As the Land of Rivers Campaign began, Sunagakure Ninja Village also started operating within the Land of Rain. Konoha Ninja Village noticed this as well, and the Konoha ninja belonging to the Second and Fourth Shinobi Units stationed there, along with the Amegakure ninja, took action.
Compared with the past, however, Sunagakure Ninja Village's movements this time were truly puzzling. The Land of Rain had no town defenses like those in the Land of Rivers. Instead, it relied primarily on the unique environment created by its year-round torrential rain to repel enemies, and the two sides fought far more field battles there than in the Land of Rivers.
However, the Land of Rain's unique environment weakened Sunagakure Ninja Village's gaseous poison at every turn. Combined with the Amegakure ninja's familiarity with the terrain, this meant the Konoha Ninja Forces actually faced less pressure than those in the Land of Rivers. Of course, the Sunagakure Ninja Forces' fierce attacks were still a real headache.
This time, however, the Sunagakure Ninja Forces did not launch fierce attacks as they had in the past. Instead, they copied the Konoha Ninja Forces, using flexible maneuvers to move about, leaving their true objectives unclear. Their opponents could only use their battlefield judgment to guess where they might attack.
With the shift in the war's focus, command within the Land of Rain had effectively fallen to Inuzuka Shigeru of the Konoha Fourth Shinobi Unit. The Fourth Shinobi Unit's command camp had also moved into the Land of Rain. This was Shigeru's first encounter with this kind of maneuvering from the Sunagakure Ninja Forces.
"What do you think? Are they copying us, planning to use our own tactics against us?" Shigeru asked those beside him.
"Wouldn't that just be a poor imitation?" someone said with a laugh.