The Land of Earth was surrounded by mountains on all sides, with sturdy rocks serving as natural barriers.
This gave the Land of Earth and Iwagakure a tremendous defensive advantage in military matters.
But the drawbacks were just as obvious.
Iwagakure hadn't built those formidable defenses itself; they were the work of nature.
They could keep out foreign enemies, but they also cut off communication and hindered the flow of resources.
After the Third Shinobi World War, Ōnoki would hire forces from other villages to keep up with current events in the Ninja World and carry out some shady dealings.
But at this point in time, Ōnoki had clearly chosen a simpler, more direct path—war!
The essence of war was plunder.
Plunder land, plunder resources!
After all, Iwagakure wasn't afraid of war. At worst, they could retreat into the Land of Earth and fight a defensive battle!
But what had made the deepest impression on Ruohuo wasn't Iwagakure's "warlike" nature.
It was Iwagakure's super tactic—the army-spam style of warfare!
They said the Third Raikage had fought ten thousand Iwagakure Ninja single-handedly, battling for three days before dying of exhaustion. What a hero!
But Iwagakure had been fighting Konoha and the Cloud Village on two fronts, and they could still send out that many ninja late in the war. That alone was bizarre enough.
And that was precisely thanks to their army-spam tactics.
The more ninja there were on the front lines, the greater the demand for supplies.
The two missions Konoha had launched to destroy Kanabi Bridge had both targeted this very weakness.
"Man... that's one huge bridge."
Ruohuo stood atop a mountain peak, munching on a Military Ration Pill as he looked down at the rocky bridge between two mountains. He couldn't help but marvel.
The bridge looked as though it had been wedged between the mountains. Beneath it flowed a raging river, its currents so fierce that even Hidden Mist ninja probably wouldn't dare cross it casually.
Plenty of Iwagakure Ninja stood guard on both sides of the bridge. Some had bandages wrapped around them, and traces of the earlier battle could still be seen on the bridge.
"Looks like White Fang must've retreated already and gone back to the village to get chewed out."
"Did he give up halfway through when he saw his teammates couldn't hold on?"
"...He's got some guts, I'll give him that." Ruohuo murmured as he scouted from above.
Compared with the mission Minato had carried out, only three Iwagakure jonin were stationed here. And because they'd been so cut off from news, they'd mistaken Kakashi for White Fang, setting off a whole chain of events...
The war had only just begun. Iwagakure had plenty of manpower, so naturally, they guarded a strategic location like this closely.
That made White Fang's bridge-destroying mission a little harder.
But whether it was the mission Minato had carried out or the one White Fang had undertaken,
sneaking in here and destroying this bridge was definitely no easy task.
Unless the attacker could fly and had enough Explosive Tags on hand.
"Never thought the bridge-destruction mission would fall to me..."
"Too bad I don't know Water Severing Wave. Otherwise, I could've practically gotten that war hero title for free."
Ruohuo raised an eyebrow.
That old bastard Danzo wanted him dead. He'd even tried to convince Orochimaru to join the glorious campaign against the Uchiha.
Orochimaru had temporarily refused Danzo, and had "borrowed" Ruohuo's hand to burn a Root Ninja of the same rank as Aburame Ryoma to death.
For now, it seemed Orochimaru still didn't want to work with Danzo.
But Ruohuo knew that once Orochimaru failed to become Hokage, the two of them would be thick as thieves in no time.
At that point, he, their "blade," would naturally become a sacrifice.
Orochimaru and Danzo were both players, plotting a grand game of "claim the Hokage seat and eliminate the Uchiha."
Ruohuo just wanted to grow stronger. He didn't want to be a player. For now, he wanted to be the best piece on the board.
His future identity as Uchiha Clan Head and a personal disciple of the Fourth Hokage's faction might not be enough to make him "the best."
But add "Konoha war hero" and "savior of Konoha's White Fang," and that was another story...
"Tsk..."
"Looks like I can't take these Explosive Tags back and sell them."
Ruohuo counted his Explosive Tags. Including the ones Orochimaru had given him and the ones he'd collected along the way, he had about twenty in all.
Not a lot, but if he picked the right spot for the blast, it'd be enough to bring this bridge down.
And he could claim all the credit for himself.
Manda was too big a target, so Ruohuo had come ahead of it. Before leaving, he'd used Great Fireball to imitate the Fire Dragon Bullet's stink and taunt Manda.
By now, Manda should only be a few mountains away from the battlefield.
Traveling overland, and with Manda's foul temper, it was sure to cause quite a commotion along the way. Plenty of Iwagakure Ninja would probably head out to reinforce the front lines.
Just like Minato's tactic in the future.
Minato made a commotion to draw enemy fire while Team Kakashi handled the bridge demolition.
The difference was that human error on the part of Iwagakure and Uchiha Madara had reversed the roles in Minato's plan.
But that wasn't going to happen with him and Orochimaru...
"Surely nobody's going to ignore the great 'Konoha Sannin, Cold Lord,' 'provisional heir to the Fourth Hokage,' and 'future teacher of the Uchiha Clan Head'—Orochimaru—and risk their lives protecting this bridge, right?"
"Right? Right?"
Ruohuo rubbed his hands together.
He'd recovered most of the chakra he'd spent.
Although he'd cut his travel time to under an hour, he'd kept Great Fire Dragon going the whole way, and the air currents at high altitude had made the technique much harder to maintain. It was a high-consumption mode of travel, and the continuous drain had been considerable.
But it wasn't a problem.
He'd kept munching on Military Ration Pills along the way, which offset much of the ongoing drain. He'd recovered most of his chakra by now.
The commotion in the distance grew louder.
The Iwagakure Ninja on the bridge had all rushed out, while the civilians transporting supplies were hurriedly evacuating.
In less than five minutes, about seventy percent of the ninja on the bridge had left to intercept Orochimaru at the front lines.
Only a handful remained to maintain basic security.
"It's finally time for this great King Grey Wolf to make his entrance!"
Ruohuo grinned, stepped onto the Fire Dragon, and shifted into a surfing stance. He angled the dragon's head downward and plunged into a dive!
"Minions!"
"Your King Grey Wolf is back!"
"Awooooo!"
The Fire Dragon streaked downward. When it reached the same height as Kanabi Bridge, it abruptly banked, darted beneath the bridge to the other side, then circled around to the far left end—the exit where Iwagakure transported its supplies.
"Where'd this brat come from?!"
"Did that kid just come down from the sky?"
"What's that thing under him? Why does it look like a jutsu?"
"That kid's wearing the Uchiha Clan Crest! He's a ninja from Konoha's Uchiha Clan!"
It seemed that even if Iwagakure was cut off from the news, they still knew about Konoha and the Uchiha.
That went back to the time a certain Shinobi World Asura had used Susanoo to bully a boy named Ōnoki...
"Listen up! The ninja who's going to destroy this bridge is named Uchiha Ruohuo!"
Ruohuo formed the Hand Seals, while the Fire Dragon at his feet circled around to his side and opened its gaping jaws.
"Fire Style: Double Dragon Fire!"
Fwoom—!
Two streams of Dragon Fire swept across the bridge from either side!
"What a terrible name. 'Double-Barrel Flamethrower' would've been better... The original really had no talent for naming things."
The Shadow Clone clung to the bridge and quietly planted Explosive Tags.
But just as the Shadow Clone was almost done planting them,
"Holy shit?"
The original on the bridge suddenly let out a startled cry.
"What is it?" The Shadow Clone planted the last Explosive Tag and leaped up from beneath the bridge.
Then he saw a towering figure in red armor, steam billowing from his body, carrying several Iwagakure Ninja to safety.
"Uchiha Ruohuo of Konoha... good. I'll remember your name, young man."
The Armored Giant set down the Iwagakure Ninja he'd been carrying and waved them away.
"Fall back for now. Leave this to me."
"I'll avenge those two who died..."
The Shadow Clone clapped several times, turned to look at the original, then pointed at the bridge beneath their feet.
"Great, great. Looks like we've unlocked a hidden boss, but I doubt there's a boss reward..."
"Good luck."
Pfft—the Shadow Clone vanished.
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