The Leaf scouts deployed to the absolute vanguard had originally been sent to probe the Waterfall's forward bases and troop distributions. Now, there was no need for deep reconnaissance. The sheer mass of chakra signatures ahead was proof enough: the Waterfall's main army had already arrived.
Swish!
Swish!
Leaving a few men behind to monitor the flanks and watch for any secondary Waterfall movements, one of the scouts broke formation, sprinting back at top speed toward the Leaf's advancing main force.
As the supreme commander, Jiraiya was naturally leading from the very front.
"Lord Jiraiya!" The scout closed the distance, dropping to one knee with a respectful bow. "We've confirmed the arrival of the Hidden Waterfall's main force forty miles ahead. We can't determine their exact numbers yet, but based on the chakra signatures, we estimate between two and three thousand. It's currently unknown if they have further reinforcements en route."
"Their main support force?" Jiraiya muttered, a complicated look flashing through his eyes. "That was fast. It seems Menma's scouting and intelligence network is incredibly sharp."
Spotting a massive army on the march wasn't difficult, but intercepting them this quickly—arriving at the border before the Leaf could even secure the primary forward positions—meant the Waterfall had known about their mobilization almost the second they left the village.
It proved their intelligence gathering was terrifyingly efficient.
Of course, there was another possibility: a mole. Jiraiya immediately thought of Orochimaru. But that wasn't something he could say out loud.
Despite Jiraiya's boisterous, easygoing exterior, Orochimaru was a hurdle he could never quite get over in his heart.
"A preemptive strike to push the frontline is impossible now, Lord Jiraiya," Shikaku Nara spoke up from the side, his tone calm and analytical. "I suggest we halt our advance here, build a fortified camp, and gather more concrete intel on their formation. The Waterfall's military strength is limited; they physically don't have the numbers to pull off overly complex tactical redeployments."
Over the past few decades, the fundamental military strength of the various ninja villages had essentially become an open secret.
Unless a village was secretly breeding a shadow army—which was rare and usually capped at a few hundred personnel—amassing an army in the thousands was impossible to hide. The Five Great Nations had a very solid grasp of the true strength of mid-tier players like the Waterfall, Grass, and Rain.
At their absolute peak, those villages could field maybe four or five thousand shinobi. And that wasn't a sustainable, everyday number.
Shikaku had exhaustively analyzed the details of the Cloud Village's defeat. From his perspective, if the Leaf wanted to crush Menma's Waterfall forces, they absolutely had to avoid repeating the Cloud's mistakes.
They needed to leverage their sheer numerical superiority.
A slow, suffocating grind to crush the enemy was perfectly fine. There was zero need to rush for a quick victory, and they absolutely had to prevent a scenario where the opposing commanders engaged in a one-on-one duel.
It wasn't that Shikaku lacked faith in Lord Jiraiya. But when a safe, guaranteed path to victory existed, why take the risk?
If Jiraiya were to somehow lose a duel in front of the entire Leaf army, the blow to their morale would be catastrophic.
That was exactly how the Cloud's army had routed. If the Cloud had simply brought more men, or if the Fourth Raikage hadn't lost his duel with Menma—even if they had fought to a draw—the Cloud could have orchestrated a dignified retreat instead of suffering a total collapse.
Shikaku had made this point abundantly clear during the pre-war strategy meetings. Jiraiya had accepted the advice without hesitation.
"Agreed. Let's do that," Jiraiya nodded.
"Yes, sir!" The scout bowed his head sharply and vanished in a blur of motion.
"Shikaku, do me a favor and invite the two commanders from the Mist Village over," Jiraiya added.
"Right away, Lord Jiraiya."
Orders cascaded down the chain of command. The Leaf shinobi moved like a well-oiled machine. In just a few minutes, a massive, fully functional military encampment began to rise from the ground.
Duties were delegated seamlessly: patrols, trap laying, and barrier construction were all handled by specialized shinobi.
Marching slightly behind them, the Mist Village forces immediately received the Leaf's update.
Mei Terumi and Ao didn't hesitate. Sticking to the pre-agreed plan, the Mist shinobi began constructing their own temporary camp a short distance away from the Leaf's perimeter.
Even as an allied coalition, basic precautions between villages couldn't be ignored.
Forget the rank-and-file; even Mei and Ao wouldn't accept fully merging their camps with the Leaf. Decades of bloody wars meant both sides had hands stained with the other's blood. That kind of hatred didn't just wash away overnight.
If you crammed shinobi from two rival Great Villages together, God only knew what would happen. What if a veteran who watched his teammate get slaughtered in the Third Great Ninja War suddenly locked eyes with the killer across a campfire?
It would spark a bloodbath on the spot.
A single brawl could easily ignite the entire camp, which was the absolute last thing Jiraiya or Mei wanted. This was exactly why true trust and cooperation between the Five Great Villages was nearly impossible.
Even during the "Fourth Great Ninja War" in the original timeline, the initial integration of the allied forces had been a nightmare. It only worked because the Five Kage orchestrated it perfectly, and the existential threat posed by Obito's Akatsuki was so overwhelmingly terrifying that the shinobi were forced to temporarily swallow their hatred.
Right now? Neither of those conditions was met.
Once the Mist camp was established, Mei and Ao accepted the invitation and headed toward the Leaf encampment.
By the time they arrived, the Leaf camp was already heavily fortified. Guided by Shikaku, who had waited at the gates to receive them, the group walked straight to the central command tent.
Jiraiya was already seated at the head of the table. Flanking him were Inoichi Yamanaka, Kakashi Hatake, and a man with pure, pupil-less white eyes.
This was Tokuma Hyuga, an elite jonin and a member of the Hyuga Main House.
Under Hiashi's orders, the Hyuga clan was pulling no punches this time. They had deployed dozens of Branch House members, all chunin or higher. They had also sent two Main House members.
One was assigned to the rear, managing the security of the vital supply lines alongside the reserve forces. The other was right here, standing beside Jiraiya and commanding the Branch members at the front. Tokuma was a direct cousin to the clan head, Hiashi.
The moment Tokuma saw Ao step into the tent behind Mei, his face hardened. A faint, razor-sharp killing intent bled into his pure white eyes.
As one of the few Main House members, holding real authority and destined to become a clan elder, there was no way Tokuma wouldn't recognize Ao.
In fact, a Hyuga shinobi could be forgiven for not knowing anyone else in the world, but they had to know Ao of the Hidden Mist. Every Hyuga qualified to step onto a battlefield was drilled to memorize his face. If they ever encountered him in combat, the standing order was to kill him at all costs.
They had to reclaim the Byakugan that rightfully belonged to their clan!
It was the only Byakugan the Hyuga had lost in a century.
Main House members rarely left the village. Even when ordered to the frontlines for major military operations, they were heavily guarded by Branch members and other elite Leaf shinobi.
This paranoia stemmed from a biological reality. Unlike the Uchiha's Sharingan, which violently rejected foreign hosts, the Byakugan had a very low rejection rate.
Countless Uchiha had died on battlefields across the ninja world. But how many people had actually managed to transplant a Sharingan? Over all these years, only Kakashi, and the unique anomaly, Danzo Shimura.
The Uchiha never really worried about their eyes being stolen and used. But the Hyuga did.
Because of this, the Hyuga's protection of the Byakugan bordered on psychotic. Yet, despite all those safeguards, a Main House member had encountered an unexpected disaster.
Even though that member had managed to destroy one of their eyes before dying, the other had been forcefully ripped out by a Mist shinobi.
It was the greatest humiliation in the history of the Hyuga clan.
After investigations confirmed that Ao was using the Byakugan on missions, the famous "Ao of the Byakugan" was permanently cemented at the absolute top of the Hyuga's kill list.
Even knowing Ao would be here today, seeing him in the flesh made Tokuma struggle to suppress the violent turbulence in his chest. He looked like he was ready to strike at any second.
But a few seconds later, Tokuma reined in his emotions. He lowered his gaze, refusing to look in Ao's direction. Now was not the time.
If nothing else, Jiraiya would never allow him to start a fight in this tent.
Tokuma's killing intent flared fast and vanished just as quickly. An ordinary shinobi might not have noticed it.
But the people in this tent?
Every single one of them was a battle-hardened veteran who could slaughter without blinking. Ninja were, by nature, a bloody breed. "Kindness" on the battlefield was a cruel joke.
As Mist shinobi, Mei and Ao were hyper-sensitive to killing intent. But neither of their expressions changed. They knew the Leaf wouldn't dare attack them here.
Over a single eye? Compared to the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki waiting across the border, what mattered more?
Mei and Ao trusted the Leaf to make the pragmatic choice.
"Jiraiya-san."
Stepping forward, Mei and Ao offered a slight bow to the man at the head of the table. Though they belonged to different factions, Jiraiya's status in the ninja world vastly eclipsed theirs. Basic respect and honorifics were required.
If Tsunade had been sitting there, they would have been obligated to use the suffix '-sama'.
"Haha, no need to be so formal," Jiraiya laughed heartily, waving his hand. "Mei-kun, Ao-kun, please, take a seat."
"Understood," Mei nodded, and the two took their seats on the right side of the tent.
"Shikaku should have briefed you on the specifics," Jiraiya said, leaning forward slightly. "Things escalated a bit earlier than anticipated, but the overall situation remains the same. As planned, the Leaf will handle the frontal assault, and your forces will break through the flanks. Is that still acceptable?"
To secure the Sand Village's cooperation, the Leaf had paid a bleeding price. Even if it wasn't paid entirely upfront, tangible promises had been made.
The Mist Village had its own motivation—the Six-Tails—which gave them a reason to attack. But to prevent endless diplomatic stalling, the Leaf had still made significant concessions during negotiations.
Elder Genji of the Mist was bold, but he was also cautious. Gambling everything purely for the Six-Tails wasn't necessarily a smart move. To force the Mist's hand, the Leaf had to show absolute resolve.
The Leaf taking the main assault while the Mist pressured the flanks was the compromise they had reached. Genji had perfectly calculated the Leaf's desperation. In this joint operation, the Leaf was completely in the driver's seat, taking on the heaviest burden.
"Of course. We already agreed to this," Mei replied, her tone serious the moment Jiraiya finished speaking. "Please rest assured, Jiraiya-san. As long as your village actually pins down their main force, the Mist will shatter their flanks and march on the Waterfall in the shortest time possible."
Her tone was unyielding, deliberately emphasizing the words 'main force'.
Everyone in the tent understood the unspoken warning: Don't try to use us as cannon fodder. Jiraiya, naturally, caught the implication perfectly. He smiled and nodded. "Excellent."
After hammering out a few more tactical details, Mei and Ao excused themselves and left the tent.
Once they were completely gone, the smile vanished from Jiraiya's face. He looked down at Tokuma, who had remained perfectly silent the entire time. "Tokuma. I know the grievances of the Hyuga clan. But I ask that you endure it. This is for the sake of the big picture."
"Yes, Lord Jiraiya. Please don't worry," Tokuma replied, taking a deep breath and looking Jiraiya dead in the eye. "I am not reckless. The Hyuga clan will always prioritize the village's interests. At least until this war is over, the Hyuga are entirely under your command."
"Good. Glad to hear it," Jiraiya said softly, privately breathing a sigh of relief.
He knew exactly how violently clans reacted to bloodline theft. Throughout the thousand-year history of shinobi—especially before the hidden villages were founded—any clan would fight to the bitter end against anyone who coveted their kekkei genkai.
Over the last dozen years, the Hyuga had actively hunted for chances to assassinate the Mist shinobi with their eye. But the opportunities never came. Ao was simply too elusive.
Having him sitting right here was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Jiraiya had been genuinely worried that Tokuma, and the rest of the Hyuga, might lose their minds and attack. A preemptive warning was absolutely necessary.
After spending time adjusting his own mindset, Jiraiya had fully accepted the severity of Menma's threat. It was the exact same resolve he had shown in the original timeline when he infiltrated the Rain Village; once he understood Nagato and Konan's intentions, he fought them with the absolute intent to kill.
In Jiraiya's heart, Menma's death warrant was already signed.
Even knowing that doing this meant failing Minato and Kushina. Even knowing that the root of all this tragedy was his own teacher, Hiruzen, failing Menma first.
But this wasn't about right or wrong anymore. It was about stance.
Jiraiya was a shinobi of the Leaf. Menma was a rogue who intended to destroy the Leaf. They were natural, mortal enemies. The great Toad Sage had come to this battlefield fully prepared to execute his godson.
His only concession—his final shred of "mercy"—was that if Menma somehow survived the extraction of the Nine-Tails thanks to his monstrous Uzumaki vitality, Jiraiya wouldn't kill him. He would just lock him away for the rest of his life.
"Alright, Shikaku. Moving forward, we'll—"
Jiraiya turned to Shikaku, about to issue the next set of orders.
"Lord Jiraiya! Urgent report from the village!!"
Suddenly, a figure burst into the tent from outside. The shinobi's frantic footsteps and panicked tone made Jiraiya's eyes narrow instantly.
"What happened?" Jiraiya demanded.
The messenger dropped to one knee. "A message from the Fifth Hokage! Young Master Naruto has secretly left the village. We suspect he is heading toward the Land of Waterfall! The ANBU pursuit squads completely lost his trail, and the border guards failed to intercept him! Lady Tsunade requests that you immediately deploy a squad backward to intercept him! You must find him as quickly as possible!"