Sarutobi Hiruzen stood quietly at the front of the plaza, upright and resolute. Before him stood five thousand elite shinobi, all with bright, focused eyes and an air of fearlessness. They wore Konoha Ninja combat uniforms and carried a full complement of weapons, ready to head for the battlefield at a moment's notice.
"Wherever Konoha's leaves dance, the fire burns on. Its light will continue to illuminate the village and help new leaves sprout. We are about to set out to face Sunagakure. May you all return victorious." Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke of the Will of Fire, rallying the Konoha Ninja.
His voice was low and powerful. "Sunagakure is advancing fiercely, and Iwagakure is sharpening its fangs behind them. Even Amegakure dares to look down on us, declaring war on Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha all at once. Now it's time to show them our strength. In this battle, we'll defend Konoha's honor and protect our home!"
"Protect our home!"
"Protect our home!"
The five thousand shinobi shouted in unison, their voices ringing throughout Konoha. Their cries were full of fighting spirit and longing for victory.
"Good. Move out!"
Dawn. Sunlight fell across the gates of Konoha.
Hatake Sakumo led the way, taking Tsunade and two thousand shinobi out of the village toward the Sunagakure front in the Land of Rain.
Then, two thousand more shinobi, led by Danzo with Orochimaru and Jiraiya as his deputies, advanced in orderly fashion along their planned route.
While Hatake Sakumo's strategy was to charge straight into the Land of Rain and push toward the Land of Wind, Danzo's group planned to cross through the Land of Grass. They seemed intent on striking directly at Amegakure, capturing the enemy leader to bring the war to an end.
Meanwhile, Nawaki also followed the main force to the battlefield. But instead of going with his older sister Tsunade, he went with Danzo to the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain as one of Orochimaru's subordinates and pupils.
Once they reached the buffer zone on the Land of Grass side of the Amegakure front, Nawaki, as a member of Konoha's vanguard scouting squad, charged ahead to the very front.
As they prepared to sneak into the enemy's temporary camp, they came face-to-face with an Iwagakure strike squad that had also taken a detour through the Land of Grass, but planned to invade the Land of Fire.
"Attack!"
"Earth Release: Flying Gravel!"
"Earth Release: Rock Iron Cannon Technique!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
"Earth Release: Rock-Binding Staff!"
The two sides exchanged no words. As if they had known they would run into the Konoha shinobi, the Iwagakure ninja struck first.
A barrage of rocks hurtled toward the Konoha shinobi like cannonballs, while countless conical earthen spikes thrust up from the ground and stabbed at Nawaki and the others.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Nawaki quickly formed Hand Seals and pressed both hands to the ground. A tall wall immediately rose before them, blocking the spikes and most of the rocky projectiles.
Seeing their attack fail, the Iwagakure jōnin with the Rock-Binding Staff flew into a rage. He hurled the staff with all his strength at the Earth Style Wall Nawaki had raised.
"Using Earth Release to fight us, the Iwagakure? What a shameless brat!"
The Rock-Binding Staff smashed through the wall and pierced straight through Nawaki's body.
"So he really was just a brat. He tried to imitate a mighty tiger and ended up a dead dog. What a joke! Hahaha!"
Watching the Konoha brat he had supposedly killed with one strike, the Iwagakure jōnin laughed so hard that the flesh on his face twisted into a grotesque sneer.
"Getting carried away on the battlefield is a fatal mistake. Hidden Multiple Snake Hands!"
Orochimaru had appeared behind the Iwagakure jōnin with the Body Flicker Technique. He sent several venomous snakes to bind the man, and as their poison entered his body, the Iwagakure jōnin slowly lost all signs of life.
Just before he died, he saw the Konoha brat he had pierced with the Rock-Binding Staff turn into a cloud of smoke and become a wooden log.
His eyes widened as he realized he hadn't even managed to kill a single Konoha Ninja. He died with his eyes open and departed for the Pure Land.
The battle continued. Stones, blades of wind, fireballs, flashes of lightning, and other elemental ninjutsu erupted throughout the forest. One dazzling secret technique after another filled the air.
With his already impressive Earth Release and the Water Release techniques Qi Luna had given him, which he had mastered and made his own, Nawaki cut through the battlefield like a force of nature.
He used Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave to shape the terrain to his advantage, then combined Water Release: Wave Riding Strike with weapons and Earth Release in a series of tactical maneuvers. One against four or five, he drove the Iwagakure ninja back again and again.
The heat of battle rolled through the air. Watching his pupils fight like tigers, Orochimaru felt deeply pleased. A flicker of admiration passed through his narrow eyes before he turned and devoted his full attention to the two remaining Iwagakure jōnin.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Multiple Snake Hands!"
Orochimaru formed Hand Seals at lightning speed. In an instant, several massive snakes extended from his arms, their jaws gaping as they lunged at the Iwagakure ninja.
The two Iwagakure jōnin didn't dare let their guard down. They quickly used Earth Release to raise one sturdy earthen wall after another.
The snakes slammed into the walls with a dull thud, but cracks spread through the earth under their assault.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Orochimaru drew a deep breath and unleashed a fierce gale.
The wind roared past, carrying sharp currents that shredded the earthen walls in an instant. At the same time, the snakes Orochimaru had summoned seized the opportunity to wrap around one of the Iwagakure jōnin.
The wind and snakes worked in tandem, launching a powerful assault that left the two men struggling to keep up.
"Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling!"
The other Iwagakure ninja seized the chance to use his technique, tearing a huge boulder from the ground and hurling it at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru darted aside with ease, while directing the snakes to attack the ninja from multiple directions.
The other Iwagakure ninja, who had escaped with his comrade's help, took the opportunity to launch an earthen spike attack as well. Orochimaru dodged with the Body Flicker Technique, then used Wind Release to blow the spikes apart.
Throughout the fierce exchange, Orochimaru maintained the upper hand with his masterful coordination of snake-based techniques and Wind Release. He kept the two Iwagakure ninja firmly occupied, preventing them from helping their comrades and giving his pupils and subordinates a more favorable battlefield.
The battle didn't last long. Under Orochimaru's leadership, the Iwagakure strike squad—more than twenty shinobi, including three enemy jōnin and six Special Jōnin—was soon wiped out by the Konoha forces.
But the Konoha shinobi paid a steep price:
Three Chunin were killed, and five were wounded, two of them seriously and unable to fight again anytime soon. One Special Jōnin also died, and nearly everyone else was injured to some degree. Only Orochimaru, Nawaki, another jōnin in the squad, and the sole medic escaped unharmed.
Orochimaru quickly wrote up a report, then summoned a small brown snake and ordered it to deliver the information to the command post at their temporary camp.
He then directed the wounded to clear the battlefield and assigned the task of escorting the seriously injured back to camp afterward to the least injured and most experienced Special Jōnin.
Once everything was arranged, Orochimaru led the remaining members of the scouting squad—including Nawaki—to continue their original mission of gathering intelligence on Amegakure.
Not far behind the squad, Orochimaru stood on a tree branch with one hand braced against the trunk. Watching his adorable pupil charge ahead with boundless energy, he couldn't help but smile.
Remembering how Nawaki had skillfully used Earth Release and the powerful Water Release techniques left behind by the Second, Senju Tobirama, Orochimaru was puzzled. He didn't know when his pupil had learned Water Release, which he had never been particularly good at, but he was still happy to see him growing stronger.
Perhaps because they had just won a battle, Nawaki was young and full of himself. He plunged straight into an Explosive Tag trap, and the blast was so violent that the medic was knocked down onto the ground in fright.
When Orochimaru saw the necklace hurled by the explosion land at his feet, his pupils contracted in shock. His face was filled with disbelief.
"Nawaki!"
Additional note:
In the anime, there's a scene before Nawaki dies in which Orochimaru kills an enemy wearing clothing similar to an Iwagakure ninja's. So I decided to have Iwagakure ambush them here.
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