Meanwhile, the Iwagakure in the Land of Earth also received intelligence from the Sunagakure, and because they were closer to the Hidden Sunagakure, they received the news even earlier than the Kumogakure.
Unlike the Third Kumogakure's dismissive attitude, Ōnoki Ryōtenbin took this information very seriously.
Because he had personally experienced the strength of Madara Uchiha, who was on par with Hashirama Senju, and that was the most humiliating time he had ever felt.
That scene is still vividly imprinted in his mind, as if he had experienced it just yesterday.
"There are no allies; submit to the power of Konoha."
"Looks like you still want to dance, but you're too green."
At that time, Madara Uchiha had an arrogant and disdainful expression, ignoring the will of Iwagakure, and easily defeated him with unparalleled power.
It was at that moment that his hatred for Konoha and the Uchiha reached its peak. It wasn't until he heard the news that Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had perished together that his hatred subsided.
Therefore, Onoki considered the news of the Wood Release's reappearance extremely important, as he did not want the scene he Iwagakure to repeat itself in Ōnoki in the future.
"Make arrangements immediately. Have people thoroughly search for information on anyone who possesses Wood Release. Report back to me as soon as you find anything. Also, have the frontline troops prepare; we need to move out."
"Also, send a message back to Sunagakure and tell them that we will cooperate with them to eliminate the Wood Release threat. As for the specifics of how to carry it out, don't worry, we'll have our own methods."
As Ōnoki gazed at the desolate scene of flying Sunagakure and Konoha. He hoped that Sunagakure could further weaken Konoha, only then would he have a chance to make his move.
Meanwhile, Kirigakure, far out at sea, did not react particularly to the news from Sunagakure. They believed that Wood Release posed little threat to them, and although they would try to eliminate Konoha's geniuses, they would not go all out.
Thus, all three ninja villages gave Sunagakure their answers regarding Wood Release.
Chiyo, sitting in her office, was furious after seeing these replies.
Although she had a premonition, she still didn't expect that the major ninja villages weren't as enthusiastic about information on Wood Release as she thought.
For a moment, she couldn't help but curse the various ninja villages for their lack of foresight and failure to see the threat of Wood Release.
"Sister, the other ninja villages don't seem to have any intention of forming an alliance, so what should we do? It's too disadvantageous for our Sunagakure to fight Konoha by ourselves," Chiyo's younger brother, Ebizo, asked slowly, looking at Chiyo's angry face.
He had actually anticipated the attitudes of the other ninja villages, since the threat of Wood Release might be great or small to them.
However, the Sunagakure Konoha. Only when the outcome of the battle between Sunagakure and Konoha is known can they truly assess the risks.
To put it bluntly, they want Sunagakure to scout ahead for them, and then they'll reap the rewards of Sunagakure's victory. After all, they love things that harm others for their own benefit.
After listening to Ebizo's words, Chiyo calmed her anger and said, "Since we can't rely on the other ninja villages, we can only rely on ourselves. The plan remains the same, but to prevent other ninja villages from benefiting, we will intensify our offensive at the front. Losses are acceptable, but we must give the other ninja villages hope of attacking Konoha. Only in this way can we drag the other ninja villages into this mess. If we're not doing well, then they won't be doing well either."
Chiyo is truly at a loss right now. The only way to attract other ninja villages to attack Konoha is to inflict damage on both the village and Konoha.
However, they need to keep the losses within the village's tolerance level; otherwise, if they suffer heavy damage, it could easily attract attacks from other ninja villages.
After informing Rasa at the front lines of the message, Rasa could only nod in agreement helplessly.
He was somewhat speechless. He had originally planned to build up his reputation on the battlefield in preparation for succeeding as the Fourth Kazekage.
Now that the village leadership has given the order, his reputation is basically doomed, and if he suffers too many losses in Sunagakure, it could cause him trouble in succeeding as the Fourth Kazekage.
Fortunately, Chiyo's message indicated that regardless of the battlefield outcome, she would support his election as Kazekage. Otherwise, if the blame for the frontline defeat fell on him, he would be lucky to avoid becoming a sinner of Sunagakure, let alone the Kazekage title.
"Pass the word: launch a general offensive tomorrow. This time, we must inflict heavy losses on Konoha's forces."
"But Lord Rasa, if we launch a full-scale attack, regardless of victory or defeat, we will suffer heavy casualties. So, shouldn't we reconsider?" A Sunagakure strategist responsible for advising the front lines asked Rasa with a reluctant expression.
This order was designed to shorten a nearly year-long war to three or four months, which was completely contrary to the laws of warfare. Before the general offensive was ordered, the fighting on the front lines was basically a battle between a hundred men, at most a thousand.
Now that the order for the general offensive has been given, it means that, excluding the logistics personnel, all the ninjas on the front lines will be thrown into battle. That's four or five thousand ninjas, plus the people from Konoha, bringing the total to nearly ten thousand.
The battlefield on the front lines will be a meat grinder. It's true that Konoha will have a hard time, but Sunagakure won't fare much better.
This order completely disregarded the lives of the ninjas on the front lines.
To the Sunagakure strategists, who were unaware of the truth, this relentless pursuit of victory would bring dire consequences for their Sunagakure.
At this moment, Kōki, far away in Konoha, was unaware that his appearance would change the timing of the battle between Konoha and Sunagakure. If he had known, he would have understood that this was the butterfly effect caused by his arrival.
Even if he knew, he would just shake his head and smile. He never intended to follow the original plot, so he was prepared for the butterfly effect caused by disrupting the plot.
"I know this will result in heavy losses for us, but it's an order from higher up, and we have no choice but to obey. Don't worry, I'll do my best to bring our men back from the battlefield. Besides, we have strong support. Elder Chiyo will also be on the battlefield with men tomorrow, so the situation tomorrow might not be so bad."
"If all else fails, I'll wait until Elder Chiyo arrives and then advise her to reduce the number of troops we send out."
Rasa also felt a pang of conscience, since the Sunagakure here would all be his ninjas in the future, but he couldn't disobey the orders of his superiors. However, he would offer a suggestion to dissuade them, knowing that his status would be too much for the higher-ups to ignore.
Hearing Rasa's words, the strategist's previously grim expression softened somewhat. However, considering that even with reinforcements, casualties would only increase, he could only sigh helplessly before turning and leaving the command post to issue orders from higher-ups.
With the order relayed, the ninjas on the Sunagakure front began a series of preparatory actions.