As night fell, the Kazekage stared at the still-smoldering wreckage of the logistics puppets, his expression grim. With the total loss of the accompanying supplies, the Suna forces were left with only two days' worth of dry rations carried on their persons. Worse, they didn't even have the materials left to set up basic perimeter warding for a camp. This was a dire situation.
The Third Kazekage stood to the side, watching his subordinates inspect the traces of the battle. His fists were clenched so tightly his entire body trembled.
He had realized the danger the moment the first report of an attack reached him and had immediately led his Shadow Guard to reinforce. However, the enemy had led him by the nose, using swarms of insects to launch sporadic attacks that drew his attention, goading him into a pursuit that caused him to miss his rescue targets twice in a row.
Until now, the Konoha shinobi had not launched a single direct attack against him. Yet, they had systematically dismantled two logistics units right under his nose. The Kazekage had been utterly humiliated.
Seeing the flames devouring the last of the supplies, the Kazekage's reason snapped. He summoned a sky-blotting cloud of Iron Sand and flew directly into the battlefield, ruthlessly slaughtering every insect he could find.
But the Kazekage's outburst was nothing more than a meaningless vent. The Hidden Sand had chosen this high-risk surprise raid as a final struggle precisely because their war resources were exhausted. They simply didn't have the strength to continue a conventional war.
The raid was only in its second day, and a Konoha ninja they hadn't even seen had already burned a third of their total mission supplies.
While more resources were still stockpiled back at the village, the remaining two-thirds were no longer sufficient. There was no longer any margin for error, and the viability of the entire raid plan was now in question.
The Suna strategists ran the numbers and presented the Kazekage with three possibilities:
Austerity: From this moment on, the raid force must reduce consumption. Every ninja's food rations would be cut by a third, and combat supplies would be reserved exclusively for the elites.
The Blitz: Maintain current consumption but cross the Land of Rivers within three days. Then, intercept a Konoha supply line within twenty-four hours and capture all their provisions intact.
The Miracle: Pray that the three thousand ninjas of the raid force could perform far beyond their limits, fighting continuously for seven days to swiftly defeat the main Konoha army and Orochimaru's battalion.
Upon hearing the third suggestion, the Kazekage nearly beat the fool to death on the spot. If his men were capable of such an exaggerated feat, he would have led ten thousand Suna ninjas to trample Konoha into the dirt long ago. He'd be contemplating world conquest, not survival.
However, the strategists were unanimous on one point: everything depended on first eliminating the Konoha ninjas who had attacked the logistics units. If they lost another convoy, they might as well march back to Sunagakure and prepare the surrender documents.
"Tomorrow, they must die," the Third Kazekage commanded through gritted teeth. "Deploy all elites. Scour every inch of the land for any trace of them."
After successfully completing four raids and eluding the Kazekage's personal pursuit, Team Aburame retreated to their hidden camp to rest.
The camp was a cave system they had excavated, featuring two ninety-degree bends to mask light and sound. In the deepest chamber, Tetsumaru had started a fire. A kettle and an iron pot sat over the flames, and a savory mushroom and meat broth was already beginning to bubble.
Uchiha Hiro and Inuzuka O stood guard at the cave entrance. Their excitement hadn't faded as they chattered away about the day's battles and that brief, terrifying glimpse of the Iron Sand filling the sky.
The three had followed their captain for a full day of sprinting, winning four victories in vastly different styles. The final two battles had been fought even as the Kazekage himself joined the fray. Over three hundred Suna ninjas, led by the Kazekage and his Shadow Guard, had chased them all afternoon. Yet, through various deceptions, Tetsumaru had misled the Kazekage's judgment—using insects, insect clones, and shadow clones to lead the Sand ninjas in circles until they completely lost the trail of Team 121.
The final battle had been even more unbelievable. Tetsumaru had led the squad on a path directly toward the Kazekage, practically brushing past him in the confusion of the maneuvers to strike a gap in the formation and annihilate the final logistics unit.
It was the stuff of legends.
Among the three, Nara Yoshito was the most shocked. The Nara clan was historically renowned for their intellect, serving as the primary strategists for every Hokage. Precisely because he knew more about the theory of warfare, he understood just how exaggerated today's achievements were.
Tetsumaru himself was in a more contemplative mood. On one hand, he was pleased with his success; for the first time, he had successfully modeled his tactics after "the Teacher" (a legendary strategist from his past life) and achieved satisfying results.
On the other hand, he had remotely commanded a siege against a Suna battalion from a distance of over a hundred kilometers. The target had been a Suna force in the southern part of his zone, numbering 284 ninjas.
Tetsumaru had massed fifty Scythe-Mantises, four hundred Exploding Locusts, and four million standard insects to launch a frontal assault on this battalion.
The opening salvo of explosive traps had claimed forty Suna casualties, but the Sand ninjas showed no panic. They had formed a tight defensive perimeter and fought with discipline under a unified command.
Faced with the four-hour siege of millions of bugs, the Sand used Ninjutsu, toxins, and explosive tags to resist, killing nearly a million standard insects. Because they were well-organized, the ninjas were able to rotate and rest; the continuous attacks failed to exhaust their chakra. Ultimately, over 150 Suna ninjas successfully broke out and regrouped with the Kazekage's main body.
During the battle, the Scythe-Mantises had launched several charges. However, against highly coordinated ninjutsu volleys, their defenses proved insufficient. All fifty Mantises were killed, yielding very few results.
Most Suna casualties had been caused by the four hundred Exploding Locusts. Their debut in the first wave had been spectacular: sixteen of the twenty locusts in the first flight had successfully breached the Suna perimeter to detonate, killing over fifty people.
Ten Scythe-Mantises had used that explosion as cover to rush the lines and kill another seven or eight ninjas—this was the only successful charge the giant insects managed.
After that, the Sand gathered enough intel on the Mantises and Locusts to counter them effectively. Even as Tetsumaru committed more Locusts, the returns diminished.
By the time the Locusts were spent and the Mantises were all dead, the swarm—lacking a high-tier combat core—could no longer threaten the Suna formation. They couldn't even maintain the encirclement, allowing the Sand to escape.
The biggest issue was that Tetsumaru was commanding from ultra-long range. His intel was fuzzy and his reaction time was severely lagged, causing the swarm to lose all sense of rhythm. They had essentially been reduced to "mindless A-clicking," which plummeted their combat effectiveness.
The battle proved that while a Scythe-Mantis had the raw power of a Chunin, it was only a Taijutsu-type. Once the scale of combat involved hundreds of participants, the insects couldn't compare to the utility of a ninja.
Ninjas were glass cannons: high attack, high mobility, but low health and defense. However, the power of Ninjutsu was simply too great. If enough ninjas stood together, their continuous spells formed an impenetrable wall of fire. A battalion of over two hundred ninjas could rotate effectively, recovering chakra while others fought. Pure numbers could not win against that.
In such a scenario, the swarm's numerical advantage was not absolute.
More importantly, a ninja unit of that size had the organizational capacity to perform an orderly retreat even when low on chakra. Without the Exploding Locusts providing "long-range artillery," the Sand casualties might not have even reached thirty.
The data showed that as the battle progressed, the Suna ninjas became more efficient while the swarm became more futile. As information on his tactics leaked, the swarm's effectiveness would only continue to drop.
To defeat a large ninja force, Tetsumaru realized he had to be on-site to command, maximizing the numerical advantage while accepting that he would have to trade over a million insect lives for victory.
Tetsumaru sighed. Without mid-level command units, the swarm could only fight effectively if he was the central processing unit. He had to extinguish his delusion of "one man destroying an army" from a distance.
Despite the imperfections, Tetsumaru was the victor of five battles today. His worries were the "happy problems" of a winner. He put them aside, finished his meal, and went to sleep.
On the other side, the Kazekage could not rest.
After dark, reports from all the raid units began to converge at his tent. Because of the attacks by the Konoha squad, he had to make a decision immediately.
Most of the raid units had successfully slipped into the Land of Rivers, annihilating two Konoha patrols without letting a single word get out.
However, one battalion and the Kazekage's own personal force had run into trouble. Specifically, his Shadow Guard had failed to capture the Konoha attackers, meaning the news of their presence would definitely leak.
By tomorrow, or even tonight, Konoha or Orochimaru's forces would be mobilizing reinforcements. The element of surprise—the very foundation of the raid—was lost. However, there was still a tiny window of time where a gamble might pay off. Should they push forward or retreat?
Twenty-four Jonin, the Shadow Guard, and thousands of Suna ninjas were waiting for the Kazekage's word. The fate of Sunagakure and the lives of thousands of his people rested on his next thought.
Finally, the Kazekage dismissed everyone, telling them to rest and wait for orders. He sat alone in his tent, agonizing over the choices.
"When I was young, I always thought the Second was indecisive and lacked vision," he muttered. "Only now do I realize Shamon was not only far-sighted and wise, but even the 'decisiveness' I once looked down upon is something I cannot match."
The night passed without incident. The Kazekage made his decision: they would continue east.
The next day, orders from Orochimaru arrived. He demanded that Tetsumaru hold his ground for at least five more days and informed him that Konoha was already mobilizing.
"Five days... then I'll have to fight another hard battle."
After much deliberation, Tetsumaru resolved to engage in a high-intensity clash. This decision was based on yesterday's results and the movement of the Suna forces this morning.
He had won the small-scale battle in the south, but half the Suna ninjas had escaped. The results proved that his pre-war estimates were off. Even with Mantises as the backbone and Locusts as artillery, the swarm could not handle a large ninja army without his direct, real-time command.
This morning, the Suna forces continued their eastward push. They had fanned out, deploying over a dozen companies of thirty to fifty men, along with battalions of two to three hundred, scouring the area. These units gave the Suna army a control radius of over fifty kilometers. They were about to be right in his face.
His chosen defensive strategy was a mix of mobile and guerrilla warfare across a wide theater. But as "the Teacher" had written, there are three prerequisites for successful guerrilla warfare: Information Superiority, Living Space, and Tactical Deterrence.
Tetsumaru had the intel and the space. But because he hadn't faced the Kazekage head-on and had failed to completely wipe out a Suna battalion yesterday, his "deterrence" was insufficient to stall their advance.
Without enough deterrence, Suna would execute their plan without hesitation. They felt safe spreading into small, flexible units, acting like a giant net to sweep for him. His "living space" would be compressed until guerrilla tactics became impossible.
Decades ago, General Peng had insisted on annihilating the Okazaki Battalion even if it meant "breaking the pots and selling the scrap metal" (committing every resource), specifically to deter the enemy from invading the base area in battalion-sized units. It was about winning room to breathe.
By the same logic, Tetsumaru had to prove to the Sand that he possessed the power to wipe out a 300-man ninja unit in one go. He had to force them to cluster into groups of at least 400.
If they did that, the Suna force could only split into three or four units at most, and their control radius would be compressed to twenty kilometers. His maneuverability would be preserved.
The plan for today: annihilate a Suna battalion—or more—to restore the missing link of deterrence.
Tetsumaru gathered his squad and explained his decision.
The three boys were electric with anticipation. They had spent half a month practicing "Giant Insect Breakthrough" tactics with their captain; they had supreme confidence in the strategy and were dying to cut loose.
Tetsumaru smiled. "Then let's go big."
"Going big" didn't mean a reckless frontal charge. Tetsumaru knew he didn't have the raw power to win a fair fight—if he did, he wouldn't be bothering with guerrilla tactics; he'd just surround and slaughter them.
Using his sensory network, Team 121 ghosted around the Suna scout battalions, patiently observing the main army's movements.
The Sand chose to keep attacking. Twelve hundred ninjas fanned out, with four 100-man battalions as the core and sixteen 30). They were moving fast.
It was an "attack-on-the-march" formation. If Tetsumaru didn't find a way to stop them, the Sand would clear the Land of Rivers in two days and enter the heart of the Land of Fire. If he tried to block them, the fanned-out companies would close in like a fishing net to trap and destroy him.
Nara Yoshito processed the intel Tetsumaru provided and spoke up after a moment of thought. "The Suna commander is certain the Konoha forces here are insufficient. He's chosen a formation that prioritizes both mobility and aggression."
"Sensei is right. We have to hit them hard today to make them slow down."
"We're too few to stop them if they stay spread out like this."
Tetsumaru gave a thumbs-up, acknowledging the boy's sharp mind, but then held up an index finger and shook it, silencing Yoshito before he could say more.
Inuzuka O nodded frantically as if he understood, though he clearly didn't. All he knew was that a hard fight was coming. "Let's just hit them already! I can't wait!"
As long as I get to fight, say whatever you want. I don't care, I won't understand it anyway.
Uchiha Hiro understood about half of it. He wondered why Tetsumaru had stopped Yoshito from finishing his thought, but with his blood pumping for battle, he didn't dwell on it.