First Shinobi World War

Nearly two months had passed since the war with the Land of Lightning began. Neither side had achieved any major victories, and the fighting remained a tug-of-war. After the fierce initial assaults, the offensives gradually eased into a standoff, with neither side able to defeat the other in one decisive push.

Even so, the overall situation strongly favored Konoha. With help from the Hyuga Clan and other ninja clans skilled in reconnaissance, Konoha's ninja could consistently learn of enemy movements ahead of time. Even when they could not fully track the Kumogakure Ninja, they could pinpoint the Samurai Legion's movements with complete clarity.

An ordinary ninja was stronger in individual combat than an average Samurai, but surrounded by dozens of Samurai, even a ninja could only suffer a bitter defeat. However, the more ninja there were, the more Samurai were needed to overwhelm them. Konoha's ninja squads avoided direct confrontations with large Samurai forces, instead repeatedly striking smaller units to wipe out the enemy.

There was no clear winner in the battles between Konoha and Kumogakure's ninja, but the gap between their Samurai Legions was slowly widening. After all, Kumogakure lacked Konoha's reconnaissance capabilities. Its ability to strike at the Samurai Legion was not superior to Konoha's; in fact, it was considerably worse.

Just as Second Tsuchikage Mu had predicted, the scales of victory had begun to tip toward Konoha. Even if Kumogakure could still hold its own against Konoha, it would have no choice but to withdraw from the Land of Fire once its Samurai Legion could no longer withstand the attacks.

Over the past several days, Kazemori Masaki had followed his orders, continually wiping out Samurai alongside his squad. Given their combat strength, small Samurai units had no chance to resist and were eliminated completely. Even when they