But Ibuse's strongest weapon—its poison gas—couldn't be released on a battlefield packed with Rain Ninja. Without its poison, Ibuse could only hold Manda in check.

So Hanzō had to use Ibuse to break through toward Orochimaru, aiming to kill the summoner and force the summon to dispel.

But that played right into Orochimaru's hands. This whole chain of moves was meant to lure Hanzō away from the main battlefield.

"Clang, clang, clang!" Orochimaru exchanged only a few blows with Hanzō before sustaining several wounds. He could only flick his hand to summon a giant python to bite at Hanzō.

Hanzō smirked contemptuously: "Is this your resistance, junior?"

With a sweep of his sickle, he cleaved the python in two. But the moment he did, Hanzō sensed something wrong. He lifted his foot to teleport away.

"Arrogance, senior." Orochimaru changed his hand seal. "Evil Snake Arm Explosion!"

The severed python exploded instantly, engulfing Hanzō.

Orochimaru didn't think Hanzō would be killed by that. Using the blood from his wounds, he formed seals again: "Summoning - Array of a Thousand Snakes."

As the smoke cleared, the man called the Demigod of the Ninja World looked somewhat disheveled. Though Hanzō had teleported away from the explosion in time, he hadn't dodged the snake flesh scattered by the initial blast.

Stinking snake meat clung all over him, and his armor was faintly smoking from the venom's corrosion.

"You've angered me, boy." Hanzō didn't even glance at the wall of snakes closing in. He clasped his hands together. "Water Style - Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

A torrent of water was summoned by Hanzō, instantly scattering the snake swarm into chaos and forming a lake. Hanzō stared coldly at Orochimaru, released his Chakra from his feet, and sank beneath the surface.

Taking advantage of the moment, Orochimaru quickly treated his wounds and turned to flee toward the edge of the battlefield.

Orochimaru struggled to hold on. Beneath the water, Hanzō was like a shark that had caught the scent of blood, relentlessly pursuing him, tearing off a piece of flesh whenever Orochimaru least expected it.

But at least he was almost out of the lake's range.

Orochimaru barely managed to endure, unaware that Hanzō beneath the water was even more astonished. He had deliberately left an opening to let Orochimaru create distance, yet it had taken him until now to finish the job.

During the underwater pursuit, Orochimaru casually used Wind Style, Water Style, Summoning Jutsu, and secret techniques, twisting his body to dodge several fatal blows.

But this was the end. Hanzō's eyes turned cold. Orochimaru's fighting style reminded him of the Third Hokage—it was exactly the same approach.

This child has a bright future—he absolutely cannot be left alive!

"Flash!" Hanzō leaped out of the water again, sickle rushing toward Orochimaru. "It's over, brat."

"Shing!" Jiraiya, wielding a short blade, blocked Hanzō's sickle. The clash of blade and sickle sent sparks flying.

Jiraiya exchanged a few rapid strikes, arcs of electricity flickering across his body, and forced Hanzō back with one slash.

"Hatake Sakumo?"

"That's right." White Fang canceled his transformation, revealing his true face. It was indeed—Hatake Sakumo!

Hanzō sheathed his blade and quickly scanned the battlefield. On the front lines, Jiraiya had summoned Gamabunta to help Manda hold off Ibuse. The 1,500 Konoha ninjas were struggling against the 2,000 Rain Ninja.

But at that moment, a force of 1,000 ninjas suddenly struck the Rain Ninja's flank.

The Rain Ninja, true to their reputation as a nation that could challenge the Five Great Nations, had been mercenaries by trade. After receiving supplies from Suna and being unified by Hanzō, they had swiftly transformed into a regular army.

Facing a two-pronged assault from Konoha, the 2,000 Rain Ninja simply loosened their formation, turning the battle into a chaotic melee where both sides tested their ninjas' individual skill.

And against all odds, the Rain Ninja managed to stabilize their disadvantageous position.

Hanzō withdrew his gaze. "Hmph, you think you're certain you can take me out?"

With that, he tore off his mask and began releasing poison. Clearly, he intended to quickly eliminate White Fang, Orochimaru, and Tsunade.

Tsunade quickly treated Orochimaru's injuries, pulling out two pills for the White Fang and Orochimaru to take, while simultaneously summoning two slugs that attached themselves to each of them.

Hatake Sakumo swallowed the pill, arcs of lightning surging across his body as he shot toward Hanzō in a flash of electricity.

In the span of a breath, they exchanged dozens of blows.

Orochimaru stood in front of Tsunade, occasionally striking at Hanzō from the shadows or throwing out a jutsu to salvage the situation.

Tsunade sat cross-legged on the ground, calmly controlling the slugs to neutralize the poison.

"Clang, clang, clang!" Hatake Sakumo, wielding the White Fang, clashed head-on with Hanzō several more times before using Orochimaru's cover to pull back and catch his breath.

You could only say he was worthy of being the father of the man who always draws—drawing was a hereditary instinct. Hatake Sakumo, with Tsunade and Orochimaru, managed to fight Hanzō to a standstill.

But they were already reaching their limits. In high-intensity Taijutsu combat, breathing and exchanging air came frequently, and as the poison accumulated, Tsunade's suppression grew more and more difficult.

At first, the White Fang could fight for three minutes with Orochimaru's cover before needing to rest, letting Orochimaru use jutsu to restrain Hanzō while Tsunade hurriedly detoxified.

But now he could only last a minute. In a chain reaction, Tsunade and Orochimaru both felt their Chakra running low.

Just as the situation was about to collapse, cheers from Konoha ninja suddenly rang out across the battlefield.

Along with a sharp increase in the screams of Rain Ninja.

Hanzō turned to look, and his pupils contracted.

There, with the Divine Robe fluttering in the wind, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had arrived on the battlefield!