The future Third Kazekage died just like that, as silently as he would be assassinated by Chiyo's grandson, Sasori, decades later. He had hidden for a long time to reveal his power, only to meet such an end; it could be said that he died before achieving his ambition.
Fūmori Masaki confirmed that he was truly dead before slowly exhaling. This was the second time since the Battle of the Grain Depot that he had used Sage Art to the point of nearly exceeding his limits, and a faint feeling of numbness lingered within his body.
However, he felt it was worth it, because it was exchanged for the death of the strongest Kazekage.
Looking back, he saw the gathered iron sand slowly collapsing. Soon, others would know what happened here. Without the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release to further destroy the defenses, he believed the front line could be quickly consolidated. Unless Sunagakure could bring forth even greater combat power, they would have no choice but to be forced back.
Fūmori Masaki looked into the distance. In his field of vision, ripples like ocean waves were coming towards here; those were the regular Samurai Corps of the Land of Wind.
Apparently, Sunagakure did not believe they could break through on their own. Their plan must have been to first throw the defenses of the Land of Fire into chaos, and then have the regular Samurai Corps trample through in one fell swoop.
—Next, it was time to buy some time.
Fūmori Masaki thought silently to himself, adjusted his breathing slightly to soothe the faint numbness, and then his figure flashed away and disappeared.
At this moment, the first to notice Zhen Ming's death was the Second Kazekage, as he was the closest. He immediately felt a sense of dizziness and panic in his heart; someone had actually managed to kill Zhen Ming, and at such a fast speed.
While grieving for Zhen Ming's death, he quickly thought of other aspects, and the feeling of the plan failing began to spread in his heart.
Tobirama saw this scene and secretly said "Well done" in his heart. Taking advantage of the Second Kazekage's distraction, he condensed a stream of water like an arrow and rushed forward with it. He then leaped out from the water, holding a Kunai, and stabbed towards the Second Kazekage.
The Second Kazekage came back to his senses after Tobirama approached, narrowly dodging the Kunai. Then, Tobirama let go of his hand and let the Kunai fall.
Before they were about to begin their next duel, Tobirama looked at the Kunai that had fallen behind the Second Kazekage, and his figure suddenly disappeared before the Second Kazekage's eyes.
—Wha...
The Second Kazekage widened his eyes, sensing the dangerous aura behind him. He released the Wind Release he had prepared in his hand to the side, giving himself a push to accelerate and dodge to the side.
Tobirama held the Kunai and slashed sharply across the Second Kazekage's waist, blood instantly spraying out. This situation made him unable to help but recall the battle against Uchiha Izuna back then.
At that time, Uchiha Izuna had not anticipated the space-time movement of the Flying Thunder God Technique and was severely wounded by his own katana.
The Second Kazekage was lucky. Although he did not know about the Flying Thunder God: Lightning Flash that could transfer objects, he had seen the Flying Thunder God Technique for individual movement, so he made an accurate response at the first moment. Although he was still hit, the hit was a bit shallow and could not be fatal.
"Damn it." The Second Kazekage covered the wound on his waist. After landing on the ground, he formed hand seals. A gust of wind carried the dirt on the ground, swirling into a sandstorm that rose up, temporarily blocking Tobirama. Hidden within it were the signal flares he had prepared, which exploded when the sandstorm receded.
In the night, a flash of white light streaked across the sky. The Sunagakure Ninja currently in battle all saw this scene. This was a pre-arranged signal; as long as it appeared, it meant the war had changed, and they needed to retreat immediately.
In fact, the moment they saw the iron sand collapse, the Sunagakure Ninja all had a bad feeling. However, suffering from the lack of orders from the Second Kazekage, they did not choose to retreat but continued to fight with the Konoha Ninja. Now that they had received the order, most of them prepared to leave with a sense of relief. Some people were unwilling, but they had no choice but to follow the retreat.
Although the Konoha Ninja did not know the specific situation, as Ninjas, their methods in some areas were the same. Homura Mitokado saw through the true information conveyed by the signal flare at a glance. Among his peers, he had always been intelligent, sharp, and resourceful, so he unhesitatingly ordered others to launch a strong attack on the Sunagakure Ninja.
Just as Homura Mitokado and Ebizo had similar personalities, Mitokado Haru was also a woman with a somewhat irritable temper and direct actions. She provocatively said to Chiyo: "Preparing to run away?" While saying this, she chased after her.
On the other side, Monzaemon also knew the order issued by the Second Kazekage, but he no longer had the strength to leave. Compared to his elderly self, Danzo Shimura and Uchiha Kagami were young and strong, currently in the golden period where a Ninja shines.
If Monzaemon still had a young body now, even if he only had five puppets, he should have been able to leave, even if he could not defeat these two people.
However, his elderly body could not condense more Chakra. He was experienced, but his physical reactions were somewhat weak, and he had no advantage in front of these two young people.
Fighting up to now, Monzaemon had lost two more puppets. Taking advantage of the opportunity created by this, he threw out the sealing tool of the third puppet. It could have sealed all of a person's Chakra and reduced one enemy, but—
"So that's it, is it the Genjutsu of the Sharingan?" Monzaemon saw Uchiha Kagami, who had been captured by the sealing tool, slowly disappear, and he sighed slightly.
"Exactly. Although a Puppet Master can manipulate puppets to create the illusion of one against many, especially someone like you who can manipulate ten puppets, it has more advantages, but..." The real Uchiha Kagami appeared on the side and said to Monzaemon, word by word: "You are, after all, just one person."
"When facing the Sharingan, one should prepare to run away when alone, or at least ensure there are two people." Monzaemon muttered this tactical arrangement for dealing with the Uchiha Clan that circulated in Sunagakure. "I thought that with my experience, I wouldn't fall for Genjutsu, but the result was... sigh."
"Because I have some insights into Genjutsu." Uchiha Kagami narrowed his blood-colored eyes slightly.
Monzaemon smiled slightly, expressing his affirmation of Uchiha Kagami's power. He calculated in his heart that the third puppet had already lost its sealing tool and was left with only the combat ability of a normal puppet. Although it was certainly stronger than an ordinary puppet, it was meaningless against Danzo Shimura and Uchiha Kagami.
It looked like he was really going to die here. Monzaemon realized this, but he had no regrets in his heart. He had tried his best. The design drawings of the ten puppets of chikamatsu were also kept in Sunagakure. With Chiyo's level, as long as there were materials, she could replicate them, and his legacy would not be cut off. As a Ninja, there was nothing to regret even if he died here.
Then he had nothing to be afraid of. The only thing he had to do was one thing: risk his life to go all out, and it would be best if he could take one of them with him!
Monzaemon manipulated the remaining three puppets and pounced towards the two. Danzo Shimura and Uchiha Kagami met them again. Because of Monzaemon's resolve, the puppets' attacks were more ruthless, but both of them could see the movement patterns of the puppets and Monzaemon's habits.
Therefore, after Uchiha Kagami restrained two puppets, Danzo Shimura used a Shadow Clone to deceive the last puppet, approached Monzaemon, and cut off his head with one sword stroke.
The first Puppet Master of Sunagakure was declared dead.
"Truly a difficult opponent; he was an old Ninja with rich experience after all." Uchiha Kagami said, holding the flame fan and swatting away the two puppets that had lost their controller.
"Hmm, but he died in the end." Danzo Shimura said, "Fūmori Masaki should have also killed the enemy. The iron sand has collapsed, and the Sunagakure Ninja are likely going to retreat. We must hurry over and give them a 'gift'."
"Wait, it shouldn't just be these people from Sunagakure. If they intended to pin the outcome on this, there should be other enemies." Uchiha Kagami said, "Why don't you go first, Danzo? I will go and reorganize the guard army in the city."
Danzo Shimura nodded: "Reasonable. Then I'll leave it to you, Kagami. I'll go one step ahead."
Danzo Shimura rushed to pursue the Sunagakure Ninja, while Uchiha Kagami went to gather the troops in the city who seemed a bit panicked due to the surprise attack, and contacted the leader of the Samurai Corps to redeploy. When he learned that the regular army of the Land of Wind was about to arrive, the Samurai Leader of the Land of Fire said "Good," indicating that he couldn't let only the Ninjas perform brilliantly, and led the gathered troops to attack, clashing head-on with the troops of the Land of Wind.
When dawn arrived, the regular army of the Land of Wind and the Sunagakure Ninja were defeated and retreated. Although they still retained their effective strength, the failure of this surprise attack plan meant that the Land of Wind could be said to have been defeated.
After discussion, they decided to withdraw their troops from the Land of Rivers and return to the territory of the Land of Wind to defend.
Perhaps they should consider how to make peace with the Land of Fire. With their current strength, they might still be able to leave with a decent ending.
the new third hokage of konoha