"Our Konoha Village, in principle, completely agrees with Mizukage-sama's battle plan to attack Yuexi Peninsula, and will fully support and respect Mizukage-sama's command authority over the Hidden Mist army. Additionally, our Konoha will provide Hidden Mist Village with five hundred million ryō in military funding to strengthen your forces!"
Koharu Utatane handed Yagura Karatachi a receipt with an unchanged expression.
"Cash will be delivered within five days."
Yagura took it without even looking and handed it to Āo Péng, who was Hidden Mist Village's financial officer.
"It seems Hiruzen Sarutobi is indeed someone who understands military strategy. Elder Koharu, as I said, this is called attacking what the enemy must defend—there's no better plan than this."
Yagura spoke proudly, his eyes carrying a hint of disdain.
Koharu seemed not to notice, merely nodding slightly.
Seeing that Koharu's attitude was no longer as rigid as in the early war council meetings, Yagura stopped taunting her and spoke in a peaceful tone.
"Currently, eleven thousand eight hundred fifty-four ninja have assembled completely. The required warships are also ready. The needed provisions, equipment, and supplies are mostly prepared. Conditions for maritime warfare are mature—now we just need a detailed attack plan. Ao! Come tell us about your plan."
Yagura said.
Ever since entering the fourth month of the "agreement" with Minato Namikaze, Hidden Mist had completely changed its appearance. All the childish boring arguments, lengthy pointless meetings, endless banquets, and sluggish inefficient style were swept away, replaced by efficient pragmatic conduct.
Tasks were rapidly decided, implemented, and completed. Koharu and Jiraiya were surprised to discover that when Hidden Mist ninja got serious, their efficiency was no less than Konoha ninja.
According to Yagura's own explanation, handling affairs was like this—slowly things would always improve.
Actually, the reason promoting Hidden Mist Village's sudden efficiency improvement was neither Minato's "five-month deadline" threat nor Maki's ten billion cash "bribe." It was a personnel change on Yuexi Peninsula.
Kakuzu had assumed the position of temporary supreme commander of Yuexi Peninsula.
Kakuzu's notorious reputation resounded throughout the ninja world—survivor from Hashirama Senju's era, slaughterer of Takigakure Village's entire leadership, ace assassin of the underground world, debt collection king of Yuexi Peninsula... So many titles indicated one thing—this was a ruthless man.
Sure enough, after Kakuzu took office, he accomplished two things. First, he rapidly integrated forces, reorganizing the Fourth Division of the standing army stationed on Yuexi Peninsula and the tax police forces into Hidden Sand Village's Maritime Defense Army. He also mobilized Yuexi Peninsula's local security forces, expanding military strength to ten thousand people! Moreover, they trained day and night with earth-shaking vigor, nearly dropping the jaws of Hidden Mist ANBU intelligence personnel.
With the war having reached this point, who could have imagined Hidden Sand Village could still squeeze out ten thousand ninja—what terrifying war potential! Remember, Hidden Sand was currently operating on three fronts!
Second, Kakuzu ordered his subordinates to forge 2,000 large pyramid-shaped iron spikes, throwing them all into Coin Harbor in southern Yuexi Peninsula. He immediately conducted an experiment, sailing several warships attempting to pass through the iron spike blockade. The result was either being caught by the spikes and unable to move, or having their hulls pierced and sinking into the sea.
Someone advised, "Lord Kakuzu, by doing this, aren't you abandoning this excellent harbor?"
Kakuzu replied that Yuexi Peninsula was not only Hidden Sand Village's source of wealth, but also the livelihood of many nobles and wealthy merchants—absolutely no losses could be tolerated. Currently, Yuexi Peninsula's military strength was limited and couldn't cover everything comprehensively, so they might as well concentrate forces to fully defend Sun Harbor. Even if attacking enemies numbered ten thousand, they couldn't threaten Yuexi Peninsula in the slightest.
As for the abandoned harbor, was this even a problem for Yuexi Peninsula? Their Lord Kazekage happened to excel at Magnet Release—when he returned for a visit, restoring the harbor would just be a wave of his hand.
After accomplishing these two things, Yagura couldn't sit still. It seemed that delaying further would make capturing Yuexi Peninsula an extremely troublesome task. They couldn't let Kakuzu truly establish a firm foothold and secure his position. Otherwise, this big piece of fat meat called Yuexi Peninsula could only be smelled.
"Currently, Kakuzu's newly formed Maritime Defense Army has 7,000 main forces stationed at Sun Harbor. According to our ANBU ninja's descriptions, Hidden Sand's Maritime Defense Army trains day and night while continuously strengthening coastal fortifications—the attack difficulty is very high.
As for Coin Harbor in the south, it's basically impossible to navigate. As long as ships enter the shallow draft area, their hulls will certainly be sunk by piercing. Moreover, Kakuzu has deployed a ninja team there—about three thousand people, all Yuexi Peninsula security forces."
When everyone heard Ao's detailed description of Yuexi Peninsula's new situation, they all fell into thought.
Landing operations were undoubtedly the type of campaign with the greatest sacrifices for the attacking side. Currently, Hidden Mist's military strength had no absolute advantage, and the enemy commander was obviously an "old ninja" with extremely rich combat experience—striking vital points with his first move, hitting the nail on the head.
If Hidden Mist was forced to pay enormous casualties to achieve victory in this campaign, both Yagura and other Konoha leadership would have to carefully weigh their options.
Even the Konoha people had to think carefully about countermeasures.
Just when everyone was at their wit's end, a masked ANBU ninja came running in and whispered to ANBU Captain Ao.
"Really! Are you certain?"
Ao's single eye shone with unusual brilliance.
The ANBU ninja nodded.
"Confirmed."
"Good! This person is very important. Collect everything from the scene without missing a single item—if even one hair is missing, I'll hold you responsible!"
"Yes!"
The ANBU ninja withdrew after hearing this.
Ao whispered the intelligence to Yagura.
Yagura was silent for a moment, then spoke to Koharu and Jiraiya.
"You two, things have changed."
"What change?"
Koharu asked.
Yagura nodded slightly to Ao, indicating he could speak.
"On the reef between East Yigeng Island and West Haer Island, the corpse of a Hidden Sand Village ninja drifted ashore. A message pouch was found on his body."
"Message pouch? What's inside?"
Jiraiya asked.
Ao shook his head.
"I don't know, but we'll be able to see it soon."
Ao said seriously.
"At this critical juncture, the mysterious appearance of this corpse—a Hidden Sand ninja's corpse no less—can't help but arouse suspicion."
"Never mind all that, let's go take a look first."
Jiraiya said.
🔥 Want to read the next 60 chapters RIGHT NOW?
💎 Patreon members get instant access!
⚡ Limited-time offer currently running...
👉 Join on -
patreon.com/DarkGolds