This time, it wasn't like Konoha's incursion into Kirigakure.
Back then, Jiraiya and Orochimaru had each carried unimaginable "backing" behind them-armies that didn't fit the size of two men. But Chiba had been prepared long before they ever crossed his borders. Sealing techniques capable of suppressing Edo Tensei ("Impure World Reincarnation") had already been spread and standardized. Ryūchi Cave's snake legions had been cultivated precisely to answer Mount Myōboku's toad forces. On top of that, layered sensory and defensive barriers turned what should've been overwhelming reinforcements into blunt instruments that couldn't find an opening.
The outcome had been brutal and absolute.
Orochimaru had been "killed," only to be dragged back from the edge and placed under Kotoamatsukami ("Heavenly Subjugation of the Separate Gods")-his will rewritten, his loyalty forced into place until he became a shinobi of Kirigakure, utterly devoted to Chiba. Jiraiya had been crippled, the toad army shattered, Edo Tensei dispelled in full-souls released, and even Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama, two apex-level forces, sealed away.
But now-
Now it was Chiba's lightning war, and it hit even harder than Konoha's strike ever had.
Ryūchi Cave's endless snakes surged through Konoha's streets. The Senpō ("Sage Art") Hyōton ("Ice Release") Hyōsetsu Ryūkihei ("Snow-Dragon Cavalry") thundered forward like living winter. And behind them came something Konoha hadn't faced in that earlier battle: Orochimaru, Tsunade, and more than a thousand elite shinobi from Otogakure-an entire blade-driven force thrown into the heart of the village in one breath.
The sheer weight of it tore Konoha open.
Defenses collapsed before they could even form. Lines broke before commanders could name them. The village didn't merely lose control-it was shredded, peeled apart, and left flailing, unable to find footing in its own streets.
ANBU and Root took the first impact.
They vanished by the dozens, then by the hundreds-reduced to a name in reports, a corpse in rubble, or nothing at all. Within minutes, they were almost "existing in name only," a foundation crushed into dust.
And when Konoha's true middle and upper tier finally arrived-Jiraiya, Shimura Danzō, Utatane Koharu, Might Guy, Hatake Kakashi, Yamato, Yūhi Kurenai-it didn't matter. They were strong, yes, but strength meant little when the battlefield itself had become a mouth, and the enemy's momentum was a storm.
Worse still, Konoha's heart was already rotten.
Kakashi, Guy, Kurenai-many of the people Konoha still called its "pillars"-had never forgiven what Hiruzen and the village elders had done in secret: digging up the dead, desecrating ancestors, using forbidden Edo Tensei without consent, turning souls into tools. They carried that resentment like a stone in the chest.
So now, when their home screamed for everything they had, they didn't give it.
They fought, but they fought as if behind a veil-restrained, symbolic, cautious. Not because they lacked courage, but because their loyalty to the idea of Konoha had been worn down until it barely resembled faith.
And the clans?
How many of them still believed it was worth dying for this village?
Once-perhaps they would have. In an earlier era, they might've charged forward without hesitation. But after the Senju were erased, after the Uchiha were destroyed, after the Hyūga broke away… the clans weren't fools. They had watched. They had learned what Konoha's leadership really thought of its own bloodlines.
Those who sacrificed for Konoha-what did they receive in return?
Orochimaru and Tsunade had defected. Minato Namikaze had died in a fight that should've made legends tremble, and what did his death buy? A world where Hiruzen simply reclaimed the Hokage's seat. Sakumo Hatake-the White Fang, a hero whose fame and strength rivaled even the Legendary Sannin-had been driven into suicide. Hyūga Hizashi, the younger brother of the Hyūga clan head, had been forced to his death like an offering.
So now, with so many dead, so many gone, so many betrayed-
How many families would truly lay themselves down for Hiruzen Sarutobi's faction and the Konoha he had shaped?
In the end, the ones still throwing themselves into the front line were exactly who you'd expect: Danzō, Koharu, Jiraiya, what remained of ANBU and Root, the Sarutobi clan, the Shimura clan-Konoha's highest circle and those who still clung to Hiruzen's banner.
And even those forces were being butchered.
Orochimaru drove Otogakure's shinobi forward like a grinding saw, crashing into Konoha's remaining resistance with cold, methodical brutality. Tsunade, on the other hand, went straight to the heart of survival. She slammed her palm down and summoned the guardian of Shikkotsu Forest-
Kuchiyose no Jutsu ("Summoning Technique")!
Katsuyu appeared in a towering, pale mass, and Tsunade leapt onto her head like a war queen taking her throne.
Katsuyu could attack and defend, heal and preserve. She could shield allies, split her body to treat the wounded, restore chakra, and keep Chiba's side from bleeding out no matter how chaotic the field became. The moment Katsuyu entered the war, the casualty rate on Chiba's side plummeted-clean, immediate, decisive.
Then Katsuyu opened her mouth.
"Zetsushi Nensan ("Acid Slime")!!!"
A torrent erupted-corrosive, steaming, and vast.
Katsuyu's size was already beyond what most shinobi could comprehend. Compared to her, the acid might not have seemed like much-but when it poured into Konoha's formations, it fell like a poisonous storm.
A curtain of death.
In an instant, screams tore through the battlefield.
Shinobi were struck and dissolved where they stood, their bodies eaten away so quickly it was hard to look at them and still call it "human." Panic spread faster than commands. Lines collapsed as people stumbled over their own terror just trying to escape the spray.
On the other side, Xinya continued spewing petrifying sludge, working in brutal rhythm with Manda, the second-generation serpent kings, Aoda, the double-headed and triple-headed snakes-an entire tide of fangs and coils sweeping across the battlefield and grinding Konoha's resistance into fragments.
Konoha's side had been torn apart from the moment the war began.
Jiraiya watched it happen, his heart sinking deeper with every breath. In the end, he had no choice but to summon Mount Myōboku's forces again-but this time, everything was too rushed. There was no preparation, no careful build-up to call forth multiple great toads.
Only one arrived.
Kuchiyose no Jutsu ("Summoning Technique")!
Gamabunta landed with an earth-shaking impact.
Jiraiya's plan was simple: use Gamabunta to buy time-just enough time to summon Fukasaku and Shima and enter Sage Mode.
But before he could take even one clean step toward it-
Orochimaru was already there.
"Hey, Jiraiya," Orochimaru drawled, eyes gleaming with a cruel nostalgia. "Didn't expect to see this day, did you?"
Jiraiya's eyes widened, rage flashing hot. "Orochimaru… you betrayed Konoha again!"
He gritted his teeth, the disbelief cutting almost as sharply as the anger. "I'm not surprised you'd betray someone-but why Kirigakure? Why would you submit to Chiba?!"
In Jiraiya's eyes, Orochimaru had never been a true ally. He'd always been a blade that would turn the moment it suited him. Yet even then, he hadn't expected this-Orochimaru bowing to Chiba, bringing Otogakure's entire force with him, joining the Blitz on Konoha as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
Orochimaru's smile widened, calm as poison. "There are many things you don't understand, Jiraiya."
Then his voice dipped, and the air around him sharpened. "And now… it's time to settle what's between us."
In the next heartbeat, the battlefield split into a series of brutal duels and raging fronts.
Two of the Legendary Sannin collided-Jiraiya versus Orochimaru-finally unleashing the kind of killing intent that legends were built on.
Elsewhere, Tsunade met Utatane Koharu head-on.
Once, they'd both been among Konoha's strongest kunoichi. Now they fought like enemies who had long since abandoned the comfort of calling each other "comrades." Koharu still carried the pedigree of Tobirama's disciple-she'd stood alongside Hiruzen, Danzō, Akimichi Torifu, Uchiha Kagami, Mitokado Homura. Her skill was real.
But time was ruthless.
Her chakra had thinned. Her body had weakened. And even in her prime, she was never meant to stand in Tsunade's path.
Tsunade roared, and her monstrous strength surged like a tidal wave.
Tsūtenkyaku ( "Heaven Kick of Pain")!!!
The ground detonated under the impact. Shockwaves ripped outward, tearing apart the street and forcing Koharu backward in pure survival. She couldn't afford to block. She couldn't afford to trade.
And Katsuyu didn't miss the opening.
"Zetsushi Nensan (舌齿粘酸, "Acid Slime")!!!"
The acid blasted toward Koharu like a screaming tide. Koharu dodged in frantic, ugly motion, barely slipping past the worst of it-her robes hissing as droplets carved into the ground behind her.
But Tsunade had already read the path of her escape.
She was waiting.
One punch-clean, brutal, absolute-hammered into Koharu's body and sent her flying.
Koharu coughed blood midair, her spine twisting with the force, and when she crashed down she didn't rise again. Her limbs shook once, then failed her.
Tsunade strode over, seized her by the collar, and lifted her like she weighed nothing. Her eyes were cold enough to freeze sound.
"You were one of them," Tsunade said, voice shaking with restrained fury. "One of the ones who helped wipe out the Senju."
"You, Homura, Hiruzen, Danzō… all of you working together in filth, piling sins so high you forgot the sky existed." Her grip tightened. "And you were Tobirama-sensei's disciple."
Her lips curled, not in humor, but in disgust. "Today, I'll cleanse the house for my grandfather… and my grand-uncle."
Koharu's eyes filled with despair.
Tsunade didn't hesitate.
Her fist came down.
Koharu's eyes went wide, her body jerked once, and then she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Utatane Koharu-
Dead.
Chiba watched from atop the white serpent with a faint smile, not out of warmth, but out of satisfaction-like a long-corrected imbalance finally snapping into place. Tsunade seemed to feel his gaze. She turned, her expression complicated, then gave a single, small nod-acknowledgment without softness.
With Danzō "dead" and Koharu killed by Tsunade, Konoha's remaining forces fell into chaos.
Panic spread like fire through dry grass. Morale collapsed. The battlefield became a shattered mirror of Konoha's disintegrating faith.
Kakashi. Guy. Kurenai. Each carried their own thoughts, their own doubts, their own reasons not to die for this leadership. The clans hesitated, calculating survival rather than glory.
In the end, Konoha's final hard resistance was reduced to Jiraiya, what remained of ANBU, and the Sarutobi faction-those still tied by blood, position, or belief to Hiruzen's old regime.
Chiba's eyes narrowed.
He raised his hand.
And with a single command, he moved to crush Konoha's last hope-
completely.
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