After the former Daimyo of the Land of Wind died, the newly appointed Daimyo threw his full support behind the Kumogakure Ninja Village, sending all the overdue funding in a single payment. The Sunagakure Ninja Village immediately began preparing for war. On the day war was declared, the Land of Wind's grand army, composed of Sunagakure ninja forces and the Samurai Legion, marched toward the Land of Fire.
The Konoha Ninja Village had also anticipated the Land of Wind's objective. As soon as the enemy set out, Kagami Uchiha led his forces to the border and entered the Land of Rivers, using it as a base to intercept the Land of Wind's advance.
During the First Shinobi World War, Kagami Uchiha had been responsible for defending against the Land of Wind's attacks, so he had considerable experience. Yet he had not expected the Enemy Forces' offensive to be so fierce. The Sunagakure ninja were like moths rushing into a flame—even if they had to die, they would take their opponents with them.
Fortunately, after seeing the losses from the first engagement, Kagami Uchiha immediately changed tactics, relying instead on defensive battles around towns to minimize casualties. However, the Land of Fire's senior officials considered this excessively timid. They conveyed their wishes through Mitokado Homura, hoping Kagami Uchiha would stop hunkering down on defense and take the initiative to deal a crushing blow to the invading Land of Wind.
But when Kazemori Masaki learned of this, he immediately rejected it. He told Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, "Timid? What a joke. I think this is precisely the best approach. Don't listen to officials who only know how to manage civilian affairs. What do they know about war?"
"But they do have a point. If Kagami keeps following this strategy, who knows