At the edge of the battlefield, Shin stood atop a tall tree, overseeing the entire situation.
A ninja from Ame was engaged in intense close-quarters combat with a Konoha ninja, both wielding kunai. The fight was fierce, yet neither could gain the upper hand.
After a brief clash, the two separated momentarily. Suddenly, the Ame ninja sensed something and looked up toward a certain direction.
What met his gaze was a pair of Sharingan with three tomoe.
Instantly, the Ame ninja fell into a daze.
In that very moment, the Konoha ninja seized the opening and thrust his kunai into the enemy's throat, ending his life.
The Konoha ninja found it strange and glanced in the direction the Ame ninja had been looking, but saw nothing.
As Shin continued shifting positions, similar events unfolded across the battlefield.
With the death toll of Ame ninjas rapidly increasing, Konoha ninjas quickly turned the tide, using superior numbers to overwhelm the enemy and expand their advantage.
Eventually, with a handful of Ame ninja fleeing, the battle came to an end.
As Konoha ninjas cleaned up the battlefield, they started chatting.
"That just scared the hell out of me. The guy I was fighting was way stronger than me, I thought I was done for. But then he suddenly spaced out during the fight, just stood there, and I killed him."
"Uh…"
"What the hell?"
"The same thing happened to the guy I was fighting. We were going at it, then he suddenly looked off into the distance and just froze."
"No way, I thought I was just incredibly lucky!" another ninja joined in. "The same thing happened to me."
"I was about to die, so I randomly threw a kunai. The guy didn't even try to dodge."
"I thought he used a substitution or a clone jutsu or something, but he just died."
Similar conversations kept popping up.
Eventually, everyone reached the same conclusion: someone must have helped them from the shadows, allowing them to nearly wipe out the enemy.
Konoha had achieved a resounding and unprecedented victory.
Only five Ame ninjas escaped. Ninety-seven were killed.
Konoha lost just eleven men, though around thirty were injured.
But ever since Shin had arrived at the camp, injuries no longer seemed like a big deal. It wouldn't take long before those wounded were back on their feet. Even missing limbs weren't a problem, as long as the severed parts were recovered and treatment was timely, he could reattach them perfectly.
"I'm heading back to camp first. I'll come fight alongside you again in a few days," said a smiling injured ninja being carried on a stretcher.
"Get lost already. Oh, and say hi to Shin-sama for me, will you? Last time I was healed while unconscious, I didn't even get the chance to thank him."
"Alright, clean up the battlefield quickly. The rest of you, follow me, let's push forward!"
"Yes!"
---
On the left flank of the battlefield, Tsunade had just successfully led one of the three split Konoha forces in a perfect ambush against the Suna ninjas.
In the face of her overwhelming strength, the Suna puppets were like porcelain dolls, shattering on contact. The ambushed Suna forces were then ruthlessly crushed by Konoha's troops.
After instructing her ninjas to clean the battlefield, she began treating the wounded.
"Lady Tsunade, this is insubordination on the battlefield!" barked a ninja from the Shimura clan, sent by Danzō to oversee the operation. He could no longer hold back his anger and accused her loudly.
"Danzō-sama's order was clearly to pass through the canyon as quickly as possible and reach the lake. But you ordered an ambush here, this is blatant disrespect for him!"
"Get the hell out of here!" Before Tsunade could even respond, a nearby ninja kicked the overseer in the waist, sending him flying four or five meters.
Tsunade, focused on treating a wounded ninja, only cast a disgusted glance at the monitor before returning her full attention to healing.
But that single glance was like flipping a switch.
A ninja suddenly shouted, "To hell with Danzō! If she had actually listened to that bastard, we'd all be dead by now!"
"The Suna ninjas had already set up an ambush at the lake, didn't you see that just now?"
"And you were hiding during the whole fight. Now that Lady Tsunade has led us to victory, you come jumping out like some clown, what the hell are you up to?"
"Exactly!" Another ninja stepped forward.
"Hey!" shouted the ninja who had kicked the monitor earlier, "This guy just criticized Lady Tsunade, do you all accept that?"
"No way!"
"No way!"
Everyone who could still speak shouted in unison, their booming voices echoing through the canyon with an overwhelming presence.
"A-are you rebelling?!" The monitor clutched his waist in pain, staring in disbelief and fury.
"Rebelling? Who do you think you are?"
"We just won a huge battle."
"What, do you want us all dead before you're satisfied?"
"Yeah, maybe you were trying to lead us to our deaths. Tell us, are you a spy from Suna?"
"Or was it Danzō who sent us to die on purpose?"
"N-no... That's not it... he just didn't know the situation here, that's all..." Surrounded by over a dozen fierce and angry ninjas, the Shimura clan monitor finally got scared and hurried to explain.
"Well, since facts show that Danzō's orders were wrong and Lady Tsunade acted decisively and correctly, then what the hell are you still talking for?"
"You've been whining this whole trip, I'm already sick of it. If I hear you say one more bad thing about Lady Tsunade, you're detained."
Even a nearby injured ninja lying on the ground growled.
---
Things were much better on Fugaku's side.
The monitor from the Shimura clan was completely out of it. Whenever he started to come to, someone would immediately hit him with a genjutsu, leaving him no chance to speak.
Under the leadership of Fugaku and Minato, their unit also achieved a beautiful and decisive victory and were now riding high on momentum.
"You've got some skills, huh?" With no one else nearby, Minato clapped Fugaku on the shoulder as he finished assigning the cleanup. "You've already awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan at your age. Not bad, you're almost catching up to how fast my brother did it back in the day."
But Fugaku couldn't bring himself to be happy at the compliment.
Everyone knew how closely Shin had been monitored back then, with barely any time to train. Yet even so, he had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan earlier than him.
Wasn't that kind of embarrassing?
And on top of that, Minato was clearly younger than him... half the enemies in the last battle had been killed by Minato himself, and now he was here praising Fugaku?
Was this some kind of flex?
But Minato seemed completely oblivious to Fugaku's internal thoughts. He casually said, "How about joining my unit? We're still short one man."