Chiyo's Far-Sighted Calculations

"Mount Kikyo is right before us. Break through here, and the fertile lands of the Land of Fire will lie open to us!"

"Elders, I really... can't accept this!"

"And, Elders, I don't understand why we aren't going all out and committing every unit we have. If we did that, we could definitely take Mount Kikyo!"

He was visibly agitated, his tone intense, yet he still spoke respectfully when mentioning Chiyo and Ebizo.

They had possessed the ability to take Mount Kikyo today, even though Rasa had been caught off guard.

With Chiyo and Ebizo's strength, they could have led a group of Jonin straight through. Yet Chiyo had given the order to retreat.

Elder Chiyo raised her eyelids. Her cloudy yet sharp gaze fixed directly on Rasa, and though her voice was not loud, it carried the unquestionable weight of Hidden Sand's upper ranks.

"Rasa, anger cannot solve anything. Konoha's foundation cannot be completely shaken by a single surprise attack."

"Even if we could take Mount Kikyo, how many losses would we suffer?"

"With Konoha's mobilization capabilities and wartime reserves, retaking Mount Kikyo and changing the local battlefield situation would be far too easy for them."

"Right now, they can concentrate their forces and strike hard. Our troops, on the other hand, are scattered, and we lack the strength to sustain a follow-up. That is the key."

Her words carried the stern reprimand of an elder toward a junior.

After all, Rasa had proposed the strategy of attacking along three routes. His original intention had been to confuse Konoha and disperse its forces.

Yet Konoha had plenty of troops and supplies, and more importantly, plenty of elite Jonin. Any one of them could hold back Hidden Sand's top combatants.

For example, that inconspicuous Mount Kikyo commander from today. If he were thrown into a crowd, no one would have been able to tell him apart from an ordinary Konoha ninja.

Yet just as Rasa had charged ahead with his team like a lone hero, he had been hit by a genjutsu that went straight to his soul and collapsed into sleep. He had embarrassed himself all the way to Florida.

Rasa fell silent.

Chiyo's bony finger tapped Mount Kikyo's location on the map, then traced toward the Land of Rain and the south.

"It is true that we have tasted the 'sweetness' of war, but Konoha's counterattack will be even fiercer. The problem now is that while our offensive appears powerful, we are actually under attack on three fronts."

"On the Mount Kikyo front, Konoha's main force has suffered heavy casualties, but their resilience is extraordinary. As for our reinforcements..."

She looked toward Ebizo. "How many more troops can the village still deploy?"

Ebizo shook his head slightly, his voice tinged with helplessness.

"Although the internal conflicts in the village have temporarily been suppressed, it is already extremely difficult to draw out more troops, especially Jonin-level combat power."

"Ever since the Third Kazekage disappeared, that bastard Onoki of Iwagakure has been taking advantage of the situation. He sent a large number of elite troops to plunder the oases in the northern Land of Wind."

"Under pressure, the village had no choice but to send five thousand reinforcements to strengthen the northern defenses. Together with the eight thousand ninja already committed to the Land of Fire battlefield, it will be difficult to mobilize new reinforcements anytime soon."

"And the daimyo... although he has declared war, support for provisions and military funding is still being argued over."

He looked at Rasa, his tone grave.

"Rasa, your Magnet Release: Gold Dust is immensely powerful, but it requires open terrain and enormous amounts of chakra. In complex mountain terrain like Mount Kikyo, against an opponent like Konoha that excels at positional warfare and defensive warfare, the price of forcing a breakthrough would be enormous."

"And don't forget Shinku Yuhi... Even you have fallen for his genjutsu."

At the mention of Shinku Yuhi, Rasa's expression darkened further. That was the only stain on his brilliant record in this campaign.

He forcibly suppressed his irritation.

"Then, Elder Chiyo, Lord Ebizo, are we just supposed to sit here and wait for Orochimaru to arrive with reinforcements and attack us from both sides together with Mount Kikyo's defenders? By then, forget about any 'sweetness'—we'll lose even our capital!"

Instinctively, he threw the problem back to the two elders with greater prestige.

It was also a little workplace trick: if you could not solve a problem, throw it to your superiors. If you forced a solution, you would most likely earn no credit while still taking the blame.

A cold glint flashed in Granny Chiyo's eyes. She abruptly rose to her feet, and an invisible pressure spread through the room.

"Of course we are not going to sit and wait for death! Pull back! Adjust the deployment!"

"I know Onoki well. Taking advantage of chaos, selling out allies, and maximizing his own gains are that shameless man's specialties."

"So... once Konoha's main forces are tied down by us at Hidden Sand, that old man definitely won't be able to resist stepping in!"

"Once Iwagakure joins the fray, those brutes of Hidden Cloud certainly won't be able to sit still either. And once Hidden Cloud makes its move, will those freaks from Hidden Mist still watch from across the shore?"

"And that is the true reason I gave the order to retreat."

"Taking Mount Kikyo would be easy, but getting out of this mire afterward would be difficult. Konoha would never give up this territory. By then, we would only become stepping stones and shields for the other villages."

Only then did Rasa and Ebizo finally understand.

They had to admit that their vision had been too narrow. Why had they always been thinking about fighting Konoha with the strength of a single village?

They were not fighting alone. They were not fighting as just one village!

Fighting Konoha was the political correctness of the ninja world!

Why should Hidden Sand bear everything alone? The ninja world's covetousness of the Land of Fire's territory and its wariness toward Konoha had never been a secret!

A sharp light flashed in Ebizo's eyes as he was the first to grasp his sister's deeper intention.

"Sister, you mean merely 'putting on a show' here is not enough. We need to let that old fox Onoki see things more clearly, make him feel that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and tempt him into joining the feast?"

"Exactly!"

A cold, cunning smile curved Granny Chiyo's lips.

"Onoki is suspicious and greedy. If all he sees is us fighting Konoha fiercely here, he may observe, hesitate, and wait until both sides are battered before taking advantage."

"So we need to add fuel to the fire. We need to make him believe that Konoha's 'weakness' is real—and that this opportunity will vanish in an instant!"

She turned to Rasa, speaking rapidly and clearly. "Rasa, since you are the head of ANBU, go and do two things immediately!"

"First, order all of 'Sand Bee'—Hidden Sand's intelligence division—to move! Through the fastest and most secret channels, spread the intelligence that 'Konoha's main forces have been firmly pinned down by Hidden Sand on the Mount Kikyo battlefield and have suffered heavy casualties, leaving their rear utterly exposed,' especially in the direction of Iwagakure!"

"Remember, the intelligence must be 'part true, part false,' and the details must be 'plausible.' Let Iwagakure's spies 'accidentally' intercept it, or let it 'inadvertently' leak to Iwagakure informants through those profit-driven information brokers on the black market!"

"Make absolutely certain that this report appears highly credible when it lands on Onoki's desk!"

"Second," Granny Chiyo said, forcefully tapping the Land of Rain's location on the map.

"Send a message to Yekura immediately! Order her to lead the main force stationed on alert at the Land of Rain border, abandon their current defensive line, and gather at full speed toward the Mount Kikyo battlefield! Make the movement big! Make it fast!"

"Make everyone see that we of Hidden Sand are committing all our strength in the direction of Mount Kikyo, that we have even completely emptied the defenses facing the Land of Rain!"