"Lord Raikage—there is indeed movement over in the Land of Rivers—"
Before Konoha even received the war reports, another Village had already known in advance that a great war was coming.
That was—the Hidden Cloud Village.
This was because their intelligence was personally relayed by Sunagakure.
Indicating they intended to strike at Konoha.
While Kumogakure's spies found it difficult to infiltrate the Land of Fire, entering the Land of Rivers was no problem.
Inside the building, the two-meter-tall Third Raikage, A, stood by the window, gazing out at the rugged scenery of towering peaks within the Village. Listening to his subordinate's report, his voice was heavy and filled with an overbearing aura. "Tell Bart and the others—have them speed up and launch an attack on the Land of Fire first. They must strike before the Hokage sends troops to reinforce the borders."
"Yes!"
Upon hearing the command, the subordinate immediately went to carry it out.
After learning that Sunagakure was highly likely to invade the Land of Fire, the Raikage had already dispatched troops toward the Land of Fire.
He wanted to see if Sunagakure really intended to act—if Sunagakure moved, then Kumogakure could strike at the same time, catching Konoha off guard.
If Sunagakure was just feinting, trying to use their hands to start this Ninja World War, the Raikage naturally wouldn't go along with it.
Instead, he would have the vanguard troops change their route.
Because—he did indeed have the intention of starting a Ninja World War, but the first target he wanted to strike was not Konoha.
It was Sunagakure.
Originally—the Raikage's plan was to launch a surprise attack on Sunagakure, kicking them while they were down since their Village had no Kage.
The things they wanted to seize were also very clear: Sunagakure's medicinal resources—including intelligence related to medicine, factory blueprints, and so on. This way, once they had the items, Kumogakure could simply follow the pattern and replicate an identical industry.
They wouldn't have to struggle through their own research.
Their Village truly did not have many talents in that field.
Why "work hard in isolation" when it was much more cost-effective to just steal it?
But now, with Sunagakure making such a move, the Raikage had to change his thinking.
In the previous Ninja World War, Kumogakure had been defeated by Konoha, something the Raikage had always held a grudge over.
Even though they received word in advance, Kumogakure naturally wasn't kind enough to notify Konoha; they couldn't wait for Konoha to suffer a setback.
"Father—if we attack the Land of Fire, do we still need to take action against Sunagakure?"
At that moment, inside the room, the Fourth Raikage, A, who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looked toward the Raikage and asked in a deep voice.
In the current situation, although there was an opportunity to strike Konoha—
Sunagakure was also in a rare period of weakness—even though they had fired the first shot of the war.
Sunagakure would undoubtedly fall into the quagmire of war.
With their Village's manpower and military strength, after engaging with Konoha, they would likely have no time to look after their own Village.
In that case—
Hearing his son's question, the dark-skinned Third Raikage's eyes grew cold as he clenched his fist.
A powerful surge of Chakra erupted, and sparks of electricity flickered around the Raikage's body.
It gave his rugged figure an incredibly overbearing sense of power.
Combined with that long golden hair, he looked like a ferocious lion.
"In this Ninja World War—our Kumogakure will not only complete our military and territorial expansion, ending the regrets of the last Ninja World War, but we will also make our opponents realize that Kumogakure is the strongest!" The Raikage's eyes were sharp.
He stood with his back to his son and did not look back: "I'm leaving it to you, A—don't let me down."
"Yes, Father."
Clearly, Kumogakure had no intention of letting Sunagakure off the hook.
They—wanted it all!
Within the Land of Fire, Yubi led a squad of Sensor Ninjas from his unit and began the operation to clear out the personnel on Konoha's last line of defense.
With the cooperation of his Dōjutsu and the other Sensor Ninjas, Konoha's remaining forces had no capital for resistance.
They couldn't even manage to hide in the shadows and observe.
With surgical precision, he "assassinated" the Konoha personnel one by one.
Later, after entering the plains, some Villages and towns within the territory were also destroyed.
This caused "visible losses" to the Land of Fire—losses that weren't targeted at Konoha directly, but were a form of political pressure.
Because it would make the Daimyo of the Land of Fire feel angry, leading to dissatisfaction with Konoha's military protection.
Furthermore, once Konoha's main forces were in place on the battlefield, they would very likely form a degree of coordination with the civilian settlements in the area, or use these places as supply points and transit stations for strategy and resources; Yubi had to prevent this.
He wanted to minimize the threat the enemy forces posed to Sunagakure as much as possible.
Then, under his arrangement, the main forces of Sunagakure began to act sequentially according to the plan.
As for him and Sasori, they also rushed inland along the route where they were to intercept Konoha's reinforcement army.
By the next morning—on a main road within the Land of Fire, Yubi and Sasori were hidden in the mountain forest beside the road.
This main road was very wide and was one of the key hubs connecting the Land of Fire to the Land of Rivers. If Konoha's main forces wanted to reach the battlefield as quickly as possible, then in their choice of marching route, it was naturally impossible to prioritize hidden wilderness; they had to take the official roads.
Similarly, the vanguard team sent by Konoha—did the same.
Because for Konoha right now, time was the most important thing.
Every second gained could potentially reduce the losses to Konoha and the Land of Fire.
Even during the most intense periods of the Second Great Ninja War, Konoha had never had such deep territory occupied by an enemy army; this wasn't just a single infiltration squad or elite unit, but an entire army.
The situation was quite serious.
"Yubi—the traps are all set."
Under a tree, Yubi leaned against the back of the trunk, using his Dōjutsu to look far down the road.
A dark shadow flashed and appeared beside Yubi.
It was the captain responsible for the ambush, the Sunagakure Jonin Hideki.
"Good."
Yubi nodded.
Hideki glanced at Sasori nearby and said hesitantly, "Do we really not need to add more people? With just the two of you, even if the Konoha vanguard team can't be too many, their strength will definitely not be weak—what if—"
"Don't worry—if there are too many people, it's easy to be exposed. Even if Sasori and I are no match for them, slipping away from the enemy won't be a problem."
Yubi smiled slightly.
"Alright."
Hideki nodded, "Be careful!"
With that, he immediately flickered away.
Only Yubi and Sasori remained, hidden in the low-lying mountain forest.
Time passed bit by bit. During this period, occasional passersby or merchant caravans would pass on the official road. These commoners at the bottom had absolutely no sense of danger, seemingly still enjoying the lingering warmth of the previous peaceful period, which also illustrated from another angle how successful this operation by Sunagakure was.
Konoha had completely failed to react in time, let alone deploy corresponding measures and protection within the Land of Fire.
"They're here—"
Unknowingly, it had reached the afternoon.
The sun was still high overhead, and the temperature was slightly sultry.
Suddenly, Yubi's pupils flickered slightly, and he whispered a reminder to Sasori.