"Detected three powerful chakra signatures at nine o'clock!"
"They're moving fast!"
"They're here!"
Within Sunagakure's formation, even the elite sensor ninja did not need confirmation. Every shinobi on the battlefield could feel it now, three overwhelming presences closing in at terrifying speed.
This kind of pressure was familiar.
They had felt it before from the Third Kazekage.
"Everyone, retreat!" Ebizō ordered immediately.
"Senior Ebizō, who is it?" Rasa asked urgently.
He had not activated his Third Eye technique, so he could not see the incoming figures clearly.
"Hanzō, Konoha's Lightning Flash, and… the Third Hokage!" Ebizō said sharply, each name weighed with gravity.
The Third Hokage had not appeared on the battlefield in years, but for someone of Ebizō's generation, that chakra signature was impossible to forget.
During the First Great Ninja War, he had nearly lost his life to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
And now, that same man had returned to the battlefield.
"The Third Hokage?" Rasa's eyes widened in shock. Then, almost immediately, excitement crept into his expression. He grabbed Ebizō's arm.
"We have two thousand Sunagakure shinobi, plus the two of us. We can wear them down. Even if we cannot kill them all, taking down the Third Hokage alone would mean victory in this war."
He clearly intended to repeat what had happened in the past, when coordinated forces had once captured the Third Kazekage during the Second Great Ninja War.
But Ebizō looked at him like he was looking at a fool.
Only when Rasa noticed the silence did Ebizō slowly turn away.
He removed his large cloak, revealing his combat gear underneath.
The younger generation had forgotten what kind of man Hiruzen Sarutobi truly was.
In raw power, the Third Hokage was not necessarily the strongest among the Five Kage. In one on one combat, he might even lose to someone like the Third Raikage in pure physical dominance.
But battlefield destruction was a different matter entirely.
Hiruzen Sarutobi mastered all five nature transformations. One large scale technique from him could reshape the battlefield itself.
And his student had inherited that same style.
A coordinated trio of Hanzō, Konoha's Lightning Flash, and the Third Hokage was not something numbers could easily suppress.
Human wave tactics did not work against every opponent.
If Ebizō had ten thousand shinobi, he might have considered holding them here.
But two thousand was not enough.
Still, retreat was no longer possible.
The enemy was too close.
He exhaled heavily, then his voice, reinforced with chakra, spread across the entire battlefield.
"Engage."
"Engage."
"Engage."
At that moment, the Third Hokage's figure became visible on the horizon.
Behind him was Hayashi, wearing a dark green vest, and further back came Hanzō, his scythe carrying an unmistakable killing intent.
The two forces collided head on.
The momentum of Konoha's trio was so overwhelming that Ebizō momentarily felt as if they were the ones being encircled.
Many Sunagakure shinobi felt the same unease.
In the midst of the formation, Sasori's blood stirred despite himself. For a brief instant, even his normally detached mind felt the urge to step forward into the clash.
He blinked.
Who am I thinking about? What am I doing?
Two hundred meters separated the armies.
Sunagakure's shinobi launched coordinated volleys from both flanks. Specialized wind up tools fired oversized shuriken and cross shaped blades across the battlefield.
Sunagakure was known for its weapon engineering. Their ranged tools could cover distances ordinary shinobi could not match.
But the attacks landed behind the advancing trio.
They were too fast.
All three of them were top tier speed type shinobi. Prediction alone was not enough.
Realizing this, Sunagakure abandoned ranged suppression and shifted into a full charge.
Hayashi's left hand rested on the hilt of Samehada on his back. His Sharingan flared crimson as he observed the enemy formation ahead.
He could see everything clearly.
The front line was made up of seasoned shinobi. Their breath came out in steady white mist in the cold desert air.
These were not rookies.
They were veterans placed at the forefront because they were the most reliable.
But that did not change what was about to happen.
They were marching into death.
Thirty meters.
The three Konoha aligned slightly, spreading apart as they advanced.
The Third Hokage began forming hand seals.
Earth Release: Earth Flow River.
The ground beneath Sunagakure's front line turned soft and unstable, transforming into a flowing swamp like terrain that swallowed several shinobi instantly and shattered their formation.
Without pause, he followed up again.
Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere.
Hayashi completed his seals a fraction later, deliberately timing himself just behind Hiruzen.
Then he unleashed his technique.
Sage Art Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.
The fire surged forward, and with Hiruzen's wind amplification, the flames expanded violently.
Three massive fire dragons merged into one inferno, spreading across the battlefield like a living wall of destruction.
The scale surpassed ordinary high level Fire Release techniques entirely.
Ebizo's expression froze.
After a long silence, he muttered, almost in disbelief.
"They are actually coordinating…"
He had expected chaos, not synchronized devastation.
Hiruzen himself felt a surge of emotion.
This level of combination was not ordinary.
"This is Sage Mode," he thought. "Since Hashirama Senju, Konoha has produced it again."
The memory of legendary battles resurfaced in his mind.
The era of gods among shinobi had returned, even if only briefly.
Konoha, once again, had found its answer.
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