The Land of Rain's full-scale offensive began slightly later than Hanzō's declaration of war. He only started deploying his shinobi slowly after securing enough resources and making sure Konoha had no intention of asking for peace.
Conflicts like this between large and small nations, and even tension among allies, were nothing new. Still, that delay gave Konoha valuable time to prepare.
That small amount of time was far more important than it sounded. With the mobility of shinobi, it was enough for Konoha's forces stationed in the Land of Waves to return and reinforce the homeland.
There was only one thing to say in situations like this. Hesitation leads to defeat.
Of course, acting decisively could also mean giving everything away too quickly.
In July of Year 38, the forces led by Hayashi and Sakumo had already crossed the central region of the Land of Fire and stopped near the border of the Land of Rain. Before they began the next stage of deployment, Koharu sent Hayashi a letter containing urgent news.
Konoha and the Hidden Mist Village had officially signed an armistice agreement.
The agreement contained several important terms.
First, the Hidden Mist would surrender unconditionally to Konoha. From the day the agreement was signed, both sides would cease all hostilities, and the Hidden Mist was forbidden from provoking Konoha in any way.
Second, all Konoha prisoners captured during the war had to be returned, and the same rule applied in the opposite direction. However, items considered war trophies, such as legendary weapons, were excluded.
Third, both sides would establish an alliance. During the Third Great Ninja War, the Hidden Mist would be obligated to assist Konoha in resisting the Hidden Cloud Village.
Fourth, the Land of Water would completely open its borders. Trade between the two nations would be restored, Konoha shinobi would be allowed to accept missions in the Land of Water, and the commercial agreement originally signed with the Third Mizukage would be reinstated.
Fifth, the Land of Water would pay war reparations to the Land of Fire.
Naturally, the agreement contained more details than that. Koharu had only written down the most urgent points.
The first two conditions were expected. A defeated nation had no choice but to accept them. The third point, however, was clearly just empty words. The Hidden Mist could barely defend itself right now, so there was no way it could send forces to help Konoha fight the Hidden Cloud Village.
If they had that strength, they would never have surrendered in the first place.
The most valuable part of the entire agreement was probably the fourth condition.
Opening the Land of Water to trade was basically using war to break through their isolation. But from another point of view, it was also beneficial to both sides.
This had already been discussed when the Third Mizukage visited Konoha years earlier, but later events had delayed the plan.
Right now, Konoha was still at war, so it had no time to take advantage of it. That part of the agreement was clearly meant for after the war ended.
Hayashi did not fully trust the Hidden Mist to keep that promise for long. If the next Mizukage was reasonable, the agreement might continue. But if something went wrong inside the village, the situation could change completely.
The only real benefit at the moment was the war compensation.
Even then, the Third Hokage did not demand too much. He did not repeat the mistake of the Second Great Ninja War by forcing the enemy to pay endless reparations for decades.
If Sunagakure and Iwagakure had signed an agreement like this back then, the Third Great Ninja War might not have started so soon.
Overall, Konoha's terms were surprisingly generous. It did not even feel like a treaty forced on a defeated nation. Instead, it looked more like a cooperative agreement.
The Third Hokage had clearly learned from the past. He was afraid that pushing too hard would only create another war in the future.
It was not that he feared war itself. But the Land of Fire did not lack resources, and it had no reason to continue fighting just for pride.
Hayashi showed the contents of the agreement to Sakumo.
That was the advantage of having connections at the top. Important information always reached him faster than anyone else. The Sannin probably already knew about it, but someone like Sakumo would normally only hear about it much later.
Sakumo did not react strongly after reading the letter.
To him, the only thing that mattered was the battlefield. As long as shinobi continued to carry out missions and fight, the village's internal matters could be left to the higher-ups.
Sakumo was an extremely straightforward person.
Danzo, however, did not feel the same way.
Far away in the Land of Hot Springs, he was furious. As someone who believed in absolute strength, he wanted to strip the Hidden Mist of everything they had.
But there was nothing he could do. He was in charge of another front line, and the negotiations were completely outside his control. Even when he wrote letters back to the village, the Third Hokage ignored his suggestions.
That made him even more frustrated. He had not earned much military merit recently, and his influence inside the village was slowly slipping away.
That was a very dangerous situation for him.
Minato even mentioned in one of his letters that Danzo openly criticized the Third Hokage during a war meeting, saying he was being too soft and was practically giving away the village's victory.
The two men who had once worked closely together now had completely different political views.
Once again, Hayashi realized how useful connections were. Because he had acquaintances in almost every battlefield, he could always receive first-hand information faster than anyone else.
In any case, the issue with the Land of Water was finally settled.
Summer was extremely hot, and even at night the air still felt heavy. Inside the main tent, Hayashi, Sakumo, and Shikumo were discussing their next plan of action.
For now, they would not enter the Land of Rain.
Hanzō had chosen a very traditional strategy for this war against Konoha. Instead of launching a direct attack, he was using small squads to sabotage Konoha's supply routes.
Konoha had originally been fighting on four fronts. Now it was reduced to three, but every remaining battlefield was located outside the Land of Fire.
Some supply lines stretched all the way to the Land of Wind. Compared to that, the Land of Rain was right next to Konoha's territory. For the Rain shinobi, those long supply routes were practically targets waiting to be destroyed.
With help from their allies, the Rain Village had already gathered detailed intelligence about Konoha's supply network. The important points and weak areas were all clearly known.
Shinobi did not rely on supplies as much as ordinary soldiers, but they still needed food and medical support. Without medicine, wounded shinobi would quickly lose their ability to fight.
If the supply routes were cut, Konoha, which was already outnumbered, would fall into an even worse situation.
Because of that, the Rain shinobi had to be cleared out of the Land of Fire first. Only then could Konoha safely advance into the Land of Rain.