"Lord Raikage, Orochimaru is sinister, cunning, and full of tricks. We absolutely must not act rashly!"
Dodai, who had just awakened from his coma, reviewed the intelligence gathered during his unconsciousness and earnestly grabbed the Third Raikage's hand to dissuade him.
The Third Raikage had originally planned to lead his men straight into battle, but upon hearing that Dodai had awakened, he set aside his affairs to ask for Dodai's opinion first.
"Are we just supposed to stand by and watch them seize territory as they please?"
Dodai pondered for a moment before saying, "For now, we should focus on holding our ground steadily and advancing step by step while waiting for the Canal to be cleared. At the same time, we can dispatch multiple elite squads to harass Konohagakure's forces. We must delay the pace at which they reclaim territory and buy ourselves time."
It was a very conservative approach.
But against enemies skilled at unconventional schemes, conservatism was instead the best method.
Since you excelled at exploiting openings, then I simply would not expose any. We would advance steadily, one step at a time, and compete in foundations and logistics.
Yet Konohagakure was currently fighting on two fronts. They also had to deploy basic patrol forces along the eastern coastline, lest Kirigakure see an opportunity and launch a seaborne assault on the Land of Fire.
"Buy time..."
The Third Raikage fell somewhat silent.
"Dad, B still needs a few more months before he can perfectly master the Eight-Tails' power. If we can delay things until then, we'll have another powerful fighting force!"
The Third Raikage agreed. During his previous battle against Orochimaru at the Land of Grass border, he had pushed his Lightning Armor to full output, yet Orochimaru had still remained at ease. He had casually escaped