Early morning, the beginning of 49th year of Konoha, in a deep forest in the Land of Fields.
"What is Konoha's fukuhou? This is Konoha's fukuhou. The Will of Fire sounds nice, but can this fire provide warmth to the ninjas fighting on the front lines?" Note: fukuhou is a satire for working conditions.
Habara hid in a large tree, watching his teammates, who were freezing like shivering puppies in the damp, cold morning weather, and couldn't help but mutter to himself.
Habara himself was an "electromagnetic furnace," so of course, he wasn't afraid of the cold. Tenzo was almost melting directly into the tree, so he probably wasn't very cold either. Shibi Aburame maintained his jonin composure, whether he was cold or not, it couldn't be seen. As for Aoba Yamashiro? He basically relied on shivering for warmth.
Compared to the other young ninjas favored by the Fourth Hokage, Aoba Yamashiro's strength was actually the best. His ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu were very balanced, and he also possessed strong sensory and information-gathering abilities. This kind of balanced talent had the qualifications to become a jonin. It was just unknown why his strength ultimately stopped at special jonin.
Besides Aoba Yamashiro, Shibi Aburame, who used his family's secret Kikaichu technique, also had outstanding reconnaissance abilities. Precisely because of this, their squad was often assigned reconnaissance missions after arriving at the front lines.
In this squad, compared to a burst-type fighter like Habara and a Wood Release ninja like Tenzo, who hadn't fully developed yet, Shibi Aburame was the true core combat force. His strength was very strong. It should be said that his strength ranked among the top of all Konoha jonin, belonging to the top tier.
And Shibi Aburame's techniques weren't flashy either. He just used various insects to fight. It was just a pity that a "tiger father, dog son" scenario appeared later, and Shibi Aburame's son ended up only being a chunin.
After a while, a special bird call came from behind Habara and the others, and then Shibi Aburame responded… Someone had come to relieve them. Next, their squad could withdraw.
Konoha and Kumogakure were in a tense and stifling standoff. Both sides had invested more than three thousand ninjas in this battlefield. For the late stage of a great war, this scale of combat was already exaggerated enough. After all, Orochimaru with two thousand ninjas could directly break through to Sunagakure's doorstep.
After returning to the Konoha camp, Habara and his team ate something simple and then prepared to hurry up and rest. Maintaining energy was very important. The great war could break out at any time.
In the Konoha camp, Habara could see many Uchiha ninjas, including their young genius, Shisui Uchiha… The proud Uchiha were fighting for the fate of Konoha. Did this mean that someone's shock therapy had already begun to take effect?
Well, it wasn't very certain at present.
......
The boring standoff continued for another month. The pre-war atmosphere had reached its limit. At this time, it could be said that dark clouds were pressing down on the city, threatening to destroy it.
Since the beginning of the Third Shinobi World War, Kumogakure had consistently performed very strongly on the battlefield… After Konoha lost the First and Second Hokages, of course, Kumogakure could be strong… So after such a long standoff, the Kumogakure side took the initiative first, and it was a big move.
Simply put, Kumogakure's AB Combo suddenly began to frequently cross the military standoff line, attacking Konoha's vigilant squads. They moved quickly, were difficult to catch, and were able to achieve some results every time. At this time, A was already the Fourth Raikage. He didn't hesitate to put himself in danger, quite a feeling of looking down on Konoha and acting as if Konoha had no one of note.
Was this to gradually weaken Konoha's strength? Disrupt Konoha's layout? Or force Konoha to take the initiative to attack? Indeed, in this kind of interlocking military standoff, the side that lost its composure and made the first move was more likely to expose flaws.
Regardless, Konoha had to stop the AB Combo's harassment. And at this time, it was certain that more than one Konoha ninja would have a similar thought, that was…
If the "Yellow Flash" were still here, how good would that be.
However, things wouldn't develop as Kumogakure expected, because after the war had reached this stage, all plans were equal to no plans.
On this day, Habara's squad had just completed their reconnaissance and surveillance mission. After the shift change, they were on their way back to the Konoha camp when they suddenly heard a signal from afar.
"Strong enemy discovered. Could it be Kumogakure's AB Combo?" Habara and his team directly understood this signal, because it was just a simple distress signal.
"What do we do?"
The three of them looked at the squad leader, Shibi Aburame, at the same time.
"Go and provide support."
Then the captain said this.
Under Shibi Aburame's order, the four-man squad quickly rushed towards the direction of the distress signal. And when they arrived there, they indeed found Kumogakure's AB Combo.
They weren't the fastest to arrive. There were both Konoha ninjas and Kumogakure ninjas here, but strangely, the two sides didn't start fighting directly… Although both sides were very tense, as if they would start fighting at any moment, the scene was strangely very quiet.
Because although Kumogakure had the AB Combo, Konoha also had one of the "Sannin," Jiraiya… The commanders of both sides had met. It seemed that the war was about to start in an unexpected way.
Habara and his team arrived behind Jiraiya and stopped. Four or five squads had already arrived on Konoha's side, while Kumogakure had fewer people, only about ten.
"Sannin Jiraiya, a legendary ninja who has been active on the battlefield since the Second Shinobi World War. Since the start of the great war, this is the first time we've met you…" The Fourth Raikage, A, stared intently at Jiraiya and said.
"This is a good opportunity. Konoha must pay the corresponding price for slandering Kumogakure!"
Uh, slandering? Although Konoha's framing of Kumogakure wasn't very honorable, did Kumogakure need to be slandered? Weren't sneaking around, abducting women and children their specialty?
After the death of the Fourth Hokage, it seemed that the Fourth Raikage already considered himself the fastest in the ninja world.
"Now it seems that the title of Sannin is perhaps undeserved. The disciple, the Yellow Flash, was more outstanding."
Hearing A's words, it seemed that before Habara arrived, this person had already engaged in a tentative exchange with Jiraiya.
Jiraiya also cast his gaze towards A. He said, "For a disciple to surpass his teacher is a form of praise for me. But now that excellent disciple is no longer here… If you underestimate me too much, you will suffer."
Uh…
Seeing the two sides confronting each other, someone couldn't help but take a step forward. Trash-talking, he was good at it.
Then he opened his mouth and said, "There are indeed ninjas in this world who can change the entire course of a war with their own power, but such ninjas…"
Saying that, Habara first pointed at the Fourth Raikage, "It's not you."
Then he pointed at the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, "And it's not you either."
Fourth Raikage: "…"
At this time, the Kumogakure ninjas couldn't help but have a doubt…
Who the hell is this guy?
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