"So, you finally decided to let him onto the battlefield?"
Inside Konoha's temporary camp in the Land of Rivers, Orochimaru looked at Tatsuma, who had been brought over by Tsunade. An unreadable smile flickered across his face.
Tsunade nodded. "He said he's ready."
"He certainly looks the part." Orochimaru scrutinized Tatsuma, his golden eyes narrowing. The boy did look different—sturdier, with the sharp, alert edge of a true shinobi.
Tatsuma felt a chill crawl down his spine under that gaze. Even though he knew from his observations—and from Jiraiya and Tsunade's accounts—that "Snake Uncle" hadn't started his descent into human experimentation yet and was still a "normal" elite ninja-scientist, certain biases were hard to shake.
He wanted to find an excuse to leave, but just as he opened his mouth to ask Tsunade about his quarters, Orochimaru spoke again.
"The village's decision has arrived. It's official: total war with the Land of Wind. Since you weren't here, I've already dispatched a messenger to the Suna camp to deliver the formal declaration."
Tsunade didn't look bothered. She genuinely didn't care about the authority of being a commander; in fact, she would have been thrilled if someone else did all her work for her.
She paused to think, then asked, "How many reinforcements is the village sending?"
"Over half of the Hyuga clan's active force, led by the brothers Mitsuru and Ketsu. Also, two of your clan uncles are bringing quite a few clansmen."
"What clansmen?" Tsunade waved a hand dismissively, though her brow furrowed slightly.
Orochimaru moved on. "Senior Mumoku Isago, Yuhi Shinko, and Umino Ikkaku are also leading a Jonin detachment to support us. Root has already deployed a significant number of operatives for infiltration. Furthermore, the Sensei has petitioned the Daimyo to recall ninjas stationed at various borders to reinforce our perimeter—partly to support us, and partly to guard against other nations taking advantage of the chaos. Oh, and the Uchiha are involved as well. Uchiha Fugaku is in charge of escorting the war supplies. Sensei's instructions were to let them participate."
"The Uchiha..." Tsunade's face contorted into the classic Senju expression of hereditary distaste. She waved it off. "What's the total headcount?"
"The first wave of reinforcements is about fifteen hundred. Combined with the original garrison and the force we brought, we have roughly twenty-eight hundred ninjas."
"What is the Old Man thinking?" Tsunade snapped. "Does he expect less than three thousand ninjas to hold off the entire Sand Village?"
"It's twenty-eight hundred elites," Orochimaru corrected, spreading his hands. "Besides, we have the Hyuga and the Senju..."
"Hmm?"
Tsunade's glare shifted toward him. Orochimaru didn't flinch. "The Sensei has also sent a warning to the Kazekage regarding his personal involvement. If the battlefield remains in the Land of Rivers, we can hold. They aren't accustomed to forest warfare, and their puppet techniques will be severely hindered by the dense vegetation. As long as the Kazekage stays out of it, our only real hurdle is Chiyo's poison. If we can prevent her toxins from becoming an epidemic, we can stretch the lines and use our superior jungle tactics to dismantle their squads one by one."
Tatsuma, who had been listening quietly, frowned. "That assumes the battlefield stays in the Land of Rivers, Lord Orochimaru. You're operating on the assumption that Suna must and will continue to press the attack. If they realize they're losing and stop their advance, how can we use a war of attrition to wear them down? Moreover, the rivers here are slow-moving; they're perfect for Suna to dump poisons into our water supply."
Orochimaru's eyes sharpened. He had initially been annoyed by the interruption, but the logic gave him pause.
He realized he had been biased. He had assumed Suna would act irrationally because of Chiyo's grief. But nations have a breaking point; if they take heavy losses after a few skirmishes, they won't keep banging their heads against a wall.
If Suna retreated from the Land of Rivers, Konoha wouldn't be able to keep bleeding them. If this were purely a defensive war, Konoha could accept that. But Orochimaru knew Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted more than a successful defense—he wanted to cripple Sunagakure and secure a decisive victory in this war.
If that was the goal, his current plan was insufficient.
Tsunade looked at Tatsuma with surprise, noting the eerie silence from Orochimaru. Orochimaru thought for a moment, a new strategy forming, and turned to discuss it with Tatsuma as an equal.
Then he caught himself. Tatsuma is a nine-year-old child. He shook his head, wondering if his own strategic mind was failing him. He looked at the boy with renewed curiosity. "Tatsuma, what would you suggest?"
"Me? I don't really have a 'plan,'" Tatsuma said, scratching his head. He had just pointed out a flaw; he wasn't ready to draft a full campaign.
Orochimaru encouraged him. "It doesn't matter. If you were in charge, what would you do?"
Tatsuma thought it over. After a minute, he spoke. "I'd abandon the terrain advantage in the Land of Rivers. While we wait for the Hyuga reinforcements, we should lose. On purpose."
"We lure Suna deeper, step by step. We use fake camps and false defensive lines to mislead them, fragmenting their forces. Ideally, we draw them into the Land of Fire. Our forests are denser and more expansive than those in the Land of Rivers; their visibility and movement will be even more restricted. By then, the Hyuga should have arrived."
"Then, we execute a pincer movement. We cut off their supply lines from the rear and hit their main force with our reinforcements. Suna can't provide a sensory ninja for every squad, but with the Hyuga, we can. They'll be trapped. Their only options would be to push toward the heart of the Land of Fire—where they'll slam into our interior defenses—or try to break back toward the Land of Rivers. Either way, they'll be forced into a massive, disadvantageous battle. To escape, they'd have to pay a price so high it might mean the total annihilation of their expeditionary force."
"An interesting thought... and we do have a superior communication system to coordinate such a complex maneuver," Orochimaru murmured, rubbing his chin.
Tsunade scoffed, looking between the two of them. "Are you actually serious? Tatsuma is a Genin who's never seen a real war. What does he know about strategy? If you ask me, we should just punch through to the Land of Wind and keep killing until we hit the gates of Suna."
Orochimaru effectively tuned out Tsunade's bluntness. He was busy mapping out Tatsuma's vision: the forest as a cage, the lure of an easy victory, and the information gap of guerrilla warfare.
The only real difficulty was the "purposeful defeat." It required withstanding political pressure from the village and making the retreat look convincing enough to make Suna arrogant. It also required the commander to sacrifice their pride and reputation.
But Orochimaru... didn't care about such things.
However, he wasn't the official commander. Tsunade was. And even if she understood the logic after a debrief, she was far too proud and stubborn to agree to a "shameful" retreat.
Orochimaru turned back to the still-rambling Tsunade. "Tsunade, send a report back to the village. Tell them you need to focus entirely on researching Suna's poisons. Hand the command over to me. I'll take full responsibility for the campaign."
Tsunade froze, her jaw dropping. I treat you like a teammate, and you're trying to stage a coup?!