Rasa's Ruthless Ambition

Not only were the fifty thousand Sand Ninja at a complete loss, but even Rasa himself was in utter turmoil. Faced with such a desperate situation, he had no idea what to do.

His forces had now been split in two by the enemy. If he wanted to rescue the Sand Ninja trapped in the valley, the only option was to launch a pincer attack on the forest position blocking the valley entrance and regroup with them.

But the valley was narrow, easy to defend and hard to attack. A few hundred shinobi were enough to hold back an attack by tens of thousands. This was why Nawaki, despite having twice the troops, had chosen to intercept them at the valley entrance rather than attack from both ends and trap the Sand Ninja inside completely. If a chaotic battle broke out within the valley, Konoha's shinobi would inevitably suffer heavy casualties. As for the usual battlefield tactic of setting ambushes along the mountainsides on either side of the valley, it was useless against shinobi. They could easily run up sheer cliffs and fight there. If not for the towering cliffs on both sides and the surrounding marshland, they would not have been trapped inside the valley at all.

Konoha now vastly outnumbered the Sand Ninja and held the advantage of the forest terrain. Even a pincer attack would not be enough to take the position. Not only would they fail to rescue the Sand Ninja in the valley, but the Sand Ninja outside it would also risk being attacked from both front and rear.

But if he simply abandoned the Sand Ninja in the valley, then after losing more than half their forces, Sunagakure would have suffered an absolute defeat in this campaign. As commander-in-chief, Rasa would not be able