Iwagakure followed close behind. On the battlefield between the Land of Grass and Konoha, they too suffered under the attacks of Konoha's firearm units.
Ōnoki, Iwagakure's Third Tsuchikage, quickly realized that firearms would change the very nature of warfare throughout the Ninja World.
He ordered weapons research to be accelerated, and Iwagakure eventually produced firearms of its own.
Though these weapons were rougher than Konoha's designs, Iwagakure's formidable combat capabilities still allowed them to cause Konoha considerable trouble.
Similar scenes were unfolding in Sunagakure and Kirigakure as well.
Because of the oasis uprising within the Land of Wind, Sunagakure had already gained some understanding of firearms.
The Oasis Resistance Army's use of firearms had made them realize that such weapons could rapidly enhance the combat strength of ordinary people.
Thus, Sunagakure also invested substantial resources into developing its own firearms.
Kirigakure, meanwhile, had witnessed the power of these weapons during its campaigns against rebel forces on islands near the Land of Water.
Kirigakure did not take the matter lightly either and swiftly began work on reverse-engineering firearms.
Although Konoha remained ahead in firearm production, possessing more efficient automatic rifles and more precise manufacturing techniques, the other ninja villages had rapidly narrowed the generational gap in weaponry.
The ninja forces of Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure began equipping themselves with their own imitation firearms. Though their accuracy and reliability fell short of Konoha's weapons, they still changed the balance of the battlefield.
The spread of these new weapons further modernized warfare in the Ninja World. Combat no longer relied solely on chakra and ninjutsu; industrialized weaponry gradually became a force that could not be ignored on ninja battlefields.
This change also utterly transformed the war strategies of the major ninja villages, shifting them gradually from close-range ninjutsu clashes toward long-range fire