Shadow of Konoha

Konoha, Hokage Building.

"Monkey, you're leaving now?" Utatane Koharu asked.

"Mm." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "The troops are already preparing. I'll go alone, avoid prying eyes along the way, and head straight to the battlefield."

"Alright." Koharu's face showed concern, but in the end she said nothing more. "Monkey, take care on the road."

"Haha, Koharu, that's not like you." Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed heartily. "I'm off."

Koharu watched Hiruzen Sarutobi vanish and murmured, "Hanzō, the Rain Ninja—none of them are easy to deal with. War... ah."

Konoha, Rain Ninja battlefield.

By now, the tide had begun to tilt toward the Rain Ninja. It could be said that decades of blood-soaked fortune for the Rain Village had all converged here—this was their destined rise.

Replenished with supplies, the Rain Ninja's combat strength was leagues beyond what it had been.

Konoha, having run headlong into the Rain Ninja, was now being swept along by them, growing more chaotic with every clash. And chaos was the Rain Ninja's domain.

Central battlefield.

The Jonin were locked in fierce combat when they suddenly heard excited shouts from the edge of the battlefield, growing louder by the moment.

But their Jonin discipline kept them from looking away—until they heard a familiar voice.

"Konoha shinobi, rally to me!"

A jolt ran through the Jonin. Excitement spread from their hearts through their entire bodies. They knew, with crystal clarity, that this battle was won.

By now, the Third Hokage had already gathered nearly half the Konoha shinobi on the battlefield.

As he moved forward to consolidate his forces, he casually tossed out a few jutsu, herding the Rain Ninja together and letting them drag the others into the cluster.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

Three streams of flame erupted from Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth. Two fire dragons flew to the edges, continuing to drive the Rain Ninja together, while one fire dragon shot straight into their midst. The occasional water wall rose up, only to evaporate instantly.

The sight of their comrades turning to charred corpses in an instant drove the Rain Ninja into a panicked rout, leaving them no time to worry about the Konoha shinobi still locked in battle.

A Konoha Chunin at the edge of the battlefield was locked in a fierce Kunai duel with a Rain Ninja when he suddenly saw fear flash across his opponent's face. The man turned and fled.

He looked back to see over a thousand Rain Ninja charging straight at him. In despair, he closed his eyes, waiting for death.

But when the Rain Ninja had all passed him by, he found himself completely unharmed. Opening his eyes, he saw the Third Hokage leading the troops toward him. With a surge of excitement, he joined the ranks behind the Hokage.

"Ooooooooooh!"

The Konoha shinobi forces cheered as they chased the Rain Ninja behind Hiruzen Sarutobi.

On the other side, Hanzō had barely made it back to the Rain Ninja lines.

The Rain Ninja had collapsed too fast.

Too fast for Hanzō to react.

He had never imagined that the Hokage's arrival could rally Konoha from the brink of defeat and fill them with renewed vigor.

On a battlefield without Kage-level fighters, the presence of a single Kage made all the difference.

"How is Sakumo?" The Third Hokage's Shadow Clone appeared at Tsunade's side to check on the situation.

Hatake Sakumo's entire body was tinged with a purple-black hue, but he was still conscious. Seeing the Third Hokage arrive, his eyes shifted slightly, as if in greeting.

"Sakumo inhaled too much poison gas at close range. Even with the medicine suppressing it beforehand, he'll need a long period of rest. And that's only because it wasn't prolonged—if you'd come any later, it might have been a different story." Tsunade complained.

"Haha." The Third Hokage gave an awkward laugh, then turned his gaze to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was currently bleeding himself, forcing out purple-black blood from his fingertips.

His face was pale, and there were several obvious sword wounds on his chest and abdomen, but compared to Hatake Sakumo, he was in much better shape. He gave a soft, sinister smile. "Sensei, I'm fine."

Looking at his disciple, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes showed satisfaction. Orochimaru had fully inherited his mastery of ninjutsu, and what was even more valuable was his exceptional talent for developing new techniques—in just a few days, he had already found a way to deal with the poison.

The Third Hokage nodded. "It seems you're both holding up well. I'll send a team of medical ninja. Rest for now."

With that, he dispelled the Shadow Clone.

Frontline battlefield.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand seals paused for a moment, then resumed at an even faster pace.

"Five Elements: Great Combo Bullet Technique!"

The Third Hokage and his four Shadow Clones each spat out a dragon—Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. The five dragons merged together, forming a single colossal dragon.

First, the Wind and Fire dragons converged, then the Lightning dragon merged with the Water dragon. The Wind-Fire dragon and the Lightning-Water dragon closed in on the Earth dragon, using it as a medium. The five elements fused, nature transformation and shape transformation complete.

The Five Elements Giant Dragon radiated an aura of world-shattering destruction as it bore down on the Rain Ninja.

Now a question stood before Hanzō: save these Rain Ninja, or not?

Hanzō's face darkened as he roared, "Everyone! In the name of Half-God Hanzō, halt! Defend!"

The moment Hanzō returned to the Rain Ninja camp, they found their anchor. They steadied quickly, reason returning.

Over a hundred Rain Ninja began forming hand seals under the direction of their Jonin.

"Water Style: Water Wall!"

Under the pressure of survival, hundreds of water walls rose one after another, standing before the giant dragon.

The Five Elements Giant Dragon opened its mouth slightly and spat out a blazing white flame. Hundreds of water walls vanished as if erased by a rubber, with only the lingering steam proving they had ever existed.

Seeing the high-temperature steam from the evaporated mass of water, Shikaku's father, Nara Shikahisa, quickly organized the Wind Style ninjas and formed hand seals, saying:

"Wind Style: Gale."

The flame patterns on the Five Elements Giant Dragon dimmed, but the lightning patterns remained bright, and behind it trailed the high-temperature steam blown over by the Konoha ninjas.

Hanzō's expression turned grim. For a moment, he considered abandoning the Rain Ninja, but he gritted his teeth and formed hand seals.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet."

A massive amount of Chakra drained away rapidly, transforming into water dragons that charged toward the giant dragon. Compared to the Five Elements Giant Dragon, the small water dragons were so obviously mismatched in size. One after another, they coiled around the dragon, trying to hinder its movement, but the dragon merely shook slightly, scattering the entwined water dragons.

Yet Hanzō had achieved his goal. The seals in his hands changed.

"Water Style: Water Prison!"

The water carried by the dragons transformed into a prison, tightly encasing the giant dragon. As Chakra was poured in, the pressure inside the water prison increased, aiming to trap the dragon there.

The dragon writhed within the water prison, but under the immense pressure, it could barely move.

Hanzō's technique, which consumed a massive amount of Chakra, succeeded. The Five Elements Giant Dragon was firmly confined within the water prison.

Seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi formed hand seals again.

White light flickered in the dragon's eyes, and the lightning patterns across its body began to glow.

"Not good!" Hanzō moved to release the water prison immediately.

But it was too late. The Five Elements Giant Dragon exploded violently.

The Rain Ninja only saw the water prison burst open, and torrents of water poured down from the sky, forming a Thunder Marsh.

The Rain Ninja happened to be right in the middle of the Thunder Marsh, and the evenly distributed electricity numbed their bodies, leaving them unable to move.

Hanzō looked at the Rain Ninja scattered across the ground and knew he had suffered a crushing defeat in this battle.

But as their leader, he could not admit defeat no matter what.

He glanced at the Konoha ninjas surrounding him in a V-shaped formation.

Then he looked at the Rain Ninja lying on the ground. With a hardened heart, he used the water gathered from the earlier techniques and formed hand seals.

"Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

A massive amount of water was gathered by Hanzō and surged toward the fallen Rain Ninja on the ground. The Rain Ninja were swept away by the Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave and carried into the distance.

The paralyzed Rain Ninja were borne away by the wave. Although Hanzō's technique only swept and did not break through, many Rain Ninja still died from suffocation or impact.

Konoha followed slowly behind, waiting to harvest the Rain Ninja who had been exhausted by the chain of techniques.

After Hanzō finished his technique, the Rain Ninja finally recovered from their paralysis. The survivors staggered as they fled toward the Land of Rain.

And within the Land of Rain, reinforcements from the Sand Ninja and Iwagakure were advancing toward the Land of Fire.