Konoha, the Hokage Building.
"Monkey, are you leaving now?" Utatane Koharu asked.
"Mm." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "The troops have already begun preparing. I'll go alone, avoiding the eyes and ears along the way and heading straight to the battlefield."
"Alright." Utatane Koharu looked worried, but ultimately said no more. "Monkey, be careful on the way."
"Hahaha, Koharu, this isn't like you." Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed heartily. "I'm off."
Watching Hiruzen Sarutobi disappear, Utatane Koharu murmured, "Hanzō, the Rain Ninja... neither is easy to deal with. War... sigh..."
Konoha, the Rain Ninja battlefield.
At this point, the situation had already begun to tilt toward the Rain Ninja. It could be said that decades of bloody fortune had all converged here. The Rain Ninja were born to rise this time.
After receiving supplies, the Rain Ninja's combat strength was worlds apart from before.
Konoha, running headlong into the Rain Ninja, was being swept along by them, becoming more and more disordered with every battle. And once chaos descended, the world belonged to the Rain Ninja.
The central battlefield.
The Jonin were locked in fierce combat when they suddenly heard excited cheers coming from the edge of the battlefield. The cheers grew louder with every passing moment.
But the Jonin's battle instincts kept them from being distracted—until they heard a familiar voice.
"Konoha shinobi, converge on me!"
The Jonin shuddered. Excitement spread from their hearts throughout their bodies. They knew clearly that this battle was won!
By then, the Third Hokage had already gathered nearly half of the Konoha shinobi on the battlefield.
As he brought the troops together and advanced, he casually cast several techniques, driving the Rain Ninja into groups and forcing them to draw the others together.
Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!
Three flames spewed from Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth. Two fire dragons flew toward the edges, continuing to drive the Rain Ninja together, while the third flew straight at them. A few Water Walls rose now and then, only to evaporate instantly.
The sight of their comrades turning into charred corpses in an instant terrified the Rain Ninja. They fled for their lives, with no time to concern themselves with the Konoha shinobi still caught in the melee.
A Konoha Chunin at the edge of the battlefield was locked in a fierce kunai clash with a Rain Ninja in front of him. Suddenly, he saw fear spread across his opponent's face. The Rain Ninja turned and fled.
He turned his head and saw over a thousand Rain Ninja charging toward him. Despairing, he closed his eyes and waited for death.
Yet when all the Rain Ninja had passed him, he discovered that he was unharmed. Opening his eyes, he saw the Third Hokage leading the troops toward him, and excitedly joined the forces behind the Hokage.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The Konoha shinobi excitedly followed Hiruzen Sarutobi in pursuit of the Rain Ninja.
Elsewhere, Half-God Hanzō barely managed to return to the Rain Ninja formation.
The Rain Ninja had collapsed too quickly.
So quickly that Half-God Hanzō had no time to react.
He had never imagined that the Hokage's arrival could rally Konoha, which had been on the verge of defeat, restoring their morale and fighting spirit.
On a battlefield without a Kage-level combatant, the impact one Kage could have was simply too great.
"How is Sakumo?" The Third Hokage's Shadow Clone arrived at Tsunade's side to check on the situation.
Hatake Sakumo's entire body had turned purplish-black, but he was still conscious. When he saw the Third Hokage arrive, his eyes moved slightly, as if greeting him.
"Sakumo inhaled too much poison at close range. Although the medicine suppressed it beforehand, he'll still need a long period of rest. And that's only because not much time has passed. If you had arrived any later, the outcome might have been very different." Tsunade complained.
"Haha." The Third Hokage gave an awkward laugh before looking toward Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was currently bleeding himself, forcing purplish-black blood from his fingers.
Orochimaru's face was pale, and several obvious cuts marked his chest and abdomen. But compared with Hatake Sakumo, he was in much better shape. He gave a sinister smile. "Sensei, I'm fine."
Looking at this disciple of his, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes showed satisfaction. Orochimaru had inherited all of his ninjutsu attainments, but even more valuable was Orochimaru's outstanding ability to develop techniques. In just a few days, he had already found a way to deal with the poison.
The Third Hokage nodded. "It looks like you're both alright. I'll send a squad of medical ninja over. Rest for now."
With that, he dispelled the Shadow Clone.
The main battlefield.
Hiruzen Sarutobi paused in the middle of his hand seals, then began forming them even faster.
Five Elements: Great Combo Technique!
The Third Hokage and his four Shadow Clones each spat out a fire dragon, water dragon, earth dragon, wind dragon, and thunder dragon. The five dragons fused together, forming a giant dragon.
First, the wind dragon and fire dragon converged. Then the thunder dragon merged with the water dragon. The wind-fire dragon and thunder-water dragon drew toward the earth dragon. Using the earth dragon as a medium, the five elements fused together, complete with both nature transformation and shape transformation.
The Five Elements Giant Dragon radiated an aura capable of destroying heaven and earth as it charged toward the Rain Ninja.
A question now stood before Hanzō: should he save these Rain Ninja or not?
Hanzō's face darkened as he shouted, "Everyone, in the name of Half-God Hanzō, stop! Defend!"
The moment Hanzō returned to the Rain Ninja camp, they seemed to have found their backbone. They quickly steadied themselves, and reason returned to them.
Over a hundred Rain Ninja began forming hand seals under the direction of the Jonin.
Water Style: Water Formation Wall!
Under the pressure of survival, over a hundred Water Walls rose one after another, standing in front of the giant dragon.
The Five Elements Giant Dragon opened its mouth slightly and spewed out a searing white flame. The hundred-plus Water Walls vanished as though erased by an eraser, leaving behind only the remaining water vapor as proof that they had ever existed.
Seeing the scorching steam produced by the evaporation of such a massive amount of water, Nara Shikahisa's father, Nara Shikamasada, quickly organized the Wind Style users. Forming hand seals, he called out:
Wind Style: Gale!
The flame markings on the Five Elements Giant Dragon dimmed, but the thunder markings remained bright. Behind it followed the scorching steam blown over by the Konoha shinobi.
Hanzō's expression turned solemn. For an instant, he considered abandoning the Rain Ninja, but he still gritted his teeth and formed hand seals.
Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!
A massive amount of chakra rapidly drained away, transforming into wave after wave of water dragons that surged toward the giant dragon. Compared with the Five Elements Giant Dragon, the smaller water dragons were painfully obvious in size. They wrapped around the giant dragon one after another, attempting to stop its movement, but the giant dragon merely shook slightly, scattering them all.
But Hanzō had achieved his goal. The hand seal in his hands changed.
Water Style: Water Prison!
The water carried by the water dragons transformed into a Water Prison, tightly enclosing the giant dragon. As chakra poured into it, the pressure inside the prison increased, intending to trap the giant dragon there.
The giant dragon thrashed within the Water Prison, but under the immense pressure, it could not move an inch.
Hanzō's technique, which had consumed a tremendous amount of chakra, had succeeded. The Five Elements Giant Dragon was firmly restrained inside the Water Prison.
Seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi formed hand seals once more.
White light flared in the giant dragon's eyes, while the thunder markings around its body gradually began to shine.
"Not good!" Hanzō immediately tried to dispel the Water Prison.
But it was too late. The Five Elements Giant Dragon exploded violently.
The Rain Ninja only saw the Water Prison suddenly burst apart. Water poured down from the sky, blanketing the area and forming a Thunder Marsh.
The Rain Ninja happened to be right inside the Thunder Marsh. The evenly distributed lightning left their bodies numb and their limbs unable to move.
Looking at the Rain Ninja scattered across the ground, Hanzō knew that he had suffered a devastating defeat in this battle.
But as their leader, he could never admit defeat, no matter what.
He looked at the Konoha shinobi closing in around them in a V formation.
Then he looked at the Rain Ninja lying on the ground. Hardening his heart, he used the water gathered by the numerous techniques cast earlier and formed hand seals with both hands.
Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!
Hanzō gathered a massive amount of water and sent it surging toward the Rain Ninja lying on the ground. The Rain Ninja were swept up by the Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave and carried into the distance.
The Rain Ninja, unable to move, were swept away and carried to safety. Although Hanzō could not break through the entire area, many Rain Ninja still died from suffocation and collisions.
Konoha simply followed behind them at a leisurely pace, waiting to harvest the Rain Ninja, who had been exhausted by the successive ninjutsu.
After Hanzō finished casting the technique, the Rain Ninja finally broke free of their paralysis. The survivors staggered toward the Land of Rain.
Meanwhile, reinforcements from the Sand Ninja and Iwagakure within the Land of Rain were advancing toward the Land of Fire.
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