The Fourth Kazekage, now grounded, resumed his battle against the Third Hokage. Without the elevation advantage his gold dust once provided, he was once again at a disadvantage, and he knew it. A scowl tugged at the corners of his lips, and inside, he cursed his luck. The battlefield's shifting tides had not favored him since he was knocked from the sky.
He pressed forward nonetheless, gritting his teeth. As the leader of the Sand Village, he could not afford to falter. Each step he took was one of duty rather than confidence. He knew the momentum was slipping from their hands, and he bore the weight of the village on his shoulders. To prevent excessive casualties among his forces, he had no choice but to stall, to hold on for as long as he could.
The Kazekage could only hope now that his trusted comrades—the two advisors, Ebizo and Chiyo—and Pakura would pull off something significant. He prayed that one of them might shift the tide, even slightly.
Meanwhile, the battlefield was in utter chaos. Explosions of chakra, smoke, and jutsu echoed like a symphony of violence. In the distance, Orochimaru and Jiraiya were locked in fierce battles against the Sand Village's legendary advisors, Ebizo and Chiyo. Their clash had reached a fever pitch.
Jiraiya was currently engaged in combat with Ebizo, the Sand Village's elder statesman known for his strategic brilliance rather than brute strength. Compared to Jiraiya, Ebizo was physically frail, with age-worn bones and a body that had long since passed its prime. But beneath that aged exterior was a razor-sharp mind, one that had survived decades of warfare.
Logically, Ebizo should have been no match for Jiraiya, the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, a battle-hardened shinobi with immense physical prowess and devastating ninjutsu. Yet, Ebizo was not a man who relied on logic alone. He had studied Jiraiya over the years, carefully analyzing his abilities, and had come prepared. His deep understanding of the Leaf Sannin's fighting style allowed him to counter many of Jiraiya's more predictable tactics.
Jiraiya had expected a quick victory, but after several exchanges, he realized the old man was surprisingly difficult to pin down. Ebizo moved like a shadow, always one step ahead, always slipping from his grasp. His ability to read the battlefield and anticipate moves was second to none, and Jiraiya found himself slightly impressed.
Still, Jiraiya was no fool. He knew this was a delay tactic. Ebizo wasn't trying to win. He was trying to buy time.
And time, Jiraiya thought grimly, is not on your side.
With each passing minute, Ebizo's patterns became clearer. His feints less surprising, his tricks more transparent. Jiraiya began tightening the noose, adapting and adjusting with the ease of a master shinobi. Soon, he would overwhelm the old man. He could feel it. The tide, at least on his end, was turning in Konoha's favor.
The Third Hokage, even as he exchanged blows with the Kazekage, kept an eye on the broader battlefield with the vigilance of a seasoned general. He noted Jiraiya's progress with satisfaction. If Jiraiya won, and he himself held the Kazekage at bay, the battle would swing heavily in their favor. Only one major threat remained: Chiyo.
Chiyo was no ordinary opponent. Unlike Ebizo, she was a combat specialist—a puppeteer of such legendary skill that even Kage-level enemies approached her with caution. Her mastery over the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu, creations of the first puppeteer Monzaemon himself, placed her among the deadliest in the Shinobi World.
She had already brought them out.
Each puppet moved like an extension of her own body, bearing hidden weapons, chakra-infused threads, and unique abilities. They swirled around her like a deadly orbit, launching simultaneous attacks at Orochimaru from every angle.
But Orochimaru, ever the tactician, had his own arsenal.
"Summoning Technique!"
A burst of smoke erupted behind him, and from it emerged dozens of enormous serpents, each as thick as a tree trunk and longer than a house. These were not ordinary snakes, but highly trained summons—predatory and cunning. He had reared them over years, and each was bonded to his will.
The ground quaked under their slithering advance as they surged toward Chiyo's puppets.
The clash was instant. Serpents lunged, jaws snapping, tails thrashing. Puppets responded with blades, fire, and chakra bursts. The battlefield turned into a chaotic frenzy of steel and fang.
Though individually stronger, the Chikamatsu puppets struggled against the sheer numbers of Orochimaru's snakes. It was a battlefield designed for attrition, and Orochimaru's bizarre ninjutsu gave him the edge. He watched with calculating eyes, seeing the puppets slowly losing ground.
Then, with deliberate intent, he moved.
Puppeteers, by nature, were poor at close-range combat. Orochimaru knew this, and he was going to exploit it. He surged forward, aiming to breach Chiyo's defenses and strike her down directly.
Chiyo, however, was no novice.
Seeing Orochimaru rush toward her, she reached into her cloak and pulled free a sealing scroll. In one fluid motion, she activated it, releasing a torrent of poisoned hidden weapons—kunai, senbon, and shuriken coated in lethal venom—which rained down in a deadly shower, halting Orochimaru's approach.
Undeterred, Orochimaru's lips curled into a snake-like smile.
"Naive."
His body stopped, but his neck suddenly extended, grotesquely elongating like a serpent. His jaw unhinged, and from his throat, he expelled the Kusanagi Sword—a gleaming, deadly blade aimed directly at Chiyo.
Chiyo's eyes widened. Even in her long life, she had never seen such unnatural, inhuman flexibility.
Instinct took over.
She raised her right hand to block, and in that instant, a chakra shield burst forth from her palm—a glowing dome of blue energy that caught the sword and held it inches from her face.
The Kusanagi Sword stopped cold.
Orochimaru blinked. A shield?
Yes. It was Chiyo's signature puppet ninjutsu: Mechanized Light Shield Seal. Her right arm, unbeknownst to most, had already undergone human puppet modification. She had sacrificed her flesh to enhance her craft, and now it had saved her life.
The sword retracted as Orochimaru recoiled in surprise. Chiyo wasted no time, summoning her puppets back to form a protective ring around her.
Orochimaru studied her warily now. The element of surprise was gone, and Chiyo had proven herself far more formidable than he had anticipated. He respected her skill, but his interest waned. He had no desire to learn puppetry. She was an obstacle, not a specimen.
The battle between them would continue, but victory would not come easily for either side.
Elsewhere, the Fourth Kazekage also sensed the shift.
The Sand was faltering. Ebizo was stalling. Chiyo was locked in a deadlock. Pakura and Akira were still engaged, but neither had the power to change the tide dramatically.
And then it happened.
From the midst of the Sand Village forces, a chakra signature flared to life—violent, raw, and overwhelming. It pulsed like a heartbeat, drawing the eyes of every shinobi on the battlefield.
Even the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage turned toward it.
The chakra rose like a tempest, swirling with crimson and black, forming jagged patterns across the air. Sand shinobi stumbled away, shielding their eyes. Konoha's forces froze in surprise.
Might Guy, who had been on the flanks battling Sand jonin, sensed it immediately. His eyes narrowed.
"This chakra... it's unnatural. Dangerous."
And from within the Sand ranks, the source stepped forward.
A young man—a Sand shinobi previously thought unremarkable—now exuded the aura of something ancient and primal. His body was wreathed in a cloak of energy, his eyes glowing red, his skin darkening with markings.
Moegi, positioned nearby, reacted instantly.
He didn't hesitate. He knew an awakening like this could shift the battlefield in an instant. And from the feel of it, this wasn't a simple jutsu. This was a transformation, one born from forbidden power.
He bolted toward the chakra source, his senses sharpened, his mind racing.
The tide was changing again.
The battle, far from over, had entered a new phase—and Konoha would need all its strength to weather the storm.