Air Raid

In the wars of his previous life, gaining air superiority had been crucial.

After all, if you could hit them but they could not hit you, that was practically cheating in war.

There were only a handful of ninja in the entire ninja world capable of flight. Ōnoki of Iwagakure could fly using the Light-Weight Rock Technique, and in one of the original story's movies, the Sky Ninja Village could also fly using some kind of machine.

Tobirama Senju let his thoughts wander slightly.

Then, Tobirama Senju issued an order to all the Konoha Jonin and Star Clan ninja before him:

"At two o'clock tomorrow morning, all forty-three of you will each carry one Konoha Jonin and fly above the Sand ninja positions. Throw Explosive Tags down on them and make sure to destroy all of their facilities!"

Konoha did not lack Explosive Tags. To secure a perfect victory in this war, Konoha had urgently manufactured and acquired a large batch of Explosive Tags. They had already been delivered to the front lines alongside these Star ninja, awaiting only their use.

"Also,"

Tobirama Senju turned to look at the Konoha ninja. "As the Star Clan's passengers, your task is not merely to bomb the Sand ninja. You are also responsible for protecting the Star Clan members. They are part of Konoha, and I do not want to see a single Star ninja die on the battlefield!"

"Of course, you must protect yourselves as well!"

Tobirama Senju delivered his orders with an extremely stern expression.

"Yes, Lord Hokage!" came the uniform response.

Every Konoha Jonin assigned to this air raid operation was an elite of Konoha. Several of them were even well-known by name. Protecting the Star ninja in the air would not be easy, but it was no difficult task for them.

"Very good! Everyone, rest well now and prepare for the operation at two in the morning. Make sure you are in your best condition!"

"In this attack, we will strike fear into the enemy's hearts!"

Tobirama Senju's orders were swiftly carried out. Throughout the vast Konoha camp, the soft rustling of ninja hurrying about could be heard...

--

"Damn it! Who knows how many people from our village have died? What kind of bullshit guerrilla warfare is this? They are treating our lives like they are nothing!"

"Shh, shh, shh! Are you trying to get yourself killed? If the elders hear you saying that, they will send you to the front lines as cannon fodder!"

Inside a Sunagakure camp housing roughly a hundred people.

Several Sunagakure Jonin were talking with grim expressions. With the front-line battles going badly, they were too anxious to sleep, so they had gathered around the campfire to chat.

After one Jonin spoke such treasonous words, his companion beside him immediately stopped him. If those words got out, they would shake morale!

"Ah, who would have thought? Elder Chiyo's strategy was so meticulously planned, yet Konoha destroyed it in one stroke as soon as it was put into action. How did Konoha know our plan? And now look at us. We cannot win through guerrilla warfare, we cannot win through sneak attacks, and even if we run the moment we see them, Konoha still chases us down..."

The Sand ninja sitting on the ground lamented bitterly.

"If you ask me, we might as well fight Konoha to the death head-on! We Sand ninja are no weaker than Konoha in terms of strength! But the plans made by those higher-ups have squandered so much of our fighting force that now we cannot even win a direct battle..."

"Do not panic. Let me tell you something. My older brother, who serves as an elder's guard, told me that Elder Chiyo has already asked Iwagakure for aid. As long as Iwagakure is willing to join forces with us, we can still turn this war around!"

A one-eyed Sand ninja told the other Jonin some internal Sunagakure secrets.

"Then why have we not seen any support from Iwagakure after all this time?" one of them asked doubtfully.

"Uh, well... according to my brother, it seems the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure has been asking an outrageous price and making excessive demands. Elder Chiyo has refused to give in."

The one-eyed Sand ninja gave an embarrassed smile as he said this.

The other Sand ninja also wore deeply worried expressions. They had to give benefits for Iwagakure's support, and they would have to give benefits if Konoha stopped attacking them too. How had they ended up going to war with Konoha in the first place?

"Forget it, forget it. These are not matters for people like us to worry about. The elders will make their own arrangements. If you ask me, we should think about what to eat tomorrow morning instead."

By this point, the Sand ninja had lost the mood to continue chatting.

They rose from the ground one after another, dusted off their backsides, and prepared to return to their respective tents to rest.

"Hey, look! There are so many birds in the sky!"

The shout of several Genin on night watch drew their attention.

They all raised their heads.

Against the dark red sky, a dense swarm of black dots with enormous wings flew toward the air above their camp.

"Hey, hey, hey, what kind of birds are those? I have lived for over thirty years and never seen anything like them."

Amid the curious chatter of the Sand ninja, the mass of black birds flew above their camp. Along with the flock came sheets of paper filling the sky.

The sheets of paper scattered down from high in the air. Since they were all tied to kunai, they fell at incredible speed!

At that sight, no one dared keep watching.

Several Jonin felt their scalps go numb and shouted in terror:

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

"There are Explosive Tags in the sky!!"