Since Hidden Leaf Village Wants This Place So Badly, Let Them Have It

Legend had it that the Night-Cry Sand Sea had once been a massive freshwater lake, no smaller than an ocean. Later, as the environment changed and the years passed, that former expanse of water had dwindled into a tiny oasis amid the vast desert.

Whenever the north wind howled at night, the remains of ancient shells would let out shrill, hollow wails in the wind. That was how the Night-Cry Sand Sea got its name.

The Night-Cry Sand Sea was the oasis closest to the Land of Rain. As early as the era of the First Kazekage, ninja had been stationed there. During Shamon, the Second Kazekage's time, its construction was further strengthened. Food was stockpiled, wells were dug, and the Night-Cry Sand Sea was gradually turned into the largest military fortress in the northern Land of Wind. One look at the map made it clear: this was unmistakably an advance base for attacking the Land of Rain.

It had now become the front line where Hidden Leaf Village and Sunagakure faced off. Back on home ground, Sunagakure had quickly found its footing. After receiving part of its military supplies, morale soared, and it actually fought the Hidden Leaf Village army—twice its size—to a standstill. Chiyo gradually stabilized the situation, while Danzo showed no hurry to attack.

A stalemate gradually formed once more. Yet this was precisely the kind of strategy Chiyo feared most. She knew perfectly well that their suddenly revived morale was merely a full, round bubble. Their limited supplies would inevitably run out one day, and Danzo was waiting for precisely that day. Then Sunagakure would face a true, total collapse. Chiyo stared at the map, her brows tightly furrowed.

"Lady Chiyo, the Third Kazekage has arrived!" a retainer reported.

"Gather the commanders of every unit. Report to the main camp for a meeting immediately!"

Keiko removed his wind goggles and face veil, then let out a long breath of stale air. After traveling back and forth over several thousand kilometers and racing nonstop for three days and nights, Keiko's enormous blue bar was nearly drained. He wiped his face with a towel while shaking the sand from his cloak, continuously refining the plan he had devised along the way.

"Everyone has arrived and is waiting in the main camp for your instructions, Kazekage-sama!" the retainer said.

"Mm. Lead the way. Find me a new cloak later, a white one." Keiko took off his cloak directly. The sand on it would not be cleaned off anytime soon.

"This is the current situation on the battlefield." After finishing her introduction, Karura looked somewhat nervously at the newly appointed Third Kazekage, unsure what temperament this new leader had.

Keiko rested his chin on his hand and looked at the map marked with red and blue forces without saying a word. The many Sunagakure generals and Chiyo silently waited for his orders.

"How many people do we have here?" Keiko finally asked his first question.

"5,874," Karura immediately replied.

"What about them?"

"About ten thousand."

"How many days can our supplies last?"

"Twenty-five days at most."

"Are the current supplies being transported from Moon Lake?"

"Yes!"

"How long does it take the supply convoy to travel from Moon Lake to here?"

"Fifteen days."

Keiko fell into thought again.

"I have an idea." Keiko picked up a red pencil from the table and drew a circle on the map.

"Move the site of the decisive battle. Move it here." Keiko pointed at the circle he had just drawn. Everyone's gazes turned toward the map. Written within the circle was "Moon Lake."

"Then the Night-Cry Sand Sea... we just... abandon it and hand it over to Hidden Leaf Village for nothing?" Chiyo asked in confusion. Chattering discussion immediately broke out across the room. Clearly, no one understood Keiko's words.

"Hehe, Granny Chiyo, don't get so worked up. Everyone, don't panic either." Smiling, Keiko gently pressed Chiyo back into her chair with both hands.

"Preserve the people and lose the land, and both people and land will remain. Preserve the land and lose the people, and both people and land will be lost. Today, we retreat in great strides so that we may advance in great strides tomorrow!" The few lines rang like thunder, and everyone immediately fell silent.

"There is a kind of success called retreat, and a kind of failure called occupation. Since Hidden Leaf Village wants this place so badly, let them have it!" Keiko waved grandly at the crowd.

"Oh, right. Where are the army latrines?"

"This definitely wasn't that old hag Chiyo's doing," Danzo muttered to himself.

Looking at the camp before him, black smoke rising everywhere, even Danzo's usually expressionless face twitched. The destruction was truly thorough!

"Send orders to Orochimaru and Jiraiya with the pursuing force. Have them cling to Sunagakure's troops like hyenas and prevent them from retreating safely. If they encounter a large-scale counterattack, withdraw immediately," Danzo ordered swiftly.

In the middle of the night, Danzo, who had been sleeping, received word from the scout ninja. The Sunagakure camp at the Night-Cry Sand Sea was filled with the neighing of men and horses, creating a tremendous commotion. Ever-calm Danzo immediately ordered the entire army to stay on alert, but he did not attack. In his view, as long as this stalemate continued, he would inevitably emerge victorious. A rash attack might instead play into the enemy's hands.

Yet when dawn came and they figured out the situation, they discovered that Sunagakure had really withdrawn this time. When Danzo arrived at the Sunagakure camp, he was instantly dumbfounded. Put simply, not a single wall in the entire camp had been left standing against the wind! Not a single roof was without holes! Not a grain of food remained! Not one piece of firewood was left! And most outrageous of all...

"Lord Danzo?" The beautiful young ninja Tsunade pinched her nose and spoke to Danzo with a test tube in hand, her expression disgusted.

"Speak!"

"I tested all eight wells here. Every one of them has been poisoned, and a large amount of... feces was dumped into them."

"..."

"I can develop an antidote to the poison within two days. As for the rest, it can only be filtered over and over."

Danzo's expression darkened even further. After quite some time, he finally spoke.

"Forget it. Drinking water and food will be transported from the rear in the Land of Rain. It's only a day's journey. The troops are not to camp in Sunagakure's camp. In one hour, we move to join Orochimaru and the others!"

The young Jiraiya and the equally young Orochimaru were leading more than a hundred Hidden Leaf Village ninja in a mad sprint through the desert.

"Orochimaru, how about we see who catches Sunagakure's troops first? Cough, cough." Jiraiya brazenly provoked Orochimaru, only to immediately swallow two mouthfuls of windblown sand.

"Big idiot!" Orochimaru said disdainfully as he widened the distance between himself and Jiraiya.

Suddenly, a figure appeared ahead of them. Long blue hair, a white face veil, and a white cloak. He stood proudly atop a sand dune.

"Iron Sand: Drizzle." Without wasting words, Keiko launched the first attack the moment he saw the approaching force.

Countless grains of Iron Sand, racing at high speed under magnetic control, poured down on the Hidden Leaf Village ninja like a rain of iron. Orochimaru, who was running at the front, stayed alert and evaded the barrage with several backflips. Jiraiya, meanwhile, activated Ninja Art: Needle Jizo, wrapping himself tightly in his silver hair. Unfortunately, several Hidden Leaf Village ninja behind them had no time to dodge and were instantly riddled with holes.

"Sunagakure's Blue Sandstorm. You're Keiko." A small gap opened in Jiraiya's silver hair as he spoke.

"That's right. You know me?" Keiko asked with a smile.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" The instant Orochimaru escaped the attack range of the iron rain, he launched his counterattack.

"Rakshasa Shield!" A massive black Iron Sand shield blocked the countless snake heads rushing at him, but those snakes unexpectedly curved around the shield and continued attacking Keiko.

Not bad. Just as Keiko was about to deal with the snakes, Jiraiya moved.

"Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu!" Countless strands of hard silver hair shot forth in an instant, piercing Keiko straight through. The two had coordinated almost flawlessly.

Bang! The pierced Keiko instantly turned into a wisp of white smoke.

A Shadow Clone! A forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage—how could he use it? Orochimaru wondered. (Then again, after reading hundreds of episodes of Naruto manga, even an idiot could figure out such simple hand seals.)

The real Keiko walked out from behind the sand dune, clapping his hands.

"Not bad, not bad. No wonder that old man Hanzo of the Salamander with the breathing tube calls you the Three Legendary Ninja. Hm? Where's Tsunade? I heard she's a beauty. Introduce her to me sometime."

"Fireball Jutsu!" "Wind Style: Wind Cutter Jutsu!" ...The other Hidden Leaf Village ninja also snapped out of it and attacked Keiko.

"Iron Sand: Iron Wall Jutsu." Keiko silently controlled the flow of Iron Sand beneath the desert from behind the iron wall.

The Hidden Leaf Village ninja continued their attacks. The defensive iron barrier had already been heated red by Fire Style, and Orochimaru and Jiraiya exchanged a glance, as though both had smelled danger.

"Iron Sand: Iron Garden Jutsu!"

In an instant, the desert beneath their feet began to shake. Countless black steel vines rapidly burst from the ground, and endless blood bloomed in the desert like tragically beautiful flowers...