After a full day of high-intensity travel, Yellow Dog Squad arrived outside the Hidden Rain Village.
Yellow Dog deliberately revealed himself, standing openly on the water outside the village.
His subordinates, Yoru and the others, hid inside abandoned pipes nearby.
The Hidden Rain was truly a strange place: pipes everywhere, horizontal pipes, giant standing pipes, even houses built by hollowing out massive pipes.
Soon, a Rain-shinobi squad emerged from the village.
Their leader was Lizard Rain, a high-ranking officer of the Hidden Rain Village.
He stared at Yellow Dog.
"Why are you here, Konoha ANBU? You know our villages are at war, don't you?"
Yellow Dog tossed him a scroll.
"Lord Danzō of the Leaf met with your leader, Hanzo. Hanzo said that if Konoha shows enough sincerity, the Hidden Rain may consider a ceasefire. This is our sincerity. See for yourself."
Lizard Rain opened the scroll, only to find the ink running under the falling rain.
He immediately realized it was a Leaf trick to pressure him, so he skimmed the words quickly.
After finishing, his confusion disappeared.
The Sand Village had been acting suspiciously in the Jigang Mountain Range for a long time, turns out they had located several natural caverns that could be connected.
If these caves were linked, the Land of Rain's water could be diverted straight into the Wind Country.
Lizard Rain instantly saw the significance:
If the Hidden Sand Village became unhappy, they could simply cut off or reroute the River of Gishui, placing the Hidden Rain Village completely at their mercy.
This was major intel.
Lizard Rain threw away the ink-blurred scroll.
"I understand. I'll report to the leader. But you're too slow. Lord Hanzo is already fighting your Konoha forces. By the time you reach the field… I wonder how many Konoha shinobi are left."
Yellow Dog's expression hardened, and he immediately led his squad toward the main battlefield.
After several hours, Yoru saw a huge cloud of poison mist drifting above the rainforest.
Avoiding the densest areas, they broke through the trees, and the battlefield spread before them.
Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya stood exhausted in mud, surrounded by corpses.
Both Konoha and Rain shinobi, slaughtered everywhere. Every subordinate on both sides had fought to the last breath.
Upon his giant salamander, Hanzo glanced toward the distance and saw Lizard Rain standing beside Yellow Dog. He remembered Yellow Dog from their previous encounter near Kyoto, and realized the Hidden Rain Village had received what it wanted.
Hanzo looked down at the three Konoha elite jōnin. Even he couldn't finish them quickly.
Hiruzen Sarutobi truly trained outstanding disciples, it made him jealous.
Finally, he decided to retreat.
His own forces had lost hundreds. Loyal subordinates were hard to replace, the Land of Rain was full of rebels. And war between villages wasn't about a single battle, but about the overall strength each could still muster.
Hanzo had suppressed the three Leaf shinobi, and with his occasional support, over 700 Rain shinobi and 400 Konoha shinobi had perished together.
Konoha could easily muster more. The Hidden Rain Village could not survive many battles like this.
Hanzo withdrew his scythe and said:
"This battle… let's call it a Konoha victory. I'll spare your lives."
Jiraiya shouted, "Take back your ridiculous pity! Come on! I can still fight!"
Hanzo replied:
"To endure this long under my hand, you three are impressive. From this day forward, I, Hanzo the Demi-God, name you The Legendary Sannin of the Leaf. Carry this title as the price you paid in blood."
The salamander turned, walking away from the blood-soaked field.
Jiraiya tried to rush forward again, but Tsunade grabbed him.
"Jiraiya! Calm down!"
Yellow Dog instantly body-flickered to Orochimaru's side. Seeing him, Orochimaru thought reinforcements had come, but then noticed Yellow Dog's ANBU squad was incomplete.
After hearing Yellow Dog's report, Orochimaru exhaled. He hadn't expected the negotiations he'd looked down upon to be one of the key reasons Hanzo withdrew.
Yellow Dog's squad began cleaning the battlefield.
Yoru noticed someone standing motionless, he began to scold him for slacking, then realized it was White Ram.
At White Ram's feet lay his runaway fiancée, Aburame Chima.
Her body was covered with dead kikaichū; a few still crawled weakly.
White Ram knelt, extending his arm.
Small holes opened along his forearm.
Chima's surviving kikaichū lined up, entering his arm one by one.
White Ram had once said his insects strongly rejected Chima's. Now that Chima was dead, their insects merged into a single new colony, no longer in conflict.
Every kikaichū seemed to mourn. A deep, continuous insect-song echoed inside his body.
Yoru located the logistics team's corpses and retrieved their sealing scrolls, inside were over four hundred body bags, prepared for the worst.
It took hours to gather the 400 Konoha corpses. Yoru was exhausted.
He stared at the Rain shinobi corpses. Why hadn't the Hidden Rain Village come to collect them?
Bodies rot quickly when left in water.
Orochimaru approached again, ordering the Fox Squad to follow him.
Yoru was nervous, only to realize it was simple corpse recovery.
In shinobi war, the victor's greatest prize was often the enemy's corpses, sources of intel.
Orochimaru walked among the bodies. Every few steps, he pointed at one; Yoru's men sealed it away.
The Land of Rain had few clans with kekkei genkai. After selection, Orochimaru deemed only about thirty worthy of retrieval.
Hanzo had spat harsh words before leaving, but this alone proved he knew the Hidden Rain had lost, otherwise he wouldn't let Orochimaru take the Hidden Rain Village corpses.
The next day, Konoha's reinforcements arrived and carried home the fallen Konoha shinobi.
Yellow Dog's squad returned to the main camp in Grass Country.
After several days, only Orochimaru and Tsunade returned.
Orochimaru said Jiraiya had stayed in the Land of Rain, he'd met the Child of Prophecy foretold by the Great Toad Sage.
Yoru stared toward the Land of Rain. The gears of fate had begun to turn.
Nagato's power would soon skyrocket. Maybe if Orochimaru or the others had tried to harm him, Uchiha Madara would have appeared immediately, to protect Nagato or even kill the Sannin.
With Black Zetsu and White Zetsu gathering intel, Madara had full control over the Rinnegan's whereabouts. Nagato was far too important to him.
Hanzo declared a ceasefire, ending the the Land of Rain conflict.
Yoru began the journey back to Konoha.
Yellow Dog would petition the Hokage to grant Yoru the rank of Special Jōnin.