At dawn, Uchiha Iori slowly pushed himself up from bed, clutching his chest. A pained expression crossed his face.
As his spiritual power continued to grow, the sensation of dying in the Hall of Heroes became increasingly vivid. At the same time, he was reaping greater rewards from battle.
Feeling his ocular powers and chakra growing stronger, Iori nodded in satisfaction.
[Let me review things first.] Iori thought to himself. [The war has begun. I need to prepare for what lies ahead.]
[There's no need to worry about Kumogakure or Kirigakure. Kumogakure has always had friction with Konoha, but after Minato drove back the AB Combo, there won't be any large-scale war between Konoha and Kumogakure.]
[They won't try to seize the Byakugan until Hinata Hyuga's birthday, when she turns a certain age.]
[Kirigakure will probably send the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to launch a surprise attack on Konoha soon. Might Duy will take on all seven, kill four on the spot, and leave the other three fleeing in disgrace.]
[Next will be Rin Nohara's death. Controlled by Madara Uchiha, the Kirigakure Ninja will seal Isobu, the Three-Tails, inside Rin Nohara, hoping to destroy Konoha with the beast.]
[In the end, Kakashi will kill Rin Nohara, and Obito will slaughter the Kirigakure Anbu at the scene. Then the war will come to an end.]
Uchiha Iori's expression turned grave as he calmly analyzed the situation.
[I probably won't get the chance to intervene in the matter of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.]
[But I can try to make plans regarding Obito, depending on how things unfold.]
[In the worst-case scenario, I can try to kill Obito and prevent him from destroying Konoha and disrupting my plans.]
[There's nothing I can do to change the two battles against Iwagakure and Sunagakure. I can only join them and see if there's a way to profit from them.]
[The Battle of Kannabi Bridge against Iwagakure and the Battle of Kikyo Pass against Sunagakure are the key ones.]
[I'll need to earn enough merit in these two battles before I have a chance to glimpse the possibility of becoming the Fourth Hokage's aide or the Fifth Hokage.]
[Because of Alaya's mission, I need to make myself indispensable. That means either becoming the strongest or becoming the ruler—and those two goals don't conflict.]
[I'll become the new leader who unifies the Ninja World and completely dismantles the one country, one village system.]
[I'll sweep the daimyos and nobles into the trash heap, make shinobi the key to developing productive forces, and bring about reform and progress in the Ninja World.]
[Becoming Hokage is the best shortcut.]
[There's no time to compete for the Fourth Hokage's position, and it would be difficult to beat Minato anyway. I can only aim for the Fifth Hokage.]
Just as he was lost in thought, the tent flap was suddenly pulled aside, and Uzuki Kaori appeared before him.
"Iori, Teacher Nobuhiko wants you to come to the meeting too." Uzuki Kaori interrupted his thoughts.
Uchiha Iori's strength had been recognized by Gekko Nobuhiko, Minato Namikaze, and the others during yesterday's battle.
With the war underway, promotions to jonin were being approved more readily. As a Uchiha shinobi with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Iori seemed all but certain to be promoted.
For now, they were simply letting him take part in decisions ahead of time.
Uchiha Iori came back to himself and nodded.
"All right, I'll go now." He quickly straightened himself up and headed toward the tent serving as the command center.
"Everyone, that's the situation."
The atmosphere inside the tent was tense and solemn.
Minato Namikaze stood in the center, his expression serious. "Everyone, that's the situation."
"Iwagakure has about three hundred shinobi stationed in the Land of Grass. The reinforcements from our village are being led by my teacher, Jiraiya, and number seven hundred."
"But they won't arrive for at least three days. Until then, we have to hold the border."
Konoha was fighting on multiple fronts. Orochimaru was guarding against Sunagakure, Jiraiya against Kumogakure, and the Hyuga and Uchiha Clans against Kirigakure. Their forces were stretched thin.
Now that they were at war with Iwagakure, they could only bring Jiraiya and some of their forces over, while sending the Ino-Shika-Cho trio to guard against the Kumogakure Ninja.
"So Lord Jiraiya is leading the troops? That's great! With Lord Jiraiya in charge, we're sure to win."
Akimichi Doto's face relaxed into a faint smile when he heard that Jiraiya was leading the reinforcements.
He had served under Jiraiya before and had absolute faith in his strength.
Inuzuka Gaku, however, said with concern, "The problem is that we have to hold out for three days. Right now, we're outnumbered about seven to one. The odds are far too unfavorable."
"If the enemy's formation is tightly packed, I can deal with them. But if they attack from multiple directions, even I will have trouble covering everything."
Minato Namikaze's brow furrowed slightly, and a hint of hesitation entered his voice.
He was the user of the Flying Thunder God Technique, the most mobile shinobi in the Ninja World. If he wanted to escape, almost no one could stop him.
His only weaknesses were his lack of wide-area attacks and insufficient power against individual targets. With his incredible speed, he rarely had time to form Hand Seals, so he could only rely on Kunai to kill his enemies.
That was why he had spent the past few years developing the Rasengan, a ninjutsu that required no hand seals, to make up for his lack of destructive power.
"What if they bypass us and head straight into the Land of Fire?"
Uchiha Iori asked, puzzled.
Given the speed and destructive power of shinobi, outposts were mainly there to relay information, not serve as fortresses. Surely it wouldn't matter if the enemy went around them?
Minato Namikaze shook his head. "You're a shinobi too, so you understand the destruction we can cause. The Iwagakure Ninja won't dare push the front line forward unless they kill us or drive us away."
"Once we split up and hide behind enemy lines, destroying supplies and attacking key roads, they'll be caught between advancing and retreating."
"Without supplies like food, medicine, Military Ration Pills, and Kunai, shinobi can't maintain their fighting strength."
"To avoid noncombat casualties, shinobi forces usually retreat to preserve morale and fighting strength once their supplies are cut off."
Minato Namikaze's explanation made everything click for Uchiha Iori.
At last, he understood why the Iwagakure Ninja had been forced to retreat after the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.
When he had learned about the story in the past, he had always viewed things from the perspective of the strongest fighters. Naturally, he hadn't understood how important supplies were.
And after being reincarnated, he had only undertaken short-term missions, so he'd never had to worry about supplies.
[The differences between superhuman warfare and ordinary warfare are huge, but a lot of things still apply to both.]
[Too bad I can't exactly claim to be an expert in military strategy.]
[When I played war games in my previous life, I mostly just selected everything and sent them charging in. Our sacred F2A was always there for us.]
[Otherwise, I could've shown off and demonstrated some clever tactics from Chinese military strategy. Guess I'll just have to watch the experts at work.]
Minato Namikaze finished laying out the defensive strategy.
He turned to Iori. "I can handle the Iwagakure shinobi forces, but someone has to keep their jonin occupied."
"Iori, can you take on one jonin? Don't push yourself. I can still find someone else to fill that role."
"Don't underestimate the Uchiha, Lord Minato."
Uchiha Iori laughed at that.
"I'm a Three-Tomoe shinobi of the Uchiha Clan. How could I be inferior to those Iwagakure dirt rats in a one-on-one fight?"
[I'll start making a name for myself in the Ninja World and building up merit and prestige with this battle.] He thought to himself.
Minato Namikaze smiled warmly and replied, "Then I'll leave it to you. Once I've dealt with the Iwagakure forces, I'll come help you."