The Happenings on the Suna Battlefront

The scorching hot season of summer finally came to this world and the sky was blue. However, the moods of the people from all around the world, weren't happy nor jovial at this time, completely not matching the mood of the season they were in.

In the Land of Rivers, near the Tanigakure, stood a special Konoha's military shinobi garrison. It was gray in color and it was engraved with various Konoha's own and Land of Fire's symbols and kanji. It was hidden deep into the forest, on a small grassland.

Some shinobi who wore Konoha's green flak jackets were patrolling around it. There were also many more sensing barriers, scouts, and other sensory ninjas guarding it diligently as well.

One year ago, various Konoha's shinobi armies were tasked to occupy a place and establish bases in many of the smaller countries surrounding the Land of Fire for more efficient warfare purposes.

If the host countries and their hidden villages stubbornly resisted their proceedings, then the Konoha's shinobi were tasked to fight them directly until submission, after all, such were the times of war.

Nagato from the original wasn't wrong when he said that the smaller ninja villages and countries always receive the shorter end of the stick during the great wars, their sacrifices were simply immeasurable and their dignities completely destroyed and trampled on.

Outside of peoples' expectations, Land of Fire wasn't directly bordering with the other Four Great Nations. Instead, there were usually many smaller countries separating them first in between, the only exception to this was the Land of Water.

Jiraiya's first shinobi army was tasked to occupy a place near the Takigakure and establish a base there, to counteract Iwagakure's invasion of the Kusagakure.

Orochimaru's second shinobi army was tasked to occupy a place near the Yugakure and establish a base there, to better prepare for the future warfare with Kumogakure, and to counter their previous infiltration of the Shimogakure.

Fugaku's third shinobi army was tasked to establish a base near the edge of the Land of Fire's territory by the sea, to better prepare for possible aggression coming from the Kirigakure in the future.

And finally, Tsunade's fourth shinobi army was tasked to invade and establish a base near the Tanigakure, thus opening a new battlefront against the Sunagakure.

Sunagakure now had to worry about both the threats coming from the Tanigakure's direction in the south and the Amegakure''s Hanzo's forces from the north.

But, Hanzo the Salamander, leader of the Amegakure, had some problems on his own to worry about too, namely the newly emerged and rapidly growing Akatsuki organization advocating for world peace and pacifism. It attracted many young people to join them impassionately recently.

The leaders of this organization were also mysterious, often thought to be really strong.

That's why some rumors started floating around the ninja circles that the Konoha's Root and their leader Danzo went there personally to help and suppress their further development and help their old ally from the Second Ninja World War, Hanzo.

Tsunade the commander of Konoha's fourth shinobi army was currently sitting in her office in the previously mentioned base around the Tanigakure.

It was already a year since she led her army to establish their main base for the Konoha-Suna battlefront here.

Unlike in the other smaller hidden villages around the world whom the Konoha forces had to subdue with force in order to allow them an allocation of a base there.

Tanigakure surprisingly surrendered fairly easily, with just under one promise of not involving them in this war, which Tsunade gladly accepted and made.

Even though Tsunade wasn't at the hundred percent of her former abilities right now, just her presence alone gave a great boost in motivation to Konoha's ordinary shinobi, who didn't even know that she suffered from hemophobia, same as the other ninja villages.

That was Konoha's high-level's closely guarded secret.

There was also the Third Hokage's eldest son, Shinsuke Sarutobi, to cover for her weakness on the battlefield. He was now the Vice Commander of this fourth shinobi army.

He wore the standard Konoha's jonin uniform, and he had brown hair and eyes, closely resembling the Third Hokage in his younger days.

He was now standing in front of Tsunade respectively, doing his daily report.

"So, from what we have gathered so far this year, the main players on the Suna's side are the now Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, that old witch, Chiyo, and the mysterious masked jonin who uses the wind style?" Tsunade asked Shinsuke casually all of a sudden.

"Yes, Commander, they gave us the most losses during this year. But, there is also that Pakura of the Scorch Release on their side, but she mostly operates on the Amegakure's front."

Tsunade nodded at that and continued seriously, "Any news about the case of the missing corpses?"

Ever since this battlefront opened one year ago, strange things started happening on it,

The bodies of some of the perished Konoha's shinobi started mysteriously disappearing from the battlefield, one after another.

They still have no idea why did the Suna shinobi start stealing them so vigorously.

"Currently there is still no new information about that case," Shinsuke replied seriously.

"Sigh... Alright, Shinsuke, you can go now," Tsunade sighed, her hand touching her temple.

"Understood," Shinsuke replied and then disappeared from his previous place.

After Shinsuke left, she continued looking out of her window, still thinking about something.

'At first, I was really worried about this battlefront, thinking that there were sadly no real elites placed here besides Shinsuke, that this battlefront is surely doomed for us from the start,'

'But that Uzumaki brat and Sakumo's son are honestly already very strong, probably on the elite levels as well. Their merits are the highest of all the jonins here...'

'I hope they won't disappoint me when the time comes for them to shine...'

'I'm really not suited for the battlefield and the war, anymore...'

- - -

Later in the night, in the same building, on one of the floors, in the hallway.

Anko, Kakashi, and Yoshi sat together there while talking about recent happenings on this battlefront and their missions, as well as the general direction of this war.

They were all fifteen years old young adults now.

"Kakashi and I are already regarded as one of the strongest jonins of this battlefront."

Yoshi stated somewhat proudly but then continued.

"Our merits are already high enough for several good A-rank techniques, but there's just one thing that is bugging me right now."

Anko and Kakashi looked at him curiously.

"Just why didn't we get the corresponding nicknames matching our strength, yet!?"

Anko and Kakashi facepalmed.

"That's what's been bugging you? At this moment!?"

Anko stood up and yelled a little angrily.

"No need to be so angry, Anko."

Yoshi also stood up and looked her in the eyes a little teasingly.

"After all, you should also want for your future husband, me, to have a very powerful and resounding nickname in the future. The more famous I become, the more glory to you, my future wife."

Anko had veins popping up from her forehead right now, her whole face was red, either from the anger or the embarrassment, no one knew for sure.

"I'm gonna beat you now, Yoshi, stop running!" She suddenly started running towards him, ready to deliver him a fierce beating for teasing her again.

They suddenly started running really fast all across the shinobi base, creating a very comical scene.

Some of the passing patrolling shinobi looked at this scene in amusement, some of them just sighed helplessly.

But, they were all already pretty familiar with this scene, witnessing it countless times during the past year.

Kakashi also sighed helplessly while looking in their direction.

They ran all the way down to the first floor of the building and even took a step outside the base.

Outside the base, Anko was still running towards him, when all of a sudden she noticed that he abruptly stopped running while looking in one direction seriously.

She also saw that he was gesturing for her to stop with one of his hands, and he had a very solemn and a little excited look on his face. It was pretty dark outside, and Anko started growing a little nervous while seeing his mood.

Seeing this, he suddenly put his arm around Anko's shoulder and explained her.

"Enemies are currently coming towards us from that direction. They form a large-sized group packed full of elites."

Anko suddenly turned anxious a little, it looked like a large scale battle could break out at any moment now.

But, looking at his confident light purple eyes full of care towards herself, and his arm protectively wrapped around her shoulders, she quickly calmed down again.

"Anko, remember this, don't rush into the battle head first, always stay in the back rows, safely."

Looking at his serious and caring look for herself, Anko couldn't bear it and just nodded.

"Alright, let's go back fast, I'm going to inform Kakashi too, so he could get ready and prepare."

"But, Yoshi, aren't you going to inform Lady Commander about this too?" Anko suddenly asked feeling confused.

"I don't want them to know about my superior sensing ability yet, and it doesn't matter, the sensing barrier will soon spot them anyways," Yoshi replied, and pulled her arm, running back to the Kakashi's position into the building.

- - -

Nearly an hour later, the whole base was in a state of massive preparation.

Shinobi who were sleeping were woken up promptly, formations were being formed, lines of command established, medical ninjas placed on the stand-by, and many more,They were all prepared for the big inevitable battle that's coming ahead!

After they were all done with preparations, they all stood outside, jointly waiting for their expected enemies to come, assembled in a battle formation, ready to start fighting at any time.

The only source of light they got when standing outside was from the white moon and the yellow lamps placed on the base outer walls and on some of the nearby trees, making the whole scene very ghastly and gloomy.

In the head place of the formation, in the last row, on the top of the building and the center of the whole formation, stood Tsunade alongside Shinsuke.

They were respectively the Commander and the Vice Commander of the Konoha's forces stationed there, other Konoha shinobi in the green uniforms all looked at them respectfully outside the building, waiting for their further orders.

Yoshi and Kakashi were also ordered to stand in the center of this large battle formation.

Kakashi held the handle of his White Light Chakra Sabre tightly, ready to draw it at any moment necessary.

Yoshi who was currently standing beside him had his eyes closed and he looked like he was concentrating very hard for some kind of purpose.

Suddenly he opened his eyes in a look of realization and quietly whispered to Kakashi who was beside him.

"There are approximately a thousand of them in numbers. But, in total strength combined they should be pretty close to our thousand and five hundred shinobi currently stationed here."

"And I feel like that's probably not all, otherwise they wouldn't be so courageous to attack us directly here. They probably have something more up their sleeves as well."

Kakashi nodded solemnly and asked next, all the while gripping his blade even more tightly, "Any particular elites in there?"

"Oh yes, how could I forget, actually that makes me the most worried out of all the things I mentioned already. There are probably around five or six real elites hidden in that group with varying degrees of strength. Some of them might even be on the Kage level in my estimate."

"What!?" Kakashi exclaimed a little loudly but soon regained his fighting spirit again after a few more moments.

While looking at the white blade hidden in the sheath he was holding tightly, he thought fiercely.

'Want to come? Then come. I'll let my blade claim all of your lives!'

'For my friends, for the White Fang, and for... me!'

Yoshi also looked a little worried.

But, it was mostly for the Anko who heeded his advice and now stood in the back rows of this formation, a little further from himself.

For himself, he wasn't worried,

That was the self-confidence he earned through many days of constant hard work and many nights of constant restless learning, day after day, and night after night.

It was exactly for a day like this one, for a moment like this one.

The other thing burning through him right now was just pure excitement.

Anko who stood in her place in the back rows of the formation turned around and looked at Yoshi lovingly, silently praying in her heart.

That guy already occupied the most important position in her heart.

On top of the Konoha's base there, Tsunade looked at one direction solemnly.

She knows that she probably can't do too much in the upcoming battle.

She suddenly looked at Shinsuke beside her, then at Yoshi and Kakashi who were a little further from her, with looks of encouragement, trust, and dependence.

They just nodded at her seriously.

Soon, the awaited time came, numerous silhouettes could be spotted running from afar, in the dark.

Under the bright moon, plentiful dark shadows were slowly creeping closer towards them.

Everyone held their breaths restlessly, knowing that the time for the battle finally came.

After a while, they were completely surrounded by the enemy ninja.

A large Sunagakure formation gradually encircled their own battle formation directly.

Suddenly a figure proudly came towards the front row of the enemy formation.

It was a little shorter middle-aged woman.

She looked straight to the top of Konoha's building fortress and said in a voice full of disdain.

"Slug girl, we didn't see each other for a long time now, you've grown even more hateful since the last time during the Second Great War..."

"You old wretch, you still didn't die!? Then maybe you want to die today? So that's why you came here!?"

Tsunade replied fiercely, her face full of arrogance and pride, but looking at the number of people she brought here today, her heart was already inwardly shaking.

"Haha, no need to put up such a tough front now, slug girl..."

Chiyo laughed shrewdly and then continued.

"I already know that you can't fight right now, and I know exactly why. It was because we killed that blue-haired nuisance of a man who always stood beside you on the battlefield before, right?"

"If I knew he was so important to you, and that killing him would produce such a good result. I would've certainly ordered the killing of him even earlier into that war."

Chiyo said wretchedly. She already knew who was Dan Kato, always sticking to Tsunade like a fly before and he possessed a somewhat rare and useful ability, that was her impression of him.

Never in a million years would she have guessed that killing him would make Tsunade suddenly and unexpectedly afraid of blood, nearly obliterating her combat effectiveness and medical proficiency in that way directly.

But, that information she received before was really reliable in her opinion, and in the opinion of the other high-level members of her village, as seen by the courage they showed here by organizing a direct attack on Konoha's base right now.

Tsunade looked like she lost her soul all of sudden, this was one of her deepest secrets buried in her heart. She never expected an enemy to know about that, especially not at this time! 'It's over...'

'Just who could've...' She looked stunned in place, she felt like she couldn't move at all, her face was pale, and she looked like she could collapse at any time.

"Commander, please wake up! Do you not realize the situation we're in right now!?"

Shinsuke who was the only one standing beside her yelled suddenly, pointing in the direction of the Konoha's shinobi who were now looking at her in doubt after hearing Chiyo's previous words.

"She just wants to destroy our forces' morale levels before the battle even starts."

He finished and then said in a little lower voice quieter.

"Don't worry, even if you can't personally fight right now. Just your presence here is already enough."

"As for the fighting, leave that to me!" He finished saying resolutely while looking at Chiyo standing down below, his face full of anger and decisiveness.

"As for how she got that specific information, we'll investigate that later, now's not the time."

Hearing all of this, Tsunade finally regained her composure again and turned really angry remembering how Chiyo talked badly about Dan just now.

"Did you finally grow completely crazy during all these years, so you came here to spit that bullshit so seriously!?" Tsunade yelled furiously, her acting skills were truly top-notch.

Konoha's shinobi already regained their previous confidence levels and started believing in her again.

Even Chiyo started doubting her own previous words a little, but she soon regained her confident composure again swiftly, 'Yes, how could that man's information be wrong?'

"You can have it for now, but we'll see later who is spitting bullshit, and who is not!"

She said arrogantly and gestured something seriously to other Suna forces present there and moved back into the formation swiftly.

Yoshi looked at all of this and thought, his blood boiling with excitement.

'This my first time seeing this many strong auras gathered in one place!'

Naomi who was currently in the Konoha's base, along with many other sensory ninjas, suddenly opened her eyes wide and thought severely while already running towards the top of the building, where her husband was.

'Not good, not good...'

Opening the doors leading to the roof of this stone fortress, she already started yelling.

"Shinsuke, not good, someone amongst them is preparing a very large scale ninjutsu attack from down bellow, order all of our ninjas to jump fast!"

Shinsuke opened his eyes wide and already yelled loudly to the people down below sternly, "Everyone jump!"

And just the second after he said that, a spectacular scene of epic proportions appeared down below on the grass field in the middle of a forest.

Unimaginable and terrific golden spikes of large sizes suddenly started popping everywhere on the field, directly from the ground up, spiking some of the Konoha's shinobi directly to death on the scene in a moment.

Screams of agony started filling the quiet forest promptly.

Not everyone had the right reflexes or hearing to survive this oncoming onslaught, after hearing the Shinsuke's late command, by jumping into the air as he said.

Just the second before Naomi stormed onto the roof of the Konoha's base, Yoshi already sprang into action quickly by teleporting to Anko's location, picking her up, and then teleporting back onto the roof.

He achieved those extreme speeds by utilizing the technique he recently mastered after stealing it from a Suna shinobi six months ago. After capturing him, he had to utilize various torture methods to make him spill out the technique's various intricate details.

It's called the "Wind Release: Body Flicker", and some of the Suna's shinobi were particularly famous for it. He mastered it that quickly because of his already profound mastery of the ordinary Body Flicker Jutsu and his innate wind chakra nature affinity.

It's basically the fusion of the ordinary Body Flicker Jutsu and the changes of wind's chakra natures and shapes around your feet, done right, the combination of the two gives you an incredible speed.

Tsunade and Shinsuke looked gravely at the sight below, not even registering the newly arrived purple-haired girl, Anko.

Now on the top of this large base, there were Tsunade, Shinsuke, Naomi, Kakashi, Yoshi, and Anko standing.

Anko looked at Yoshi curiously and full of amazement, just now she jumped on time to escape the attack, but while she was in the air, someone suddenly picked her up and in a gust of wind brought her here on top of the Konoha's base.

"I knew you could've escaped it on your own, but sorry, I didn't want to risk it, still," Yoshi looked at her affectionately and said sincerely.

"Uhm, thank you," Anko replied a bit affectionately as well.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but now's not the time for this! Look at that giant wave over there, coming towards us!" Kakashi interrupted them rudely and solemnly while pointing at something.

They turned to look in the direction he pointed them at, and they had something even more shocking and unbelievable to see then.

A giant wave of golden dust was coming towards them from the high in the air, threatening to fall on both their base and their other shinobi forces standing down below on the ground.

But strangely enough, it maneuvered over the Suna's forces, exactly as a real wave would.

Seeing all of this, Shinsuke thought of countless possibilities and scenarios in his head, in a second, and yelled again loudly to the people down below.

"Everyone go and attack Suna's forces now quickly, try to push them back!"

"This technique was positioned in a way that won't hit their current place where they are standing right now, but our current place!"

'Great commanding ability and leadership skills, at least much better than Tsunade's!'

Yoshi thought while looking at Shinsuke's back, commending him a little.

And just when he was thinking about what do do about the upcoming giant wave, attempting to clash directly at them, Shinsuke suddenly started acting again instead.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Suddenly another identical Shinsuke appeared beside him, all the people present at the roof looked at their back curiously, wondering what he would do next.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

One Shinsuke started directly breathing a large amount of fire from his mouth, while the other one started breathing a big gust of wind from his mouth.

"Combined Release: Great Dragon Flame Jutsu!"

Strangely the two high-ranking jutsus combined with each other perfectly together in the air, creating a large flaming orange dragon, going straight towards that giant wave of golden dust.

The two Shinsukes standing on the roof were still breathing fire and wind continuously from their mouths as if they were controlling that dragon together.

The dragon started slowly destroying the large golden wave in the air, attempting to make it collapse onto the Suna's forces instead now.

Every shinobi down below on the field held their breaths, giant golden waves, strange flame dragons, this was the first time seeing scenes like this for some of them.

Some of them even felt like insects in front of such a showdown of amazing ninjutsu.

Rasa, the Kazekage, who was currently kneeling on the ground, and controlling that monstrous wave of golden sand, somewhere in the forest, suddenly had a strange look on his face.

'Just who could've stopped it?'

'No matter what, I'll go there and see for myself.'

The golden wave of dust finally collapsed totally, changing the landscape and mostly burying the Suna's ninja in the process, now evening the score a little bit, after the previous golden spike massacre on Konoha's side.

But, Shinsuke who was now panting hard on the top of the Konoha's base still wasn't finished, he dissolved his clone and solemnly said after turning back a little.

"Yoshi, Kakashi, I can only depend on the two of you right now. I leave this battlefield here in your hands, don't disappoint me, I believe you can do it!"

"I'll go and fight the caster of that jutsu now, the Kazekage, I'm the only one who can stop him!"

Yoshi and Kakashi looked at each and nodded, then continued to look at Shinsuke's back.

"Even if my own life is the price!"

Shinsuke was probably the one most brainwashed by the Third Hokage, his own father, they don't doubt for a second that he would really give his life here for his village and carry out the so-called Will of Fire right now.

"Summoning Jutsu: Monkey King - Enma!"

In a puff of smoke, something was summoned near Shinsuke, they all looked at the scene curiously.

It was a strange monkey whose body and the tail are covered by white fur which protrudes from his sleeves and pants.

He wears a black suit with mesh armor underneath, over which he wears a sleeveless kimono-shirt with white fur trimmings, and markings reminiscent of tiger stripes on it, which is held closed by a red sash. He also wore a Konoha protector on his forehead.

He suddenly opened his eyes while looking around himself curiously and fiercely at the same time.

"Who are you brats!? And where is that damn fool Hiruzen!?"

He asked dangerously while looking at Yoshi and them.

"It was me who summoned you, uncle Enma," Shinsuke suddenly replied, Enma finally seeing him for the first time.

"It's you boy, what's the situation then?" Enma asked seriously, no longer looking at them. He faintly glanced down at the mess of a battlefield down below, even more serious.

"We're up against the new Kazekage this time around, uncle. I ask you to transform fast!"

"You!? Against the Kazekage!? Are you crazy!?"

"I'm the only one who can do it now, uncle!"

He sighed gravely while looking at him and then finally nodded.

"Transformation: Adamantine Staff!"

He suddenly transformed into a black looking staff with golden edges.

People on the scene who didn't know the full story about it became a little skeptical of what can exactly this little staff do right now.

But suddenly Shinsuke nodded and quickly held the staff in his hands, then out of everyone's expectations straight up jumped from this really high building completely.

But all of sudden, the small staff started rapidly growing in length.

Everyone present on the scene couldn't believe what their eyes were seeing.

In the end, it grew more than double the size of Konoha's base.

Shinsuke launched himself on top of it, going towards a certain direction in the forest, completely disappearing from their sights.

Some of the Suna shinobi started attacking the staff in an attempt to stop him from advancing further, but it was all useless.

The majestic staff was hard and sturdy as a real diamond, they couldn't leave even a scratch on it.

'So this is the approximate level of the power of Hiruzen Sartuobi in his prime?'

Yoshi thought suddenly, he now really started respecting this man known as Shinsuke a little.

Tsunade also looked at his back and thought solemnly while praying in her heart.

'Shinsuke please be fine, I don't know how I will face the teacher if you die today!'

Naomi also looked in the Shinsuke's direction, with her hands clasped together in a praying position, probably thinking about the same thing.

"Just leave him be, that idiot is not on the Kazekage's level at all."

"He was our last obstacle for destroying this base, let's proceed according to the plan now."

Chiyo said fiercely from somewhere down below, hidden in the newly established terrain.

Soon, another group of the Suna shinobi formed and was ready to attack.

Seeing this, Tsunade also shouted to her own forces down below.

"Into the formation again! Prepare for the battle!"

After the formations of the two villages were once again assembled, a new bloody battle started again.

Once the armies clashed again, Chiyo laughed wretchedly again and started performing some kind of new jutsu.

Her brother Ebizo, who also came to this battlefield with her, was creating havoc on the battlefield by skillfully taking control of Konoha's shinobi with his own chakra strings and turning them against one another.

"White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets!"

Chiyo finally finished her technique and put down her scroll after she summoned them.

These ten puppets were created by the first puppeteer Monzaemon Chikamatsu and later came into Chiyo's possession, the use of which earned her great fame.

With this puppet collection, it is literally possible to use one puppet with each finger, each boasting a power matching a thousand puppets put together. However, to use all of these secret mechanisms demands extremely high-class expertise and skill.

The Chikamatsu Collection has terrifying prowess in taijutsu, ninjutsu, bukijutsu, and so on.

Furthermore, as they can change their numbers by combining, the number of abilities they can show becomes even greater. The puppets were constructed in such a way that they all can work in tandem with each other both offensively and defensively.

Seeing the tide turning into the Suna's favor, Yoshi and Kakashi finally decided to get on the action themselves.

Yoshi turned around to Anko first and said seriously.

"Anko you stay here to protect the Commander."

"Uhm, but please be careful!" Anko replied softly.

Yoshi nodded and finally left the roof directly with Kakashi.

Tsunade also looked at their backs together with Anko and Naomi on the roof, no one knew what she was thinking at the moment.

"You take the man over there, and I take the woman, let's do it."

"Be careful, there is a strong guy over there protecting him from behind, waiting to ambush you."

Yoshi said while in the air, and Kakashi just nodded, his hand not leaving the handle of his new blade, looking serious.

Chiyo looked at the red-haired boy coming towards her and scorningly said while controlling her puppets to attack other Konoha's shinobi around, "What are you brats going to do, huh?"

Yoshi just ignored her taunting directly and started firing hand seals from the distance.

He used his Wind Body Flicker, moving faster and faster towards her location.

"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"

After kneading his chakra into his stomach and converting it into the water, Yoshi spewed it out as a high-pressure water stream towards Chiyo fastly.

She opened her eyes widely, really surprised that a brat like this could learn a technique of that caliber.

'Not enough time!'

Yoshi got really close to her and it was impossible to dodge now in time.

But just then, a sudden stream of flames emerged from the surface below, forcing Yoshi to stop his jutsu and move back a little.

'Damn this guy has some good reflexes. If not for him, I would've already at least decapitated that stupid ugly woman...'

Yoshi thought angrily while looking at the newly arrived pink-haired shinobi wearing a purple coat.

'I was careless this time, thankfully there was still Sasori...' Chiyo thought gloomily and sighed.

He was hidden in the golden dust below waiting to ambush Chiyo's next elite attacker.

But, Yoshi already sensed him, but he didn't expect for him to have such good reflexes and eyesight to manage to save his grandmother in time from his attack.

"You keep this little brat occupied, I'll continue to kill those Konoha trash shinobi."

"Okay granny, but please remember to leave some for me after I finish with this guy," Sasori replied and looked at Yoshi mockingly.

After sensing that Chiyo really left, Yoshi finally exclaimed dangerously, "I really can't wait to see the look on that woman's face once I kill her own grandson right in front of her very eyes."

"Then you can try it!"

Sasori who was only nineteen years old right now yelled crazily and started producing torrents of flames from his hands in Yoshi's direction again. He already transformed his body into a puppet body at this time completely.

"But, I'm sure I'm gonna kill you first and then add you to my collection later!"

On the other side, when Kakashi was preparing to deliver a finishing blow to his target Ebizo too, someone stopped him, attempting to sneak attack him from behind.

But, Kakashi who was already prepared for it just made a maneuver in the air and attacked back with his blade,

But, he was shocked to see that his blade instead of colliding against a real sword, it collided with some kind of a wind sword, controlled by the opponent's fingers.

"Pretty good for a kid, were you expecting me?"

The man behind the mask asked a little curiously.

Seeing that Ebizo already went ahead while nodding towards the mysterious man, Kakashi said.

"Less talking, be ready to die."

He suddenly disappeared from his position slashing his blade towards the masked man in a white flash of light.

"Nice sword, you're Kakashi Hatake, that man's son?"

Before Kakashi's sword managed to hit him, he suddenly disappeared completely.

'He's extremely fast, about a similar speed as my father.'

'He's probably using that Wind Body Flicker Jutsu to the maximum.'

'This won't be easy...' Kakashi thought solemnly.

"You better not fall to Lady Chiyo's hands, haha, she would probably skin you alive if she learned that you're here too."

The man miraculous stood in the air, above the Kakashi's head as if he was defying the gravity itself.

'Bad, Kakashi is no match for that guy, I must hurry up!'

On the other side of the field, Yoshi thought while sensing the man flying in the air.

"Don't get distracted while fighting me, Konoha's ninja!"

Sasori took the chance and fired the next barrage of elemental attacks while Yoshi looked away, but he didn't realize that Yoshi already held his hands together in some kind of a strange seal.

And, as soon as those attacks were about to reach him, a strange blue barrier engraved with black marks in its entirety, suddenly formed all around Yoshi, shielding him from all those attacks.

But looking more closely, Yoshi already wrote some kind of marks and symbols on the ground in the radius of this blue barrier beforehand, he just activated it with those seals.

"Uzumaki Barrier Technique!"

This was the Uzumaki clan technique taught in the advanced fuinjutsu module he got before. It was a pure barrier formed only of fuinjutsu symbols and raw chakra, quite suiting jutsu for an Uzumaki.

"Let's finish this quickly!" Yoshi shouted, ready to go all in.

Sasori looked a little surprised, realizing that he would need to change the tactics in order to win this fight, 'It seems that I may even need to use that puppet against this guy later on.'

'Well, who cares, not like I'm gonna stay in that village anymore after this battle.'

"Very well, you're worthy of being my second most favorite human puppet after I kill you!"

Sasori suddenly removed one of the summoning scrolls from his back.

He then opened his puppet's body right chest compartment to emit more than a hundred chakra strings, which reached all into the scroll.

"Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!"

From the scroll, more than a hundred puppets wearing red cloaks emerged.

As even the most elite of puppeteers cannot control more than ten puppets a time, one per finger, this technique is proof of Sasori's superiority with regards to the Puppet Technique.

Also, normally a puppet's movement is dependent on the will of the user, and as such there will be a time lag between the user's commands and the puppet's response.

However, since these hundred puppets are directly connected to Sasori's core, there is no time lag between Sasori's will and the puppets' movements.

He was truly the biggest genius in Sunagakure's history.

Tsunade who was watching their battle from the roof of the base above, suddenly opened her eyes wide and looked really surprised and appalled at this sight.

She clenched her fists tightly while thinking angrily, 'They were all Konoha's shinobi who perished in a battle on this front before.'

'To think their bodies would all end up in this guy's hands...'

Anko also looked at the scene stunned, 'Yoshi I hope that you will be alright...'

The masked man who was fighting Kakashi suddenly stopped and looked in that direction.

"That guy is truly a freak of nature, such a jutsu is simply terrifying."

"Alight, seeing that even he got so serious, I will try too."

The man was honestly only toying with Kakashi up until now.

No matter what kind of slashes Kakashi threw at him, he always disappeared just before they connected.

On the other side of the field, while looking at the newly arrived hundred human puppets, Yoshi's face grew dignified.

'Let's try this now, I refrained from using this jutsu on the battlefield before. But now it seems that it's time for the whole world to see it.'

"Multiple Shadow Clones: Exploding Flames Jutsu!"

Yoshi could now summon around five hundred ordinary shadow clones and around one hundred explosive ones in a battle comfortably.

He put his hands down and opened his palms, as if expecting someone to hold his hands after doing some kind of hand seals, first.

Then all of a sudden, many more Yoshis suddenly started appearing around him, all of them holding their hands together.

Sasori looked at this scene mockingly and then shouted.

"Just what will your ordinary shadow clones manage to do against my superior army of human puppets, you fool?"

"Just surrender obediently and become a part of my collection!"

Yoshi just ignored his provocations and transmitted something to his clones.

'Go and try to seal those puppets away.'

If they manage to seal them, good. But even if not, they'll still destroy them with flame explosions.

People on the battlefield, from both sides, faintly looked at their direction, paying attention to their battle.

Tsunade also looked at the battle, while thinking.

'Yes, Yoshi really has amazing chakra reserves thanks to his Uzumaki bloodline.'

'Hope you won't disappoint me, Yoshi.'

The clones already jumped high into the air, attempting to attack Sasori's red-cloaked human puppets.

Soon, some of the clones started clashing with puppets.

Sometimes Yoshi's clones managed to seal Sasori's puppets, and the other times, Sasori's puppets managed to destroy Yoshi's clones with them exploding afterward.

Suddenly, many loud bangs sounded on the battlefield and everyone looked in that way.

They saw a bunch of red-haired teens jumping in the air towards some kind of flying objects and exploding once the sufficient contact between was made.

The explosions were loud and flashy, followed by torrents of red flames after their detonations, surely destroying many of Sasori's puppets effectively in that way.

Even Sasori looked very surprised at this scene, 'Is that this guy's own jutsu?'

'This will be a little troublesome then...'

He thought while continuing to mentally control his remaining puppets.

'I have no idea which one from them is the real him now...'

'After I finish them all, I'll immediately summon the Third...'

Chiyo in the distance was also paying attention to this battle while continuing to control and direct her ten white puppets massacring the Konoha's forces mercilessly.

'That little red-haired guy truly can be considered a genius in my opinion.'

'But, it's too bad for him that he met Sasori in a battle this time around...'

She ignored the cries of agony all around her and thought, continuing to slaughter Konoha's shinobi like they were a fish on a chopping board.

Tsunade and Naomi who were standing on the roof of the building in the center of the whole battlefield were also pretty astonished by the scene of Yoshi's explosive clones.

Seeing that Anko wasn't that much surprised, Tsunade looked at her and asked curiously all of a sudden, "Did Yoshi create that technique by himself?"

"Yes, Lord Commander!" Anko replied quickly and a bit proudly.

"Amazing!"

'It seems that a qualified successor finally appeared in the grandmother's clan!'

Tsunade praised out loud and thought inwardly.

But, then she turned a little sad after remembering the tragic fate of that clan.

Kakashi and his opponent also suddenly stopped their battle and looked in the direction of all the explosion sounds.

"It seems like your little subordinate is quite talented too."

Kakashi finally caught a little breath all of a sudden, this man's speed really didn't allow him any time to rest, if not for his amazing reaction speed, he would probably be already dead countless times.

This man's speed is just that superior to his own.

"Okay, my little prey, enough of escaping already. It's time to finish you off!"

"Wind Release: Sword Blasting Waves!"

The man suddenly exhaled a large amount of wind-like pressure from his mouth behind his mask.

He then used his hands and molded that wind pressure in apparently large sharp wind blades, and then finally threw them forward in Kakashi's direction, using his hands too.

They got even larger in the air, growing around three meters each, in general length.

Kakashi looked at this, his face appearing dignified.

He suddenly drew his blade again, and with a serious look on his face did some kind of new slashing motions towards the upcoming wind attacks.

"White Light Slash: Thunder Outburst!"

Kakashi's famous white sword suddenly started producing something akin to white thunder chakra flashes from his sword, matching the size of his opponent's wind flashes, and pairing them in the air.

He already managed to combine his sword-light flashes and the lighting chakra nature, the same as his father did before him.

Sonic bursts formed in the air from their attack's collisions all of sudden.

'Danger!' Kakashi suddenly felt like someone popped out from behind him, ready to kill him.

'This could also be a good chance, that man should've put down his guard a little by now.'

"Inverse Body Flicker!"

He shouted inwardly and turned around in his inverted state, surprising the man deeply, directly aiming for his neck.

But the man, in the last second, managed to expand his wind sword from his finger all the way to his neck, protecting him in time from that fatal blow.

But Kakashi didn't give him any time to say something again, they already started clashing their blows again.

Now, using the unpredictable Inverse Body Flicker in between their blows, Kakashi started to catch up to that man a little, their battle appearing more even for a while.

But soon, the man started understanding and seeing through his new technique, effectively managing to start reading, anticipating and countering it.

The man gained a clear advantage again and started delivering some pretty serious wounds to Kakashi's abdomen once in a while, along with many more scratches on his face.

'Damn, the tides have turned against me again!'

Kakashi thought angrily while looking at the man's crooked teeth and smile on his face, his white Suna's style mask was lifted periodically by the wind.

The man's smile started growing even more crooked seeing him struggling and getting angry. The gap between them was growing bigger and more apparent by the second.

'Damn!'

'Damn!'

'Damn!'

'Will I really die here tonight?'

He started thinking all of a sudden while paying attention to Yoshi's battle direction.

'No, I don't care even if I die, but I will win before I do!'

'I only want to win right now!'

'I only care about winning at the moment!'

Kakashi's face suddenly grew vehement and fiery.

He suddenly did a truly startling and unbelievable thing.

In the eyes of the masked man, he suddenly threw his own sword away from his hand into the distance.

But in just that second of carelessly looking away, the masked man forfeited his own life.

He just heard a nearby sound of lightning chirping, before he felt a warm and intense pain in his heart.

'How...' He looked at the young face in front of him, and the blue hand filled with lighting in his heart, still not believing this situation.

But before he could think about it any further, his eyes suddenly closed on their own, and he finally entered the realm of the eternal silence promptly.

Kakashi pulled his hand out of his body swiftly, and then his body just fell on the ground.

Looking at the corpse, with a large hole in its chest area, on the ground, Kakashi just sighed hard and finally felt relieved.

All of his previous anxieties of the night dissipating in a moment.

Looking at his badly burned left arm, which was now fully visible and damaged to the bone, next, Kakashi didn't appear too frightened or panicked by the picture.

This was an expected result, after all, it was his first time applying lighting chakra onto his bare arm, just now.

"I'd rather die than lose to you tonight! One arm is nothing!"

"Moreover, I don't believe that a swordsman can't fight with one arm!"

He sighed again and said aloud, his face looking firm. His will was still rock solid as before.

He moved into the distance and picked his sword, then went towards the Konoha's base roof.

'I exhausted every last bit of my chakra already, I should go and recuperate for now.'

'Yoshi, I believe that you will achieve a victory tonight too!'

And Yoshi already sensed about his victory, but not realizing that Kakashi paid the price of his left arm for it, he just continued fighting with Sasori now, not thinking about it anymore.

After all of their puppets and clones were destroyed by explosions, Sasori and Yoshi continued trading ordinary blows again. They had about only fifty percent of chakra left in their bodies by now.

"Alright, you're the second strongest person I've ever fought and I'll now show you the first one!"

Sasori suddenly took another scroll from his back and summoned something again.

Another puppet wearing a red robe appeared, floating in the air, summoned from that scroll.

It looked like it was a man and he had short mess dark-blue hair and narrow yellow eyes.

"I introduce you to my good friend, the Third Kazekage!"

Yoshi looked at that figure solemnly, already realizing that this will be his hardest battle in life.

Sasori suddenly signaled the human puppet of the Third Kazekage to get closer to Yoshi, Sasori started running closer from behind him too.

More and more Iron Sand started forming around the Third Kazekage from his puppet mouth.

Yoshi started concentrating hard, preparing for every possible scenario, his eyes were wide.

"Iron Sand World Method!"

Sasori shouted while sprinting towards Yoshi's location.

This technique uses Iron Sand to create a gigantic sphere of branching spikes.

The user first creates two masses of Iron Sand of opposing magnetic fields and then merges them together. This causes the magnetic forces to instantly increase and the repellent force created by the two opposing magnetic fields scatters the Iron Sand across a vast area.

The Iron Sand spreads in spikes that branch off irregularly, making it almost impossible to get a clear overview of what is happening.

This also makes evading the spikes nearly impossible. Even if the opponent has managed to evade getting hit, the Iron Sand spikes will have filled the entire surroundings, cutting off any escape routes. With the opponent trapped, the user is free to attack in person.

Because Sasori coats his Iron Sand in his lethal poison, the technique is even deadlier; if one of the spikes so much as scratches the target, it will introduce enough poison into the target's body to kill them.

Soon a large iron cage full of spikes formed around Yoshi, effectively trapping him inside, threatening to pierce him from any direction.

Everyone on the field had their eyes wide open at the sight. Looking at that large iron cage, they almost couldn't believe it was really happening.

'Is this the Third's...?'

'Does this mean, Sasori, he...?'

Almost all of the Sunagakure shinobi who looked at this scene thought at the same time.

Chiyo who also looked at this scene felt only heartache and loss.

'Sasori, just why did you use it!? Was there really no other way!?'

Whether she was thinking about this battle or Sasori's future defection from his birth village wasn't known.

"Everyone, continue to attack Konoha shinobi vigorously, they are now our top priority!" Chiyo yelled to her forces.

"What!? Did this guy kill the Third Kazekage, too!?"

"This guy is really a psycho!" Tsunade shouted loudly from her position while looking at the big cage nearly in front of her.

Kakashi who was getting healed at the moment by Naomi from the side also looked at this scene solemnly, 'This guy is even stronger than my opponent was...'

He clenched his fists and thought again, 'Yoshi, you must win this battle too!'

But out of them all, Anko was currently the most worried, her eyes got a little watery and no one knew what she was thinking at the moment.

Sasori on the field down below continued summoning more iron dust.

The whole scene of the battlefield got even more chaotic, there was golden dust, iron dust, trees crushed around, dead bodies laying down everywhere.

"Iron Sand Gathering Assault!"

This technique greatly increases the hardness of the Iron Sand, creating a gigantic steel-like weapon in an instant. The weight and size of these shapes are so great, they can easily shatter bedrock and break through most defenses with a single hit.

Because the weapon is made out of Iron Sand, the shape can be whatever the user wants, and can even be changed during the fight. This allows the user to create the best weapon for the fight, by taking into account the opponent's abilities and the surrounding environment.

This time around, Sasori created a giant sharp iron cone through the powers of the Third Kazekage.

'Now you're surrounded everywhere, from the above and behind with my iron spikes, from the front with this giant cone, and I even added some more iron sand into the ground especially for you. Not to mention they're all coated with my special poisons. This is your death Konoha's ninja...'

He thought while getting closer to trapped Yoshi, ready to finish him.

Yoshi looked at all of this like he also realized it, his face a little pale.

'Think, think, think...' He really grew a little fearful for his life this time around. He suddenly realized that there is no uncle Sakumo here to protect him now.

But, suddenly his complexion got a little better, he looked like he realized something.

'Yes, I get it now!

'The best defense is an attack!'

'If I destroy the puppet's body, this iron sand will disperse too.'

He quickly took a brush from his ninja purse and started writing some kind of strange black kanji and symbols all over his body, and they immediately started spreading all over Yoshi's body on their own afterward.

After a while, his whole body was covered in some kinds of strange black symbols and started glowing blue. This was also a jutsu learned about in the Uzumaki clan's Advanced Fuinjutsu Scroll.

"Uzumaki Armour Technique!"

"Wind Release: Body Flicker Jutsu!"

He suddenly uses his fastest speed so far today, attempting to catch Sasori off guard and destroy his best puppet directly, neutralizing his threat completely in that way.

'Fast!' Sasori thought and quickly reacted.

"Iron Sand Drizzle!"

This is a gunshot-like attack that uses Iron Sand hardened into minuscule grains to attack simultaneously across a vast range.

The bullets are so fast that they are difficult to see.

The moment the user has finished preparing the attack, evading it becomes extremely difficult. Using the repellent force of magnetism, the speed of the bullets is rapidly increased after they are shot.

'But, no matter how fast you are, you'll still collide with some of these bullets and die!'

Sasori thought confidently while looking at the rapidly approaching Yoshi's shadow.

But, outside of his expectations, Yoshi just moved through the bullets unfazed by their damage.

'Bad! How could this be possible?'

'Not enough time!'

Yoshi already appeared in front of them, ready to seal the Third Kazekage's puppet body first.

But, just before he got to do so, the remaining iron sand floating around his body suddenly formed a giant sharp object shielding him from all sides.

'I can seal large objects too, silly guy...'

"Uzumaki Sealing Technique!"

After forming the necessary hand seals, Yoshi slammed his hand onto that Iron Sand construction, after which a sealing formula originated from his hand, enveloping the whole thing. When the seal activates, everything in the inscription will be sealed within the formula itself.

This all happened quite fast, but Sasori already realized what was going on.

'Bad, I must do something quickly!'

Sasori turned his own human puppet's body arm into a sharp blade and attacked Yoshi.

Yoshi who saw this wasn't fazed that much, because, in another gust of wind, Yoshi's previously hidden new shadow clone appeared and defended him from the Sasori's attack in time.

This bought him just enough time, to completely seal the Third Kazekage and his iron shell into a scroll.

Sasori looked frightened, just wanting to escape from here as soon as possible now.

The whole large iron cage suddenly started crumbling down into the previous ordinary iron sand.

Everyone looked at the scene wide-eyed.

Anko looked really relieved and happy.

Tsunade looked both ecstatic and joyful.

Kakashi just nodded, but inwardly he was feeling very happy for his friend's glorious victory.

Chiyo grew really shocked and worried when seeing this scene, so she immediately hurried towards there promptly along with her ten puppets, rapidly decimating everyone on her way,

Ebizo, her brother, already exited the battle having exhausted all of his chakra, but he dealt really considerable damage to Konoha's forces already tonight.

Seeing Sasori trying to run away now, Yoshi sprung up towards him in action, ready to finish this troublesome guy completely,

He used his Wind Body Flicker again and disappeared from his position swiftly.

Sasori ran away with his eyes full of panic, 'No, how could this...'

'I didn't even get my revenge on that man...'

'... for my parents...'

But, Yoshi didn't give a damn about any of that, and just directly shoved his sword inside his back, once he caught up with him.

"No! No! No!" A woman's voice could be heard shouting from the distance.

After thrusting his sword in Sasori's back, through his core, Yoshi carefully analyzed his chakra aura patterns, determining if he was really dead or not, all the while ignoring the woman's crazy shouting from the distance.

After realizing that he was really dead, he just sealed his puppet body into a scroll, the same way he did before to the Third Kazekage.

The woman finally came and stood in front of Yoshi.

Her eyes were bloodshot red and she looked like a wounded beast ready to explode at any moment, "What did you do to with his body!?"

"I'm going to kill you, little devil!"

"You can try it old hag, but I'm just going to send you to meet your grandson again then!"

He taunted while pointing at the sky with his finger. He said contemptuously on the surface, but inwardly he started getting worried and restless again.

'I have only about twenty-five percent of my chakra left, can I really take this woman on now?'

'Not to mention, I'm sensing the Fourth Kazekage finishing his battle with Shinsuke soon.'

"I'm going to kill you, demon!!" Chiyo yelled and angrily directed her puppets to attack him.

Everyone on the Konoha's base roof looked at the scene worriedly again.

Tsunade couldn't fight at all right now, and Kakashi was nearly collapsing from exhaustion, still not regaining his former strength at all.

Anko also realized all of this and she soon made her decision,

She disappeared from their position with Body Flicker while looking serious and resolute.

"Anko!" Kakashi and Tsunade both yelled worriedly from the distance, but she just ignored them.

Yoshi, who was currently occupied with dodging Chiyo's ten puppets, opened his eyes wide, sensing her coming his way, 'Anko...'

Anko suddenly appeared behind Yoshi looking at his back affectionately.

She suddenly pulled a few kunai from her purse, ready to start helping him urgently.

"Wait, Anko!" Yoshi suddenly shouted and disappeared from his position swiftly.

He reappeared quickly beside Anko, hugging and picking her up, then starting teleporting them away together all the while escaping the onslaught of Chiyo's puppets.

"Yoshi, what are you doing!?" Anko looked at Yoshi angrily and a little hurt, thinking that he just wanted to carry her back to the tower.

"No listen Anko, I have a plan. And I need your help!" Yoshi looked at her sincerely while teleporting them both away, dodging the next puppet attack timely.

"My help...?" Anko was curious and surprised and looked at Yoshi happily.

After a few more minutes of running, Yoshi finally stopped and put Anko down beside him again.

Looking at the upcoming ten white-cloaked puppets, he asked seriously, "Remember?"

"Uhm!" Anko nodded seriously like she was prepared for something.

"What are you planning brats? You brought this girl here to die alongside you?"

Yoshi ignored her directly and started running towards her quickly.

Anko behind him first made a shadow clone of herself and then started running behind him too along with the clone, both of their hands hidden somewhere.

"I'm going to kill every one of you Konoha's ninja!"

She started going towards them too, ready to murder them directly.

As they got even closer, Anko and her clone, and Yoshi suddenly switched their positions.

Anko suddenly held ten different blue-colored kunai in her hands. They were noticeably also coated in chakra.

In fact, that was also Anko's strongest and the most distinguishing skill,

She always had excellent aiming and throwing skills, as seen in the original series, when she was able to make a perfect Konoha symbol out of Dango sticks without even looking.

Anko suddenly closed her eyes while concentrating hard, and then opened them again after a few seconds,

She suddenly threw all ten of her chakra-coated kunai from their hands to Chiyo's general direction.

Yoshi also suddenly started doing particular hand seals while running towards her.

"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"

Yoshi suddenly started spitting a high-pressure water stream from his mouth.

'That water release jutsu again?' Chiyo jumped in high in the air to dodge it quickly, but Yoshi's attack still followed her upwards, not leaving her alone.

Realizing that there is no way out, she attempted to use her rocklike puppets and block that attack next, but her face suddenly paled.

'What on earth...?' She suddenly noticed that her chakra threads were disconnected from all of her ten puppets.

'How...?' She suddenly turned around and looked towards the little purple-haired little girl standing beside Yoshi.

'Impossible, did she aim for my chakra threads right from the beginning? What an uncanny and outstanding aiming skill...'

Yoshi's high-pressure water stream closed in on her, only seconds from killing her.

But, just when it was about to reach her feet, a large golden hand suddenly emerged from the ground and moved her out of the harm's way, 'Damn, he still came here so quickly...'

'And I'm only around fifteen percent of my strength now...'

"What is that!?" Anko asked looking stunned while seeing that large golden hand saving Chiyo.

"The Fourth Kazekage..." Yoshi said gravely.

It was Anko's first time seeing him like this, she grew a little scared too.

Chiyo, Anko, and Yoshi all looked at the figure slowly coming towards them from the distance.

"Firstly, I have to thank you for killing that traitor Sasori for me!" Rasa said as soon as he came near them seriously and directly, "But that doesn't change the fact you all have to die tonight!"

'It seems like he already killed Shinsuke...'

'He only has around fifty percent of his chakra left judging by his aura...'

"Then why did you save this woman?" Yoshi asked calmly while pointing at Chiyo who was now being held by Rasa's giant golden fist, "She obviously helped that traitor hide some things, if you know what I mean."

Even though Chiyo helped Rasa get elected as the next Kazekage, she obviously helped hide the killer of his own teacher.

Rasa looked at her a little frosty, but soon turned towards Yoshi again and said just plainly, "You won't sow discord between us at this time if that's your purpose."

"Lady Chiyo, you wait for me back there!"

"But..."

"Did you not understand what I said!?" Rasa asked fiercely, his gaze piercing through her now.

Chiyo nodded dejectedly and let the golden hand carry her back obediently.

But on her way back, she thought madly, 'Konoha, Sakumo, red-haired little devil, I'm going to kill you all someday and drink your blood together!'

Only she knows the pain of losing all of her descendants to the same enemy village,

Her hatred right now knows no bounds!

"Now, you should be the only obstacle left for me to completely crush all of Konoha's forces stationed here tonight," Rasa said calmly and resolutely after Chiyo went back.

"Anko, please go back now, take Kakashi, and run to Konoha quickly!" Yoshi said determinedly to the purple-haired girl beside him whom he cherished very deeply.

"No! I'm staying here with you!" Anko shouted emotionally, tears already started forming around the corners of her pretty gray eyes, "Sigh..."

"Anko, If you don't leave here right now, It'll probably be even harder for me to survive this battle, considering that I would have to constantly look out for you too..." Yoshi could only try explaining to her in that way hoping that she would listen.

'Hope you and Kakashi manage to escape alive from here now, Anko...'

'As for me, I think that will be very hard in this situation...' He thought a little desperately.

Anko finally sadly nodded and turned her back to him while wiping her soft eyes, "Yoshi, you have to survive too!"

"I really can't imagine my life without you in it..." After looking at his familiar face for the last time, she suddenly started running towards the Hokage tower, her heartache nearly making her collapse a few times on her way.

"It's useless, none of you will survive here tonight!" Rasa shook his head while kneeling on the ground preparing a new giant wave of golden dust.

He prepared to crush all of Konoha's remaining forces in one go, as for some of his shinobi still fighting there, he truly didn't care about any of that at all.

After all, some sacrifices were truly necessary in order to achieve victory, that was what he firmly thought and believed.

Yoshi looked at the scene solemnly, 'I can't save all of you, but I must save Anko and Kakashi!'

"Multiple Shadow Clones Jutsu!"

Suddenly twenty shadow clones appeared beside him.

"Uzumaki Multiple Barrier Technique!"

Rasa suddenly yelled a little from the side, and a new gigantic wave of golden dust suddenly formed again and rushed forwards, threatening to drown everyone on its way.

Anko turned around and looked back at the giant golden wave a little dismayed.

But, suddenly she sensed many Yoshi's shadow clones appearing beside her protecting her in a formation. They were all encompassed by some kind of blue barriers with strange black symbols engraved on all of them.

Seeing this, she started crying really hard again, "Yoshi, you really didn't intend to fight at all from the beginning..."

"Yoshi, you fool!"

"You deceived me yet again..." But not wanting to waste his final efforts now, she found the strength to move forward with tears falling from her eyes all around her onto the ground.

After a few minutes, sensing that they all finally managed to escape, Yoshi sighed in relief happily, dissolving all of his shadow clones thereafter.

Only a few percent of his former chakra reserves remained in him at the moment.

"Yes, the majority of your forces are destroyed now..."

Rasa nodded satisfied and said towards Yoshi, "You're a pretty commendable shinobi, but I'm sorry, your fate is to die right now!"

Another golden fist was formed from the ground by Rasa, smashing into Yoshi and pummeling him many meters ahead. He crashed into the former Konoha's grandiose base, head first.

Thankfully he held his hands behind his head, amortizing the impact in that way a little bit.

A good part of that base was destroyed in an instant.

Yoshi was just thinking about his life at this moment,

Both the previous and the current one.

'I never expected for it to end this way, sigh...'

'Was it my fault...?'

'Was I just too passive and meek before in my pursuit of strength?'

'Was I just too deferential before?'

'No matter what, this wouldn't have happened to me right now had it not been for this spiteful guy!'

'I hate him!' Yoshi thought angrily while receiving another humiliating punch bringing him even further into the Konoha's base wreck, head first.

"I frickin' hate you, Rasa!!" A frantic and enraged loud yell suddenly echoed from down below the Konoha's base ruins.

'This guy is still alive after that beating!? Is he even a human? What's up with his vitality?' Rasa thought intrigued after hearing his obnoxious yell in the distance.

"No, I don't accept this!!"

"No one can degrade and crush Yoshi Uzumaki down like that!"

"No one!!!" Suddenly, something strange and exciting started waking up from inside Yoshi.

He remembers this exact feeling from many years ago when his Kagura's Mind Eye ability first woke like that. It was the exact same feeling,

Soon, he felt a warm and intense feeling on his back, it felt like something was rushing forward from inside him, begging him to be unleashed onto this entire world.

He grinned madly and thought evilly, 'Alright Rasa, let's see how will you feel after I start killing your own shinobi in front of your eyes!'

"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"

After a few more seconds of thinking, Rasa suddenly heard many loud noises of misery from behind his back, "What on earth is that!?"

He suddenly saw an amazing and unfathomable sight.

Many yellow-like glowing long chains popping up from the ground directly, stabbing, strangling, and slashing at his own Suna shinobi randomly, unexpectedly, and without any mercy.

"I have to thank you for allowing me to awaken my clan's new fascinating ability, Rasa."

Yoshi suddenly floated from the ground up in the air, leaving the base wreck behind.

His chains who were stabbed into the earth supported him firmly.

He looked down on Rasa and grinned.

"What is the meaning of this!?"

Rasa was truly flabbergasted by that ability, first time seeing something similar in his life.

"Is that Uzumaki clan's special ability?" He already had some information on Yoshi beforehand and asked directly.

"Yes, and you don't need to probe me at all."

"I assure you that If you don't leave here this very instant, I'll eventually manage to kill all of your shinobi here, one by one, surreptitiously!"

"And what is a ruler without his subordinates? Nothing!"

Rasa nodded and started contemplating now, he already achieved his objective here, there was really no need for further losses on his side, "Alright, Uzumaki, we'll see each other again!"

"That you can be sure of! I'll never forget this humiliation you gave me tonight, I will return you that thousandfold in the future, Rasa!"

Rasa just nodded expressional and ordered his men to retreat, after that, he personally retreated while glancing at Yoshi meaningfully.

Sensing that he really left, Yoshi sighed in relief and controlled his enormous chains leaving towards Anko's direction next.

Anko, Kakashi, Tsunade, and Naomi were currently standing somewhere in the nearby forest looking solemnly at particular one direction.

Anko and Naomi also both looked very distressed and uneasy at the moment.

"Any news, Commander?" Kakashi suddenly asked Tsunade who was presently sensing the happenings there.

But, just by judging her face during the last few minutes, they could somehow understand how grave the situation really was back there.

After a few more moments of silence and apprehension, Tsunade suddenly changed her face and appeared really ecstatic and happy suddenly.

"Yoshi won!" She finally let out a hearty smile after the long night of fear and anxiety.

"Yess!" Anko suddenly jumped in the air from happiness, her face full of joy, a heavy stone was lifted up from her heart all of a sudden.

She felt like she got back the most important treasure in the whole world.

Kakashi just sighed relievedly, and afterward felt very happy himself.

But only one person wasn't currently all that happy there.

"What about Shinsuke?" Naomi asked uneasy and afraid of the answer, her heart already hurting badly.

"This..." Tsunade turned bitter and a little regrettable after hearing her question, not really knowing how to tell her the truth.

She remembers how she felt when her own loved one died on the battlefield before. She still didn't manage to get over that.

Anko also looked at this, feeling bad for Naomi too.

'I can only imagine how I would've felt, If I heard about Yoshi's death right now, instead!' Anko was really afraid of just the mere thought of it.

After a few more seconds of awkward silence, they heard something in the distance.

They suddenly saw large peculiar yellow chains carrying a red-haired teen towards them from the distance through the forest expeditiously.

The chains were coming from the teen's back, and it looked like they were serving as his prolonged legs, carrying him across vast distances with relative ease.

'This, this... is the grandmother's legendary jutsu!' Tsunade thought suddenly, really amazed by this young teen once again tonight.

Yoshi suddenly dropped his chains near them and slowly came down.

And just after coming down and dissipating his chains quickly, a strong hug knocked him down on the ground all of a sudden.

He didn't even need to guess who was it.

Soon, he felt something warm on his face, those were Anko's tears,

He just wiped them down do with his hand quickly and said promptly, "Stop crying already, fool. I came back in one piece, didn't I?"

"...don't do something like that ever again!" Anko said seriously while burying herself in his neck and chest, still crying intensely.

"I promise you that a situation like that won't occur ever again in the future!" Yoshi promised resolutely.

'I won't become that helpless ever again!'

'I'll do anything and everything in the future to get more power!'

'Anything!' Yoshi thought crazily, he was now really ready to do any kind of despicable actions to get more powerful in the future as soon as possible.

His pride won't allow him to become that helpless and humiliated ever again,

His worst characteristic and a flaw wasn't greed, no...

It was pure pride instead!