Konoha and the Sand Village continued to engage in small-scale battles.
The battlefields were naturally the small countries on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, such as the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain.
The Land of Rivers was large and economically strong, so it could hold on for a while. The Land of Rain, however, was struggling. In this country where it rained all year round, the economy relied entirely on import-export trade. Now, with the war, even getting food was difficult, let alone anything else.
With the support of the Third Tsuchikage of the Stone Village, Ōnoki of Both Scales, the leader of the Rain Village, Hanzō of the Salamander, directly declared war on the two great ninja villages.
Konoha was baffled by this. Although we've been resisting the Sand's invasion, we haven't entered your country, have we? What's gotten into you, Hanzō?
It was the Sand ninja who had been attacking the Land of Fire through the Land of Rain, but Hanzō didn't care. You great nations are all the same. So he declared war on them both.
Hanzō's declaration of war greatly boosted the morale of the Rain ninja.
They were the first small village to dare to declare war on a great nation.
With the Land of Rain's declaration, Konoha naturally didn't just sit back. Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately sent his three disciples to lead an attack on the Land of Rain.
A great nation's size made it difficult to destroy easily. But if a small nation dared to step out of line, they would be crushed.
Hearing that Hiruzen had sent his disciples, An Yan immediately applied to join Tsunade. The village higher-ups quickly approved.
The next step was simple: fight his way from the Land of Rivers to the Land of Rain and join up with Tsunade and the others.
As for why he wasn't going from the Land of Fire, it was a mission the village had given him. An Yan's strength was an excellent weapon on the battlefield.
An Yan led the three kids on a rapid march, killing anyone they encountered. After killing seven Chunin squads, an expert finally came after them.
Two Jonin squads blocked their path in a canyon. The Jonin stood on the cliffs on either side, looking down on them.
"Are you the one who's killed thirteen of our Chunin squads recently?" one of the Sand Jonin asked.
But An Yan had no intention of answering.
Kana whispered to him, "A total of eight people. Two Jonin, the rest are Genin."
An Yan didn't even turn his head. He just said, "I'll take the Jonin." And then he vanished.
He appeared on top of the cliff and punched through one of the Jonin's stomach. However, a Jonin from a great village is not so easy to kill. The attacked Jonin instantly turned into a pile of mud.
An Yan raised an eyebrow. The next moment, he appeared behind the other one and used a Thousand Years of Death with his kunai.
Poof! This one was a shadow clone.
But the feeling of a shadow clone is transmitted back to the original body. An Yan immediately sensed a faint, suppressed grunt from a certain location.
The next moment, he was there. He stomped his foot, and the ground cracked.
Monstrous Strength: Painful Sky Leg!
The ninja hiding underground clearly hadn't expected his attack to have such a large range. He couldn't dodge in time, and his leg, along with the earth, was turned to dust.
He cried out in pain. An Yan threw a punch.
However, a sword suddenly came from behind, aimed at his heart, clearly trying to save its comrade by attacking him.
An Yan ignored it. The moment he threw his punch, his body vanished and reappeared behind the swordsman, punching him.
It was a solid monster punch. The man exploded into a bloody mist, splattering the crippled ninja with blood. The man's eyes widened, his pupils filled with blood, and he was filled with terror. His psychological defense had collapsed.
An Yan saw his reputation points on the system panel increasing rapidly. It seemed that fear brought in more reputation.
He changed his plan from killing them all to just crippling them.
The Sand's military budget was small, so they focused on elite units. Leaving a few cripples for them would not only spread fear and increase his reputation, but also drain their military funds.
With the Jonin down, the Genin were no trouble. Besides the ones who died on the spot, the rest had one of their hands cut off, making them unable to form hand seals.
Eight came, three left.
Two one-handed Sand ninja supported their one-legged Jonin and limped away.
Nawaki asked, "Teacher, why didn't you just kill them?"
An Yan smiled. "Think about it. What do we gain by killing them? And what do we gain by letting them live?"
Nawaki said, "If we kill them, we gain nothing. If we let them live, they'll continue to fight Konoha."
An Yan patted his head.
"If we let them live, they'll spread the word of Konoha's strength, lowering the Sand's morale and subtly changing the course of the war. Of course, we can't do this too often. And it only works if the enemy's psychological defense has completely collapsed, like that Jonin just now. Otherwise, we'd just be letting a tiger back into the mountains."
Nawaki nodded, half-understanding.
They didn't say any more and continued on their way.
The rest of the journey was much smoother. An Yan killed his way through five more Chunin squads and successfully entered the Land of Rain.
This was a country where it rained all year round. The atmosphere was different from anywhere else: cold, oppressive, like the set of a tragedy.
There were still many Sand ninja in the Land of Rain, but unlike the ones in the Land of Rivers, most of them were puppet masters.
Would monstrous strength be afraid of a puppet master? The answer is no.
One punch, and any puppet would be smashed to pieces. Unless the puppet master could pull out a Third Kazekage puppet, no one could stand against him.
Unfortunately, An Yan didn't encounter any famous characters on his way, like Chiyo, Ebizō, the Third or Fourth Kazekage, or even Pakura of the Scorch Release.
Wait a minute, Pakura was probably still a kid at this time. Never mind.
As An Yan was rushing to the designated location.
Hanzō of the Salamander was attacking the Sand's main base in the Land of Rain.
Chiyo was fighting him with her three puppets: the Monk, the Buddha, and the Dharma.
Hanzō had made a name for himself as a demigod by attacking small countries and plundering their resources over the years.
However, he was not very effective against Chiyo. The reason was simple: a type mismatch.
Hanzō's most dangerous weapon was his poison, followed by his swordsmanship and ninjutsu.
Chiyo, on the other hand, was an all-around ninja, skilled in puppetry, medicine, poison, and sealing jutsu.
Within a few minutes of Hanzō releasing his poison, Chiyo had already created an antidote and determined that he could release it again in five minutes. The two were at a stalemate. The average strength of the Rain ninja was no match for the Sand. Hanzō looked at the situation and had no choice but to retreat.
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