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Smoke covered the battlefield near Kannabi Bridge. Ninjutsu ripped through the valley, sending stones flying as Hidden Stone's shinobi tried to stop Konoha's advance.
Shouts, screams, and explosions bounced between the cliffs without stopping.
Inside the command tent, Ōnoki staggered in. His legs almost gave out under him.
"It's over... We can't hold Kannabi Bridge. We'll have to fall back again."
He dropped onto the cold ground, his face drained of color.
A dust-covered messenger appeared inside the tent with the Body Flicker Technique and fell to one knee. "Captain! An urgent message from Lord Tsuchikage!"
Ōnoki's eyes lit up. He stood up, grabbed the letter from the messenger, and ripped it open. There were only a few lines inside.
[When you hit a wall, it's easy to lose faith in yourself and start making excuses.]
[But listen to me, Ōnoki. Never surrender your Will. Never cast it aside. Hold on to who you are.]
[Endure without yielding. Stand firm against whatever comes. That is Iwagakure's Will of Stone!]
A plain rock rested inside the folded letter.
It was nothing special—just a piece of stone from home.
Ōnoki read the letter again and looked at the rock in his hand. He closed his fingers around it.
He could not fall back any more. Iwagakure was behind him, along with all the homes and families he had promised to protect. If he left Kannabi Bridge, the war would reach the village itself.
There was no more ground to give.
"Endure without yielding... Stand firm..."
Ōnoki closed his eyes and repeated the words until his breathing slowed. When he opened his eyes, he was calm again.
He stood up and raised the stone over his head.
"WE DO NOT BEND! WE DO NOT BREAK! THAT IS THE WILL OF STONE!"
His voice rang out past the command tent and reached the nearby positions.
"Let the Leaf come! We'll show them what Stone shinobi are made of! If they want Kannabi Bridge, they'll have to break every last one of us!"
..............
Dawn had already broken over Konoha's position on the opposite side of the bridge.
"We still haven't taken it..."
Sasuke Sarutobi stood over the battlefield map with a deep frown.
The first attack had gone almost too well. After Konoha broke through every defense, Sasuke started picturing a quick, one-hour, twenty-two-minute victory through Iwagakure. He would capture the Tsuchikage, defeat every enemy, and come home as the hero who ended the war in one campaign.
Instead, one bridge had stopped him cold.
What made it worse was the identity of the commander holding it.
Ōnoki was about the same age as his son Hiruzen. Being stopped by someone so young was embarrassing.
A wounded Konoha shinobi rushed into the tent and dropped to one knee, fighting to catch his breath. "Captain, we still haven't broken through!"
"What changed?" Sasuke demanded. "They were falling apart an hour ago. Where did all this fight come from?"
"We're not sure. They started shouting about the Will of Stone and won't give up." The shinobi paused. "Ōnoki is also using Dust Release to cover the battlefield. Every unit that tries to reach the bridge gets pushed back before getting close."
"DAMN IT!" Chakra flared around Sasuke as he turned toward the entrance.
"Then I'll bring him down myself."
..............
Ōnoki floated above Kannabi Bridge, sending Dust Release attacks down on Konoha's troops. From up there, he could spot every move before it reached the bridge and stop it with one attack.
Sasuke emerged below him and raced through a string of hand signs.
"Had enough fun up there? Fire Release: Fire Dragon Jutsu!"
A fire dragon shot from his mouth and rose toward Ōnoki, filling the air with heat. Ōnoki moved aside and let it pass below him. The dragon hit the cliff behind him, sending rock and fire across the mountainside.
Before the debris had settled, Ōnoki formed another Dust Release attack and sent a pale beam straight at Sasuke.
"Damn!"
Sasuke used the Body Flicker Technique to get away. The beam hit where he had just stood and wiped out a deep part of the ground, leaving nothing behind.
He landed farther down the bridge and glared up at Ōnoki.
Sasuke could win almost any fight on the ground, but he had no good way to attack someone so high up. Ōnoki had made the sky above Kannabi Bridge his own fortress, and Sasuke could not force him down.
..............
Back in Konoha, Madara held Sasuke's report between his fingers. His face grew serious as he read.
"Ōnoki... Is that the brat who follows Mū around?"
He looked further down the page.
"Sasuke Sarutobi let a boy like that hold Kannabi Bridge?"
Madara turned to Tobirama, who stood over the deployment map beside him.
"Do we have anyone left to reinforce the bridge?"
Tobirama looked at every marker on the map, then shook his head. "No. Every unit already has a job. None of them can get to Kannabi Bridge in time."
Konoha's forces had spread across four fronts.
Hyūga Tennin commanded the eastern army, where his forces were preparing to cross the sea and strike Kirigakure. Izuna held the northern front with every position in place for an attack on Kumogakure. To the southwest, the Hatake Clan Head and his troops stood ready to move against Sunagakure.
Itama Senju and Kawarama Senju had taken another force to the Land of Fire's capital, where they were responsible for protecting the daimyō.
Each group contained some of Konoha's strongest shinobi. Madara needed only to give the order, and the three frontier armies could begin their own blitz campaigns.
That left no one to send to Kannabi Bridge.
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