Ōnoki? Take Him Down!

"Hey, my brother Danzo, how did you get so thin?"

Looking at Danzo and his haggard face, Keiko felt somewhat startled. How long had it been? Just a round trip to Konoha and he had turned into this state! Deep bags hung beneath his eyes, his entire eye sockets possessed an unhealthy grayish-blue hue, his cheeks were slightly sunken, and his whole body had shrunk a size.

"Ah, it's a long story." Danzo's lifeless eyes gazed up at the raindrops beyond the window.

Ever since the war with Hidden Stone Village had entered a stalemate, the situation had continued to develop in a direction unfavorable to Konoha. The Hidden Leaf army had already been exhausted after Sunagakure's meddling at Moon Lake. Being able to wage urban guerrilla warfare against Hidden Stone Village in Amegakure and stall for time was already decent enough.

They had planned to wait for reinforcements before launching a beautiful counterattack. Konoha's reinforcements had arrived, but so had Hidden Stone Village's. The cunning Tsuchikage Ōnoki had deliberately feigned weakness and retreated, while actually setting up a massive encirclement around the city.

Torifu Akimichi, leading fresh troops, charged straight into the encirclement. Ōnoki personally led his three prized disciples—Kitsuchi, Akatsuchi, and Hakudo—in an attack from all sides, continuously shrinking the encirclement with Earth Release. Meanwhile, Ōnoki unleashed the Kekkei Tōta, Dust Release, and slaughtered everyone within the trap. Hakudo, who specialized in Clay Bombs, controlled explosions that sent the Hidden Leaf ninjas flying in every direction.

At the critical moment, Torifu Akimichi swallowed his family's secret Pepper Pill and forcefully led the remnants of Konoha out of the encirclement with the Butterfly Transformation Technique. However, the powerful side effects left him on the verge of death.

After that battle, Konoha had lost three thousand men. Only six thousand exhausted troops remained, while Hidden Stone Village still had more than twelve thousand soldiers, their morale soaring as though they intended to flatten Amegakure. (A quick note on ninja numbers: in the original work's Fourth Shinobi World War, all the ninjas in the world added together only totaled around eighty thousand. This was only the Second Shinobi World War, so there probably weren't that many people yet. I figure Iwagakure would be doing well to muster close to twenty thousand, while Sunagakure only had around ten thousand. Don't fuss over it.)

Bang! Keiko slammed his hand down on the table, startling Danzo and Ibuse.

"Isn't it just Ōnoki? Take him down! He's bullying Brother Danzo now. We can't let that slide!"

"Will Sunagakure join the battle?" Light shone in Danzo's eyes. He thought highly of Keiko's formidable personal strength and command ability.

"Of course! We're allies, and our personal relationship is so good. Don't worry, in the name of the Kazekage, I'll immediately draft a diplomatic statement condemning Ōnoki!"

Danzo and Ibuse instantly had black lines running down their faces.

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

"By then, we'll probably already be ashes under Ōnoki's Dust Release," Hanzo of the Salamander said irritably.

"Then can you hold out for ten days?"

"Hm?!" Danzo immediately sat up 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 capable demeanor.

"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.

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

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

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

"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 monster. The white half kept poking the black half with a finger as though it had discovered something amusing, while the black half disgustedly swatted away the white arm.

"What's the situation outside now?"

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

"Hidden Cloud hasn't gotten involved?"

"Hidden Cloud is currently only gathering ninjas and has not 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.

"Yes, 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, Keiko was assigning a mission to one hundred Hidden Leaf Jonin at a wilderness camp in Bear Country.

"You will all change into Hidden Stone Village ninja attire. Follow the Guna River, cross Kangning Bridge, and you'll enter Lightning Country. Right here..." Keiko 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 further north along this route. This operation does not require you to kill many people. You only need to make a big enough commotion! Do you understand?"

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

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

"Yes!"

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

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

"Yes!"

Keiko put on his mask, activated Lightning Armor, and vanished in a flash from the Hidden Leaf ninjas' sight.

An outpost on the border of Earth Country

The entire outpost had been thoroughly destroyed. Only charred, broken walls remained, along with smoke that had yet to disperse. Keiko's brow furrowed deeply, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Sir, none of the fifteen Hidden Stone Village ninjas in the outpost survived. They all died to Lightning Release ninjutsu."

"If I remember correctly, this is the third outpost that has been destroyed, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Who did this?" Keiko continued thinking. The Akatsuki had not even been founded yet. Other than him and Konoha, who else wanted to start an Earth–Lightning War? Suddenly, a flash of lightning crossed Keiko's mind. Could it be him?

"Quick! Everyone, retreat!" Keiko gave the order decisively.

"You've caused quite a bit of trouble in my Iwagakure, sir. But coming whenever you please and leaving whenever you please—isn't that looking down on Iwagakure a little too much?" A clear voice echoed across the empty rock walls as a light figure drifted down from the sky.

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

Keiko looked up and saw a tall woman with shoulder-length hair, an oval face, willow-leaf brows, and a yellow mask over her mouth. She toyed with a kunai in her hand as she floated up and down in the air, clearly proficient in the Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique. Figures moved atop the surrounding rock walls—over a hundred Hidden Stone Village ninjas were closing in from every direction.

Damn it! The black dog stole the oil, but the white dog got beaten. There was no time to worry about that now. "Stay close to me! Retreat!" Keiko instantly activated Lightning Armor and shouted the order.

"Oh? It seems you're a high-ranking member of Hidden Cloud after all. You really can't be underestimated." Feng Jianxu's eyes revealed a trace of surprise as she looked at Keiko's Lightning Armor. She made a hand sign toward him.

"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"