The Art of War

The Land of Lightning was rich. So many cows had gone missing, yet no one noticed for quite a while.

A did not even know his own cattle had been stolen. He was still basking in the title that had become popular among the Cloud Shinobi after Masaichi's shout that day: the Ninja World's number one taijutsu master.

Well.

I'm still far behind Father.

Hahahaha~~~

Inside a tent at night.

"Masaichi, I'm handing over command of the Hidden Cloud Village front to you."

Masaichi was lying in bed recovering from his injuries when Orochimaru silently approached, lifted the tent flap, and walked in.

That was seriously terrifying.

If he had been Kakashi, then maybe...

Wait, what had his teacher just said?

He was giving him command of the Hidden Cloud Village front?

Commanding an army was every man's dream, the ultimate romance, but... if he made one mistake and the Hidden Cloud Village broke through, he would become a sinner of Konoha Village. Once he reached the Pure Land, Hashirama and Tobirama would hang him up and whip him.

"But..." Masaichi was under enormous pressure. Every single life rested on his shoulders.

"No refusals. This is an order."

Orochimaru had already made all the arrangements. As long as Masaichi was not a pig, everything would be fine.

Masaichi only needed to handle the miscellaneous matters of the shinobi army.

Orochimaru did not want to waste time on unnecessary matters, such as dealing with the trivial affairs within Konoha's shinobi forces.

"If there's anything you can't handle, come find me."

After delivering the notice, Orochimaru left with that much irresponsibility.

Perhaps worried that the Cloud Shinobi would overrun the Konoha camp, he took Anko Mitarashi to his nearby laboratory.

There were nearly two thousand shinobi on the Hidden Cloud Village front.

At that moment, the food, shelter, sanitation, and survival of nearly two thousand people all rested on Masaichi's shoulders.

And he was still recovering from his injuries.

Masaichi was only a Chunin, but he had done so much dirty work for Orochimaru that he even had some connections in Root. Who would dare refuse to give him face?

Normally kind to everyone, he had no fewer good impressions among shinobi than Minato.

It was rather coincidental.

Jiraiya was Konoha's commander on the Hidden Rock Village front, and he intended to help his student leave a good impression.

Orochimaru was Konoha's commander on the Hidden Cloud Village front, and for Masaichi's convenience in the future, he freely handed him credit as well.

Thus, there were few people as warm as the sun, yet Konoha produced two of them one after another that year.

"Was that your doing, Orochimaru?" On the Hidden Rock Village front, Jiraiya thought his old friend had no interest in becoming Hokage.

But! He could give Orochimaru anything except the position of Fourth Hokage.

The Child of Prophecy could only be Minato.

Compared to Minato, no one else was outstanding enough.

The only Kage-level expert on the Hidden Cloud Village front had gone off to conduct experiments.

Masaichi had a headache.

His teacher had thrown everything to a mere Chunin like him to solve. He really trusted him.

Still, holding two thousand troops in his hands made Masaichi's blood stir a little.

Looking at Orochimaru's "clumsy" deployment map, he felt Konoha needed to make a move.

At this rate, the Konoha camp would be overrun sooner or later.

So!

Masaichi launched a fierce offensive, concentrating all of Konoha's advantages against the enemy's weakest point.

Konoha's previous command could be described as utterly devoid of wisdom.

With the Hyuga Clan and Inuzuka Clan, two top-tier scouting clans, how could they still fight so terribly?

What the hell had Konoha's commanders been doing?

He had thought he was incapable, but after several days of fighting the Hidden Cloud Village, he felt that perhaps he was not so bad after all.

Inside the conference tent.

Masaichi, seated in a wheelchair, proposed the "One Point, Two Sides" tactic.

What was the One Point, Two Sides tactic?

One Point: choose the weakest point along the enemy's entire defensive line.

Two Sides: concentrate superior forces on that point while encircling it from at least two directions, preventing the enemy from escaping or receiving reinforcements.

If he were Hiruzen Sarutobi, he would definitely concentrate his forces on taking down the weakest Sand Village first, forcing them to negotiate peace with Konoha before fighting the other shinobi villages.

But unfortunately, he was not the Hokage.

He did not even have the confidence to tell Hiruzen Sarutobi that he would definitely regret it.

Why could a Chunin like Masaichi command Jonin, even Elite Jonin?

Because he was not teaching ninjutsu. He was teaching everyone the "algorithm" for winning wars.

The Ninja World either fought chance encounters or launched massive assaults. There was no strategy to speak of.

So Masaichi gave the Jonin present a lesson.

Anyone capable of becoming a shinobi was certainly not stupid. They simply lacked education and knowledge.

What Masaichi said was correct, so naturally they could understand it.

"War can actually be fought like this?" Shibi Aburame sat at the far end of the table, eagerly awaiting the task Masaichi would assign him.

The Aburame Clan could command insects for reconnaissance.

"Hyuga, use your Byakugan to open a path for Konoha."

"Inuzuka, I need you to determine when the enemy's scent trails were left behind and roughly calculate how long ago they departed along these routes."

"Yes!" ×N

Shibi Aburame looked expectant. What about me? What about me?

"Alright, meeting adjourned."

Shibi Aburame: "..."

One dawn, A had a flash of inspiration and chose to lead the Cloud Shinobi in a surprise attack while Konoha was asleep.

Who said everyone in the Hidden Cloud Village was a bunch of brainless brutes?

Hadn't they used their brains this time?

A was smug about his clever scheme.

"B! Fire a Tailed Beast Bomb." The Cloud Shinobi troops advanced without obstruction. When they reached the vicinity of the Konoha camp, A had B launch a Tailed Beast Bomb.

Though he admired Masaichi.

Unfortunately, this was a battlefield.

If Masaichi was killed by B's Tailed Beast Bomb, then A could only mourn briefly before celebrating victory.

Killer B transformed into his tailed beast form, and then a Tailed Beast Bomb powerful enough to shake mountains gradually took shape.

The violet-black sphere tore through the night sky and crashed toward the Konoha tents with a shriek of destruction.

A few seconds later, the once orderly area had been replaced by a scorched crater that gave off thin wisps of smoke.

Around the crater, flames crackled across the wood while thick smoke billowed upward, blending into the dust that had yet to disperse.

"Why is there no sound?"

A was a little confused.

Logically, a few survivors should have been screaming their hearts out.

"Come on, let's take a look."

"Where are they? Why isn't there a single person from Konoha?"

Looking at the camp without even a trace of remains, A and the Cloud Shinobi were completely stunned.

They searched everywhere but could not find any sign of Konoha.

A ordered the sensory shinobi to search the area. They found Konoha's defenses extremely sparse. The two thousand shinobi who had once guarded the Land of Fire's towns so tightly that they could not advance even a step were now split into scattered garrisons of around four hundred each.

What did this mean?

A could not make sense of it, but as someone who would become the Raikage in the future, he was still quite meticulous.

Konoha's bizarre maneuver had unnerved him.

Fearing some sort of scheme, he did not dare launch an attack rashly.

He only dared make a small probing attack.