The Suna Village forces, under the fierce leadership of Gaara and Chiyo, directly swept through all the defensive strongholds along the way and advanced all the way to the vicinity of Kikyo Mountain Castle.
Because this area had already been abandoned by Konoha many years ago, they naturally did not encounter any resistance.
After a day and a night of rapid marching and minor battles along the way, even ninjas with special energy like Chakra could not endure.
But fortunately, they had already reached their destination.
Gaara, due to the Tailed Beast within him, hardly suffered from Chakra depletion. Under Chiyo's command, he led the still mobile personnel to quickly spread out in all directions and began clearing out the remaining Konoha ninjas in the vicinity.
Chiyo was so busy she could barely breathe. She immediately led the remaining ninjas to begin rebuilding Kikyo Mountain Castle.
Since they marched quickly, they didn't carry much supplies, so they could only have ninjas skilled in Earth Release start building the rudimentary defenses of the strongholds.
But fortunately, they had destroyed many strongholds along the way, and subsequent Suna ninjas could dismantle some materials to first build the framework.
Afterward, they would mobilize some supplies from the village to rebuild this defensive fortress that had once blocked the attacks of two great ninja armies!
About half a day later, Ebizo, who had stayed behind to clear the Konoha strongholds, rushed here with some materials. After all, he couldn't dismantle all the strongholds; he also needed to utilize those strongholds and Kikyo Mountain Castle to form a line, to construct Suna Village's defensive system.
After obtaining the materials, Kikyo Mountain Castle quickly built some simple defensive facilities.
Another half day passed, and Baki also rushed here. He had left enough personnel in the strongholds along the way for defense, and at the same time, he sent orders back to the village, telling them to start transporting supplies to the front line to strengthen the defensive capability of this line.
By this point, a large chunk of the Land of Fire's territory had already been gnawed away by Suna Village! This was a battle outcome they had never achieved in the past three Great Ninja Wars.
And it was at this time that Ebizo also received news: Konoha's large ninja army was also approaching.
Kakashi and Yamato were leading nearly four thousand ninjas rushing to the front lines. Their contact with Suna Village had almost been interrupted for two days. This situation looked extremely abnormal no matter how one saw it, so Konoha also adopted a forced march mode.
Moreover, since they were within the Land of Fire's borders, replenishing supplies was also easier.
In addition, there were many medical ninjas with Kakashi who had fought with Tsunade and Chiyo back then.
Chiyo was not just a medical master; she was also a master of poisons. Poisons rarely had any effect on top-tier ninjas like Tsunade, but on a battlefield with many ordinary ninjas, they were truly deadly weapons.
It was precisely because they considered this situation that Konoha specifically gathered these people to counter Chiyo's poisons.
Kakashi was also commanding such a large ninja army for the first time. The lives of thousands of people rested on his shoulders, making him feel immense pressure. Therefore, as he approached Suna Village, he gathered those medical ninjas skilled in ninjutsu and asked, "Chiyo, the Suna Village medical ninja, caused us a lot of trouble during the Third Great Ninja War. She and Lady Tsunade fought for an unknown period of time in terms of poisons and antidotes. Can you deal with her?"
The medical ninja heard the question and explained, "Actually, most of the poisonous ingredients come from nature. So, precisely benefiting from the conflict between Lady Tsunade and Chiyo back then, during that period, they almost used up all the poisonous substances in the ninja world. We have also been preserving those resources, so Chiyo's poisons are not something we cannot resist."
Hearing this, Kakashi relaxed slightly.
But he still asked, "Then what if Chiyo develops some new poison?"
The medical ninjas replied with grim faces, "Then she must have used some rare poisonous substance. At least, the quantity of such poisons would not be large."
Meaning... they could only sacrifice lives to stop it, right?
Konoha's large army made contact with Suna Village's sweep team that evening. As an Anbu elite, Kakashi was very skilled in such small-scale battles. So he immediately dispatched a large number of reconnaissance teams, continuously clearing out those Suna Village ninjas.
Soon, the news of the Konoha ninjas' arrival reached Gaara's ears. They knew that the real war was finally coming!
But fortunately, they had already established a foothold in Kikyo Mountain Castle and had carved out a piece of land on the map of the Land of Fire. What they needed to worry about now was not Konoha's counterattack. They could completely continue to fortify Kikyo Mountain Castle to await an exhausted Konoha, forcing Konoha to turn around and attack their defensive fortress!
Ebizo's plan immediately gained everyone's approval. Kikyo Mountain Castle was able to withstand the attacks of two ninja armies in the previous war because of its location, which was a rare 'one man holds the pass, ten thousand cannot open' terrain in the Land of Fire.
Suna Village had to pass through here to attack Konoha, and if Konoha wanted to push back, they would also have to pass through here.
And when Kakashi led Konoha's ninjas to Kikyo Mountain Castle, he saw that rebuilt fortress. He honestly arranged his troops into the surrounding strongholds.
Then they began to play a game of attrition with Suna, a secret jungle warfare.
Meanwhile, just as Kakashi and Suna Village were locked in a stalemate, Jiraiya also led his troops to the front lines and met up with Shino Aburame and others.
The three people who had been waiting here had already received news that Jiraiya himself was coming, so they hadn't left.
Jiraiya, entering the meeting room, didn't waste any time. He directly asked, "What's the situation now? And where is Naruto's location?"
Shino Aburame glanced at the others, then said, "The stronghold ahead is still under attack by ninjas from the Grass Village. We didn't want to provoke them due to insufficient manpower, so we are only monitoring their movements from the periphery. Also, we cannot determine the whereabouts of the remaining Grass ninjas. The enemy has dispatched many reconnaissance teams to block our information. Recently, no one has seen Naruto. In short, our intelligence is not much."
"..." Jiraiya was so stunned he didn't know how to continue.
This wasn't just 'not much'; it was 'nothing at all'!
He somewhat doubted his decision. Shino Aburame might not be suitable as a supreme commander for a battlefront.
Jiraiya had been away from the village for more than a decade; he was completely unfamiliar with the people in the village.
In reality, to put it nicely, Shino Aburame's personality was steady, but looking at it unfavorably, he actually lacked responsibility and dared not take it on.
About ten years ago, Danzo Shimura still held Root and had once summoned the excellent children from various powerful bloodline families and secret jutsu families in the village to serve in his Root.
Of course, these were all done without the Third Hokage's knowledge.
During this period, Danzo collected many talented children, and the Aburame clan, as the most unique secret jutsu family in Konoha, was naturally no exception.
And the one Danzo had his eyes on was Shino Aburame's son.
What kind of organization was Root? Everyone with a bit of status knew it was a place that trained assassins, and many people didn't even live to complete their training.
Shino Aburame naturally didn't want his son to enter such a place. But... he simply didn't dare to resist Danzo! Even if Danzo wanted to forcibly conscript his own son, Shino Aburame dared not refuse!
In the end, it was still Inoichi Yamanaka, Shino Aburame's good friend, who had just died not long ago.
Inoichi Yamanaka, who had just died, took the initiative to show Danzo his special ability to protect Shino Aburame, which led Danzo to spare Shino Aburame.
Shino Aburame thus saved his son.
From this, it can be seen that Shino Aburame fundamentally was not a person who could bear responsibility.
Jiraiya, who had been away from Konoha for a long time, simply didn't know what was happening.
But since it had come to this, now was not the time to pursue these things.
Jiraiya immediately said to everyone, "I've roughly understood the situation. In short, since I'm already here, we can't let our comrades on the front lines remain in danger. I've decided to launch an immediate assault! We will break through their encirclement before they notice us, and rescue our comrades!"
Shino Aburame nodded and agreed directly. Kurenai Yuhi and Danzo Shimura also had no objections. The elite ninjas from the village who came to support them, with Jiraiya leading, plus those elites, even if Grass Village had any schemes, Konoha had enough power to smash all their conspiracies together!
To be safe, Jiraiya, in order to ensure he could crush the Grass Village's defense circle at the first opportunity, selected the most excellent personnel from the ninja army he brought. In addition, he brought Shino Aburame, Kurenai Yuhi, and Danzo Shimura with him.
Oh, and his beloved closed disciple, Naruto Uzumaki, was also included in this operation. However, he could only stay at the back of the team, with several other excellent ninjas guarding him.
Konoha's side quickly assembled their troops. Then, under the cover of night, Jiraiya led everyone to stealthily approach the Grass Ninjas.
Then, at his command, Konoha's ninjas suddenly erupted, launching a fierce attack on the Grass Ninjas ahead!
Jiraiya took the lead. He directly rushed into the crowd. With just three punches and two kicks, he turned a group of Grass Ninjas into wisps of smoke and scattered them!
Smoke? Jiraiya was startled!
He immediately looked around, and all the Grass Ninjas who were attacked turned into smoke and dispersed!
This group of Grass Ninjas were all Shadow Clones in disguise!!!
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