Chapter 630: The Battle of Konoha (Part 1)
With Konoha's ninjas as the main force, supplemented by Suna, Kiri, and Kumo, the two armies clashed in a battle to the death in the vast area between the village gate and Tanzaku Quarters.
Minato Namikaze, Mei Terumi, Karui, and Asuma fought on the front lines. For them, fighting White Zetsu was like chopping vegetables. But the majority of the army consisted of Genin, and for a Genin, facing a Zetsu with Hashirama cells was extremely dangerous.
Orochimaru's Konoha Crush had been, in essence, a civil war. Suna only participated to stop the Wind Daimyō from cutting their budget; they wouldn't have dared sack Konoha in a million years. Orochimaru was an internal enemy; there were rules.
The White Zetsu were not an internal enemy. They looked like class enemies.
It was kill or be killed. Nothing more needed to be said.
The entire village mobilized, from eight to eighty, everyone was on the battlefield.
Koharu Utatane, frail and weakened from having lost ten years of her life, was fully armed, kunai in hand, killing enemies on the front line alongside Homura Mitokado.
The ninja clans of Konoha mobilized in full force. Their unity was not far behind Kumo's.
In the Hyūga clan, the distinction between the Main and Branch families had vanished. Led by their head, Hiashi Hyūga, they held their defensive line like solid rock.
The Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Sarutobi clans had poured out their full strength. Hinata, who had originally evacuated to the "Path of the Netherworld" with the Yamanaka, had returned. Ino had underestimated the Konoha shinobi's sense of belonging. When the war began, they all returned to fight, and Hinata came with them.
"Mrs. Yamanaka's" strength was roughly equivalent to a Tokubetsu Jōnin specializing in taijutsu. Against an Elite Jōnin, she'd be crushed, but against these Chunin-level Zetsu, it was one palm, one kill.
The Hyūga Branch family ninjas were veterans, brave and fierce, their coordination flawless, worthy of their clan's great name. The Main family, by comparison, was a step behind.
The Main family had their secret taijutsu, their 360-degree Byakugan, and access to secret medicines and dōjutsu-enhancing methods the Branch family lacked. But the Main family members had precious little experience in true life-or-death combat. Most of their "experience" came from low-stakes missions like wiping out bandits, always flanked by bodyguards, always in stomp-matches. How much real experience could that provide?
But now, the entire village was fighting. If they stayed home and the Zetsu army broke through, everyone would die. The Hyūga Main family could no longer sit high and mighty; they, too, joined the battlefield.
Some of their performances were disappointing. Others, however, performed well. For example, Hyūga Hikari.
He was a Main family ninja with rich combat experience, a clear head, and an exceptionally pure Byakugan. He had long served as Hinata's guardian; the Branch family's loyalty was questionable, so the Main family heir needed a Main family protector. After the clan abandoned Hinata, he was reassigned to Hanabi.
Hanabi could have graduated early, but Hiashi had flatly refused. She was still idling at the Academy. Now, she was with her Academy teachers, holding a rear defense line near the village gate.
It was unacceptable for a Jōnin like Hikari to be protecting children in the rear. The clan head himself was on the front line; running to the back would look like cowardice, even if he was protecting the heir. He ordered the teachers to protect Hanabi, then rushed to another defensive line.
A few infiltrating White Zetsu immediately fixed their sights on Hanabi. The Hyūga heir. Her Byakugan must be pure. Her only flaw is her age.
They prepared to abduct her to fulfill the deal between Madara and Ōtsutsuki Toneri. Three minutes later, they quietly retreated.
Tsunade, Shizune, and Hinata were all in combat. Ino was still in the Shinigami's dimension. Tonton, the pig, was left unattended. Given the family ties, Hanabi had ended up looking after her.
The Zetsu had just moved to attack when they discovered the pet pig possessed outstanding sensory abilities.
As a "mobile food ingredient," Tonton's life in Konoha was stressful. That villager wants to eat me! That Akimichi fatty is staring at my butt! Tonton had it rough. Enduring the "respectful" gazes of the villagers day after day, she had tolerated the intolerable, pushed past her limits, and evolved. She had awakened the same ability to sense malice that the original timeline's Naruto possessed.
The Zetsu had barely gotten within five meters when Tonton spotted them, oinking to warn Hanabi that bad guys were here.
If it had been Ino or Shizune, they would have understood "Pig-Latin" and captured the infiltrators. Hanabi, clearly, lacked this ability. She could only guess at what Tonton's frantic squeals and gestures meant.
The Zetsu tried several times but found no opening. They looked at each other. The battlefield was chaotic; no need to fixate on one target. That Hyūga Hikari who left earlier... he seemed like a good alternative.
The battle began at 8:00 AM. A little after 9:00, Kabuto's Edo Tensei army arrived.
Jiraiya took on the Second Tsuchikage and Second Mizukage simultaneously. Tsunade, by herself, fought six of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Minato Namikaze juggled command, rescue, and assassination strikes. The "Golden Flash" zipped across the battlefield, providing relief wherever the line was thin.
The remaining Kumo, Suna, and Kiri shinobi held the front lines. Around 9:30, General Mifune of the Land of Iron arrived with over three thousand samurai, flanking the Zetsu army to support Konoha. Mifune himself engaged the reanimated Hanzō of the Salamander.
The allied forces numbered 40,000. The Zetsu numbered 80,000.
It was at this moment that Danzō and the Third Hokage arrived at the ridge overlooking Konoha.
The two old men stared down, stunned. For a moment, they didn't even recognize their own village.
Tsunade's strategy—raising the ambient temperature to weaken the Zetsu—was in full effect.
Konoha had plenty of trees; Suna and Kiri didn't have that luxury. The order was simple: Burn it.
The entire village, including the Naka River to the south, was shrouded in flames.
Sakura, the Water Release specialist, was upstream, directing children to dump flammable oil—support supplies from Mount Myōboku—into the river. It was free, why not use it? Zetsu attempting to cross the river were engulfed in fire. As far as the eye could see, the village was burning, the river was burning, and the forest was burning. The entire multi-mile engagement zone was an inferno.
Danzō: "..."
Third Hokage: "???"
My friends! When I said, "Where the leaves dance, the fire burns," I was speaking metaphorically! Why did you take it literally?!
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