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Chapter Thirty-Five: Ordinary Players and Rich Players in the Ninja World

While Pakura and Sasori were kidnapping a daimyo within the Land of Earth, on the front lines of the Land of Earth, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, led an army of 30,000 Iwa ninja who had completed their pre-battle preparations. They crossed the border and invaded the Land of Grass, located between the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire, intending to use it as a springboard to further attack Konoha.

In the original story, the Land of Earth only sent a portion of its army, approximately a thousand Iwa ninja, to attack Konoha. The remaining tens of thousands of Iwa ninja remained within the Land of Earth to fight against the Land of Lightning, which had invaded the Land of Earth. However, this time, because both the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire were severely weakened, the Land of Lightning had no spare strength to invade the Land of Earth, so the Land of Earth no longer needed to reserve troops within its borders.

Therefore, in this war, the Land of Earth was able to concentrate its forces to attack Konoha with all its might, putting Konoha under much greater pressure than in the original story. This can be considered one of the changes caused by Ame-no-Kaze disrupting the plot.

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A gentle breeze swept through the air, causing countless Iwa ninja banners to flutter in the breeze. As far as the eye could see, countless tents stretched out in an endless line. Within the Iwa ninja's territory, fully armed Iwa ninja were actively preparing for battle, creating an atmosphere of fierce warfare.

In the tent at the very center of the Iwa ninja camp, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, was looking at a map on the table and holding a meeting with Iwa ninja strategists to discuss the next steps for the Iwa ninja army.

Unlike the others, Onoki did not sit in a chair, but instead floated in mid-air. Because Onoki was quite short, in order to maintain the dignity of the Tsuchikage, he generally did not walk on the ground, but used his Dust Release ability to float in mid-air to move.

"The fastest route to attack Konoha from here is through the Kannabi Bridge, located near the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire!" an Iwa ninja strategist said, pointing to a large, marked map. "The only problem is whether the Grass Village will be willing to let us pass. After all, the Grass Village has always claimed to be an ally of Konoha. If they destroy the bridge for Konoha's safety, it will greatly slow our advance, thus negating the element of surprise in our attack strategy!"

"They probably wouldn't dare destroy the bridge, right? After all, our army is stationed here. If we put them under a little pressure, we should be able to get the Grass Village to submit, right?" another Iwa ninja strategist said. "Besides, isn't our current campsite Grass Village territory? But so far, not a single Grass Village ninja has dared to come and protest!"

“That’s right, the Grass Ninja Village will definitely let us pass! These Grass Ninja are notorious for being fickle!” Onoki floated in mid-air and said sarcastically, his words full of disdain for the Grass Ninja Village.

The Land of Grass, a small country struggling to survive between powerful nations, also has its own ninja village, the Grass Ninja Village, just like the Land of Rain. However, these Grass Ninja are different from the Rain Ninja, who are known for their fierce personalities and willingness to fight against powerful nations. The Grass Ninja Village is known for its smooth diplomacy. Or, to put it more bluntly, the Grass Ninja Village is like a weather vane, swaying whichever way the wind blows. When Konoha is strong, they side with Konoha, but when Iwa Ninja is strong, the Grass Ninja Village will betray Konoha and side with Iwa Ninja without hesitation.

In the original story, Iwagakure used the Kannabi Bridge of Kusagakure to launch a surprise attack on Konoha. Moreover, Kusagakure did not inform Konoha at all. In the end, it was Minato Namikaze, along with Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara, who infiltrated behind enemy lines and destroyed the Kannabi Bridge, allowing the Iwagakure army to retreat.

Moreover, in the war in the original work, Iwagakure only sent a few thousand people, yet they were able to force Kusagakure to kneel and ask for passage. What's more, this time Iwagakure has a full army of 30,000. They could even ask Kusagakure to cede their villages to Iwagakure to use as military camps without any problem!

Therefore, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, didn't care at all about whether the Grass Village was willing to lend passage to the Iwa Village. He knew the nature of the small country of the Grass Village all too well! Under the pressure of the 30,000 Iwa ninja troops, the Grass Village would not only grovel and offer up the Kannabi Bridge, but would also keep a tight rein on the Iwa ninja's surprise attack and would not inform Konoha at all!

“There’s one more thing,” Onoki said, looking at a bespectacled Iwa ninja staff officer standing beside the tent. “We’ve received the blueprints for the Lightning Country’s chakra railgun. How’s our construction progress?”

"All the components have been manufactured, and all that's left is to find a suitable mountain for the final assembly!" the bespectacled Iwa ninja strategist replied. As an arms expert from the Land of Earth, after receiving the blueprints for the chakra railgun, he immediately led a large group of Iwa ninja to work day and night, and finally manufactured all the components in just two weeks!

Originally, the Fourth Raikage estimated that the Land of Earth would need at least two months to complete the manufacture of the chakra railgun, which is why he was willing to sell the flawed blueprints. However, the Fourth Raikage underestimated the vast material reserves that the Land of Earth had accumulated over the years! After the Iwa ninjas invested a large amount of resources without regard to cost, they actually shortened the construction progress of the chakra railgun by more than half!

This is the power of spending money! This is the difference between ordinary players and whales! Poverty limits the imagination of the Land of Thunder!

"Excellent!" Onoki laughed smugly. "Then let's start assembling right away. Remember that the energy source for the Chakra Railgun is Jinchuriki? That's perfect. The Four-Tails Jinchuriki and the Five-Tails Jinchuriki are currently in the military, so we can use them for testing immediately!"

Jinchuriki were traditionally a nation's last resort, only deployed when a country was desperate and prepared for a final gamble. However, this time, Onoki went against the grain. He brought not only most of the Land of Earth's army but also its two tailed beasts, intending to use the Land of Earth's entire fighting force to utterly crush the weakened Konoha. In this battle, Onoki had staked everything the Land of Earth had accumulated over the years!

"Yes!" The bespectacled Iwa ninja strategist bowed and accepted the order.

Onoki turned around, looking at the map on the table, a barely suppressed smile on his face: "Thirty thousand Iwa ninja, two Jinchuriki, plus the Chakra Railgun—with such overwhelming fighting power against a weak Konoha, such a disparity in strength, our Land of Earth will surely win this battle!!"

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P.S. First update! Please continue to add to your favorites and recommend! O(∩_∩)O

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Emperor's Bloodline That Makes Anyone Pregnant (or Pregnant)

On the border of the Land of Fire, about several dozen miles from the Kannabi Bridge in the Land of Grass, lies a vast forest. Within this forest, Konoha has established a small defensive position. This is the Konoha force led by Tensei, composed of nearly a hundred ninja drawn from the village. With Konoha suffering heavy losses in manpower, these nearly one hundred ninja represent all the personnel Konoha can muster without diminishing the fighting strength of their army on the Land of Water's battlefield.

Compared to the Iwa ninja's camp stretching for miles, the Konoha camp had far fewer tents. Moreover, unlike the Iwa ninja who were busy preparing for battle and honing their skills, the Konoha ninja were more focused on building signal towers of various sizes around the camp, giving the impression that they were preparing for information warfare and electronic warfare.

In the tent at the very center of the position, Tian Qing was leisurely drinking tea, showing no signs of the tense atmosphere before the battle.

Originally, in Tianqing's plan, this Konoha unit of nearly a hundred people was not intended for frontal combat, but rather as a construction team responsible for building signal towers. Therefore, Tianqing simply had all his staff temporarily reassigned as foremen, in charge of directing the Konoha ninjas to build signal towers everywhere, thus eliminating the need for any battle plan discussion meetings.

"Commander, another signal tower has been completed today, and the chakra signal coverage has basically reached the planned range." Kakashi Hatake walked in and reported the day's construction progress to Tenqing. Originally, after the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze took office, Kakashi should have addressed Tenqing as "Third Hokage," but Tenqing herself felt that it was more appropriate for Kakashi to call her "Tenqing-neechan" (Tenqing-neechan). After all, what does it matter if a girl is always eighteen? Unfortunately, Kakashi stubbornly refused and insisted on addressing Tenqing as "Commander."

Kakashi then noticed Nohara Rin sitting quietly drinking tea beside the tent, a hint of doubt in his eyes. While women are naturally weaker than men, with the aid of chakra, a wondrous power, female ninjas possess strength absolutely no less than male ninjas. Therefore, there's generally no saying that female ninjas can't do heavy labor. Thus, Kakashi was somewhat surprised that while everyone else was working diligently, Nohara Rin was in the tent drinking tea with Ame. Was there some special mission going on?

Rin Nohara noticed Kakashi's questioning gaze. The usually lively girl blushed and lowered her head to drink her tea in silence.

"Cough! Cough!" Tian Qing coughed lightly and said to Kakashi, "Kakashi, Rin is all grown up now, so she has to rest for a few days every month because she's not feeling well. You need to treat her even more gently from now on, understand?"

"Huh? Not feeling well? Rin, what's wrong? Should we go see a doctor?" Kakashi still didn't understand, his eyes full of confusion, as if even the mask on his face was covered in question marks. In the original story, Kakashi wore a mask and became a cool, aloof man after his father's suicide. However, this time, due to Ame-no-Kaze's interference, Kakashi's father didn't commit suicide, so Kakashi only recently discovered the benefits of the mask by accident, thus officially becoming a man hopelessly addicted to it.

Nohara Rin blushed, but kept her head down looking at the teacup in her hand, as if there was a flower in it that she could never tire of looking at.

"Sigh, Kakashi, didn't your father teach you anything about this?" Tianqing said helplessly, indicating that Kakashi could leave. "Don't worry, I've already checked Rin, she'll be fine in a few days."

Watching Kakashi's bewildered figure walk away, Tianqing couldn't help but consider whether to give the current young Kakashi a book like "Icha Icha Paradise" so he could learn about this subject on his own. But wouldn't that damage the glorious image of my former Hokage?

But then again, the people in this world really are precocious! Nohara Rin is only about 12 years old, and she's already started menstruating. Could it be that chakra has the effect of accelerating maturity? Suddenly, Tensei felt a little fortunate that her body had already embarked on the path of the gods, and she no longer had to worry about this injury that required monthly bleeding.

In Tian Qing's past life, there was a Nen user known as "Emperor Blood Slayer." This person possessed a terrifying ability: regardless of whether the enemy was human, alien, god, or demon, once this person unleashed their power, they could instantly transform into a "blood-soaked girl," with menstrual blood gushing from her body like the Yellow River or the Yangtze River, unstoppable. For a time, this person roamed the world with impunity using this ability, earning the titles "Duke of the Blood River" and "Enemy of All Women." They even once invaded the Touhou Project, causing the girls there to tremble in fear and suffer massive blood loss.

Of course, after incurring public wrath, he was hunted down worldwide. Ultimately, he was torn to pieces and thrown into another dimension by the combined power of Athena, Yukari, Guanyin, and other powerful beings, disappearing without a trace. But presumably, similar abilities will never appear again after this, right?

Honestly, I don't want to fight this kind of enemy. After all, dying from excessive blood loss during menstruation is just too gruesome! Tian Qing continued to drink her tea, slowly reminiscing about her past life. Although Tian Qing, as a low-level civil servant, was also asked to assist in the investigation, she didn't dare to face such a ruthless person. So, she simply found a doctor, got a medical record, and used it to ask for leave, thus escaping a disaster.

According to another male colleague who went to assist in the pursuit, the battle was extremely dangerous. The Emperor Blood Killer even broke through in the heat of battle, further enhancing his abilities. His glare changed from causing anyone to have their period to causing anyone to get pregnant. He made everyone, including those powerful figures, pregnant on the spot. He was ruthless.

"Seriously, that scene was absolutely hilarious! I almost burst out laughing!" said the colleague, who was sitting in a wheelchair with a huge belly, wrapped up like a mummy. Clearly, although he didn't laugh out loud, the powerful figures could still sense his amusement and promptly beat him up. Perhaps they spared him the full force of the baby in his belly?

Now that time has passed, the baby in that male colleague's belly should be all grown up by now, maybe even out running errands right now. Tian Qing silently lit a candle for that unlucky guy in her heart, while at the same time being glad that she hadn't done something reckless back then.

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PS: Second update, please continue to add to your favorites and recommend.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Jiraiya's Sudden Appearance

Night had gradually fallen, and many electric lights were lit up in Konoha's camp, illuminating the entire area. As the Konoha ninjas who had gone out to build signal towers returned, an uninvited guest suddenly arrived at Konoha's camp.

"Oh? Isn't this Jiraiya? What brings you here?" Tensei looked at Jiraiya in surprise.

After training his prodigy disciple Minato Namikaze a few years ago and fulfilling the village's requirement to take on apprentices, Jiraiya left Konoha alone, wandering the world in search of the "Child of Prophecy" mentioned by the Toad Sage, essentially severing all ties with Konoha. Even when the Third Shinobi World War began and Konoha went to war with other major powers, Jiraiya did not immediately return to Konoha to assist in the fighting. Who would have thought he would suddenly appear here now?

Jiraiya plopped down in a chair, grabbed the teapot, and gulped down the tea. Then, he wiped his mouth with satisfaction and said, "It was all because of Minato's letter. He said he was worried that you couldn't hold off the Iwa ninja army with such a small force, so he urgently requested that I come over! This trip has really exhausted me!"

Back when Amemori left Konoha, the small number of Konoha troops he led caused some unease among Minato Namikaze and other high-ranking Konoha officials. Although they had reviewed the information on the puppet insectoids, these puppet weapons had not been tested in actual combat, so they remained skeptical about the combat capabilities of this new puppet army.

However, since Minato Namikaze had just taken office and had a mountain of official duties to attend to, as well as need to untangle the complex political relationships within the village, he was simply unable to leave. That's why he contacted his teacher, Jiraiya, one of the "Legendary Sannin," hoping he could come and help.

In the ears of the listener, Tianqing, Jiraiya's headband also revealed another reason why Jiraiya came to provide support: "Actually, another reason is that Jiraiya wanted to ask about Orochimaru's defection. After all, Konoha's intelligence only stated that Orochimaru ran away at the last minute without explaining the specific reasons. That's why Jiraiya came to you, the person involved, to find out the specific situation and see if there is any way to make Orochimaru pull back from the brink and return to Konoha."

Yes, Jiraiya was actually quite good to Orochimaru. In the original story, Jiraiya also relentlessly pursued Orochimaru for many years after his defection, until Orochimaru attacked Konoha, at which point Jiraiya completely turned against him.

Jiraiya blushed slightly as he watched Tensei staring at him with a smile but not responding. He then probed indirectly, "By the way, where's Tsunade? Didn't she come with us this time? Facing so many enemies without even bringing a medical expert, Tensei, you seem quite confident!"

“There are quite a few wounded soldiers in the village right now who have been evacuated from the battlefield, so Tsunade, as the head of Konoha Hospital, is extremely busy and can’t get away at all. That’s why she won’t be coming this time,” Tianqing replied calmly, sipping her tea, seemingly oblivious to the implied meaning.

"Oh, I see. Haha, Tsunade is certainly busy, hahaha." Jiraiya chuckled, then asked seemingly casually, "What about Orochimaru? Didn't the village intelligence say that everything was Danzo's conspiracy? Now that Danzo is dead, shouldn't Orochimaru be exonerated of the 'defection' charge?"

“Why don’t you ask Orochimaru for his opinion on this?” Tianqing said, then gave an order to the empty tent: “Little Red Riding Hood, open the entrance and let Jiraiya go down and take a look.”

"Order received, commence execution!" A mechanical electronic female voice rang out in the empty tent. Then, to Jiraiya's astonishment, a dark tunnel appeared in the open space of the tent, followed by a metallic click as an elevator rose from the tunnel.

Long before Tianqing led his troops to set up camp here and erected the first signal tower, the accompanying insectoid puppets, under Little Red Riding Hood's control, dug a huge underground cave deep beneath the camp to serve as an underground warehouse for the Konoha troops and a frontline puppet manufacturing base. In fact, if it weren't for the need to mislead the Iwa ninja, Tianqing would have even wanted the entire Konoha force to hide underground instead of establishing a position on the surface.

In the deep underground cave, Jiraiya met Orochimaru, who was wearing a white robe and busy conducting experiments in front of the experimental table.

Since the Land of Rice Fields is right next to the Land of Grass, and the two are not far apart, after Amemori arrived with his troops, he called Orochimaru, who was busy preparing for the ninja village in the Land of Rice Fields, and asked him to find some materials that Amemori could not openly ask the village for, such as the flesh and blood and corpse offerings of certain powerful people used for the Impure World Reincarnation.

The army of resurrected dead—this was Tianqing's second trump card for the Land of Earth. Faced with the Land of Earth's overwhelming attack, Tianqing couldn't possibly place all his hopes on the puppet insectoid army. Therefore, he specifically summoned Orochimaru, instructing him to prepare mass resurrections in his underground base. If anything went wrong in the war against the Land of Earth, Orochimaru's meticulously prepared army of the dead would appear before the world, letting the Land of Earth experience the thrill of "fighting zombies."

As the saying goes, it is better to be prepared than not. Tianqing has made ample preparations for this war!

Orochimaru turned around, licked his lips with a seductive flick of his long tongue, and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Tensei and Jiraiya approaching: "Isn't this Jiraiya? What's wrong? You never go back to the village, so why are you suddenly planning to fight for Konoha?"

Jiraiya stared intently at the headband bearing the octave symbol on Orochimaru's head, his face grim. He asked, word by word, "Orochimaru, what are you planning to do? Have you already betrayed Konoha and joined another village?!"

"Cough! Cough!" Tianqing coughed forcefully, stepping in front of the tense Jiraiya, and introduced him, "Although I know you two are acquaintances, I still want to introduce you again. This is Orochimaru, the Sound Shadow of the Sound Village, which is about to be established in the Land of Rice Fields. He has come to support Konoha in its fight against the Land of Earth at Konoha's invitation!"

The title "Kage" is generally reserved for the leaders of the five great ninja villages. Leaders of smaller villages are not entitled to be called "Kage" by the public and can only use it briefly within their own villages. For example, the leader of Yugakure is only called "Yugakure Kage" within Yugakure. Once he goes to other ninja villages, he dares not use this title and can only refer to himself as the leader of Yugakure, otherwise he might invite unnecessary trouble.

However, considering Orochimaru's strength, Tianqing will still refer to him as Yinying, which is a small way of flattering Orochimaru and making up for the regret that Orochimaru failed to become Hokage.

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PS: First update. Please continue to add to your favorites and recommend!

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Flattery Must Be Accurate

"The Sound Shadow of the Sound Village?" Orochimaru couldn't help but smile upon hearing Tianqing's address to him. As the saying goes, flattery will get you everywhere, and Tianqing's compliment clearly pleased Orochimaru.

Although Orochimaru didn't say anything when Minato Namikaze took office, he actually harbored some ambitions for the Fourth Hokage position. Moreover, there's always a sense of competition among geniuses, so Orochimaru wasn't entirely convinced of Minato's rise to power. However, in the following period, Orochimaru gradually shifted his main focus to forbidden experimental research, and his desire for the Hokage position gradually faded, but a small regret remained in his heart. Therefore, Tianqing's flattery was perfectly timed!

"The Sound Village of the Land of Rice Fields?!" Jiraiya looked at Tensei, thought for a moment, and then realized what was going on. He looked at Tensei with hostility: "You plan to support another small ninja village in the Land of Rice Fields and make Orochimaru the leader of the village? So that's why you didn't erase Orochimaru's defection and instead let him continue to carry the name of a rogue ninja?"

If a rogue ninja were to establish a small ninja village in the internally strife-ridden Land of Rice Fields, it wouldn't attract the attention of the major powers. At most, they'd offer a few sarcastic remarks, thinking the rogue ninja was arrogant and dared to establish a village with just a few genin. However, if a Konoha ninja were to establish a small ninja village in the Land of Rice Fields, all the major powers would pay close attention, secretly suspecting that Konoha was plotting something again, potentially causing a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, if it's for the convenience of establishing the Sound Village, then it would obviously be better to let Orochimaru continue to maintain his status as a rogue ninja.

“That’s right, that’s why I deliberately didn’t erase Orochimaru’s crime of deserting in the face of battle.” Tianqing shrugged and pointed at Orochimaru beside him. “Orochimaru accepted the secret mission I issued before, and becoming a rogue ninja and the Sound Shadow was also part of the secret mission!”

Since Orochimaru was destined to continue down the path of forbidden experiments, Amehari thought it better to let him leave Konoha sooner rather than later and wreak havoc on other ninja villages. This would also give Amehari a testing ground for his experiments. Didn't you see how much more energetic Orochimaru seemed after he was able to conduct his experiments freely? Even his tongue had grown much longer, almost as long as the tongue of the hanged ghosts of the Black and White Impermanence!

"So Orochimaru's defection was a secret mission arranged by the village to spy on him?" Jiraiya looked at Tensei suspiciously, then glanced at Orochimaru, who looked refreshed, before reluctantly shutting his mouth and no longer pursuing the matter.

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As the Third Tsuchikage Onoki had predicted, after a casual threat to Kusagakure, the village leader readily yielded. He not only agreed to allow Iwa ninja to use the Kannabi Bridge for a surprise attack, but also provided a detailed map of the surrounding area, which could be considered a "hospitable gift from Kusagakure to the Iwa ninja who had traveled from afar."

At dawn, fully armed Oki crouched in the grass, oblivious to the morning dew soaking his clothes, his attention focused on guarding the area ahead. As the captain of the Iwa ninja raiding force, Oki had been waiting here for quite some time, but since the order to attack had not yet been given, he could only lead his troops to wait in place.

"Why hasn't the order to attack been given yet? Could it be that those damned Grass Ninjas are unwilling to let us pass?" Oki thought irritably, his left hand instinctively gripping his weapon. "If I had known, I would have suggested at the previous meeting that we uproot this Grass Ninja Village as well, so we wouldn't have to send someone to ask them for passage!"

This time, having gained a significant advantage, the entire Iwa ninja army was filled with confidence in victory. They had even begun to imagine returning home victorious after defeating Konoha. That's why they were so dissatisfied with the Kusagakure village, which seemed to be delaying the battle.

Finally, the communications ninja's voice rang out on the radio channel: "Command orders! Command orders! Kusagakure has agreed to let us pass. All assault forces are now proceeding to Kannabi Bridge, ready to proceed with the assault plan!"

"Finally here! I've been waiting forever!" Oki's annoyance vanished instantly. He snapped a wildflower in half, stood up abruptly, made a "Brothers, follow me!" gesture, and led the charge towards the Kannabi Bridge! Behind him, countless Iwa ninja emerged from the hidden bushes, following Captain Oki's lead, launching the first wave of surprise attacks on Konoha!

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In the command post within the Iwa ninja army's position, a steady stream of intelligence was being transmitted back from the front lines. Special staff members then organized and compiled this intelligence, finally placing it on the large map in the center of the command post for the Tsuchikage and all troop commanders to reference and make decisions.

"Report! The advance assault force has approached the vicinity of Kannabi Bridge, but has not detected any enemy!"

"Report! The advance assault force has crossed the Kannabi Bridge and has not spotted the enemy!"

"Report! The advance assault force has crossed the border of the Land of Fire and discovered several Konoha puppets, all of which have been destroyed. Our forces suffered no casualties!"

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Floating in mid-air, Onoki looked at the Iwa ninja vanguard assault force advancing triumphantly on the map. After much deliberation, he finally made up his mind and issued the order to his subordinates for the main force of the Iwa ninja to prepare to set off.

For a massive army of 30,000, it's impossible for the entire force to charge forward at the commander's order; that would only cause them to trample each other and hinder one another. Therefore, this time, Onoki divided the entire army into three parts.

Leading the charge was an advance assault force of 5,000 men, who would be the first to penetrate the Land of Fire, serving as the first wave of attack on Iwagakure. Following them was the main Iwagakure force led by Onoki. Behind the main force, Onoki also left behind a force of nearly 10,000 Iwagakure ninja. Even after the war began, they would remain in the Land of Grass to ensure the logistical supply lines for the Iwagakure army, and also serve as a reserve force in critical situations.

Strategically despising the enemy while tactically respecting them is a quality a commander must possess. Even though Onoki had carefully considered the situation beforehand and was certain of victory, he remained cautious and methodical after the war began, leaving an extra logistical force for the Iwa ninja army as a precaution.

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