Close to the border between Amegakure and the Land Of Fire, several Konoha shinobi could be crouched in the bushes and standing between the trees whispering to each other.
Several dozen of them in fact.
This was just one of the platoons that had set up camp in the small country that Amegakure was in.
Behind the shinobi was a woman with long blonde hair healing one of her fellow comrades.
Standing guard around her was a man with long spiky white hair complete with red lines running down his face, and a man that resembled a pale white snake.
They seemed to be the ones in charge of this platoons.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, the woman said in a somber tone, "Chiyo has increased the lethality of her poisons tenfold since the last battle...now, our men are barely surviving a few minutes before succumbing to it's effects. Orochimaru...how many more do we have to heal?"
The serpentine looking man, aptly named Orochimaru, calmly replied, "Just five more. No need to rush, Tsunade. We have time. You still need to conserve your strength for battle."
Tsunade took a deep breath and looked at the other man saying, "What do you think, Jiraiya? How much longer do you think the forward platoons can hold out against the Sand and Stone's continous onslaught?"
Jiraiya gave it some thought, laid his hand on her shoulder and simply replied, "We should be fine, Tsunade. The will of fire burns brightly in our people. Believe in them. For now, just focus on helping our men as much as you can."
Tsunade nodded, gritted her teeth and turned her attention back to the task at hand. But, something was bothering her about the poison.
'This isn't Chiyo's style. The more I deal with it...the more apparent that becomes. This poison works faster and it's a lot more...destructive. Almost as if it wasn't administered by blade or tool, but by something from nature itself. If that's the case, then that could only mean one thing. Hanzo, of the Salamander has arrived on the battlefield...'
Tsunade didn't know how right she was.
On another part of the battlefield, closer to the main village, a platoon made up of 10 Ame Shinobi hid amongst a cluster of trees, looking down on another platoon of Suna shinobi that was quadruple the size of theirs.
'Just this disparity in number shows how weak we are compared to the enemy. If it wasn't for Hanzo's presence in the village, this place would have been completely destroyed already...'
Zero was amongst the Shinobi hiding in the trees. Just from taking a look at the other villages forces, he could tell that Amegakure was at a severe disadvantage in this war.
He could tell that the other villages thought that Ame was completely insignificant in this conflict, minus Hanzo.
'If I am to make any type of impact in this world, first I need to start from this village. I need to be known and feared just as much as Hanzo is...no, even more.'
Looking to his right, Zero could see the hesitation in Captain Jito's eyes. Having just lost another platoon of men yesterday, there was no way he would try to have a head on battle when he was at such a disadvantage.
Resting his hand on Jito's shoulders, Zero whispered, "Captain...send me. I will draw their attention and be the object of their fear."
Jito immediately shook his head as he heard this.
"Negative, kid. You're not going any-"
Tightening his grip on Jito's shoulder, Zero interrupted, "Lord Hanzo sent us out here to destroy the enemy knowing that we were at a disadvantage, Captain. I do not plan to fail."
Jito swallowed his words and gritted his teeth. He was the only Jounin in this squad. The rest were Chunin and Zero's strength was only a bit better than theirs. How could they win this battle?
"Are you not afraid of death, kid?"
After he asked that question, Jito swore he heard Zero chuckle.
"I've already lost my family, Captain. What else is there to lose? At this point in my life...death would be a luxury."
Jito took a long, deep look at Zero and then at the rest of his men. Just by looking at their bloodshot eyes, he could tell that they were itching for a fight.
'It seems that I won't be getting off easy today. Sigh. Although the presence of many Sand shinobi was unexpected...Lord Hanzo did say he received information that two especially powerful shinobi should be among them...this is going to be almost impossible.'
Jito raised an open palm as he looked at the men beside him.
'But, my men have already made a decision. As their captain, I must stand beside them...'
Lastly, his gaze fell upon Zero, whose hand was already on the hilt of his blade.
'Glory to Ame.'
The moment Jito closed his fist, all of the men threw poisonous smoke bombs down at the Suna shinobi and jumped down like rabid dogs, ready to slaughter everything in sight.
Tonight, they would stain the mud with the blood of their enemies.
"We're being attacked!!! Everyone! *cough* *cough*"
"It's poison!! Don't breathe it- *cough* *cough*"
The moment Zero landed on the ground, everything seemed to be in slow motion for him.
The Suna shinobi running away, the ones running towards him, the ones reaching for their weapons, even the ones dying from poison.
His eyes took in everything on the battlefield. Within his mind, a plan was formed.
A plan to execute every enemy in sight.
"Yes, that should work."
WHOOSH!
Zero moved in a flash and decapitated the first three shinobi that tried to surround him.
This time, he didn't sheathe his blade. He was going to put the Kusanagi Style to full use in his first battle with it.
A purple trail flashed as Zero moved like a ghost, cutting down foes left and right.
It was as if he was a killer without brakes.
SLASH! SLASH!
Cutting down two more Suna ninja, Zero used on of their bodies as a springboard and jumped in the air, immediately locating several of their comrades.
WHOOSH!
With a quick spin, Zero threw out multiple kunai at each of them with pinpoint accuracy.
While most of them managed to dodge or deflect them at the last second, some of the Suna shinobi died from the sudden attack.
Little by little, the surviving enemies started turning their attention to Zero.
Two of them, seemingly the leaders of the platoon, surrounded him. One shinobi, one kunoichi.
They had already neutralized the poison from the smoke bombs with an antidote and were now operating at full capacity.
Slowly walking around him, the two were looking for an opening before striking.
"I can feel it. You two are stronger than the rest. But still..."
Zero's body flickered as he appeared beside the kunoichi in a flash, the woman barely managing to react by jumping away.
"...you're still too weak."
It was too late.
'Ghost Slash.'
This slash looked slow, simple and easy to dodge. In fact, the shinobi who was partners with the woman thought Zero had missed his attack.
His heart relaxed when he thought his wife escaped.
Unfortunately, the blood falling on his face as her body split into two woke him up from this beautiful dream.
"No, no! Nooooooo! Die, fiend!"
Looking at the man running at him with bloodshot eyes, Zero was reminded of himself when he found out he lost his own wife, Snow.
That kind of loss isn't something one recovers from. So he would grant the man the greatest gift he could to release him from such despair.
Death.
'Wind Style: Revolving Wind Jutsu!'
Forming multiple hands signs in less than a second, the man clasped his hands and blew a massive cluster of razor sharp wind blades at Zero, putting as much chakra as he could into it hoping that it would destroy his opponent instantly.
Zero just simply raised his blade, held it horizontally at the side of his head locked his eyes onto the man's neck.
"May you find peace in the afterlife."
WHOOSH!
In a flash, Zero cut through the wind blades and decapitated the shinobi, stopping behind him as the blood from his neck sprayed into the air, the drops landing on his kasa hat.
Looking at the rest of battlefield, Zero quickly located his own platoon. Out of 10...only four were left. Him, Captain Jito, and two other chunin.
But...they were still outnumbered. The Suna shinobi still had over a dozen men left.
So Zero got right back to cleaving down the opposition, his blade and body soaked in blood so thick that the rain was unable to simply wash it off.
A few minutes later, only one Suna shinobi remained. Zero, Jito and the other two chunin surrounded him, weapons drawn, eyes cold.
"J-just kill me already!!"
Zero shook his head and walked up the man, the latter shivering in fear from the sight of the former approaching him.
"You can leave. Today, we have spared your life. But in return, tell your comrades what happened here. Tell them about us. Tell them...about me."