Within the Cloud shinobi command tent, military maps covered every available surface as the general staff worked through the night developing battle strategies.
Fourth Raikage Ai studied each proposed plan with a deep frown etched across his features. One by one, he rejected most proposals as impractical or too costly, keeping only a handful for potential implementation the following day.
Even knowing the odds were stacked against them, surrender wasn't an option he could consider.
Stepping outside the command center, Ai tilted his head back to stare at the mountain wreathed in flames. The sight filled him with rage. If only lightning would strike down from the heavens and obliterate every Konoha shinobi on that accursed peak—especially Shihouin Naraku!
"CRACK!"
His fist connected with a nearby tree, reducing it to splinters in an instant. Yet the fury burning in his expression remained undiminished.
Throughout the strategy meeting, he had fought to keep his explosive temper under control. Now, alone in the darkness, that control began to slip.
"Yugito... Bee... Darui..."
The names of the fallen escaped his lips like a prayer. As he thought of these three and all the other Cloud shinobi who had given their lives, Ai's eyes blazed with such intensity they seemed to glow red in the firelight—as if he might spontaneously awaken the Sharingan through sheer force of will.
A Cloud shinobi patrol, drawn by the sound of destruction, approached cautiously. Upon recognizing their Raikage, they exchanged knowing glances and withdrew silently. His emotional state was understandable—they had all lost too many comrades.
Given Ai's notoriously volatile temperament, the fact he had maintained composure this long was remarkable.
Another punch lashed out blindly, this time meeting only air. The force of the missed blow sent Ai stumbling forward. When he regained his balance, he discovered another massive tree had been reduced to kindling, crashing to the forest floor with a thunderous impact.
He stood transfixed by the flames consuming the mountain. Every muscle in his body bulged with barely contained violence, screaming at him to charge up that burning slope and challenge the Konoha forces to single combat.
But his rational mind held him back. He couldn't afford such recklessness.
"If only Bee weren't so badly injured," he muttered to the night air. "One Tailed Beast Bomb would flatten that mountaintop and wipe out the entire Konoha army!"
The bitter irony wasn't lost on him. Cloud Shinobi Village's two tailed beasts were both beyond reach. The Two-Tails had perished alongside Yugito Nii, and no one knew when the beast would resurrect itself. As for Killer Bee, he remained in a deep coma despite every medical effort. They had secured him in the secret training facility on Turtle Island, but hope grew dimmer with each passing day.
Ai's words were nothing but empty wishes cast into an uncaring universe.
Dawn brought renewed warfare.
This time, Cloud shinobi had adapted their tactics based on yesterday's harsh lessons. At the slightest fluctuation in the sea of flames, they would execute immediate tactical withdrawals rather than risk another catastrophic fire tornado.
However, they compensated by dramatically increasing their assault frequency. Wave after wave of ninja crashed against the mountain's defenses like an endless tide. They no longer sought decisive victory in a single push—any forward progress, however incremental, was considered worthwhile.
The Fourth Raikage had reached a grim resolution. Regardless of any future peace negotiations, Thunder Gorge must be recaptured. Without it, this war would never truly end.
Of course, such determination had to be balanced against the mounting casualties among Cloud forces. Ai burned to avenge Killer Bee, but the current situation made that nearly impossible. He couldn't simply throw away Cloud shinobi lives as if they were expendable resources.
From his vantage point atop the mountain, Naraku observed the enemy movements with growing understanding. A pattern emerged that made their strategy clear.
"Shikaku!" he called out to his tactical advisor. "Deploy the Ino-Shika-Cho formation immediately. Have them take three full ninja squads down the mountain to reinforce our border positions. Under no circumstances can we allow Cloud shinobi to break through those defensive lines—otherwise we'll find ourselves trapped up here."
"Understood!" Shikaku responded, already grasping the implications.
The legendary three-man team departed swiftly with their assigned forces, racing to intercept Cloud shinobi's flanking maneuver.
Naraku had quickly deduced the enemy's plan and moved to counter it. If Cloud forces could recapture their border strongholds, they could circle behind Konoha's position and complete an encirclement. Trapped on the mountaintop without supply lines, even Konoha's elite forces would eventually fall.
Moreover, attacking from the mountain's reverse slope would be far simpler—that side remained free of the supernatural flames.
The Fourth Raikage didn't understand how Shihouin Naraku had set an entire mountain ablaze. Using himself as a baseline for what was possible, Ai reasoned that such a feat must have pushed Naraku to his absolute limits. Surely he couldn't repeat such devastating jutsu.
Therefore, the optimal strategy was clear: divide their forces, have one group join with Dodai's remaining troops to recapture the border positions, then execute a pincer attack from both sides.
Unfortunately for Cloud shinobi, Shihouin Naraku had identified this strategy almost immediately.
"I was wondering why their attack frequency increased so dramatically," Naraku mused aloud. "Looking closer, I'm seeing the same faces rotating through multiple assault waves."
"When did the Raikage split his forces? During the night?"
Naraku felt no concern about Shikaku's ability to hold the border positions. The Cloud forces in that region faced significant challenges breaking through Konoha's defenses.
Dodai's troops had been personally defeated by Naraku during the rescue attempt for Killer Bee. They had suffered catastrophic losses in that engagement.
Currently, those forces could mount an adequate defense thanks to Lightning Country's mountainous terrain, but they lacked the strength for effective offensive operations.
Even with reinforcements from the Fourth Raikage, coordinating between two battered forces would prove difficult.
Meanwhile, Konoha's defenders not only held superior positions but rode high on a string of consecutive victories. With Shikaku's tactical genius directing them, Naraku couldn't envision a scenario where they might lose.
Watching another Cloud assault wave break against Konoha's defenses and retreat in disorder, Naraku could almost feel the Fourth Raikage's burning gaze from the base of the mountain.
"Come then," he whispered to his distant adversary. "Let's see who breaks first."
The war had evolved beyond a single battlefield. Across Lightning Country, Konoha and Cloud forces now clashed on three distinct fronts.
Thunder Gorge remained the symbolic heart of the conflict.
The Lightning Country border hosted the most savage fighting.
The supply lines became a deadly game of cat and mouse.
Smoke and chakra filled the air as powerful ninjutsu, devastating taijutsu, and precisely thrown weapons claimed lives on all sides.
Of the three theaters, the supply line battles proved least intensive—more closely resembling an elaborate game of hide-and-seek played with lethal consequences.
Konoha's forces, leveraging their superior sensory capabilities, struck from unexpected angles before melting away. Cloud shinobi responded by flooding the region with hunter teams, turning it into a test of speed and cunning.
The Thunder Gorge theater, while not the bloodiest, saw constant action. Konoha's senior advisor Shihouin Naraku commanded from his elevated position while the Fourth Raikage directed endless assaults up the burning mountain.
Their battle had evolved into something between active warfare and strategic standoff, with the continuous skirmishes serving mainly to probe for weaknesses.
But the border battles—those had devolved into pure savagery. Nara Shikaku and Dodai pitted their considerable intellects against each other, employing every conceivable tactic to achieve their objectives.
Dodai desperately needed to break through and complete the encirclement of Thunder Gorge. Shikaku was equally determined to hold every stronghold and choke point, denying passage at any cost.
Neither commander would yield an inch.
The constant flow of reinforcements and supplies to this front only intensified the carnage. Even elite jonin couldn't guarantee their survival in such chaotic melees.
Attack and defense. Ambush and counter-ambush. Deception layered upon deception. Every stratagem in the shinobi playbook was employed in pursuit of victory.
As days turned into a week of constant warfare, Cloud shinobi's position grew increasingly untenable. Their casualties far exceeded Konoha's losses. Manpower shortages became critical. Morale, already shaken by early defeats, continued its downward spiral.
Dodai still pushed to execute the original encirclement plan, but battlefield realities had shifted dramatically against them.
Back at Thunder Gorge, twenty-seven Konoha ninja maintained their vigil, watching for the next Cloud assault with weapons at the ready.
Naraku gazed up at the crystal-clear sky, feeling the weight of prolonged conflict. "The time has come. This war needs to end."
He turned to address his remaining forces. "Pack everything immediately. Prepare for withdrawal!"
"Yes, sir!"
The twenty-seven ninja—all that remained of Konoha's Thunder Gorge garrison—gathered their equipment without question. At Naraku's signal, they began their descent down the mountain's reverse slope, never looking back at the battlefield they were abandoning.
Within minutes, Shihouin Naraku stood alone atop the scarred and burning mountain, the sole defender of a position that had cost so many lives to capture and hold.
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