174: The Third Shinobi World War, the death of Rin Nohara, and the birth of the Mangekyou Sharingan—Kamui.

The Third Ninja World War erupted.

On the surface, it appeared that the Land of Rain initiated the war, but in reality, the Land of Rain's declaration of war was merely the beginning.

The true fuse of the Third Great War was actually the disappearance of the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure!

Or perhaps,

It should be called an assassination.

Due to the death of the Third Kazekage, Sunagakure was left leaderless. If it didn't drag other ninja villages into the conflict, it would inevitably be attacked by all and ultimately destroyed!

Sunagakure was the true instigator of the Third Ninja World War!

...[Konoha Year 45.]

[The Third Great War erupted! Hanzo of the Salamander was the first to declare war. Following closely, Sunagakure seized this opportunity to implicate other ninja villages in the disappearance of the Third Kazekage.]

[Thus, internal conflicts were transformed into external conflicts.]

[Further mobilizing the country's military forces.]

[Under the command of the acting Kazekage, Chiyo, a large number of Sand Ninja rushed to the battlefield. In the early stages of the war, with their full force deployed, they managed to suppress the other three major powers for a time!]

[But Konoha Village and Hidden Stone Village quickly reacted.]

[They rapidly deployed troops, and a large number of ninja rushed to the front lines, successfully stopping the enemy's advance before the Sand Ninja could cross the border, holding back a large portion of Sunagakure's forces outside the national border.]

[Sunagakure's goal was to use external conflict to divert the domestic panic caused by the disappearance of the Third Kazekage.]

[At the same time.]

[They aimed to seize a large amount of resources to compensate for the country's barren situation.]

[This objective was seen through by the other two ninja villages. At this time, the Second Ninja World War had only ended a few years prior, and all major ninja villages were severely weakened, unwilling to start another large-scale war.]

[Therefore.]

[Even though Sunagakure initiated this war, under the deliberate control of the other two ninja villages, the conflict was consistently kept at a low intensity.]

[Maintaining a fragile balance.]

[However, soon, Hanzo of the Salamander, who had previously been suppressed by Sunagakure, found an opportunity. He gambled the fate of his nation, disregarding everything, and led all the ninja of the Land of Rain at the time, using the Land of Rain as a base to spread the conflict to the battlefields of the other three major ninja villages!]

[The Land of Rain has unique weather, constantly covered in a misty drizzle. Outsiders attempting to invade this place found it difficult to adapt to its climate.]

[Utilizing this advantage.]

[Coupled with his special summoning beast, the salamander, Hanzo cleverly used the rainy climate to infuse a large amount of toxins into the rainwater and developed a special highly poisonous mist.]

[Colorless and shapeless, it blended into the battlefield. During combat, all Rain Ninja wore masks...]

[Through this method, combined with Hanzo, a Kage-level (Gold Rank) master, he successfully made the unsuspecting three major ninja villages suffer a great loss!]

[The battlefield collapsed, and the fragile balance shattered!]

[Hanzo deliberately concealed his presence, causing the three major ninja villages in the early stages of the poison gas warfare to believe that the others were employing underhanded tactics, which led to an escalation of the war's intensity, eventually reaching an uncontrollable scale!]

[The Third Great War officially began!]

[Konoha Village, located in the center of the continent, possessed the richest resources and thus became a thorn in the side of other powers. With the start of the Third Great War, Konoha Village, situated in a strategic four-way battleground, knew the situation was dire.]

[They immediately shifted the battlefield, using the Land of Rain as a strategic depth outside their borders to prevent the war from affecting their homeland.]

[At the same time.]

[They adopted a strategy of concentrating their advantages.]

[Sending out the three strongest members of the younger generation to the Land of Rain to defeat Hanzo of the Salamander in the shortest possible time, thereby relieving pressure on the main front!]

[At the same time.]

[They dispatched Minato Namikaze and Hatake Sakumo to the Hidden Stone Village and Sunagakure battlefields, respectively, to buy time with a defensive posture, waiting for the Land of Rain to be defeated and their main forces to return, before launching a counterattack!]

[Meanwhile.]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi, as the Hokage, knew that Konoha Village at this moment had one foot in the abyss. The current situation had mobilized all of the country's power, and there could be no further external interference.]

[Therefore.]

[For Kumogakure, which had not yet entered the battlefield, he adopted a policy of befriending distant enemies and attacking close ones, showing goodwill to Kumogakure and promising various benefits in exchange for Kumogakure's promise not to intervene for the time being!]

[This was a conspiracy!]

[Kumogakure also knew Konoha Village's current situation, and both sides understood that entering the fray at this moment would result in immense damage for both.]

[For Konoha Village, Kumogakure was the last straw that would break the camel's back. If they entered the war, Konoha Village was highly likely to be destroyed!]

[For Kumogakure, it was not the optimal time to enter either. If they pushed Konoha Village to a desperate situation, a cornered dog would jump over the wall. The Ninja World's top power, in a desperate last stand, could definitely take a huge toll on them!]

[The situation temporarily stabilized under such multi-party calculations...]

[Kirigakure, far overseas, was at this time ruled by Uchiha Madara, embroiled in the Bloody Mist Policy, preoccupied with its own affairs, and utterly unable to participate in the continental war!]

[However.]

[Even the best calculations cannot account for everything.]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi had not expected that Hidden Stone Village would make such a insane move, concentrating most of its ninja on the main front to create a diversion.]

[At the same time, they gathered a small number of elite Jonin and Chunin to form an elite assassination squad!]

[Bypassing the Konoha Village and Hidden Stone Village battle lines, they infiltrated deep into the Land of Fire, attempting to sever Konoha Village's supply lines and paralyze the flow of resources to the front lines!]

[Konoha Village detected this immediately.]

[But at the same time.]

[The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, far away in Hidden Stone Village, had also anticipated this. He deployed troops, ordering the Hidden Stone Village ninja on the front lines to launch a full-scale assault on Konoha Village's battle line!]

[Forcing Konoha Village to be unable to act, only able to watch helplessly as their supply lines were cut!]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to take a gamble, dispatching the strongest ninja at the time, Hatake Sakumo, to single-handedly stop the elite assassination squad!]

[On the front lines, the final decisive battle between the two sides unfolded on Kannabi Bridge!]

[Two-front war! If either battlefield fell, Konoha Village would plunge into the abyss, never to recover!]

[It's no exaggeration to say.]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi's move was to put all of Konoha Village on the gambling table. At the same time, after Hidden Stone Village launched its full assault, Hanzo of the Salamander in the Land of Rain also knew that a small country's capacity could not compare to a large one, and delaying would mean certain death!]

[Immediately thereafter.]

[He also launched a full assault, leading all his forces, forcing the Konoha Village side, which was in a defensive state at the time, into a final decisive battle!]

[On this day.]

[The entire world was plunged into slaughter and bloodshed. Death was everywhere, and corpses were strewn about!]

[After half a month of prolonged struggle and slaughter.]

[The Kannabi Bridge battlefield was the first to decide a victor! Minato Namikaze, known as the 'Yellow Flash,' suppressed the entire battlefield!]

[At the same time.]

[His disciples, the three students of Minato's squad, after paying the price of two dead and one injured, unexpectedly stopped Kirigakure, who was preparing to interfere!]

[They killed Rin Nohara, who was to be a sealing vessel for the Three-Tails, thereby preventing the Three-Tails from penetrating deep into their territory and causing a complete collapse of the entire front!]

[Everything has its good and bad.]

[Saving most people also meant sacrificing a few.]

[Kakashi sacrificed two of his comrades to secure victory in this localized war.]

[But he didn't know.]

[Everything he did was witnessed by Uchiha Obito, who was hiding in the shadows at this moment. His last remaining Sharingan, after witnessing Rin Nohara's death, silently transformed, evolving into the cold and evil Mangekyo Sharingan!]

[Mangekyo Sharingan — Kamui, was born!]