Iwagakure's incursion into the Land of Lightning, followed by its large-scale clash with Kumogakure, became one of the major turning points of the Third Shinobi World War.
After that battle concluded, all nations—except the Land of Wind—quietly ceased large-scale operations. Across Konoha's various fronts, only scattered skirmishes remained.
The war entered a strangely unnatural calm.
In truth, every nation shared the same intuition and assessment:
the long years of chaos were nearing their end.
What followed would be the final phase of the war—where victory or defeat would be decided in one decisive push. The present calm was nothing more than each village gathering strength for that last confrontation.
The sole exception to this pattern was Sunagakure.
While the other villages lay low, the Sand attempted to exploit Iwagakure's apparent exhaustion, launching proactive operations aimed at driving Iwa forces completely out of the Land of Wind.
Their plan was simple:
secure a decisive advantage first, then force Iwagakure into a peace treaty—allowing Sunagakure to become the first village to withdraw from the war.
One step ahead leads to every step ahead.
Sunagakure had been the earliest village drawn into the conflict. After its war potential was drained, everything it had once sought was already out of reach.
At this point, peace itself had become its sole objective.
And so, in order to obtain peace—
They had to keep fighting.
Unfortunately, reality did not align with Sunagakure's expectations.
Their repeated offensives ended in failure. Iwagakure's resistance remained as fierce as ever, showing no signs of collapse or manpower depletion.
Battle after battle, Sunagakure gained no decisive advantage. The overall balance of the war remained unbroken.
Sunagakure should have sought coordinated operations with its ally, Konoha.
But it did not.
Whether this was due to misjudging Iwa's strength, overestimating its own capabilities, or simply pursuing the selfish goal of exiting the war alone—
From any perspective, even if casualties were manageable, Sunagakure had failed yet again.
As for Konoha—
After three full months of rest and reorganization, it was now fully prepared for the war's renewal.
From this point onward, Konoha would shift into an aggressively proactive stance across all fronts.
Everyone understood one thing clearly:
Wars cannot be won quickly by defense alone.
At this moment, both internally and externally, the conditions were finally ripe for Konoha to launch its offensive.
It was the moment when the clouds parted and the moon emerged.
Refreshed Konoha shinobi returned to the battlefield. Across all fronts combined, more than ten thousand ninja were now deployed.
Since this was a true all-out mobilization, Hagoromo naturally could not remain in Konoha.
In fact, he was already stationed on the Land of Water front, temporarily serving under Orochimaru.
Having just arrived at the front, Hagoromo was in his tent reorganizing his ninja tools.
To be precise—reorganizing them.
Before leaving Konoha, Kushina had insisted—forcefully—on helping him prepare his equipment. Her idea of being thoughtful was… creative.
So Hagoromo now had to redo everything according to his own habits.
Recently, Kushina had clearly been engaged in some kind of advanced training—
including high-difficulty domestic tasks.
The realm she aspired toward could be neatly summarized by a phrase that started with "virtuous" and ended with "wife."
Much like how she could cook—technically—but with flavors best left unquestioned, the ninja tools she prepared for Hagoromo were impressively comprehensive.
If one were generous, it could be called thorough.
Less generously—it was a complete mess.
Hagoromo needed to rearrange everything: essential items placed correctly, unnecessary ones removed.
Otherwise, what if he reached for a shuriken and pulled out a handful of soldier pills instead?
Was he supposed to scatter beans and summon an army?
It was hard to tell whether this was something to be grateful for or melancholic over.
Hagoromo had always found it difficult to imagine Kushina restraining her temperament—but now she truly was changing.
Perhaps "trying" wasn't the right word.
It was happening naturally.
Life really was a strange thing.
As Hagoromo sorted through dangerous items and reflected on the mysteries of existence, someone lightly tapped on the tent pole outside.
A voice followed:
"Is Jōnin Kamishiro Hagoromo present? Orochimaru-sama's strategy meeting is about to begin."
"Understood. I'll be there shortly," Hagoromo replied at once.
Due to his role in the assassination of the Raikage—and more importantly, possessing the ability to do so—combined with nearly two years of squad leadership as a chūnin, Hagoromo had already been officially promoted to jōnin before arriving at the front.
At that point, refusing the promotion was no longer an option.
If killing a Raikage wasn't enough to earn jōnin rank, how was anyone else supposed to advance?
Was he supposed to permanently occupy the top of B-rank and block everyone else from becoming A-rank heroes?
Fortunately, a fourteen-year-old jōnin, while notable, was not completely unprecedented.
After all, from the beginning, Hagoromo had never done anything low-profile.
Given the things he had attacked—
Remaining inconspicuous was simply impossible.
He packed the final scroll into his tool pouch, stood up, fastened it at his waist, and headed toward the meeting site.
Whether by merit or reputation, Hagoromo—though newly promoted—was an exceptional jōnin. As such, he was qualified to attend certain high-level pre-battle meetings.
There was also another reason.
After thoroughly examining the Raikage's corpse, Orochimaru had developed a keen interest in the Lightning Release technique capable of instantly piercing the Raikage's defenses.
According to reports, that same technique had once broken through Shukaku's defenses as well.
Orochimaru was fascinated.
Unfortunately for him, Hagoromo explained that the technique required extensive chakra accumulation and had a long cooldown. Even when ready, it was reserved for critical moments.
In other words—
There would be no live demonstration for "Uncle Orochimaru."
By the time Hagoromo arrived, many shinobi were already gathered.
A quick glance revealed numerous elite clan members under Orochimaru's command—
notably Uchiha and Hyūga shinobi.
This was easy to understand.
Even before earning the title of Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru had been a renowned prodigy in Konoha. Only someone of his caliber could command the respect of proud bloodline clans that often proclaimed themselves "Konoha's strongest."
That said, serving under Orochimaru meant that the more special one's abilities were, the more careful one had to be.
Otherwise, one might wake up missing a few parts.
Looking at the Uchiha and Hyūga present, Hagoromo couldn't help but think:
Surely they haven't lost any organs yet… right?
In truth, he was overthinking.
At this stage, Orochimaru had only limited interest in the Hyūga's Byakugan. As for the Uchiha and the Sharingan—his obsession would only begin years later, after encountering a certain five-year-old boy.
True fixation wouldn't occur until he witnessed that child's Mangekyō Sharingan.
For now, Orochimaru remained relatively restrained, genuinely fighting for Konoha.
As for when his mindset changed—
No one knew.
After all, inside Orochimaru's sharp mind lay a labyrinth of intertwined ambitions. Who could possibly unravel it?
Once everyone had arrived, Orochimaru finally appeared.
"Next," he said, his hoarse, snake-like voice rasping through the tent,
"we will initiate a proactive offensive against the Land of Water…"
He wasted no words.
The final stage of the Third Shinobi World War had officially begun.
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