There were no lengthy pleasantries on the battlefield.
The war began in silence.
Because the Edo Tensei army was limited in number, it had already dispersed across the entire Ninja World, deliberately fragmenting the battlefield into countless fronts.
Slaughter rose and fell like a tide.
Facing the onslaught of the immortal Edo Tensei forces, the Ninja World Allied Forces responded with startling efficiency.
Large quantities of technological weapons were deployed across the battlefields. Many of the weaker reanimated shinobi were directly annihilated before they could even engage, blasted apart by overwhelming firepower.
"What… what are those things?!"
These Edo Tensei shinobi came from the Warring States Period. They had never seen such weapons before. Entire units were routed in an instant, with only a handful of shinobi who possessed long-range ninjutsu managing to shoot down one or two aircraft.
On the ground, countless shinobi stared upward in horror as warplanes roared through the sky.
At that very moment—
A man wearing a lewd grin casually dropped a bomb before departing with graceful ease.
It was Jiraiya.
Self-proclaimed ace pilot.
He had no intention of joining the frontal battlefield of this great war. In his eyes, the outcome had already been decided. To him, this conflict was little more than a large-scale live test for Umbrella's research results.
Beneath the battlefield, Edo Tensei shinobi who had not yet fully regenerated were swiftly sealed by specialized sealing squads the moment they surfaced.
The entire Ninja World was now divided into dozens—no, hundreds—of battlefields, large and small.
Some fronts progressed smoothly.
Others, however, encountered unexpected resistance, even with the overwhelming strength of the modern shinobi army.
"Spirit Transformation Jutsu!"
A handsome, sunny-looking young man moved silently through the battlefield, harvesting lives.
His soul separated from his body, intangible and unstoppable.
Immune to physical attacks, the Spirit Transformation Jutsu reaped lives with frightening ease. Worse still, free from chakra limitations, the technique became even more terrifying than it had been in life.
Several older shinobi froze, their expressions turning distant.
They recognized him.
Katō Dan.
Tsunade's former lover.
Around him stood several other Edo Tensei shinobi—none of them weak, none of them easy opponents.
This kind of assassination was nearly impossible to guard against.
Even with Umbrella's shared intelligence and combined secret techniques, total coverage was impossible.
"Hahaha! I found a flaw in his technique!"
A shout rang out from the battlefield.
"Vital energy can block his attacks—at least to some extent!"
The discovery spread quickly.
Katō Dan had been striking indiscriminately, yet whenever he approached a martial artist enveloped in blood-red vital energy, he would abruptly change targets.
At first, some assumed he was simply choosing weaker opponents.
But repeated observations proved otherwise.
Even Katō Dan himself felt confused.
Every time he attacked someone surrounded by that strange energy, his spirit body felt as though it were being scorched by flames. That was why he instinctively withdrew.
Although he could not control his body, his consciousness remained intact.
And what he felt shocked him.
The Ninja World… has developed such a technique?
The martial artists began to gather.
Hundreds of them united, condensing their vital energy together.
A terrifying aura erupted into existence—ancient, savage, and overwhelming, like a primordial beast awakening.
They charged.
The pressure alone was enough to make even a Five Kage wary.
And this… was merely the combined power of a few hundred ordinary martial artists.
Katō Dan's Spirit Transformation body screamed in agony.
It felt as though it were being burned alive.
"Ahhh—!"
His physical body let out a shrill cry as the spirit forcefully retreated back into it.
His face twisted in pain.
Even his soul had been injured.
Nearby, several Edo Tensei shinobi were also affected. Their bodies collapsed into ash before slowly beginning to regenerate. Others stared at the martial artists with open fear.
"Is this… the power of shinobi from later generations?"
Someone whispered.
But that was not the truth.
This was not ninjutsu.
Martial arts vital energy—pure, dominant Yang—was naturally effective against soul-based techniques like the Spirit Transformation Jutsu.
Still, observers quickly noticed something else.
The martial artists' aura had visibly weakened.
This was expected.
Forcing hundreds of people to elevate their strength to such a terrifying level carried an enormous cost.
Together, they could momentarily reach Five Kage-class power.
Individually?
Even hundreds of them would not last more than a few exchanges against a true Five Kage.
To unleash even a handful of attacks at that level was already astonishing.
Soon after, the remaining Edo Tensei shinobi were sealed one by one.
Another battlefield… brought to an end.
This was only a microcosm of the vast war.
Against the overwhelming strength of the Ninja World Allied Forces, the Edo Tensei shinobi—each powerful in their own right—were ultimately too isolated to turn the tide.
Still, in weaker ninja villages, the situation was far more dire. Many suffered heavy casualties before reinforcements could arrive.
But for truly powerful opponents, there were naturally equally powerful individuals to confront them.
At the central battlefield—
Tsunade shattered the Edo Tensei shinobi before her with a single punch.
Fragments scattered across the ground as she straightened and turned her gaze elsewhere.
Not far away stood a man who had yet to make a move.
He simply observed.
A pair of pupil-less eyes calmly swept across the battlefield, taking in every clash, every death.
Tsunade's heart tightened.
A sense of dread crept into her chest.
Could the Hyūga Clan truly possess such a terrifying existence?
The man stood there without aura flaring, without killing intent leaking—yet he was like an immovable mountain.
An existence that could not be ignored.
At that moment, Mei Terumī finished sealing her opponent and walked over.
After confirming the Edo Tensei shinobi had been completely restrained, she stopped beside Tsunade.
"Who is that guy?" Mei asked, her tone curious but cautious.
"Did Konoha really have someone that frightening?"
Tsunade frowned deeply.
"I think… I know who he is."
She exhaled slowly, her voice heavy.
"Who?" Mei tilted her head slightly. Her fiery red hair swayed, crimson lips curved in faint intrigue—yet her eyes remained sharp.
"Within the Hyūga Clan, only one person could possess such an aura."
Tsunade paused before continuing.
"It sounds unbelievable… but it can only be him."
"He's not from modern Konoha. To be precise, he was a Kage-level figure from the Warring States Period—one of the few who could contend with my grandfather and Uchiha Madara."
"He possessed an extraordinarily pure Byakugan… the progenitor of the Hyūga Clan."
"Hyūga Ichizoku."
Mei Terumī's expression finally cracked.
Shock flashed across her calm face.
Hyūga Ichizoku.
She had heard the name before—an existence who once stood on equal footing with Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
Although he had been defeated by both the Senju and the Uchiha, no one ever doubted his strength.
After all—
Anyone who could survive battles against Hashirama and Madara was already a monster beyond reason.
Later, he vanished without a trace.
No records.
No remains.
No answers.
At that moment, more than a dozen elite jōnin gathered beside Tsunade and Mei.
Tsunade glanced at them.
Even with that many elite jōnin present…
She had no confidence they could defeat the man standing opposite them.
The pressure he radiated was overwhelming.
He didn't need to move.
Just standing there made it feel as though the world itself was pressing down on you.
An aura so absolute that it eroded one's very will to fight.
"…It's time to make this game more interesting."
Elsewhere—
Before Uchiha Obito, a massive chessboard materialized in midair.
At its center stood a slightly larger piece.
Opposite it—
A sculpted piece bearing Naruto's likeness.
The battlefield itself seemed to transform.
As if the entire war had become nothing more than a chess match—
Between those two alone.
(End of Chapter)
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