Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 256: The Turnaround

The Mist ninjas' line of attack was now clear; their path forward was the Land of Waves.

After obtaining the desired intelligence, Ishiro chose to leave directly. "Now, my performance can begin."

Ishiro first, according to plan, informed the Sand and Cloud ninjas of the news about this Mist army, then sent a letter to Ikura, telling him to hold his position.

Ishiro believed that after learning another large Mist army intended to march straight for Konoha's heartland, the Sand and Cloud would not sit idly by.

This was indeed a rare opportunity. If Konoha didn't have so many strange Genin, this one strike from the Mist had the potential to subvert Konoha's hegemonic status.

But Ishiro knew the outcome of this Mist reinforcement army even better, so he did not intend to let Iwagakure get involved with Konoha at this time. Just let the Sand and Cloud make a fuss.

As expected, the subsequent developments were exactly as Ishiro had anticipated. The Cloud, Sand, and Iwa all postured as if they were about to attack.

However, on Ikura's side, it was "loud thunder but small raindrops." Every day they postured as if ready to enter the buffer zone of the Land of Grass at any moment, but they never moved from their spot.

But the Cloud and Sand truly did dispatch many squads of ninjas, increasing friction with Konoha.

At this time, among the five great hidden villages, only Konoha itself did not yet know it was about to be invaded.

Minato Namikaze didn't understand why the situation had suddenly become so unfavorable for Konoha. Clearly, when he first arrived at the front, the three hidden villages had appropriately reduced the number of their ninjas going out.

But in less than a day, they all assumed a posture as if preparing for a decisive battle. The inexperienced Minato sent a letter to Hiruzen Sarutobi via a summoning animal.

Hiruzen, upon receiving the letter, also had a headache. He hadn't been on the Land of Whirlpools battlefield for long. As soon as he arrived at the front, he launched a major battle and achieved considerable results.

But this was not enough. The Mist did not have a Kage holding the fort, but they had a Jinchuriki. Hiruzen was currently at his peak. In the battle just now, he had suppressed the Three-Tails Jinchuriki and still had the strength left to help the main Konoha army.

But at this rate, it would still take him some time to completely repel the Mist.

"Is there still time to reinforce Minato?" Hiruzen had no confidence.

However, at this moment, Hiruzen thought of another matter. Today, the state of the Three-Tails Jinchuriki on the Mist side seemed not good; the Three-Tails gave off a feeling that it could go on a rampage at any moment.

"How about this: tomorrow, in battle, I'll focus on the Three-Tails. As long as I can induce the Three-Tails to rampage, the Mist will lose their greatest reliance." Standing at the entrance of the command post, looking at the camp still busy at night, Hiruzen Sarutobi made up his mind.

Turning back into the command post, Hiruzen asked his Kage Guard captain, "How is the contact with Orochimaru's side?"

"Lord Third, Orochimaru has agreed. He will ensure that the Mist and Cloud will have at least one Kage-level individual holding the fort in their villages," the Guard Captain replied.

Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Jiraiya's death still had a great impact on Orochimaru. Otherwise, with his personality, since he had chosen to defect, it would be impossible for him to contribute to Konoha again.

With Orochimaru's guarantee, Hiruzen finally had some confidence in defeating the Mist. Kirigakure only had the Fourth Mizukage as a Kage-level individual. If Yagura Karatachi didn't leave the Mist Village, then the opposing Mist army would be easy to deal with.

"It's decided. Tomorrow, we'll deal with the Three-Tails first, then defeat the Mist in one fell swoop."

Hiruzen knew that once this decision was made, the Konoha ninjas would inevitably face a bitter battle tomorrow. This kind of quick, decisive result needed to be fought for with ninjas' lives.

Fortunately, he still had Tsunade. Tsunade was currently treating the injured ninjas. Of course, Tsunade, with her hemophobia, was just lying in her own tent, using Katsuyu to heal remotely.

Tsunade's return had a certain boosting effect on the morale of the Konoha ninjas. At least on the battlefield, everyone became less afraid of being injured.

Originally, with an overpowered medical ninja like Tsunade around, Konoha should have chosen to fight steadily, slowly gaining an advantage with low consumption, which would result in far fewer sacrifices.

But time did not permit. Minato's side was still waiting for support.

"Damn that Danzō." At this time, if Danzō would listen to Minato's command, the situation over there would surely be much better.

But ever since he came to support the Land of Whirlpools, Danzō had disappeared. Even he, Hiruzen Sarutobi, didn't know where Danzō had gone.

After thinking for a while longer, Hiruzen went to Tsunade's room. At this time, Tsunade had finished her remote healing and was resting.

The young girl Shizune at the side saw Hiruzen enter and quickly bowed and poured him tea.

Hiruzen smiled at Shizune. This little girl, just over ten years old, had been taking care of Tsunade for several years.

After taking a small sip of tea, Hiruzen said to Tsunade, "Tsunade, tomorrow during the day, don't conserve your chakra. Summon Katsuyu, and let's defeat the Three-Tails Jinchuriki together."

Tsunade was stunned, then reacted and asked, "Has the situation on Minato's side worsened?"

Hiruzen nodded and said, "Yes. We must seek a quick and decisive battle. During today's fight, I noticed the Three-Tails Jinchuriki is not in a good state. This is a breakthrough point."

Tsunade nodded without speaking. Her state was not good either. Although remote healing didn't require seeing blood, just providing chakra to Katsuyu, Tsunade herself couldn't help but think of the bloody scenes of the injured ninjas.

Seeing this, Hiruzen could only tell Tsunade to rest well, then got up and left.

The next day, Hiruzen once again led the Konoha ninjas to attack the opposing Mist forces.

As a Kage-level, Hiruzen charged at the very front, single-handedly casting multiple large-area combination ninjutsu.

On the Mist side, the Three-Tails Jinchuriki had no choice but to face Hiruzen again.

However, after seeing the Three-Tails Jinchuriki, Hiruzen became even more certain of his previous judgment. The Three-Tails' state seemed even worse than yesterday.

Hiruzen whispered to the small Katsuyu on his shoulder, "Tsunade."

Then, behind the Konoha ninjas, a huge cloud of smoke appeared, and finally, a massive Katsuyu abruptly appeared.

Seeing Katsuyu appear, on the Mist side, the commander, the head of the Hōzuki clan, Ketsugetsu Hōzuki, had a grave expression and began to worry about the upcoming battle.

A Jonin beside him said at this time, "Lord Ketsugetsu, Hiruzen Sarutobi is too strong. The Three-Tails was already struggling to deal with him, and now there's Tsunade. And the Three-Tails' state..."

Ketsugetsu naturally knew the situation was bad. He was not optimistic about this war before they set out. He didn't even understand why the higher-ups wanted to provoke Konoha first.

Gritting his teeth, Ketsugetsu asked, "Where is Tsunade?"

Another Jonin responsible for reconnaissance and sensing replied, "It seems she is still in Konoha's rear, and didn't charge over with Katsuyu. Perhaps she is treating the wounded."

Listening to the sensory ninja's ambiguous answer, Ketsugetsu's brows furrowed even tighter. Then he said, "I will hold off Katsuyu. You all retreat."

"What? But Lord Ketsugetsu, our mission is to hold on for at least five days. It's only the second day," a Jonin expressed his concern.

"We can't hold on for five days. Hiruzen is more decisive than we expected; he won't give us time. Besides, the Three-Tails can't hold on. Today should be its last burst."

"Arrange the retreat immediately." Ketsugetsu naturally knew that retreating at this time would not be easy and that he would be reprimanded by the village's higher-ups. But he had no choice. He hadn't expected the usually cautious Hiruzen to be so aggressive this time.

He had even less expected that Tsunade, who had been away from Konoha for so long, would suddenly appear on the Land of Whirlpools battlefield.

After giving the order, Ketsugetsu led several Elite Jonin to intercept Katsuyu and Hiruzen.

The battle went more smoothly than Hiruzen had anticipated. The Mist's determination to resist was far lower than he had expected. In today's battle, after a brief contact, the Mist retreated.

The speed was so fast that Hiruzen didn't even have time to arrange a large-scale pursuit.

However, the gains from this battle were not small. The Three-Tails really did go on a rampage. And the Three-Tails didn't even last until Katsuyu's attack; it completely lost control under Hiruzen's assault, which was launched without any regard for chakra consumption.

Afterward, the Three-Tails caused great damage to both the Konoha and Mist sides. It was just that Konoha, having summoned Katsuyu in advance, suffered few casualties. On the contrary, the Mist, because the Three-Tails was heading towards the sea, which was in the same direction as the Mist's retreat, suffered more attacks and greater losses.

In just two days, Hiruzen had repelled the Mist and even caused them to lose a Tailed Beast. Barring any accidents, the Mist's focus for the near future would be on recovering the Three-Tails.

"Finally, I can go support Minato," Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief.

But soon, he received news that almost made him vomit blood: a Mist team of about three thousand had deeply penetrated the Land of Fire.

This news came very untimely because that Mist army had the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist as its vanguard. The seven moved very quickly, taking out many Konoha ninjas along the way beforehand.

Because of the war, most of Konoha's ninjas were concentrated in several large armies, and there were not many scattered ninjas within the Land of Fire. Coupled with the assassinations by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, the Konoha ninjas in the early stage had basically no chance to send out intelligence.

The occasional fish that escaped the net was either killed by the main Mist army behind or by Ishiro.

So by the time Minato and Hiruzen received the news, that Mist army had already advanced halfway. Another halfway, and they would really have reached Konoha Village.

At this point, Hiruzen and Minato could no longer care about anything else. Minato directly drew two thousand front-line ninjas to reinforce Konoha.

In fact, the combat power of the ninjas left to guard Konoha Village now was not weak; it wasn't something a three-thousand-strong Mist army could take down.

But Konoha Village was the great rear. If Konoha also fell into the flames of war, then the supplies for the front lines would be completely cut off.

And Hiruzen left only two thousand ninjas in the Land of Whirlpools. The rest of the ninjas didn't even get to rest and directly rushed towards Konoha at full speed. And he himself, taking only a few Elite Jonin skilled in speed, went ahead to intercept this flanking force of the Mist.

Konoha's chaos was naturally discovered by the other parties. The Sand and Cloud ninjas very tacitly coordinated with the Mist's actions. The moment they received news that Konoha had ninjas returning for reinforcement, they led their armies into the buffer countries in between.

Then, Minato, on the same day, rushed between two battlefields, clashing with the Fourth Raikage and the Fourth Kazekage in succession.

However, what was surprising was that Iwagakure, which had been clamoring to attack, suddenly fell silent.

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