Feinting East, Attacking West

The Land of Wind and Sunagakure are not without the ability to sustain long-term warfare. After all, they are a combination of Great Nations and great ninja villages. However, compared to other great ninja villages, as the war continues, the pressure Sunagakure has to bear increases exponentially.

If possible, Suna would never wish for the war to drag on for too long.

"Considering our troop strength, influence, and even material reserves, the current Suna is the strongest Suna. If we cannot seize the initiative in the war now, our chances of dominating the battlefield will decrease with time."

"That's true, but we must still remain cautious and not act rashly. We need to find a breakthrough point and seek an opportunity for a decisive blow."

"Winning as quickly as possible aligns better with Suna's interests."

"That's true, but how exactly should we proceed?"

"Targeting whom?"

"Targeting Amegakure is meaningless. Amegakure has only Hanzō to rely on. A small ninja village has no possibility of controlling the battlefield."

"The target can only be a Great Nation. Is it Iwagakure or Konoha?"

"It can only be Konoha. Iwagakure adjusting its invasion route is a move against Konoha, and all we need to do is follow Iwagakure's lead."

"Ōnoki of Both Scales... Is the old man from Iwagakure calculating us while adjusting Iwagakure's strategy?"

"..."

"It's possible. Ōnoki is indeed a cunning and experienced individual."

Iwagakure's actions are not complicated. They can barely be considered a straightforward ploy. As long as Sunagakure shows a little understanding, a situation will arise where both sides jointly target Konoha on the battlefield.

"Facing two opponents at once, Konoha will be overwhelmed. Can they withstand such pressure? We have a chance to drive Konoha off the battlefield."

"To gift them a defeat, then the possibility of annihilating Konoha... Alright, that's unrealistic."

"Let's talk about the battlefield first."

"The opportunity is here, the question is how to execute it."

"Create an opportunity, mobilize Konoha's ninja, create a diversion, and use a small but unignorable target to attract Konoha's attention, mobilize Konoha's ninja on a large scale, and then strike from another direction... and crush them in one fell swoop."

"Mobilize?"

"Only a strong individual can undertake this task. There are only a handful of people in the village capable of such a mission."

"Then I'll go."

"Third Hokage? No, you cannot go..."

"Sending the Third Hokage is too rash. You are the current Kazekage. At this time, no village has sent their Kage to the battlefield. We must remain patient."

We cannot let the current Kazekage take risks. If anything unexpected happens, the loss would outweigh any potential gain.

"Besides the Third Hokage, who else can undertake such a mission? Can Bunpuku do it?"

"According to the news from Amegakure, Iwagakure has already dispatched a Jinchuriki."

"Bunpuku? No. On one hand, he is a monk who upholds the belief of not killing. It's fine for him to protect the village, but actively attacking goes against his will, and even we cannot force him. On the other hand, his reputation is not well-known. Even if he appeared on the battlefield, he wouldn't be able to attract Konoha's attention immediately."

"What about Tailed Beast Transformation?"

"What if he loses control?"

After much discussion, although they haven't decided who will undertake the decoy mission, the candidates have essentially been narrowed down.

So, at this moment, someone coughed lightly, and then an aged voice said, "I'll go. I'm perfectly suited for it. Konoha probably hasn't forgotten my face."

Konoha's side is slightly sluggish. The command center has not yet realized that they have become the target of a pincer attack by Iwagakure and Sunagakure. They are trapped in a blind spot.

The relationship between Iwagakure and Sunagakure is worse than their relationships with Konoha. How could they cooperate to deal with Konoha?

And there's Amegakure in between.

Konoha's front-line command's understanding of the overall war situation is temporarily limited to strengthening defenses and surveillance against Sunagakure.

On Yuzuru's side, after the Eleventh Squad assembled, they immediately rushed into the Land of Rivers.

"Captain, how many reconnaissance squads will be deployed in the Land of Rivers?" Yuzuru asked the squad leader on the way to the Land of Rivers.

He was somewhat condescending. Previously, in Torifu Akimichi's squad, Yuzuru rarely asked anything proactively. One reason was that he firmly occupied the fourth position in the team and had no say. Another reason was that Torifu Akimichi was a reliable veteran Jonin, making people instinctively feel at ease.

But in the current squad, it's different. The captain, Kiba Inuzuka, is only a Chunin. He is nothing compared to Torifu Akimichi. In contrast, Yuzuru's position in the team has slightly improved, upgrading him to the second-in-command... Shinnosuke Kohinata aside, Might Duy, although he can fight well, is only a Genin.

Because he felt somewhat uncertain, Yuzuru wanted to gather more information.

"I'm not sure how many squads will be rotating, but there should be twenty-four squads on duty at the same time," Kiba Inuzuka replied.

"Twenty-four..."

So, they have to rely on less than a hundred people to guard against Suna's movements? The number of ninja Konoha has deployed seems acceptable, but if you actually calculate it, there's a high probability that each squad will have only one reconnaissance or sensory ninja, and among them, there are "slackers" like Kiba Inuzuka.

Can twenty-four reconnaissance ninjas see through Suna? Yuzuru felt it was a bit uncertain.

Yuzuru looked at his own squad again and felt that with Might Duy present, their squad could at least advance or retreat.

He didn't realize that this kind of "we've got this" thought was actually quite dangerous.

The Eight Gates is a very powerful Taijutsu, and it has extremely high requirements for its user. A ninja who can open the gates can certainly be considered a genius ninja in a sense.

Of course, the same forbidden jutsu yields different results when used by different people. In terms of the Eight Gates, the one with the greatest talent was Might Guy later on, who definitely surpassed his predecessors.

"Don't worry, we're on a reconnaissance mission, not a combat one. The priority is to ensure information is relayed, not to fight enemies... Once we detect a large-scale invasion from Sunagakure, we'll send a signal immediately and then withdraw quickly," Kiba Inuzuka said.

"Captain, given our squad's capabilities, wouldn't we be deployed on the front lines within Konoha's extensive reconnaissance and sensory network?" Shinnosuke Kohinata then directly punctured the captain's comforting words.

A dog's nose is only useful at the front; if it were placed behind, what could it possibly detect?

With this kind of positioning, what safety could there possibly be if a Sunagakure army attacked?

Squad Eleven felt like a squad meant to take the hits. A squad composed of two Chunin and two Genin, they were expected to sacrifice themselves when the time came, as long as they didn't die silently. At the very least, they should make some noise so their teammates would know of the enemy's intrusion.

"Cough, don't overthink it. Kurotsume's nose is very sensitive. If it's in the downwind direction, its detection range can be kilometers," the captain said, slightly embarrassed.

After he finished speaking, Kiba Inuzuka and Yuzuru turned to look at Shinnosuke Kohinata almost simultaneously.

What a shame you don't have the Byakugan.

Shinnosuke: "..."