Pre-War Meeting

At the northeastern border of the Land of Fire, after Nawaki joined forces with Tsunade and her troops, he naturally took over command of the army. His arrival allowed Tsunade, Jiraiya, Dan, and the others to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the three of them had often followed Nawaki on campaigns over the past decade or so and experienced battles large and small, and although Nawaki had frequently instilled his theories of war in them, this was their first time commanding an army of more than a hundred thousand men. Afraid of making a mistake, they had remained extremely cautious. They truly were not particularly gifted at commanding armies. They could lead troops in a conventional frontal battle well enough, but their strategic ability was indeed lacking. In the original Second Shinobi World War, Konoha's war against the Land of Wind had been commanded by these very people, yet it had ended only in a costly victory, with Dan even dying on the battlefield.

Moreover, in order to control the overall direction of the war, Nawaki had been remotely directing them to cooperate with his actions. However, for the sake of secrecy, he had revealed only the portions they needed to carry out and had said nothing about the rest. Thus, while they had many suspicions, they did not understand Nawaki's full plan. Now that Kumogakure had established a tight defensive line along the border, the three of them were under immense pressure, afraid that they might affect Nawaki's plans.

As soon as Nawaki arrived, the army's senior officers immediately convened a military meeting inside the command tent.

Everyone had made numerous arrangements according to orders over the past few days, but they were all baffled, having no idea what Nawaki was actually planning. On the surface, their