In this battle, the casualties for the Land of Earth were moderate, with around three to four hundred deaths. Although the losses were minimal in the grand scheme of things, every one of them was a living person. But that's how war is. It's impossible to have no casualties. Such a scenario would not even appear in a dream.
The ninja didn't have time to grieve. The moment day broke, they had to rush to the real front lines. They didn't know if their comrades by their side would still be the same once the war was won, or if they themselves would survive until the end of the war.
Early the next morning, the Land of Earth's army was already on the move, speeding toward Amegakure. They also adopted the method Torifu used, capturing some civilians along the way to guide them. If a civilian was unwilling, they would be threatened. Most would guide them to Amegakure just to stay alive.
"Tsuchikage-sama, according to the locals, we are not far from Amegakure. We just have to cross this lake to get there."
Onoki nodded. "Excellent. Maintain this speed and keep moving forward. The Hokage must have arrived long ago and is probably getting a little impatient."
"Yes, sir!"
The Land of Earth's army rushed toward Amegakure, while the Land of Wind's army had just finished dealing with the enemies who had been holding them back. They had killed three Kage-level ninja and the other seven had escaped. The Land of Wind's casualties were also quite severe, with nearly a thousand deaths. The main reason for this was that this wasn't a desert, so the amount of iron sand in the ground was relatively low. With less iron sand, the Third Kazekage's strength was naturally reduced, which led to such a high number of deaths for the Land of Wind.
But fortunately, their morale was still high. After burying their fallen comrades, they continued their advance toward Amegakure. Unlike the other two villages, some of their ninja had been to Amegakure before and knew the way.
"Kazekage-sama, we will reach Amegakure in about an hour and a half."
The Kazekage's furrowed brow relaxed a little. "I hope we aren't the last to arrive. That would be a little embarrassing."
"Listen to my command, full speed ahead! We must arrive within an hour!"
"Yes!" The roar was deafening, and even the puddles on the ground rippled. A small skirmish had already cost the Land of Wind a thousand ninja, so the rest of the war would likely be even more brutal.
But they had no choice but to fight! The four nations were all vying for the Land of Lightning's territory. It was understandable that the Land of Water, being so far away, couldn't get involved. But if Hanzō wanted the Land of Lightning's territory, and one of the three nations on land didn't get involved, they wouldn't get a piece of the pie once the war was over. The Land of Wind was already poor in resources. They couldn't just give up a juicy piece of meat like the Land of Lightning. There were still many resources on that land that hadn't been exploited.
This was why the Kazekage had made the difficult decision to fight Amegakure! Otherwise, he would never have broken the cautious tradition of the previous Kazekage.
He hoped that once this war was over, there would be no more wars for a while. Otherwise, it would be difficult for the Land of Wind to recover.
The armies of the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth were both fighting hard to converge on Amegakure, while Torifu had already reached Amegakure's gates. He was a little surprised to see the row of Kage-level ninja standing on the wall. Although Torifu had expected this, this was a little too many.
"There are over fifty, almost sixty Kage-level ninja. Are all the ninja in Amegakure fools? Are they just taking medicine and risking their lives for nothing?"
Torifu felt that these ninja might have some weakness that Hanzō was exploiting, forcing them to take the medicine and break through to Kage-level.
"Sir, I can sense that about half of these ninja have weak chakra, while the other half are much stronger, just like the golden-haired man."
Torifu nodded upon hearing this. The Hyuga clan's eyes could see the flow of chakra in a person's body, so if he said so, it must be true. It was safe to assume that Hanzō had called out all of his ninja, just to fight him to the death?
To be honest, Torifu still didn't understand Hanzō's actions. Did he really think that a single village could declare war on three great ninja villages?
Following a roar from inside Amegakure, all the ninja standing on the walls leaped down, rushing toward Konoha. Then the gates of Amegakure opened, and countless ninja surged out like a tide!
"Kill!"
Torifu roared and was the first to charge! Countless cloud swords condensed around him, flying toward Amegakure. Each sword could easily kill a ninja.
Torifu could have easily dealt with all of these cannon fodder by himself, but there were too many allies here. If he used an overpowered jutsu, he might injure his own people, so Torifu didn't use any large-scale destructive ninjutsu.
But even so, the cloud swords were still killing enemies very quickly. Every ninja whose chest was pierced by a cloud sword exhaled a puff of white air. If someone were to heal him, they would find that his internal organs had already frozen!
But Amegakure's Kage-level ninja weren't just for show. They all used their most powerful attacks to assault Konoha's ninja. Both sides suffered losses, but Amegakure's were much heavier!
"Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
Countless giant trees burst out of the ground! They spread across the battlefield like vines! A few branches even reached Amegakure's walls, and Konoha ninja immediately started running up them. But they were killed on the spot.
Many Amegakure ninja were crushed between the trees of the Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, unable to breathe, and were eventually suffocated to death!
When this jutsu was released, everyone once again saw the might of Hashirama, and Amegakure's morale instantly dropped.
"What are you afraid of! Kill them!"
A man jumped out from inside Amegakure, creating a deep crater in the ground where he landed. Upon hearing his voice, the Amegakure ninja acted as if they had been given a shot of adrenaline and immediately went crazy!
"Hanzō-sama! Hanzō-sama!"
Torifu looked for Hanzō's location and saw him climbing out of the muddy pit without a single speck of mud on him. He was holding a scythe and a chain hammer, similar to the Uchiha's scythe and fan, possibly an imitation. His eyes were as sharp as a hawk's, making people afraid to look at him directly. He wore a breathing mask over his mouth. This was a must-have for all Amegakure ninja, as it protected them from Hanzō's poison. His poison, from the salamander, would paralyze a person's nervous system and was one of Hanzō's deadliest weapons.
"Hokage, this is our first time meeting. I didn't expect you to be so young."
Torifu smiled. "This is also my first time meeting you. I didn't expect you to be so different from the legend. I'm quite disappointed."