There are many people in Iwagakure, Iwagakure are not afraid of death; they are not to be trifled with.
Earth Release: Rock Cannonball Technique
By exhaling Chakra through his mouth, he creates hard rocks the size of footballs, which he then bombards his targets like cannonballs.
One shell isn't scary, but what about dozens of people using this technique simultaneously? Or hundreds firing continuously at once?
It was a natural disaster; dense rock-explosive shells rained down on the battlefield, and a saturation attack was used to ensure effectiveness.
They used the same strategy, continuing to attack even those within their own territory.
As long as the enemy accounts for a large proportion, it's worth it.
In war, there are always casualties. It's common to lose 800 of your own for every 1,000 enemy killed, as long as you can ensure that you can inflict effective casualties on the enemy and achieve your strategic objectives.
The commander said: For the sake of the village, anyone can be sacrificed if necessary.
This tactic was even more effective than Aoki Tsuki's previous move, inflicting heavy casualties on the Amegakure.
The key is psychological deterrence.
Amegakure, with its background in assassination, is no match for Iwagakure in terms of ruthlessness; they proved themselves fearless of death.
The Amegakure was completely overwhelmed on the spot.
Clang!
Many people dropped their weapons, their legs went weak, and quite a few cried on the spot.
"Are you kidding me? How are you supposed to fight like this?"
"I can't win at all... If this continues, I'll die too..."
"Let's retreat, if we continue, none of us will survive..."
No one had any will to fight anymore; instinct got the better of them, and all they wanted to do was run away. The ' Will of Water ' passed down through Amegakure meant not to fight head-on.
Aoki Tsuki naturally sensed the unrest among the people. Forcing them to stay would only result in their slaughter, and ultimately, their defeat and escape.
"Pass down the order: everyone should proceed with the strategic retreat according to plan."
Upon seeing the enemy retreat, the Iwagakure Ninja immediately gave chase. They had their own strategies for dealing with an enemy like Aoki Tsuki who possessed strong individual combat abilities.
After the initial attempt failed, they stopped organizing a large force to besiege the area and only kept a small group of people to hold it back.
How many can you kill if you let yourself kill?
The others scattered and relentlessly pursued the retreating Amegakure.
After releasing another wave of Natural Energy, Aoki Tsuki was not very satisfied with the effect. The enemy adopted a dispersed strategy to defend against him, so he didn't kill many people.
"These guys have a pretty good tactical plan."
The main theme is "you kill your way, I kill mine, let's see who kills more."
This rational, almost ruthless strategy fully leverages the advantages of having a large number of people and strong average individual strength.
" Hanzō probably felt the same way back then; you guys won this war."
History repeats itself.
The second phase begins with a brutal jungle chase, where mercenaries take over from Amegakure to carry out ambushes and assassinations.
The Amegakure are best at escaping. As long as it's not a one-on-one fight on the battlefield, they specialize in setting traps and counterattacking.
Behind the Iwagakure forces, hired Akatsuki members were also secretly carrying out operations.
This group includes other rogue ninja, peripheral members of Sasori of the Red Sands, Kakuzu, Itachi, and Kisame.
Sasori of the Red Sands was the first to act; opportunities to collect Human Puppet materials on such a large scale are rare, so he launched attacks from all directions and was the most proactive.
Secondly, there's Kakuzu. To him, these Iwagakure Ninja are all money; he'll kill them and exchange them for money with the Amegakure forces.
On the contrary, Itachi and Kisame started to slack off and procrastinate.
They only managed to ambush two Iwagakure reconnaissance teams in a day, but they obtained an important piece of intelligence.
"According to the descriptions of these Iwagakure Ninja, the frontline commander of the Amegakure forces is actually Azure Dragon? I think I've discovered something extraordinary."
Mr. Itachi, are you aware of this?
It's said that everyone in Akatsuki is a rogue ninja, so why are some not? That's quite interesting.
Itachi had already anticipated this, and shook his head expressionlessly, "What I know is about the same as what you know."
Believe it or not.
Kisame hoisted Samehada onto his shoulder, a smug look on his face. "Hehe... next time we meet, I'll have to ask him a good question."
I advise you not to do that.
"Why?"
"You can't beat him." Kisame didn't bother explaining to Kisame, who was so clueless, so he simply made up an excuse to fool him.
Um... okay.
After the mercenaries exerted their strength, Iwagakure's offensive indeed slowed down, forcing them to divert troops to support their rear, and the war entered a stalemate.
For the first time, the name Akatsuki officially appeared on the conference table in Iwagakure.
"Isn't Akatsuki an international assassination organization? How did they get involved in the ninja war..."
" The Amegakure knows they are no match for us, so they have issued a bounty to recruit a large number of mercenaries. We can exchange the heads of our Iwagakure Village members for the bounty."
These guys have really caused us a lot of trouble.
"I didn't expect Amegakure to have learned to rely on external forces; this isn't like Hanzō's style."
"With Konoha's support, Kusagakure is also locked in a stalemate with us..."
The group discussed amongst themselves, noting that the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass were two important targets for Iwagakure in this war.
"Judging from this situation, Akatsuki's goal is probably to target the war market, and they're also involved in stirring up conflicts between those small countries behind the scenes."
Ōnoki said it with certainty.
" Kusagakure has been weakened by our years of continuous attrition, and Amegakure has also been severely damaged this time. Our objective has been basically achieved."
"Not enough."
What does " Third " mean?
"We must utterly crush them. Akatsuki wants to intervene in wars between nations; we can't let them succeed. Hiring Akatsuki must have been quite a sum."
"You mean to cripple the economies of these small countries?"
"From military to economic, completely cripple the surrounding small countries, especially Amegakure; that guy Hanzō has always harbored ambitions."
The Amegakure Village avoided the Third Shinobi World War and secretly developed its power for many years.
Ōnoki can't sleep until this momentum is stopped.
In particular, he recently received a secret intelligence report suggesting that the actual person in charge of the Akatsuki was likely Hanzō.
This person is ambitious and intends to develop Amegakure into the sixth great ninja village outside of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
There are only so many quests in the ninja world, and the Five Great Nations are enjoying this pie immensely; they will not allow anyone else to try and take it from them.
This war is a test, to see just how much power Amegakure has hidden.
They won't see anything unless they're pushed to a certain extent. Not only will they not stop, but they will use their own advantages to continuously squeeze the living space of the Amegakure.
Soon, the decisions made at this highest military meeting in Iwagakure reached the front lines.
The Iwagakure Ninja regrouped and began advancing into the inland region of the Land of Rain, capturing towns and villages and dealing with the assassins hidden within.
They also issued a statement designating Akatsuki as a terrorist organization, stating that Iwagakure would attack any country that dared to hire Akatsuki.
This makes Akatsuki the third country, after the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire, to officially designate it as a terrorist organization.
Ōnoki had good intentions; he wanted to warn the other major powers to be wary of the spread of the "small country mercenary model," which could undermine the rules of the Shinobi World established by the major powers.
"What's going on? Is Iwagakure going to wipe out Amegakure this time?"
At the new base of Amegakure, Aoki Tsuki received intelligence and began to feel uneasy; the enemy was going to wear them down.
Based on past experience, we should retreat after reaping the rewards. Amegakure has already suffered heavy losses this time, and continuing the fight would be a losing proposition for everyone.
Why bother?
Something bad must have happened, and I must retaliate decisively.
The best approach would be to carry out Decapitation strike against the enemy's frontline command, thus minimizing the possibility of infighting among the lower ranks.
This is the most civilized way of waging war.
But would the enemy not have anticipated that Amegakure would use this tactic? They certainly would, and would have laid a trap to catch them.
"I need to find someone to draw fire for me, and this person needs to be durable, preferably unkillable."
The Land of Rain and the Land of Grass are neighbors. That very night, Aoki Tsuki arrived at the northern fortress of Kusagakure and found Hidan.
"Let's go, come with me on a mission."
What should we do here?
Hidan's lack of intelligence doesn't mean he lacks a sense of responsibility; on the contrary, he always follows the rules when carrying out missions.
"We have reinforcements from Konoha here, so we don't need you. Besides, try to keep your abilities out of sight of the people of Konoha."
"Alright then, I'm off."
Hidan reluctantly followed Triple-Bladed Scythe Aoki Tsuki in hand; life here was too comfortable.
Nobody cares about him, nobody studies it, and there are just too many people to kill.
He kept staring at Aoki Tsuki's back the whole way, and several times he wanted to make a move, but hesitated and wavered.
"Why not take action? Hesitation will hinder great achievements."
Aoki Tsuki noticed Hidan's mindset and reprimanded him.
"Know that if you succeed, you'll be completely free. If you fail, it won't matter, since you're Immortality."
"Haha... you saw through me. To be honest, I'm not confident yet." Hidan replied with a grin, showing no embarrassment at being seen through.
"If you have an idea, act on it immediately. Don't wait until everything is ready before doing it; what if you succeed?"
Since leaving the laboratory, Hidan has grown rapidly, and with the awakening of his ability to absorb blood, his physical development far surpasses that of ordinary people.
He should have greatly improved his strength during this time on the Kusagakure Battlefield, so why has he become more timid?
"Never mind, maybe next time."
Hidan shook his head firmly, then asked, "What mission are we going to do?"
"Your role is to draw fire for me in order to Decapitation the commander of the Iwagakure frontline forces."
"I understand! The thought of killing someone right away is making me incredibly excited, hahaha..."
The Iwagakure force that attacked the Land of Rain was stationed near the border, with patrols and sentries monitoring the area for potential enemy attacks.
This was no challenge for Aoki Tsuki, who, with the help of Sage Mode, successfully infiltrated the area with Hidan.
"Let's split up here. In five minutes, you'll begin the operation as planned, starting with Plan A."
Aoki Tsuki gave a brief instruction and then disappeared into the darkness; he was going to search for the commander of Iwagakure.
Unfortunately, after searching everywhere, I couldn't find them; they were very well hidden.
"Then we'll just have to wait for you to show up yourself."
Based on his understanding of Hidan, he knew that the guy definitely wouldn't wait five minutes. Just as he thought this, an explosion occurred somewhere in the camp, and the battle broke out without warning.
"Enemy attack...!!" The alarm blared throughout the camp.