Chapter 67: Amegakure's Defeat
Under pressure he hadn't planned for, Hanzō ultimately chose to take the initiative.
Just as Hiiro Rinko had said, the symbolism of 'who strikes first' was crucial. For the current Land of Rain, that spiritual banner was the only thing they could pursue.
Ōnoki acted just as Chiyo had predicted. After Hanzō, a Kage-level powerhouse, personally entered the fray as the first combatant, Ōnoki immediately announced that Iwagakure had merely been 'forced' to step into the Land of Rain and had no intention of fighting Amegakure. Then, he happily vanished back into the shadows.
As for whether the 'Demigod' who had roamed the Shinobi World for decades saw through Ōnoki's thoughts, it didn't matter.
Just as he was forced to act before Konoha's full-scale invasion due to time constraints, he had to tacitly accept Ōnoki's excuse.
Launching a large-scale offensive against both Konoha and Suna simultaneously had already stretched Ame to its limits. Even knowing Iwa planned to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, Hanzō could only ignore them.
Suna felt the same. The Land of Wind and the Land of Earth shared a direct border. They knew each other's leaders' temperaments well enough.
Since they hadn't expected Iwa to be useful from the start, it didn't matter if they retreated or not.
At least when it came to being a nuisance, Iwa did a great job.
The only one with a valid complaint might be Konoha. War was declared, their ally destroyed, and after firing the opening shots, Iwa ran off to fish in troubled waters, and now they were just leaving entirely?
How come Iwa gets all the good stuff?!
Fight! We have to beat those bastards!
Of course, this was just bluster.
Anyone looking at a map could see that invading Iwagakure, protected by layers of high mountains in the central-eastern part of the Land of Earth, was incredibly difficult. Supply lines and troop movements could not be guaranteed.
The Land of Grass did have two large bridges suitable for transport, but it was close to the Land of Rain. If Ame decided to cause trouble, Konoha's supply convoys wouldn't have a single day of peace.
As for the Land of Waterfalls, its terrain full of elevation changes and waterfalls was obviously unfriendly to large-scale marches. Most importantly, whether passing through Grass or Waterfalls, the impassable mountains still blocked Konoha's path.
Konoha's geography was excellent for defense against invasion, but not for striking out with a heavy fist.
This was an 'open conspiracy.' Even if everyone knew what you planned to do, they had to play along.
In this regard, Ōnoki was indeed a master.
On the front against Suna, Hanzō had planned to use his salamander summon's massive poison cloud to secure victory in one stroke.
But Chiyo, also taking the field personally, neutralized it on the spot using her past experience dealing with salamander toxins. She even deduced the flaw: the salamander needed five minutes to recharge its poison gas.
Hanzō was naturally frustrated by this. But even so, he had Chiyo pinned down.
If Chiyo tried to send puppets to support the Suna forces during their duel, the pressure on Hanzō would lessen, allowing him to summon Ibuse for a massive attack.
And if Chiyo, distracted by fighting Hanzō, relaxed her control over her puppets to deal with the poison cloud, she would likely have her defenses breached and be killed on the spot.
After all, Hanzō had once operated solo in the Land of Iron; his taijutsu completely suppressed Chiyo's.
But by using the supreme Puppet Master skill, the Technique of Ten Fingers, to control the Chikamatsu Collection, Chiyo relied on the puppets' strength and numbers to keep Hanzō completely tied up.
After several rounds, neither side could gain an advantage. In the end, both Hanzō and Chiyo fell into a stalemate, waiting for an opportunity to strike a decisive blow.
Of course, this was just the surface reason.
Chiyo was actually waiting for news from Hiiro Rinko.
Even with the five-minute recharge flaw, the terrifying coverage of Hanzō's summon's poison exceeded their initial estimates.
Coupled with the fact that they hadn't initially planned to move the war to the Land of Rain and provoke Hanzō, although Chiyo could neutralize the poison, their stock of antidote herbs couldn't keep up.
Rinko had been working overtime to modify his support automatons—essentially 'rechargeable' machines—for the battlefield.
These small machines, powered by injecting Chakra into their cores for short-term mobility, were usually used for short-distance supply transport. Considering conversion rates, core costs, and mass production difficulties, these foot-sized automatons weren't designed with many functions.
To send them out en masse to gather herbs, the design had to be modified.
Of course, herbs were also being sent from the Land of Wind, but gathering locally was always faster.
You can never have too much antidote. Distributing it widely was better than making Chiyo deal with every incident.
While gas masks were useless against that level of poison, inhaling the specific antidote via a nebulizer was quite effective.
On the other hand, Hanzō's poison-clearing strategy against Konoha had been extremely successful.
Most of the Konoha shinobi present were incapacitated, leaving only Hiruzen's three disciples barely holding on.
It's hard to say if Hanzō's 'appreciation of talent' was just part of his 'expert' persona, but it was definitely true that he didn't want a total falling out with Konoha.
His goal was simply to make Konoha and Suna get the hell out of the Land of Rain. With the First Hokage's wife's clan already wiped out, killing the First Hokage's granddaughter in public would be irrational.
As for the other casualties?
Ah, they say everyone is equal, but some are definitely more equal than others.
In short, knowing he couldn't win the overall strategic war, and having only achieved a local victory on his front, Hanzō wasn't willing to draw Konoha's fire for Suna.
Adhering to this philosophy, he bestowed upon them the title of the 'Legendary Sannin' and spared their lives.
But while Hanzō's active presence on both fronts helped achieve his goals, it also highlighted Ame's dilemma.
Ame had plenty of capable Jōnin, but only Hanzō was a true 'Kage-level' powerhouse who could hold the line.
In this situation, Konoha was willing to take a step back, give Hanzō face, and turn around to hammer Suna, but Suna certainly wasn't happy about that.
Once enough antidote supply was secured, Hanzō's anti-army methods lost their effect. With him tied down by Chiyo, and lacking other decisive powerhouses while their Jōnin's intel was fully leaked, Ame had no advantage left against Suna.
And so, in just one short week, Amegakure, which had declared war on both Konoha and Suna, officially withdrew from the Second Shinobi World War.