"Can't you see how those warriors from the Land of Iron suddenly became so strong?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was extremely unpleasant. He could accept defeat, but he could not accept this inexplicable defeat.
After the war, they couldn't even figure out their opponent's tactics. How could they possibly continue fighting like this?
"Moreover, the Land of Iron warriors have an extremely strong teamwork, even stronger than the teamwork we Ino–Shika–Chō have cultivated over many years."
Shikashin Nara, the current head of the Nara Clan, added in a deep voice, "This is also a key point."
He always felt that there was something strange about the other person's unspoken understanding, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
The other Jonin present also looked grim, clearly having suffered a great loss in this regard.
"It seems the Land of Iron has more hidden methods than I imagined!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his old eyes slightly, taking this to heart. He then ordered, "Order the activation of all spies in the Land of Iron. Obtain all intelligence on this battle at all costs. White Fang, this matter is your responsibility."
Finally, his gaze turned to Sakumo Hatake, who had been standing silently to the side. A murderous intent flickered in the Third Hokage's heart, but he suppressed it.
The situation is urgent; a misstep could trigger the Third Great Ninja War prematurely. Leaf needs such a powerful figure to oversee things, so they cannot act for the time being.
Most importantly, his strength has greatly increased, and he is confident that he can suppress a powerful figure like Sakumo Hatake, and is not afraid that the other party will threaten his position.
At the same time, the four great ninja villages were also discussing the battle between Leaf and the Land of Iron.
"Smack!"
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, who was lying on the hospital bed with his body wrapped in bandages, was so angry when he heard the battle report from his subordinates that he slammed his hand on the bed, but unfortunately aggravated his wounds.
"Ah!"
" Hiruzen Sarutobi, I will fight you to the death!"
With a bloodcurdling scream, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, roared in fury, filled with intense hatred for the Third Hokage.
The last time they surrounded and killed Wang Hao, he paid a heavy price. He was almost cut in half at the waist, and his spinal nerves were also damaged. Even with the resources of Village Hidden in the Stone, they could not completely cure him, and he would definitely suffer from chronic illness in the future.
What he found even harder to accept was that of the five Kage Guard members, only the captain escaped, while the other four perished in the Land of Iron.
Keep in mind, those were four Kage Level powerhouses!
The loss of four Kage Level shinobi was a devastating blow to Village Hidden in the Stone, one of the four great ninja villages.
Fortunately, Village Hidden in the Stone didn't have many powerful ninja clans; otherwise, losing four staunch supporters could have made his position as Tsuchikage unstable.
He never expected that after paying such a heavy price, the Third Hokage would ultimately reap the benefits, and those benefits would be so enormous.
He was well aware of the strength of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Wang Hao, and Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had obtained the inheritance scroll, was actually able to fight Wang Hao to a standstill, and even had the upper hand at one point.
This strength has increased at least twofold, which shows how precious that scroll of inheritance is, truly worthy of the Supreme Sword Dao inheritance of the Land of Iron.
How could he not be furious when he paid such a heavy price only to have the benefits snatched away by someone else?
"Pass down the order: lead 50,000 ninja troops to invade the Land of Fire and await further instructions. This time, we must make Hiruzen Sarutobi pay a heavy price!"
Ōnoki decisively ordered the mobilization of the army. Even if the Third Great Ninja War was not initiated, he wanted to obtain sufficient benefits from Leaf and Hiruzen Sarutobi. Most importantly, he wanted to make a copy of the Supreme Sword Dao inheritance of the Land of Iron.
Their Village Hidden in the Stone wouldn't miss out on such a supreme inheritance.
The same scene was playing out in Village Hidden in the Sand, Village Hidden in the Mist, and Village Hidden in the Clouds, with all three villages tacitly deploying their ninja armies to invade the Land of Fire as a threat.
The moment the four great ninja villages mobilized their ninja forces, Hiruzen Sarutobi learned of this information through spies planted in those villages, but he paid no attention to it.
The four great nations are quite large, and the four great ninja villages are basically located in the core of the country. If you want to mobilize the elite ninja troops of the village headquarters to fight, it will take at least half a month to reach the border.
This time is enough for him to finish the war with the Land of Iron. By then, with the momentum of a great victory, the four great ninja villages won't dare to start a war.
After all, everyone had just experienced the Second Great Ninja War, and they were all exhausted and injured. Even though Leaf had the deepest foundation, they hadn't recovered much, and the other four great ninja villages must have been in even worse shape.
The other side may not actually have the resolve to start a war; they just want to exert pressure and extract some benefits.
At this time, Village Hidden in the Leaf had not yet lost its strength to the Third and others. It was the undisputed number one ninja village in the Shinobi World, producing many powerful ninjas and fearless of the four great ninja villages.
Wang Hao's intelligence system was much weaker. Although he didn't have any information about the movements of the four major ninja villages, he could still guess the general situation, because this was part of his plan.
Time flies like water, and ten days have passed in the blink of an eye. The second batch of reinforcements from Leaf has arrived at the front line and joined up with Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others.
Although the second batch of reinforcements was exhausted after a rapid march of half a month, Hiruzen Sarutobi was not going to wait any longer and went straight into battle.
There was no other way; he had to end the battle with the Land of Iron as soon as possible. Otherwise, if it dragged on, it would be disastrous if the ninja armies of the four great ninja villages were to invade the Land of Fire.
So even though they knew that these reinforcements were now less than half their original strength, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and go into battle.
" That Shameless old scoundrel has finally come out of that turtle shell! Truly worthy of being called the weakest Hokage in history!"
Standing at the forefront of the warrior legion, Wang Hao wore a cold smile, for he had already won this battle!
It should be noted that he was not idle during these ten days; he had been guiding the training of his warrior legion. Over the course of ten days, these people had made great progress, and even the two hundred seriously injured warriors had largely recovered.
His samurai army is now at its peak, strong enough to crush the Leaf ninja.
"You despicable brat, today is your death day!"
Without wasting any words, Hiruzen Sarutobi gave a cold shout and ordered all the Leaf ninja behind him to go into battle.
Having received a second wave of reinforcements, they now possessed an overwhelming numerical advantage, making victory a foregone conclusion.
Even though the samurai legions of the Land of Iron possess that strange characteristic of growing stronger with each battle and that uncanny teamwork, they are destined to be destroyed when faced with an absolute disparity in strength.
He even began to admire Wang Hao somewhat. Faced with his overwhelming military force, it was one thing for the enemy not to retreat or flee, but he actually dared to come out and fight.
They really don't know how to spell "death"!
Hiruzen Sarutobi the lead, wielding the Sword of the Thunder God as he charged towards Wang Hao.
Wang Hao unleashed a Iaido Slash Iaijutsu slash, just like before.
However, to Hiruzen Sarutobi's horror, this sword energy was even more condensed than the last time. His Sword of the Thunder God only managed to cut the sword energy in half before it was annihilated by the opponent's sword energy.
But that wasn't the most shocking thing. What horrified him even more was that the seven hundred warriors in the legion simultaneously unleashed their sword energy, meaning that they had all achieved the Initial-Dan Swordmaster.
The combat power of Initial-Dan Swordmaster corresponds to that of Kage Level ninja among them. In other words, the opponent has a full seven hundred Kage Level Initial Dan ninjas. How terrifying is that!
It's important to understand that although Kage Level ninja is only one step away from an elite Jonin, their strength is worlds apart.
A Kage Level Initial Dan expert is enough to deal with ten elite Jonin, but Swordmaster have an advantage that ninjas do not have, namely the power of Iaido Slash, which can unleash a sword aura far exceeding their own limits.
The seven hundred samurai legion, together with the initial dozens of Swordmaster, unleashed over seven hundred Iaido Slash energies. Then, with the support of the military formation, they strangely merged together, ultimately transforming into a terrifying sword energy spanning thousands of meters.
A terrifying sword aura, thousands of meters long, swept across the entire battlefield, instantly annihilating a third of the Leaf ninjas who charged forward.
This terrifying scene shocked everyone. Even the warriors of the Land of Iron who had unleashed the attack stared in disbelief at the longswords in their hands, truly unable to believe that they had actually delivered that blow.
"Charge with me! Slaughter all these despicable Leaf scoundrels!"
Wang Hao, who was the first to regain his senses, roared as he held the Masamune Sacred Sword and led the charge.
The samurai legions of the Land of Iron quickly realized what was happening and charged forward as well.
In the last battle, they fought a defensive counter-attack strategy; now it's their turn to charge in.
The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, at the forefront, saw Wang Hao leading over seven hundred Swordmaster charging towards him. His expression changed drastically, and without a second thought, he used the Body Flicker Technique to retreat rapidly.
There was no other way; those were over seven hundred Kage Level experts, including Wang Hao, who was no weaker than him. If he were to be surrounded and attacked by them, even with the Sword of the Thunder God in his hand, he would have no chance of survival.
At the same time, the Leaf ninjas were terrified by the terrifying slash they had just received, their morale plummeted, and they were completely unable to organize an effective fighting force.
We have no choice but to retreat now!
The defeat was swift and devastating. Faced with Wang Hao and his men who were rapidly pursuing them, the Leaf ninja were completely unable to organize an orderly retreat and were thrown into chaos.
Ultimately, with no other option, Hiruzen Sarutobi had to order the Leaf ninja to break out in small teams and retreat through the complex mountainous terrain on both sides.
At this moment, he even regretted making that Earth Release wall so sturdy. He not only hardened it countless times with Earth Release Chakra, but also set up many barriers and traps on it.
Even if it were their own people charging in, they would face a near-certain death. And there was only one small gate at the bottom of the entire city wall. It would take a considerable amount of time to evacuate 30,000 ninja troops from there.
Clearly, Wang Hao and the others were not going to give them that time and opportunity.
Wang Hao led his warrior legion with Force Like Splitting Bamboo, fighting for three days and three nights, covering tens of thousands of miles, until they finally stopped after capturing the City of the Underworld in the Land of Fire.
The City of the Underworld is the second largest city in the Land of Land of Fire. It is located on the north bank of the River of Flowers River of Flowers, which stretches for tens of thousands of miles and cuts off the tens of thousands of miles of territory that Wang Hao has been attacking.
Relying on the River of Flowers, an effective defensive zone can be formed, and that is Wang Hao's ultimate goal.