The battle raged on

"Whew!"

Having finally escaped the swamp, Chihane could not help letting out a long breath.

Kitsuchi stared at Chihane across from him, his face stiff. He bitterly regretted missing his best chance. Killing Chihane would not be so easy now.

A blue aura flickered around Chihane, with threads of lightning dancing over his body as he glared furiously at Kitsuchi.

Kitsuchi's swamp had nearly buried him alive. This was the first time Chihane had felt death so close.

"Bastard! I'll kill you!"

Chihane roared in utter fury, looking ready to charge at any moment. But just then, he suddenly froze, as though he had heard something. Despite his anger, he could not help calming down to listen, yet he heard nothing more!

Whew!

Calm down. Clear your mind!

At that moment, Chihane suddenly felt something indescribable, as though his body had broken free of some restraint.

Following that instinct, Chihane suddenly sheathed his sword and rested his right hand on the Wado Ichimonji.

"Have you given up? Haha, Chihane Hatake, it looks like you finally understand the gap between us."

Kitsuchi watched in confusion as Chihane put away his sword. Unable to figure out what Chihane was thinking, he deliberately tried to provoke him.

Ignoring Kitsuchi's taunts, Chihane instead deactivated the Eight Gates of Death and charged straight at him with one hand on his sword.

Kitsuchi saw that Chihane had not only sheathed his sword but even dispelled the blue aura around his body, yet he still charged so confidently. You couldn't beat me with three swords. What, are you going to ram me to death?

Feeling as though Chihane was insulting him, Kitsuchi angrily swung his Fist Rock and struck hard at him.

"One Sword Style! Iai! Lion's Song!"

An enormous black sword slash erupted from Chihane's Wado Ichimonji as though cleaving heaven and earth, splitting Kitsuchi in two. It continued for dozens of meters, cutting through everything in its path, and killed an Iwa shinobi at its farthest reach before he could dodge.

The commotion caused by the enormous slash drew the nearby Ninjas' attention, but everyone who looked over froze in shock!

All they could see was Chihane holding his sword in both hands at the end of his slash, with Kitsuchi's bisected corpse lying a short distance ahead of him.

Even amid the battlefield, this area fell utterly silent!

"Lord Kitsuchi is dead!"

"Chihane Hatake has slain Kitsuchi of Iwa!"

"Chihane Hatake killed Kitsuchi!"

At last, a shuriken flying in from afar struck one Ninja in the arm. The pain snapped him out of his daze, and he cried out involuntarily.

The surrounding Ninjas immediately began shouting in alarm.

Unlike the panicked cries of the Iwa Ninjas, however, the Konoha Ninjas' voices held a trace of joy alongside their shock.

Kitsuchi of Iwa was dead. That meant Konoha now had a top-tier fighter free to act.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Minato Namikaze and Higashishibito were competing to see whose reactions were faster. Minato appeared behind Higashishibito, who instantly flashed dozens of meters away. Minato followed, and Higashishibito vanished again.

The surrounding Ninjas had grown accustomed to the sight and continued fighting one another. Clearly, the two had been at it for quite some time.

"Lord Kitsuchi has been slain by a Konoha Ninja!"

Just then, an Iwa shinobi's startled cry rang out in the distance! Higashishibito faltered slightly upon hearing it, and Minato seized that fleeting instant to leave a tiny Flying Thunder God Mark on his cuff.

The instant Higashishibito flashed away again, Minato used the mark to appear behind him in midair. The kunai in his hand gleamed as it swept across Higashishibito's throat.

Higashishibito reached his destination, but all that remained was a corpse.

Even after the shock of hearing about Kitsuchi's death, the Ninjas around them could not help crying out.

"Lord Higashishibito has been killed by a Konoha Ninja!"

"Jonin Minato has killed Higashishibito of Iwa!"

If Kitsuchi's death had merely thrown the Iwa shinobi into disarray, Higashishibito's death filled them with outright terror.

Leaving the fighting here aside for the moment.

At that moment, on the other side of the main battlefield.

Orochimaru and Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, stood facing each other.

Han was tall and burly, with an umbrella atop his head, a brown mask over his mouth, and yellowish-brown armor covering his body. He looked like a man made of stone.

They had been facing off for a long time. Unlike Chihane's and Minato Namikaze's opponents, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki was a perfect jinchūriki.

Besides his powerful taijutsu, he could draw on tailed beast chakra and even retain his consciousness after undergoing a complete Tailed Beast Transformation.

If allowed to run rampant, these two thousand Ninjas probably would not be enough for him to slaughter.

For Han, Orochimaru posed the same problem. As one of Konoha's Sannin, Orochimaru's reputation and the information about him had spread throughout the Shinobi World. He excelled at all sorts of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and forbidden techniques. In particular, he had signed a Summoning Contract with Dragon-Snake Cave. Even if Han transformed into his tailed beast, Orochimaru could summon Manda to hold him off for a while.

Most importantly, Orochimaru was an expert in Sealing Jutsu. For a jinchūriki, Ninjas skilled in Sealing Jutsu were the most frightening opponents.

Just as Orochimaru feared Han slaughtering the other Ninjas, Han was wary of Orochimaru's battle record, especially his Manda-Ra Formation.

They had already fought once. In the end, Han had used every ounce of his strength, yet still could not kill Orochimaru. That sense of despair filled his heart. Even when every ninjutsu and taijutsu attack landed, Orochimaru remained as lively as ever.

Unable to kill Orochimaru, he had ultimately chosen to keep him occupied while allowing Orochimaru to do the same to him.

Then they, too, heard the startled cries from afar.

"Do you still want to keep fighting? If this goes on, your entire force will be wiped out!"

Although Orochimaru was deeply shocked and had never expected Chihane and Minato Namikaze to both kill their opponents, he wore a faint smile as he spoke to Han of Iwa across from him, as though everything had gone exactly as expected.

"Hmph! Pass the order. Retreat!"

Han also heard the voices from afar. Though he could hardly believe it, the news had traveled across more than half the battlefield, so it was probably true. He gave a soft snort and spoke to a Ninja beside him.

Orochimaru also stopped the Ninjas around him who wanted to continue fighting.

Soon, their orders spread from the two of them across the entire battlefield.

Although the Konoha Ninjas were deeply unwilling, they could only obey Orochimaru's command.

All fighting on the battlefield stopped, and the Konoha Ninjas and Iwa Ninjas gathered behind their respective leaders.

Since Chihane had killed Kitsuchi, all the Iwa shinobi stood behind Han.

"Orochimaru, you've won this battle, but this isn't over. Just wait for Lord Tsuchikage's wrath!"

Han spoke calmly to Orochimaru, then led the Iwa shinobi behind him off the battlefield.

"Orochimaru, we clearly had the advantage! Why did you order us to stop fighting?"

Uchiha Kageyama, who had come to Orochimaru's side, angrily demanded an explanation.