Double-transformation: I, Sakura Haruno! Will crush the pirates!

"Sakura~, command is summoning all unit leaders!"

Leviathan, flapping its wings, slowly landed on Sakura's shoulder and whispered in her ear.

"Okay, I got it!" Sakura stood up and instructed the two, "Keep an eye on Rika for me, don't let her run off to the battlefield."

Sasuke and Leviathan, who flew onto his shoulder, nodded in agreement, then watched Sakura run out of the tent and head towards the front of the Konoha ninja encampment.

The heads of all departments in the ninja force's temporary command headquarters were all present: Jiraiya, commander of the Allied Forces; Shikaku, chief of staff; Shiki, chief of reconnaissance; Kakashi, company commander; Choza Akimichi, logistics officer; Inoichi Yamanaka, communications officer; Hayate Gekko, sealing officer; Genma Shiranui, barrier officer...

When Sakura arrived, the conference table in the tent was almost completely surrounded by people who had come to attend the meeting, leaving her with nowhere to stand for a moment.

Come to me!

Jiraiya saw his disciple looking around blankly, wanting to move to the back row for the water class but finding no space, and cruelly called her to the front row.

"Tsk!"

Sakura rolled her eyes at Jiraiya, but not wanting to offend his authority as the commander-in-chief, she walked slowly to him with a cold expression and an aura of iciness.

"Alright, everyone's here, let's begin today's operational meeting. Let's try to resolve all the issues at once and avoid wasting time on the battlefield!"

Quickly assuming the role of a military commander, Jiraiya's eyes were sharp, his voice resolute, and his entire being exuded an aura that commanded respect.

"Lord Jiraiya! I have something to report!"

Before Sakura could even go up and urge the medical team about the fact that the medicines hadn't arrived, Nara Shikaku spoke up first.

"Hmm?" Jiraiya took the information from Shikaku and fell silent.

After a long while, he finally distributed the papers in his hand to the senior executives of the alliance for them to see.

"A resident of the Frost Kingdom...?"

Sakura quickly skimmed through the information compiled by Shikaku and exclaimed in disbelief.

The area along the line connecting the border of the Land of Rice Fields to the border of the Land of Waterfalls near the Konoha defense line is inhabited by several settlements of residents from the Land of Frost.

Caught in the middle of a great power's battlefield, and with their own ninja villages too weak to protect them, the citizens of the Land of Frost are highly likely to instinctively migrate to safer places when war breaks out.

They will then attack Konoha's borders, and what's worse is that among these mixed refugees, there are often a large number of ronin, mercenaries, and enemy spies.

So Shikaku's implication was that he was asking Jiraiya whether they should implement a ninja-world version of scorched earth policy on these residents!

"Sakura, what do you think?"

Jiraiya's eyes flickered slightly, and he glanced questioningly at the disciple beside him.

—What else can I do but sit and watch!

Holding her head in her hands, the girl swayed on her tiptoes in the chair, a hint of helplessness in her open eyes.

The current situation among the four major powers is complex, and Frost Village is one of the few ninja villages on the continent that has established a friendly cooperative relationship with Kirigakure.

At this time, Konoha's scorched earth operation on someone else's land could very well become a pretext for Kirigakure to intervene, escalating the war between Kumogakure and Iwagakure into a four-way war.

And the final Sand Country...

If the four of us start fighting, do you think you can stay out of it? How can you be so naive in the dating market when you don't even have a penny in your pocket?

It is almost foreseeable that if a fourth major power intervenes in the Frost Country, which already has the armies of three major powers, then the Ninja World War will break out in an instant.

It can only be said that this war between the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning is too abnormal, so abnormal that even someone who is not good at politics should be able to detect something strange about it.

"Set up traps and warning signs around the area. If someone still tries to break in despite prior warnings, then we need to prepare for the worst!"

Sakura's implication was clear to all the leaders of the allied forces present: it was just a formality, a mere pre-warning statement, and they didn't care about being warned.

While they may appear to be steady and have no oversights in matters of principle, they are essentially handing over their initiative and allowing those who secretly plot to lead them by the nose.

The problem is, can anyone come up with a better way to get the other four great nations to abandon their idea of ​​refining Konoha into a 'national protection pill'?

The answer is—no.

Even if you were the reincarnation of Hashirama Senju, countries with a severe mismatch between population and resources would still have to fight you, either by seizing enough money and food or by killing enough people to quell this turmoil.

"This is the only way for the short term." Jiraiya sighed, turning his gaze to the others. "Report any other problems immediately, so we can coordinate things while the heads of each department are all here!"

This statement was like opening a duck coop, causing a flood of complaints from numerous officials who needed to pour out their grievances, overwhelming the entire command center tent.

Jiraiya then demonstrated his shrewdness as a seasoned ninja, handling seemingly chaotic matters with remarkable efficiency.

He even had time to guide Sakura... or rather, his original purpose in bringing his disciple along was to pass on his experience to her as much as possible!

As it grew a little late, Jiraiya finally managed to send away Akimichi Choza, the logistics officer, and then sat back down in his chair to soothe his almost hoarse voice with tea.

"So, how about it? Should I help you expedite the delivery team's process for the medicine transportation?"

With a mocking expression, Jiraiya leaned on the table, glanced at Sakura, raised his eyebrows, and gave her a cool smile.

"Alright, it's rare for you to set a good example for me today." Sakura stood up and stretched. "Then I'll—give it a try, since it's a rare occasion!"

"Huh?" Jiraiya was taken aback.

No, how are you going to work on the medicine? Do you think it can just grow out of the ground?

His attempt to show off failed, and he didn't have time to call his disciple back.

All we could do was watch her walk out of the tent and disappear.

Chapter 383 The Shadow of the Ninja World War

Ninja wars are different from ordinary disputes; terrain is not an obstacle for these ninjas who can fly and move freely.

Therefore, compared to war between ordinary people and naval battles on the high seas, common sense about the battlefield becomes ineffective.

Those who are hindered by terrain are generally civilians displaced by war, as well as various chambers of commerce and organizations within the country.

At this moment, in many villages along the border of the Land of Frost, ordinary people who have heard that Kumogakure and Iwagakure are at war in the north are organizing their relocation.

Torches lit up the night, and the valley was teeming with people, forming long queues. The night was anything but peaceful, filled with the noise of the crowd and the cries of children.

This scene was witnessed by a man with Venus flytraps growing on his body and a black and white face.

"It seems your tentacles have already infiltrated the ranks, Hiruko!"

"Yes, thanks to the Hashirama cells you provided, my technique was able to reach such a perfect level, hahaha!"

Beneath the hard rock, a small cluster of black buds emerged, forming the face of a white-haired boy who let out a fanatical and twisted laugh.

"That's good. The scouts from Kirigakure will be lured here soon. I hope they can enjoy the spectacle of Konoha ninja wielding their swords!"

His body, unlike that of a human, began to writhe. The Venus flytrap on Black Zetsu's collar gradually closed, carrying him as he broke through the hard ground and swam underground.

"Of course, just you wait and see!"

The face formed by black fleshy buds spread its perception, connecting with the many fleshy buds he had implanted in the brains of civilians in the Land of Frost, and controlling them to walk towards the ninja army's encampment in Konoha.

Meanwhile, at the Konoha camp on the other side, intense fortification construction was underway.

Kakashi Hatake, the captain of the Ninja Alliance, led a group of Earth Release ninjas to build a giant wall. By increasing its height and thickness without regard to chakra consumption, the 50-meter-high defensive wall gradually took shape.

Its thickness is extremely deep. Although it cannot hinder the enemy's attack, it can at least give the Konoha ninja some reaction time if the enemy wants to use a long-range escape technique to launch a surprise attack on the base.

The city wall has raised, star-shaped sections with cavities and watchtowers inside, which can be used as hiding places for patrolling ninjas.

In the ninja war of offense and defense, these kinds of watchtowers are prone to leaving blind spots under the vertical walls. If you peek out and release ninjutsu downwards, you are easily targeted and shot in the head by the enemy.

Therefore, at this time, a ninja squad that arrived at the front line with the Allied Forces played a crucial role. They were the Sealing Squad!

In addition to providing sealing spell support, their important responsibility is to create protective barriers for camps and fortifications.

At this moment, above the city wall, a girl with long silver hair and no expression was watching the ninjas below tumbling across the wall, setting up barbed wire and embedding sealing runes.

"Interested in Earth Release? I can teach you~".

A deep voice sounded behind the girl, and a man whose face was almost entirely covered by a headband and mask walked over.

"It's no use. This one and this one are too fragile. Setting them up is pointless."

The emotionless girl, Sakura, casually raised her hand and grabbed the city wall. With a crisp sound, she crushed a piece of the wall's edge, and the crack spread for several meters.

Kakashi, who had come as an elder to experience the joy of being a grandparent, couldn't help but twitch at the sight of this scene.

Having lived for over forty years, this was the first time he had ever seen someone crush a creation of escaping techniques with their bare hands without even using chakra!

—This strength, it's definitely Sakura's!

"With such a weak ability, can you really protect yourself?" Sakura tilted her cute head expressionlessly, her big emerald eyes staring at Kakashi.

"Sigh, kids these days are all so hard to deal with!" Kakashi sighed. "But you're just like your mother!"

Upon hearing Sakura's name, Rizaki's usually calm eyes began to flicker. "Can you tell me about your mother?"

"Yes, of course!" Kakashi smiled gently, raised his fingers and used chakra to repair the wall that Sakura had damaged, then sat down next to her.

"When I first met your mother, she had just joined the Dark Division..."

The two leaned against the city wall, reminiscing about the past. Passing ninjas smiled knowingly at their appearance and quietly walked around to give them space to talk.

But just then, a sharp alarm rang out throughout the entire camp.

The ninjas on duty on the city wall quickly rushed to their posts according to the previous plan, picked up their ninja tools and explosive tags, and stood ready for battle.

Sakura and Kakashi's conversation was interrupted, and Sakura followed the group of ninjas to the edge of the city wall to look down.

At the far end of the border, a large number of ordinary people, dressed in rags and with emaciated faces, began to appear, dragging their families along as they walked towards Konoha's defensive fortifications.

"Lord Kakashi is a citizen of the Land of Frost!" A Chunin wearing a green vest flashed to Kakashi's side using the Body Flicker Technique and reported to him.

"This is troublesome. It's basically what Jiraiya and Sakura guessed..." Kakashi pulled up his headband, revealing his Sharingan.

Using his eye technique, he glimpsed many people among the fleeing residents of the Land of Frost who had strange clusters of chakra on their heads.

"Oh no! Everyone on high alert!!!"

Amid Kakashi's fierce shouts, some of the refugees below began to contort their faces and bodies as black fleshy growths proliferated and extended from their bodies.

Then it pierced through the other normal residents around it, pulling the severed limbs and arms toward the center to form a chimera pieced together from limbs and broken bodies.

"Ugh~"

Some of the newcomers from Konoha who were on the city wall saw this scene and couldn't help but vomit on the spot.

Many seasoned ninjas, even those who had seen countless battles, turned pale upon witnessing such a hellish scene.

Kakashi shifted his gaze to the side, intending to reach out and cover Sakura's eyes, but found that she seemed completely unaffected, and beneath those calm, watery eyes, there seemed to be a flicker of... fighting spirit?

"Roar--!"

Below the city wall, the fused monsters roared from some unknown organ and began to charge madly toward the border of Konoha.

The ninjas, who had been authorized from the beginning, no longer held back, unleashing all sorts of ninjutsu—Earth Release, Fire Release, Water Release—as if they were free, raining them down on the battlefield below.

Surprisingly, these monsters were not particularly tough. Instead, they exploded the moment they were hit by the bombardment of the escape technique, turning into blood and debris that stained the entire land red.

"How can they be so weak?" Kakashi, who had taken in the entire battle, was astonished.

It makes no sense that if they dare to attack Konoha's base, they would send some chickens and dogs to annoy people instead.

The victory only depleted a small amount of the chakra of the garrisoned ninjas, which they could probably replenish in the time it takes to eat a meal.

"No, the enemy's goal is for me to kill them!" Sakura tugged at Kakashi's sleeve and pointed to the ninja force that was constantly approaching them in the distance.

Kakashi's wide-range Observation Haki senses spread out, and he saw the Hidden Mist Village symbol on the ninja headband on the other person's head. Kakashi's expression turned serious.

"This is really troublesome..."