Swoosh! Swoosh!
Tap, tap, tap, tap—
The sound of bodies cutting through the air and steady footsteps overlapped one after another.
Konoha's army was rapidly approaching Sunagakure's defensive line.
Yagami and Orochimaru, as the vanguard and main combat force, were running at the very front of the formation.
Behind them followed a group of Konoha jōnin from headquarters, moving in tight formation.
"Lord Orochimaru! Lord Yagami!"
"The Sand shinobi are rapidly forming up their units ahead!"
A sensor-nin suddenly accelerated, breaking away from the main force and rushing forward to report to the commanders at the front.
"Understood. Fall back to your position," Orochimaru replied faintly.
Three thousand troops marching out in full force were impossible to hide from Sunagakure.
After all, their own sensor-nin weren't just for decoration.
"Yagami-kun."
"How confident are you that we can drive Sunagakure's forces back across the border in this battle?"
After the sensor-nin withdrew, Orochimaru turned his head slightly and asked Yagami with a small smile.
Ever since he had witnessed Yagami's strength the day before yesterday, Orochimaru had stopped treating him as a mere kohai.
He viewed him instead as someone on his own level.
Because of that change in attitude, Yagami's impression of Orochimaru had improved quite a bit as well.
Although Orochimaru's character left much to be desired—and even after betraying Konoha, he could be said to be someone without principles—there was no doubt he was very skilled at dealing with people.
At the very least, in front of Yagami, he never put on any airs.
"That depends on whether Sunagakure can withstand a massacre," Yagami answered after a moment's thought, turning his head with a faint smile.
If the Sand shinobi chose to fight to the bitter end, then this battle might not be enough to force them to withdraw.
After all, their numbers were overwhelming.
But if they were beaten so badly they lost their nerve—if they became afraid of dying—then driving them back would be as easy as kicking them out of the Land of Fire.
Of course, that was only possible because of the destructive power Yagami and Orochimaru could bring to bear.
"Hahaha…"
Orochimaru watched Yagami talk about wiping out the enemy with that easy smile, and a faint chill ran down his spine.
His instincts told him clearly that Yagami wasn't a bloodthirsty person.
But Yagami's actions were completely at odds with that impression.
That contradiction made Orochimaru feel puzzled and uneasy.
For a moment, he even wondered—
Had his instincts finally failed him?
However, what Orochimaru didn't know was that his instincts weren't wrong.
Yagami truly wasn't someone who enjoyed killing for its own sake.
The reason he wanted to kill the enemy…
Was entirely for the sake of prestige.
He wasn't putting up some hypocritical front of "virtue" while secretly reveling in bloodshed.
A truly bloodthirsty person killed simply because they liked it.
Yagami, on the other hand, killed with a clear purpose in mind.
That was the source of the strange dissonance Orochimaru sensed.
Pata, pata, pata—
After Orochimaru's dry chuckle faded, the vanguard fell into silence again.
Along the way, only the sound of countless footsteps echoed over the battlefield.
Twenty minutes later, the army finally approached the Sand shinobi camp.
To conserve stamina, they had deliberately slowed their pace for a portion of the march.
Otherwise, at full shinobi speed, the ten-kilometer distance would have been covered long ago.
By this time, the Sand shinobi had fully assembled as well, their formation spread out before the camp as they waited for the enemy to come to them.
"Enter battle-ready formation!!!"
"Enter battle-ready formation!!!"
As the distance between the two armies shrank to around two hundred meters, sharp shouts rang out again and again.
Before the battle, Orochimaru had already handed battlefield command over to Yuhi Shinku.
After all, as one of Konoha's two top combat powers on this front, once the fighting truly began, Orochimaru wouldn't be able to spare the attention to command the entire army.
Pata, pata, pata—
The sound of running footsteps grew heavier, denser.
A solemn atmosphere began to spread across both lines of shinobi, pressing down on everyone's shoulders.
Whoosh—!
The sound of something cutting through the air suddenly rang out.
When the distance shrank to about one hundred meters, Yagami abruptly accelerated.
In an instant, he broke away from the main force behind him—
Like a sharp arrow loosed from a bowstring, he shot forward alone.
Boom—!
Orochimaru lifted his eyes, glanced at Yagami's back, and then similarly accelerated, separating himself from the troops behind.
"What the—?!"
"Hey!!"
Seeing Konoha's two greatest combat forces charging straight ahead, shouts erupted within the Sand shinobi ranks.
They might have the advantage of defending from a fixed position, but that didn't mean they could just stand there and let the enemy crash into them.
Their best option was obvious—
Launch a direct charge of their own.
And with their overwhelming numerical advantage, they had no reason to fear clashing head-on.
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!!"
While running, Yagami raised his hand. In an instant, an S-rank Wind Release technique formed in his palm.
Without even pausing, he hurled it straight into the midst of the Sand shinobi behind the front line.
Rumble—!!!
The violent explosion shook the sky.
More than forty Sand shinobi, unable to dodge in time, were swallowed by the Rasenshuriken and erased in an instant.
However, at this full-charge moment, even such a devastating jutsu couldn't shake their morale.
On the contrary, like wounded beasts, they only became more frenzied and ferocious.
Tch.
"Summoning Technique!"
Seeing that Yagami had already begun his assault, Orochimaru refused to fall behind.
He bit his thumb, came to a sudden halt, and slammed his palm onto the ground.
Poof—!!
Rumble—!!!
A massive puff of smoke exploded outward, blanketing the area.
The ground trembled violently, as if the very earth itself were groaning, accompanied by a deafening roar.
From within the smoke, the immense body of a massive purple serpent with four horns slowly emerged.
"Oi, Orochimaru. If you're summoning me, you'd better have a proper sacrifice ready."
Before the smoke had fully dispersed, a rebellious, arrogant voice rumbled from within, stirring gusts of wind as it spoke.
A heavy, fishy stench began to spread through the air.
"Manda, isn't your sacrifice right in front of you?"
"Take as many as you like for yourself."
Standing atop Manda's head, Orochimaru spoke with a low chuckle.
At his words, Manda shook his enormous head, scattering the remaining smoke.
Only then did he realize exactly where he had been summoned—
Right into the middle of a battlefield.
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