Rain Country
Explosions and screams tore across the battlefield.
By now, the joint forces of Amegakure and Sunagakure had already clashed head-on with Konoha's rearguard.
"Damn Konoha—They actually prepared traps this far in advance!
The whole area is covered in explosive tags!"
Akimichi Torifu led several hundred shinobi, using the pre-laid barricades and trigger traps to stall thousands of pursuing enemies.
"Expansion Jutsu!"
With a blast of white smoke, Akimichi Torifu towered over the battlefield—a twenty-meter giant standing like an iron wall.
"Hah!"
He swung a massive iron staff the size of a tree trunk.
Each sweep carved a crater into the ground, sending clouds of dust billowing and enemy shinobi flying.
Kunai and shuriken rained against his body, but most couldn't even pierce his clothes.
With his expansion, his defensive power had increased to monstrous levels.
"It's time to go," Torifu thought grimly.
Only half the Konoha force remained.
The traps had nearly all been used.
If they stayed any longer, they would be wiped out—the difference in numbers was simply too overwhelming.
"Retreat!"
At his shout, Konoha's remaining shinobi disengaged and sprinted away.
Torifu crouched low, sweeping the ground again with his staff to clear a wide escape corridor.
"Good… That should do it. I should leave too."
His enormous body was covered with wounds.
Even with boosted defense, many attacks had still broken through.
And maintaining Expansion Jutsu consumed an enormous amount of chakra—he was barely holding the form together.
He checked his condition, then began retreating in long strides.
Each step of the twenty-meter giant covered nearly ten meters—there was no way the Suna and Ame shinobi could keep up.
"I still haven't seen Orochimaru or Tsunade…
Don't tell me something happened to them."
He couldn't stop the thought from surfacing.
Konoha defectors had mentioned Hanzō might have appeared.
And since Orochimaru and Tsunade hadn't returned… Torifu's heart grew heavy.
"I have to pull back. Please… let the three of you be safe."
Seeing Torifu withdraw, Suna and Ame shinobi immediately pursued.
He had killed too many of their comrades—there was no way they would let him escape.
"His chakra is nearly depleted.
Wear him down!"
But they couldn't match his speed, nor could their ninjutsu inflict serious damage.
All they could do was watch him grow smaller in the distance.
"Scythe–Chain Slash!"
Suddenly, the earth surged upward.
A colossal salamander burst from underground, hooking Torifu's leg and sending the giant crashing down.
Before he could react, a flash of silver carved through the air.
"Not good…"
"Hanzō of the Salamander!"
A burning pain exploded across his chest.
Blood gushed out like a ruptured pipe.
Torifu's body shrank instantly as he lost control of his technique, collapsing back to normal size.
"Kh…!"
He spat blood.
He already knew what had happened.
"No way…"
"How did he get here so fast?"
"That means Orochimaru and Tsunade… they really…"
The man before him radiated so much killing intent and pressure that Torifu began to tremble.
"You truly live up to your title, Demigod. That strike of yours… it's even stronger than Hatake Sakumo's."
Hanzō glanced at the emblem on Torifu's cracked armor—the huge character "食" (Food).
He understood immediately.
"An Akimichi, are you?"
"To be compared to Sakumo… I'm honored."
Torifu coughed again, blood dripping from his lips.
"I… need to know…"
"Orochimaru and Tsunade… what happened to them?"
"You still worry about others at a time like this…"
"Fine. I'll tell you."
Hanzō rested his scythe on his shoulder.
"They're alive."
"But I defeated them and took them prisoner.
"They're my bargaining chips with Konoha—so they won't be dying anytime soon."
He raised the scythe.
"I've already spared three elite warriors today.
Your resolve is admirable—but I have no reason to spare you as well. Any last words?"
Torifu grinned through bloody teeth.
"That's… good…"
"Didn't think you'd be… this decent… but—"
Before he could finish, the world spun.
A soft thump followed.
His vision cleared just in time to see—his own body collapsing without a head.
"So fast…"
"Sorry, Rokujin…"
Blood geysered from the severed neck as the headless corpse toppled.
Ignoring the spray, Hanzō quickly seized Torifu's tool pouch.
"So this is what he was trying to take out?"
After removing miscellaneous items, he lifted a glass container holding three colored pills—blue, yellow, and red.
"Akimichi Clan's Three-Colored Pills.
If he had taken these earlier… that would've been a problem."
Shinobi from both villages finally caught up.
"Hanzō-sama!"
"Apologies—we were delayed."
"The Konoha remnants have probably regrouped by now!"
"What?"
"And where is the Third Kazekage?!"
"How has he still not arrived?!"
Hanzō's tone turned icy.
"Are they expecting me to shoulder all the aggro by myself?"
A Suna shinobi hurriedly responded:
"N-no! Hanzō-sama, the Kazekage exhausted too much chakra in the previous battle."
"He needs time to recover."
"He'll be here soon—please remain calm!"
"Right now, crushing the Konoha remnants is our priority!"
"Priority?"
Hanzō glared.
"After these two delays, at least an hour has passed."
"By now they've already regrouped and are retreating toward the Fire Country."
"Konoha has definitely been informed. Their reinforcements are already on the way."
As he spoke, a white dot rapidly approached from the distance.
Within moments, it arrived overhead—a massive puppet bird.
"Chiyo?" Hanzō muttered.
"But where's the Third Kazekage?"
Chiyo dismounted and immediately gathered reports.
"Chiyo—where is the Kazekage?" Hanzō asked.
"He's returned to Sunagakure," Chiyo replied.
"He drained almost all his chakra during the encirclement."
"That technique's range and power… even a Kage can't sustain it for long."
"He can't contribute much to the pursuit.
And if he stays absent from the village any longer, the spies of other nations will notice."
Chiyo glanced at the giant salamander behind Hanzō and nodded knowingly.
"So that's why you arrived so quickly.
Salamanders burrow fast."
She continued:
"I've heard the situation."
"This isn't the time for internal arguments. Let's continue the pursuit."
"Pursuit?
To throw our lives away?" Hanzō snorted.
"Konoha must already know the situation. Reinforcements have departed."
"What? Impossible!" Chiyo objected.
"It takes two days to reach the Fire Country from here!"
"Even with a hawk messenger it would take half a day! You must be—"
"They're summoners of the Three Great Sage Lands," Hanzō cut her off.
"The three holy lands don't interfere in shinobi wars…"
"But if their contract holders die—or are close to death—they can transmit their death notice and battlefield information instantly."
He continued coldly:
"When those two stayed behind earlier, their summoned beasts sent the message ahead before I defeated them."
"And look around—these traps were laid earlier."
"Konoha clearly bought themselves extra time."
"They've absolutely set up more traps along the retreat path."
He sighed.
"Catching them is already impossible."
Chiyo stared at Torifu's body and clenched her jaw.
Hanzō continued:
"In this war alone, I've taken down four of Konoha's top commanders."
"The Third Kazekage has killed over a thousand Konoha shinobi."
"Meanwhile you, Chiyo, nearly got surrounded and killed."
"You're one to talk, ventilation pipe…" she muttered, swallowing her anger.
"Whatever. What do you plan to do now?"
Chiyo steadied her breathing.
"We've fought all day."
"If pursuit is hopeless, we should rest. The troops are exhausted."
"Konoha won't get far."
"Their fallback line is the Fire Country border—they'll use its fortifications to hold us back. That will be their final stand."
"It takes two days for us to reach the Fire Country."
"Two days for them to reach their border.
If they already know the battle outcome, they'll be fully prepared when we arrive."
"With possible ambush traps along the way, pursuing them is risky and inefficient."
"Instead, we should rest and meet them at the border in a decisive battle."
She looked directly at Hanzō.
"What do you think?"
Hanzō considered, then nodded.
"Konoha evacuated many villages along the border when they mobilized."
"They'll make suitable temporary bases."
"Our supplies will arrive soon. We can extend the front line into Fire Country," Chiyo added.
"Stone is cowering at their border, Konoha has been driven back, and with our alliance, Rain may finally see peace after decades of conflict."
"It's unbelievable."
"This is war," Hanzō replied quietly.
"The victor receives the reward. If we had lost… the chaos would only deepen."
Chiyo nodded slowly.
"Let's reorganize the troops."
"Only one battle remains—our final decisive fight."
---
At the Same Time — Konoha, Hokage Building
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu jolted upright.
Before them, a small slug relayed the latest news:
"Orochimaru and Tsunade may have been defeated."
"You don't need to panic," said the 40-centimeter slug atop the Hokage's desk.
"According to the contract resonance, Tsunade-sama is still alive. But she was indeed struck down by Hanzō."
"There may have been… complications."
"Thank you, Great Slug Sage!"
Homura and Koharu bowed deeply.
"With that, I'll take my leave."
A puff of white smoke—and the slug vanished.
The two advisors felt their stomachs tighten.
"If something's happened to Tsunade, and Hanzō's force is advancing, then the Ame front really is collapsing."
"Rain Country can be lost… but Tsunade must not die."
After Tobirama's death, Konoha lacked the power to suppress the other villages.
They began experimenting with Hashirama's cells.
Many Senju clan members were taken into the labs—and never returned.
The remainder of the Senju… Some abandoned their surname and lived as civilians.
Some died on the battlefield, their bodies left in foreign lands.
Now, in the entire village, only two Senju remained:
Tsunade and her younger brother.
A founding clan… reduced to two people in less than ten years.
If Tsunade died—The Senju Clan would effectively be extinct.
And worst of all—Homura and Koharu knew exactly how this would look:
You weakened the great clans to empower civilian shinobi.
And in the process, you allowed one of the founding clans to be erased.
"How will the other clans react…?"
Homura exhaled shakily.
"Send the message to Hiruzen."
"He's the Hokage—and he's already at the front."
"Let him decide."
"…Yes. There's no other choice."