While the "Yellow Flash" and the "AB Combination" were performing their high-velocity speed legend on the northeastern border, the Third Great Ninja War was raging in a different, more brutal, and massive form in the northwest of the Land of Fire. If the northeast was a duel of "Latency and Speed," the northwest was a "Brute Force Stress Test" of the highest order.
Iwagakure Jonin, Higashi Shinin, a powerful figure renowned for his ruthless, iron-blooded nature and command of large-scale "Massive Parallel Processing" military operations, led Iwagakure's main army like a breaching torrent of earth and stone. They had already violently crushed the weak resistance of the Land of Grass, their vanguard pointing directly at the Land of Fire's primary mainland firewall.
Iwa's strategy was as simple as it was effective: relying on a numerical superiority of ninja-units that far surpassed Konoha's, they engaged in a frontal, head-on, crushing advance. To an engineer like me, it looked like a "DDoS Attack" on a physical scale. Thousands of Iwa ninjas battered Konoha's defenses like a tide; they were skilled in Earth Release, possessed high-durability hardware (defenses), and advanced slowly but relentlessly. Every meter of ground was bought with blood and high-output Ninjutsu.
When the news reached the Land of Rivers front, I sat atop the Mirage, parsing the data. Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was clearly overwhelmed. The pressure of fighting on three primary fronts was stretching Konoha's "RAM" to its limit. He had been forced to drain the Village's internal security and secondary defense directories just to scrape together a force capable of resisting Higashi Shinin's main army.
"Order! Effective immediately, Jiraiya will be fully responsible for the northwest front! You must repel the enemy before they corrupt the nation's core!" Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice carried an unprecedented gravity. He was deploying one of his most trusted "Legacy Assets", a member of the Sannin.
Jiraiya, the arrogant ninja with long white hair, accepted this weighty mission and rushed to the front line. When he arrived, the scene was catastrophic. The Iwagakure Ninjas covered the mountains and plains like a moving fortress of rock. Their slow, unstoppable advancing formation was a "Heavy-Armor Script" that Konoha couldn't bypass.
The battle erupted instantly.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!""Earth Release: Rock Stealing Rod!"
The Iwagakure units cooperated with a tacit, hive-mind efficiency, deploying numerous Ninjutsu that massively reformatted the terrain. They attempted to swallow and divide Konoha's defense line into isolated, vulnerable clusters.
Jiraiya led the charge, standing at the very front of the battle line. "Fire Release: Great Flame Bomb!""Ninja Art: Needle Jizō!"
Massive fireballs roared, incinerating the earth-flow in front of him, while his white, high-tensile hair protected his body like a biological shield, deflecting incoming projectiles. His immense physical torque and fierce fighting style provided a much-needed "Morale Patch" for the Konoha troops.
However, even a Sannin's individual bravery seemed insignificant against an army of ten thousand ninjas. Iwa's numerical advantage was simply too great. They could rotate their squads in "Duty Cycles," attacking in shifts to prevent fatigue. Konoha's defense line was under immense pressure, and the casualty count continued to climb. Through the eyes of my Spider Drones positioned near the periphery of the war-zone, I could see the battle line slowly shifting deeper into the Land of Fire.
"This can't go on," Jiraiya whispered, looking at his exhausted subordinates. He realized that to break this "Hard-Lock," he needed power that transcended conventional Ninjutsu. He needed a "System Overclock" that only the Great Toads of Mount Myōboku could provide.
He found a relatively safe corner and summoned the two Toad Sages, Fukasaku and Shima.
"Mother, Father! I'm counting on you! Initialize the Co-processing link!" Jiraiya sat cross-legged, focused his mind, and began absorbing Natural Energy.
From my perspective in the Land of Rivers, my own Natural Energy Core inside the Mirage began to vibrate. It was sensing a "Peer-to-Peer" connection, a massive influx of the world's original energy being drawn into a biological vessel.
This was Sage Mode.
In my old life as Logan, I would have described this as a "Biological Overclocking" where the user integrates environmental energy (Eₑₙᵥ) with their internal spiritual (Eₛ) and physical (Eₚ) energies. The resulting energy density can be modeled as:
Eₛₐ₉ₑ = α(Eₚ + Eₛ) + β ∫ Ψₙₐₜᵤᵣₐₗ dt
Where α and β are the synchronization coefficients of the user. Jiraiya's coordination with the two Sages, Fukasaku and Shima allowed them to act as "External Co-processors," handling the "Memory Management" of the Natural Energy while Jiraiya focused on the "Output."
When Jiraiya opened his eyes, they had transformed into horizontal frog-pupils. A massive, terrifying pressure spread out centered on him.
"Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon!"
Jiraiya's white hair shot out like an explosion, transforming into millions of senbon wrapped in high-density Natural Energy. It wasn't just a physical attack; it was a "Metallic Storm" that swept through the Iwa vanguard with a velocity that ignored Earth Release armor.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
Sage Fukasaku used Wind Release to increase oxygen, Sage Shima used Fire Release to provide the ignition, and Jiraiya used Oil Release to provide the fuel. The combination created a "Thermobaric Torrent" that instantly turned large sections of the Iwa position into scorched earth.
Jiraiya charged into the enemy formation like a true war beast. Wherever he went, Iwagakure's "Fortress Script" crumbled. He wasn't just killing units; he was destroying Iwa's "Tactical Rhythm."
Higashi Shinin attempted to mobilize elite forces to surround the Sage, but he found it impossible to even establish a "Target Lock." Jiraiya's speed, sensory range, and raw destructive power were too high. Iwa's numerical advantage, in the face of a power that transcended the scope of conventional Ninjutsu, appeared utterly pale and ineffective for the first time.
The situation on the northwest battlefield was forcefully reversed by the presence of one man. The name of "Gōketsu" Jiraiya once again echoed across the continent, but this time, it was accompanied by another awe-inspiring title "Toad Sage."
Sitting on the Mirage, I closed my eyes and analyzed the energy spike. "So that's how a biological system handles Natural Energy," I murmured to Shiori, who was busy recalibrating the squad's medical supplies. "He uses co-processors to manage the load. It's efficient, but it's temporary."
I touched the matte-charcoal hull of the Mirage. My "Natural Energy Core" used a Spirit Siphoning Seal and an adamantine-alloy containment field to achieve the same result, but without the time-limit of Sage Mode.
"The global meta is shifting," I thought, my 30-year-old soul feeling a sense of cold competition. "First the 'Yellow Flash,' now the 'Toad Sage.' The world is moving toward high-energy, zero-latency combat. My 'Mirage Protocol' needs to accelerate. Version 2.0 isn't just an upgrade; it's a necessity for survival."
Konoha's northwest defense line had finally stabilized, forming a new stalemate. But as long as the "Toad Sage" stood there, Iwa's iron hooves would not advance another step. The Third Great Ninja War was no longer a war of attrition; it was becoming a war of "God-Tier Anomalies."
"Captain Iryō," I said, looking at our squad leader. "The 'Sage' has stabilized the Leaf's front. That means Iwa will likely increase the pressure here in the Land of Rivers to compensate. We need to initialize our 'Counter-Infiltration' scripts immediately."
The sand was shifting again, and the storm was only getting hotter.