Snake Sage!

But compared to his life, none of that mattered.

As he thought this, Shiro dodged and raised his finger to his mouth. Just as he was about to bite down, a streak of blue lightning flashed past! All the Gold Dust attacking Shiro was scattered!

Shiro froze. When he clearly saw the person inside the lightning and those blood-red eyes, he smiled faintly, lowered his finger, and used the moment to loosely grip with both hands.

"Projection, begin!"

"Zzt!"

A flash of white light passed, and Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in Shiro's hands once more!

"Why are you here?"

"The village received intel that Sunagakure had launched a large-scale attack, so they sent us. But never mind that for now. You look pretty rough. That's rare."

"Yeah, couldn't be helped." As he spoke, Shiro shifted to the side, and the twin blades spun sharply, cutting apart the Gold Dust that came rushing in. "They singled me out. I guess I've gotten a little full of myself lately too."

"I see. Then let's hit them back!"

"Yeah. Go!"

With that, Shiro and Taichi charged forward!

Watching Shiro, who had been relieved of his predicament by the arrival of that blue figure, Rasa narrowed his eyes slightly. "Uchiha Taichi has actually gotten this strong too. As expected of Konoha."

After saying that, Rasa glanced at the other parts of the battlefield and found that the situation was far from optimistic. Chiyo's side went without saying; she was being completely suppressed by Orochimaru, and had only managed to hold out until now thanks to his occasional support.

The other areas were not much better. They had held the advantage earlier, but after Konoha's reinforcements arrived, the situation took a sharp turn! In an instant, the side at a disadvantage became them, Sunagakure!

Rasa