Although the Land of Grass was reluctant to offend the Land of Earth, it was equally unwilling to sour relations with the Land of Fire. Before Konoha's ninja forces arrived, it could turn a blind eye without restraint. Once they arrived, however, it had to do its best, at least on the surface, and would not secretly obstruct the Land of Fire either. Whatever demands the other side made, the officials of the Land of Grass fulfilled them properly.
Of course, on the front lines, they would not fight the Land of Earth's army with all their strength. They did not even care if the Land of Fire considered them weak and incompetent. After all, they handled everything else well, and military weakness was a defining trait of small nations like theirs. The Land of Fire had little grounds to criticize them.
Konoha Ninja Village, for its part, had never expected the Land of Grass to play any major role in direct combat. Maintaining the supply lines was enough. To protect its reputation, the village purchased the supplies it needed from the Land of Grass at reasonable prices. It also paid compensation for help managing supplies delivered from within the Land of Fire. Everything else was up to Konoha Ninja Village itself.
Inuzuka Shigeru planned to begin with a battle to halt the Land of Earth's advance. While the force's senior officers discussed specific battle plans, they sent reconnaissance ninja to gather intelligence ahead. Once they incorporated the scouts' findings, they settled on their next objective.
After determining their route, Inuzuka Shigeru personally led the ninja force forward, approaching the Stone Fortress the Iwagakure ninja had recently built. From a distance, it looked like a forest of stone. Through the full construction efforts of Iwagakure Ninja Village, the area had