Seeing Jiraiya's relaxed demeanor, the weight that had been pressing down on Nara Shikaku's heart finally began to lift.
Lord Jiraiya hadn't said a word, but Nara Shikaku could sense that Tsunade-sama and the others likely already had a plan in mind.
"Hokage-sama, Lord Jiraiya — I'll go make the preparations outside."
Nara Shikaku gave a slight bow to the two of them, then turned and walked out of the Hokage's office.
Lord Senju Hashirama would be able to hold off either Uchiha Madara or First Mizukage Yuto.
As for the other one, as long as they could be kept occupied, Nara Shikaku was confident that Konoha's deep reserves could withstand the assaults from both Iwagakure and Kirigakure.
Nara Shikaku saw the situation clearly!
The key to winning this war didn't lie in defeating the enemy outright.
It lay in a single word — "stall"!
As long as Konoha could hold out against Iwagakure and Kirigakure, the trajectory of the war would shift completely, and the scales of victory would tip in Konoha's favor.
The fundamental reason was simple: if Konoha demonstrated sufficient strength, the other shinobi villages across the Shinobi World would step in voluntarily to aid them.
After Nara Shikaku left, the relaxed expression on Jiraiya's face slowly faded.
They had already devised numerous plans to deal with Uchiha Madara and Yuto, but no matter how many contingencies they prepared, Jiraiya still wasn't fully confident.
"This isn't like you, Jiraiya."
"Are you scared?"
Tsunade rarely showed such a warm expression as she looked at Jiraiya, a hint of teasing in her voice.
"Scared? How could I possibly be scared? Victory in this war will absolutely belong to Konoha!"
Jiraiya let out a snort and replied with an arrogant tone.
"That's right!"
The laziness that had been clinging to Tsunade vanished in an instant. Determination flashed in her eyes, and the aura of one of the Legendary Sannin radiated from her body.
As the shinobi forces of the three Great Villages began to march out one after another.
The entire Shinobi World was plunged into turmoil!
In an instant, the atmosphere grew tense. Every village in the Shinobi World had its eyes fixed on this war.
Countless shinobi villages watched this conflict that was destined to reshape the landscape of the entire Shinobi World.
All three fronts erupted into battle simultaneously!
There was no longer any possibility of negotiation between the sides, so there was no need for restraint.
Kunai and explosive tags flew across the battlefields.
All manner of jutsu collided with one another, producing deafening explosions.
The battlefields transformed into meat grinders in an instant, endlessly devouring the shinobi poured in by both sides.
Though none of the three Great Villages had committed their full strength from the outset, all three fronts entered a white-hot state within a short time.
Approximately three days passed.
After probing the Konoha positions on the first day, Kirigakure launched a full-scale assault on days two and three.
But the results were far from satisfactory!
The various Konoha units showed no desire to attack. Most of them held their positions firmly, refusing to take the initiative under any circumstances.
They were clearly intent on stalling out the opposing forces.
Facing Konoha's troops — holed up like a turtle in its shell and refusing to budge — both the Kirigakure and Iwagakure commanders found themselves at an impasse.
On the battlefield in the Land of Bears!
What had once been lush woodlands and fields now lay in ruins, the ground pockmarked with craters and overgrown with weeds.
On a hill roughly four to five meters high, two figures stood quietly at the summit.
"Dawn already? Looks like your plan didn't work."
Kimimaro raised his head to look at the sun slowly rising in the east, his face expressionless as he spoke.
Hoshigaki Kisame looked toward the direction of the Konoha encampment, an ugly expression crossing his face.
"These Konoha bastards — we handed them the perfect opportunity, and they still wouldn't attack at night!"
"You don't think they're seriously planning to play turtle and just hole up here forever, do you?!"
Hoshigaki Kisame's eye twitched as he spoke with evident frustration.
This was already the fourth day. They had been held up by this Konoha force for this long.
Back when they had left Kirigakure, Hoshigaki Kisame had been thrilled at the prospect of finally clashing with Konoha's shinobi in earnest.
But who could have predicted it would turn out like this?
He felt like he had all this power with nowhere to use it!
Compared to the thoroughly annoyed Hoshigaki Kisame, Kimimaro's expression was far calmer.
"We can't keep dragging this out. The longer this goes on, the more terrifying Aburame Torune's jutsu will become. Eventually, this entire area will become a toxic wasteland."
"This invasion route could end up completely useless!"
Hoshigaki Kisame suppressed his frustration, a flicker of seriousness in his eyes.
There were two main reasons they hadn't been able to break through Konoha's defenses in a short time.
The first was that the Konoha shinobi refused to engage offensively, staying holed up inside their fortifications.
The second and more critical reason was Aburame Torune's terrifying poison insects.
Unlike the standard insects controlled by most Aburame clan members, the insects housed within Aburame Torune's body were nano-sized and carried a lethal venom!
Once these insects made contact with a target, the victim's cells would be rapidly destroyed, leading to death.
If the infected area wasn't amputated quickly enough, the poison insects would spread throughout the entire body.
This crucial intelligence had been obtained at the cost of over a dozen Mist shinobi's lives.
Against such terrifying insects, the only one on the Kirigakure side who could temporarily resist their corrosion was Hoshigaki Kisame, thanks to his blade, Samehada.
Ordinary shinobi didn't dare to get anywhere near Aburame Torune!
While Aburame Torune's individual combat strength wasn't exceptional, his insect abilities were devastatingly suited to the battlefield.
And most importantly!
Two days ago, the Konoha forces had begun collecting animal and human corpses, piling them together in large numbers.
Aburame Torune had implanted his poison insects into these dead bodies, using the corpses as breeding nests.
The dead tissue then began generating poisonous gas!
Facing this kind of terrifying toxic gas, Hoshigaki Kisame didn't dare to order his Mist shinobi to charge the battlefield again.
Even with Samehada's ability to temporarily resist the poison, charging into the enemy camp alone would be practically suicidal.
Against hundreds of Konoha shinobi, even someone as confident in his own strength as Hoshigaki Kisame wouldn't be that reckless!
"Aburame Torune's jutsu is extremely well-suited to the battlefield. If we can't kill him, he'll be a major obstacle for us."
A cold gleam flashed in Kimimaro's eyes, and a palpable killing intent radiated from him.
"Is there any way to lure him out?" Hoshigaki Kisame asked, frowning.
He was well aware of how dangerous Aburame Torune's jutsu was to ordinary shinobi.
Kimimaro shook his head slowly. If there were a way, they wouldn't still be sitting here waiting.
A sharp whistling sound came from behind them, and within a few bounds, a Mist shinobi appeared at their side.
This shinobi wore a black bodysuit beneath a grayish-brown flak jacket. Perched on his shoulder was a gray bird roughly the size of a palm.
"My lords, Lord Yuto has sent a reply."
The Mist shinobi spoke with a reverent expression, holding his hand to his chest. The small gray bird on his shoulder opened its beak and regurgitated a scroll.
This shinobi was the messenger responsible for relaying communications between the field forces and Kirigakure.
In the entire Shinobi World, was there any technique more convenient for delivering intelligence than a summoning jutsu?
Seeing the scroll in the messenger's hand, Hoshigaki Kisame let out an awkward cough, a hint of embarrassment crossing his face.
Being held in place by a relatively unknown shinobi — and having that fact reported all the way to Lord Yuto!
Thinking back to how high-spirited he'd been when first leading this Kirigakure unit out of the village, even Hoshigaki Kisame — who normally didn't care what others thought of him — felt a flush of embarrassment when it came to Lord Yuto.
Kimimaro, however, couldn't have cared less about Hoshigaki Kisame's feelings. With a serious expression, he took the scroll from the messenger and opened it.
Reading the contents of the scroll, Kimimaro blinked in surprise, a look of confusion in his eyes.
"What did Lord Yuto write?"
Hoshigaki Kisame noticed Kimimaro's expression and raised an eyebrow with curiosity.
Kimimaro didn't answer directly. Instead, he handed the scroll over.
Hoshigaki Kisame took it and saw that only three words were written on the scroll — "Hoshigakure"!
"If I remember correctly, this village called Hoshigakure should be located within the Land of Bears."
A thoughtful look crossed Kimimaro's eyes as he spoke softly.
Their current battlefield with Konoha was situated in the border region between the Land of Bears and the Land of Fire.
Because of this, all intelligence regarding the Land of Bears had been thoroughly scouted before the war even began.
Hoshigakure wasn't particularly well-known in the Shinobi World and rarely interacted with other villages. It was essentially an isolationist village.
Against such a minor shinobi village, no one had ever expected them to intervene in a conflict between two Great Shinobi Villages. So no one had paid them any mind.
Now, seeing the name of this village on the scroll from Lord Yuto, Kimimaro realized it was clearly a hint.
But Kimimaro didn't have much knowledge about this village himself. He looked over at Hoshigaki Kisame.
"I think I've heard that Hoshigakure possesses some kind of unique flight jutsu?"
Hoshigaki Kisame spoke with a thoughtful look on his face.
Suddenly!
Hoshigaki Kisame's eyes lit up, as if something had clicked.
That's right — a flight jutsu!
The biggest disadvantage they faced on the battlefield right now was the toxic gas that Aburame Torune had created using corpses.
If they could fly over it from the sky, this so-called poison barrier would be completely useless.
And attacking the Konoha forces from the air would give them an overwhelming advantage!
Having found a solution to the problem, Hoshigaki Kisame didn't hesitate for a moment.
He took Kimimaro and several Mist shinobi, slipped away from their position quietly, and sped toward Hoshigakure's location.
As for the battlefield, Hoshigaki Kisame temporarily left it in the hands of the other Jonin.
The Konoha forces' objective seemed to be stalling them out. As long as the Mist forces didn't attack, the Konoha side wouldn't attack either.
Meanwhile.
At the Konoha encampment.
A Hyuga Jonin kept scanning the battlefield perimeter with his Byakugan. Aside from a few Mist shinobi conducting reconnaissance, there were no signs of movement from the main Kirigakure force.
"Looks like Hoshigaki Kisame hasn't found a way around your insects either."
The Hyuga Jonin deactivated his Byakugan and turned to the taciturn Aburame Torune beside him with a slight smile.
Aburame Torune had originally belonged to Shimura Danzo's Root division. But after Danzo's death, Lord Jiraiya had disbanded Root, and its members were absorbed into Jiraiya's Anbu.
Who could have predicted that this unassuming Aburame clan shinobi would play such a massive role on the battlefield?
Aburame Torune gave a slow nod. He didn't show any arrogance — his personality was simply reserved by nature.
The nano-sized poison insects inside Aburame Torune's body were lethal to anyone who touched them, with Aburame Torune himself being the sole exception thanks to his antibodies.
Because of this, Aburame Torune kept his entire body wrapped in bandages at all times, which had contributed to his somewhat solitary disposition.
The Hyuga Jonin had already learned about his personality beforehand, so he wasn't bothered by Aburame Torune's coldness.
"How much longer until that jutsu of yours is fully ready?"
The Hyuga Jonin paused briefly before asking softly.
"At least two more days."
Aburame Torune ran through the calculations in his head, a hint of gravity in his eyes.
Forbidden Jutsu — Poison Jar Technique!
That was the jutsu the Hyuga Jonin was referring to.
The Poison Jar Technique required enormous quantities of corpses, which was why they had been collecting them so diligently over the past few days.
The toxic gas produced in the initial stage was only the beginning. The true objective was to accumulate enough gas, then detonate it, creating a devastating large-scale attack.
Not only would this gas be lethal to humans and animals, but until it fully dissipated, it would render the surrounding environment a dead zone.
Konoha's plan was to use Aburame Torune's Poison Jar Technique to generate a terrifying cloud of poison gas that would completely blanket the battlefield.
When that happened, the Kirigakure forces could very well be wiped out in one stroke. Even if they weren't completely annihilated, their losses would be catastrophic.
And that wasn't all!
The battlefield region on the border between the Land of Bears and the Land of Fire had a basin-like topography.
Once large quantities of poison gas were generated, the terrain would prevent it from dispersing easily. Instead, it would linger over the area for an extended period.
When that time came, the battlefield on the border between the Land of Bears and the Land of Fire would become a natural defensive barrier!
The Kirigakure forces' route through the Land of Bears into the Land of Fire would be permanently blocked!
Konoha's two-front defense against Kirigakure would be reduced to a single front, dramatically relieving the pressure on their forces.
[
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