Behind the Iwagakure Ninja ranks, the Tsuchikage, Ōnowa, and the Anbu Captain stood there, their imposing presence commanding respect.
As Hatake Sakumo directed the Konoha Jonin enter, both men's eyes flashed, revealing a hint of sternness.
Ōnowa's gaze toward Hatake Sakumo was undisguisedly cold and murderous. Hatake Sakumo had severed one of his arms; it would be impossible for him not to hate Hatake Sakumo.
But the person he hated most was actually Uya.
If it weren't for Uya, he might not have lost to Hatake Sakumo due to distraction. Now, having lost an arm, he can only perform hand Hand Seals with one hand, and his strength has decreased by at least a third.
"Have they run out of tricks? Now they're starting to escalate the battle, very good."
Ōnowa's eyes flashed, and with a command, the Jonin of Iwagakure began to enter the battlefield.
Although it's unclear why Hatake Sakumo escalated the battle so quickly, it's undoubtedly a good thing for Ōnowa Ohno.
If the ninjas from both sides were to engage in a melee, it would be difficult for Konoha Shura Uya to use large-scale attacks, which would be a slightly advantageous situation for them.
However, it seems that we haven't seen any sign of Konoha Shura yet.
He shook his head slightly, but a strange glint flashed in Ōnowa eyes as he couldn't help but glance at the very back of the battlefield.
The gaze was instantly withdrawn, and Hatake Sakumo in the distance didn't seem to care.
The battlefield has entered a state of extreme intensity.
The battle between Konoha and Stone Ninja was evenly matched, with Stone Ninja having approximately 500 ninja on the field, while Konoha only had 400.
This demonstrates that Konoha's ninjas, on the whole, are still somewhat stronger than those of other ninja villages.
In other words, the Earth Release Ninjutsu of the Stone Ninja ninja were weakened in the Land of Rain, while Konoha, although having more ninjas who knew Fire Release Ninjutsu, also had quite a few who mastered Water Release and Wind Release, giving them an advantage in terms of Ninjutsu.
Even so, Hatake Sakumo frowned slightly, because there were more Stone Ninja ninja than Konoha ninja!
This time, although Konoha has sent several large forces to support the Land of Rain, and there are more than two thousand Konoha Ninja in the Land of Rain, it is estimated that Konoha's ninja force will hardly reach 1,500 in this war.
Because Konoha is currently penetrating deep into the heart of the Land of Rain, it is simultaneously waging war against both the Rain Ninja and the Sand Ninja.
Although the wars over there are small-scale, unlike the large-scale ones here, they have still tied down some of Konoha's forces.
Fortunately, Hanzo of the Salamander did not target Konoha and remained in a stalemate with Sunagakure. It is said that Chiyo Kazekage of Sunagakure, with Chiyo's help, even managed to break Hanzo of the Salamander's poison.
"We're outnumbered, so we'll have to stay in this stalemate for now... Has Uya arrived yet?"
Hatake Sakumo couldn't help but glance behind him, but he didn't see any sign of Uya and Tsunade arriving.
This decisive battle came somewhat unexpectedly.
When Konoha, led by Hatake Sakumo, was advancing into the heart of the Land of Rain, they suddenly encountered a large force of Stone Ninja and engaged in a direct skirmish.
Subsequently, Konoha Ninja and Stone Ninja continuously arrived to provide support, causing the scale of this skirmish to grow larger and larger, gradually transforming it into the decisive battle that seems to be even more intense than the last one.
If the previous decisive battle wasn't enough to cripple a major ninja village, then this one has just reached that level.
Just as Hatake Sakumo was patiently waiting for Uya, the situation on the field suddenly changed!
The land of the Land of Rain is almost entirely muddy and damp; you can even dig up water with just a little effort, since it rains for most of the day and the rainwater seeps into the ground.
In such cases, it would be very difficult to move things underground.
However, Iwagakure has a unit equipped with special gear that can launch attacks and harass from underground—that is the Iwagakure Surprise Attack Force!
Training a Iwagakure Surprise Attack Force takes at least several years, and there are only three such forces in Iwagakure.
After one of his units was wiped out by Uya, Tsuchikage Ōnoki seemed to have made a decision and deployed the remaining two units to the battlefield.
The sudden change in the situation began with the disruption caused by these two Iwagakure Surprise Attack Force.
boom!!!
After the Iwagakure Surprise Attack Force entered the battlefield, various pits, cracks, and raised spikes and Earth Spear began to appear on the ground, greatly interfering with the Konoha Ninja's battle.
However, it was extremely difficult for the Konoha Ninja to attack the two Iwagakure Surprise Attack Force underground, as their Earth Release Earth Release were easily blocked.
The initially evenly matched situation suddenly began to develop in a direction unfavorable to Konoha.
Seeing this, Hatake Sakumo's expression immediately turned serious. There was no way to retreat under these circumstances. In small-scale battles, one might be able to advance and retreat freely, but in large-scale wars, morale is a very important thing. Once retreating, the entire operation would inevitably collapse.
Hatake Sakumo had no choice but to send reinforcements to the battlefield once again.
Meanwhile, Iwagakure, the Tsuchikage of Ōnoki, did the same thing as Hatake Sakumo with a cold laugh.
Large numbers of Stone Ninja and Konoha Ninja began to pour into the battlefield, eventually developing into a massive and decisive battle!
However, the situation in Konoha is extremely bad, even somewhat one-sided.
Under these circumstances, Hatake Sakumo finally couldn't hold back any longer and led the Konoha Anbu Ninja in a personal attack, engaging in a fierce battle with the Tsuchikage's assistant, Ōnowa, and the Iwagakure Anbu Captain.
Although it's somewhat disadvantageous for one person to fight two, Hatake Sakumo must find a way to turn the tide, otherwise this war might not last until Uya arrives before it ends in defeat!
Without uttering a sound, Hatake Sakumo used a Chakra short sword, White Fang, to forcefully suppress Tsuchikage 'Ōnoki assistant who had difficulty Hand Seals hand seals with only one arm, and the Iwagakure Anbu Captain.
The power he unleashed shocked everyone present.
However, they were unable to achieve victory, dragging the war into a stalemate. And without a doubt, the longer the stalemate lasted, the more disadvantageous it was for Konoha.
" Uya hasn't arrived yet...?"
While battling Ōnowa and the captain of the Iwagakure Anbu Captain, Hatake Sakumo watched the scene with slight anxiety.
At this moment, Konoha was gradually falling into defeat due to the interference of the Iwagakure Surprise Attack Force.
"Damn rat!!"
On the battlefield, Jiraiya was annoyed by the constant sneak attacks coming from below, but he couldn't burrow underground to fight the Stone Ninja. His Earth Release techniques were also easily blocked, leaving him with a terrible headache.
On the other side, Orochimaru appeared relatively calm, but his eyes flashed with an extremely cold killing intent. He was ruthless in his attacks, clearly annoyed by the sneak attack from below.
"This is bad, what should we do now?!"
One of the Jonin was simultaneously dealing with attacks from below and from Jonin Iwagakure in front, was nearly injured but couldn't help but ask Jiraiya a question.
Jiraiya shook his head with a gloomy face and said, "There's no good way. Let's just hold on for now, unless... Uya can get here soon."
Upon hearing Uya's name, the Jonin's eyes flickered, and he took a deep breath, saying, "If Uya comes, he should be able to turn the situation around, but those Stone Ninja underground are still a big problem."
"If they continue fighting, it will probably end in mutual destruction."
"If only that Anbu Ninja wiped out an entire Iwagakure Surprise Attack Force were here. I heard his codename was ' Ten'u,' but it seems he's not here."
At this point, the Jonin a troubled look. Why were neither of them here? Even just one of them would have been fine!
Upon hearing this, Jiraiya turned around and immediately gave a strange look.
Jiraiya was absolutely certain that the Anbu Ninja 'Ame- Ten'u ' was Uya, but the Konoha Ninja present did not know this. Although the higher-ups of the various ninja villages had already guessed it, the information about Konoha's special Anbu Ninja ' Ten'u ' was still a top secret in Konoha.
Very few people know about it. (To be continued.)