They crossed the highlands and plains, quietly advancing toward the Land of Lightning.
Ordinarily, an army of ten thousand should have moved slowly.
But that was not the case.
The force of ten thousand ninja was anything but slow. It took them only two days to reach their destination.
The reason was simple: all ten thousand were combat ninja. They carried no baggage train, medical equipment, or excess provisions, and they had no need to scout the route with painstaking caution.
After all, who would dare ambush an army of ten thousand?!
Uchiha Yin?
Ahem. Come to think of it, he probably could.
But Ōnoki did not believe Uchiha Yin would be lying in wait here.
As for anyone else, Ōnoki had nothing to fear.
At this scale, elaborate tactics fell by the wayside. Ambushes, surprise attacks, guerrilla warfare—none of them stood a chance.
An enemy could either face them head-on or get out of their way. There was no third option.
The smaller Ninja Villages outside the Five Great Shinobi Villages would never dare stand in Iwagakure's way.
At the sight of an army this large, they were lucky if they didn't lose their nerve altogether.
The gap between the small Ninja Villages and the great ones was simply too vast!
The Stone Ninja army paid those small fry no mind. It marched straight to its destination, stopped, and prepared an ambush.
The first part of the Stone Ninja army's journey had been overland; for the latter part, they had traveled by sea.
After all, ten thousand troops marching overland would have been far too conspicuous for an ambush.
Traveling by sea let them evade many watchful eyes.
And Iwagakure's frontline Camp in its war with Kumogakure stood on the coast, allowing them to slip past Kumogakure's watchers entirely.