Looking at the result of his handiwork before him, Hoshiyomi couldn't help but recall his battle against the Third Raikage.
If he had possessed this skill when facing the Third Raikage's One-Finger Nukite, Hoshiyomi felt he wouldn't have even needed to use Heavenly Rift Flowing Light to evade.
He wouldn't have needed to activate Sage Mode either. He could have directly used Ultimate: Swallow Return or Ultimate: Heavenly Soaring Dragon Flash to finish off the Third Raikage outright.
No, using those would be overly brutal. Simply using the sword energy formed from Ultimate: Attack or Ultimate: Nature Transformation would have been enough to cleave the Third Raikage in two.
Ultimate Slash sword energy capable of splitting a small mountain was already something the Third Raikage's Lightning Release Armor could no longer withstand. Hoshiyomi even felt that, with the boost from his Ultimate slash, splitting open a Susanoo with his blade was no longer just a joke.
If before Hoshiyomi had lacked a true trump card for hard countering powerful enemies, now he had no weaknesses left.
Grandmaster-level swordsmanship was already equivalent to super-Kage power. Hoshiyomi's super-Kage strength combined with such techniques, stacked with the effects of Ultimate Slash, gave him destructive power that, while not quite at Six Paths level, could at least be considered "semi–Six Paths."
Honestly, Hoshiyomi could already picture himself clashing head-on with techniques like Chibaku Tensei or Shinra Tensei.
As for the likes of Ōnoki or tailed beasts in the war? He could only scoff—not worth worrying about at all.
If Hoshiyomi were to face the Four-Tails again, he wouldn't even need to enhance his Water Release sword energy with Life Reincarnation Flow. Just his ordinary Water Release sword energy alone should be enough to bring it down. And with Ultimate: Attack, it would be an instant kill—no doubt about it.
Among the nine tailed beasts, the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails were the strongest. Since the Third Raikage had once fought the Eight-Tails to mutual exhaustion, Hoshiyomi—who could now instantly kill the Raikage at full power—could clearly do the same to a tailed beast.
At his current level, Hoshiyomi might not yet be ready to face Rinnegan Madara or Six Paths Madara. But against Hashirama or Edo Tensei Madara, he could confidently guarantee that neither of them would walk away unscathed.
After testing the power of the Ultimate Slash, Hoshiyomi, satisfied, stepped onto the Grass Long Sword, Kusanagi Blade and returned to Konoha. Unbeknownst to him, the severed small mountain he left behind would later be regarded as a divine miracle for a long time.
It became known as one of the Three Great Wonders of the Land of Fire. Common folk even built a temple there, offering daily prayers and sacrifices, hoping that the great deity who had left this miracle would protect their homeland with peace and prosperity.
...
Deep underground, in a shadowy cavern—
White Zetsu quietly emerged from the ground, grinning as he reported to Madara:
"Lord Madara, Lord Madara, more intelligence has just arrived."
By now, Madara was already old and frail. He wasn't quite at the point of imminent death, but he minimized all activity, surviving day to day only through the Gedo Statue's constant infusion.
It was little different from a state of suspended animation, his body's functions suppressed to the bare minimum in order to extend his life as much as possible.
At White Zetsu's words, Madara slowly opened his eyes from where he sat on a stone chair.
"Out with it. Don't waste my time with chatter."
White Zetsu chuckled and began to recount the latest developments across the shinobi world in detail.
When Madara heard of Hoshiyomi's exploits and the shifting movements of the Five Great Villages, a faint spark of vitality finally returned to his expression.
"Good. The plan hasn't deviated. As expected, the wars between the Four Great Villages will only become fiercer from here. The worsening external conflict will surely destabilize Amegakure's internal situation.
The day when Nagato will be forced to taste true despair is drawing near. In that case, let's make the flames of this war burn even brighter."
Madara's voice was low and deliberate:
"Go inform all the White Zetsu operating outside. From now on, have them transform into the likeness of high-ranking shinobi from each village, stirring up the Kage to push for deploying their jinchūriki in battle.
Also, tell Tobi to wait until the Third Great War reaches its peak—then he can find the right time to initiate so-called 'peace talks.'"
After finishing, Madara actually seemed to have a rare flicker of energy. He hesitated for a moment before speaking again:
"And don't cut off intelligence from Konoha. See if we can spot some promising seedlings. For a plan of this magnitude, I'll only feel secure if we have extra safeguards in place."
...
Whether it was Madara's secret orders taking effect or simply that Kumogakure and Iwagakure had grown weary of resting, half a year after the great battle between Kumo and Suna, the Third Great Ninja War officially entered its third stage.
"Bang!"
The door of the Hokage's office was slammed open. An Anbu shinobi staggered in, breathless, and dropped to one knee before Tsunade, urgently reporting:
"Lady Tsunade, the intel division has just intercepted the latest information. Last week, Iwagakure and Kumogakure formally forged an alliance—and it seems they've already agreed to jointly deploy tailed beasts into the war.
As of now, Kumo has dispatched their Two-Tails jinchūriki, and Iwa has sent their Five-Tails jinchūriki. Each is leading a force of five thousand shinobi, and they're already en route to the Land of Fire's border.
Based on the intelligence we have, there are already ten thousand Iwa and Kumo shinobi massed along the Fire Country border. Adding the jinchūriki-led reinforcements, their numbers reach thirty thousand in total."
"What?!"
Even Tsunade was startled by the sudden report. Her grip slipped under the shock, and the reinforced pen in her hand was crushed with two deep dents.
But there was no time to fuss over that. She quickly snapped at the Anbu around her:
"Pass my order—assemble a jōnin council meeting in one hour! Every Konoha jōnin not on assignment must be present!"
The jōnin council lasted from the afternoon all the way until past eleven at night. When it finally ended, the assembled jōnin left the Hokage building one by one, their expressions grim.
Thirty thousand shinobi, backed by two tailed beasts and two Kage-level fighters—this was by far the largest-scale battle in history. Even Konoha, the greatest of the Five Great Villages, would need to be at its absolute sharpest to face it.
After the meeting, a blizzard of personnel adjustments swept through Konoha. Facing such a terrifying force, neither Tsunade nor Shikaku dared to continue holding back Konoha's true strength.
Virtually every combat-capable unit was mobilized.
It was decided that Hoshiyomi, Jiraiya, and Shinku would head to the Iwagakure front to block their advance, while Orochimaru, Sakumo, and Minato would lead the defense against Kumogakure's offensive.
Each front would be reinforced with ten thousand Konoha shinobi, stationed along the Fire Country's borders, with strict orders to stop the thirty thousand enemy shinobi from ever breaching their territory.
Within Konoha itself, only ten thousand shinobi remained, together with Tsunade, to hold the village—leaving the village in its most vulnerable state in history.
What none of Konoha, Kumo, or Iwa anticipated was that in this three-way clash, a fourth hidden power was quietly waiting. They had their claws poised, ready to strike at the very moment Konoha stood most defenseless.