Chapter 365: Steady Progress
Upon receiving the news that the southern villages had been completely slaughtered, Hanzo the Salamander was consumed by a towering rage. He temporarily halted his talks with Dana, declaring he would investigate the matter personally.
Note: it was a slaughter, not merely an attack.
The nature of the act was fundamentally different.
Over the years, the people of the Land of Rain had come to view Hanzo as a guardian deity. This was precisely why his house arrest of the Rain Daimyo hadn't caused much of a stir. This kind of atrocity was a direct slap in Hanzo's face.
Even Dana marveled at how insane Sunagakure had become. If this had happened within Federation territory, he would have been just as livid.
Hanzo refused Dana's offer of assistance, unwilling to lose face. He stated that the Rain ninja could handle it easily and asked Dana to wait patiently in the village for a day or two.
Since they were on Hanzo's turf, Dana showed respect but reminded him again to be wary of Genjutsu and enemies capable of hiding underground or inside trees.
Two days later, Hanzo returned as promised. Though he looked travel-worn, his anger had subsided significantly.
Naturally, Dana performed another Genjutsu screening on him just to be safe.
"A pack of rats hiding in the shadows!" Hanzo cursed.
According to Hanzo, he found over a dozen Suna infiltration squads at the southern border. He killed many of them, chasing the survivors all the way back into the Great Desert of the Land of Wind before losing their trail.
Although he had struck back with the force of thunder, Hanzo could not bring himself to be happy. This incident was only the beginning; it proved that the Land of Rain could no longer remain a bystander in this era.
A dozen squads sounded like a lot, but at three men per squad, that was only a few dozen ninja. Sunagakure could easily afford such a loss.
Moreover, this time Hanzo had personally led the charge. If he weren't there next time, it was anyone's guess which side would suffer more.
This was the most irritating aspect of guerrilla tactics: you couldn't find the main force, you couldn't wipe them out completely, and even if you had overwhelming combat power, you couldn't resolve the conflict in one blow.
The Federation high command had previously considered mobilizing a massive army to replicate their victory against Konoha by leveling Suna and Iwa. However, after multiple simulations, the plan was scrapped.
Suna and Iwa were different from Konoha back then. Now, the villages were mere symbols; their real power was distributed externally, including their command centers.
To put it simply, the current low-intensity combat was confined to the borders. But if the Federation tried to push forward by force, the entire Land of Wind and Land of Earth would become a quagmire that would swallow the Federation whole.
Every mile the frontline pushed forward would be a new chaotic battlefield for the Federation to manage.
Would you govern the occupied territories? If you didn't, the occupation was meaningless. If you did, Iwa and Suna would likely welcome the Federation into their home turf to play guerrilla warfare, showing the Cloud exactly what it meant to see an enemy behind every blade of grass.
Sunagakure, in particular...
There was a reason Suna could lose war after war and still stand tall.
Dana couldn't help but recall the "Graveyards of Empires" from his past life. Ninja and guerrilla warfare were a match made in hell.
The Federation's strategy, therefore, was to move steadily.
The Federation had been established for less than half a year. There were too many areas to consolidate. Iwa and Suna currently had nothing left to lose, and if the Federation let itself be led by the nose into their territory, it would be playing right into their hands.
A ninja war could last years, even a decade. Counting from the Three-and-a-Half-Day War, barely a year had passed.
The Federation's top priority was to stabilize itself, digest its gains, strengthen its capabilities, and turn its internal territories into a monolithic block.
The "Anti-Cloud Alliance" currently looked like it was in full swing, using its massive numerical and positional disadvantage to engage in asymmetric warfare, attempting to move a mountain with a lever. But eventually, their foundations would become unstable, their people would grow resentful, and with the passage of time, they would become insignificant.
On this basis, Dana didn't mind accelerating the process. He had dispatched the Ashen Bandits to contact Sasori, wondering if the "destined rival" of the Third Kazekage had already developed some bold ideas.
If the timeline wasn't converging on its own, Dana decided he would give it a push.
However, based on the reports, it seemed even the Third Kazekage was being controlled by Genjutsu...
A flash of doubt rose in Dana's mind.
How could Black Zetsu, having lost Madara Uchiha, possess such massive influence? Was he acting out of desperation, or was there a variable Dana didn't know about?
Thinking of this, Dana contacted the Cloud Spire via the golden slug.
"Locate the remains of the Gold and Silver Brothers. Have Tobirama Senju reanimate them with Edo Tensei."
The staff member on the other end swallowed hard. "Yes, Consul-sama. And then?"
"Then nothing. Let Tobirama-senpai curse them out to vent some steam, then lock them in coffins, slap a seal on them, and hand them to the Sealing Corps. Just make sure no one else can reanimate them."
".....Understood."
Those two were very important. As "pseudo-Jinchuriki" who held Nine-Tails chakra, they had to be in his hands. No matter what Black Zetsu planned, he eventually needed all the Tailed Beasts' chakra to save his mother.
Whether it was the actual Nine-Tails or the backup, it was best to keep them under lock and key to prevent accidents.
Unfortunately, neither the Federation nor Konoha possessed the remains of Madara Uchiha [1]; otherwise, Dana would have reanimated him just to check his status.
Suddenly, Dana thought of Dan Kato's anomaly and added:
"When performing the reanimation, do it within a barrier. Stay safe; Tobirama-senpai will understand what I mean. Also, compile a detailed record of Dan Kato's daily activities. I want to see it when I return."
"By your command!"
In the Great Desert.
Inside a dilapidated temple, an old monk sat cross-legged in meditation. The dim light of a flickering lamp gave the decaying Buddha statue behind him an eerie, somber feeling.
Outside the temple, amidst the never-ending sound of wind and sand, screams began to drift in.
"Who's there?!"
"Don't come any closer!"
"Quick, notify the vill—URGH!"
The sounds of slaughter gradually faded. The temple door was kicked open.
"So, you are the monk Bunpuku?"
A man wearing ancient Sengoku armor strolled in grandly.
Bunpuku opened his eyes slightly. Turning his head, he met a pair of bizarre purple eyes with ripple patterns.
The One-Tail Shukaku inside him suddenly roared: "Bunpuku! Run!"
But Bunpuku simply shook his head. "If the guards outside could not escape, how can I, a prisoner, hope to do so?"
Madara Uchiha found this interesting. The corners of his mouth curled into a smirk. "How intriguing. I heard you have been imprisoned by Suna since birth. I expected an illiterate savage who couldn't speak..."
Bunpuku clasped his hands together and bowed his head calmly. "The temple is filled with countless scriptures. They contain language, grammar, and the principles of being human."
Madara's Rinnegan shifted slightly, instantly seeing through the seal within Bunpuku.
"I see. Suna always believed you had zero combat ability, yet you are already a Perfect Jinchuriki... Not surprising. Being imprisoned since birth, you naturally wouldn't be honest with the village."
Bunpuku shook his head again.
"I hid my ability to use Shukaku's power not because of hatred... but because of love."
Madara froze for a second, then burst into a roar of laughter.