Giant boulders blocked the waterway, causing the river to dry up and reveal a bare riverbed.
On both sides of the dozens-of-meters-wide river channel, hundreds of Ninjas had appeared at some unknown time, engaging in fierce battle amidst the heavy rain.
Kirigakure vs Konoha!
The great battle begins!
Now,
Both Kirigakure and Konoha had formed temporary assault teams composed of Jonin, positioned at the very front of the lines, stabbing into the enemy's positions like steel blades.
The Chunin and Genin who should have been providing support were left far behind. This first wave of Jonin confrontation was the most primitive exchange of Ninjutsu. The Jonin would exert their full strength to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy.
The power of the Ninjutsu was also very great, easily causing collateral damage to Ninjas of insufficient strength on the battlefield.
The battle quickly split into two areas: one where Jonins were freely unleashing Ninjutsu with astonishing destructive power, and another where Chunin and Genin watched from afar, competing in the number and accuracy of their shuriken.
"Konoha…"
"Such a nuisance!"
Mei's Lava Release was blocked, making her displeased as she glared. But judging from the precision and power of the technique, the Konoha's Jonin opposite her was clearly no ordinary individual either.
"Terumi Mei-sama!"
"The Earth Release user opposite is Sarutobi Shinsuke!"
Yuzuki had Anbu experience and possessed much intelligence unknown to ordinary people. He naturally recognized the identity of the Konoha's Ninja opposite at a glance.
"Sarutobi…"
"Shinsuke?"
"The son of Konoha's Professor?"
Mei's brows lightly furrowed.
"Yes!"
"It's him!"
On the battlefield, even the usually frivolous Yuzuki spoke with a serious expression: "Sarutobi Shinsuke has mastered the Chakra Nature Transformations for Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind. He is the de facto second-in-command of Konoha's Sarutobi Clan, especially skilled in Fire and Earth Release Ninjutsu. Terumi Mei-sama, please do not take him lightly. If you were in danger, I wouldn't be able to answer to Sora-sama…"
"Enough nonsense!"
Mei snorted coldly: "I stepped onto this battlefield with the determination to die if necessary! So, Sarutobi Shinsuke, is it?"
"I'll use you as the first sacrifice!!!"
Before the words faded, the dry riverbed before them suddenly began to shake.
Boom!
Boom!
The earth roared.
Countless Ninjas engaged in battle turned their gazes towards the source of the sound.
Abruptly, a muddy earth dragon burst out from the dry ground, instantly swallowing the silt and rubble on the riverbed, then roared towards the Kirigakure's positions.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"
On the opposite bank, a middle-aged man bearing some resemblance to Konoha's Third Hokage formed hand seals rapidly with both hands and spat out a dragon-shaped sea of fire.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Hiss~ Hiss~
The scorching sea of fire flew into the sky, intertwining with the roaring mud dragon to form a fearsome combined Ninjutsu, carrying an extremely scorching temperature as it crashed down towards the ground.
At this moment, the dragon fire lit up the sky, dispelling the accumulated darkness beneath the rain clouds.
Among the crowd, many Konoha's Ninjas widened their eyes, looking at Shinsuke, the man who had used the Fire-Earth Combined Ninjutsu, with surprise and excitement.
"He truly is Hokage-sama's son! Such bearing already carries a bit of Hokage-sama's youthful elegance!"
"Such elegance…"
"Comrades of Konoha, can you hold back your excitement?"
In the midst of the fierce battle, a Konoha's Ninja voiced a sentiment full of emotion. But the next moment, three shuriken thudded into his face, hurting so much he nearly passed out.
"Hold back your mother!"
"We're fighting a war and you're standing there doing commentary, chattering nonsense! You Konoha loser, your whole family is dead!"
A Kirigakure's Jonin charged forward, cursing as he swung his sword at the Konoha's Ninja.
"Combined Ninjutsu!"
"Be careful!"
"The enemy's Elite Jonin has made a move!"
No Kirigakure's Ninja looked down on this burning mud dragon either. Anything related to Combined Ninjutsu was an extremely dangerous existence.
Especially since the opponent was a Ninja named 'Sarutobi'. Facing this surname, one could never be too cautious.
In an instant, Kirigakure's Jonin prepared to organize a defense to block the opponent's Ninjutsu.
At this time, Mei not only didn't retreat half a step, but quickly charged forward. Within a few steps, the hand seals in her hands were already completed.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!!!"
She opened her mouth and a torrential flow of water sprayed from Mei's mouth. Manipulated by Chakra, it formed a similarly roaring water dragon that rose into the air and slammed fiercely into the opposing burning mud dragon.
Water and fire intertwined, instantly exploding.
An extremely high-temperature water vapor spread out in all directions accompanying the explosion.
Scalding!
Blazing!
Sweeping.
The moment they were touched by the high-temperature water vapor, many Ninjas felt sharp, stinging pain on their skin and couldn't help but dodge away.
"Such powerful Ninjutsu!"
"This is already beyond the scope of ordinary Jonin!"
While engaged in fierce combat, the Jonin from both sides also showed surprise in their eyes. They asked themselves if they had the strength to stir up such turbulent waves of ninjutsu on the battlefield.
Ninjutsu is very complex.
Not only must one master Chakra Nature Transformation and Shape Transformation, but one must also precisely control the Chakra, making it flow through the correct Pathway and Tenketsu within the body.
The formation of large-scale ninjutsu requires the Chakra's speed, quantity, and rhythm to be controlled with extreme precision. Otherwise, a small mistake can lead to the Ninjutsu's failure, or even cause irreversible damage to the body.
Now, the clashing Ninjutsu in mid-air was terrifying in power and had an extremely wide area of effect. This was already beyond what ordinary Jonin could accomplish.
It could probably be considered half a step into the Kage-level.
"Such a powerful Water Release... it seems Kirigakure also has remarkable Ninjas!"
On the opposite bank of the dry riverbed, Shinsuke, wearing the Konoha's forehead protector and a Jonin flak jacket, shouted loudly towards the Kirigakure's Ninjas on the other side.
"You have no right to evaluate me…"
"Ninja of the Sarutobi Clan!"
Anger showed on Mei's face. Her father had died at the hands of a Sarutobi Clan's Ninja during the Second Great Ninja War.
Now that she had encountered a Sarutobi Ninja here, she was naturally furious to the extreme.
"Water Release: Water Collision Wave!"
Mei quickly formed hand seals and spat out another vast amount of rushing water. It quickly filled the dry riverbed and surged like a flood towards the Konoha's Ninjas on the opposite bank.
"Today…"
"Right here, I will kill you all, you Kirigakure scum!"
A ferocious expression also flashed across Shinsuke's face. He hadn't come to the front line for tourism, but to earn military merits.
Terumi Mei?
The direct disciple of Kirigakure's Genji, the true future hope?
For Shinsuke, this was a rather nice achievement.
"Earth Release: Earth Core!"
Shinsuke slapped both hands on the ground. On the path where the massive Water Collision Wave was flooding over, a section of ground dozens of meters in radius suddenly collapsed, forming a giant, bottomless pit.
Splash~
Splash splash splash~
Boom~ Boom~ Boom~
The vast torrent poured into the deep pit, but still stirred up endless splashes on the battlefield.
Mei vs Shinsuke!
The moment they crossed hands, both sides displayed a high level of Ninjutsu proficiency and a terrifying amount of Chakra.
In their engagement, they casually used Ninjutsu capable of altering the terrain. If a Chakra-deficient Jonin were to try this, they would probably be drained dry by the horrifying Chakra Consumption in just two or three moves.
This was nearly an exchange between the main commanders of both sides, crucial to the momentum on the battlefield. Therefore, both Mei and Shinsuke were not stinting on Chakra Consumption, intending to suppress the opponent's morale as quickly as possible.
"Such monsters!"
Yuzuki watched the Water Release extending for over a kilometer like a flood, couldn't help but shudder.
'Such a fearsome amount of Chakra, she was truly a monstrous woman!'
'Terumi Mei-sama…'
'Tsk tsk!'
Having grown accustomed to seeing Mei being easily bullied by Sora, Yuzuki had almost forgotten that the young Kunoichi beside him was also a remarkable, peerless genius of the village!!!!
A woman like this just happened to meet Sora, which is why she was suppressed for life, unable to turn the tables. But before Jonin like them, she was undoubtedly a formidable character!!!
Now, just as Matsunaga Yuzuki was somewhat distracted, a Konoha's Jonin seized the opportunity and instantly appeared behind him.
Chakra surged, killing intent instantly exploded.
"Ninja of Kirigakure…"
"You!"
"Have entered my Eight Trigrams domain!"
"Take this…"
"One Thousand Years of Death!!!"
In the blink of an eye, a rather plain-looking Sarutobi Clan's Ninja pressed his palms together, thrusting the kunai in his hand towards Yuzuki's vital spot from behind.
The Sarutobi Ninja's smile became bizarre and excited, as if fulfilling some sacred mission.
"Sarutobi bastard!"
"I curse your dam!!!"
In a despairing roar, Yuzuki, clutching the additional kunai in his buttocks, fled in collapse.
…
"It's raining…"
"But why would it rain this season?"
In the Konoha's central camp, 25 kilometers from Tenfu Gorge, Minato looked melancholically at the dark clouds covering the sky in the distance, slowly furrowing his brow.
After hearing Minato's words, a Konoha's Ninja beside him with black hair tied into a ponytail coiled at the back of his head, yet not appearing effeminate, slowly stepped forward and said gravely, "Minato, I also feel this rain is unusual. In deep autumn, the climate in the Land of Fire is very dry, with more thunder and less rain. Especially such a downpour, it's even more rare."
"Especially…"
"This is a regional heavy rain, seemingly only covering the sky above the flank camp. It feels somewhat strange."
That Ninja with the ponytail was none other than the head of the Nara Clan, Nara Shikaku. His intelligence was exceptional, his strategies superb, and he was the Konoha's brains. One could say that behind the entire Third Great Ninja War, there were traces of Shikaku's planning and strategizing.
His status in Konoha was also very high. Many higher-ups regarded Shikaku favorably. Although his strength was inferior to Minato, and thus he had no possibility of becoming Hokage, with the strong support of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, it was highly likely that he would become the Commander of the Konoha's Jonin Team in the future, or even go a step further and become a member of the Elder Council.
Now, Shikaku's analysis made Minato feel even more uneasy. That camp was the area where Kushina was stationed. If something unexpected happened there, it would truly be a matter of eternal regret.
"Don't worry too much either."
Shikaku narrowed his eyes and said with a light smile: "The ability to form dense fog with Chakra is something Kirigakure possesses. But I've never heard of anyone in Kirigakure who can truly manipulate the weather, making the sky pour with rain. That's simply impossible. Even the Third Mizukage couldn't do it."
"Impossible to do?"
Hearing this, Minato felt increasingly uneasy, 'The Third Mizukage couldn't do it, but others…'
'Could they not either?'
Suddenly, he remembered a sentence Jiraiya had mentioned inadvertently.
'In that battle,'
'When Sensei encountered Yuki Sora, it also snowed strangely.'
'Snow?'
'In the deep autumn season of the Land of Fire, rain wasn't normal, could snow be normal!??'
'Could it be…'
'That Yuki Sora has come?'
An unrealistic guess suddenly arose in Minato's heart.
'Perhaps this bizarre weather change was related to that Yuki Sora!??'
Instantly, his pupils constricted sharply.
Minato's character was extremely decisive. Since he had doubts, he didn't hesitate any longer and immediately ordered: "Shikaku, the situation is not right. Issue the order immediately for all personnel to be on alert. Assemble the troops. I suspect Kushina's side has already been attacked by Kirigakure's Ninjas!"
"What? Are you sure?"
Shikaku's face also showed shock upon hearing this.
"This matter is of great importance!"
Minato said with a serious expression: "Whether an attack has occurred or not, we must prepare for the worst. I always feel something is not right. Kirigakure's Yuki Sora has been quiet for too long. Perhaps…"
However, before he finished speaking…
Minato suddenly felt a strange fluctuation of Chakra.
Looking up, he gazed in the direction from which the Chakra Sensation came.
"That is…"
"Kushina activated the Flying Thunder God kunai!!!"
Shock!
Panic!
Unease!
Minato, with his emotions incredibly mixed, instantly vanished from the spot.