The War Begins

Ten o'clock at night arrived quickly. During that time, Sunagakure had dispatched quite a few reconnaissance squads around the camp, but aside from the guards from the opposing ninja village, they found no trace of any other Konoha ninja within dozens of miles.

Rather than reassuring Sunagakure's higher-ups, this only made them more anxious. With a full two hundred thousand Konoha Shinobi Army troops having suffered a surprise attack, some of them should have gathered at the battlefield. Yet now, they could see only the thirty thousand ninja across from them. No matter how they looked at it, something was off.

But at this point, Sunagakure had no choice but to press forward. They had to pretend they knew nothing in order to have a chance of catching the enemy off guard and breaking out of the trap.

When Rasa led ninety thousand shinobi out of the camp and launched an attack on the enemy ten miles away, the Konoha ninja scattered around the outskirts of the village immediately abandoned their positions and retreated to the rear.

The outer defensive zone had primarily been intended to guard against enemy guerrilla harassment. It held no meaning against a massive frontal assault. At the same time, the main force in the rear charged out of the ninja village and joined up with the retreating ninja.

For ninja, the wilderness was the only place where they could fully exploit their mobility. Defensive fortifications were useless and would instead become obstacles. The principle was much like modern mechanized armored units—no one would use tanks and armored vehicles inside defensive works, since that would only turn them into sitting targets.

The ninja village had been established at a gorge pass because of its strategic value, allowing it to serve as a rear base for regional