Early the next morning.
After breakfast, Chihane instructed Jonin Sasaki to assemble the ninja army.
Chihane stood at the entrance to the camp, facing more than two thousand ninja.
"Brothers, many of you standing here are my elders, and quite a few are children who only recently graduated from the Ninja Academy. You should have been enjoying life in Konoha... but because the other ninja villages invaded... because of their selfish desires... our homes are under threat... our families are under threat..."
"Can we retreat? No, we can't. If we retreat, we're letting them... sleep with your... steal your... so we have no way back... only by standing together..."
"Are we going to..."
Chihane stood at the camp entrance, delivering an impassioned speech before battle.
Only after a long while, when everyone's eyes were bloodshot and they looked ready to charge into battle that very instant, did Chihane stop.
"Move out!"
Chihane shouted.
The army marched out, more than two thousand ninja following behind Chihane in orderly ranks.
The Mist Ninja frontline headquarters.
At that moment, the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, sat at the head of the headquarters, studying their next strategic move.
"Lord Mizukage, that old fox Danzo set up all those fake camps to slow our advance and buy time for Konoha's reinforcements to arrive. Our best option now should be to ignore Danzo's Root ninja, push straight into the heart of the Land of Fire, and then strike directly at Konoha."
Minazuki Izumi, the head of the Yuki Clan, offered this suggestion to Karatachi Yagura.
"Clan Head Izumi makes a good point. What does everyone else think?"
After hearing the suggestion, Karatachi Yagura glanced around at the Jonin seated nearby and asked for their opinions.
"I agree. I've held back long enough. Let's hurry up and