Situation in the Shinobi World

Unlike ordinary armies, which fought in formation, shinobi in a Shinobi World War did not gather together and charge at one another. That made them easy targets for a single wave of terrain-clearing Large-Scale Ninjutsu cast by a group.

Battles between ninja villages were generally fought by squads scattered across long borderlines, preventing the enemy from advancing into their home country from any direction.

Reconnaissance and Counter-Reconnaissance, infiltration and Counter-Infiltration, tracking and Counter-Tracking, hunting and Counter-Hunt.

It was a contest of strength, mobility, and intelligence.

Shinobi were a profession defined by speed and high mobility. Working in squads, they investigated every trace left behind by the enemy, found them and eliminated them. If they could not win, they ran and sought cooperation from nearby teammates.

If they encountered a large group of shinobi, it meant the enemy intended to use this place as a breakthrough point. The reconnaissance squad's first task was not to stop them, but to send the intelligence back to headquarters.

Shinobi were unlike the commoner armies of the Warring States era, which numbered tens or even hundreds of thousands at every turn.

A few hundred or a thousand shinobi could usually defend a border. They relied on movement speed far beyond that of commoners and the efficient transmission of intelligence.

Squad after squad was spread across the front lines, maintaining close contact and forming layer upon layer of defenses to halt the enemy's advance. At the same time, powerful Elite Squads were sent past the line of engagement to search for the enemy's hidden camps.

Once one was found, they either looked for an opportunity to destroy it or brought back the intelligence and assembled the Main Force to push through.

That was the shinobi way of war.

If an ordinary army encountered shinobi, it would likely be wiped out by the concentrated attacks of shinobi squads silently encircling it from all directions before it even realized what was happening.

The elite commoner armies of the past had no ability to fight back against shinobi forces. They might only march a few dozen kilometers a day and had to detour around mountains and rivers, while shinobi could advance hundreds of kilometers in a single day regardless of terrain and still retain considerable Combat Power.

Thus, once the One Country One Village system was established and ninja villages became a country's Military Power, armies made up of commoners lost their reason to exist.

From then on, the Daimyo who ruled each country chose to drastically reduce troop numbers, retaining only the necessary forces to maintain Public Order in cities and towns.

The surplus Military Expenses were used instead to fully support the development of their home country's ninja village.

But this created another contradiction: the country's ruler had, in essence, lost control over Military Force. The Daimyo and the Kage only had a nominal subordinate relationship; in reality, their status was equal. A single country now had two Jades.

A split in Supreme Authority often meant war. But how could commoners possibly be shinobi's opponents? Only shinobi could deal with shinobi.

The ninja village system had existed for only half a century, yet three great wars had already erupted. To some extent, this concealed the conflict between nations and ninja villages.

If the Shinobi World remained at peace, it was hard to imagine how long such a distorted system could last. At first, the Kage were nominally subordinates of the Daimyo, while in truth they were partners. But perhaps one day, the Daimyo would become the Kage's subordinate, and the ninja village would become another kind of entity—the Shogunate.

From that perspective, wars in the Shinobi World were actually something the Daimyo were happy to see.

Only by trapping shinobi in endless fighting and hatred could they be made to overlook the fact that above them stood a Daimyo with little real strength, yet control over political and economic power.

At the same time, war could greatly weaken ninja villages. By the time they recovered, they might immediately be forced to face another war.

That was quite interesting.

As time passed, the situation in the Shinobi World shifted constantly.

After the New Year, Higashino Makoto turned seven. The Ninja Academy had entered the third term of first year, and once spring break was over and the new term began, he would be a Second Year student.

Over the past year, shinobi from Sunagakure and Konoha had fought bitterly along the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire.

Countless shinobi fought in bloodshed. One side desperately invaded to seize wealth, while the other sought to keep the enemy outside its borders. The pitiful Land of Rivers became a battlefield, and the affected civilians suffered devastating casualties and displacement, but no one cared about them.

The Shinobi World had rules against harming civilians, but once a melee began, who cared about that?

Casualties on both sides continued to rise, and hatred accumulated ever deeper. Those who had survived the previous war carried old grudges alongside new hatred, determined to kill every Bastard on the other side in This War.

The pitiful Third Kazekage, the fuse that had ignited it all, had long since been forgotten.

Both sides constantly gathered intelligence, removed outposts, and searched for the location of the other's main base.

Iwagakure of the Land of Earth waited for its chance. The seasoned Tsuchikage Ōnoki dispatched shinobi forces, sending one group through the Land of Birds and the Land of Rain to invade the border of the Land of Wind and ruthlessly squeeze out profits.

Another group invaded the Land of Grass, directly threatening the security of the northwestern border of the Land of Fire.

At the same time, he extended into the Land of Rice, putting on a show of guarding against Kumogakure and needling those muscle-brained Black Barbarians.

His objective was simple: force Sunagakure to pour everything into a decisive battle with Konoha, thereby weakening Konoha.

As for whether Sunagakure would withdraw its forces and turn back to attack him—heh, impossible. Did they not understand sunk costs? They had already invested so much time and so many lives into Konoha. They would not be willing to retreat without seeing it through.

Before this, Ōnoki would not have dared to directly invade the Land of Fire himself.

But once Konoha was weakened, he believed the warlike Black Barbarians of Kumogakure would not let such an opportunity pass. When that time came, his chance would arrive.

As for Kirigakure, Ōnoki had not included them in his calculations. It would be better if they joined in, but it made no difference if they did not. He was not counting on them anyway. Who knew how badly those lunatics who loved internal strife had mutilated their own village? It was hard to say whether they even had the strength to invade the Land of Fire.

Facing Iwagakure's threat, Sunagakure indeed grew anxious. Although the Land of Wind had the largest territory among the Five Great Nations, it was also the poorest. Most of its land was desert. Aside from a few oases, nearly all its economically developed major cities and arable land lay in the north. Nothing could be allowed to go wrong there.

Then, eager to end the war with Konoha, Sunagakure smoothly fell into the enormous pit laid by Konoha's Western Front Commander, Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had an extremely keen nose for war. Once he learned of Iwagakure's arrangements through certain channels, he immediately realized his opportunity had arrived.

At the cost of some shinobi and wounded soldiers, he successfully fed the enemy false intelligence, leading Sunagakure to conclude that Konoha's main base was at Kikyo Mountain on the border.

There truly was a main base there, but it was an indistinguishable trap of truth and falsehood.

When Sunagakure assembled heavy forces and pushed forward, Konoha surrounded them completely. The result was catastrophic casualties, with only a small number of troops escaping.

This battle completely shattered Sunagakure's offensive against Konoha and resolved the threat on the Western Front.

Seeing that there was no way to turn things around, Sunagakure decisively admitted defeat and sent out signals seeking peace. At the same time, it gathered forces within the village and sent them north to resist Iwagakure's attack.

Konoha had secured its first victory, and Orochimaru deserved the greatest credit.

But the Third Hokage was deeply dissatisfied with this. His disciple, Orochimaru, had used comrades from his own village as bait. Though they had won, most of the ninja and injured who had drawn Sunagakure's fire had fallen beneath Kikyo Mountain.

This was absolutely contrary to the Will of Fire.

Shimura Danzō scoffed at this. His good friend had truly gone senile—if they wanted to end the war with Sunagakure quickly and destroy as much of their fighting strength as possible, how could they possibly do so without paying a price?

Well, he had been the one to provide Orochimaru with the intelligence regarding Iwagakure.

After all, though the great Darkness of the Shinobi World was somewhat wicked and rather shadowy by nature, his intelligence-gathering skills were still first-rate.

Orochimaru likewise felt dissatisfied with his teacher. The Old Man was truly muddleheaded. Trading a small price for victory while preserving the strength of the main forces was clearly an excellent bargain.

Mercy could not command an army. As the Commander of the Western Front, he had to take responsibility for everyone's lives.

If the war were allowed to remain deadlocked and they continued slaughtering one another with Sunagakure, even more ninja would die. After another year or two of fighting, how many troops would remain on the Western Front?

He had clearly rendered great merit, yet all he received was his teacher's rebuke.

Could the Will of Fire bring victory? Could the Will of Fire bring those dead comrades back to life?

At some point, Orochimaru stood atop Kikyo Mountain and looked down at the busy ninja forces below, feeling that it was all utterly meaningless.

It was so dull. He should never have come; he should have let that Idiot Jiraiya take his place.

This victory was not even as interesting as a small technological breakthrough in the Laboratory.

Having lost all interest, Orochimaru no longer put his mind into the war. Following his teacher's wishes, he swiftly reached an alliance agreement with Sunagakure and released the prisoners.

Let them go back and fight Iwagakure to the death. He would rather continue researching his Eternal Life Technique.

The situation on the Western Front suddenly became rather laid-back. After Sunagakure withdrew, Konoha's ninja began cleaning up the mess.

Inside a tent beneath Kikyo Mountain, several young children huddled together. The oldest were seven or eight, while the youngest were only two or three.

These were all children the Konoha Ninja had gathered along the way. Some were from the Land of Fire, while others were from the Land of Rivers. Their parents and families had all died in the war between Sunagakure and Konoha.

Beside the group of children stood a Little Brat all alone, like a stray puppy separated from its pack. His eyes were filled with confusion, unable to make sense of this world.

After a while, several adults entered and handed out food to them.

One of them was a young, beautiful blonde woman wearing glasses and a miko outfit. She noticed the lonely child.

After asking him a few questions, she placed her glasses on the child's face, then gently stroked his silvery-white hair.