The atmosphere within the Reinforcement Ninja Force moving at a steady pace was unusually tense.
Hyuga Soushu made no effort to ease the tension among the ninja. Instead, he marched forward with a stern expression, leading the formation at the front.
However, he wasn't pushing himself to move at maximum speed either. He kept his pace in line with the majority of Chunin-level ninja in the force. By regulating his own marching speed, he gradually controlled the overall speed of the army, ensuring they'd be ready for immediate combat upon reaching the battlefield.
All along the march, Tsunade's facial expressions underwent the most noticeable changes.
From initial impatience to open anxiety now, her inner turmoil had practically been written all over her face.
This didn't go unnoticed by Jiraiya, who had always been deeply infatuated with her, watching helplessly with rising worry.
Crack!
As she stepped onto a branch for leverage, an increasingly agitated Tsunade unintentionally exerted too much chakra and snapped the branch underfoot. She stumbled mid-leap, almost losing her balance entirely.
This time, Jiraiya could hold back no longer.
Ignoring the difference in rank and position, he picked up speed, leapt ahead, and landed right behind Hyuga Soushu.
"Commander Soushu."
Jiraiya hesitated briefly before greeting reluctantly.
"Speak your mind!"
Although Soushu's tone remained calm, Jiraiya still sensed an undercurrent of impatience.
"Could we possibly advance at full speed?"
Jiraiya asked softly, "The current marching pace feels far too—"
"What are you trying to do?"
Soushu cut him off directly. "An army is a collective force! This isn't a personal playground where just one or two ninjas can take charge of everything!"
"I must consider the majority—the Chunin and Genin who make up nine out of ten soldiers in this force! They're the main fighting force on the frontlines when battle begins!"
"Even if we pushed forward at full speed as you suggested, how much real combat effectiveness would our troops have by then?"
"Or do you believe you alone can handle every single fight?"
Soushu's harsh words struck like lightning, leaving Jiraiya hanging his head in silence.
The Jonin standing nearby who heard their commander's reprimand also nodded in agreement.
Though they were anxious themselves, wishing desperately to reach the camp forces in the Land of Rain—forces that might already be in danger—the seasoned veterans, hardened by long-range guerrilla operations, understood some things simply couldn't be rushed.
Besides, they were about to face Iwagakure—one of the Five Great Hidden Villages—as equals in direct confrontation. In such a situation, it was impossible to adopt strategies where elite Jonin squads charged together in formation. Otherwise, they'd easily become targets for devastating bombardments using [Combined Ninjutsu Techniques] by Iwagakure, renowned for its mastery in large-scale coordinated ninjutsu operations. Thus, even though Jonin possessed formidable strength individually, they couldn't replace the sheer numbers of Chunin, who were the core combat strength and formed the main fighting force on the frontlines.
"Come back already! Stop embarrassing yourself!"
Orochimaru, his face flushed with embarrassment, immediately barked a sharp rebuke. Seeing that Jiraiya still wore an expression filled with resentment, he swiftly performed the Body Flicker technique, dragging Jiraiya forcefully back to his original place.
"I believe you both used to be commanders of Rain Country's military camp, so you should understand this simple principle."
Hyuga Soushu continued berating: "Looking back now, I guess I was just being too considerate!"
"Commander Soushu, please don't take offense."
Even Tsunade, who had been forced to step forward and intervene, felt somewhat embarrassed and quickly said: "Jiraiya simply acted out of urgency. He didn't mean any harm."
"Hmph!"
Hyuga Soushu snorted coldly. Instead of pressing the issue further, he slightly quickened his pace.
"Move faster! No falling behind!"
The Jonin who were urging their own direct subordinate Chunin forward now issued commands, instructing them to keep up with Hyuga Soushu's pace.
Although at this point the marching speed had already approached the limits of these Chunin, under the prompting and pressure from the team-leading Jonin, they still gritted their teeth and tried their best to accelerate.
As a result, the consumption of Military Rations Pills increased sharply.
Hyuga Soushu observed this scene with satisfaction—it was exactly what he wanted to see.
They had already marched continuously for two hours, covering more than half the route. What remained was to continue applying pressure to create an appropriate tense atmosphere, enabling these Ninja Forces—accustomed to leisure and hastily mobilized—to quickly adapt to battlefield tension, striving to rapidly engage in combat shortly after arrival.
As for the consumption of supplies like Military Rations Pills, it was trivial compared to the demands of actual warfare. After all, win the battle and you get everything; lose, and nothing matters anyway.
Sakumo Hatake, stationed at the forefront of the final defensive line, was enduring immense pressure.
Iwa Ninja Force's offensive remained consistent with its usual threefold tactics: Earth Release bombardment, massive labyrinth pressure, and elite Jonin breaking through the front lines. Repeating endlessly in cycles.
Yet despite how predictable these moves appeared, they were precisely what had upheld Iwagakure as one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, making them invincible during the Great Ninja World War.
The reason was simple: Iwa had always been known for its large numbers and highly limited range of Ninjutsu types. Therefore, to maximize strengths while minimizing weaknesses, they gradually developed this group fighting style.
It's often said that a solo Iwa ninja, if facing just one ordinary Iwa ninja, would rank lowest among the Five Great Ninja Villages in combat effectiveness. But once three or more grouped together, their power level rose to mid-tier among the villages. The more members involved, the greater advantage Iwa ninjas—who excelled in teamwork—possessed.
Of course, Iwa had experienced defeat before—multiple times against Konoha Ninja Forces and even Kumo—but those were only minor skirmishes. Now, for the first time, their legion-level combat strength fully manifested before Sakumo Hatake, leaving every Konoha ninja awestruck!
Unfortunately, the cost of this realization was incredibly high!
Even though Sanshouo Hanzo, for unknown reasons, had yet to initiate his own breakthrough assault, Sakumo Hatake—who remained on defense—was still left dazed and confused by Iwa's coordinated Ninjutsu barrages.
If he hadn't transferred command authority in advance to Koryo Jonin, chances were he would've already lost the ability to direct operations or adjust deployments by now.
Even though he fought fiercely and personally plugged breaches in the frontline, successfully repelling wave after wave of Iwagakure's attacks, he still couldn't reverse the increasingly dire and deteriorating situation.
Especially the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, who openly revealed his presence and floated midair using secret techniques, made Sakumo Hatake extremely uneasy!
Although Onoki hadn't yet unleashed his famous Dust Release: Kekkei Tota secret jutsu, simply his presence alone was enough to make Sakumo Hatake hesitant and significantly reduced his effectiveness on the battlefield.
After another successful defense against Iwagakure's Explosion Corps assault, Sakumo finally had a moment to catch his breath.
Ignoring completely the flying figure of Onoki above, he immediately plopped down on the ground and casually tossed aside his famed White Fang tanto blade, panting heavily.
He looked completely wiped out.
However, what seemed like an obvious act of fatigue looked strangely suspicious to Onoki hovering above. During their previous close combat, Onoki had keenly noticed Sakumo creating a shadow clone beneath the cover of an Iwa ninja's corpse and hiding underground. Therefore, this battered White Fang before him must definitely be a fake!
The real White Fang must either be lying in ambush underground or had already abandoned the position and fled entirely. However, whether Sakumo was still present underground remained uncertain in Onoki's mind. This is why he continuously maintained his sensor technique, trying to lock onto Sakumo's exact location for a decisive lightning strike against this troublesome opponent!
Onoki had held back his Dust Release techniques for one key reason—to eliminate Sakumo instantly the moment he revealed himself.
But now, he was starting to grow impatient.
After scanning multiple times using his sensory jutsu without detecting any sign of Sakumo's true self, Onoki—who refused to believe that his own sensory technique could fail—concluded that Sakumo must have already escaped, making further engagement pointless.
"Stop wasting time!"
Onoki directly issued orders via Chakra-based sound transmission to the Jonin under his command, "Mahibi! Take full leadership of the Explosion Corps and commence your Maze Rush assault in ten minutes!"
At the same time, the floating Onoki slowly descended while an intense surge of chakra began building up powerfully around him!
Sakumo, who had been sitting motionless on the ground, blurted out "This is...!" and was immediately taken aback in shock!
Even though he'd never seen it in action, he knew exactly what those signs meant. Based purely on the chakra fluctuations emanating from Third Tsuchikage Onoki at this moment, Sakumo instantly deduced an extremely terrifying possibility—
"It's Dust Release!"
Both Konoha ninjas and Iwagakure Ninja Force members, even Rain ninjas alike, simultaneously voiced out this conclusion in unison!
However, the Iwa ninjas and some Rain ninjas with cloudy brains began wildly waving their weapons in excitement, clearly thrilled. Meanwhile, Konoha ninjas turned pale with despair.
[Dust Release Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!]
When the semi-transparent square-shaped chakra barrier had fully materialized between his palms, Onoki swiftly raised both hands to shoulder level and roared out a battle cry. With a powerful forward thrust of both palms, he released the technique.
A sharp cracking sound like breaking glass echoed through the air.
Simultaneously, a brilliant white beam erupted from Onoki's outstretched hands, striking straight toward the targeted Sakumo Hatake!
Then there was nothing unusual.
No explosion sounds, no smoke columns rising skyward, and certainly no chain-reactions from widespread destruction.
As Onoki's secret jutsu took full effect, a tunnel-like opening revealed itself to everyone.
And everything directly in front had vanished entirely—even the targeted Sakumo Hatake was nowhere to be seen!
"Covering fire with ninjutsu!"
Kitsuchi immediately gave timely orders.
[Earth Release: Bullet Rock Technique!]
[Earth Release: Ten-Thousand-Li Earthen Wall!]
Once again came the dazzling display of flying rock projectiles, once again emerged the labyrinthine stone walls surging forward like an advancing forest.
This time, however, Iwagakure forces were brimming with morale, each soldier roaring enthusiastically as they aimed to seize what appeared to be a thinly defended Konoha position, creating a breakthrough path into the long-coveted Land of Fire!
[Combined Ninjutsu!]
Though suffering heavy losses under the Dust Release techniques, the Konoha Ninja Forces soon organized a counterattack under Koryo Jonin's command:
[Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!]
[Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!]
Although outnumbered, resulting in fewer combined ninjutsu of less coordination compared to Iwagakure's tightly-synchronized joint techniques, at least their resistance showed that Konoha's forces hadn't collapsed from the initial Dust Release assault.
However, when Iwagakure's elite Explosion Corps, led by Mahibi, rejoined the frontline against Konoha's defensive positions after Sakumo Hatake's disappearance, Konoha's deployed ninja were quickly routed and fled under continuous, devastating explosive attacks.
Within less than ten minutes, Iwagakure's Explosion Corps seized control of the outer perimeter of Konoha's battlefield position.
Following this, Kitsuchi began directing the main body of ninja forces forward while continuously organizing combined ninjutsu barrages to support the Explosion Corps' next assault phase.
He did not overlook Sanshouo Hanzo and his Rain ninja army either.
After Iwagakure commenced their general advance, Kitsuchi assigned subordinates to locate the expressionless Sanshouo Hanzo, requesting his participation in the offensive operations.
This time, Sanshouo Hanzo didn't voice any objections.
Soon afterward, under Sanshouo Hanzo's proxy leadership following his re-summoning of the summoned beast Ibuse Poisoning, the Rain ninja launched an assault from the flank.
Meanwhile, Konoha's defensive positions faced overwhelming pressure from an alliance force many times their size, resembling a conceited egg destined to be crushed into powder under relentless strikes.
To everyone's surprise, Konoha's ninja fought back fiercely!
Although just a barrage of disorganized Wind-Fire Combined Ninjutsu, and though they constantly maintained a retreating stance, they never stopped counterattacking from beginning to end, desperately trying to inflict even the slightest damage on the advancing Iwagakure forces while stalling for time.
"This is truly strange," muttered Onoki as he lifted into the air once more, narrowing his eyes toward Konoha's ninja formation.
These Konoha ninja fought as if survival was never their concern. Under the command of their respective team leaders—elite Jonin—they fought until the very last moment against Iwa's Explosion Corps. Not one of them flinched, even as Iwa's Kekkei Genkai masters reduced them to nothing with their Explosion Release techniques.
"They've somehow held us up for a full three hours."
Floating midair, Onoki rustled through his pocket and pulled out his pocket watch. The moment he opened it, he saw that time had slipped by unnoticed—three full hours already gone since the first strike!
According to Konoha's earlier claim about reinforcements arriving every six hours, another fresh battalion would probably arrive to join the battle in another three hours.
Although Onoki wasn't worried about his personal safety, nor did he believe there was any chance of defeat, he still didn't intend to risk entering any potentially dangerous situation.
Therefore, he immediately descended from the sky and swiftly took over temporary command from Kitsuchi.
"Increase the offensive speed! I don't care about casualty numbers—I want positions taken!"
"At once!"
Kitsuchi instantly Body Flickered away, leading an Iwa squad straight into the close combat zone ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile, Sanshouo Hanzo picked up the pace, bringing forth an endless stream of summoned beasts. Although Rain's ninja formation appeared relatively scattered, under the cover of Sanshouo's toxic mist, they displayed unstoppable momentum—a force no one could stand against!
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