Setting aside Hagoromo's stingy little transport plan, the Third Hokage was about to arrive here with Konoha's elite ninja.
Having suffered a heavy blow from the Sand Ninja earlier, the Konoha ninja on this front had temporarily entered a stage of full-scale contraction in their defensive preparations.
In the previous battle, Konoha had suffered enormous casualties. As a result, the number of ninja they could commit to this front had plummeted, and their overall strength had weakened. They could no longer maintain that three-tiered defensive formation.
If they still used that approach, Konoha's defensive line would be stretched too thin. They were already short on ninja, and spreading their strength out any further would only give the enemy a chance to defeat them one by one.
Even if it was not to exert sufficient deterrence against the Sand Ninja, Tsunade still had to gather all of Konoha's remaining strength together for the sake of her subordinates' safety alone.
All the Konoha ninja who had been confronting the Sand Ninja at the front had pulled back. Apart from the necessary scouts sent out, the rest had gathered near the original headquarters.
Tsunade knew that preserving their remaining forces was the most important thing right now, rather than clashing head-on with the enemy. Before the Hokage and the other ninja arrived, they had to avoid large-scale battles with the Sand Ninja as much as possible.
Fortunately, Konoha had suffered terrible losses in the battle three days ago, but the Sand Ninja had fared just as badly. For the time being, the enemy lacked the strength to launch a second attack.
More than that, because they had pulled ninja from the Iwagakure front line for a long-distance assault, the Sand Ninja's defenses were now even tighter than Konoha's. Defending against Iwagakure was their