He spread out the map, moved his finger past several marked points, and set it on the Land of Waterfalls.
"At present, the only countries that count as our enemies are the Land of Wind and the Land of Grass.
But you all know that with that person in the Land of Grass, even if we mobilized every last soldier and brought our tailed beast jinchūriki, we might not win.
As for the Land of Wind, its soil is barren and most of it is desert. Even if we bit off some territory, we wouldn't gain much. It isn't worth the risk.
So we'll cross the Land of Waterfalls and push straight into the Land of Fire's border.
Although Kusagakure is expanding quickly, its foundations aren't stable yet. Only by gaining enough benefits from Konoha and putting everything into our development can we counter the threat from Kusagakure."
No clear objections came from those attending the meeting.
Kitsuchi's decision-making style differed from his father's. He was more direct and placed greater emphasis on tactical feasibility.
Although he hadn't held his position for long, he had already demonstrated ample decisiveness.
That very night, the Iwa Shinobi's main force began moving toward the Land of Waterfalls, traveling quickly without unnecessary stops or adjustments.
This time, Kitsuchi had learned his lesson. Rather than leading the expedition himself, he appointed Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, commander of the ten-thousand-strong force, with several elite jōnin forming a command staff to establish a frontline core capable of making its own decisions.
Roshi, the Four-Tails jinchūriki, remained in Iwagakure to coordinate with Kitsuchi in defending against any potential attackers.
Orochimaru only received intelligence on the Iwa Shinobi forces' movements several days later.
Because of the Land of Grass's overbearing actions, many informants in the surrounding small countries had