Yako had always avoided confronting Rasa directly, for one reason—
That man's Gold Dust Burial could pin him in place.
And he feared being captured more than he feared being killed.
These new serpent-shaped puppets were similarly problematic.
He dodged a few times. They still coiled around him like hunting beasts, synchronized and relentless.
He struck one with a hand-chop and sliced it clean in half.
What surprised him—
The two halves kept moving. Still writhing, still circling him under chakra thread control.
'Useless to slice them,' he realized.
So he stopped engaging the puppets—
And moved fast.
Before they could fully ensnare him, he completed his jutsu.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
A compressed stream blasted from his mouth—
First cleaving the snake puppet before him,
Then slicing toward Takuji's wife.
She had already been worn down by Hatake Sakumo.
Too drained to react.
Too slow to dodge.
As death approached, she finally doubted everything she'd built in twenty years.
Her puppets… her art…
'Completely countered.'
She had never felt so powerless.
Her body split in half.
Each side fell in opposite directions.
"Aaaahh—!"
"AAAHHH!"
Takuji caught the moment in the corner of his eye.
His wife's death—
And then he snapped.
Yako retreated immediately.
Takuji drew one final scroll—
Unsealing twenty more puppets, throwing everything at Sakumo.
But Sakumo didn't flinch.
He charged straight in.
The white arcs of his chakra blade flared like fangs, ripping through puppet after puppet.
Yako thought:
'My Absolute Defense neutralizes puppets.
But Sakumo's White Fang…
It shatters them.'
Even fully reinforced iron puppets—
Useless against the searing edge of refined Lightning Release.
Takuji held on for one brutal minute—
Until a white arc caught him directly.
His body split like his wife's.
Two clean halves.
Sakumo lifted his blade and waved.
His adjutant shouted:
"Fire the signal flare! The enemy commander is dead—CHARGE!"
Takuji, deputy commander of the Sand,
died on the banks of the Yoshimizu River.
He was the highest-profile casualty of this war.
A genius of puppet arts.
Praised by the Second Kazekage.
Son of advisor Chiyo.
Nephew of Ebizō.
He was the future of Sunagakure.
And now he was gone.
The blow to the Sand was massive.
To compare…
It was as if Tsunade had died in this war.
Same bloodline.
Same power.
Same hope.
If Tsunade had fallen,
Konoha would be out for blood.
Yako returned to his squad.
"Let's go. We're moving with the charge and documenting the battle."
Fox Squad advanced to the riverbanks.
From a distance, Yako spotted Sakumo standing over a body—
A fallen comrade.
For two seconds, Sakumo mourned.
Then he raised his blade—
And rushed into the crowd of enemy shinobi.
White arcs of lightning crackled from his blade—
Shredding both man and machine alike.
Yako felt a twinge of envy.
'Why is my primary chakra nature Earth…
If I had Lightning Release… would I be that lethal too?
More importantly… it looks cool as hell.'
Let's be honest: ten people out of ten would pick "White Fang" over "Copper Turtle."
But… copying White Fang's blade light?
That'd be hard to explain.
'What am I supposed to do? Accuse Sakumo of having a secret love child?
Maybe not Sakumo… maybe his father had a late-life indiscretion…'
He shook the thought off.
Back to observing.
Sakumo's elite unit pushed ahead.
He slashed through Sand ranks—five enemies with every swing.
Konoha's forces surged forward.
The river was choked with bodies and puppet fragments.
The shores were piled high with corpses and debris.
They chased Sand shinobi all the way to the mouth of the river.
The last few dozen survivors boarded a small boat, desperate to flee.
From the shoreline, they looked back—
Konoha's troops stood in two endless rows,
stretching out like a corridor of death from river to sea.
They were outnumbered.
Over 500 elite Sand shinobi—nearly all wiped out.
Konoha had fielded 600.
More than 400 remained.
A crushing defeat.
The Sand's flanking strike had turned into a massacre.
And just when those last twenty shinobi thought their nightmare was over—
A single white arc split the boat in two.
Some of the unlucky ones?
Split with it.
Two halves of a body hit the water,
their eyes still locked on each other in silent terror.
Yako watched Sakumo's blade gleam one final time, ending the last of the survivors.
He shook his head.
Purple Cat asked, "Captain, is something wrong?"
"No." Yako said.
"But if it were me… I'd have let those last few go."
"Why?"
"Who's going to tell the world how strong you are if you leave no witnesses?
Killing them all is like wearing fine robes in the dark.
No one sees it."
"Let them go.
Let them live in fear for the rest of their lives.
Let them spread the legend of Hatake Sakumo."
Purple Cat scribbled it down.
"'Captain of Fox Squad suggests: don't kill everyone. Leave some to spread terror.'"
"Add this too," Yako said.
"'Sakumo's strong—but he doesn't understand people.'"
Sakumo sheathed his blade, looked over the battlefield—
And instantly appeared beside Yako.
"Fox," he said.
"I'm redeploying my elites to the main battlefield. The enemy's rear attack has failed."
"You're the commander, sir. I support your judgment."
"Good."
Sakumo's adjutant had already briefed him—
Fox had acted twice:
First, helping the water-nature battalion secure the upstream gorge, enabling the flood strategy.
Second, eliminating Takuji's wife, reducing the pressure on Sakumo.
Two strikes.
Both at critical moments.
Both shifted the battle.
Sakumo had taken notice.
He chose 100 of the remaining 400 shinobi.
The rest would stay behind—salvage supplies, heal the wounded, and clear the poisoned.
With 100 elites and Fox Squad, Sakumo set off—
Headed straight for the main battlefield.
Two hours later—
Yako saw it.
The four commanders of both armies were already wreaking havoc.
The Sand's General Ebizō stood beneath two 100-meter-high tornadoes, conjured by the village's strongest Wind Release.
Nothing could approach within fifty meters.
The Sand's deputy, Rasa, floated above a massive wave of Gold Dust, standing atop a compact orb of the metal.
Konoha's General, Nara Shikakaku, was flanked by a gigantic Akimichi Yamashiro, swollen by Multi-Size Technique.
He'd already lost an arm.
But with a single remaining hand, he wielded an iron staff that could shatter the land with every swing.
And the Deputy Commander of Konoha—Tsunade—rode atop Katsuyu.
The slug queen spit streams of acid, matching Rasa's golden waves blow for blow.
Sakumo assessed it all at a glance.
"The left, center, and right are locked in stalemates," he said.
"Come with me—
We're breaking through the left flank."