After a full day of forced marching, Captain Yellow Dog's unit finally arrived outside the Hidden Rain Village.
He deliberately revealed himself, standing atop the rain-slicked water's surface just beyond the village's perimeter.
Yagami and the others concealed themselves within a nearby network of abandoned pipes.
The Hidden Rain Village was a bizarre place—crisscrossed with pipes large and small, some horizontal, some towering upright.
Even the houses here were built from repurposed industrial cylinders.
Before long, a squad of Rain-nin emerged from the village.
At their head was Shiyu, a senior official of the Hidden Rain.
Shiyu fixed his eyes on Yellow Dog and demanded,
"What are you doing here, Konoha ANBU? Don't you know our villages are still at war?"
Yellow Dog took out a scroll and tossed it to him.
"Lord Danzō of the Leaf met once with your leader, Hanzo.
Hanzo said that if Konoha showed sincerity, the Hidden Rain would consider a ceasefire.
This scroll represents that sincerity. Take a look."
Shiyu unrolled it, only to see the ink bleeding under the rainfall—the writing smearing and fading fast.
He understood the trick immediately, the leaf shinobi wanted to control how long he could read.
Quickly, he scanned the contents before the letters vanished.
When he finished, the confusion on his face disappeared.
So the Sand-nin had been sneaking around the Kichikō Mountains for months—
it turned out they had discovered several interconnected caverns that could channel water.
By linking those caverns, they could divert Rain Country's water into the Wind Country.
Shiyu smirked to himself. So that's it.
If that's the case, then the Hidden Rain could use the Yoshimizu River to control the Sand completely.
If Rain Village ever grew displeased, they could cut off the Yoshimizu River—or redirect it entirely.
This was crucial intelligence.
He dropped the now-ruined scroll into the mud and said,
"I understand. I'll report this to the leader.
But you're too late—Lord Hanzo is already engaged in battle with Leaf's forces.
By the time you get there, I wonder how many of your comrades will still be alive."
Yellow Dog's expression sharpened.
He immediately signaled the unit to move out at full speed.
...
After several hours of running, Yagami saw a dense layer of poisonous mist spreading across the rainforest ahead.
Avoiding the thickest areas, they burst through the trees—and the battlefield unfolded before them.
Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade stood amid the mud, panting heavily, surrounded by corpses.
The dead lay everywhere—both leaf and Rain-nin.
The fighting had been devastating. Every subordinate on both sides had fallen.
Atop his giant salamander, Hanzo glanced toward the distant edge of the battlefield, where he saw Shiyu and Yellow Dog approaching.
He remembered Yellow Dog from their encounter outside Kyoto and had been impressed by him.
Seeing the ANBU captain now standing beside Shiyu, Hanzo immediately understood—the Hidden Rain had received the outcome it wanted.
He looked down at the three Leaf elite jōnin standing in the muck below.
Even for him, defeating these three quickly was impossible.
The Third Hokage truly had produced three extraordinary disciples—it was almost enviable.
Hanzo decided to take the opportunity to end the battle.
Hundreds of his own loyal Rain-nin lay dead, and loyal men were hard to replace in a land overrun with rebellion and mercenaries.
He understood the truth of shinobi wars,
victory or defeat in a single skirmish didn't matter—what counted was a nation's overall endurance.
He had suppressed Orochimaru and the others long enough,
and with his occasional interference, over 700 Rain-nin and 400 Leaf-nin had died together.
Leaf could easily field more troops,
but the Hidden Rain couldn't afford many battles like this one.
Hanzo drew back his scythe and said,
"This war—let's say it ends in Leaf's favor. I'll spare your lives."
Jiraiya shouted back furiously,
"Take your pity and shove it! Come on—I can still fight!"
Hanzo's eyes narrowed.
"You've done well to survive against me this long.
From this day forth, I, Hanzo the Salamander, name you three the Legendary Sannin of Leaf.
Bear that title with pride—
for you earned it with your lives."
Turning his salamander, Hanzo departed the corpse-strewn battlefield.
Jiraiya tried to rush after him, but Tsunade held him back.
"Jiraiya! Calm down!"
At that moment, Captain Yellow Dog flickered into view beside Orochimaru.
Seeing him, Orochimaru first thought reinforcements had arrived—
but when he turned, he realized Yellow Dog's ANBU squad was incomplete, battered.
After listening to Yellow Dog's brief report, Orochimaru exhaled softly.
He hadn't expected that the very diplomatic maneuver he had scoffed at
would turn out to be one of the key reasons Hanzo withdrew.
...
Yellow Dog's squad began cleaning the battlefield.
Yagami spotted someone standing motionless and was about to shout at him for slacking—
then realized it was White Sheep.
At his feet lay his runaway fiancée, Aburame Chima.
Her body was covered in layers of parasitic insects—most dead, a few still alive.
White Sheep knelt beside her, extending his arm.
Tiny pores opened across his forearm, and the surviving insects began crawling into his body one by one.
He had once said that his own insects resisted Chima's species.
Now that she was gone, the two colonies merged into one, their conflict finally gone.
Every crawling bug seemed to mourn,
their collective hum forming a low, continuous dirge from within White Sheep's body.
Nearby, Yagami found the corpses of the logistics squad.
Among their gear, he discovered a set of sealing scrolls—inside were over four hundred body bags.
It was the grim precaution of shinobi logistics, always prepare for the worst.
Processing 400 Leaf corpses took hours.
When they were finally done, Yagami was exhausted.
He stared at the Rain-nin corpses lying half-submerged in the mud.
No one from the Hidden Rain came to claim them.
Left in the water, they would rot quickly.
Orochimaru approached again, this time summoning Fox Squad to accompany him.
Yagami tensed—
but it turned out to be only for corpse retrieval.
In war, the greatest spoils for the victors were the enemy's dead.
Orochimaru walked among the Rain-nin corpses, occasionally pointing to one.
Yagami's men sealed away each selected body.
These bodies might contain valuable information—bloodlines, secrets, techniques.
Rain Village had few kekkei genkai clans,
and after careful selection, Orochimaru took only around thirty of the most promising remains.
Hanzo had left words of intimidation, but even he must have known he'd lost—
otherwise he would never have allowed Orochimaru to pick through the dead so freely.
...
The next day, leaf village reinforcements arrived.
They took possession of their fallen comrades' bodies.
Yellow Dog's unit and the reinforcements then departed together for the main Leaf encampment in the Land of Grass.
Days later, only Orochimaru and Tsunade returned.
Orochimaru reported that Jiraiya had stayed behind in the Land of Rain.
He had met the one foretold by the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku—the Child of Prophecy.
Yagami turned his gaze toward the Rain Country, thinking.
The gears of destiny have begun to turn.
Nagato's power would soon begin its rapid ascent.
He still didn't understand why Uchiha Madara had been so certain Jiraiya would take Nagato in.
Perhaps if Orochimaru and the others had ever tried to harm him,
Madara would have intervened personally—
protecting Nagato, even killing the Sannin if necessary.
With Black Zetsu and White Zetsu feeding him intelligence,
Madara's control over the Rinnegan had never wavered.
Nagato was far too important to him.
With Hanzo's declaration of a ceasefire, the war in the Land of Rain finally came to an end.
Yagami began his journey back to the village.
Captain Yellow Dog would be nominating him for promotion—
the rank of Special Jōnin.
***
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