Just as Kumogakure's forces stepped onto the Land of Fire's soil!
A sudden roar echoed through the forest! "Edo Tensei!"
Kumogakure's shinobi were instantly startled! A moment later, they immediately reacted! "No good! It's an ambush!"
But it was already too late; wooden coffins rose from the ground, a total of one hundred and ten coffins! They directly surrounded the vanguard! Then, the coffin lids all opened simultaneously! In each coffin lay a person covered in cracks, lying still. Under Tobirama's control, they all opened their eyes at once! There was no hint of spirit in their gaze, indicating they were completely controlled by Tobirama. Without any personality or thoughts, they were unadulterated killing machines!
"Alert! Maintain vigilance!" The Kumogakure ninja directing the forces did not act rashly. Although there were only one hundred and ten of them, their appearance clearly indicated they were not living beings. And their mechanism was completely unknown, so he became much more cautious. As the Edo Tensei puppets steadily advanced, Kumogakure's shinobi continuously gathered, but these one hundred and ten puppets completely sectioned off Kumogakure's formation.
Finally, one Kumogakure ninja couldn't bear the oppressive feeling of being continuously pressed upon and attacked an Edo Tensei puppet. At this moment, the war officially began!
Tobirama, controlling from a distance, had no intention of drawing out the battle. Controlling these one hundred and ten puppets consumed a lot of chakra, and he had no extra to waste on prolonged engagement! He might as well just activate his ultimate technique! "Mutual Exploding Tags!"
Instantly, all the puppets simultaneously plunged their right hands into their own chests! This action stunned all of Kumogakure's shinobi. What was going on? Were they committing suicide right from the start? But before they could figure out the situation, they saw these puppets pull their hands out again! In their hands, they clutched countless paper-like objects, which they scattered into the air!
At this moment, a sharp-eyed ninja clearly saw what these so-called 'papers' were! The hairs on his entire body, including his head, instantly stood on end! He wanted to shout loudly, but he couldn't make a sound! He used all his strength and only managed to yell, "Run!"
The next moment, countless exploding tags fluttering in the sky detonated simultaneously! An uncountable number of exploding tags continuously exploded at their designated points! The surrounded shinobi died at an astonishing speed; there weren't even corpses left. Such dense exploding tags, at the moment of explosion, instantly blew people into nothing but ash. Achieving true human evaporation!
Although facing such a powerful opponent and such desperately overwhelming strength, Kumogakure's shinobi still resisted. But it was utterly futile!
A Kumogakure elite Jonin, excelling in combat, successfully broke through the encirclement with his formidable strength! Just as he was about to report back to the central unit, he suddenly found his vision blacken, and he couldn't move his limbs. It turned out he was now firmly wrapped like a mummy by exploding tags. The next moment, the exploding tags detonated. One less elite Jonin existed in this world. There were many other shinobi who, like him, tried to break through the encirclement, but all of them were turned into mummies by exploding tags upon successfully breaking out. They left this world accompanied by continuous explosions.
The continuous point-detonation of exploding tags lasted for about ten minutes. After the smoke dissipated, there was nothing left in the entire encirclement, only a scorched, black crater! It was unknown how many Kumogakure shinobi's ashes lay condensed in that pit.
Torifu, watching this scene from above, exclaimed how truly shocking it was. A vanguard unit surely consisted of five or six thousand people, yet they were all annihilated so effortlessly. However, the middle unit was the main force of Kumogakure's offensive. The people Tobirama had just annihilated were merely the advance party, scouting ahead. They were the first to die when war broke out. To put it clearly, they were sent as cannon fodder to help the main force ascertain the enemy's full military strength and personnel distribution.
After a while, countless fragments fluttered in the air, then gathered into humanoid forms. The Edo Tensei shinobi, who had just been blown to ash, re-materialized. These beings were impossible to kill; they would naturally re-form after a period of time. Only Tobirama himself could release this jutsu. After all, Naori hadn't developed Izanami yet, so this jutsu had no known weakness.
Tobirama, seeing that the enemies had been completely eliminated, waved his hand. The coffins from before reappeared, and all one hundred and ten Edo Tensei puppets, as if summoned, flew directly into the coffins and sank underground.
"How was it, Elder Brother?"
Hashirama snorted coldly. "It was alright."
Tobirama rolled his eyes. This was clearly impressive, yet such a large-scale ninjutsu was only "alright"? It seemed Elder Brother was still angry about the war. The Nidaime Raikage was in for it.
Hashirama felt no ripple in his heart seeing so many people die by Tobirama's hand. The number of people he had killed was certainly no less than Tobirama's. Enemies were never worthy of sympathy. One must always cut off the roots when dealing with enemies and not show any mercy, otherwise, it would be themselves who died in the future.
"How much longer until their central unit arrives?"
Tobirama shook his head. "They shouldn't be far. They must have heard the explosions." During wartime, even the slightest disturbance demanded serious attention! Let alone such a massive explosion.
"Then I'll just have to go find them!"
Hashirama leaped fiercely! He landed steadily on the ground, then sprinted towards the direction of Kumogakure's main forces! Tobirama, seeing this, quickly followed. His main role this time was to control the Edo Tensei in combat; he didn't need to show himself. He just needed to hide in the shadows and control, occasionally picking off any stragglers for his elder brother.
For Hashirama, even if two hundred more Raikage were placed before him, it would just be a matter of Wood Release: Wood Golem. So this war would have no suspense at all! It could only end with the downfall of the Nidaime Raikage! Not a single person who came to participate in this war would escape!
They thought Hashirama was dead, and so they dared to openly break the treaty and start a war! This had touched Hashirama's bottom line. At this moment, he was extremely furious!
"Dare to lay hands on my village! You've made your resolve, haven't you!"
Hashirama and Tobirama sprinted on the ground, while Torifu leisurely flew in the sky, occasionally observing their movements below. He could clearly see that Hashirama was about to clash with Kumogakure's main forces. But Torifu's target today wasn't here; it was Kumogakure's rearmost unit. After all, the main force was blocked by his teacher and was already counting down to their demise, so Torifu had to act quickly too! Otherwise, he wouldn't gain anything at all and even risked exposure.
"Aokumo! Accelerate! Fly at full speed towards the direction I'm pointing!"