On the Iwagakure battlefield, frost filled the sky, and the cold wind howled bleakly.
The year was drawing to a close, but the winter wind could not smother the flames raging across this battlefield. Instead, it only added to the grim, murderous air.
Beneath the thin frost lay scorched black earth, the dried traces left behind after Fire Release had seared away the blood.
No one knew how many had died on this battlefield. Bodies lay abandoned across the wilderness, unclaimed, slowly rotting in the winter cold or becoming food for wild dogs and vultures.
Under normal circumstances, such conditions would have brought rampant plague and disease across the land.
Fortunately, the cold winter environment suppressed much of it to a certain extent. But given the current situation, even if a plague truly broke out, probably no one would care.
Iwagakure and Konoha had completely fought themselves into a frenzy. Neither side would rest until the other was defeated!
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, were locked in a bitter deadlock here.
There were also top-tier experts such as the Darkness of Shinobi, Danzo, one of the Three Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, and the Four-Tails, Roshi, along with countless ninjas from Konoha and Iwagakure. The battle between the two sides had reached a level of stalemate that could be called the bloodiest and most heroic since the founding of the ninja village era!
This was a true decisive battle between ninja villages!
After another day of fierce fighting, as night gradually fell, the Hidden Stone ninjas finally withdrew.
Hiruzen Sarutobi wearily wiped the blood and sweat from his face and headed toward Konoha's position.
At this point in the war, both Konoha and Iwagakure had reached their limits. What they were competing in now was sheer endurance.