"Squad leader, we must inform Lord Jiraiya. From the Cloud shinobi's current troop movements it's clear—they intend to strike through the central part of the Land of Hot Springs and sever our defensive lines at the waist."
"The Cloud's dispositions are exposed right now; their forces haven't fully deployed. We must also increase our numbers."
Hearing this, Sarutobi Shinnosuke said, "Counselor Nara, Lord Jiraiya must remain at headquarters. The First Battalion is guarding the most vital pass in the Land of Hot Springs and can't be lightly redeployed. The Second Battalion has suffered heavy losses in several engagements and can't spare men either."
"Right now we only have our Third and Fourth Battalions available. But if we can hold and turn this place into the main battlefield, Lord Jiraiya and the other two battalions will have room to come reinforce us."
Leaving the main tent, Uchiha Yuan returned to the rest area with the captains of the Fourth Battalion. Everyone felt the looming scale of the coming battle—faces were grave and radiated a deadly seriousness.
At the Fourth Battalion's rest zone, battalion commander Iwaki Sumero stopped, turned to the assembled captains, and said in a low voice, "Gentlemen, we have already taken victory over Sunagakure. Now let us take victory over the Cloud."
"Yes!"
Though Sumero commanded the Fourth Battalion, he had no authority over strategic deployment compared to Sarutobi Shinnosuke—he was, after all, subordinate and followed orders.
Meanwhile, dozens of li away at the Cloud encampment—
The Fourth Raikage Ai slammed a fist through the table before him in rage. "Damn it—Konoha discovered our deployment plans!"
"If that's the case, then we'll start the war early. Tomorrow we'll crush Konoha's forces in one blow." He paused, then glared at the nearby Killer Bee. "Bee, I hear you fought that Uchiha brat and didn't finish him. I'm disappointed."
Killer Bee waved one hand and replied, "Yo, big bro, don't blame me. That Uchiha brat's real strong. If you went at him, even you might mess up."
The Fourth Raikage snorted coldly. "That Uchiha has already killed many of our shinobi. Even Uncle Dasai fell to him—he managed to withstand Uncle Dasai's Thunder Plow Blade. When we meet him again this time, we must kill him. He cannot be allowed to live."
Bee scratched his head in confusion. "Why? Big bro, I kinda like the kid—fighting him gave me lots of inspiration for new rhymes."
The Fourth Raikage glared. "Then the kid deserves to die all the more."
His voice turned grave. "As much as I hate to admit it, Konoha is the top village in the shinobi world. They always breed geniuses and strong fighters—once there was Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, then the White Fang of Konoha, the Sannin. Now a new generation of talents has emerged—Kakashi Hatake, the Uchiha Shisui making names elsewhere—this Uchiha Yuan fought you for hundreds of rounds. His potential surpasses even Kakashi's. And don't forget he's an Uchiha—I don't want another Madara Uchiha. I have a bad feeling this brat, if he grows, will become a massive threat to the Cloud. So he must die."
A day later, the Cloud forces finished assembling. Across the dozens-of-li-wide area between the two armies, Konoha and Cloud scouting teams erupted into hundreds of clashes throughout the day.
Then, with a thousand-man Cloud vanguard charging at high speed, they struck straight for Konoha's first defensive line.
The great battle officially began.
"Kill!"
Under the Cloud's frenzied assault, Konoha's first line held for only half an hour before being broken.
Uchiha Yuan's reinforcement unit moved to aid the remaining few hundred Konoha shinobi and clashed bitterly with the pursuing Cloud troops on the way.
"Retreat! Opposite us is the Konoha 'Fierce Tiger' who can face Killer Bee!" a Cloud ninja shouted.
In the end, the Cloud pursuers left more than a hundred dead behind and halted their chase.
Uchiha Yuan slowly wiped the blood from his kunai and returned it to the pouch at his waist. Around him lay more than twenty Cloud corpses, each bearing several lethal kunai wounds.
Not far off, a large, armored man in Warring States–style plate armor patted Yamanaka Mokuno on the shoulder and said, "Mokuno, this is your current squad leader, Uchiha Yuan. No wonder they call him the Fierce Tiger—his swordsmanship is terrifying. Seeing him, I almost thought Captain White Fang had come back."
The man was Akimichi Kai, captain of the Third Battalion's Fifth Squad. He had led the follow-up reinforcements and arrived just in time to watch En cutting a path through the Cloud troops.
Yamanaka Mokuno replied, "The captain's sword techniques do resemble the White Fang's. I've heard he had a classmate who was from the Hatake family."
A broad plain had become an infernal hellscape where Konoha and Cloud clashed. Wind and thunder roared; great waters and raging flames churned. The ground was torn and broken; cries and the clash of steel blended into one. The air hung thick with the smell of blood.
This was the third large-scale, multi-thousand-person battle between Konoha and the Cloud in just a few days.
As fighting intensified and both sides poured in more troops, the front stretched ever longer. After consecutive days of fighting, Konoha's forces felt the strain—shinobi were exhausted, and heavy casualties were especially evident among the lower-ranked ninja.
That morning Uchiha Yuan received an order: his Second Squad would act as a strike team and loop from the battlefield's right flank to attack the Cloud detachment's left side. At that time the Konoha force opposing this Cloud unit would mount a frontal assault to draw attention.
Swish, swish, swish—
Uchiha Yuan kept using the Body Flicker Technique; each blink covered dozens of meters.
After a half-day forced march, En paused on a mountaintop. One by one, Konoha shinobi dropped behind him. From the summit he could clearly see the Cloud encampment several hundred meters below.
After watching for a moment, he kicked off and shot forward like an arrow.
"Follow me!"
With several quick flickers, En was the first to burst into the Cloud camp. He waved his hand and flung dozens of kunai.
Kunai filled the air—but when they struck Cloud shinobi, those targets burst into smoke.
"Clone jutsu."
"Bad— we've walked into an ambush."
En realized at once something was wrong.
At the same time, countless kunai rigged with explosive tags flew at them from all directions.
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