The Leaf Village army pursued the Sand Village as it withdrew and advanced into the Land of Rivers. However, they did not penetrate too deeply into the Land of Rivers' territory.
They were not certain whether the Sand Village had prepared traps further in, or whether the retreat was intentionally designed to lure them into unfavorable ground.
Therefore, after pursuing for a sufficient distance to confirm that the Sand Village had completely withdrawn from the border and temporarily posed no immediate threat to the Land of Fire, the entire Leaf Village army halted and pulled back.
By this point, a silvery white light had appeared on the horizon. Dawn was approaching.
The two armies had fought through the entire night. Although the duration was relatively short, the intensity had been extreme.
In terms of tactical deployment, the Leaf Village's use of concentrated short-range pressure had fundamentally pushed toward ending things quickly rather than allowing a prolonged war of attrition to develop.
Yuji understood clearly that to extract maximum advantage against Konoha, he had needed to strike hard with everything available in the immediate aftermath of the battle's opening, taking advantage of Konoha's momentarily weakened defenses and disrupted coordination to profit as much as possible.
As time passed and the number of personnel on the battlefield began declining on both sides, the situation would inevitably grow more complicated. Only then would Konoha's true depth of strength begin to fully reveal itself.
The initial tactical arrangement had been simple in its logic. If Konoha discovered even a single medical outpost, the Sand Village would immediately retreat without hesitation.
Medical treatment was simultaneously their greatest advantage and their most critical weak point. Given Konoha's military strength and battlefield capability, the enemy was perfectly capable of exploiting that weakness once they identified it.
Therefore, the Sand Village could not afford to give them the chance. Stop when the opportunity is right. Take what has been gained and withdraw.
After the first major engagement with Konoha officially concluded, Shimizu immediately began conducting a thorough assessment and statistical analysis of the entire army's condition.
Yuji, for his part, set aside the battlefield entirely and transformed himself from a combat ninja killing enemies to a medical ninja treating the sick and injured.
He mobilized the entire medical corps embedded in the army and entered a completely different mode of work. The shift was entirely smooth. His identity reversed with practiced ease.
The army established positions within the borders of the Land of Rivers. They would not be the only ones. The Leaf Village army would undoubtedly push forward and establish their own positions within the Land of Rivers near the Land of Fire border.
Under these circumstances, the Land of Rivers would inevitably become the strategic buffer zone between the two great ninja villages.
The smaller nation was fundamentally unable to intervene in what was unfolding within its borders. Political negotiations would be largely meaningless in this situation.
By the time Yuji finally managed some rest, it was already evening.
He left the medical battalion's camp and went directly to Shimizu's tent. Upon entering, he found several surviving military leaders already gathered and in discussion.
"How does it stand?" the others asked, mid-conversation.
"We suffered considerable losses. But the Leaf Village is in worse shape," Shimizu said, his expression carrying a degree of excitement beneath the exhaustion.
He relayed a series of encouraging pieces of information gathered from the battlefield, assembling them into a summary. After further analysis, the conclusion regarding their current position relative to the Leaf Village was clear.
The results of this first battle against Konoha had exceeded expectations by a significant margin.
"If we hadn't moved quickly to expand the battlefield and disperse Konoha's main force when we did, given the situation at that point, our casualty count by the time we withdrew would likely have doubled," Shimizu said.
His eyes were tired but bright. "I knew clearly that this victory depended on both fortune and a more carefully prepared tactical arrangement than anything we had managed before."
Shimizu was a veteran of the Second Great Ninja War, having fought alongside the Third Kazekage and others against Konoha. It was no exaggeration to say that even during the previous war, the Sand Village had never faced Konoha from a position like this one.
Their eyes carried something like the light of genuine achievement.
Although from the outside, it appeared they had been repelled by Konoha and driven back. But they had won what they had actually come to win.
Even as they felt the satisfaction of it, the Leaf Village's display of powerful combat strength and tactical skill had made every person in the room quietly aware of what they were truly up against.
Especially the newer Sand Village members entering this level of warfare for the first time, experiencing Konoha's military depth firsthand. This would deepen their understanding of the war ahead and sharpen their awareness of how turbulent and cruel the ninja world actually was.
"Going head-to-head with the Leaf Village in a direct sustained confrontation would be unwise," Yuji said in a low voice. "This kind of tactic can only be used once. After this battle, the Third Hokage will certainly analyze our fighting style and military intelligence in detail."
"What follows is a long game of chess. That is the real key to determining who wins in the end."
After that, he and the others began a full-scale strategic planning exercise. They identified the shortcomings the army had shown during the battle and laid out contingency plans for the next engagement if conflict broke out again.
They also took stock of the current state of the command structure compared to before the war began.
The military's management ranks were somewhat depleted. Several had perished in battle during the night.
At the same time, the Sand Village was conducting its post-battle review, working to identify and address every weakness the army had revealed on the battlefield.
On the Konoha side, the same process was underway.
A group of high-ranking military officers sat together in their tents, led by Hiruzen. However, compared to the Sand Village's gathering, the atmosphere here was notably more somber, carrying a quiet undercurrent of grief.
Because once the casualty count had been fully tallied, the numbers far exceeded what anyone had imagined going in.
Now, with finally enough time to analyze the Sand Village's actions and battlefield arrangements step by step, the Konoha military's senior officers had arrived at a clearer understanding of why they had taken such a severe beating.
By every conventional measure, Konoha should have held the advantage. Superior military deployment, higher overall combat team level, and the Hokage himself on the field. And yet.
"To state it simply, the reason the Sand Village was able to inflict such heavy damage on us comes down to two things. The first is this."
The senior Leaf Village ninja spoke each word with deliberate precision.
"Their tactics were meticulously planned and executed. But it goes beyond just tactical execution and coordination, and beyond pre-battle strategic deployment. The enemy also made an accurate psychological assessment of how our forces would respond to their movements.
After the Sand Village changed its formation and attempted to expand the battlefield, our course of action should not have been to pursue them or allow ourselves to be drawn by their tactics.
Instead, we should first have cleared the battlefield of any remaining Sand Village units or those lacking sufficient mobility, and established control over certain core areas along the border before doing anything else."
He paused and looked around the tent. No one responded.
He continued.
"The second point is the Sand Village's medical capabilities. Starting with their pharmaceutical resources. Our injured ninja can rely on a handful of common medicines such as the Blood Clotting Pill.
The enemy, facing different categories of injuries across different combat situations, has far more options available for self-treatment and recovery.
Their medical ninja numbers are also higher than ours. Beyond that, we discovered unique medical equipment concealed within one of their bases that we have never encountered before.
The Sand Village's entire battlefield medical system has a value and effect that goes well beyond what we previously understood as pharmaceutical resources alone. This kind of systemic advantage cannot be countered by targeting any single component of it."
He finished.
"These are the two points we must focus on and devise plans around before the next engagement. Everything else follows from there."
"Yes."
Hiruzen nodded after hearing the full assessment.
Losing was losing. A war that had spread across the entire ninja world would not resolve itself in a day or two. Falling once and learning from it was simply part of the process.
Being able to recognize the enemy's true capabilities before the whole ninja world descended completely into chaos was, in a practical sense, a useful outcome. It would also accelerate the growth of their village's ninja on the battlefield.
"The Hidden Sand Village now appears to be quite different from what it was," Hiruzen said in a low voice. "The entire foundation of what makes the Sand Village dangerous in this campaign comes down to two points. One is their medical system. The other is the mind commanding the battlefield."
He paused.
"If we can neutralize these two points, everything else becomes manageable."
...
Bonus @200 PS