Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!!!!
Accompanied by a series of muffled sounds, a giant serpent coiled up to the height of a two-story building collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Seeing this, Orochimaru's heart sank.
He felt he had been somewhat naive.
At first, he thought that even though these puppeteers excelled in mechanical arts, without sufficient preparation and logistical support, any war machines they assembled on the spot wouldn't be that impressive.
But,
Looking at the three giant serpent corpses lying outside the inpatient building, the dense forest of large crossbow bolts embedded in them, just the parts exposed were over a meter long, practically javelins, Orochimaru's eyes twitched.
This thing was basically a ballista used for sieging cities or hunting large animals. Its power could pierce through a wall as thick as two adult palms laid side-by-side, not inferior to a typical B-Rank Ninjutsu.
But the problem was, where did this come from?
Orochimaru was a bit confused.
To launch such massive crossbow bolts required a giant ballista.
Judging by the speed and frequency of the bolts just fired, there were clearly more than twenty such machines installed inside.
Something that large definitely couldn't be cobbled together on the spot.
'Could it be that when they came to Konoha to study, interning at the hospital, they also carried storage scrolls with corresponding parts for large war machines?'
Orochimaru guessed correctly. The fifty Sunagakure's puppeteers led by Yashamaru indeed carried storage scrolls containing parts for large war machines.
When Ryuji proposed to the Third Kazekage sending a student delegation to Konoha as part of an exchange of interests, he had already considered the possibility of Konoha turning hostile and made corresponding countermeasures.
Considering they were in Konoha, and he couldn't possibly send top experts to guard them every day,
So the only option was to enable them to hold out longer in case of conflict with Konoha, waiting for his rescue.
The situation at the Shinobi Academy was less concerning; being near the commercial district with high foot traffic, Konoha's Shinobi would hesitate to act recklessly to avoid collateral damage. As long as Karura, an expert in wide-area Ninjutsu, wasn't careless and taken out by a sneak attack, they could hold out until rescue arrived.
But it wasn't so easy for Yashamaru's group.
Although the hospital also had high foot traffic, most were patients and low-combat Medical-nin and staff, with a Kage-level Tsunade stationed there (the protagonist didn't know Tsunade would avoid this situation).
And while Yashamaru and the others were all elite puppeteers, none were exceptionally strong or specialized in large-scale destruction, unlike Karura who could use hostages and threat of property damage to make Konoha hesitate.
If Konoha suddenly turned hostile, it would be hard for them to hold out until rescue.
To avoid this, Ryuji devised a plan based on the puppeteers' characteristics and the hospital's layout.
That was for each person to carry storage scrolls containing parts for large war machines.
If Konoha suddenly turned hostile, they would decisively avoid Tsunade in the diagnostic building, gather to secure the inpatient building, assemble the war machines, turning it into a war fortress to hold out until reinforcements arrived.
Konoha Hospital itself had little defensive power, and the inpatient building was full of the weak, sick, and injured. As long as they weren't unlucky enough to encounter a top expert visiting a hospitalized friend in a patient room or similar, no accidents should occur.
And once they secured the inpatient building, with hundreds of patient Shinobi as hostages to make Konoha hesitate, and using the building as cover with war machines for counterattacks, even a Kage-level expert would find it hard to breach quickly.
Orochimaru thought this was just an improvised move by the puppeteers, that war machines assembled without full preparation wouldn't be that impressive, and he could just use large Summoned Beasts as meat shields to charge in and defeat the enemy.
He didn't expect these puppeteers had planned this long in advance.
The three giant serpents he summoned were directly shot full of holes by thirty Dragon-Hunting Ballistae.
And individually agile Shinobi were also forced into impossible dodges by the covering fire from kunai launchers, shuriken catapult boxes, and similar machines.
As for trying to rely on defensive Ninjutsu to charge through the firepower... that was wishful thinking. Even if the Dragon-Hunting Ballistae reloaded slowly and aiming wasn't flexible enough to be effective against agile Shinobi, the puppeteers still had explosive shuriken, poison bombs, giant sickle launchers, and other weapons to break through various defenses.
Moreover, the entire path to the inpatient building was mined with explosive tag arrays.
Unless one could fly, whoever went up would die.
The best method was to surround them without attacking, waiting until they ran out of supplies inside, then they would collapse on their own.
But Ryuji was already bringing people to break through and meet up with them.
Unless Konoha could block those coming to meet them, this plan was also hard to implement.
As for whether they could block them... In the past, if someone said they could rampage unimpeded through Konoha with just over forty people, Orochimaru would never believe it.
But these forty-plus people were either equipped with advanced weapons suited for war or elites among elites, with top experts not inferior to Konoha's in the slightest.
Add to that the opponent's foresight, their hidden means emerging one after another.
On the other hand, Konoha, having misjudged the opponent's strength, arrogantly assumed they wouldn't resist, was thus inadequately prepared.
Not only were over eighty percent of their elite experts still on the front lines, but they had also let Jiraiya go just before executing the plan, while Tsunade had been hiding from the start and her whereabouts were unknown.
In such a situation, what the final outcome would be, Orochimaru really couldn't say for sure.
"If we didn't have to worry about hostage lives, didn't think about capturing them alive as bargaining chips to demand benefits from Suna, and just simply aimed to kill, there would still be a way, but..." Recalling the decisions made by Konoha's high command, Orochimaru shook his head.
Sunagakure had clearly anticipated all of Konoha's actions and prepared for them early. Wanting to successfully execute the plan... not to say there's no hope of success, but it's really, really, really difficult.
Even if successful, they would have to pay a heavy price.
At that time, could the benefits extorted from Sunagakure offset these losses?
Thinking of this, he ordered, "Report the situation here to the Hokage's Office, let Hokage-sama make the decision."
"Yes!"
...
Ding!
Danzo hastily raised his cane-sword to block a strike.
The immense force caused his tiger's mouth to split, and the cane-sword was directly knocked from his hand.
But Ryuji used twin swords, attacking left and right in succession.
Having just blocked one sword, the other immediately came slashing down.
"Die!"
Ryuji's eyes blazed with fury, his hair and clothes fluttering wildly without wind, killing intent overflowing from his body, appearing like a demon god.
This killing intent, without the slightest hesitation, made Danzo's heart sink to the abyss.
A master of manipulating people, he could tell at a glance that Ryuji harbored no reservations due to his identity, and the sword in his hand showed no hesitation.
'Is it time for me to dedicate my life to the village?'
In that brief moment, Danzo's past experiences flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
Danzo was not a good person.
But as a Shinobi, the term 'good person' itself was a kind of mockery; he disdained it.
But throughout his life's experiences, the people he had seen... whether actively or passively sacrificing themselves for the village… each time, he would ask himself internally: If it were me, would I make the same choice?
Then, each time he would recall the moment he had missed becoming Hokage and feel regret.
Back then, he had already made his resolve, but because of his attachment to life, he couldn't bring himself to speak up, ultimately losing to Hiruzen.
'This time...'
"This old man will never hesitate again."
Danzo's eyes blazed with resolute will.
"Pfft!"
The short sword infused with Wind Attribute Chakra easily severed Danzo's entire right arm. Blood spurted out like a fountain.
But Danzo showed no fear.
Gritting through the pain of a severed arm, he tore open his collar, then suddenly grabbed Ryuji's arm to prevent his escape. The seal formula array engraved on his chest was revealed.
"At the very least, I'll drag this threat down with me!"
Bathed in blood, Danzo's face was hideous.
Though having lost an arm and pushed to a desperate situation, his momentum didn't diminish in the slightest, even seemingly suppressing Ryuji slightly.
"Death throes!"
Ryuji sneered, lifting his leg to kick him away.
Suddenly, the air exploded violently. A staff as thick as a large bowl tore through the air, blasting murderously from the direction of the Hokage Tower.
At such speed and explosive force, a solid hit would mean death or severe injury.
But one of his arms was grabbed by Danzo, preventing evasion. His other hand had just finished swinging the sword, in the awkward phase between old force spent and new force not yet generated, too late to block. He could only watch as this several-kilometer-long staff thrust towards him.
'I already estimated the Third Hokage's strength highly, but it still far exceeded my expectations.'
Looking at the staff tip filling his entire vision, Ryuji's mind was strangely calm.
He had already prepared a backup body. As soon as this body was shattered, he would immediately transfer his soul and emerge from his personal space again.
But, just before the staff was about to strike him, with a 'poof' sound and a burst of thick white smoke, it transformed into an old man wearing black tight-fitting combat gear, a Shinobi hat, and a small beard on his chin.
This old man was extremely agile. In mid-air, he spread his legs and kicked Ryuji and Danzo in the chest respectively.
The powerful force separated the two.
Even the kick to Ryuji's chest sent him skidding across the ground for over ten meters, only stopping after crashing into a ruined wall.
This old man didn't pursue Ryuji. Instead, with one hand he grabbed Danzo's remaining left arm, while the fingers of his right hand ignited with Chakra, faintly revealing the five kanji characters for 'Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth'.
"Five Elements Seal!"
Thud!
The old man's right hand pressed firmly onto the seal formula array on Danzo's chest.
Instantly, Danzo spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward.
But the already activated Reverse Four Symbols Sealing also halted.
The Reverse Four Symbols Sealing... originally a technique that couldn't be stopped once activated. But the Five Elements Seal disrupted Chakra Flow.
No matter how powerful the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing was, as long as it still relied on Chakra to operate, being hit by the Five Elements Seal would disrupt its Chakra Flow, causing the technique to fail.
Danzo spitting out blood wasn't from being hit by the old man, but from the backlash of the technique failing.
Just like when Naruto, after being hit with the Five Elements Seal by Orochimaru, forcibly extracted Chakra and ended up being thrown backward himself.