After this battle, Uchiha Gen's reputation soared across the Kumogakure front. Some began calling him the Fire Dragon Knight, while others whispered the title Fear Shura.
At the same time, both Orochimaru and Uchiha Gen gained immense prestige among the Konoha shinobi stationed on the front lines. Orochimaru had already been highly respected, this latest victory was simply another laurel on his crown.
But for Gen, it was a leap. He had gone from a name known in passing to a figure etched into everyone's memory.
The sight of him riding a fire dragon, raining down flames and lightning from the sky, burned itself into the minds of Konoha's shinobi. They admired him. They were proud of him.
As the saying goes, comparison breeds resentment.
Sarutobi Shinnosuke and the current Ino–Shika–Chō trio had exhausted their minds and bodies. They deployed clever tactics, calculated every move, and pushed themselves to their limits… yet at best, they barely held a stalemate against Kumogakure.
Then Orochimaru and Uchiha Gen arrived. In just three days, they shattered Kumogakure's offensive and secured a decisive victory.
The difference was staggering.
And what shinobi doesn't prefer a commander who wins?
Because of that triumph, Orochimaru and Gen quickly established dominance over the front line. Control of Konoha's forces slipped into their hands as naturally as breathing.
Victory papers over all contradictions.
On Kumogakure's side, their forces pulled back to the border of the Land of Rice Fields, relying on the heavy garrisons in the Land of Hot Water to check Konoha's advance. The maneuver forced Konoha not to overextend and for Orochimaru and Gen, it was perfect. It gave them justification to consolidate rather than chase glory.
Back in Kumogakure, the Fourth Raikage, A, flew into a rage when he received the reports. He wanted to storm the front himself to salvage his village's honor, but his aides barely managed to restrain him. His desk, however, wasn't so fortunate, shattered again beneath his furious slap.
After venting, A regained his composure and began arranging reinforcements. The troop movements were straightforward; draw chunin and genin from the Land of Hot Water garrisons. The critical question was which commanders to send.
The Raikage judged that if he or his brother appeared on the front, it could escalate the conflict into a larger war that other villages might exploit.
Instead, he poured his ambition into another decisio; dispatching twenty jonin to the front lines.
Kumogakure's foundation was deep. Aside from Konoha, they fielded more jonin than anyone.
The Third Raikage's sacrifice had preserved the village's core forces, and by the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Kumogakure's military might even surpassed Konoha's. During the Fourth War, this was one of the reasons A was recognized as the Allied Shinobi Forces' supreme commander.
Now, twenty fresh jonin rode for the front. Dodai, Yugito, and the other Kumogakure officers felt rejuvenated, 'the clouds have parted, the sky is clear.' They began planning a major counterattack.
But Konoha's spies within Kumogakure soon caught wind of it. The intel raced back to Orochimaru's camp.
In the command tent, Orochimaru passed the scroll across the table. Gen skimmed it, then stretched lazily.
"So their hearts are burning too hot to hold back? Then let's pour a basin of ice water over them."
Orochimaru's smile was thin. "And how do you intend to do that?"
"Simple. Assassination. We'll thin their jonin ranks." Gen's grin sharpened. "The Raikage is truly generous by sending me so many souls as gifts."
Orochimaru chuckled. "The Spirit Transformation Technique, then? It's the only method I can imagine succeeding inside their camp."
"That's right."
"Very well. I'll leave it to you. Anything you need from me?"
"Prepare a lavish feast. And good wine."
"Hehehe… no problem."
That night, Gen unleashed the Spirit Transformation Technique.
He slipped into the Kumogakure camp the same way as done before, possessing an outer guard and walking past the perimeter unnoticed. Inside, he drifted tent to tent, seeking his marks.
Where Kato Dan had once feared backlash when invading another's mind, risking collapse or death if the target's soul proved stronger, Gen held no such fear.
Against the absolute disparity of his soul, even the most unyielding will crumbled like paper.
By dawn, ten jonin and one chunin of Kumogakure never woke again. Their deaths looked like mental collapse. In truth, their souls and lifespans had been devoured.
At first, the lone chunin's death raised no alarms. But when jonin began failing to show for the morning meeting, Dodai sent search parties. One after another, bodies were discovered.
He quickly sealed the news, preventing panic from spreading through the rank and file. But among the high command? Panic was unavoidable.
Ten jonin—dead in their own tents, in the supposed safety of camp. It was too much.
Meetings halted as they awaited autopsy reports. The medics confirmed only 'death from mental collapse.'
Dodai, however, was no fool. He remembered whispers of Konoha's forbidden soul jutsu, the Spirit Transformation Technique. Though the reports in his memory described a far weaker version, it was the only clue that fit.
Kumogakure's foundation showed itself again. They had the Two-Tails, Matatabi whose feline nature was tied to souls and they had barrier teams capable of sensing spiritual disturbances.
A trap was set. That night, the jonin slept in a specially prepared large tent under a soul-sensing barrier. Yugito, with Matatabi inside her, stayed alert, ears pricked for the faintest foreign soul.
Cats had always been tied to death. In Japanese culture, they were harbingers of souls. It was only natural for Matatabi, a demonic cat, to sense them and perhaps even claw them apart.
But Gen never came. He had harvested what he wanted in one sweep. He gave Kumogakure no chance to counterattack.
One night passed. Then two. Then seven. Still, nothing. The jonin persisted, sleeping clothed in the barrier, but eventually, even their vigilance began to wane.
When A learned that ten jonin had been wiped out overnight, his fury reached new heights. Hair bristling, muscles trembling, he smashed through walls, intent on charging to the front personally.
This time his aides couldn't stop him. Only after the elders rallied Killer Bee did they manage to intercept A more than a hundred li from the village, wrestling him down through force and persuasion.
By the time they dragged him back, A had cooled. He convened a council with Kumogakure's elders and strategists.
Their decision; no more jonin reinforcements. Instead, they sent specialists in barrier techniques and Sealing techniques, disguised as ordinary reinforcements to mislead Konoha's spies.
Once they reached the front, these shinobi erected a massive soul-sensing barrier that blanketed the entire camp. It was costly, a simplified version built from rare resources scoured from across the world, but effective.
The jonin finally felt relief. At least within camp, they could sleep without fearing their souls would vanish in the night.
But the dead would not return. With ten jonin gone, the high command lost confidence in launching large counterattacks.
The war ground to a stalemate.
While soldiers clashed below, Orochimaru and Gen were curiously idle. Orochimaru buried himself in research. Gen handled military affairs, cultivated, and when he pleased, wandered. He slipped into the bustling towns of the Land of Rice, soaked in the hot springs of the Land of Hot Water, even disguised himself to stroll the streets of Konoha.
All the while, he harvested souls slowly, patiently, his 'boiling frog' method perfected in the Mist.
Time rolled forward. Year 52 of Konoha ended. Year 53 began.
The Hidden Mist, battered in the Land of Whirlpools and seeing no hope of victory, struck an agreement with Sarutobi Shinnosuke to withdraw. Neither side would station troops in Whirlpool Country, restoring the prior balance.
Konoha's leadership, desperate for peace, made no demands. They feared pressing too hard might ignite a wider war.
Obito, bound by his agreement with Genji and the other elders, could not intervene.
When the war ended, Shinnosuke returned to Konoha in triumph. A grand ceremony welcomed him at the gates, and soon the Sarutobi clan spread tales of his glory.
Orochimaru, Gen, and even Nara Shikaku's contributions were downplayed. The main credit was spun onto Shinnosuke.
But Orochimaru and Gen were no fools. They had their own channels. When they heard the news, both only sneered.
To become Hokage, one must first be recognized. Titles mean nothing without strength.
The saying was true; the Hokage is not someone who becomes Hokage and is then acknowledged, he is someone acknowledged by all, and thus becomes Hokage.
Could Shinnosuke win that recognition? Forget 'all.' Could he win even his father's, the Daimyo's, or half of Konoha's jonin?
Gen himself believed there was another truth: overwhelming power could force recognition. If not for Hashirama or Naruto, who would dare oppose Madara or Sasuke?
Most shinobi weren't solitary. Bonds tied them down. Fear could bind them tighter still.
So for now, Gen and his master only watched Konoha's farce from afar, continuing their rhythm of life.
Peace, however, never lasts.
Five days later, war flared again. This time, Iwagakure struck.
Ōnoki judged that Konoha must not be allowed to stabilize, to finish with Kumogakure and recover its strength. So he passed the baton from the Mist to the Stone.
Still, Ōnoki measured his steps. He dispatched only several thousand troops as a probe, and a pressure tactic.
But his cunning surpassed the others. He persuaded Kusagakure, that ever-wavering village, to join him. Their combined force eclipsed even Kumogakure's initial offensive.
The only fortune for Konoha was that the plan leaked. Not through Ōnoki's incompetence, but because the 'Wandering Miko,' Yakushi Nonō, struck gold. Her spycraft was unmatched, and this time, luck was with her.
The intel returned to Konoha.
In emergency council, the decision was swift; Orochimaru and Uchiha Gen would march to face the Iwagakure–Kusagakure alliance. Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Nara Shikaku, and the others would redeploy to the Land of Rice.