As for Jonin squads, they barely encountered any afterward. Even if they did, Uchiha Ran said taking on three at once wasn't a problem. And if things really went south, they could just mark the location and run.
Staying alive was what mattered. Nothing shameful about that!
So the journey remained peaceful, and Uchiha Daosui even complained that Captain Ran was about to Harvest all the war merits.
As for Uchiha Ran, he said: "They're just a bunch of ragtag Chunin and a few Special Jonin. Is that supposed to be hard?"
The three Uchiha Clan members didn't dare respond. They merely grumbled inwardly. The Uchiha Clan was indeed somewhat prideful, but someone whose pride came as naturally as breathing like his... they had never seen that before.
Uchiha Ran: Being cautious and being proud can coexist too~ (doge face for survival)
The team only stopped to rest twice along the way before hurriedly resuming their journey.
When the first rays of dawn broke through the sky, they entered the plains of the Land of Rivers.
This once-prosperous little plain now lay barren and desolate.
As they passed villages in the Land of Rivers, they saw vast stretches of farmland abandoned halfway through cultivation, overgrown with weeds and cracked by drought.
Livestock wandered through the fields with vacant eyes. Starving, they gnawed on the sparse wild grass, yet could not fill their bellies.
The commoners here had fled their homes with practiced efficiency the moment they heard war had broken out, hiding deep in the mountains in an attempt to escape the flames of war.
Many residents had not even had time to take their livestock with them when fleeing, leaving the animals to fend for themselves on the barren plains.
This was the helplessness and sorrow of small nations in the ninja world when faced with war.
Of course, war was cruel to commoners and the poor, but not necessarily to those at the top.
Those wealthy merchants and nobles would never flee into the mountains to eat dirt. More often than not, they simply slipped away to safe places like the Land of Fire and continued enjoying life as though they were on vacation.
While taking the opportunity to drive up prices and resell military supplies and war materials.
Once the war ended, they would return and continue acting as local tycoons, colluding with the daimyo and his ministers to claim all the ownerless land for themselves, then hiring displaced refugees to reclaim and farm it.
After going around in a circle like that, not only did they avoid losing money, they actually made a profit.
That was rather miraculous.
Even Jesus probably wouldn't understand the economic principles behind it.
All one could say was that it really was a ridiculous feudal society.
When the Uchiha squad relayed the intelligence and war merits they had gathered along the way to the following main force and the village, the four of them successfully arrived at Konoha's main camp in the Land of Rivers.
Soon after, the five thousand-man vanguard marched in grand formation and safely reached Konoha's ninja outpost in the Land of Rivers.
Thanks to Uchiha Ran's clearing operation and intelligence, no major incidents occurred along the way.
And no idiot would dare attack a Konoha force of five thousand men.
Those five thousand alone were enough to wipe out every force in the ninja world outside the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Of course, that cheat-enabled organization hiding the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path did not count.
They had all heard that the Uchiha squad personally named by the Third Hokage had achieved great merit, slaughtering Hidden Sand ninja as easily as eating and drinking. Several Hidden Sand Jonin squads had been wiped out.
They hadn't expected that in this Konoha–Sand War, the Uchiha Clan would seize the first merit. They wanted to learn foreign languages too... no, charge onto the battlefield, kill enemies, and win glory for themselves and their descendants!
Land of Rivers outpost.
The outpost camp consisted of several dozen tents, a few of which served as temporary hospitals for the wounded.
Another, slightly larger tent served as the war conference room and command center.
Though the camp was surrounded only by simple fencing and appeared poorly defended, its security was actually extremely tight.
There was a guard every few paces and a sentry every few more. Patrols connected seamlessly, while Hyuga Clan and Uchiha Clan ninja watched from above with their dojutsu.
Forget someone trying to get in—even a fly would have a hard time flying inside.
Fly: Buzz buzz buzz. I'm in~
Smack!
Inside the tall, spacious central command tent, Orochimaru sat at the head of the room. After casually swatting a fly to death, he frowned as he examined the intelligence Shikaku Nara had organized.
More than forty Jonin from the western border defense force who had remained behind at the camp sat around him.
The Ino-Shika-Cho Faction, the Hyuga Faction, the civilian ninja faction, and the various other ninja clans each formed their own groups, their boundaries clearly drawn.
And standing at the very back was Uchiha Ran, the only ninja present who was just fourteen years old yet attending the meeting as a Jonin.
Uchiha Ran: At eighteen, I stood there like a nobody~
Orochimaru's gaze lingered on the intelligence for a long time, and his frown deepened.
He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the assembled ninja like a blade as he spoke in a low, forceful voice:
"Shikaku, explain the situation."
Shikaku Nara: Huh? I have an eight a.m. shift! Why do you think I organized the intelligence for you? Don't you have any self-awareness? Sigh, what a pain!
Shikaku Nara rose to his feet, weariness in his voice.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru! The three armies of the Land of Wind have already reached our borders. The daimyo has fled, the samurai forces have disbanded, and what is even more troublesome is that the ronin force previously assembled by the Land of Rivers daimyo has been completely absorbed by Hidden Sand!"
"According to our intelligence, the Land of Wind's forces are advancing toward our outpost. However, they seem somewhat wary as well, and their advance has not been fast."
Orochimaru sneered.
"Heh. More than a hundred wandering ninja surrendered without putting up any resistance. This Land of Rivers daimyo is rather interesting."
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. I also suspect that Hidden Sand and the Land of Rivers are colluding behind this matter. Perhaps we suppressed them too harshly before, so now they are causing us some trouble."
"Vermin will always be vermin. There is no place for the weak before the strong. Warn them after the war."
"Yes!"
"An attack from three directions will surely have a main force and secondary forces. As long as we identify the main force and concentrate our superior troops against it, the other two routes will be nothing to fear!"
Orochimaru stood and walked over to the map, lightly tapping a crucial location with his finger: Mount Kikyo!
"Whether it is the Land of Rain direction or this outpost, I am not concerned. In fact, I even hope their main force takes the initiative to attack here."
"On the Amegakure front, that fool Jiraiya and the border forces of the Land of Grass are enough to hold them back."
"But this location has too few troops stationed there. If Hidden Sand breaks through its defensive line, they can drive straight into the Land of Fire. And even if we leave now, we will not make it in time!"
Mount Kikyo lay in the north of the Land of Rivers and served as a key trade route linking the Land of Fire, the Land of Rivers, and the Land of Wind. Nearby Kikyo City was an even more important source of tax revenue for the daimyo.
During the First and Second Wars, due to opposition from the daimyo of the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Rivers, Konoha and Hidden Sand had not dared to recklessly destroy this place or turn it into a battlefield.
But with the Land of Rivers daimyo having fled, the Land of Wind daimyo unwilling to provide funding, and relations with Hidden Sand more tense than ever before—
Hidden Sand, led by Rasa, ignored the Land of Fire daimyo's "warning" (endless nagging) and charged ahead at full speed, fiercely Harvesting the hard-earned wealth of nobles and rich merchants.
Before you continue