Chapter 589 Thorns

"... Konoha has already started."

In the conference room, Shiraishi casually unplugged a fortress in the eastern area of the Bear Kingdom on the military sand table.

There are a total of 1,400 ninjas stationed in the Bear Country, and they are stationed in five militarized fortresses.

One in the southwest, two in the east, one in the north, and one in the northeast.

This time Konoha attacked the most marginal military fortress in the east, that is to say, there is only one military fortress placed in the eastern region.

But the military fortress in the northeast is very close to the east, and the troops are sufficient. If Konoha wants to continue to penetrate the territory of the bear country, he must consider removing this fortress in the northeast. Otherwise, at the critical moment, this will become a sharp thorn piercing the rear of Konoha's troops.

Therefore, if Konoha wants to take action next, there is a high probability that it will attack the fortress of the military region in the northeast.

"Then it's the turn of Yan Yin and Sand Yin to act. According to the report of the police force in Langye City, the country of bears, multiple sections of the railroad track on the outskirts of their city were blown up in the morning, causing extensive damage. The railroad tracks in other cities were also somewhat damaged... It will take some time to completely repair it."

Liuli crossed her hands in front of her chest, her black and white pupils stared at the military sand table indifferently.

Wolf Field City is an important resource city of the Bear Country, where there are rich mountains and forests and a large amount of mineral resources. It is located in the north-central part of the Bear Country. It has always been an important hub connecting the four sides of the Bear Country.

"Iwagakushi's demolition team? It's a little more capable than expected. But it doesn't matter, Ayane has already passed, and Iwagakushi doesn't have much time to deal with Konoha. Sagakushi has also made arrangements, and Konoha's side... let the 'thorns' team become an obstacle on their way forward. Speaking of which, they should be halfway by now, right?"

Shiraishi held a model flag with aster flowers printed on it, and played with it in his hand, with an interesting look on his face.

"Hmph, is the vanguard unit you formed a copy of the White Fang squad we used to be in?"

Liuli snorted softly, then leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and smiled.

"There is nothing wrong with this. After spending so much energy, I also want to see if the actual combat effectiveness of this unit is worthy of our investment over the years. But I think that with the gathering of the ninja elite among the military ninjas of the Ghost Kingdom, under the leadership of our daughter, we will definitely be able to overcome all difficulties on the battlefield this time!"

After speaking, a sharp light flashed in Baishi's eyes.

Throwing the model flag in his hand, without hesitation, on the sand table terrain in the eastern part of the Bear Kingdom, it stuck in the center of the Konoha camp, like a sharp knife about to pierce Konoha's heart.

On the model flag, the word 'thorn' is clearly engraved.

"Use this to warm up the atmosphere before ringing the death knell of Mt. Myogi."

Konoha, one o'clock in the afternoon.

In the lounge of the Hokage Building, there are only Tsunade here, and there are also the advisors, Koharu and Mitomonyan.

Compared to the sitting posture of the two consultants, Tsunade's sitting posture seemed a bit casual, holding a bottle of wine in his hand and looking at his mouth, while staring at the gray sky outside the window, he didn't know what he was thinking.

The war has begun.

No matter how reluctant, the current matter is already an indisputable fact.

However, Tsunade has no idea what scale this war will reach and how it will end.

"Judging from the current situation, it should be considered smooth. The vanguard has successfully broken through a stronghold in the Kingdom of Ghosts. Next, as long as the fort stronghold in the northeast is opened up, it can be connected with Yanyin."

Over there, the consultant Zhuan Xiaochun was expressing his own opinions.

"No, I think there is a big problem here."

Tsunade's gaze shifted back, and he glanced at the table on the table. He had read the frontline battle information countless times, and frowned.

"To break into a fortress with less than 300 ninja troops, more than 1,500 ninja troops were invested, and it was difficult to take it down with one-third of the casualties. In the end, people were able to retreat smoothly... Regardless of the fighting will of the two sides, the fighting power and equipment, as well as the ability to act during the war, are completely different."

Tsunade bit his finger, even though he knew that the strength of the Oni Nation was not simple, but after a real fight, he realized that some things were more exaggerated than the data compared on paper.

"However, Konoha, as the attacking side, can fully bear this loss."

Turning to bed, Xiaochun replied.

"So, what about the casualties of the defender's Oni Nation?"

Tsunade asked this question.

Turning to bed, Xiaochun was speechless.

Because the report stated that no corpses of ninjas from the ghost country were found on the battlefield.

Of course, the probability of zero death is a bit of a nonsense. Zhuanzhu Xiaochun believes that the bodies of those ninjas who died in the ghost country were taken away by their companions, so it seems to create the illusion of zero death.

After all, according to the feedback of many Konoha Jounin, when they successfully climbed the high wall of the fortress and fought with the Oni Ninjutsu, they broke the Chakra armor of many Oni Ninja Jounin, captured their weapons, and severely injured these Oni Ninjutsu.

Logically speaking, it is difficult to predict the number of deaths in the Oni Land, but according to Konoha Kaminin's dictation, there are not a few people who were slightly or seriously injured.

The absence of a corpse does not mean that the Kingdom of Ghosts has no losses.

"This is where the problem arises. As the defensive side, the ghost country, even if it doesn't have zero deaths, the number of deaths must be pitifully low... and our assault troops, the casualties are close to one-third. If the opponent does not retreat while defending, although it can be wiped out, the assault troops are likely to suffer heavy casualties. There are still four such strongholds in the bear country."

Tsunade's voice was low.

After going to bed, Koharu and Mito Monyan looked at each other.

Apparently they noticed this problem too.

"Konoha, no, it is the current Ninja Village of the Great Ninja Village, which pays too much attention to the number of ninjas. It is true that Konoha has more than 20,000 ninjas now, and its overall strength has surpassed Konoha in the third Ninja World War. However, in terms of elitism, the work arrangements are very poor. The existence of ninjas, the stronger the strength, the opponent's strength has not reached a certain level, and the gap in the number of people can basically be ignored."

In other words, Konoha's current ninja army is bloated and inferior.

These shortcomings can be changed, as long as time is given.

But time, now is used to go to war. Although the war will quickly make the ninja stronger, when the number of sacrifices exceeds the range that Konoha can bear, then the idea of relying on war training will only backfire in the end.

Because the opponent is very cruel and powerful, once they fight, after seeing Konoha's weakness, they will not give Konoha enough room to develop, but will quickly annihilate Konoha's vitality.

The Kingdom of Demons has the strong confidence to do so.

This is also one of the main reasons why Tsunade does not want to fight this war, not only because she approves of Shiraishi's approach... but also because once the two sides fight, Konoha's current flaws will be infinitely magnified.

And the performance of the assault battle made Tsunade more sure of this.

Today's Konoha ninjas are bloated organizationally and have no time to accumulate their own strength.

In Tsunade's view, what Konoha needs most now is not war, but to stop expanding the scale of ninjas, change from quantity to quality, and fundamentally strengthen Konoha.

After all, the military expenditure to maintain 20,000 ninjas is already very heavy for Konoha.

"You two... How long has it been since you went to the outside world to take a look?"

Tsunade looked at the two of them, Koharu and Mitomon Yan, with sharp eyes.

These words left the two consultants speechless. They wanted to open their mouths to explain something, but found that they couldn't say anything.

How long has it been since you took a look at the outside world?

This question, combined with the current information, instantly put a layer of shame on their faces.

Data cannot fool people.

As Tsunade said, Konoha's ninja troops have serious problems.

"So, how do we proceed in the next battle? Do we need to change our strategy?"

Mito Kadoyan sighed.

Wandering in the beautiful fantasy of Konoha in this era, the achievements of the assault force now, after what Tsunade said, made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

But the battle has already begun, and even if you know these ills, it will be difficult to get out.

"At the moment, we can only see the tricks, and adjust the strategy in time by observing the actions of the ghost country. Besides, there is no better way." Tsunade put down the wine bottle in his hand, stood up from the sofa, walked to the window, and watched the big snowflakes falling outside, "However, this is not what I am most worried about now."

The two consultants turned their eyes and looked, puzzled by Tsunade's meaning.

"After this information, what I am most worried about now is that it is not any one of the three of them who is in charge of fighting Jiraiya in the kingdom of ghosts. In other words, the three of them do not need to take action in person to deal with Jiraiya. If this is the case, the situation on our side will be very passive."

After Tsunade finished speaking, he fell silent.

"How is it possible, Jiraiya is also one of Konoha Sannin anyway, and a ninja who has learned Mt. Myogi's senjutsu!"

Returning to bed, Koharu looked at Tsunade in disbelief.

"Who knows about this kind of thing? After all, we have no idea what kind of strategy the Ghost Kingdom will adopt for this assault..."

Tsunade took a deep breath, and the worried look on her face was reflected on the glass of the window.

Afternoon, twenty past one.

"Eh? So today is Hinata's birthday?"

Naruto, who just got up from the bed in the afternoon, had just finished washing when Sakura and Sai came to visit together.

Knowing from Sakura that today is Hinata's birthday, Naruto couldn't help opening his mouth wide, with a dazed expression of not knowing.

"Yes, otherwise, what do you think? Why, didn't Master Jiraiya not tell you?"

In the living room on the first floor, Sakura asked Naruto who just came out of the bathroom.

"No, after the lecherous fairy sent me back yesterday, he left in a hurry and didn't know where to go. And after I came back yesterday, I have been sleeping at home and just woke up."

Naruto thought about what happened yesterday, and determined that Jiraiya did not tell himself about Hinata's birthday.

Besides, now that he is going to seek proof from Jilaiye, he has no idea where to look for him.

"Really? Forget it, I knew you didn't have any preparations. There is still a little time before the birthday party in the evening, and there is still time to choose gifts. After that, Sai and I will help you choose."

Sakura smiled and said.

"This guy wants to come together too?"

Naruto's eyes slanted to Sai, his expression was a little depressed, and he felt that his body was not strong enough.

"There is no other way. After all, Sai is also a member of Class 7. Moreover, Shikamaru also invited Sai to participate in the birthday party tonight on behalf of Hinata, so you should stop talking about it."

"Understood. Since it is your request, Sakura, I will cooperate with this guy."

As he said that, Naruto glanced at Sai secretly, and found that the other party was still smiling, not knowing what he was smiling at, and felt that the other party's smiling face was very awkward, so he cut it in displeasure.

"Speaking of which, is there no problem with Miaomushan's cultivation? Seeing how tired you are, you should have achieved something, right?"

Sakura asked curiously.

Sai quietly pricked up his ears while maintaining a smiling face.

He has been paying close attention to the matter of Nine Tails Jinchuriki all the time. This is the task entrusted to him by Danzo.

Especially the fact that Naruto went to Mt. Miaomu to practice celestial arts, even Danzo took it very seriously.

"Ah, you mean fairy art? I have only just mastered a little bit of tricks. However, even if I only mastered a little bit of tricks, I feel that my current strength has changed drastically from the past. When I have a chance in the future, let me perform for Sakura!"

Naruto clenched his fists, and suddenly had the desire to show off.

"Uh, that's not necessary, as long as you can practice smoothly, it's better than anything else."

Sakura declined Naruto's performance plan.

"Oh, that's how it is."

A little disappointed, but Naruto quickly cheered up, went upstairs to the bedroom and got dressed, then came down, took out a few slices of bread and a box of milk from the refrigerator, and regarded it as today's lunch.

After eating a simple lunch, Naruto locked the door, left the house with Sakura and Sai, and walked towards Konoha's commercial street.

"Well, Sakura, aren't the ninjas on the street a little deserted recently? It seems a lot less."

Naruto looked around and found that the proportion of ninjas in the crowd was much lower than before, which made him feel puzzled.

"Observed very carefully, Naruto, it seems that the raid training arranged for you before was not a waste of time, and the attention to the surrounding environment has obviously improved a lot."

Unexpectedly, Naruto would see these questions at a glance, Sakura smiled in surprise.

"Of course, now I, even Captain Yamato, will be surprised when I see it!"

Naruto who said this obviously felt full of confidence in his current strength.

Sakura smiled and said nothing, Naruto has always been so happy to spend his days, as if he doesn't know what sorrow is, staying by his side really relaxes his mood a lot.

"It's best not to mention this kind of thing in front of Captain Yamato." Sakura paused, and glanced at the crowd around her, "However, some changes have indeed taken place in the village recently, but I remember that there were not so few ninjas in the crowd two days ago. Could it be that the reason why more people came to entrust missions recently?"

"But, isn't it the Chinese New Year soon?"

"Maybe this year is special."

Sakura thought about it but couldn't figure it out, so she could only give this kind of answer ambiguously.

As for Sai, who seemed to be an invisible person following the two of them, his eyes narrowed.

Intuition told him that the reason why there are fewer ninjas in the village is definitely not what Sakura said, but because there are more task entrusters.

"Okay, let's hurry up and pick out gifts. We will meet at the designated place at five o'clock in the afternoon. By the way, Naruto, have you thought about what gift to choose?"

Sakura asked while walking on the road.

"Hmm..." Naruto stopped in the middle of the road, tilted his head and began to think hard, frowning in distress, "I don't have experience in giving gifts to girls, what would Hinata like?"

You just pack yourself up and send it over there. Although Sakura thought so in her heart, she didn't say it out of her mouth.

"I don't know about that either. Besides, you and Hinata are closer than me and Hinata."

Sakura said so.

She really didn't know much about Hinata. Before she graduated from the ninja school, she only knew that she was a shy, distinguished lady from a wealthy family.

They rarely play together, even after graduating from school, the number of times they meet is not that frequent.

The most in-depth contact was only during the Chunin exam.

Naruto nodded in approval and began to ponder.

"I think it's better for the gift to be more practical. If the gift given in the past is not used often, it doesn't make much sense to give it."

I think a romantic gift would make Hinata happier. Sakura sighed.

But he also knows that if Naruto's elm head gives a gift to a girl, it is impossible to choose a romantic gift.

"So, have you thought about what to give, Naruto?"

"That's the one!"

Naruto pointed at the opposite shop and blurted out.

Different from Konoha Village, which is still in peace, because of the surprise attack by Konoha Ninja troops, the towns and military forts in the Bear Country have been completely banned, and a big battle is inevitable.

The Konoha ninja troops who successfully pulled out a military fortress in the Oni Land in the east, under the command of Jiraiya, one of the three ninjas, gradually built this fortress into a camp stronghold belonging to Konoha, and confronted the Oni Land ninja troops in the Bear Country.

While both sides were standing still, but each other was monitoring the movement of the troops, a ninja troop with a size of 3,000 people broke through the ice and snow at an extremely fast speed and began to run wildly in the territory of the Bird Country.

The 3,000 ninjas are divided into 30 squadrons of 100 people. The captain of each squadron is a Jnin, or a special Jnin.

The rest of the squadron is made up of Chunin and Genin.

They trampled on the thick branches of the big tree, which were strong enough to withstand the trampling of a human body, and they kept shaking under the trample of the ninja, with no tendency to stop.

The snow on it has already fallen off, exposing the bare bark.

Afterwards, afterimages passed by, except for the sound of trampling on the branches, no one made a sound during the period, so this ninja troop advancing at an extremely fast speed seemed quiet and did not attract anyone's attention.

On the foreheads bound on their brows,

Wearing Konoha's ninja forehead, revealing the forehead mark that only belongs to Konoha ninja.

The affiliation of this ninja troop is obvious, they come from Konoha Ninja Village.

Judging from the direction in which this troop was traveling, it pointed directly at the Kingdom of Bears.

The sky was dark, the cold wind was howling in the forest, and the snow as big as goose feathers was flying. Occasionally, the howling of wolves could be heard from afar.

"There are only 30 kilometers left to the destination, the teams should not relax, sense the ninjas and the ninjas of the Hyuga clan, and strengthen your guard!"

The leader, Konoha Jnin, is wearing Konoha's Jnin uniform. On the top of the uniform, in addition to the family crest of the Uzumaki clan, there is another family crest on the shoulder.

That is the family crest belonging to the Sarutobi clan.

This Konoha Jominin was born in the Sarutobi clan, a member of the Sarutobi Hiruzam of the third Hokage.

Aged around forty, with a tall body, there is a scar under the lip, which makes the already tall body look even more fierce.

"yes!"

The radio next to the ear heard the full-fledged responses of the squadron leaders.

Although it is known that during this period of time, as a reinforcement force, they are unlikely to be attacked by any, but the teams still maintain a high level of vigilance.

The team continued to move forward, except for the squadron leaders, who occasionally communicated through the radio, other than that, there was only a boring rush.

The end of the forest.

The waterfall washes away the snow, and the pools below freeze into ice.

On the rock, eleven figures stood.

Except for the girl who led the team, everyone else was wearing a pitch-black windbreaker, revealing the chakra armor inside, reflecting the luster of metal.

The color of the Chakra armor is different from that of the ordinary Chakra armor. The Chakra armor is mostly silver-white, but the Chakra armor on them is a thicker black armor from the outside.

In the center of the armor, there is a strangely colored purple gem inlaid.

There are two standard military knives, one long and one short, uniformly equipped at the waist, and a black mask with a long beak like a bird's beak is worn on the face, revealing only a pair of bright pupils.

These people are either tall or short, male or female, in terms of height and build.

They were either standing, or sitting on kneeling rocks, or squatting on the ground, their eyes under the black beak mask stared at the forest ahead without blinking.

Clang!

The blade fell into the soil.

Ichihime gently pressed her hands on the hilt of the Kusanagi sword inserted into the snow, and the snowflakes fell on her shoulders and her long black hair, bringing a hint of coolness.

The red Sangouyu Sharingan looks straight ahead with a calm expression. In the cold and cruel environment, there is no wavering in the eyes.

"How far are they from getting here?"

The ninja squatting on the ground touched the ground with his black gloved fingers.

A tender tree bud broke through the soil and stood firm in the wind and snow.

"About six kilometers."

Getting this answer, without any warning, the blue chakra on the surface of Ichihime's body spewed into the sky like an out-of-control volcano, and then this torrent of chakra quickly turned into a billowing flame, covering the entire space with high temperature.

The icy cold winds that ravage the land cannot invade.

The snowflakes covering the ground also began to melt, and the drops of water were steaming hot.

The giant warrior who burns lava rises from the ground, his eyes are as bright as the flames of the sun, and he holds a flaming sword tightly in his hand.

The warrior raised the flaming sword, and the sword frame extended to the sides, turning into a cross sword.

Immediately, the sword frame was bent backwards, and a golden flame bow string connected the two ends of the swirling sword frame to form a bow that could be shot from a distance.

"Now there are less than five kilometers left."

The voice came again.

The samurai is like a living creature, emitting hot white steam from its nostrils, making the surrounding snowstorm inaccessible, and emitting an extremely dangerous breath.

Ichihime held the hilt of the Kusanagi sword with one hand, pulled the sword out of the soil, and held it forward.

Sangouyu's Sharingan began to emit a blood-like luster.

"Then, let's set off a salute to celebrate the arrival of the blood feast in advance."

(end of this chapter)