Revitalizing the Uchiha clan starts with becoming a Kage.

It was another katana that was swiftly drawn.

"Wow!"

The second, heart-wrenching pain, the blood instantly spreading and soaking my chest, the life force rapidly slipping away, the vision gradually darkening and blurring—one second? Or two seconds?

A trembling posture, a limp body collapsing to the ground.

"Thump!"

As dust rose from the ground, this Jonin commander, who held a significant position in Sunagakure, died so easily under Shoji's blade. He barely splashed a few drops of water, and even in death, his wide-open eyes proved the resentment and anger of this Sunagakure Jonin!

But all of this is now a fait accompli!

With the Sand Ninja garrison completely routed and their commander Gabriel killed, the remaining Sand Ninja in the northern fortress lost their last shred of courage to resist.

"retreat!"

"retreat!"

"retreat!"

Although some of these Sand Ninjas were heartbroken at the sight of their commander being killed, and even wished they could tear Shoji alive to avenge Gabriel, they were still forced to retreat under the pressure of the situation!

If they choose to remain here, only death awaits them.

Retreat was their only option.

Most of these Sand Ninja had lost the courage to continue fighting. Even though the northern fortress was still almost entirely under their control, the situation had completely shifted to the Iwa Ninja's side. How many Sand Ninja could safely evacuate depended on whether the Iwa Ninja, or more precisely, whether Shoji intended to exterminate them all.

"Pass down the order: pursue them for a while and then stop immediately. The objective has been achieved. Now all we need to do is hold the fortress. Tell everyone not to forget Lord Tsuchikage's orders!"

Shoji slung his katana back over his shoulder, looked at the Iwa ninja who had come to his side, and said calmly.

Ultimately, the goal of this war was only to conquer the northern fortress and occupy the surrounding area. There was no reason for the General to further expand the scale of the war. They had already obtained what they wanted, and as long as Luo Sha was not out of his mind, he would never provoke trouble. They had already breached the northern fortress in less than a day!

Shoji believed that the Fourth Kazekage would understand the importance of this matter, and the Iwagakure side naturally had no intention of starting a full-scale war. Local wars are controllable, but full-scale wars are uncontrollable. With Konoha and Kumogakure still posing a great threat, starting a full-scale war with Sunagakure would be the most unwise choice.

Unless they could really wipe out Sunagakure in one fell swoop in the shortest amount of time, but even if Sunagakure is weak, it is still one of the five great ninja villages. If it were that easy to kill, it would have been wiped out in the previous three Shinobi World Wars! Why would it have waited until now?

At least their ninja village has a strong foundation.

If pushed too far, they can gather nearly ten thousand ninjas. At that point, it will be the Iwa ninjas who will have a headache.

"Yes, Sir General!"

The Iwa ninjas sitting to the side no longer had the indifferent expressions they had before. At this moment, when facing Shoji, they all showed a hint of respect. The strong deserved to be respected. The previous rumors were just that—rumors. They couldn't compare to seeing it for themselves. Now, on this frontal battlefield...

It was only through his own strength that Shoji truly gained the initial respect and trust of these Iwa ninja. There was still a long way to go before they were completely convinced, but at this moment, they genuinely recognized Shoji as their 'commander'!

Not everyone has such power.

They could lead them in one attack and directly breach the northern fortress of Sunagakure!

This alone is enough to prove the strength of the commander.

214. The shock unfolded before the school could even react.

This is a well-equipped and well-defended fortress.

If the remaining Sand Ninja still choose to fight to the death, with the help of the traps and mechanisms inside, they can still inflict great losses on the Iwa Ninja. No matter how strong Shoji is, he is still only one person, and Shadow Clone Jutsu is not a technique that can be used casually. Although Shoji's chakra reserves far exceed those of ordinary ninjas, and according to the Kage level standard, he can be considered to be at a mid-to-high level, compared to those Jinchuriki of the Tailed Beasts, he is still a small fry. The protagonist of the original work, Naruto Uzumaki, is even more of a cheat code that is said to possess chakra. If we don't count the Nine-Tails' chakra, his own chakra reserves alone are enough for him to squander at will.

In this respect, Jiang Si is far inferior.

Even the strongest ninja will meet the same fate once their chakra is depleted. The Third Raikage is the best proof of this. This is why Shoji used taijutsu instead of ninjutsu to defeat his opponents in previous battles. Saving chakra is the basic principle of ninja combat!

Susanoo is a technique that consumes the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Then we should save as much as possible.

The reason they initially used it was because the defensive barrier was indeed a bit troublesome, and Shoji also wanted to establish his own prestige among his own people. This was also the main reason why Onoki and Kyoto appointed Shoji as the deputy commander-in-chief and led the first batch of advance troops!

It can only be said that the initial deterrent effect of the strategist was too strong, and the tragic death of Gabriel also brought a great psychological impact to these Sand Ninjas. This allowed the Iwa Ninjas to easily capture this fortress at the lowest cost and take over all the facilities inside!

These facilities, which were originally intended to be the biggest obstacle to the Iwa ninja's attack, have now all become their property.

To put it bluntly, even if there is no General in the fortress, the Iwa ninja army that has already invaded can withstand the counterattack of at least two or three thousand Sand ninja without a Kage-level leader.

This is also the biggest reason why this fortress was so difficult for the Iwa ninja to conquer. This time, all sorts of unexpected events were mixed together, plus the fact that a terrifying Kage-level powerhouse like Shoji was leading the team. If it were someone like Yotsuchi, whose overall strength is similar to Shoji's, the result would probably be different, because Yotsuchi doesn't have Shoji's Susanoo technique.

Between film level and film level

Even disregarding the issue of strength, the difference in style alone can lead to drastically different results on the battlefield.

"Alright, let's see how you handle this, lords of Sunagakure!"

After ordering his Iwa ninja to immediately take over and adapt to all the facilities in the fortress and to rearrange the traps and barriers around the fortress, Jiang Si stood alone on the high building of the fortress, gazing at the south where Sunagakure was located. A bright light appeared in his eyes as he murmured to himself.

The northern fortress was breached in a single day. Of the Sand Ninja defending it, including Commander Gabriel, almost half were killed or wounded. Less than a third of the Sand Ninja managed to escape. The rest either died in the initial battle or were hunted down and killed one by one by the Iwa Ninja during their subsequent rout and escape.

After suffering heavy casualties of four or five hundred dead, the remaining Sand Ninja who managed to escape were almost all wounded, while the Iwa Ninja, who were attacking, suffered only a little over a hundred casualties.

This is all thanks to the strength of the General!

Leaving aside the subsequent powerful kills of several fortress-guarding Jonin, including Gabriel, the mere act of breaking through the fortress's defensive barrier at the very beginning was enough to save the Iwa ninja from losing dozens or even hundreds of lives. Otherwise, when their side broke through the barrier, they would have had to passively endure the indiscriminate attacks from the Sand ninja inside the fortress!

This is inherently a natural advantage for the defending side.

Unfortunately, Shoji is no ordinary Kage-level shinobi. The power of Susanoo is comparable to that of a Tailed Beast. With a single strike, the destructive power it unleashes is indeed far less terrifying than the Tailed Beast Ball of a fully-formed Tailed Beast. However, this defensive barrier is certainly not as strong as the Four Purple Flame Formation!

The second form of Susanoo is powerful enough to easily defeat it!

This also explains why the number of Iwa ninja deaths was much lower than expected!

Otherwise, even under the most favorable circumstances, capturing such a fortress at a 1:1 cost would be a huge win for the attacking side!

It can be said that Shoji's attack was truly beyond the realm of common sense. Therefore, whether it was Maki, who was on the way to provide support, or Rasa, who was still far away in Sunagakure Village overseeing the overall situation, when they received the relevant intelligence information, they all widened their eyes, and an expression of disbelief appeared deep in their pupils.

This is countless times worse than the worst-case scenario they had anticipated. The enemy's advance force only has five hundred men, right? Even with the border forces, although they would have a certain suppressive advantage over their own fortress, they are the defending side, aren't they?

There are also nearly seven hundred elite Sand Ninja inside.

And Gabriel, a Jonin commander whom even Maki himself had to expend a great deal of effort to defeat, how could he be so easily defeated?

It probably didn't even take half a day, right?

The only variable is Uchiha Shoji.

'Could this guy really be as terrifying as the rumors say? No, even more terrifying than they claim!?'

Among the retreating Sand Ninja, they heard that Shoji could easily kill their own village's Jonin in a single breath, and that the purple-gold giant he summoned at the beginning easily shattered the fortress's defensive barrier.

Maki's expression became extremely solemn and serious.

One person can lie, two or three people can be accused of collusion, and if we take a skeptical approach, then if a dozen or even a hundred people say the same thing, then even if it seems impossible, it becomes a reality!

Maki, who could be considered one of the most outstanding Jonin, could clearly judge the difference in strength between himself and Uchiha Shoji. Although he wouldn't be killed in one move, he could at most barely hold his own for a short while.

The chances of them even escaping are slim.

Even at this moment, Maki had the same thought as Gabriel who died in battle: his own Kazekage was probably no match for this Uchiha Shoji.

The thought popped into my head.

Even Maki himself couldn't help but jump. He forcefully suppressed those 'distractions', took a deep breath, and said with a very serious expression, "Immediately issue my order to have the garrison personnel at the front-line outposts strengthen their reconnaissance. Everyone here must rebuild the defensive line and await Lord Kazekage's orders!"

"Yes!"

This unfolded before we could even react!

Uncontrollable fear and shock.

215. A decision made under duress

The disparity between us and the enemy is enormous.

Maki clearly realized that with his own strength and the limited forces he had, it was impossible to retake the Northern Fortress. Foolishly charging forward would only be feeding the enemy. The best option was to set up camp and await Rasa's orders. Even if they were determined to retake the Northern Fortress, a force of only a few hundred to a thousand people was far from enough. Judging from the strength of the commanders, it had to be treated as if the Five Kage were present. In other words, Sunagakure would either need Rasa to personally go to the front lines or have the One-Tailed Jinchuriki deployed to have any hope of retaking the Northern Fortress.

Alternatively, they could deploy at least three or four times the number of Iwagakure ninja, that is, at least four or five thousand troops, to besiege the fortress and possibly wear it down, exhaust it, or force the general to retreat, and then recapture the northern fortress. This is all based on the premise that Iwagakure does not send additional troops.

Otherwise.

If they send out just one Jinchuriki of a Tailed Beast, Sunagakure will be rendered helpless. Even if it doesn't come to that, if they send another one or two thousand reinforcements, it will be enough to make Sunagakure afraid to make any move.

In other words, the initiative in the war has now completely fallen into the hands of the other side.

'We can only hope that the Kazekage has any other solutions, or that he can gain some leverage over Konoha and Kumogakure!'

While issuing various orders and arranging for his Sand Ninja to immediately engage in the various configurations of the defensive formation, Maki was also considering the possible options his village might have next, with an extremely worried expression in his mind.

have to say.

Their Sand Village is truly plagued by misfortune. The shadow of their defeat in the Third Shinobi World War has not yet completely faded, and now they are about to fall into such a miserable state.

'Where does the future of our ninja village lie?'

Even someone as strong as Maki couldn't help but sigh softly at this moment.

Not to mention Maki, who was already somewhat depressed and insecure, Rasa, who was far away in Sunagakure, only learned of the fall of the northern fortress a little later than Maki, but it can also be said that he learned of it in the shortest amount of time. It can be said that at that moment, the Kazekage's expression upon hearing the news was no better than Maki's!

Luo Sha was stunned and could hardly believe his ears.

Everyone wondered if this was a huge joke played by their own intelligence agents. After all, that was the most heavily fortified stronghold base in Sunagakure besides the village itself. Since the First Kage passed away and the balance of the ninja world was broken, in order to deal with the threats from Iwagakure and Konohagakure, Sunagakure had built many defensive strongholds and deployed hundreds of thousands of defensive forces in the due east and due north directions.

This northern fortress, which was initially built at the end of the Second Kazekage's reign and was officially used during the Third Kazekage's rule, is the one that Sunagakure invested the most manpower, resources, and money in, and is also the one they are most confident in. In the past two or three decades, it has repeatedly blocked the strong attacks of the Iwa ninja in the north for Sunagakure. The most dangerous moment was when the Iwa ninja were able to break into the fortress, but that was because the war had lasted for one or two years, and they were eventually driven out by the Sunagakure ninja who came to support them.

The defensive lines set up by their own ninja village in the northern region have never had any problems!

But now, this fortress defense line, which Rasa and the previous two Kazekage considered to be impregnable, has been completely breached by the enemy in half a day, no, to be more precise, in less than an hour!

How could Sunagakure possibly accept this? How could Rasa possibly accept it so easily?!

It would be strange if you could understand that!

But whether or not he could understand it, the incident had already happened, and now the task at hand was to figure out how to resolve it! Forcing himself to calm down immediately, Rasa's mind raced. Even though Rasa was considered by many Naruto fans to be one of the weakest of the Five Kage in the past, a Kage chosen by force among the short ones, he was still qualified to bear the title of 'Kage' no matter what.

The quality is still slightly off.

"Draw upon the remaining forces in the village and send them all to the front line. Let Yura personally lead the team. Then tell Maki to stay put and hold the position. As long as the Iwagakure ninjas do not continue to advance south, we should not launch an attack. Then immediately send a message to Iwagakure and the other countries, condemning Iwagakure for wantonly disrupting peace and starting a war. The Kage team should be ready to go into battle at any time!"

With a cold and stern expression, Luo Sha said to his subordinates in a deep voice, "This is already preparing for the worst!"

Although Rasa was unwilling to start a war, the initiative was no longer in the hands of Sunagakure. With the northern fortress so easily breached, Rasa had to revise his previous plans, as this could very well be a sign of the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War!

"Yes!"