"Sarutobi Hiruzen?!"
Chiyo's eyes widened in shock as she recognized the new arrival.
Standing before her was none other than Konoha's esteemed Kage-level ninja, known as the "Hokage's Heir," Sarutobi Hiruzen.
And he wasn't alone. Next to him was another familiar face.
"Shimura Danzo?!"
Another Kage-level ninja had arrived. Although Danzo wasn't as famous as Hiruzen, he was undeniably a formidable shinobi in his own right.
"This can't be… How could your reinforcements arrive so quickly?" Chiyo's voice trembled with disbelief, unable to comprehend how Konoha's top-tier support had reached the Land of Whirlpools so swiftly. After all, the allied forces had only just arrived themselves.
It wasn't just Chiyo; the other shinobi from the allied villages were equally horrified.
They, too, recognized Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo, fully aware that both were Kage-level threats.
"Damn it, how are they even here?!"
"Konoha's reinforcements couldn't have come this fast! It has to be an illusion!"
"This is terrible. With these two here, the entire course of the battle has flipped!"
"Where are the others? It's just one Konoha's Ghost! Why haven't they returned yet?!"
"What now? We're no match for Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo!"
Panic erupted among the allied forces. Until this moment, they had been confident, certain that their three Kage-level leaders would soon return and shift the battle decisively in their favor. But now, instead of their leaders, it was Konoha's elite who had arrived first.
It defied all logic. For Hiruzen and Danzo to travel such a distance in such a short time was nearly impossible, barring the legendary Flying Thunder God technique of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
Could Tobirama himself be coming?
The thought alone sent chills through the allied shinobi. Nervous glances darted around the battlefield, each ninja half-expecting to see the figure of Tobirama.
Unlike the invading forces, the Uzumaki clan's shinobi erupted with joy at the sight of their allies.
"Reinforcements have arrived! Konoha is here to help—Uzushiogakure is saved!"
"With Lord Hiruzen and Lord Danzo here, victory is ours!"
"Haha! Now it's your turn to worry about survival!"
"Charge! Destroy them!"
The Uzumaki shinobi's spirits soared. The emotional whiplash from despair to hope had left them energized and eager to fight.
Even Uzumaki Suihei, though surprised by the arrival of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo, was too excited to question their appearance.
Reinforcements were here, and that was all that mattered.
"Surprised, aren't you, Chiyo?" Hatake Sakumo taunted, his tone brimming with admiration for Hui. "This was the 'surprise' our Deputy Commander had planned for you."
Sakumo himself had only learned of Hui's plan earlier that day. Hui had requested reinforcements from Konoha days earlier, long before anyone had known the full scale of the threat to the Land of Whirlpools.
Even Sakumo hadn't been fully aware of the mysterious shinobi's purpose in the land of whirlpool.
Initially, they had assumed the presence of ANBU meant nothing more than a few covert missions. It was inconceivable that four of the Great Shinobi Villages, along with smaller ones, would form an alliance to annihilate an entire nation. The idea seemed like fantasy.
Yet, Mochizuki Hui, a Kage-level shinobi, had pieced together the clues and, trusting his instincts, had requested reinforcements.
Sakumo marveled at Hui's boldness. Most shinobi of his rank, with such strength and skill, would have assumed they could handle any threat alone. But not Hui.
And Sakumo understood now that this request had been part of an even grander plan.
Of course, Sakumo wasn't aware that Hui had already known the threat facing the Land of Whirlpools. With that foreknowledge, deducing the course of action became much easier.
Hui knew that once news spread of his presence in the Land of Whirlpools, the other villages wouldn't be able to sit still.
They would dispatch powerful ninjas, not only to ensure the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed but also to trap him within the country.
So, Hui had chosen to openly meet with Uzumaki Suihei in Uzushiogakure. One of his objectives was to make sure the entire shinobi world knew of his presence.
By estimating how long it would take for word to reach the other villages, and how long it would then take them to mobilize their forces, Hui had timed his request for reinforcements perfectly.
He had calculated that Konoha's response would arrive in the Land of Whirlpools before the allied villages' shinobi, but he had instructed Hiruzen and Danzo to hold their distance, waiting for the right signal.
And that signal was the shattering of Uzushiogakure's barrier.
Of course, Hui hadn't been entirely certain that his plan would succeed. He had based it on conjecture and intuition drawn from the information he'd gathered.
But if the worst had happened and the reinforcements had been unnecessary, Konoha would have simply made the trip in vain, with nothing lost.
If the plan succeeded, however, it would devastate the allied forces and weaken the elite ranks of the Great Shinobi Villages.
And indeed, the villages had dispatched elite ninja squads to the Land of Whirlpools, led by none other than the future Third Kage of each village.
This development was slightly unexpected. With the elite Jōnin and their leaders present, Hui realized that victory in this war would come at a high cost.
Thus, his preemptive strike against the Third Mizukage had aimed to weaken the allied forces by a fifth, removing one of the Kage-level leaders and disrupting their morale.
Even so, Hui understood that this battle would still take a heavy toll.
Ōnoki, Ay, and the Third Kazekage were all powerful shinobi with wide-range destructive jutsu. If they unleashed their full power indiscriminately, many Konoha ninjas would be caught in the crossfire.
To minimize the damage, Hui had lured the three of them away, leaving the battlefield to the non-Kage-level shinobi.
Now, with Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo entering the fray, two Kage-level reinforcements would soon turn the tide decisively in Uzushiogakure's favor.
Once the allied ninjas were eliminated, they could concentrate their efforts on Ōnoki, Ay, and the Third Kazekage, who would then be no match against the combined forces of Konoha.
Of course, the success of this plan hinged on Hui's ability to hold off all three of them.
But Hui wasn't worried in the slightest.
Because his intention wasn't simply to delay Ōnoki and the others.
He intended to defeat them.
This battle in the Land of Whirlpools was the perfect test of his three years of planning, his strategic acumen, and his growth.
And he would use Ōnoki, Ay, and the Third Kazekage to measure the progress he'd made.
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