Chapter 33: A Title is Also a Repeat, So What Did I Repeat?
A few days later, the shinobi army led by Uchiha Madara led an offensive against the Land of Lightning. In the wake of his advance, battles erupted along several other national borders.
The First Great Ninja War had officially begun.
On the Land of Wind front, Senju Tobirama had assigned Stelle, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the other young shinobi before the main forces set out. His reasoning was simple: the Land of Wind's military strength was, by far, the weakest of the great nations.
Following Konoha's example, several other major powers had seen their shinobi villages overthrow the local nobility, seizing land to establish independent regimes. While their development hadn't matched Konoha's explosive growth, they were, on the whole, managing quite well.
Only the Land of Wind remained as poor as dirt. After Sunagakure was established, they had grand ambitions of developing their economy, but the surrounding territory was nothing but endless desert. Cultivating agriculture was a fool's errand; they were practically eating sand. As for any other industries, they lacked the talent and the know-how, at least not without someone to teach them.
In the end, they were still forced to rely on the Daimyo's financial support just to survive.
The Wind Daimyo, for his part, wanted nothing to do with the First Kazekage, Reto. He'd hired a host of foreign ninja to serve as his personal guard, living in constant paranoia that the Kazekage, like the leaders of the other hidden villages, would eventually try to usurp his authority. He was notoriously stingy with his funds, his entire demeanor practically screaming, 'Get the hell away from me.'
This entire situation had become something of a running joke among the upper echelons of the other great nations.
Originally, the Sand had planned to use the last Five Kage Summit to negotiate with Konoha's Hokage, hoping to arrange for their shinobi to study in the Leaf. But then disaster had struck Konoha, the Hokage had passed away, and now his successor was leading an invasion right to their doorstep. The First Kazekage, Reto, was truly living a miserable existence.
Once the operation commenced, it began with a series of small-scale skirmishes. Both sides used the terrain, using tactical flanking maneuvers to conceal their movements and ambush enemy squads.
Konoha, being a village overflowing with Kekkei Genkai, conducted its combat operations in three-man cells, typically including a sensor-type ninja. Although the field of medical ninjutsu had yet to be fully established, most members of the Senju clan knew a few basic healing techniques. If a team had a Senju on its roster, its survival rate increased dramatically., Senju Tobirama, ever-worried about Konoha's new generation, had equipped them with a large number of mass-healing scrolls before their deployment.
Consequently, these initial skirmishes almost always ended in a victory for the Leaf.
Another battle ignited. As a wave of enemy ninja rushed their position, their numbers overwhelmingly superior, Stelle charged out first. She needed to break their momentum, to ensure the shinobi behind her weren't swamped by the sheer disadvantage.
While still soaring through the air, her hands were already a blur of seals.
"Flame Release: Flame Explosion Technique!"
A torrent of violet fire slammed into the enemy ranks. The moment it landed, it erupted with a deafening roar, and screams of agony immediately tore through the air.
She didn't stop. Her hands formed another sequence of seals. "Flame Release: Continuous Flame Bullet Technique!"
Massive purple fireballs rained down from the sky, the scorching heat creating a wall of incineration that halted the enemy's advance.
A group of puppets broke through the fiery blockade, their wooden bodies firing a dense swarm of poisoned needles and kunai that converged on Stelle.
She didn't dodge or evade. With a flicker, her entire body dissolved into a patch of shimmering purple flame, phasing harmlessly through the storm of projectiles. Reforming on the other side, she twisted, her fist wreathed in violet fire, and smashed it into a puppet. The flames instantly engulfed the construct, burning through its chakra threads. Under the immense force of the blow, the puppet was blasted into splinters.
A nearby Sand Ninja who had charged into the fray saw this and let out a cry of disbelief. "The... the Fire Cremation Technique!"
Stelle's head snapped toward the shinobi who had spoken. 'Yes, I researched this move based on the principles of the Hydrification Technique,'she fumed internally,'but why does everyone insist on calling it the Fire Cremation Technique? Can't they come up with a cooler name?'
Rage surged through her. She lunged forward, activating the accursedly-named technique again. Her flaming form bypassed the remaining puppets and unleashed a blast of Fire Release, burning the offending Sand Ninja to a pile of ash.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura, fighting nearby, couldn't help but shudder as they witnessed her ferocious display.
"Too vicious, too brutal," Danzo muttered, parrying a blow. "She was already a menace back in the Academy. I thought doing clerical work for the Second Hokage might have mellowed her out, but she's gotten even worse."
"Exactly," Hiruzen agreed, breathing heavily. "So ferocious. I wonder who would ever dare to marry her in the future."
Utatane Koharu, fending off her own opponents nearby, couldn't believe that even in the middle of a war, these two idiots had the leisure to gossip. She roared, "Both of you, shut up! Keep talking and I'll tell Stelle later and let her deal with you!"
Stelle, having just collected a fresh wave of emotional energy, happened to glance back in their direction. The two boys flinched, the memory of past beatings clearly ingrained in them, and immediately changed the subject.
"Stelle has gotten even more powerful," Hiruzen declared loudly, "but I've invented an ultimate move of my own!"
He hefted the Adamantine Staff—the transformed state of his summon, Enma—and shouted, "Ninja Art: Adamantine Sickle!"
The staff shot through the crowd of enemies before transforming into ten sharp, curved sickles. As Hiruzen yanked it back, the sickles hooked into the Sand Ninja caught in their path, dragging them directly in front of him.
His ninjutsu followed instantly. "Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique!"
Danzo, ever the opportunist, added a powerful Wind Release jutsu, and the combined attack eliminated several more of the weaker Sand shinobi.
Hearing Hiruzen announce a new move from a distance, Stelle glanced over, curious. When she saw what it was, she nearly threw her back out. She had only casually mentioned during a spar that the Adamantine Staff could probably pull off a move like that for fun. It was just a passing remark. She never expected Hiruzen to actually go and develop it.
'Is he trying to farm emotional points from me?' she wondered incredulously.
After several such battles, Stelle, Hiruzen, and the other members of their generation quickly made a name for themselves on the battlefield, their strength obvious.
Although the Sand Ninja used their puppets and poisons to their advantage, they couldn't stop the ferocious main assault force of Konoha. They began to shrink their lines of engagement, retreating deeper into the desert.
It was here that the desert, despite its poverty, revealed its strategic benefit.
In the vast, empty expanse, there wasn't so much as a blade of grass—only sand as far as the eye could see. The Konoha shinobi were completely exposed, laid bare to the sight of the Sand Ninja. In this environment, large-scale poison gas attacks and massed puppet assaults held every advantage. Unless Konoha was willing to launch a full-scale, high-casualty charge, they would not attack lightly.
The commander of the Hidden Sand forces even felt a moment of gratitude that their village was so poor. The three titans of Konoha—Hashirama, Madara, and Tobirama—clearly didn't think this barren wasteland was worth their personal attention and hadn't come to this battlefield.
Regardless, the battle between the two sides had reached a stalemate.
Inside the command tent, a Senju elder and an Uchiha elder held a meeting with all the Jonin. They were discussing how to break the deadlock and take down the Hidden Sand Village in one decisive push.
Stelle sat with the other members of the younger generation, saying nothing.
'Advance the battlefield? Advance my foot,'she thought.'I'm here to farm emotional points, not to occupy Sunagakure. Besides, what's the point of taking that barren scrap of land? It's overpopulated and dirt-poor. If we actually annexed it, we'd have to take responsibility for it, and it would probably just drag down Konoha's economy.'
Had these old men not noticed that after all this fighting, the First Kazekage, Reto, had yet to show his face even once?
Just then, the Chunin guarding the entrance brought in an intelligence scroll. The Uchiha elder opened it, his eyes scanning the battle reports from the other three fronts. He then passed the scroll around for all the Jonin to see.
When it reached Stelle, she took one look and knew it was time to head to the Land of Lightning.
She produced a scroll of her own and handed it to the two elders. "Lord Hokage gave me a secret S-rank mission. This is the mission scroll. I need to leave the Land of Wind battlefield now."
After handing over the scroll, Stelle bolted immediately. Being the Hokage's disciple and former assistant had its perks; forging some kind of official document was as easy as breathing for her.
By now, Mie should have everything arranged. She had to get to the main battlefield right away.
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