Thanks to Aburame Tetsumaru's contribution, the defensive seals were completed ahead of schedule, granting the Konoha shinobi a precious moment of respite.
It was now nine in the morning. The rain had dwindled to a light drizzle, and a heavy silence hung over the encampment. The ninjas were seizing every second to recover; some sat alone under umbrellas, while others huddled in small squads beneath makeshift tents.
Most sat with eyes closed, drifting in and out of sleep. Members of the Akimichi and Inuzuka clans—known for their sturdy nerves—were even snoring loudly. A few younger ninjas, however, remained wide-eyed, staring blankly at the dripping treetops and blades of grass.
Thump.
Thump, thump, thump.
A low, rhythmic vibration hummed through the earth. Instantly, every Konoha ninja bolted upright, their gazes locking onto the mist-shrouded northwestern horizon.
The commander in charge of this sector was an Akimichi—stout, bearded, and likely in his mid-forties. He pressed an ear toward the ground for a moment before declaring, "It's a synchronized Iwa ninjutsu. They're closing in."
The Akimichi commander's voice boomed across the hill: "Enemy is Iwa! Prepare for battle!"
As the others scrambled to make their final preparations, Tetsumaru pulled out a few Combination Bugs. Through his neural silk and the insects he had pre-planted in the terrain, he could already see the enemy's movements in vivid detail. He hesitated for a moment, then tucked the bugs away.
He wasn't with his usual teammates or a familiar commander. Launching a long-range strike now might yield results, but it would almost certainly cause confusion within the Konoha ranks. It was too great a risk; he had no idea how a strange commander would react to an unsanctioned opening move.
"Heads up," Tetsumaru whispered to his subordinates. "The first ones out of the mist will be our own people. Don't attack until you're sure of the target."
"Understood."
"Roger that."
Sure enough, a massive, patterned serpent burst through the hazy curtain of rain. Standing atop its head was Orochimaru. Seeing the fortified hill ready for defense, a rare look of satisfaction crossed his face.
Orochimaru immediately thrust his thumb and forefinger into his mouth, letting out a piercingly loud whistle. Within seconds, eight Jonin charged out of the mist behind him—all of them wounded, ragged, and exhausted.
After Tetsumaru's group had broken the initial Ame and Iwa pursuit, Orochimaru and these eight Jonin had spent the entire latter half of the night holding back an ever-increasing tide of enemies.
According to Orochimaru's original plan, they were supposed to hold out even longer, and he had been prepared to lose a few of them. However, upon receiving word that the first defensive line was finished early, they were finally able to retreat in one piece.
For Orochimaru, this was the best possible outcome. These eight Jonin had proven their worth a dozen times over that night; keeping them alive was a massive victory in itself.
Having followed Orochimaru's lead through such a hellish night, these men were now effectively his loyal subordinates—a significant boon to his political standing. In the Rain Country theater, Konoha had only sixty-odd Jonin among its four thousand troops. Across the entire village, there were only about three hundred.
Once the groups merged, Orochimaru ordered the exhausted Jonin to retreat to the next line for medical treatment and rest. He then took over command from the Akimichi officer, preparing to face the Iwa vanguard.
After a quick lap around the hill to inspect the fortifications, Orochimaru gave a satisfied nod. When he passed Tetsumaru, he offered an extra nod of recognition—a gesture of genuine favor.
"Yun, why are you still here? Catch up with the other Jonin; the next line needs your expertise for reinforcement."
Orochimaru was visibly annoyed to find the entire Sealing Corps still loitering on the front line, and he promptly chased the "nerd-tier" ninjas away. These specialists were incredibly difficult to train and possessed abysmal combat stats; Orochimaru refused to let them be wasted as cannon fodder on the front line.
Once the hilltop was secure, Orochimaru gathered the three hundred remaining ninjas for a quick census.
"Those with Wind Style, raise your hands. Not bad."
"Water Style? Good, very good."
"Lightning Style? ...Hmph, far too few."
He didn't even bother asking for Fire or Earth Style. Fire was useless in this downpour, and trying to out-Earth Style the Iwa on their own turf was a losing game.
"Water Style users, stay in position. Everyone else, disperse and prepare to engage."
"Yes, sir!"
Orochimaru had a very specific vision for defensive warfare. His preparations took less than three minutes before the Iwa pursuit finally arrived. The first strike came as a hail of massive boulders launched from the mist.
Earth Style: Rock Cannonball!
The Konoha force responded with a coordinated Water Release.
Water Style: Unified Water Encampment Wall!
A massive wall of water, forty meters high, erupted around the entire hill. The giant boulders slammed into the churning torrent and were swept upward, their momentum neutralized harmlessly.
Konoha immediately launched a series of counter-attacks.
Water Style: Unified Water Spear Torrent!
Water Style: Unified Great Waterfall!
Water Style: Unified Water Bullet!
The barrage of high and low-altitude spells, combining heavy impact with rapid fire, forced the Iwa ninjas to huddle together and cast a massive defensive wall.
Earth Style: Great Mud Wall!
The Iwa ninjas poured their chakra into the wall, desperately trying to hold it up, but the pressure was becoming overwhelming.
This was the greatest advantage of a unified Water Style in the rain: the more they used it, the more water accumulated in the environment. The power of the jutsu increased while the chakra cost decreased, eventually allowing them to overcome the natural elemental disadvantage of Water against Earth.
As the repeated attacks turned the ground below into a burgeoning lake, Orochimaru summoned two more giant snakes. The three serpents darted through the water, appearing and disappearing as they launched hit-and-run strikes against the Iwa fortifications, keeping the pressure at a breaking point.
Just as the Iwa formation seemed ready to buckle, two massive slabs of rock erupted from beneath the water's surface. They slammed together with a sickening crunch, sandwiching one of the giant snakes in the middle. Blood and scales sprayed into the air.
Earth Style: Sandwiching Technique!
This was a high-level B-rank jutsu. To cast it with such precision and zero warning required a shinobi of immense power.
The Iwa ranks erupted in cheers: "Lord Qingyan has arrived!"
With a commander now leading them, the hundreds of Iwa-nin reorganized into a lethal formation.
First, a group of two hundred ninjas combined their power to create a Mud Wall of staggering proportions—effectively a twenty-meter-high plateau of solid earth.
Next, three hundred ninjas unleashed a coordinated Earth Style: Rock Hailstorm. A deluge of jagged stones shredded the remaining two snakes, forcing them to disperse into clouds of white smoke as they were unsummoned.
Then, the total assault on the hill began.
Earth Style: Unified Rock Cannonball!
Earth Style: Unified Earth Mausoleum Dumpling!
Projectiles of all sizes rained down on the Konoha position, smashing through the Water Walls and causing immediate, heavy casualties.
"It's no use," Tetsumaru muttered. The Iwa had more men, more versatile Earth Style, and now that they were organized, the elemental advantage had swung back in their favor. A direct confrontation was hopeless.
Orochimaru's voice cut through the chaos: "Now! Execute Strategy Six!"
The order echoed across the hill: "Strategy Six!" "Number Six!"
The 140 ninjas who had been maintaining the Water Style barrier turned and bolted. They grabbed the wounded and even hoisted the bodies of the fallen onto their backs as they fled.
"Everyone, listen up! One more volley, then pursue in squad formation!" Qingyan shouted. Seeing the Konoha force in full retreat, he remained cautious, opting for one last bombardment to break their spirits.
This was the largest coordinated jutsu of the battle. Fifty massive rock cannonballs plowed into the retreating Konoha crowd. Limbs flew and screams filled the air as the formation was torn apart.
Seeing the Konoha ninjas continue to flee despite the devastating losses, Qingyan hesitated no longer. He ordered the formation to break and gave the command to hunt them down.
Over four hundred Iwa ninjas leaped down from their plateau, wading through the muddy puddles and scrambling up the small hill—only to find that the "fleeing" Konoha ninjas had pulled a sharp U-turn and were charging straight back at them.
Before the Iwa could reform their ranks, Konoha ninjas leaped out from pre-dug tunnels and hidden crevices all over the hill. They slammed into the Iwa lines, and the battlefield devolved into a frenzied, bloody melee.
The Iwa realized too late that they had been baited. This hill wasn't a fortress Orochimaru intended to hold; it was a killing floor—a battlefield designed to force a close-quarters brawl where Earth Style was too dangerous to use.
Orochimaru knew from the start that he couldn't win a long-range artillery duel against the Iwa. He lacked the numbers and the Lightning Style specialists. The only path to victory was chaos. A melee leveled the playing field, relying on individual skill and raw courage—areas where Konoha traditionally excelled.
This was why he had sent away the Sealing Corps and the other Jonin early; he didn't want to lose high-value assets in a messy, unpredictable scramble.
Shinobi had been fighting brawls like this for a thousand years. Both sides screamed battle cries as they unleashed their most lethal, close-range techniques. The scene was pure bedlam, where most deaths were the result of a stray blade or a sudden explosion.
Tetsumaru opened the fight with his own "big move," releasing half of the hundreds of attacking and explosive insects he carried.
Secret Technique: Great Insect Storm!
The swarm leveled a dozen Iwa-nin instantly, clearing a wide patch of ground.
He used the opening to drag Uchiha Akira and Kurama Yun toward a steep rocky slope. Keeping his subordinates behind him, he relied on his double-layered beetle armor to tank incoming hits while engaging the Iwa in brutal hand-to-hand combat.
The distance was too short for complex seals. Men killed each other with tantos, kunai, and explosive tags. Ninjutsu was too slow to cast and too likely to hit a teammate in the crush.
Tetsumaru wielded a tanto he'd scavenged from the ground, his left hand holding a Flight-Locust to use as a projectile. His swordsmanship was mediocre at best, but since he didn't have to worry about defense, he focused entirely on the kill. With his two Genjutsu specialists providing support from the rear, he cut down three Iwa-nin in seconds.
His performance drew the attention of an Iwa swordmaster. A tall, lean man flicked toward him, opening with a powerful overhead strike.
Tetsumaru parried, but the swordsman's blade spun in a blur, catching the tanto and wrenching it from Tetsumaru's grip. The man then used his hilt to bat away the Flight-Locust in Tetsumaru's left hand.
The swordsman raised his blade to eye level, gripping it with both hands, and lunged straight for the bridge of Tetsumaru's nose.
"You think wearing armor makes you invincible? Naive."
The Iwa-nin noticed Tetsumaru's right hand reaching for something round and dark. He sneered; the brat was struggling to the end. But it was over.
The tip of the blade struck the center of Tetsumaru's face—and then it slipped. It skidded off with a shower of sparks.
The force of the impact snapped Tetsumaru's head back ninety degrees, but it also threw the swordsman completely off-balance. The Iwa-nin gaped, his mind reeling at the impossible deflection.
Behind Tetsumaru, Uchiha Akira didn't miss a beat. His Sharingan spun as he caught the swordsman's eyes.
Sharingan: Paralysis!
Tetsumaru seized the moment, slamming the Explosive Bug in his right hand onto the man's throat. The resulting blast nearly severed the swordsman's head, ending the threat instantly.
As the smoke cleared, Akira looked at his captain and nearly shrieked. A cluster of a dozen armor beetles was clinging to Tetsumaru's face.
Tetsumaru had been obsessed with defense ever since returning to the front. He refused to leave his face exposed. During combat, he had beetles cover his facial features, then used Transformation Jutsu to overlay his actual face on top of them. He deliberately avoided guarding his head to create the illusion of a weak point, specifically to bait and kill close-combat specialists.
Akira's finger trembled as he pointed at his captain. "Captain... you're always calling me a coward, but you... you're even worse!"
"It's not cowardice, Akira. It's combat wisdom. The art of the mind."
Tetsumaru adjusted the beetles back into position and recast his Transformation Jutsu, his normal face reappearing over the insects. "You should take notes."
"Captain, your face is seriously thick," Kurama Yun chimed in, unable to resist the jab. It was a literal truth, both physically and psychologically.
Tetsumaru chuckled. "No, no, you've got it wrong."
My 'face' isn't just thick—it's practically non-existent now.
The melee ended quickly, but Konoha didn't claim a total victory. While they had the edge in the brawl, they were still outnumbered, and the Ame-nin had finally regrouped and were closing in from the rear. Orochimaru was forced to call for a retreat.
The brief clash had been devastating. In just a few minutes, both sides had lost nearly a hundred men. The hill was a graveyard of severed limbs and soaked earth.
The Iwa, shaken by the sudden spike in casualties, had no stomach to pursue. Both sides broke contact, and the fighting ground to a temporary halt.
It was only a lull for reorganization, but it was enough. Tetsumaru's squad reached the third defensive line. Only once they were settled did Tetsumaru drop his transformation and move the beetles to tend to his face.
The beetles had stopped the blade, but they couldn't negate the physics of the strike. The kinetic energy had turned the beetles and his sunglasses into blunt instruments.
He had deep gashes on either side of his brow from the frames of his glasses, and his nose was severely bruised. Worse of all, the impact had loosened his front teeth.
In a legal sense, this was a "significant injury." To a ninja, a little blood was nothing—but loose teeth were a disaster. If he lost them, he'd have a lisp, he wouldn't be able to whistle for his bugs, and worst of all, he wouldn't be able to enjoy his food.
For a foodie like Tetsumaru, that was a fate worse than death.