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15 Advanced Chapters @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0
The story is called "Hinata of the Hidden Cloud (HOC)
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On the other side, Kushina's chains lashed toward Killer Bee. The jinchūriki's rhymes faltered as he struggled, forced to dodge rather than counter. "Yo, lady, you're pushin' me shady! These chains… they sting like crazy!"
But Kushina pressed harder, her sealing arts gnawing at his cloak, threatening to suppress the beast inside him.
The battlefield turned into chaos. Konoha's lower ranks fell into traps Kumo had long prepared—exploding tags buried in the earth, chakra-forged arrow volleys shredding formations. But Kumo bled too. Minato's teleportation cut down squads in moments, and Kushina's chains broke defenses wide open.
Smoke and screams mingled. Victory teetered on a knife's edge.
This continued for hours
Minato's sharp eyes caught it first. On Kushina's front, Bee's frustration boiled over. His body swelled with chakra, tails sprouting as he gathered a Bijūdama. The orb of condensed destruction grew, humming with catastrophic energy.
Kushina snarled, chakra chains tightening around him—but her grip faltered as the blast grew too unstable.
Minato's hand touched her shoulder in a blink. "We're leaving. Now." His voice carried the tone of absolute command. He flung a marked kunai high, and with a flash, he and Kushina vanished, reappearing among their troops.
"All units—prepare to withdraw!"
The order rippled across the field. Konoha's shinobi disengaged with discipline born of desperation, retreating in tight formations, Minato flickering among them to pull stragglers clear.
Ay landed beside Bee, his armor flickering from exhaustion. "Kumo shinobi—fall back to the base! Regroup!"
The battlefield stilled, littered with corpses from both sides, the stench of smoke and blood hanging thick. Neither side had won. Both had survived.
--
The chamber was dim, lit only by the wavering glow of oil lamps. Shadows stretched long across the carved wooden table where the highest minds of Konoha sat in uneasy silence. Maps of the Land of Hot Water and the surrounding territories lay scattered across the polished surface, pinned in place by kunai. Red and black markings scrawled over them in urgency told the grim story: battle lines shifting, supply lines cut, and skirmishes that had bled the village dry.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, sat at the head of the table. His expression was as unreadable as ever, but his eyes betrayed the weight pressing on him. He had seen too many wars, buried too many comrades, and carried too many sins. Still, he could not falter now.
To his right sat Jiraiya, restless as always, his hand drumming on the table. Across from him, Tsunade leaned back with her arms folded, eyes sharp, waiting for the conversation to turn to her expertise. Danzo Shimura, ever cloaked in his own shadows, sat a little apart, his face set in a mask of calm detachment that only those who knew him well could interpret as calculation. Orochimaru, for once, was absent—deployed against Iwagakure forces, his silence in this chamber only deepening the unease.
A courier knelt at the far side of the room, his body trembling with exhaustion after having run himself half-dead across the battlefield to deliver his message. He had already spoken the words, but their echo still hung heavy in the air.
"The Third Raikage himself," Hiruzen repeated slowly, as if the title were bitter poison. "He moves toward Hot Water."
Jiraiya leaned forward, his expression sharp. "That confirms it then. They're escalating. We've already had Raikage's son and their jinchuriki leading devastating charges and tearing through our lines. And now, If the Raikage himself is making an appearance, they're planning to crush our forward divisions outright."
Danzo's lips curved almost imperceptibly, a trace of cold satisfaction hidden beneath a mask of concern. "It means Kumo is committed. And it means Konoha cannot afford to show weakness. A leader's presence on the battlefield is a declaration. If the Raikage marches, should the Hokage not answer?"
The words hung like smoke in the chamber.
Hiruzen did not rise to the bait immediately. He inhaled slowly through his pipe, then exhaled the smoke in a thin stream. His silence was measured, deliberate. Danzo, of course, had phrased his provocation carefully. If Hiruzen did not rise to meet the Raikage, it would appear cowardice. If he did, it risked his life—and gave Danzo the opening, he so hungrily sought, to claim the hokage position should he fail .
Jiraiya broke the silence. His tone was unusually restrained, but his eyes carried urgency. "Sensei, think this through. You are our last defence. Even if Minato is there, even if Kushina can intervene with the Nine-Tails' chakra, we can't be sure they can stand against him and his son and their jinchuriki all at once. I will make the appearance."
His voice cracked slightly at Kushina's name. He tried to mask it, but everyone at the table heard it.
Hiruzen gave him a sidelong glance. "You're worried for your student."
"I'd be a fool not to be." Jiraiya's voice was rougher now. "Minato has grown. But he's not invincible. And Kushina—she's strong, yes, but she's also the very prize Kumo has longed for since the last war. If they capture her, if they take the Nine-Tails—"
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A/N: Both sides had heavy losses, with konoha surprise attack and with kumo getting used to the base and planting trap. with the help of the 2nd front kumo held back. and Bee didn't actual use Bijuudama, it was gimmick.
konoha losses: 100 shinobi, Kumo losses: 120 Shinobi