At eight o'clock in the morning, hundreds of Konoha shinobi had already gathered in the open area outside Amegakure.
Tsunade and Jiraiya stood at the very front of the formation, while Danzō and Orochimaru remained behind them as the evacuation began in an orderly manner.
Off to the side of the clearing, Hanzo stood with more than a dozen of his subordinates, silently watching Konoha's forces withdraw.
Once the entire Konoha contingent had fully evacuated from Amegakure under the cover of a genjutsu mirage, Kizaru and Hatake Sakumo also left the village.
"Hanzo-sama… are we really just going to let them go like this?"
Hanzo turned his sharp gaze toward the speaker.
Without saying a word, he gave a slight shake of his head.
The Amegakure jōnin immediately went silent, intimidated by the pressure in Hanzo's eyes.
Hanzo inwardly sneered.
Idiots. Still clinging to foolish fantasies at a time like this…
He looked toward the direction the Konoha forces had gone and spoke in a low, calm voice.
"In this cruel world, our first priority is keeping this country alive. Do you understand?"
The jōnin bit his lip, lowered his head, and answered reluctantly, "...Understood."
"Let's move. There's still much we need to prepare."
With that, Hanzo turned and left with his men, soon disappearing from the slightly desolate clearing.
"How scary~ What a greedy bunch."
Not far away, Kizaru followed behind the Konoha force at an unhurried pace, his hands tucked into his pockets. Hidden beneath genjutsu that masked both his presence and chakra, he quietly extended his Observation Haki and sensed the movements of Sunagakure's forces.
Within Kizaru's perception, Sunagakure had split its forces into three groups.
Two were lying in wait on either side of the forest ahead.
The last group had circled around from the rear, shadowing Konoha's route from behind.
Sunagakure intended to swallow the entire Konoha force in the Land of Rain in one bite.
Hatake Sakumo's perception wasn't on the same level as Kizaru's, so he still hadn't noticed any trace of the enemy. After hearing Kizaru speak, he lowered his voice and asked, "Can you confirm their positions?"
Kizaru didn't answer right away.
Still smiling, he casually raised his right hand and pointed to the woods on the left, then to the right, and finally behind them.
Sakumo gave a small nod, immediately understanding.
"Then I'll handle the rear group first," he said. "You head into the forest and take care of one side."
"Brother Sakumo," Kizaru said with a grin, "how about we make this interesting?"
Sakumo glanced at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Let's see which one of us finishes first. Loser buys the winner a meal."
Hearing that, Sakumo's expression turned cautious.
Given Kizaru's appetite, that was no small bet.
"What a dangerous gamble..." he muttered with a sigh.
Kizaru's smile widened. "So? You in?"
Sakumo looked at him for a moment, then his eyes sharpened.
"Fine. You're on."
The two exchanged a look and smiled faintly.
Without another word, they moved at nearly the same instant, both vanishing with the Body Flicker Technique as they rushed toward their respective targets.
This ambush represented Sunagakure's formal declaration of war against Konoha.
They were taking it extremely seriously.
The village had committed nearly all of the forces it had gathered along the front lines.
The operation was personally led by two Kage-level shinobi: the Third Kazekage and Chiyo.
Along with them came Sunagakure's elite puppet corps and more than two thousand shinobi in total.
It could be said that, aside from Ebizō, who remained behind to oversee the rear, and the One-Tail Jinchūriki, who served as the village's ultimate deterrent, Sunagakure had invested the majority of its strength into this ambush.
That was also why they dared to move forward with the plan even though this was only their first alliance with Hanzo, and the authenticity of the intelligence they'd received had yet to be fully confirmed.
The Third Kazekage was confident.
Even if Hanzo betrayed them...
Even if Konoha had somehow prepared for the ambush...
Victory would still belong to Sunagakure.
After all, he had brought two Kage-level fighters and over two thousand elite shinobi with him.
"Kazekage-sama," said a sensing jōnin beside him after detecting the chakra signatures approaching from afar, "Konoha's forces are coming."
The Third Kazekage gave a slow nod, anticipation flashing through his eyes.
If they could wipe out Danzō, one of Konoha's elders, along with the three famous disciples...
Konoha would suffer a devastating blow.
"Everyone, prepare for battle," the Third Kazekage ordered, staring into the distance. "Remain on standby and await my signal."
"Yes, sir!"
An elite jōnin answered at once, then turned and relayed the order with a series of hand signals to the shinobi behind him.
"That's kinda amusing."
The voice came out of nowhere.
Kizaru, already hidden among them, watched the complicated signaling with a lazy smile and spoke as though he were commenting on a street performance.
"Who's there?!" the elite jōnin shouted immediately, his expression changing as he raised the alarm.
That single warning hit the surrounding Sunagakure shinobi like a thunderclap.
In an instant, the entire force tensed.
Weapons were drawn. Eyes darted in every direction. Every shinobi looked around in alarm.
Standing at the very front beneath a large tree, the Third Kazekage immediately turned toward the sensing jōnin beside him.
But there was no need for any reminder.
The jōnin had already begun using sensing ninjutsu, trying to locate the intruder.
Unfortunately, with so many shinobi gathered together and their chakra signatures overlapping, and with Kizaru having grown more and more skilled in masking himself through illusion and mirage techniques, the jōnin couldn't find even the slightest trace of him.
"Yare yare~ How scary."
That familiar drawling voice suddenly came from above their heads.
Everyone looked up at once.
Kizaru was standing casually on a tree branch directly above the Third Kazekage, one hand still tucked into his pocket.
The moment he appeared, the Third Kazekage reacted without hesitation.
He swung his right hand, and a stream of Iron Sand shot out from his sleeve like a black spear, slicing straight toward Kizaru with terrifying speed.
Under the gaze of every Sunagakure shinobi present, the Iron Sand pierced right through Kizaru's body and slammed into the tree trunk behind him.
The Third Kazekage frowned.
"An illusion?"
"No, Kazekage-sama—that's his real body!" the sensing jōnin shouted, his expression tense as he locked onto the chakra inside Kizaru. "The chakra inside him is enormous... it exceeds even Shukaku's!"
Chakra greater than a Tailed Beast...
And a body that couldn't be struck by ordinary attacks...
The Third Kazekage's expression immediately turned grave.
"Konoha shinobi... Golden Flash, Shimura Kizaru."
He had already recognized him from the intelligence reports.
Kizaru scratched the side of his head in an exaggerated show of embarrassment.
"Ohh~ Getting recognized like that is a little troublesome, you know."
"Spread out!" the Third Kazekage shouted immediately.
He clearly remembered the report stating that Shimura Kizaru possessed devastating large-scale offensive ninjutsu.
But even his response was a fraction too slow.
"Yasakani no Magatama."
Before the Third Kazekage had even finished speaking, Kizaru was already in the air.
Golden light bloomed around him.
Then countless light bullets rained down from above, pouring toward the Sunagakure force below and covering nearly a hundred meters of ground in an instant.
The Third Kazekage's expression changed.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall!"
A solid wall of black Iron Sand surged upward and expanded in front of the Sunagakure army, forming a massive defensive barrier just in time.
The barrage of light bullets crashed into it relentlessly.
Explosions erupted one after another, the roar of each blast echoing across the forest.
"Don't stay in place!" the Third Kazekage roared as he maintained the wall. "Scatter!"
Beneath the protection of the Iron Sand Wall, the Sunagakure shinobi immediately began using the Body Flicker Technique to retreat in all directions, their movements fast but tinged with disorder under the sudden pressure.
The explosions didn't stop.
The wall of Iron Sand trembled under the endless bombardment, growing thinner and more unstable with every passing second.
At last, it could no longer hold.
The Iron Sand Wall was blasted apart by the continuous rain of light bullets, shattering under the force of Kizaru's attack.
The Third Kazekage stared up at Kizaru in the sky, who had finally ceased his assault.
A heavy pressure settled over him.
What monstrous firepower...
For the first time since the ambush had begun, the Third Kazekage felt genuine danger.
"You actually blocked that... You really are the strongest Kazekage. Scary~ As expected of a monster."
Kizaru re-formed from golden light and landed lightly on a branch once more. Looking down at the Third Kazekage below, he spoke with his usual lazy smile.
The Third Kazekage stared back at him with a grave expression.
"You're the real monster here."
Even while speaking, he didn't stop moving.
The Iron Sand that had been blown apart moments ago immediately gathered around him again, splitting into countless thin needles that shot toward Kizaru from every direction.
Kizaru didn't move.
He simply stood there in his elemental state, letting the barrage of Iron Sand needles pass straight through his body as if he were made of nothing but light.
The Third Kazekage's expression darkened.
Damn it!
He increased the intensity without hesitation.
More and more Iron Sand appeared out of nowhere, condensed into finer and denser needles, and continued raining down on Kizaru without pause.
He refused to believe Kizaru could remain untouchable forever.
Unfortunately for him, reality was cruel.
Even after attacking continuously for more than a minute, not a single strike landed.
At that point, even the Third Kazekage felt a surge of irritation.
There was no point in wasting chakra like this.
He stopped the attack and glared at Kizaru.
"Shimura Kizaru... you came here alone—"
Boom!
Before he could finish, an explosion rang out not far away.
"Kazekage-sama! The one in the tree was a fake!"
"How scary~"
The two voices sounded almost at the same time.
Using genjutsu to conceal his movements, Kizaru had already slipped into a section where Sunagakure's forces were packed closely together. In his hand, the Ama no Murakumo Sword blazed with light as he cut through the crowd like a beam of judgment.
The Third Kazekage's face twitched.
And you're only saying that now?!
Realizing he'd just wasted all that effort on a decoy, he shot the jōnin beside him a murderous glare, then immediately rushed toward Kizaru's real position.
"Stop right there, bastard!"
With a furious shout, the Third Kazekage thrust out his right hand.
The surrounding Iron Sand surged together at once, forming a gigantic sharp triangular pyramid that shot toward Kizaru with terrifying speed.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Triangular Pyramid!
Sensing the attack behind him, Kizaru turned his head slightly and glanced over.
Then he smiled.
That same easy, aggravating smile.
He raised the Ama no Murakumo Sword in his hand and pointed it at the Third Kazekage.
"Fire~ Ama no Murakumo Sword."
The blade in his hand instantly stretched into a concentrated beam of light and shot forward like a laser, piercing toward the Third Kazekage at blinding speed.
Caught mid-charge, the Third Kazekage had no time to fully evade.
He twisted his body as hard as he could, narrowly avoiding a fatal hit—but the laser still tore straight through his left shoulder.
His body jolted, and he was forced to halt, lowering his eyes to look at the slender blade of light that had pierced through him.
Then—
"Ka."
Hearing Kizaru's voice, the Third Kazekage looked up sharply.
What he saw was Kizaru grinning at him.
A bad feeling exploded in his chest.
Not good—!
At that exact moment, the wound in his shoulder began radiating intense heat and blinding light.
The Third Kazekage reacted instantly, using one of the shinobi world's most practical survival techniques—the Substitution Technique.
Boom!!!
The massive blade of light exploded in an instant.
A fifty-meter eruption of golden light and heat tore through the forest, followed by a violent shockwave that swept through everything in its path.
The sheer scale of it alarmed Chiyo and the other Sunagakure unit hiding in the forest on the opposite side.
"Chiyo-sama, something may have happened to Kazekage-sama!"
A Sunagakure shinobi bent his knees and braced himself against the shockwave before turning toward Chiyo, his voice tense.
Chiyo narrowed her eyes as she stared at the thick smoke billowing upward in the distance.
For a brief moment, she hesitated.
Then she made her decision.
"Trust the Kazekage," she said sharply. "Gather the troops and move on Konoha directly!"
The shinobi froze for a second, stunned by the order, before snapping back to attention.
"Yes!"
He immediately turned and rushed to relay Chiyo's command to the forces behind them.
The shockwave also reached the rear of Konoha's formation.
Danzō, who had been moving at the back of the main force, used the Body Flicker Technique and instantly appeared at the front.
The moment he saw the thick column of smoke rising from the forest ahead, his expression darkened.
That brat's acting on his own again!
If it were any other shinobi, Danzō would have dealt with them without hesitation.
But this was Kizaru.
His nephew.
And that made it even more infuriating.
Danzō's blood pressure nearly spiked through the roof.
Is that bastard actually trying to kill me from anger?
Suppressing the urge to curse out loud, he tore his gaze away from the forest and spoke to Jiraiya and Tsunade beside him.
"Pick up the pace. Prepare to engage."
As Danzō accelerated the movement of Konoha's forces, Kizaru was already moving again at the center of the explosion.
Using Observation Haki to lock onto the Third Kazekage's position through the smoke, he flashed forward.
"Ohh~ You're still alive. As expected of the strongest Kazekage."
His lazy, mocking voice sounded out as he appeared directly in front of the wounded man.
Although the Third Kazekage had survived by combining the Substitution Technique with Iron Sand defense, his condition was terrible.
Inside the shattered shell of Iron Sand surrounding him, the flesh on his left shoulder was almost completely gone. Only sinew and fragments of tissue still clung stubbornly to the bone, barely keeping the arm attached.
His breathing was ragged.
His face had gone pale from blood loss.
Still, he slowly lifted his head and stared at the tall figure standing before him.
"Why..." he asked bitterly, leaning against the Iron Sand behind him. "Why aren't you hurt? Is it an illusion... or some kind of ninjutsu?"
"Ohh~ What an interesting question."
Kizaru gave a lazy chuckle.
Then he paused on purpose, before answering in the most irritating way possible.
"What do you think?"
The Third Kazekage choked, coughed up blood, and spat it onto the ground.
Then he looked up at Kizaru again and said, forcing the words out,
"I surrender... so spare me."
"Surrender, huh?"
Still smiling, Kizaru stepped forward and stopped right in front of him.
He bent slightly at the waist, looking down at the Third Kazekage as though studying something amusing.
And at that exact moment—
The broken half-egg shell of Iron Sand behind the Third Kazekage suddenly surged forward.
This time, it didn't attack.
Instead, it wrapped itself around Kizaru at high speed.
The Third Kazekage formed a one-handed seal.
A sealing formula immediately spread across the oval mass of Iron Sand that had enclosed Kizaru.
A smile finally appeared on the Third Kazekage's bloodstained face.
He had pulled it off.
"Go to hell!"
With a ferocious shout, he prepared to crush the sealed Kizaru inside the Iron Sand prison.
"It's really scary~"
The Third Kazekage's eyes widened.
Kizaru's voice came from behind him.
Touching his chin, Kizaru stood there completely unharmed, as if he had been watching a joke unfold.
"You—!"
The Third Kazekage jerked around, his face filled with disbelief.
Unable to accept what he was seeing, he forced out the words in a hoarse, nearly hysterical voice.
"What... are you?"
"Kizaru," he answered lightly, still rubbing his chin. "Konoha's Admiral Kizaru."
The Third Kazekage's expression twisted.
"Then why couldn't you be sealed?!"
Kizaru looked at him with a smile that was almost lazy, almost mocking.
"Because what you sealed just now... was an afterimage, you idiot."
And with that, Kizaru slowly raised his right foot.
A dazzling golden light immediately began to bloom from it.
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