Two days later.
At last, the endless desert came to an end. Before the Konoha forces stood an ordinary village in the Land of Wind, home to several hundred households.
The Hyuga Clan's ninja had already conducted reconnaissance. On Lady Tsunade's orders, the Konoha forces avoided the village entirely to spare its inhabitants any disturbance.
"It's Leaf ninja..."
Of course, within the village there were spies from Sunagakure who spotted the Konoha forces and immediately raced into the desert and disappeared without a trace.
Naturally, their escape was permitted with Tsunade's silent approval.
After advancing dozens of kilometers further, the Konoha forces set up camp on site.
This location was ideal—it neither disturbed civilians in the Land of Wind nor approached Sunagakure too closely.
Although Konoha's forces were filled with elite ninja, they still lacked sufficient strength to launch a full-scale attack on Sunagakure.
Tsunade's intentions were clear—she intended to make this the site of a direct confrontation with Suna's forces.
...
Ssshh!
The next day, as dawn broke, footsteps echoed across the sandy ground in front of the Konoha camp.
Such sounds could not escape detection by Konoha's forces, especially since the Hyuga Clan's surveillance ninja were keeping watch.
"Wooh!"
At the sound of the assembly horn, over two thousand Konoha ninja assembled within minutes, forming battle lines to greet Suna's approaching forces.
On the vast expanse of sand, when Chiyo saw the dark mass appearing on the horizon, her aged, wrinkled face twitched slightly.
"The Leaf shinobi… are waiting for us?" Beside Chiyo, a woman with long brownish-red hair spoke softly. Her beauty was striking, her voice gentle and melodious.
"It seems so."
Beside the woman, a red-haired man replied. His features were handsome and resolute, his eyes captivating, with unusually long lashes.
Liufei and Shirokage were among Sunagakure's most elite ninja.
They weren't just elite warriors—she was Chiyo's daughter-in-law, and he was her son.
"What kind of strategy is this?" Liufei asked curiously.
Shirokage glanced at Chiyo before replying solemnly, "I don't think it's a strategy. It's more like mockery."
Upon hearing that, Chiyo's expression turned even darker.
Indeed, Shirokage's interpretation was spot-on. Tsunade had chosen this approach precisely to mock Chiyo's conduct within Sunagakure.
For Sand ninja to strike twice covertly might have been acceptable if they had succeeded.
But failing repeatedly while resorting to underhanded tactics inevitably invited ridicule from other hidden villages.
As Suna's forces drew nearer, every ninja on both sides tensed up, hands gripping their weapons tightly.
When the distance between the two armies fell short of a hundred meters, Shirokage raised his hand. Instantly, all the Suna ninja halted in place.
Suna had over two thousand soldiers as well. In this narrow space of less than a hundred meters, thousands of gazes locked, brimming with fury and killing intent from both sides.
Nobody moved — not yet. The commander hadn't given the order.
Tsunade eyed the middle-aged woman at the center of the enemy formation. Her earlier rage had mostly faded by now.
Standing between the two opposing forces, she casually glanced around before fixing a charming smile on Chiyo. "Hehe, Elder Chiyo, it seems this time Suna didn't set up any ambushes…"
Chiyo responded with a forced smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Invading another nation doesn't really match your village's usual peaceful principles, does it? If I remember correctly, the First Hokage strongly opposed such invasions. What happened? Did you, as a descendant of the Senju clan, forget those teachings?"
The First Hokage once brought order to the chaotic ninja world by dividing the Nine Tailed Beasts among the Five Great Ninja Nations — preventing any one nation from growing too strong. He used the beasts as a balance of power through their sheer destructive potential.
However, once the First Hokage died, that fragile balance collapsed in no time.
"But the First Hokage also taught Konoha's ninja that any enemy threatening our comrades in the Land of Fire or Konoha itself must be wiped out!" Tsunade scoffed coldly.
"Spare me your 'words of the First Hokage' act — you were the ones who broke the peace treaty first!"
As soon as Tsunade finished speaking, she suddenly lunged toward Chiyo.
Immediately behind Chiyo, over a hundred Suna ninja began forming hand seals for a group jutsu. But Tsunade moved even faster.
Boom!
While still dozens of meters from the enemy ranks, Tsunade threw a punch straight into the ground. Cracks rapidly spread across the surface, instantly extending toward the Suna ninjas' position.
Between the two armies stretched a deep trench five or six meters wide and nearly a hundred meters long.
Tsunade held absolutely nothing back with that punch, completely interrupting the enemy's hand seals.
Behind Tsunade, Konoha's ninja simultaneously started forming seals.
[Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!]
[Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!]
Dozens of jutsus intertwined as they crashed toward the enemy ranks, creating an impressive spectacle.
At that moment, however, a metal wall suddenly rose from the trench — ten meters tall and several dozen meters wide.
"What is this?"
Instantly, the advancing Konoha ninja came to a halt. The numerous incoming techniques only caused slight tremors upon impact.
As all attacks were successfully blocked, many small openings suddenly appeared along the metal wall, and various ninja tools shot directly outward.
[Rotation!]
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A dozen Hyuga ninja immediately emerged at the forefront of their ranks. They spun rapidly, creating rotating chakra barriers that deflected the storm of incoming projectiles.
Boom! Boom!
After shaking slightly several times, the metal wall actually began retracting and was eventually sealed away into a scroll by a female Suna ninja within their ranks.
It was Liufei.
"A defensive puppet!?"
Sakumo squinted slightly. That massive metal wall had actually been a colossal defensive puppet.
Normally, the pupils he had seen were all in human form. This wall-like defensive puppet, though—was completely new to him.
Could there really be anyone other than Chiyo capable of controlling such a puppet?
"Heh, and it's even being manipulated by over ten puppet masters working together."
Beside him, Hiashi Hyuga activated his Byakugan, the veins around his temples bulging visibly as he observed the scene. That wall-like iron defense puppet couldn't block his vision in the least. Earlier, a puppet of that magnitude had been controlled by over ten Suna puppet masters at once.
And the woman standing beside Chiyo was the leader among that group of more than ten puppet masters.
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