The sudden assault of Konoha's army pushed the already chaotic Sunagakure camp into complete collapse.
Under Hoshiyomi's lead, countless Sunagakure shinobi had already fallen at the main gate. Worse still, once the gate was breached, more and more Konoha shinobi poured in to press the attack.
Hoshiyomi and Tsunade were like twin blades stabbing straight into the heart of the Suna ranks. Ebizō and Chiyo had no time to rally their forces and were swept backward, carried along with the panicked Suna shinobi retreating to the rear.
That's the nature of war: when the two sides are not evenly matched, and the weaker side loses initiative with no reinforcements in sight, the battle's outcome is already all but sealed.
Though the Suna shinobi barely managed to form up into some semblance of a defensive line, they no longer had the strength to fight back. The initial chaos had caused too many casualties, and now Konoha held absolute advantage.
Their resistance was feeble at best. Even when they occasionally gathered enough order to form a proper defensive stance, Tsunade and Hoshiyomi shattered it instantly with sheer overwhelming power.
Against such suppressive force, Ebizō and Chiyo dared not meet the fight head-on. But their evasiveness, seen by their own subordinates, only crushed Sunagakure's morale further.
Though more than fifteen hundred still remained, the army was driven like livestock, forced to retreat step by step under Konoha's relentless pressure.
In the midst of the flight, no one noticed a Sunagakure medical-nin gradually falling behind—or perhaps some did, but had no attention to spare.
And so Nono slowly slipped to the rear of the fleeing column… then crossed over to join Konoha's forces.
When Hoshiyomi quickly explained her true identity, realization dawned among the Konoha shinobi. Their faces lit with admiration—without Nono, who knew how long they would have had to wait for such a chance?
Assigning her to Tsunade's side, Hoshiyomi didn't slow down. He pressed the pursuit of Sunagakure's broken army.
Meanwhile, within the fleeing masses, Chiyo and Ebizō at last regained control of the central force after much shouting, reclaiming command of their troops.
Looking upon their terrified subordinates, Ebizō knew full well they could not afford to turn and fight here. Raising his voice, he shouted:
"Our second-largest camp is not far ahead! As long as we can join forces with the men there, the Konoha shinobi on our tail can be wiped out in an instant!"
Ebizō's shouts somewhat restored the morale of the Suna shinobi. The panic on many of their faces gradually disappeared. They were now ready to follow his orders, link up with their comrades in the rear camp, and then turn back to strike a blow at the Konoha shinobi.
But when at last they reached the second camp and merged with the troops there, the scene that greeted them was despair itself.
From both flanks erupted the thunderous battle cries of Konoha shinobi. The faces of Ebizō and Chiyo paled—Konoha's forces had already linked up.
The plan to counterattack Konoha was instantly reduced to a cruel joke. The rear guard, having just turned to face the enemy, was utterly crushed by Shinku and Orochimaru's advancing troops.
Fight? What fight? The only choice now was to flee for their lives.
Behind them, Suna shinobi screamed one after another as they were cut down. Those still ahead, with a little distance left between themselves and the Konoha pursuers, turned ghostly pale.
Every ounce of strength was spent in a desperate sprint, each cursing their parents for not giving them two more legs.
Then someone in the front shouted:
"As long as we can make it back to the Land of Wind, there's still hope!"
The words resonated instantly. Almost everyone agreed without thinking—here in the unfamiliar Land of Rain, they could never fight to full strength. Only back on their own soil might they hope to counterattack.
"Nonsense! Under no circumstances are we to retreat to the Land of Wind. If we return there, we're finished!"
Hearing the words coming from the front, Ebizō roared in fury. He was no fool—he understood all too well what retreating into the Land of Wind meant.
The Land of Wind was indeed their home ground. But if they were truly forced back into it, then the war would be utterly lost. The country was nothing but vast desert, with no productivity at all. If the Konoha shinobi blockaded its borders and cut off all outside contact, Sunagakure would quickly collapse. At that point, they'd be nothing more than meat on the chopping block, to be slaughtered at will.
But the current situation was no longer his to control. Sunagakure's forces were already broken. To them, turning around to fight back was no different than putting a blade to their own throats.
Neither Ebizō's nor Chiyo's words carried any weight anymore. They were swept along helplessly by the tide of retreating shinobi, pushed step by step toward the Land of Wind.
Watching hard-won strongholds in Amegakure being abandoned so easily, Ebizō was so furious he spat a mouthful of blood, nearly collapsing unconscious.
At that moment, it was his elder sister Chiyo who steadied him:
"The defeat is already decided. There's no way to reverse it now. Turning back will only mean greater casualties. Let them go. Preserving what forces we can is better than squandering everything in a single desperate fight."
Hearing his sister's words, Ebizō sighed heavily, covering his face as tears fell. He no longer stubbornly ordered a counterattack, but silently followed the retreat back into the Land of Wind.
In that moment, the Suna shinobi completely lost their will to fight. They had become nothing more than a shattered, routed army.
The pursuit lasted from midnight until the next day's daylight.
After an entire night of running, the broken remnants of Sunagakure's army had fully retreated across the border into the Land of Wind.
The road connecting Wind and Rain was stained blood-red the entire way.
That night alone, Sunagakure had suffered no fewer than two thousand casualties—a truly devastating loss.
Looking at the shifting landscape, where open plains gave way to barren desert, Hoshiyomi finally called off the chase. He knew full well—if they pressed too far and ran into enemy reinforcements, then they would be the fools throwing away their advantage.
He had no intention of giving back what they had just won. With a commanding wave, he ordered:
"Cease the pursuit! We've chased them all night. Set up the cooking pots, eat well, and rest. After the meal, begin fortifying the camp here. I want the entire road from the Land of Wind into the Land of Rain completely sealed off. Can you do it?"
As soon as Hoshiyomi's words fell, a chorus of responses erupted from behind him, so loud their voices shook the clouds.
Although they were all exhausted from a night of chasing, their spirits were soaring like never before. The reason was simple: this was the most satisfying battle they had ever fought in their lives.
To completely drive the Suna shinobi out of the Land of Rain and back to the Land of Wind in one fell swoop—was there any war more exhilarating than this in the entire shinobi world?