To be honest, Ōnoki could not quite understand why the situation in the shinobi world had changed so suddenly.
But judging by the current situation, Konoha had undoubtedly replaced the Hidden Cloud as the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages. In fact, it had become a little too strong. Even the Hidden Cloud, which had always placed the greatest emphasis on military strength, had been decisively overtaken.
If he continued with the original battle plan and struck the Hidden Cloud from behind, Iwagakure would have to face pressure from both Konoha and the Hidden Cloud. That would put them in a very bad position.
So—
He could only adjust his strategy and make Konoha his primary target for now.
"Kusagakure and the Land of Rain... perhaps I can use them to cause Konoha some trouble. Kusagakure already resents Konoha because of the recent Uzumaki Incident. All I need to do is fan the flames, and conflict between them will ignite..."
"I should also try contacting the Hidden Cloud. Hopefully, that Third Raikage can understand plain speech..."
Ōnoki spread a map of the shinobi world across his desk and began working through his plans in detail.
Early the next morning.
Zhuohua Town Outpost, in the southeast of the Land of Fire.
Mikami Yu got up early, washed, and began packing his things.
Before setting out to rescue Nohara Rin, he had already handed most of the defensive duties along the Southeast Defense Line over to Yuhi Shinku and the others.
Now that he was returning to Konoha, with no certainty as to how long he would stay, command authority naturally had to pass to Tsunade as well.
As one of the Konoha Sannin and the princess of the Senju Clan, she had commanded a front as far back as the