The main force fighting the Land of Rain was another unit led by Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.
Although they had failed to defeat the Land of Rain, they had managed to hold it back, buying Konoha precious time to defeat the Hidden Sand Village.
That was the real reason Konoha had won the Second Shinobi World War.
But now everything had changed. Hatake Sakumo, Orochimaru, and the others had been sent to the battlefield against the Hidden Cloud Village, while the Uchiha Clan and other major clans with secret techniques, such as Ino-Shika-Cho, Aburame, and the Inuzuka Clan, had been sent to fight the Hidden Sand Village.
The Uchiha Clan was not necessarily weaker than Hatake Sakumo, Orochimaru, and the others, but the difference lay in this.
Hatake Sakumo, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya were all people who truly served Konoha. They had risked their lives in the Second Shinobi World War, which was why Konoha had won.
The Uchiha Clan's conflict with the Konoha High Command was already out in the open, so they were very likely to deliberately hold back before turning the tide, giving the Uchiha Clan a greater say in Konoha's future.
"Hokage... Lord Hokage, something terrible has happened."
Just then, another Konoha Ninja rushed into the Hokage's office, his face full of panic.
"What is it..." Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned instinctively.
"Just... just now, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, set out from the Land of Earth with 5,000 Stone Ninja... They've declared war on us too!"
"What!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi shot to his feet, dropping his pipe on the floor.
That bastard Ōnoki had joined the fight too?
Didn't that mean Konoha would have to fight on three fronts at once?
No matter how deep Konoha's reserves were, it couldn't possibly fight on three fronts at once!
Hiruzen Sarutobi was so worried that his hair turned white on the spot.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, who were present, were frightened too.
No matter how deep Konoha's reserves ran, it couldn't withstand fighting the Hidden Cloud Village, the Hidden Sand Village, Iwagakure, and the Land of Rain one after another. After all, their teacher Tobirama Senju was no longer in power.
I won't play the pity card. I've asked for support every day, and the numbers are still this miserable. I only hope the brothers who like this book will buy an initial subscription. If you want to let the chapters pile up, just subscribe to the first few.
It should cost less than one yuan.
A bottle of soda costs three yuan, and that's enough to read at least twenty or thirty chapters. Three yuan won't buy you a loss or get you cheated, but it will buy this author's most sincere blessings and the motivation to write myself to death!
For just three yuan, you can get someone to write himself to death, brothers. Even the most blackhearted capitalists wouldn't dare offer that price.
Once the book goes premium, there will still be at least five updates a day, and at least ten on the first day. I'll post as much as I write. I'm on my knees begging for your support!
If Ziyun knew the Konoha High Command had started missing Tobirama Senju, he would have died laughing.
They fought among themselves every day in peacetime, and once war began, they kept resorting to underhanded tricks and hunting spies on the battlefield.
These people had taken the winning hand Tobirama Senju had left them and played it into a losing one, yet they still had the nerve to miss him.
If Tobirama Senju knew what the Konoha F4 had done from the Pure Land, he would surely chop down the four biggest traitors harming Konoha, one stroke apiece, before anything else.
"We have to send another ninja force to stop Iwagakure's troops."
The two Hokage Advisors, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, spoke to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
If they couldn't stop Iwagakure's attack, Konoha might really collapse.
"Damn it, that bastard Ōnoki just had to take advantage of our trouble and try to get a share too."
Hiruzen Sarutobi cursed under his breath. Afterward, he knew he had to find a way.
But there weren't many forces left in the village, and stopping 5,000 Stone Ninja was easier said than done.
Worse still, the Hidden Mist Village had yet to make a move, and it was very likely to join in next.
At this point, Hiruzen Sarutobi showed the resolve of the "strongest Hokage," personally leading the remaining ninja to the front lines to confront Iwagakure.
"Ōnoki has led Iwagakure into the war too! Hahahaha! Konoha, oh, Konoha, you've oppressed my Hidden Sand Village for too long. It's time you paid for it!"
At the Hidden Sand Village's camp.
After receiving news that Ōnoki had led Iwagakure to war, the Third Kazekage laughed heartily, thoroughly pleased with himself.
He hadn't expected to see the hope of victory so soon after the war began.
Even Konoha couldn't fight three of the Five Great Shinobi Villages at once, could it?
Besides, the Land of Rain wasn't weak either. With a Kage Level fighter like Hanzo of the Salamander, the Land of Rain could be considered the sixth strongest shinobi village in the Shinobi World, though the gap between it and the top five was rather large.
"Third Kazekage, don't stop now. Take this chance to conquer Konoha in one push!"
Seeing the Third Kazekage falling into his old habit of getting carried away again, Chiyo hurriedly reminded him.
If they didn't take a bite out of Konoha soon, the other villages would invade the Land of Fire first, and the Hidden Sand Village would be left following behind them, settling for scraps.
The situation now was simple: whoever broke through Konoha's defenses first would surely gain the most.
"All right, I understand..."
At this critical moment, the Third Kazekage understood the urgency too, so he led the Hidden Sand Village in another fierce assault on Konoha's camp.
To be safe, he even brought the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Bunpuku, in order to defeat Konoha and invade the Land of Fire as quickly as possible.
"Iwagakure has joined the fight too. The Hidden Cloud Village can finally catch its breath. What do you all think about this?"
At the Hidden Cloud Village's camp, the Third Raikage immediately summoned the Hidden Cloud Village's leadership to discuss their next move as soon as he learned that Iwagakure had joined the fight.
In fact, the Hidden Cloud Village had already achieved its objective in starting the war, which was to delay.
The longer the war dragged on, the better. Ideally, it would last several years, giving the Hidden Cloud Village's ninja plenty of time to learn Ziyun's three Ninjutsu.
But the situation was changing too quickly. The Hidden Sand Village, Iwagakure, and the Land of Rain had all joined the fight, and Konoha surely wouldn't be able to hold out.
So the Third Raikage felt that the Hidden Cloud Village should change its plan too, going from passive defense to active offense.
Perhaps they could defeat Konoha and gain some benefits along the way.
After the Third Raikage finished speaking, the Hidden Cloud leaders present all turned their eyes to Ziyun.
After so many events, Ziyun's prestige was second only to the Third Raikage's, so the Hidden Cloud leadership all wanted to hear his opinion.
"I think we really might be able to launch a major attack on Konoha. Konoha's morale is low now, and they can no longer match us on the main battlefield."
"What we need to do is end this quickly! Seize as much of Konoha's land as possible, as quickly as possible. After all, Konoha's environment is excellent. If we wait until Iwagakure or the Hidden Sand Village makes the first move, we'll be at a serious disadvantage."
Ziyun laid out his analysis.
In fact, Ziyun hadn't expected things to change so quickly either, but Konoha really did have it coming.
Who told it to occupy the most fertile land in the entire Shinobi World?
Why else would Konoha be involved in every Shinobi World War?
An ordinary man was innocent, but possessing a treasure made him guilty.
"I think Ziyun is absolutely right. The situation really has changed. Perhaps we really can occupy some of Konoha's land."
The Third Raikage grew excited.
Ever since entering Konoha Village last time, the Third Raikage had been deeply impressed by its prosperity.
The Third Raikage felt that if the Hidden Cloud Village had the same conditions as Konoha, its talent wouldn't be much inferior to Konoha's.
Now that they finally had this opportunity, they had to seize it.
In fact, the farsighted people in the great shinobi villages could all foresee that Konoha was already a nation on the verge of death.
The most important thing now was to invade the Land of Fire as quickly as possible and grab a share of the pie. If they were slow, they wouldn't even get to eat shit while it was still warm.
And so, the great shinobi villages stepped up their efforts, each determined to fight Konoha to the death in a major battle.
But to the great shinobi villages' surprise, Konoha, which looked as though it had only one breath left, erupted with tremendous power.
The Hidden Sand Village, the Land of Rain, and Iwagakure were all defeated on their respective battlefields, some even suffering crushing defeats.
There was indeed some truth to the saying that a desperate army was bound to win.
In fact, Konoha's strength and reserves really did run deep.
First was the Uchiha Clan's battlefield. Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi had thought, they had indeed been holding back completely at the start.
Then, at a moment of crisis, they took the opportunity to extort an enormous sum and exorbitantly valuable supplies from the Konoha High Command.
Satisfied, the Uchiha Clan then went all out under the Uchiha Clan Head's leadership, sending Sunagakure fleeing in disarray.
Even when the Third Kazekage released the One-Tail, Shukaku, it was no damn use. Before the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan, the Tailed Beast instead became a force for Konoha.
The Hidden Sand Village suffered heavy losses.
As for Iwagakure, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been left deeply frustrated by the Uchiha Clan's extortion, so he vented all his anger at the Uchiha Clan on Iwagakure's ninja.
As the "Professor of Ninjutsu," who possessed seven Chakra natures and had mastered all of Konoha's Ninjutsu, Hiruzen Sarutobi did have some real skill.
Although he truly fell short compared with the Hokage of past generations, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still able to hold his own against Iwagakure and Ōnoki.
Although Ōnoki had Dust Release at his disposal, his strength wasn't actually much different from Hiruzen Sarutobi's.
But Konoha Ninja were somewhat stronger than Stone Ninja.
The only force able to confront Konoha head-on was the Hidden Cloud Village under the Third Raikage's leadership.
After two months of hard fighting, the Hidden Cloud Village had successfully established a camp within the Land of Fire, becoming the only shinobi village to defeat Konoha.
The reason was simple: against the Third Raikage, Hatake Sakumo could only be beaten down.
Even against Ziyun, Hatake Sakumo could only be beaten down.