Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

Chapter 249 The Impure Earth Army Arrives!

"Are you still not coming out? Are you trying to lure the enemy in deep?"

On Kikyo Mountain Castle, the Third Kazekage and others watched the battle at the foot of the mountain, trying to guess Konoha's true intentions.

War is not child's play, especially when the other side is so confident that they can just come and attack.

It should be noted that they are not only the defenders of the city, but also have the advantage in military strength and many powerful individuals. No matter how you look at it, the Konoha Ninja Army has no chance of winning on the surface.

The enemy must have other methods up their sleeves to come here. The fact that they haven't come out yet is probably a ploy to lure the enemy deeper into the city and then ambush them.

That would mean they would lose the advantage of the city walls.

He truly deserves the title of Third Hokage; he has the courage and determination.

But what exactly are their trump cards?

Is it really that forbidden technique that was rumored a while ago, capable of resurrecting the dead?

Does that forbidden technique really exist?

Or perhaps there is another martial arts master who has cultivated the Eight Gates Formation?

"Lord Kazekage, the Thunder God of Kumogakure requests permission for the ninja army to engage in battle. They will use explosive tags for ranged attacks to restrain the Konoha ninja army and prevent them from interfering with their fight."

Furthermore, the poison gas defense line of Amegakure leader Hanzo has been initially set up, and is currently being reinforced.

At that moment, a Sand Ninja rushed over to report the latest intelligence from the front lines.

"Execute the fifth tactic: after throwing half of the explosive tags, do not linger; retreat immediately."

After a brief moment of thought, the Third Kazekage decisively ordered the battle to begin.

The main force of this probing team is the Cloud Ninja. If they really drag things out and play tricks, driving the Cloud Ninja away, then only the Sand Village will have to face the Leaf Ninja Army, which they definitely can't win.

It's war now, and Konoha is the primary target.

Upon receiving the order, thousands of ninjas leaped swiftly from the city wall and rushed to the edge of the forest a kilometer away. Among them, hundreds of ninjas under protection took off the huge scrolls they carried on their backs, unrolled them, and raised their hands to form hand seals to release the sealing techniques on them.

With a muffled thud, rows of large ballistae appeared.

The Sand Village ninjas sprang into action, loading arrows covered with explosive tags and firing their ballistae at the forest battlefield ahead.

"Boom boom boom..."

Huge explosive arrows rained down and exploded, instantly engulfing the forest in flames and igniting the still-dry leaves on the ground into a raging inferno.

The Sand Village's assault squad did not stop, continuing to reload and bombard the area.

Since it's just launching explosive tags, and there's no need to engage in close combat with Konoha ninjas, there's no danger, so it doesn't matter how you launch them.

That wasn't all; some arrows were also coated with poison that could burn and produce toxic smoke.

The ninjas of Sunagakure are skilled in using poison, so poison is naturally indispensable in warfare.

The Konoha ninja in the forest were in deep trouble. The explosive power of those densely packed explosive tag arrows was too strong; even the shockwave from the explosion was enough to make a person cough up blood.

In addition, it was nighttime, and the trees provided cover, making it difficult to spot the arrows' landing point immediately.

"Lord Hokage, the Sand Village ninjas have launched a large number of explosive tag arrows into our area, igniting the forest and producing a lot of toxic smoke. Our gas masks won't last much longer."

An ANBU ninja rushed to Hiruzen Sarutobi's side to report, his tone filled with anxiety.

What other trump cards does the Hokage still have up his sleeve?

Use it quickly!

Everyone was waiting for Hiruzen Sarutobi's trump card; if they didn't use it soon, they would be wiped out.

As if things weren't going to go wrong, more bad news came the next moment.

"Lord Hokage, we have discovered the trail of Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure. He is spraying poison gas with his salamanders a kilometer behind our lines, forming a defensive line. It is currently believed that the poison gas can penetrate the body through the skin, and the enemy is widening that gas defense line."

A member of the ANBU ninja rushed over to report, and this time they were truly panicked.

The title of demigod is not just for show; he is most skilled at using poison on a large scale, making him a nightmare for the ninja army.

Its threat on the battlefield is no less than that of the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki; unexpectedly, that person also joined this war.

These two pieces of bad news made it difficult for Hiruzen Sarutobi to maintain his composure. He hadn't expected Hanzo to come here quietly, as he hadn't received any prior information.

However, there was nothing that could be done about it. Most of the rivers in the Land of Rivers originated from the Land of Rain, and it would be too easy for Hanzo, who was proficient in water-style techniques, to arrive in the Land of Rivers silently.

Now that Hanzo has joined the war, he's even gone so far as to poison them from behind to cut off their retreat—that's incredibly underhanded.

Clearly, it was impossible to escape unscathed at this point; they had no choice but to grit their teeth and keep fighting.

"I hope you can't come, rather than trying to wipe us all out."

After muttering something sinister, Hiruzen Sarutobi bit his finger, quickly formed hand seals, and finally slammed his hand on the ground.

"Spiritual communication!"

As the spell array expanded, hundreds of coffins rose from it, densely packed together.

"Should we still make a move?"

The first to emerge from the coffin, Sarutobi Sasuke surveyed the surrounding battlefield and realized that his son had used this trump card ahead of time.

"The situation is not good. Let's take care of them first."

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke, then channeled his chakra into the Mangekyou Sharingan in his chest to strengthen his control over the dozen or so Kage-level shinobi.

Only a dozen or so were strong individuals from other villages, including some Kage from the four great ninja villages. The others were all Konoha's predecessors, and he had already persuaded them beforehand, so there was no need to control them; he could simply let them do as they pleased.

"Cloud Ninja!"

The two brothers, Golden Horn and Silver Horn, who were at the front of the line, walked out of the coffin and immediately saw Night Moon Ai and the others wearing headbands.

They were naturally familiar with the village's headbands, but those people all looked very young, yet they already possessed such strength.

"That guy's really good at managing the village!"

Jinjiao sneered. They had all been killed by that guy by poking them with his fingers. They were incredibly aggrieved.

If I hadn't been injured in the battle with the Second Hokage, how could I have been defeated by that guy?

"Big brother, we can't sense the ninja tools anymore; they must have been sealed away."

Silverhorn suddenly spoke up, explaining that he had just tried to summon the Six Paths Ninja Tools, but there was no response.

"This forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage is too troublesome."

Kinkaku was trying to break through the control of the Impure World Reincarnation, but he failed and his control over his body was rapidly waning.

The same thing happened to Ginkaku beside him. Then, crimson chakra quickly surged from their bodies, eventually transforming into tailed beast cloaks, and their figures swelled up considerably.

Six tails appeared behind them, reaching the six-tailed stage, which was also their limit.

"It's true that the Third Hokage has information about resurrecting the dead. Everyone be careful."

Sensing the Nine-Tails' chakra, Fukai looked over and his heart skipped a beat; he immediately called out.

All eyes turned to the hundreds of coffins, even the Konoha ninjas were quite surprised.

"Second Generation, damn it!"

Ye Yue Ai was furious when she saw one of the people's outfits.

That was their second Hokage of Kumogakure, who was killed in a surprise attack by Kinkaku and Ginkaku back then. Unexpectedly, he was summoned by Hiruzen Sarutobi at this moment.

"Senior Purple! Second Generation Lord!"

The loess not far away also seemed to be staring wide-eyed, seeing the familiar purple and the portrait of the second-generation leader that it had only seen in its father's office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi actually resurrected these two and even controlled them to fight against them.

That's outrageous!

Tamura Hao manipulated the Muten Buddha statue to retreat quickly, while pretending to gather chakra and struggling to open the spatial gate.

"Lord Kazekage, the intelligence is true. Hiruzen Sarutobi has indeed mastered the forbidden technique to resurrect the dead. Please provide support immediately."

Shout towards the portal, "It's time for the Sand Village Ninja Army to go into battle!"

"Miss Hikari, please go to our village immediately and bring my father here. Only he can stand up to the Second Hokage."

Suppressing his anger, Huang Tu shouted at Uchiha Hikaru. He was not familiar with the Second Hokage, but he knew very well the terror of his father's Dust Release. Even a tailed beast would die if it was hit by Dust Release.

With two generations of adults around, all of them are in mortal danger.

Furthermore, the Second Hokage is proficient in the Ultra Light Heavy Rock Technique, making him a ninja with the ability to fly, and he also possesses a powerful stealth technique, making him extremely difficult to deal with.

"No need to go, I'm already here!"

At that moment, a short figure flew down from the night sky and hovered beside Huang Tu; it was none other than the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki.

Ever since he received the information about the resurrected dead, he has attached great importance to it. This time, he not only sent his elite troops to accompany his son, but also came in person and has been observing from the shadows.

Upon seeing a large number of coffins, they realized the intelligence was true and rushed to provide support. However, upon closer inspection, they found the situation to be worse than expected.

"Kazekage, aren't you going to fight?"

Onoki said to the portal, "This is the battlefront of Sunagakure. Sunagakure is the main force."

The Third Kazekage didn't hesitate and led the assembled ninja army out of the portal.

Immediately afterwards, a bolt of lightning streaked across the night sky from the northeast and crashed to the ground, revealing a burly figure—the Third Raikage.

"Such a forbidden technique really exists. No wonder it's Konoha!"

The Third Raikage looked at the figures emerging from the coffins opposite him, feigning surprise.

"Where's the water reflection?"

He looked around and inquired about the whereabouts of Shuiying.

He didn't believe the Mizukage wouldn't be paying attention to this war, especially after the news of the Impure World Reincarnation spread.

"Sorry, I'm not as fast as you guys."

Not long after he finished speaking, a figure suddenly appeared. It was the Third Mizukage, who had also been hiding in the shadows observing.

"The Second Tsuchikage is a troublesome character."

The Third Raikage stared at the Second Tsuchikage, who had already taken off, and showed a look of apprehension.

"Onoki, don't let the Dust Release land on us."

Turning to look at Onoki beside him, he knew that Onoki would hold back in this battle, at least he wouldn't use his teleportation technique.

"Let each family deal with their own ancestors; we won't share any more information."

Onoki spoke, fully aware of the terror of Dust Release, and knowing that only he could truly stand against his teacher.

"Lord Raikage, I'm afraid we'll have to ask your Hidden Cloud Village to help us out now, as there's quite a lot of burden belonging to our Hidden Mist Village."

The Third Mizukage pleaded with a somber expression, explaining that their Hidden Mist Village had already suffered repeated heavy losses, with even their disciple, Yagura Karatachi, dying on the battlefield.

However, many of the dead who appeared on the other side were from Kirigakure, including the First and Second Hokage, as well as the elite ninja clans, including the clan leaders.

Those people are all Kage-level powerhouses, and I'm only one person. It won't be easy for me to deal with them.

"Thor!"

The Third Raikage did not refuse and called out to the Raijin clone.

"I'll go upstairs to call it."

Onoki said something, then flew into the sky to fight his teacher. The two of them used Dust Release right from the start.

The bright dust escape barriers collided and annihilated each other.

"Let's fight!"

The Third Raikage charged forward wielding the Spear of Hell, while the Third Mizukage activated his Sage Mode seal to meet his teacher, the First Mizukage, and the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu.

The Third Kazekage faced off against the First and Second Kazekage, activating his Sage Art Seal to hold his own against both of them.

His title as the strongest Kazekage is well-deserved. His Sand Magnet Release is indeed very powerful, and the addition of Sage Art Seals has made up for his shortcomings in taijutsu, making him even stronger.

The others also found suitable opponents, and the Sand Village ninja army that rushed out of the space gate charged towards the Leaf Village ninja army. The two sides greeted each other with explosive tags as soon as they met.

In ordinary battles, explosive tags are suitable as a trump card to take down opponents unexpectedly. However, in war, the opposite is true. It is more important to conserve chakra and stamina, and it is wiser to use explosive tags first.

Meanwhile, the ninjas of the four villages' allied forces were also searching for the weaknesses of those resurrected dead. This method of resurrecting the dead was indeed incredibly powerful, but it was impossible for them to be completely resurrected, and those people didn't look like living people either.

After the battle, it was found that this was indeed the case. Some familiar people discovered that the deceased's strength was somewhat weaker than when they were alive, especially in terms of physical reaction speed and intensity. However, the deceased's body had the characteristic of being able to recover, and could regenerate even if it was reduced to ashes.

This discovery caused headaches and fear among the ninjas of the four-village alliance, and casualties increased rapidly.

"Sensory ninja, find the Third Hokage's location as soon as possible. Those predecessors should all be under his control."

Having gathered the intelligence, Rasa immediately ordered a search for Hiruzen Sarutobi. Defeating the caster might break the spells cast by the dead.

"No, it seems that Hiruzen Sarutobi used Earth Release to penetrate deep into the earth, and the earth blocked our senses."

A ninja with sensory abilities cried out anxiously, indicating that he was powerless to help.

"Kagura's Mind's Eye has also been weakened and affected by the earth, so she can't perceive it."

Kushina Uzumaki then spoke up, indicating that they couldn't sense it either, and her tone was filled with anger.

In fact, they sensed it, but she did not want the war to end too soon. Back then, apart from Kumogakure, the other four great ninja villages all wanted to persecute Uzushiogakure, especially Konoha, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure.

"Rasa, you go fight. I'll take charge here. Make sure you perform well. This should be our Sand Village's last battle in this Ninja World War."

Just as Rasa was pondering a solution with a gloomy expression, Chiyo rushed over and gestured for Rasa to go into battle.

The situation is clear now; the best outcome in the end will be a Pyrrhic victory, just like what happened to Kirigakure back then.

This requires someone to take responsibility. The Kazekage cannot take responsibility, nor can Rasa. Only he himself can do it.

"Um!"

Rasa quickly understood Chiyo's intentions, thanked her gratefully, and then manipulated the sand to lift himself up. He also released a large amount of sand from the huge sealing scroll to assist in the Magnet Release technique, and used the sealed tail to enter the Tailed Beast Transformation state.

Tailed Beast Transformation not only forms a Tailed Beast Cloak to enhance defense, but also increases the power of Magnet Release.

Yekura's performance has been outstanding enough; I need to surpass her.

Meanwhile, Pakura was incredibly powerful. With the help of the infinite chakra flowing into her body from the seal, she continuously unleashed the Scorching Release: Rasengan shuriken, transforming herself into a humanoid turret, even more powerful than a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki.

This greatly encouraged the many Sand Village ninjas, who followed Pakura to deal with the recovering dead and quickly devised a method to address their needs.

"Sealing technique, sealing technique can suppress these dead."

The Sand Ninja who had figured out a solution shouted excitedly, and the information quickly reached Chiyo, who was in command. Chiyo immediately dispatched sealing ninjas to seal the scattered and recovering dead.

However, this time they did not prepare any special sealing ninjas, and brought few people. In addition, Hiruzen Sarutobi secretly manipulated the dead to prioritize targeting the sealing ninjas who were dispatched, making it difficult to improve the sealing efficiency.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew the weaknesses of the Impure World Reincarnation technique, so he took precautions against them.

He secretly stored 30 million explosive tags, specifically to coordinate with the Edo Tensei army in casting multiplicative explosive tags.

That was also a forbidden technique, and it was created by the Second Master specifically based on the characteristics of the Impure World Reincarnation.

Although it is a forbidden technique that can lead to suicide, the Impure World Reincarnation technique can be infinitely repaired, and can be reassembled even when it is shattered, making it perfect for suicidal attacks.

The four-village alliance suffered heavy losses in a short time. Only the Cloud Ninja were the most cautious, and with the assistance of the two Uzumaki Ninja, Kushina and Kaoru, the reanimated ninjas found it difficult to get close.

The Vajra Sealing Technique was too effective against them. As long as their chakra was hit, it would be suppressed. If they were entangled or pierced through their bodies, their chakra would be completely sealed.

These are the ninjas who are the greatest counter to them on the battlefield.

While Jiraiya and the others didn't like Hiruzen Sarutobi's methods of manipulating the dead, they couldn't say anything and could only grit their teeth and fight.

However, their fighting spirit and morale have decreased to some extent.

The main force of Konoha on the battlefield today is no longer the living, but the army of the dead. Although the number is small, they are all at least Special Jonin and are very powerful.

Hiruzen Sarutobi hid deep underground, breathing through an oxygen tank specially sealed in a storage scroll, allowing him to stay underground for extended periods.

Sarutobi Sasuke stood guard nearby, preventing any Earth Release ninjas from sneaking down to pursue them.

This was a tactic they had agreed upon long ago just in case, but they never expected it would actually be used.

"Hopefully, that Otsutsuki relic won't become an enemy in this war."

While controlling the dozen or so Kage-level dead in battle, Hiruzen Sarutobi thought about his temporary ally, Otsutsuki Rei.

There are only two possibilities now: one is that the Otsutsuki relic didn't come, no matter what the reason, it just didn't come.

The other one is that Otsutsuki Rei has arrived, but he has been hiding in the shadows, waiting for both sides to be exhausted before he comes out to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

If it's the former, that's fine, but if it's the latter, then it's troublesome.

"Danzo, have you come over yet?"

Then he thought of his old friend. Hiruzen Sarutobi really wanted him to join the battle, so that the two of them could definitely win this battle by working together.

"Why are you so obsessed with the Hokage position?"

Sighing inwardly, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that Danzo was obsessed with the position of Hokage, and that was the source of their conflict, but the intensity of this obsession was beyond his expectations.

If Shimura Danzo hadn't been so obsessed with the Hokage position, their close cooperation would have been enough to solve any problems, and things wouldn't have escalated to this point.

Now, Danzo Shimura's side is completely out of control, and we can't even find him. Negotiations with him are impossible, forcing me to use the Edo Tensei army as a trump card ahead of schedule.

Pit!

(End of this chapter)