Time passed away slowly a day at a time. Because Uchiha Tonan had killed Sandaime Kazekage in front of everyone right at the beginning of the war, Suna’s overall morale had dropped greatly and they had retreated to their base camp. They had reached the state where they couldn’t retreat any further.
Even in the following assassination campaign launched in the Land of Rain, Suna would send dozens of squads symbolically. Considering their troops’ lack of morale, it would not be wrong to say that they were not making enough effort. Although Iwa and Suna were allies at this moment, Suna’s attitude was negative and they were also unwilling to increase casualties among their top ninjas.
But with time, one of Suna’s influential figures, Ebizo, personally came to the frontline and assumed personal command of the troops. With this and several other encouragements, Sand ninjas’ moods gradually changed from gloomy to pure hatred towards the Leaf ninjas.
From the intelligence that his troops had gathered, Ebizo had learned that Tonan was too strong. So, instead of a head-on battle from the straight route, he began to mobilize Sand ninjas to attack Konoha’s strongholds in the Land of Rain.
Most of these strongholds guarded the tracks leading to the Land of Fire. It was just that these were very narrow mountain terrains. It would take significant physical strength and energy for ordinary ninjas to cross over these. Moreover, in a situation where they were ambushed, just using large-scale ninjutsu or a set number of explosive tags would be enough to cause heavy casualties among them.
Naturally, these routes were not too worrisome for jonin. But in a war, a large number of chunin and genin could play a big role. Without enough foot soldiers, it was useless to run into the Land of Fire’s interior with just a few jonin.
On the surface, during the war between the five great nations, the forces were not allowed to harm civilians or maliciously destroy towns. So, jonin could only gather information. If they charged into Konoha, it would be tantamount to delivering their heads.
In the current circumstances, the allied forces of Suna and Iwa could only disperse their people to attack the strongholds. Three full months had already passed. Tonan didn’t make a move even once.
Nara Shikaku had no choice but to order Leaf ninjas to stop the assassination missions and withdraw to the strongholds and guard them to death. At the same time, he asked Konoha for reinforcements. Finally, after the Leaf reinforcement arrived, the situation stabilized under Shikaku’s command.
But when the reinforcement arrived, he also received a new order from Sarutobi Hiruzen. The content of the new order instructed him to dispatch more than ninety percent of Kikyo Mountain’s combat personnel. And if there was an enemy attack, he was instructed to make Tonan stand in the front.
Hiruzen’s order made it obvious that he wanted to kill Tonan with a borrowed knife. He wanted the Sand and the Stone ninjas to besiege Tonan. But in this situation, if Tonan failed to defend the base camp, then the western front would completely collapse.
The risks were too great. Hiruzen’s order of course didn’t say that he wanted to kill with a borrowed knife even if Konoha takes a heavy hit. Rather, it said that the gap in military strength was too big, so they could only use a strange move like this and take the risks.
It also said that Tonan was his disciple and he completely believed in his ability. This was very interesting. If Tonan died under the siege, then Hiruzen could throw the blame onto him. Saying, he shouldn’t have blindly believed in Tonan’s ability and overestimated him. Then, he needed to take just some responsibility for himself, but not all…
For a moment, Shikaku stared at the information scroll in his hand and fell into deep thought. He was having a hard time deciding whether to follow the order or not and how to handle this ordeal.
Yamanaka Inoichi, who was behind him, read the information and solemnly asked, “Shikaku, what are you going to do?”
“Pick a line,” Shikaku closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he muttered again, “It’s time to choose a side.”
Akimichi Choza and Inoichi looked at each other and then with a determined look, they said in unison, “You make the call. We’ll follow you.”
Shikaku closed his eyes and nodded. After that, he spoke very slowly. “Disobeying Hokage’s order during the war is treason and loss of righteousness. When all is said and done, Hokage is the current Hokage. We have no choice.”
Inoichi frowned and said with a restless heart, “But Tonan-sama… He doesn’t seem like a good person… Perhaps, he’ll retaliate against us in the future.”
Shikaku stood up abruptly and slammed the information scroll on the table. He said in a deep voice, “No, there is still an opportunity to ease up with him. I’ll stay behind in Kikyo Mountain. At that time, if Tonan-sama can’t hold on, I’ll personally bring up the rear and let him escape. It can be regarded as a life-saving grace and he might not implicate our clans in his resentment.”
Inoichi and Choza had never thought that Shikaku would decide to sacrifice himself to protect their clans. The two looked at each other quietly for a long time. Then they stared at Shikaku and said, “Ino-Shika-Cho always advance and retreat together. We’ll stay with you.”
Meanwhile, in the laboratory, Tonan looked at the masterpiece in front of him and touched his chin. He then casually mumbled to himself, “Truly… pursuit of petty pleasures thwarts high aims. I unwittingly made so many toys.”
Even though it sounded like he was complaining, he picked up the regeneration core and squeezed it into the belly of the finished red-haired puppet. Once the core was inserted, the red-haired puppet’s eyes spun a few times. Then, all of a sudden, the dull and lifeless orbs became bright and piercing.
