"Will of Fire! Will of Fire!"
The many ninja below shouted in unison.
It had to be said that the words of Hiruzen Sarutobi were extremely inspiring. Listening to everyone roar about the Will of Fire, even Isamu felt his blood begin to boil.
"The first battle will decide everything. Move out!"
With a wave of his hand, Hiruzen charged forward. The rest of the ninja followed closely behind, rushing across the snowfield. Isamu blended into the crowd as the army advanced.
The ninja sprinted across the frozen ground. After advancing roughly five kilometers, the forces of Kumogakure appeared ahead.
The moment the two sides saw each other—
The battle erupted instantly.
There were no neat formations like ancient armies, no arranged battle arrays, and certainly no honorable duels between generals.
Instead, the battlefield descended into chaos.
If you saw an enemy, you attacked.
If one person couldn't win, two would gang up.
You called for backup; they called for backup.
The battlefield became a violent mess of ninjutsu and steel.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions thundered continuously as the ninja of Konohagakure and Kumogakure slaughtered one another. Corpses and severed limbs quickly began to litter the snow.
---
Blocking Isamu's path were three Genin and five Chunin.
"Eight against one?"
"Interesting."
"You think I'm easy prey?"
"Come on then."
Just as Isamu raised his Kunai and prepared to fight, the system suddenly issued another mission.
[Ding! Mission Issued: "Hundred Man Slayer."]
Eliminate 100 enemies.
Reward: 300,000 points.
Enemy rank does not matter—Genin, Chunin, or Jonin all count.
Failure Penalty: Immediate Erasure.
Isamu blinked in surprise.
"Wait… math ain't mathing."
A hundred kills for 300,000 points meant each enemy averaged 3,000 points.
That meant:
Killing a Chunin = break even
Killing a Genin = huge profit
Killing a Jonin = actually a loss
Isamu grinned coldly.
"Well then… Kumogakure's Genin and Chunin…"
"Sorry about this."
"If you want to blame someone, blame the system."
"You're now on its kill list."
---
"Since there's a mission, a Kunai isn't really suitable."
Isamu casually tossed his Kunai aside.
He drew his Tang horizontal saber, activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and charged forward.
In an instant—
Five weak enemies fell.
Against someone who already possessed Kage-level strength, Genin and Chunin were nothing more than moving targets.
But just as he finished them and prepared to charge deeper into enemy ranks—
More Chunin suddenly rushed toward him.
Perhaps because he looked young, many enemies instinctively assumed he was weak.
Unfortunately for them—
Since awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan yesterday, Isamu's power had undergone a terrifying transformation.
To him, killing these rookies was like slicing watermelons.
One slash.
One corpse.
---
Then Isamu activated Kamui's passive ability—intangibility.
Like a rampaging beast, he charged straight into the center of the Kumogakure army.
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
After slaughtering more than twenty enemies, the Cloud ninja finally realized something was terribly wrong.
His performance on the battlefield had drawn the attention of stronger opponents.
Two Elite Jonin appeared before him.
Without hesitation, they formed hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bomb!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Wind amplified the flames, and the flames surged with the wind.
The two techniques merged into a devastating combination ninjutsu.
The result was far stronger than either technique alone.
---
A massive fireball roared toward Isamu.
Yet he remained perfectly calm.
Activating Kamui, he directly warped the fireball into the Kamui Dimension.
The two Cloud ninja froze.
"What… happened?"
"Where did the jutsu go?!"
"Be careful," one of them muttered. "This guy is strange."
They gripped their Kunai tightly and stared at him cautiously.
Isamu sneered.
"Trying to play with fire against an Uchiha?"
"You're still too inexperienced."
His hands rapidly formed seals.
"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
---
This was the same legendary technique once used by Madara Uchiha after being revived by Kabuto Yakushi using Edo Tensei.
Its range was enormous.
In the future, it would require twenty shinobi simultaneously using Water Release just to block it.
A sea of flames surged across the battlefield.
Nearby, Hiruzen immediately noticed.
"Isamu certainly has a lot of energy today," he muttered while continuing his own battle.
A technique with such a massive range was impossible to ignore.
---
"Holy crap!"
"That jutsu covers too much area!"
"Is that kid really that strong?!"
"Stop talking and defend! Or we'll be roasted alive!"
The two Cloud ninja hurriedly formed hand seals.
Just before the flames reached them—
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Two massive walls of water rose in front of them, blocking the inferno.
Steam exploded into the air.
Thick mist quickly filled the battlefield, obscuring everyone's vision.
The two Jonin survived.
But the nearby Cloud ninja were not so lucky.
A firestorm had suddenly appeared in front of them, and several Genin who reacted too slowly were burned alive.
Chunin and Jonin managed to escape—after all, large-scale techniques were slower and easier to dodge.
---
Meanwhile, Isamu wasn't idle.
Using the mist as cover, he activated his Sharingan and began harvesting heads like a reaper.
"Ahh! Help!"
"Help!"
The screams echoing through the fog quickly alerted the two Cloud Jonin.
"Not good—it's that brat!"
"Blow away the mist!"
They immediately formed hand seals.
"Wind Release!"
Powerful gusts scattered the mist.
When visibility returned—
More than a dozen corpses lay at Isamu's feet.
---
"Damn brat!"
"Over here! A few of you!"
"This guy is dangerous—we take him down first!"
Several more Jonin rushed over.
Isamu blinked.
"Seriously?"
"More Jonin?"
"This is ridiculous."
Killing Jonin was exhausting and not even profitable.
"Only an idiot would do that."
---
Seeing several Jonin approaching, Isamu immediately retreated across the battlefield.
While dodging their attacks, he casually picked off a few weaker enemies.
The Cloud ninja grew furious.
"Stupid brat! Stop running!"
"If I catch you, I'll tear you apart!"
"Come back here!"
Isamu laughed loudly.
"You idiots from Kumogakure!"
"You're a whole group chasing one person!"
"If I don't run, what—am I supposed to wait for you to chop me up?"
Secretly, he was delighted.
Jonin were rare in every village.
If he could keep five Jonin chasing him around, they wouldn't be able to kill anyone else.
Meanwhile, he could still farm weaker enemies.
This was a profitable deal.
---
Just as Isamu was enjoying the slaughter—
Both armies suddenly issued retreat orders.
Watching the five furious Jonin withdraw while glaring at him, Isamu had no choice but to retreat alongside the ninja of Konohagakure.
---
Inside the main camp's conference room, Tobirama Senju slammed his finger against the map.
"I didn't expect Kumogakure to be this strong!"
"In today's battle, our losses were almost equal!"
"This cannot continue!"
"Damn Kumogakure!"
Everyone present remained silent.
Faced with the furious Second Hokage, no one dared speak.
Even Homura Mitokado and Torifu Akimichi wisely stayed quiet.
At that moment—
Danzo Shimura stepped forward.
As Tobirama's disciple, he was not afraid to speak.