Chapter 107: Allied Forces' Discussion, Convergence
At the same time, in another camp at the border of the Land of Fire
This place was filled with the ninja armies of the Land of Lightning, Land of Earth, and Land of Rain. Within a one-kilometer radius, thousands of tents stood densely packed. The total number of personnel was close to fifteen thousand.
The Cloud ninja and Stone ninja made up the majority—averaging around six thousand from each village.
The Rain ninja were relatively fewer. After heavy losses in the war against Konoha, even with Hanzō exerting all his effort to gather forces, they barely reached three thousand.
In the center of these densely packed thousands of tents stood one particularly large tent. Inside it, the leaders of the three ninja villages had gathered, each wearing a grave expression.
"The Third Hokage of Konoha has joined the battlefield. Even that Senju Ling Yu you mentioned has come along. When do you plan to launch the attack?"
"If it were up to me, we already have three tailed beasts assembled. We should just go all out and attack Konoha head-on—fight to the death. With our current military strength, crushing Konoha would be easy, wouldn't it?"
In the heavy atmosphere of the meeting room, a rough, booming voice rang out. The speaker was a muscular middle-aged man over two meters tall, his body packed with bulging muscles.
He had dark skin, long pale-yellow hair, a long beard, a lightning-shaped scar on his chest, and the kanji for "Lightning" tattooed on his right shoulder. This was the current Third Raikage—Ay.
The Third Raikage possessed the unique technique Hell Stab (Nukite) and the strongest Lightning Release Armor, known as the "strongest spear" and "strongest shield." He was publicly recognized in the ninja world as one of the most powerful taijutsu users.
Thanks to his extraordinary physical power, he had repeatedly suppressed the Eight-Tails' rampages and was one of the few superhuman fighters capable of clashing evenly with a berserk tailed beast.
"What's the rush?! Are you Cloud ninja just a bunch of impatient, brainless gorillas?"
"I already told you—we wait until the Sand ninja link up with Konoha. Then we strike from both inside and out. Let the Sand cut off Konoha's rear supply line. Only then do we send the four tailed beasts to pin down Senju Ling Yu. That way, we minimize our losses."
As soon as the Third Raikage's voice fell, an aged voice immediately followed. The speaker began by openly mocking the Third Raikage and the Cloud ninja he led. The words were thick with gunpowder.
Normally, few people would dare meet the gaze of a towering, muscular man like the Third Raikage—let alone point at his nose and curse him.
But the one speaking now was a short, diminutive old man with a somewhat comical appearance. His most striking feature was the huge nose in the center of his face.
This was the Third Tsuchikage of the Land of Earth—Ōnoki. His strength was equally formidable, known in the ninja world as "Ōnoki of Both Scales." He excelled in Earth Release ninjutsu and could wield the kekkei tōta Dust Release that surpassed even kekkei genkai. He was also one of the very few ninja in the five great nations who could fly.
The reason he targeted the Third Raikage so openly was simple: when the Land of Earth and Land of Wind first went to war, the Third Raikage had taken advantage of Ōnoki being tied up on the front lines and led the Cloud ninja to raid the Land of Earth's supply lines.
Moreover, plundering supplies wasn't enough for the Third Raikage's ambition—he had planned to lead his army straight into the Land of Earth and attack the undefended Iwagakure.
Fortunately, Ōnoki could fly. Before the Third Raikage could reach Iwagakure, Ōnoki had intercepted him with the Five-Tails jinchūriki and stopped his advance. Otherwise, Iwagakure would have been directly conquered by the Third Raikage long ago.
BANG!
The Third Raikage's temper was as explosive as his physique. Hearing Ōnoki's mockery, he couldn't possibly stay calm.
"Ōnoki! What the hell do you mean by that?!"
Lightning-attribute chakra and electricity crackled all over his body. He slammed his fist down, shattering the table in front of him, and pointed directly at Ōnoki's nose as he roared:
"If you and Hanzō hadn't begged me to join this attack on Konoha and promised me one-third of the spoils, I wouldn't even bother coming here to fight alongside you!"
"You think I'm afraid? Believe me—I'll take my Cloud ninja and leave right now. Then you can wait to be wiped out!"
Ōnoki had no goodwill toward him, and the Third Raikage felt the same toward Ōnoki. Unlike Ōnoki—who loved schemes—the Third Raikage believed strength was everything. If not for the persuasion of the Cloud Village's advisors, he would never have bothered with these conspiracies.
"Hmph! Then get lost already! Don't be an eyesore here. With or without you, it makes no difference. Sitting next to a brainless primitive like you is making me feel dumber by the second!"
Seeing the Third Raikage activate his Lightning Release Armor, Ōnoki refused to back down. He formed hand seals, and a pure white light cone appeared in his palm—aimed straight at the Third Raikage.
"Enough! Both of you, calm down! Stop fighting among ourselves! We have a common enemy right now. If we weaken ourselves here, what will we use to fight Konoha? Don't forget—Konoha now has Senju Ling Yu who can use Wood Release."
"You both know the oppressive power of Konoha's First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, don't you? And on top of that, Konoha now has a little girl with the Mangekyō Sharingan. The current situation is no different from Konoha simultaneously possessing both Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara."
"In other words, Konoha's strength now far surpasses any single ninja village. If we don't unite now, once Senju Ling Yu and that little girl grow up, the entire ninja world will belong to Konoha."
Seeing Ōnoki and the Third Raikage argue every couple of days, Hanzō felt nothing but helplessness. Among them, the Rain ninja he led were the weakest, so he didn't dare join the quarrel. He could only carefully try to mediate.
"…"
"Lord Third Raikage, calm down. Hanzō is right—arguing now is too irrational."
At that moment, the Eight-Tails jinchūriki Killer B—who had come with the Third Raikage—stepped forward. He grabbed the furious Third Raikage and tried to calm him down.
"Old man, cool off too. We can't keep wasting our own strength like this."
The Third Tsuchikage's son, Akatsuchi, also stepped in to restrain his father.
"Hmph! Fine—I'll wait two more days. If there's still no action after that, I'm taking my Cloud ninja and leaving this three-village alliance."
Seeing this, the Third Raikage finally stopped arguing. He withdrew his chakra, left those final words, and turned to leave the meeting room.
…
Over the next two days, neither Konoha nor the three-nation allied forces made any major moves. Both sides focused on resting and reorganizing their troops.
Until two days later—the day the Land of Wind was scheduled to send reinforcements to Konoha finally arrived.
Early in the morning, the Third Hokage led Konoha's high-ranking officials to the edge of the camp, preparing to welcome the Sand ninja reinforcements—including the Third Kazekage, Chiyo, Bunpuku, and others.
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