Sakumo and Hoshiyomi, leading the eastern and western divisions, didn't linger long in Konoha. With two full divisions—twenty thousand Konoha shinobi—they brought massive supplies to the frontlines in less than three days.
Naturally, during the march, Iwa and Kumo shinobi tried their share of harassment and ambushes. But under Hoshiyomi and the others' overwhelming power, not a single raider survived to return to their own camps.
On the very first day both sides reached the battlefield, fierce combat broke out. Though it was only meant to be a probing clash, neither side held back in the numbers they sent.
On the Kumogakure front, the still seriously wounded Third Raikage dispatched his confidant, Dodai, to lead five thousand shinobi and set up camp directly near the Land of Wind, their military might aimed straight at the Land of Fire's border.
In response, the Konoha forces did not back down either. Five thousand Konoha shinobi, led by Orochimaru and Minato, directly left their camp and engaged the Kumo shinobi in a major battle.
This was Minato's first battle as commander—and his performance was nothing short of dazzling.
First, he had Jiraiya lead three thousand shinobi in a feigned assault. Then, using his terrifying mobility, Minato struck from the rear. The surprise maneuver shattered Kumo's vanguard force in a single sweep.
In that clash, Kumogakure lost over two thousand men, while Konoha's casualties numbered fewer than five hundred—undeniably a major victory.
Minato himself, through the deadly precision of the Flying Thunder God, slew ten elite jōnin in rapid succession, forcing Dodai into a panicked retreat.
After this battle, Minato's reputation finally began to shine. The few survivors who staggered back to Kumo claimed that, as Hoshiyomi's disciple, Minato had perfectly inherited his legacy of speed—that his swiftness was comparable to the Third Raikage himself.
To capture the essence of Minato's speed, Kumo shinobi even began calling him the "Yellow Flash."
This was the very first time the name "Yellow Flash" began to spread across the shinobi world.
But Kumo was not the sort of village to swallow humiliation so easily, and the old Raikage was no simple man. The wily veteran had prepared a second move.
While Dodai fought Minato and Jiraiya head-on, the Raikage secretly dispatched another force to bypass Sakumo and Orochimaru, striking in a surprise raid. Through this maneuver, the old man managed to erase the advantage Minato had just carved out.
Meanwhile, on the Iwa front, the situation was much the same—though Konoha's casualties there were somewhat heavier than on Minato's side.
Because Hoshiyomi had to stay in the rear to guard against Ōnoki or the Five-Tails jinchūriki Han launching a surprise strike, the frontlines were entrusted entirely to Jiraiya and Nawaki.
By now, Nawaki was already in his early twenties. With Hoshiyomi's occasional guidance, the notes left behind by Hashirama, and Tobirama's ninjutsu teachings, his strength had grown by leaps and bounds.
In terms of ability, he was already equal to, if not stronger than, the original story's Yamato. Their Wood Release skills were on par, but Nawaki's Senju bloodline—a natural "blue buff" in itself—made him superior.
As Hashirama's direct grandson, further empowered by Hashirama's cells, Nawaki—though still only at elite jōnin level—possessed chakra reserves nearly equal to Tsunade's, without her Strength of a Hundred Seal active.
With such overwhelming chakra paired with mastery of Wood Release and Water Release, Nawaki had become a devastating artillery piece on the battlefield.
If Minato's fights were displays of flair with the Flying Thunder God, then Nawaki was the one who sat in the rear, burying enemies in terrifying waves of Wood Release AOE.
In terms of killing elite jōnin, Nawaki couldn't match Minato. But when it came to mowing down enemy ranks? Ten Minatos together couldn't compare to Nawaki unleashing a single Great Forest Technique.
In the very first clash with Iwagakure, Nawaki's Great Forest Technique smashed apart the massive Earth-Release walls raised by Iwa shinobi. That one jutsu alone left the Iwa shinobi crying out in despair, screaming and cursing as they fled.
They could only gasp in horror and awe, calling him—
"Konoha's Little Hashirama."
After the battle ended, Nawaki—just like Minato—earned a title of his own: "Konoha's Budding Green Sapling."
With one known as the "Yellow Flash" and the other as the "Budding Green Sapling," both around the same age, each carved out tremendous reputations on the Kumo and Iwa battlefields.
This immediately reminded many of the Second Great Ninja War, when the young Hoshiyomi and Sakumo had fought side by side as the famed duo, the "Twin Stars of Konoha"—the "Silver Fang" combination.
For a time, the people of Konoha began calling Minato and Nawaki the new generation "Twin Stars of Konoha."
Some even boldly predicted that the next Hokage and the future head of the ANBU would, without doubt, come from this very pair.
Of course, Konoha shinobi weren't the only ones rising to fame on the battlefield. Shinobi from other villages also made their names known—for example, Kumo's "AB Combo," and Iwa's Kitsuchi along with Akatsuchi.
These rising stars always emerged in the wake of major battles, and as their fame grew louder, the war between Konoha, Iwa, and Kumo only grew more intense.
Day after day, fighting stretched from morning until evening. Only at night did both sides gain a brief truce to gather their comrades' corpses—so their souls could return home and to prevent outbreaks of plague.
The two sides fought like gamblers who had wagered everything, pouring all resources into the Land of Fire's border, neglecting many affairs back in their own villages. Supplying the warfront became the absolute priority.
But in such conditions, opportunities arose for others to exploit—like the shinobi of Kirigakure, who had long foreseen this kind of drawn-out war and prepared well in advance.
…
In a dense forest outside Konoha, five burly Kiri shinobi sat eating their lunch, radiating a terrifying aura.
"Peh!" One enormously fat man, round like a ball of flesh, spat out a fruit pit and bared his mouthful of shark-like teeth, cursing angrily:
"Damn it! Kushimaru Kuriarare and Jūzō Biwa—those bastards have been out 'scouting' for days now without sending back a single word! Don't tell me they're really checking Konoha's patrol routes. No, those two mutts have definitely run off to play with women, enjoying themselves on some wench's belly while leaving us here gnawing on sour fruit!
What the hell is there to be afraid of in Konoha, anyway? All their big names are busy on the frontlines fighting those Iwa and Kumo scum. The seven of us charging in right now—are you telling me we can't carve a bloody path through?"
This man was none other than Suikazan Fuguki, wielder of the great blade Samehada, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. After lying in wait outside Konoha for so long, his already thin patience had been completely worn away. At this point, his mind held only a single thought: killing.
Jinpachi Munashi, standing nearby, grinned widely upon hearing this.
"Hey, don't put it like that. Try to think positively. Maybe they just ran into some Konoha shinobi and died out there, hm?"