Holding them back might not necessarily stop Konoha Lightning from claiming merit.
But if they could not hold them back, they definitely could not stop him.
It was a very simple choice.
But could anyone say Danzo's approach was wrong?
His reasoning was quite sound: he did not trust Hanzō and feared that Hidden Rain Village would cut off Konoha's retreat, leading to the annihilation of the entire army.
Listen to that—what steady, prudent words. It was as though Danzo had never been an aggressive ninja.
Even if something went wrong later and the Third Hokage found out, Sarutobi Hiruzen would not be able to find any flaw in that reasoning.
Before taking action, Danzo had already prepared several contingencies.
"Since that's the case... what does Lord Danzo need me to do?" Ming asked softly.
With his strength, he could not possibly stop Chen and Sakumo's forces. Danzo surely had another move prepared.
Jia nodded and said softly, "At present, Hidden Sand Village still doesn't know the village's follow-up plans. Ebizo and Rasa have already led a group of ninja to the borderline between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rain."
This situation had been deliberately created by Chen and Sakumo. Hidden Sand Village had not previously stationed defenses here; their forces were all concentrated on fighting Orochimaru.
Drawing out some of their ninja could also slightly ease the pressure on Orochimaru and Tsunade, creating a localized advantage in the war.
But Danzo intended to use this to carry out his own scheme.
Jia continued, "Soon, a group of sand shinobi will attack civilians in the Land of Rain. Your task is to guide the Akatsuki Organization into discovering Sunagakure's attack and provoke a conflict between the two sides."
The sand shinobi would naturally be fake. Root had