The Savior of Konoha (4k)

"Captain, weren't you already on the battlefield? Why are you only getting here now?"

Shiranui Genma wiped the grime from his face. After fighting for so long, the senbon clenched between his teeth was already stained with blood.

"Bang!"

Hyuga Qinglan dodged sideways as a huge chunk of rock hurtled toward him from behind. Without turning around, he replied, "Sorry. I got a secret order earlier and went to bring in reinforcements."

Reinforcements?!

There were even more powerful fighters?

The young Konoha shinobi exchanged bewildered looks. As far as they were concerned, Lord Orochimaru's arrival with Sunagakure's elite troops, along with the reunion of the Sannin, had already been the greatest possible support.

Could Lord Orochimaru's plans have gone even further than that?

And then...

"Look, they're here."

Hyuga Qinglan raised his head and gazed into the distance, past the rear of Iwagakure's position.

At the edge of the horizon, a dense mass of people advanced like a dark cloud skimming the ground, turning the ochre wasteland a lifeless gray.

At the head of the silent army, a colossal creature shook the earth with every rapid step.

And standing motionless atop the monster's head was a man.

A gas mask hid most of his face, leaving only his eyes visible—cold as ice and brimming with killing intent.

"The Poison Weapon"—Salamander Hanzo.

He had arrived on the battlefield.

"Ibuse, clear them out."

The giant salamander roared, its enormous body trembling violently. Then it opened its jaws wide, revealing a dark purple throat that seemed to lead straight to hell.

A thick purple miasma, almost solid in its density, burst out.

The Iwagakure Ninja who faced that brilliant yet deadly poison barely had time to react. Their faces flushed, their skin turned purplish red, and they finally collapsed, writhing in despair.

In just a few breaths, the rear line that had seemed as solid as rock became a silent purple hell.

"Hanzo... Why is he here, too?!"

Ōnoki's astonishment was plain to see from the sky.

As he hurled down massive Earth Release boulders, he desperately dodged Rasa's relentless Gold Dust. Shock and dismay were written across his old face.

He could endure Sunagakure's assault.

He could hold out against the Sannin reunited. Iwagakure still had its core forces, after all, and its Jinchūriki were still in the fight.

But Hanzo's arrival changed everything.

The man who had single-handedly sparked the Second Shinobi World War, hailed as the "Poison Weapon," had brought Amegakure's entire main force and openly sided with Konoha.

Ōnoki surveyed the battlefield, and a sense of helplessness unlike any he had ever known welled up inside him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Rasa, Salamander Hanzo...

Three Kage...

No...

And on top of that, the famed Konoha Sannin, each powerful enough to rival a Kage.

There was also the Yellow Flash, who, according to reports, had exhausted his chakra and been sent back to the village.

Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki hadn't even been deployed.

Meanwhile, his own two Jinchūriki were being held off by Orochimaru and Jiraiya, with no time to spare for anything else.

"Konoha... Is it really impossible to wipe you out?"

Ōnoki muttered, his voice torn apart by the wind.

Objectively speaking, Iwagakure's core forces were no weaker than Konoha's. At that moment, Iwagakure even had more jōnin than Konoha.

The problem was that Konoha was never short of people who could turn the tide at a critical moment.

Jōnin, prodigies, monsters—whatever you called them, they always seemed to come from Konoha.

In every war, every crisis, a few names would emerge from Konoha's ranks and change everything.

Even the reinforcements were no exception.

Salamander Hanzo... What had Konoha done to make him willing to personally enter the fray as a "mercenary"?

"Retreat..."

The word seemed to drain all the strength from him as he forced it through clenched teeth.

The order spread through the ranks at once via the sensory unit.

Some were unwilling. Some were relieved. Others were furious. But not a single person objected.

If they kept fighting, the price would only be higher.

"But... Even if we leave, I won't let Konoha get off easy!"

Ōnoki's tone changed. His eyes widened, and dazzling white light suddenly flared in his palms. Before retreating, he tried to unleash a Dust Release blast of unprecedented scale at the young Konoha shinobi, who were packed tightly together.

But just as the light was about to take shape, several terrifying presences locked onto the small figure in the sky.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Orochimaru, Rasa, Tsunade, and the battered Jiraiya.

Salamander Hanzo, farther away.

Even an unknown Hyuga kid had sensed it.

"..."

Ōnoki's fingers froze in midair.

In the end, he could only smile helplessly and direct his final attack toward the purple miasma billowing behind him.

Boom!

Dust Release tore through the poison, forcibly carving out a path to safety.

The two Jinchūriki took turns covering each other, holding off Orochimaru and Jiraiya's pursuit as they slowly withdrew in formation.

Seeing Ōnoki begin his retreat, Salamander Hanzo raised a hand in time to stop the Amegakure forces from advancing farther.

To him, this assault was simply a way to demonstrate his strength to Konoha and secure his share of the spoils. He had no intention of letting his elite troops suffer losses now.

Rasa was of the same mind. He recalled the Gold Dust filling the sky and quietly returned to Sunagakure's position.

At last, dusk sank below the horizon.

The battlefield was filled with wails of agony. Shattered ninja tools and bodies strewn in every direction bore witness to the carnage.

Most of those left along Iwagakure's retreat route were Genin and Chunin.

They had basically been sent out as cannon fodder by Ōnoki to preserve the village's high-level fighting force.

"The meaning of life... At a time like this, it seems so meaningless."

Orochimaru stood atop Manda's enormous head, looking down at the layers of corpses below him. His voice was cold as ice.

Behind him, countless Konoha shinobi who had escaped death gazed at him with near-religious reverence.

The black-haired figure who had led the reinforcements and turned the tide.

At that moment, he had become the sole savior in the hearts of Konoha.

"..."

Orochimaru basked in their fervent gazes. His narrow eyes first turned toward Hyuga Qinglan, standing beside Hyuga Yumi, then settled on Sarutobi Hiruzen, whose expression was conflicted.

"Teacher, while their morale is low, I've decided to lead another pursuit..."

Orochimaru licked his lips, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "We need to make Iwagakure remember forever that Konoha isn't a pushover..."

The moment he finished speaking, the Konoha shinobi's cries erupted like a tidal wave, before Sarutobi Hiruzen could even respond.

The frustration, pain, and burning resentment they had built up over the past few days on the Rock Battlefield quickly twisted, under Orochimaru's quiet incitement, into a fervor called "revenge."

"That's right! Lord Orochimaru is right!"

"Konoha's dignity must not be trampled on!"

"Let those country bumpkins hiding among the rocks see the will of Konoha!"

The crowd's roars rose like wave after wave, shaking the mountains and forests.

At the center of the storm, Orochimaru stood motionless.

His narrow eyes held a dim, unreadable gleam as he quietly waited for his dear teacher to give the order.

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked around, his heart sinking.

Most of the Konoha shinobi he saw looked exhausted, but even more of them were exhilarated.

"..."

At last, he looked over the young survivors.

They remained silent, but the fierce determination in their eyes, hardened by the fires of war, unsettled even the "Professor of Ninjutsu."

"But the village's shinobi have already..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's throat bobbed. He wanted to end this, but could only think bitterly.

The large-scale fighting had already left everyone utterly exhausted. If they pursued the retreating enemy now, they might drive Ōnoki completely mad and end up with both sides destroyed.

What was more, Sunagakure and Amegakure were nearby. They were allies for now, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't take advantage of the situation.

"Teacher, as long as you give the order, I'll take care of any other variables."

Orochimaru spoke softly, his tone full of respect.

"Give the order, Lord Hokage!"

"With Lord Orochimaru leading us, Iwagakure won't stand a chance!"

"Third, we Uchiha will make sure Iwagakure goes home defeated!"

As he listened to the thunderous cries to fight, Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart pounded harder and harder.

He knew all too well that Orochimaru's prestige had reached its peak amid that overwhelming sea of blood.

If he tried to stop him by force, the unity they had just built might scatter like leaves in the wind.

"Then... go," Sarutobi Hiruzen said at last with a long sigh.

He gave in.

"But the village's wounded..."

"I understand, of course... But my good friends Jiraiya and Tsunade can take care of that."

"Teacher, I'll leave Lord Rasa and Lord Hanzo to you."

Orochimaru extended his long tongue with keen interest, then turned his gaze to Hyuga Qinglan, who stood quietly beside the Hyuga Main Family.

The meaning was clear.

Lord Qinglan, would you like to come along?

Hyuga Qinglan gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head to say no.

Orochimaru looked a little disappointed, but said nothing more. He took his personal unit and disappeared into the night.

"Hyuga Qinglan, why did Lord Orochimaru look this way just now?"

Only after the suffocating pressure had completely vanished did Hyuga Yumi, her body covered in tiny cuts, finally speak, still shaken.

"Was it because he finally recognized the Hyuga Clan's contributions?"

Her voice held both the excitement of having distinguished herself and the lingering tremor of someone who had survived a catastrophe.

She had secretly followed Hyuga Tokuma's squad to the front lines without telling her family because she wanted to prove on the battlefield that she was more than a Main Family vase who could only be protected.

Even after the Main Family leadership learned of it, flew into a rage, and did everything they could to stop her, by the time she had actually set foot on the battlefield, it was too late.

The clan had no choice but to protect her.

In the end, she had survived not because her status as a Main Family lady was especially precious, but because enough Branch Family members had died in her place.

"..."

Hyuga Qinglan didn't reply. He simply counted the people still standing in the Hyuga Clan's position.

As far as the eye could see, everyone remaining besides Hyuga Yumi, the sole member of the Main Family, was a Branch Family shinobi.

But several familiar faces were nowhere to be seen: Hyuga Gakuto, Itsudan, and Hayato, who had once stood guard at the gates with him.

They were probably dead...

And if Orochimaru really was going to remember anyone, perhaps it would be the Main Family shinobi who hadn't come...

But what did that have to do with Hyuga Qinglan?

"Maybe. Perhaps he was just looking at the sunset."

Hyuga Qinglan answered flatly, without much feeling.

"You..."

Hyuga Yumi's brows drew together. Out of habit, she wanted to invoke the authority of the Main Family and scold the Branch Family member for his disrespect, but as soon as she saw the mutilated corpses around them, her usual temper withered away.

The bloody battles of the past few days had taught her that without the Branch Family risking their lives to save her, she, a so-called member of the Main Family, was nothing more than a small boat on a raging sea, liable to be smashed at any moment.

And Hyuga Qinglan, a Branch Family prodigy who had performed so flawlessly on the battlefield, was now the only person she could rely on.

She silently shut her mouth, a complicated look flickering in her eyes.

"..."

Hyuga Qinglan naturally sensed her changed attitude, but he didn't care.

More accurately, it had nothing to do with him, the "Shadow Clone" left behind here.

He looked toward the distant direction of Iwagakure's retreat. A thought no one else could detect passed through his deep Byakugan.

"I wonder if things are going smoothly for my real body..."

Creak... creak...

The thick snow crunched beneath his boots, making a dry sound.

Across the endless snowy plain, a long trail wound through the snow. Hyuga Qinglan dragged a huge black sack behind him as he walked into the land of blizzards.

The fierce wind tugged at his black robe, making it snap and rustle.

He had traveled all the way from the Land of Rain and crossed into the Land of Iron. The weather had shifted sharply with the change in borders.

The drizzle had turned into spotless, pristine snow.

Moonlight spilled through the clouds onto Hyuga Qinglan's pale face. He stopped and fixed his gaze on a hidden cave, half-concealed behind trees encased in ice.

Only when he saw its familiar outline did his brow finally relax.

"The door leading to the moon..."

Hyuga Qinglan stepped into the cave, purple chakra slowly gathering in his palm.

In an instant, brilliant light illuminated the craggy cavern, casting the hanging stalactites in a dreamlike glow.

At the end of the narrow passage, a chill wind carrying the fluctuations of space and time swept toward him. But he didn't stop. He went straight to a deep pool at the very end.

The water was clear to the bottom, yet glimmered faintly, as if it connected to an abyss in another dimension.

This was another passage from Earth to the moon.

The Main Family had opened it at his suggestion in his previous life.

But now, as the years passed, the energy in the pool was gradually dwindling.

"..."

Hyuga Qinglan stood gazing at it for a long while. The Byakugan reflected in the water was cold and deep.

At last, he looked away and untied the black bag.

He placed the four Iwagakure Ninja inside, all unconscious and piled together, in the center.

As he slowly formed Hand Seals, countless intricate patterns of jutsu spread wildly from beneath his feet, like black roots burrowing into the earth. They quickly connected to the bodies of the four sacrifices.

Finally, Hyuga Qinglan looked toward a hidden compartment in the side wall of the passage. A crystal box, sealed away for years, sat quietly inside.

As chakra flowed into it, the lid slowly slid open, revealing four well-preserved samples of DNA, still brimming with vitality.

"Summoning Technique: Impure World Reincarnation!"

Dust swirled through the air, and the talisman papers brought forth by the summoning surged along the connected patterns, rapidly climbing over the bodies of the four sacrifices.

They eventually converged on the four samples of DNA.

"Ugh..."

The jutsu trapped their screams in their throats as the four ninja's appearances rapidly peeled away and reformed.

In their place were four figures Hyuga Qinglan knew all too well.

Translucent skin. The distinctive pale horns on their foreheads.

The Otsutsuki Main Family, sealed away by history...

As Hyuga Qinglan watched the four bodies gradually regain their vitality, a genuine smile finally appeared in his eyes. He murmured softly,

"It's been... far too long, everyone."