Not Just Onoki? Take Him Down!

"Hey, Brother Danzo, how did you get so skinny?"

Jing Hang was startled by Danzo's haggard appearance. How long had it been? He had made one trip to Hidden Leaf Village and come back looking like this! Huge bags hung beneath his eyes, his eye sockets had taken on an unhealthy bluish-gray hue, his cheeks were slightly sunken, and he had lost a whole circle of weight.

"Sigh, it's a long story." Danzo stared lifelessly at the raindrops outside the window.

Ever since the war with Hidden Stone Village had reached a stalemate, the situation had continued developing in a direction unfavorable to Hidden Leaf Village. The Hidden Leaf army had already been exhausted after Sunagakure's antics at Moon Lake. It was impressive enough that they could wage urban guerrilla warfare in Hidden Rain Village against Hidden Stone Village and stall for time.

They had intended to wait for reinforcements and launch a decisive counterattack. Hidden Leaf's reinforcements had arrived, but so had Hidden Stone's. The cunning Tsuchikage Onoki had deliberately feigned weakness and retreated, while actually setting up a massive encirclement outside the city.

Torifu Akimichi, leading the fresh troops, charged straight into the encirclement. Onoki personally led his three prized disciples—Kitsuchi, Akatsuchi, and Hakudo—in a pincer attack from all sides. They continuously narrowed the encirclement with Earth Release, while Onoki activated his kekkei tota, Dust Release, and slaughtered enemies throughout the trap. Hakudo, skilled with clay bombs, controlled the explosives and blasted the Hidden Leaf ninjas into disarray.

At the critical moment, Torifu Akimichi swallowed his clan's secret Pepper Pill and used the Butterfly Transformation Technique to forcefully lead the Hidden Leaf remnants out of the encirclement. However, the powerful side effects also left him on the verge of death.

After that battle, Hidden Leaf Village had lost three thousand soldiers. Only six thousand exhausted troops remained, while Hidden Stone Village still had over twelve thousand men, their morale soaring as though they were determined to flatten Hidden Rain Village. (A brief note on ninja numbers: in the original story, even when all the world's ninjas gathered for the Fourth Shinobi World War, there were only eighty thousand of them. This was only the Second War, so there were probably even fewer. I figure a village like Hidden Stone could scrape together just under twenty thousand at most, while Hidden Sand Village only had around ten thousand. Don't sweat the details.)

"Bang!" Jing Hang slammed the table, startling Danzo and Hanzo of the Salamander.

"Isn't it just Onoki? Take him down! He's bullying Brother Danzo now—we can't let that slide!"

"Will Sunagakure join the fight?" Danzo's eyes lit up. He highly recognized Jing Hang's formidable individual strength and command ability.

"Of course! We're allies, and we have such a good personal relationship. Don't worry, in the name of the Kazekage, I'll immediately draft a diplomatic statement condemning Onoki!"

Danzo and Hanzo of the Salamander were instantly covered in black lines.

"Hehe, sorry, Brother Danzo. I came this time to discuss matters while carrying out a diplomatic mission, so I didn't bring many people. Even if I issue a mobilization order now, the fastest they could arrive would be twenty days from now."

"By then, we'll probably already be ash beneath Onoki's Dust Release," Hanzo of the Salamander said irritably.

"Then can you hold out for ten days?"

"Hmm?!" Danzo immediately sat upright upon hearing that.

"Find me fifty Jonin proficient in Earth Release and fifty Jonin proficient in Lightning Release. I'll help you break this deadlock."

"No problem. I'll have them assembled within half an hour!" Danzo seemed to regain his spirit, returning to his usual decisive efficiency.

"Oh, right. I happened to bring Tsunade with me. Let her take a look at Torifu Akimichi. My plan is this..."

"Lord Madara? Lord Madara?" Inside the cave, a white, spiral-faced figure hung upside down from the rock wall like Spider-Man, asking the old man before him with concern.

"He's dead!" The spiral-faced figure climbed down from the wall and tried to check the old man's breathing.

"If you move another half inch closer, I'll... cough, cough... kill you." The old man opened his eyes, and the icy killing intent frightened the spiral-faced figure into quickly pulling his hand back.

"Lord Madara, you're not dead! You scared me to death!" The spiral-faced figure dramatically patted his chest.

"You really are just like that idiot!" Madara muttered a curse under his breath.

"Where's Black Zetsu?"

"I'm here." A black shadow flashed over and attached itself to the spiral-faced figure. After a while, the two merged into a half-black, half-white strange person. The white half kept poking the black half with a finger, as though it had discovered something amusing, while the black half slapped away the white arm in disgust.

"What's the situation outside now?"

"Hidden Leaf Village and Sunagakure have formed an alliance. Hidden Mist Village's assassination of the Kazekage failed. Hidden Stone Village dealt Hidden Leaf Village a crushing defeat in the Land of Rain." The report sounded like a list of events, but it was concise and clear.

"Has Hidden Cloud not gotten involved?"

"Hidden Cloud is only gathering ninjas for now. They haven't taken action."

"Is that so? Then make them act! If we're causing trouble, let's make it bigger!" Madara disappeared back into the darkness.

"Very well, as you wish, Lord Madara." Black-and-White Zetsu flashed away and vanished into the darkness as well.

Bear Country was a small nation located between Earth Country and Lightning Country. At that moment, Jing Hang was assigning a mission to one hundred Hidden Leaf Jonin at a wilderness camp in Bear Country.

"You will all change into Hidden Stone ninja uniforms. Follow the Guna River, cross Kangning Bridge, and you'll enter Lightning Country. Right here..." Jing Hang pointed at a small dot on the map.

"There's a Hidden Cloud outpost with around twenty Hidden Cloud ninjas. There are several more outposts farther north along this route. This operation doesn't require you to kill many people. You only need to make a big enough scene! Do you understand?"

"Understood!" The leading Hidden Leaf ninja answered crisply.

"Remember: you may only use Earth Release ninjutsu throughout the entire operation. Do not say a single word from start to finish. Can you do that?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Regardless of success or failure, we'll meet here again in four days. Be sure to stay safe. Good luck!" Jing Hang friendly extended his hand to the Hidden Leaf ninja. The ninja froze for a moment before shaking his hand.

"Alright, we're setting out too! You'd better keep up." Jing Hang spoke to the fifty Jonin behind him.

"Yes!"

Jing Hang put on his mask and activated his Lightning Release Armor. In a flash, he disappeared from the Hidden Leaf ninjas' sight.

An outpost on the border of Earth Country

The entire outpost had been completely destroyed. Only charred ruins remained, along with smoke that had yet to disperse. Jing Hang's brow furrowed deeply, his eyes full of confusion.

"Sir, none of the fifteen Hidden Stone ninjas at the outpost survived. All of them died to Lightning Release ninjutsu."

"If I remember correctly, this is the third destroyed outpost, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Who did this?" Jing Hang continued pondering. The Akatsuki had not even been founded yet. Aside from him and Hidden Leaf Village, who else wanted to provoke a war between Earth and Lightning? Then a bolt of lightning flashed through his mind. Could it be him?

"Quick! Everyone retreat!" Jing Hang gave the order decisively.

"Your Excellency has certainly caused quite a stir in our Hidden Stone Village. But to think you can come and go as you please—aren't you looking down on Hidden Stone Village too much?" A clear voice echoed through the empty rock walls as a lithe figure drifted down from the sky.

"What band of petty thieves are you? Do you dare state your names?"

Jing Hang looked up and saw a tall woman with shoulder-length hair, an oval face, willow-leaf eyebrows, and a yellow mask over her mouth. She idly played with a kunai while floating up and down in the air. She was clearly proficient in the Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique. Figures moved along the surrounding rock walls, and over a hundred Hidden Stone ninjas were closing in from every direction.

Damn it! The black dog stole the oil, but the white dog got the beating. There was no time to worry about that now. "Stay close to me! Retreat!" Jing Hang instantly activated his Lightning Release Armor and shouted his command.

"Oh? It seems you're a high-ranking Hidden Cloud officer. You really can't be underestimated." Feng Jianxu's eyes revealed a trace of surprise as she looked at Jing Hang's lightning armor. She made a hand gesture toward him.

"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"