"The final battle... Even the Yellow Fsh wouldn't be arrogant enough to believe he could single-handedly destroy our headquarters. Especially since, acc to our intel, he's practically been firmed as the Hokage. Konoha would never allow him to take such a risky a. Therefore... his goal is to disrupt our battle formations, eliminate our core personnel, and create favorable ditions for Konoha's subsequent offensive."

  "Have the orders to recall personnel been issued?"

  "They have."

  "This kind of aggressive, hit-and-run tactic really isn't the Yellow Fsh's style."

  "But since he's already appeared here, we must sider how to respond. Even if he's alone, his threat level is off the charts."

  "The Yellow Fsh is right on our doorstep. It's highly likely that a full-scale Konoha assault will follow... What should we do?"

  Ihe Cloud Vilge's forward aer, the leadership was in a tense discussion about how to deal with Konoha's Yellow Fsh.

  Their ay wasn't exaggerated. After all, Minato Namikaze was the most dazzling ninja to emerge sihe Third Great Ninja War. His mastery of space-time ninjutsu, surpassing even the Sed Hokage's, had made him practically invincible otlefield thus far.

  More importantly, Minato’s darting around the battlefield was pletely different than him directly striking the enemy's heart.

  "Stop panig! The Yellow Fsh isn't uable!"

  A sudden shout cut through the anxious murmuring. The sight of everyone losing their heads in the face of a powerful enemy was getting to him. And he was certainly qualified to say that the "Yellow Fsh isn't uable."

  "A..."

  The Third Raikage's son, who had already earhe name "A," was the designated heir to the Fourth Raikage title.

  "Pull back the entire defensive perimeter. trate our forces and prepare to respond to Konoha's attack. Bee and I will form a two-man tactical squad and go out to intercept the Yellow Fsh! I want half of the sensory ninjas at my disposal. Have them focus on trag the Yellow Fsh's movements and provide me with stant updates!"

  Minato Namikaze and the Cloud's A-B duo had cshed once before, not long ago. That battle was officially sidered a draw, though both Konoha and the Cloud cimed their respective champions had the upper hand.

  "Do as A says. It's the most logical decision."

  "Bee, let's go!"

  "Right, Big Bro. A rematch with the Yellow Fsh, how incredibly, exg!"

  From beginning to end, no one in the Cloud Vilge even suspected that the Yellow Fsh was an imposter.

  Meanwhile, Konoha, having noticed the Cloud's movements shortly after, realized that the enemy was likely preparing a major offensive.

  "Lord Orochimaru, the Cloud has suddenly trated its forces and is assuming a battle-ready stance. Our current situation is... not optimistic," a Konoha ninja reported to Orochimaru.

  Orochimaru's face remained as calm as a still ke, showiher surprise nor joy. "her Konoha nor the Cloud currently has the ability to quickly end the war. I don't know why the Cloud is suddenly taking such a strategic risk, but there's no need for undue . In this situation, the side that waits ahe other make the first move has the advantage."

  Orochimaru truly wasn't afraid of the Cloud. What was there to fear from a ered d to jump a wall?

  "Immediately report this intelligeo the vilge and request reinforts."

  "But Lord Orochimaru, even if the vilge has the spare mao send reinforts, they won't arrive in time..."

  "They will. There's definitely one person who make it in time."

  "You mean...?"

  "Heh."

  See? The Cloud Vilge had made the correct decision. The Yellow Fsh would indeed appear otlefield.

  While both Konoha and the Cloud were on edge, the situation on the verge of spiraling out of trol, the instigator of all this had easily arrived at the loarked on his mission map. He hadn't entered a single Cloud ninja along the way.

  "I'll start searg from here."

  Habara began his sear the dense, primeval forest. It was immediately obvious that no human had been here for many years, so there was a real possibility that a battlefield was hidden here.

  After only half an hour, he discovered a patch of scorched earth in a slightly more open area!

  Habara's eyes lit up. This is promising.

  He had no idea where Orochimaru had dug up this a intelligence.

  tinuing his sear that dire, Habara found more traces of battle. After walking a bit further, he finally came across a skeleton.

  The forehead protector on the skeleton indicated its identity. The band of the protector had rotted away, but the metal pte seemed to have rusted onto the skull's forehead, a somewhat ironic sight... Although this ninja wore a Cloud Vilge forehead protector, if he was one of Kinkaku and Ginkaku's subordihat meant he was actually a rogue Cloud ninja.

  There was no point in searg this kind of corpse. Habara g it and tinued forward. Soon, he discovered more bodies. Or rather, as he progressed, the number of bodies initially increased, then gradually decreased... Kinkaku and Ginkaku had led dozens of elite ninjas to ambush the Sed Hokage.

  The presence of these corpses indicated that, even severely wounded from the start, the Sed Hokage's bat prowess was still formidable.

  Further ahead, there were no more bodies, but the traces of battle became increasingly evident. Finally, in an area of broken terrain, Habara saw two skeletons leaning against each other.

  The remaining strands of long, silver-gold hair, the horn-like ors hidden within the hair, and the tools scattered around them revealed their identities: Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

  He'd actually found them.

  Habara wasn't in a hurry to disturb them. He started ting first.

  "1, 2, 3, 4, Kohaku no Johei (Amber Purifying Pot), Shichiseiken (Seven-Star Sword), Benihisago (Crimson Gourd), Bashosen (Banana Palm Fan)... All ated for."

  These two had dropped some good loot.

  Killing a Raikage, stealing the Sage of Six Paths' treasured tools, and dying in the wilderness... These brothers were truly etrics of the world.

  Without taking the time to examihe Sage of Six Paths' tools, Habara pulled out a ste scroll and sealed the four powerful items ihese were his personal spoils of war.

  He still didn't touch the brothers' corpses. After searg the battlefield a few more times, he finally found another seated corpse under a rge boulder.

  The green armor, which hadn't pletely faded, and the half-covered Konoha forehead protector... This was the Sed Hokage, Tobirama Senju. Judging from his posture at death, Tobirama had died more peacefully than Kinkaku and Ginkaku, suggesting he was likely the st oo die.

  Thinking back to the days when the Senju brothers were so spirited and dominant in the ninja world, it was hard to believe that a hero like this would meet his end in such a remote er of the world.

  Habara really wao ask the Sed Hokage, "Does your brother know you died like this? What would he think if he knew?"

  After carefully cheg the Sed Hokage's corpse for traps... after all, Tobirama Senju was known for his ing... Habara finally moved his body o Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

  Habara had inally po seal all three of them together, but he thought better of it. They were enemies, after all. Habara was a "Konoha ninja," and he should at least show some respect to the Sed Hokage. He decided to seal the brothers together ahe Sed Hokage in a separate scroll.

  There was a slight hiccup in the process. After he stuffed Kinkaku into a ste scroll, he actally sealed the opening.

  Reopening it was a bit of a hassle, and Habara didn't want to waste another scroll, so...

  "Oops, a small mistake, but no big deal. This is just a new way of categorizing things – the boss gets his own room, and the two wos share a room."

  In an ued pTR had appeared.