By the afternoon, the intensity of the battlefield had begun to slow.
But that brief lull shattered almost immediately.
A tearing sound split through the sky as something vast surged overhead. A massive river of sand twisted across the air like a living storm.
"It's the Third Kazekage!"
"The Third Kazekage has returned!"
The Sunagakure forces erupted in renewed morale. Their pressure on the battlefield sharpened at once, and Konoha's advance momentarily weakened.
But that hesitation did not last long.
Konoha soldiers soon spotted another presence on the field, the Third Hokage had also arrived.
Earlier, the Third Hokage had been pursuing Sunagakure forces under Ebizo, deliberately disrupting the Third Kazekage's return route. The Kazekage had not realized that Orochimaru had already launched a full-scale offensive, and had remained focused on trying to capture Hiruzen alongside Ebizo.
By the time he understood the situation, valuable time had already been lost.
He rushed back at full speed.
But what awaited him was no longer a defensive fortress in preparation, but Kikyō Castle already engulfed in a full-scale war.
The sight made his expression sink.
Fortunately for Sunagakure, their numbers were still significant. With Chiyo's precise command and coordination, they still held strategic positions, even if their situation was rapidly becoming unstable.
Inside the Konoha frontline command post, the bloodstained Third Hokage entered. Tsunade immediately moved toward him.
He raised a hand to stop her.
"It's all Sunagakure blood," he said.
Tsunade ignored his words and placed her hands on him anyway, channeling medical chakra to restore his stamina.
Hiruzen did not resist. Instead, his gaze turned directly toward Orochimaru.
"How is the situation?"
Orochimaru exhaled slowly, his voice rough from exhaustion.
"We have suffered heavy losses. Eight hundred shinobi have already been killed in action."
The Third Hokage's eyes sharpened.
"Kikyō Castle is known as the second Hidden Sand Village. We broke through it once in the First Great Ninja War. This time will be no different."
He stepped forward.
"You two continue commanding. I will join the next wave at the front."
Tsunade opened her mouth as if to object, but stopped herself.
Hiruzen shook his head.
"I once intercepted two thousand Sunagakure shinobi with Hayashi. This is nothing compared to that."
Orochimaru let out a slow breath.
"I understand."
---
As the sun descended, the battlefield did not stop.
If anything, the killing only intensified.
Shinobi fell continuously, in every direction, at every moment. The pace of death increased as both sides pushed harder to break the other.
Konoha's attack frequency rose in response. More importantly, Sunagakure's counteroffensive was visibly weakening under sustained pressure.
Chiyo remained at the front lines, leading fifty puppeteers throughout the entire afternoon. Without her extraordinary control over her puppets and the elite jonin protecting her, she would have fallen long ago.
Inside Kikyō Castle, corpses accumulated without pause. There was no time to clear them.
Both Kazekage and Hokage had already taken the fight outside the walls, refusing to let the core battlefield become too congested. Orochimaru and Tsunade also committed themselves fully, acting as decisive forces at critical points.
Firelight and explosions filled every corner of the fortress.
Sunagakure's losses had already reached a point of collapse. The exchange ratio of casualties steadily tilted in Konoha's favor, and the battlefield momentum shifted decisively.
Konoha's victory, once uncertain, now became increasingly inevitable.
---
By night, the Third Kazekage was finally forced into retreat.
Even then, it was not simple.
With Ebizo and Rasa arriving as reinforcement, and a large number of Sunagakure shinobi sacrificing themselves to cover his withdrawal, he managed to escape the battlefield. His appearance was disheveled, his aura clearly diminished.
Konoha did not pursue.
The objective had already been achieved.
Kikyō Castle had been breached. The final defensive line of Sunagakure had been shattered.
That alone marked the turning point of the war.
---
At dawn, the Battle of Mount Kikyo came to an end.
An eagle's cry echoed over the ruined fortress, the same sound that had marked the beginning of the battle now signaling its conclusion.
Nearly five thousand shinobi had fought within and around Kikyō Castle. Many of them would never hear anything again.
Orochimaru stood among the ruins, looking over the battlefield.
Bodies lay everywhere.
He exhaled softly.
The wind passed through the broken fortress like a voice that could no longer speak.
---
One day later, two pieces of news spread across the shinobi world.
Kikyō Castle had been broken in a single night.
Two thousand Sunagakure shinobi had been annihilated.
The Land of Wind war had shifted violently in Konoha's favor. Sunagakure had suffered a decisive defeat.
The entire shinobi world reacted in shock.
---
Inside Iwagakure, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki floated above a large map of the ninja world, circling it repeatedly.
He drifted toward the Land of Grass, paused, then moved toward the Land of Wind. He stopped again.
His gaze shifted to the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rain.
Finally, he descended to the center of the table, placing both hands on it.
"How could Kikyō Castle fall to Orochimaru and Tsunade in a single night…"
"And how did Konoha's Lightning Flash and the others block two thousand Sunagakure shinobi?"
His expression darkened further.
"Third Kazekage… you useless piece of trash. 'Enough to hold Konoha back,' and you had the nerve to say that?"
"If I had not believed your nonsense, Iwagakure would not be in this situation."
Ōnoki struck the table in frustration, his rage shaking the room.
After a long moment, he finally forced himself to breathe steadily and sat back down.
---
"According to current intelligence," he muttered, "Konoha lost at least two thousand five hundred shinobi in the Kikyō Castle battle."
"Even after victory, they cannot immediately reinforce other battlefields."
He studied the map again.
"There are three remaining fronts."
"The Land of Hot Water and the Land of Rain both have Tsunade Hime's disciples stationed there. Tsunade herself will likely move toward the Land of Grass."
"As for Orochimaru…"
"Will he go to the Land of Hot Water to face the Hidden Cloud, or support the Land of Rain's front where Konoha's Lightning Flash is deployed?"
Ōnoki narrowed his eyes, unable to decide.
His thoughts drifted again.
"Should I let Han enter the war as well?"
He immediately rejected the idea.
"No."
"It is already dangerous enough that Roshi is deployed."
"If the Five-Tails Jinchūriki also enters the battlefield, any mistake could become irreversible."
There was no such thing as luck in the shinobi world. Iwagakure could not afford to gamble.
Not yet.
---
But the real concern was elsewhere.
Ōnoki's gaze shifted toward the Land of Wind.
Sunagakure's defeat was unavoidable. Their losses were too severe.
But what if the Third Kazekage, in desperation, turned his blade toward Iwagakure to compensate?
It was not impossible.
If Sunagakure withdrew now, they might later imitate Kumogakure's strategy and launch opportunistic strikes against the Land of Earth when the war stabilized.
There would be no safe outcome.
Ōnoki's eyes narrowed further.
Iwagakure could not afford to miscalculate.
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