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"Everyone, I'll leave the Land of Fire in your hands!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke with a serious expression, and then Hatake Sakumo, who stood in front of him, stepped forward, bowed slightly, and said, "Please reassure, Lord Hokage, we will complete the mission without fail."
Subsequently, Hatake Sakumo turned around and said to the Jonin accompanying him on this mission, "Everyone, lead your squads, set out from Konoha, and establish a camp at the designated location, let's go!"
"Yes!"
More than twenty people responded and then disappeared from the rooftop of the Hokage Building using Instant Body Jutsu.
A troop of fifteen hundred cannot depart all at once; it might be feasible for ordinary people, but it's impractical for ninja.
The reconnaissance unit had already set out, followed by the ninja corps.
Uchiha Yoichi also set off around noon with his students, fellow clan ninja, and a ninja corps led by five Jonin.
By the time they arrived, the first group had almost completed setting up the camp, and Uchiha Yoichi went on to allocate personnel by region.
The tents of his three students were not far from Uchiha Yoichi's own tent, as they were his students, it was permissible to give them special care.
Once everyone had arrived, the Barrier Team set up a barrier around the camp.
With over fifteen hundred people, the camp was quite spread out, because the opponent had a Jinchuriki, and clustering together would just invite the Hidden Cloud Village's Jinchuriki to throw a Tailed Beast Ball at them.
Considering that the Land of Hot Water had three thousand Hidden Cloud Ninja, it suddenly felt that this number of people was entirely insufficient.
After the camp was set up, Uchiha Yoichi headed to the command tent for a meeting.
Soon, everyone had arrived; all were Jonin, as only Jonin could participate.
"Everyone, first let me speak about the intelligence we've gathered. This war is decidedly disadvantageous to us; the confirmed intelligence is that both the Third Generation Raikage and the Eight-tailed Jinchuriki, A's partner, are here. As for the Third Generation Raikage's son A, it is yet to be confirmed whether he's here."
"There are also many well-known Jonin from the Hidden Cloud, like Kimura Toko and Isaji.... Due to the last defeat of the Third Generation Raikage within the Land of Fire, this time they bring a large number of ninja to seek revenge, we must not let our guard down."
After Hatake Sakumo finished speaking, he distributed the intelligence for everyone to read.
Once they had finished reading the intelligence, Hatake Sakumo asked, "Does anyone have any ideas? Feel free to speak if you have thoughts on how to repel the Hidden Cloud."
Seeing no one speaking up, Uchiha Yoichi was the first to ask, "Commander Hatake, what is our goal regarding the Hidden Cloud? Should we drive them back to the Land of Lightning, or should we aim to annihilate their ninja?"
"The primary goal is the former; if the opponent targets us, then it will be very difficult to eliminate the Genin and Chunin on the Hidden Cloud's side."
Hatake Sakumo responded, on the battlefield, for the strong confronting the weak, it's often a one-sided massacre.
If Hatake Sakumo faced fifty Hidden Cloud Chunin, and if those fifty dispersed immediately, a few might survive in the end. But if they chose to fight Hatake Sakumo head-on, the only outcome would be total annihilation.
Therefore, in the wars of the ninja world, the strong often confront the strong, rarely giving opportunities to allow Kage-level powerhouses to massacre the opponent's Genin and Chunin.
Uchiha Yoichi asked, "Can we employ your tactic from the Second Great Ninja War against Hidden Sand Village, Commander Hatake?"
Hatake Sakumo, after thinking for a moment, then looked at the others and said, "What do you all think?"
"If Commander Hatake is absent, and the Third Generation Raikage launches a strong attack, we may not be able to hold him back...."
One of the civilian Jonin spoke up, mentioning that if Commander Hatake were not present, it'd be difficult to fully block both the Third Generation Raikage and the Eight-tailed Jinchuriki.
"Let's first clear the borders; the opponent might have similar ideas, and our logistics are also very important."
"The characteristic of Hidden Cloud ninja in infiltration poses an advantage indeed, we must be careful."
"Commander Hatake, let's first use small elite teams to disperse and probe, forming targeted squads based on the characteristics of the Hidden Cloud ninja....."
In the command tent, many Jonin offered suggestions, some of which were quite practical and were largely conclusions drawn from the previous Great Ninja War.
Hatake Sakumo nodded and said, "Our numbers are not as many as theirs; besides the regular task squads, we'll additionally form thirty small teams to vigilantly guard the borders."
Uchiha Yoichi remained silent, thinking that if he used his trump card Godzilla, he indeed had a chance to kill the Third Generation Raikage.
However, this time the Third Generation Raikage was definitely not a fool and wouldn't let his heat radiation hit him; last time it was purely because the Third Generation Raikage was standing still in the Heavenly Transfer Jutsu, and he did not know Uchiha Yoichi had such a move of heat radiation beam.
One was missing intelligence, and the other was the Third Generation Raikage's great confidence in his body's defenses, as numerous Wind Release Ninjutsu couldn't break his body; what could a Lightning Release Uchiha do?
That was surely the Third Generation Raikage's thought at the time, but he underestimated that Uchiha Yoichi's heat radiation was an attack concentrated and refined to the point of near transformation in quality.
Now, if the big move couldn't hit the target, Uchiha Yoichi facing the Third Generation Raikage would certainly be at a disadvantage, and if Hatake Sakumo left, he wasn't confident in protecting the ninja camp against the Third Generation Raikage's assault.
But if he revealed those forbidden techniques he knew, then the situation would be different, although Uchiha Yoichi would never use those unless it was a matter of life and death.
"Mr. Yoichi, do you want to lead your small team, or would you like your teammates to be re-assigned?"
Hatake Sakumo turned to look at Uchiha Yoichi, indicating that if teammates were reassigned, they'd be of strong capabilities.
"I'll follow your decision, Commander Hatake."
Uchiha Yoichi did not choose to act on his own; his personal strength in this war was also indispensable, and acting on his own could potentially disrupt Commander Hatake's arrangements.
Moreover, the war had just begun, so there was no need to rush.
Hatake Sakumo said, "Alright, then I'll re-assign three teammates for you, and as for your students, let them take on tasks within the camp first."
Uchiha Yoichi was, besides himself, the most powerful ninja in the camp, and Hatake Sakumo naturally had other plans for him.
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"Lord Raikage, Konoha's ninja corps should now have arrived in this region. Yesterday, we had three reconnaissance ninja who didn't return, and their mission was here."
The Hidden Cloud Jonin Isaji pointed out to the Third Generation Raikage on the map, but the area was vast, and finding the exact location of Konoha's camp would require reconnaissance.
If intelligence could be gathered, then they could directly have the Jinchuriki sneak nearby and then unleash a Tailed Beast Ball.
Konoha surely knew this too, so they would definitely deploy many cleanup teams to prevent them from discovering Konoha's camp location after the camp had been established.
Mass mobilization was the last resort, as that was when the decisive battle would occur, with the battlefield in chaos, and the Jinchuriki could only truly unleash power if they were at the forefront.
"Find out, send fifty teams, even if it means overturning this area to find Konoha's camp position!"
The Third Generation Raikage slammed the table and said in a deep voice, finding Konoha's camp position was the key to terminating them.
"What about Yugito?"
Isaji replied, "When we set out, she hadn't yet begun communicating with the Tailed Beast; it may take her a long time to enter the battlefield, we aren't sure if she'll make it for this war...."
Yugito was the new Two-tailed Jinchuriki; though talented, she had been a Jinchuriki for less than two months. If it weren't for an accident with the previous Two-tailed Jinchuriki, they wouldn't have hastily replaced the Jinchuriki, resulting in a lack of a main force now.
"As long as she can communicate with the Two-tails and gain acceptance, she can join the battle, even if it's just for a few minutes!"
The Third Generation Raikage, recalling the past defeat, was eager for revenge; once recognition from the Tailed Beast was obtained, the Tailed Beast could assist the Jinchuriki in battle through possession.
However, given Yugito's age and Chakra, it might only last a few minutes.
Yet with the Tailed Beast's destructive power, those few minutes would be enough.