Hangu Pass, Desperate Great Wall plus Maginot Line

The gathering of two hundred thousand troops was a vast, sprawling spectacle, impossible to conceal. Skywalker's movements were therefore quickly learned by the upper echelons of every nation.

Once they learned the direction of Konoha's Shinobi Army, every nation understood that Konoha had finally run out of patience and was preparing to strike Kumogakure!

In truth, everyone had anticipated this war. Kumogakure and Konoha had spent more than five months negotiating over the Third Raikage and the twenty-five thousand prisoners, yet they had never reached an agreement. Konoha demanded Kumogakure's surrender, territorial concessions, and reparations. Kumogakure, however, believed it still had the strength to fight and was only willing to pay to ransom its people. The two sides had remained deadlocked, and everyone knew war between the two nations was inevitable.

In fact, Konoha had never expected Kumogakure to accept such harsh terms as ceding territory. Their true purpose had merely been to buy time.

Although Kumogakure had been in an awkward position ever since the Third Raikage was captured, its foundations had not been damaged. It believed it still possessed the ability to defend itself, and there was no way it would simply surrender land. Even the Land of Earth, after being battered so badly by Konoha, was still gritting its teeth and holding on, wasn't it? It was impossible to make those muscle-brained brutes of Kumogakure admit defeat willingly. As long as Konoha still wanted to gain something from them, it would not dare kill the hostages and would eventually release them. The longer they dragged things out, the more opportunities they would have. If they gained an advantage on the battlefield, they might even force Konoha into compromise.

Thus, neither side had any real intention of negotiating. They were merely stalling for time. Konoha needed time to