The southern wind, carrying the lingering warmth of gunpowder, swept across the young yet upright back of the six-year-old Crown Tenbutsu. The Small Nine Dragons Jade Seal he clutched tightly gleamed like molten gold under the blazing sun; the flame patterns carved on its surface seemed poised to break free and scorch the newly pacified thousand-mile territory. The smoke from the last beacon tower in the south finally dissipated, and the prince's personal guards knelt in unison on one knee, the clanging of their armor startling a flock of sparrows.
On the eastern battlefield a thousand miles away, an urgent dispatch, carried by a palace attendant, rushed in, the crimson wax casting afterimages on the Hashirama. Inside the hall, candles burned like a forest, casting the image of Queen Tian Flying Swallow on the floor. Her usually serene face rippled as she unfolded the military report; her lips trembled slightly, as if a thunderclap was brewing beneath the surface. A moment later, a loud laugh suddenly erupted, making the bells hanging from the beams jingle and startling the hearts of the officials below.
"Excellent! What a fine little Crown Tenbutsu!" The Queen slammed the imperial edict on the table and said, "The south will be settled in a month; our Land of Fire's Crown Prince is truly extraordinary!"
The Left Minister, trembling, his white beard shaking with each bow, said, "The Crown Prince is only six years old, yet his military prowess is divine, surpassing even the ancient Sage! This is Heaven's blessing upon our Land of Fire, ensuring its prosperity and strength. We should proclaim this to the world to glorify his virtue!" Before he finished speaking, the Right Minister stood up and stepped forward, saying, "The Crown Prince is a divinely ordained master of martial arts, a sign that our Land of Fire will surely overcome this calamity."
"Issue my decree!" The Queen rose, her bright yellow dragon robe sweeping across the pile of memorials on the table. "The Crown Prince is hereby granted the title ' Dawn of Fire,' his army increased to a million, and he is bestowed the title ' Golden Crow Army '!" She paused, her gaze sweeping over the breathless ministers below. "All banners shall be embroidered with Golden Crow, so that the light of this Golden Crow sun may illuminate every inch of my Land of Fire!"
As the image of the Golden Crow battle flag spread throughout the Land of Fire with the imperial edict, the winds of the western battlefield, carrying the stench of blood, swept across the Falling Star Mountains. In the reed marshes at the Naka River, half a broken sword lay obliquely embedded in the mud, its hilt already soaked and blackened with blood; among the withered grass of the Falling Star Mountains, shattered armor plates reflected the pale light of the sky, forming a silent elegy with the scattered arrowheads. The once formidable camp of the noble allied forces, capable of obscuring half the sky, now consisted of only a few tattered flags struggling in the wind, their fluttering sound mingled with the suppressed groans of wounded soldiers, sounding almost like the wailing of ghosts.
Inside the main tent, the flickering flames of tallow candles illuminated three distraught faces. Suddenly, the silver cup between the fingers of the Yamashita Clan nobleman fell to the ground, spilling amber wine onto the table, overflowing the covenant bearing the vermilion seal of the " Land of Fire Noble Alliance," blurring the gilded oath into a watery stain. He stared at the defeat report from the south, his knuckles white from the strain, his Adam's apple bobbing several times, yet no sound came out.
"Six years old..." The voice of the noble patriarch of Yinchuan seemed to be squeezed out from rusty iron. His pale fingers repeatedly stroked the military report on the table, as if trying to carve out the words on the paper. "A child who is only six years old, now commands a million troops? The Golden Crow Army... its banners are embroidered with Golden Crow..." He suddenly shivered, as if he could see the blazing battle flags already floating in the sky Falling Star Mountains.
The Iron Eagle Noble Patriarch slammed his thick fist on the corner of the table, shattering the sturdy pearwood table. Amidst the flying wood chips, he couldn't stop his fingertips from trembling. "What divinely bestowed martial prowess? It's nothing but a bunch of deceitful nonsense! But... but how could those old foxes in the south have been defeated so quickly?" Suddenly, a long, mournful horn sounded outside the tent, like a dirge played specifically for the allied forces. The three of them fell silent at the same time, and the air in the tent instantly froze like lead.
The Yin Shadow they truly feared loomed over a solitary peak ten miles west of the Falling Star Mountains. At the summit, on the cliff edge, a silver-white battle robe fluttered in the mountain wind. Tian Zhiyun, standing with her hands behind her back, was stretched long by the setting sun. Her Kageko stretched across the countless corpses covering the mountains, like a silent, gigantic python, reaching straight to the allied forces' gate. She was a powerful High Immortal Level, her eyes still carrying a youthful innocence, yet her entire being was enveloped in a sharp aura that could eclipse the heavens and earth.
Her seven solo charges since the start of the war have etched her name into the very marrow of the allied forces. The image of her single-handedly charging into the noble army's main camp during the most recent bloody battle remains a nightmare for many noble soldiers—her fist cleaved through the black mist, and where the wind from her fist flashed, the head of the " Kage Level " wizard Wu Xian soared into the sky; immediately afterward, the hundred-foot-long azure Azure Dragon summoned by the Konoha Dragon God Taijutsu roared across the battlefield, and wherever the storm passed, 30,000 heavily armored warriors, men and horses alike, were reduced to fragments, and deep trenches were carved into the hard rocky ground, the scar of which remains to this day.
When the post-war roster was placed on the Allied commanders' desks, even the most arrogant noble generals gasped in shock—364 generals alone had been killed, and countless others were wounded. From then on, the name " Tian Zhiyun " became a curse on Masataka; even crying children at night would fall silent upon hearing it.
The allied forces dared not step beyond the city walls again. The gates of the three last fortresses in the west— Falling Star City, Dusk Cloud City, and Iron Wall City —were tightly shut, and the truce signs were hung in the most conspicuous places, yet the city walls were brightly lit every night. In the glow of torches, nobles drove all the commoners in the city to move logs and stones. The cries of the old, weak, women, and children mingled with the whipping and shouts of the noble soldiers, carrying far in the silent night, making the hearts of the defenders on the city walls tighten. The nobles had built a wall of flesh and blood using the commoners.
Every day at dawn, Tian Zhiyun would come alone to the moat. Her spear carried the banner of the noble coalition commander, Hiruzen. With a flick of the spear, the banner unfurled before the defenders on the city walls. "Any nobles in the city who dare to fight? If not, surrender now and you may save your lives." Her voice, clear as a bell, pierced the walls and struck the ears of every soldier. The bowstrings on the city walls were drawn taut, the arrows gleaming in the sunlight, yet no one dared to fire, and no one dared to respond.
On the morning of the seventh day, a rich aroma of wine suddenly wafted from outside the moat. Tian Zhiyun had removed her silver armor, placed her spear across her lap, and set up a bronze stove by the moat, the bronze pot for warming wine bubbling on the fire. The aroma of wine drifted up to the city walls on the morning breeze, and the defenders unconsciously swallowed, their grip on their bows loosening. A young soldier peeked out and saw the fearsome Valkyrie of the Land of Fire pouring herself a drink. Sunlight shone on her plain clothes, creating an illusion of serene tranquility, and the morale of the noble coalition on the city walls crumbled like an avalanche.
The final straw that broke the camel's back finally came from the south. On the morning of September 10th, the western sky was suddenly covered with a vast expanse of flags. The Golden Crow Battle Banner and the Crimson Flame Dragon Banner shone brightly in the rising sun, and the distant footsteps of a million-strong army made the earth tremble slightly. When the scouts scrambled into Iron Wall Fort, the thirty-five nobles of the west were strategizing around a sand table. Upon hearing the news that " Tenbutsu has led the Golden Crow Army to the Falling Star Mountains," the swords in their hands fell to the ground with a "clang."
The soldiers on the city wall stood frozen like stone statues. They saw a golden chariot slowly approaching on the distant horizon. The six-year-old Tenbutsu Tianfo stood atop the chariot, his small figure edged with gold by the rising sun. The moment he raised his hand, the million-strong army halted in unison, their banners froze in the wind like a forest, and the entire battlefield fell into a deathly silence, as if even the sound of the wind was being choked by this invisible pressure.
When the young prince revealed his million-strong army, a collective gasp arose from the city walls—more than half of the three million Masataka' army had already perished. They were no match for the 1.5 million-strong army led by Tian Zhiyun and the thirteen staunch nobles. Now, with the arrival of another million Golden Crow Army, even before an attack was launched, a chilling aura had already crossed the moat, freezing the limbs and bones of the defenders.
As night fell, the sounds of battle suddenly erupted from the west gate of Iron Wall City. The Iron Eagle nobles, betraying the noble alliance, carrying the head of the gatekeeper, led their personal guards to smash open the city gate. His silver armor was stained with blood, but his face was filled with a mad, liberated expression.
Inside the military tent in Dusk Cloud City, the Yinchuan clan chief ended his life with a three-foot-long white silk ribbon, and an unfinished surrender document lay on the table;
The chieftain of the Yamashita Clan of Falling Star City, with disheveled hair and bare feet, knelt before the golden chariot, holding the seal of alliance. His forehead struck the cold ground, drawing blood. "This sinful subject surrenders, begging Your Highness the Crown Prince to spare the young members of my clan..."
The roadside was lined with kneeling Western nobles, their crowns scattered on the ground like fallen leaves swept by the autumn wind.
Tian Zhiyun approached the young prince, Tenbutsu. The clanging sound of their silver armor clashing was exceptionally clear in the silence. She mounted her chariot, kicking up a cloud of dust. "Little Tenbutsu is becoming more and more like a great general. The west is now secured. Go to the north to support your grandmother."
The prince reached out his delicate little hand and took Tian Zhiyun's hand in his. His clear, childlike voice carried an undeniable authority. "Seventh Sister, your achievements should be known throughout the world."
The flames of war in the west had not yet been completely extinguished, and the drums of Land of Fire White Tiger Corps. As Tian Zhiyun led her reorganized million-strong army across the Falling Star River to support White Tiger City, Hatake Sakumo, the commander of the White Tiger Legion, one of the five elite ninja legions of Konoha, was standing on the top of White Tiger City, gazing westward. Three million troops from the Land of Rivers had already crossed the border and were heading towards White Tiger City.
On the same night, a coalition of thirteen staunch nobles rushed to the border of the Land of Grass. Mito Uzumaki, commander of the Vermilion Bird Corps, raised the Fire Phoenix Banner before his camp at the border. As the torches of the reinforcements formed a fiery dragon and joined the main camp, the soldiers of the three armies shouted in unison, their horns resounding through the heavens. The noble army of the Land of Grass was so frightened that it retreated a hundred miles.
Meanwhile, the Land of Wind's massive army of millions was sweeping through the Land of Land of Rain, confronting the Rain Ninja Rain Ninja army outside the Rain Ninja 'Land of Rain capital. At the same time, the Sand shinobi's vanguard had encountered the Vermilion Bird Corps's scouts in the Land of Rain, and the clash of the scouts foreshadowed an even greater storm to come.