Uchiha Shizhi wanted the Uchiha clan soldiers to obey Hatake Sumao's command, so he specially assigned Renga Uchiha—her half-disciple—to lead and manage them. He even invited Hatake Sumao to demonstrate his combat prowess in front of the assembled clan forces. His formidable swordsmanship immediately earned everyone's respect.
Konoha, already well-prepared, soon sent out its first wave of troops after each department leader arrived. They headed toward their previously designated battlefield.
In Ame, at Konoha's command center…
After Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane reached the battlefield, they entered the command center. They quickly gathered their forces, secured authority based on the Hokage's orders, and divided responsibilities—one commanding each opposing nation.
Then they ordered a full-scale assault, launching coordinated attacks against the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, showcasing Konoha's might as the greatest ninja village. This left all the other nations watching in stunned silence.
At first, since Konoha reinforcements were the first to arrive, they caught Wind and Earth off guard. This made Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane believe they possessed extraordinary strength and had a real chance to end the war—as heroes of Konoha.
Thus, pride and arrogance grew within them. They even looked down on both Wind and Earth, thinking warfare was nothing special after all.
Truthfully, this was their first time ever leading actual battles. During the last war, they merely followed Tobirama Senju, obediently carrying out his commands without any voice of their own. Back in the village, they focused only on internal political maneuvering and never improved in this area.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had dispatched them here precisely because it would be their first experience overseeing a full-scale war. But he hadn't realized the situation clearly—after all, he himself had never truly commanded a war before. He assumed their talent for external warfare would match their talent for internal political maneuvering, unaware these were entirely different matters.
This attitude grew even stronger in Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane once the second and third waves of reinforcements arrived. Due to lax military discipline, the local civilians in Ame were greatly affected. Normally, this wouldn't have been a significant issue—but who could've predicted that Ame now had a Kage-level leader?
Meanwhile, Wind and Earth reinforcements also arrived. Although their numbers and quality couldn't rival Konoha, the commanders of the two villages reached a quiet understanding and began resisting Konoha together.
These moves by Wind and Earth brought Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane much hardship. Yet still, they weren't awakened from their illusions—they were still basking in the glory of their initial success.
When Sanshouo Hanzo of Ame's ninja village extended a peace request, not only did they refuse him, but they outright insulted him. The other two villages did the same.
Then, Sanshouo Hanzo took another step back, hoping the shinobi forces of the three warring nations would avoid harming his people. Yet again, the response was unsatisfactory. Wind and Earth showed slightly more restraint—not agreeing either, but offering Hanzo enough face to keep future cooperation possible.
However, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane vented their dissatisfaction on Sanshouo Hanzo, eventually driving the messenger away and directly humiliating him without leaving any room for compromise.
Thus, this mighty leader, Sanshouo Hanzo, declared war against the great nations invading the Land of Rain in his capacity as the leader of Amegakure. With an iron fist, he began counterattacking the ninja from the three major countries harming his people, demonstrating his determination to protect his citizens throughout the Ninja World, pushing the Second Great Ninja War into its most intense phase.
The battlefield in the Land of Rivers lay between Konoha and Suna forces.
At this moment in the Land of Rivers, after assembling his forces, Hatake Sumao used Byakugan along with numerous reconnaissance teams to roughly estimate the enemy's strength before immediately laying out tactical arrangements.
His strategy was just like his swordsmanship—bold, unyielding, and straight to the point. Without any probing, he directly targeted the main force of the Sand-nin, catching them completely off guard with a direct frontal assault.
In their first encounter, Hatake Sumao led the Konoha ninja forces forward personally, blazing forward and utterly shattering the Sand-nin's frontline.
But the toxins from the Sand-nin proved difficult to prevent completely, making it impossible to convert their edge into a decisive victory. Eventually, they had no choice but to retreat. However, this battle significantly boosted Konoha's morale, giving them a huge boost in the battles that followed.
Then, to recover their lost morale, the Sand-nin commander started using their toxin advantage by launching small-scale raids against Konoha units, slowly grinding down the enemy while setting up powerful defensive strongholds to avoid facing Hatake Sumao directly.
Although Hatake Sumao frequently disguised himself as part of scouting teams, the Sand commander issued orders that once Hatake was encountered, troops were to scatter and flee, which limited Hatake's effectiveness while their own casualties from poison kept piling up with no real solution in sight.
The Sand-nin's command caused Hatake Sumao's reputation to soar even further. Intelligence reports claimed that encountering Hatake Sumao allowed missions to be abandoned without punishment, these reports showing up on every Kage's desk, briefly drawing the entire Ninja World's attention toward him.
Reportedly, Third Kazekage flew into a rage over this, but being a level-headed man, he didn't take it out on the Sand commander. Instead, he provided strong support and ordered Elder Chiyo to accelerate research on sealing techniques to expedite the Jinchuriki Plan.
Although Konoha currently housed Tsunade, who would later become the medical master of the Ninja World, although her future greatness as the medical master of the Ninja World had not yet come to pass.
The poisons employed by the Sand-nin were decades of accumulation under Chiyo's expertise; something couldn't simply be countered overnight by a newcomer like Tsunade. Still, morale remained relatively high, with Tsunade receiving nearly equal credit alongside Hatake Sumao's initial triumph.
After all, if Hatake Sumao set the ceiling for morale, then Tsunade made sure there was a solid floor beneath it. Through their combined efforts, the situation at this battlefront eventually stabilized.
From there onward, Hatake Sumao handled the battlefield fronts directly while Tsunade focused on neutralizing deadly toxins. As time passed and more toxins were deciphered, her progress accelerated, steadily increasing Konoha's advantage.
Tsunade even developed an excellent resistance potion. Even without an antidote, this potion could suppress the poison's effects for a while after poisoning occurred, giving time to return to Base Camp for targeted detoxification. This significantly reduced Konoha's casualties and laid the foundation for large-scale decisive battles.
Given how the situation is developing, a decisive battle might not even be necessary. If the conflict dragged on for another year, continuously accumulating advantages, weakening the enemy's strength, and causing the Sand-nin to bleed resources persistently, Konoha's personnel could also become increasingly elite through these relatively low-intensity skirmishes between reconnaissance units. There's no doubt the Sand-nin would lose.
But as fate would have it, trouble suddenly flared up in Ame. The urgent summons from Hiruzen Sarutobi forced Hatake Sumao to initiate the decisive battle earlier than planned.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
Want to read the subsequent content in advance?
Please follow my Patreon:patreon/Tansnovel
Tans Novel - The Fastest-Updating Naruto Fanfiction Account
Read 100+ chapters in advance, with at least 3 new chapters updated every day! More free chapters! 20+ Naruto fanfictions!
Just three steps:
1. Download and open the "Patreon" app
2. Search for "Tans Novel"
3. Click on the collection and enjoy to your heart's content
<><><><><><><><>