Torifu then said to the villagers kneeling on the ground, "This man will guide us, but I will not kill him. Once we reach Amegakure, we will release him and he will return here."
The villagers, of course, nodded repeatedly, constantly saying, "Thank you, sir, for sparing our lives." In reality, they had already decided in their hearts that this person would never return alive. After all, during a war, who would care about the lives of civilians? The villagers who had left either wandered aimlessly or sought refuge with relatives in the royal city. Amegakure simply didn't care about their lives. If they hadn't seen the army pass by a few days ago, they wouldn't have even known a war was coming.
Torifu didn't care what they thought. All he had to do was return the man safely when the time came.
"This should be a safe place for now. I advise you not to run around, or if you run into ninja from other countries, I can't guarantee they won't kill you."
Among the people kneeling was an old man, likely an elder in the village. He trembled as he spoke, "Sir, can you tell me why you are invading our country? Isn't this a time of peace?"
Torifu looked at him and then shook his head. "We don't want war, but Hanzō, the leader of Amegakure, declared war on us and two other countries. We have no choice but to respond."
The old man felt as though his world was collapsing. "Three countries... he... how dare he! How could he dare to do this!"
Torifu sighed, then led his army away from the village. As Torifu had said, peace never truly existed, and there was no such thing as a period of peace. It was just that these people had been living in a country without war. But now, their country was at war, too. It might even be erased from the world map, like the former Land of Lightning, becoming a country that only existed in history.
"Show us the way to Amegakure."
Kagami gave the man, who was now under the control of Genjutsu, his orders. The man said groggily, "Head west from here."
Torifu nodded, and the army immediately set off, advancing quickly to the west.
Inside Amegakure, Hanzō was in a room sharpening his scythe, causing sparks to fly.
"Hanzō-sama, with the medicine you gave us, we now have forty ninja who have reached Kage-level!"
Hanzō scoffed. "That's far fewer than I expected."
The ninja replied helplessly, "There were supposed to be over fifty, but thirteen were killed by Konoha's ninja."
Upon hearing the name Konoha, Hanzō's hands paused. "This time, I want to see if the Third Hokage can still hold on to his title of God of Shinobi!"
His subordinate brazenly flattered him. "Hmph! The only one worthy of the title of 'God' is Hanzō-sama!"
Hanzō laughed heartily. "I went to the Land of Iron that day, and the so-called samurai were simply no match. No wonder they have fallen so far. Just hearing my name was enough to make them scatter and flee for their lives. They are just a bunch of guys with titles and nothing else."
"By the way, what's the status of the Kazekage's and Tsuchikage's forces? Did we send anyone to scout them?"
The ninja immediately replied, "Of course. I've been monitoring the battle. The Kage-level ninja we sent out have them tied down. It will be a while before they can reach the village."
Hanzō nodded. This accomplished his goal, but it could only hold them off for a little while. The ninja whose strength had been forcefully increased by the medicine only had a lifespan of one or two days. Soon, the Kazekage and Tsuchikage would lead their armies to Amegakure, but Hanzō wasn't worried. The current Kazekage and Tsuchikage were each the strongest their villages had ever had, but the only one Hanzō truly respected was the Hokage.
"Where are the Hokage's forces?"
"Well, Hanzō-sama... The ninja we sent to stop them were no match for Konoha. After two clashes, they realized they couldn't win and retreated quickly, as per your orders."
"But all of our informants along the way were killed, and we received no information. The only thing we know is that our people successfully outran Konoha's ninja."
Hanzō sighed. "As expected, they're still too weak. The leader of their group should already be a mid-level Kage, yet he couldn't even hold off the Hokage. It seems the Hokage is even stronger than me."
"There's one more thing, Hanzō-sama..."
Hanzō was a little irritated. "Stop dawdling and just say it."
His subordinate quickly complied. "In addition to the Hokage, all the Kage-level clan heads from Konoha were mobilized. And Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama came as well."
"What? Those two old men came, too? They must be too old to even walk, right? They still have the energy to fight in a war? How interesting."
In Hanzō's mind, Senju Hashirama was a relic of the last century. He was probably old and toothless by now. Being able to use ninjutsu at all would be impressive, so Hanzō paid them no mind.
But the fact was different from what he thought. "That's not the case."
"What isn't?"
"I said that the two brothers, Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama, are still in peak condition. They look like they are in the prime of their lives and show no signs of fatigue during battle. They don't seem like old men at all."
Hanzō laughed and waved his hand. "You must have seen them wrong. They are almost eighty years old. How could they still look like they are in the prime of their lives? They must just have descendants who look a lot like them."
Since the lord was so confident, the subordinate naturally didn't dare to say anything to dampen his spirits. He just silently retreated to the side.
At this point, Hanzō began to sharpen his scythe again, as if preparing for the upcoming great battle. He had always used the Hokage as his imagined enemy. After all, the Hokage was called the God of Shinobi, and Hanzō had coveted that title for a long time.
He had never actually fought the Hokage before, and he only knew about the Hokage's strength from what he had heard. He knew that the Hokage possessed multiple Kekkei Genkai.
And now, their battle was about to begin. Hanzō was very excited, and the movements of his hands grew a little faster. The scythe was sharpened to an incredible degree, and its blade reflected Hanzō's face.
"Hokage, today you will taste the sharpness of my scythe."
Meanwhile, Torifu and his forces were continuing their journey west at a moderate speed, and they would likely reach Amegakure by nightfall. Along the way, the ninja were replenishing their energy, cleaning their weapons, and checking their various tools. This was to prevent any mishaps during the battle.
Torifu looked at the endless lake in front of them and said, "Keep heading west, and when we reach a large lake, we should turn north. That's what he said, right?"
Kagami nodded. "That's right. I remember."
"Good. It looks like we'll be reaching Amegakure very soon."