Supply storage on the battlefield was an inevitable cycle in any prolonged military campaign.
Considering the Sand Village's powerful medical combat capabilities, if Konoha could somehow disrupt the supply of medicine and pharmaceutical resources, the effectiveness of the Sand Village's medical ninja would naturally be greatly reduced.
Conversely, Konoha, which already held a baseline combat advantage, could launch even more powerful attacks against the Sand Village after obtaining that batch of medicine.
"Namikaze Minato has been using the Flying Thunder God Technique to deliberately probe our supply base, and it must have been going on for some time.
For him to have found this location, he must have infiltrated our base at some point prior," Shimizu said.
Shimizu's hair stood on end upon hearing this. An enemy had entered their camp without being detected.
"Do not worry. He would not dare to attack directly."
Yuji recalled the incident and spoke calmly.
"Although the Flying Thunder God Technique is powerful, any direct use will inevitably cause a commotion and expose him.
Furthermore, our headquarters maintains extremely strict daily inventory and inspection procedures. Even if he moves in secret, as long as anyone notices something is off, it will immediately alert us."
"Therefore he can only act covertly. Otherwise it becomes a matter of life and death for him."
He continued.
"But given his abilities, we must remain on guard beyond just the theft of supplies. He also has access to our confidential intelligence and is continuously gathering information about our troop disposition."
Against other armies, Minato might not need to be so careful. But within the Sand Village army, with Yuji present, the situation was different.
Although the Flying Thunder God Technique was extraordinarily fast and could make Minato disappear in an instant, his movements would still be detected and locked onto by Yuji's doujutsu.
Infiltrating the enemy's ranks and then being caught even once would be fatal. It did not matter how many times Minato could escape. Being caught a single time would seal his fate.
And Minato understood this himself. He was inherently very cautious.
In other words, the Leaf Village's theft strategy could only be used once. This was Sand Village territory, and yet Minato had only stolen the medicinal resources without destroying or attacking the base itself.
That restraint was enough to demonstrate the level of caution he was exercising. If word had reached the Sand Village headquarters early enough to trigger a full deployment response, there would still have been genuine danger even for someone with his speed.
"It seems they have gained some understanding of my perceptive abilities," Yuji thought to himself.
"What do we do now?" Shimizu asked.
After a brief pause he added, "If it were not for Namikaze Minato causing this incident, we might not have noticed this vulnerability in our supply defense."
"There are shortcomings that needed to be addressed."
"Seal all future medicine shipments into scrolls and give them to me for personal safekeeping."
"Understood."
"And what about him?" Shimizu asked.
He was referring to Minato's overall capability. It was simply too difficult to fully counter. The Sand Village headquarters might appear impenetrable to ordinary forces, but for Namikaze Minato it was essentially an open door.
Having someone with this ability operating within the Leaf Village army made comprehensive defense genuinely difficult to achieve.
"It is fine. Getting away with the same trick once is already a considerable achievement. To think they can repeat it successfully again and again would be underestimating us far too much.
Now that we have noticed and are on full alert, the Third Hokage should not dare attempt it again. Unless he truly does not care whether Namikaze Minato lives or dies."
The theft of the medicine was ultimately just a brief prelude. Although it had a slight adverse impact on the Sand Village's medical squad, it was far from a major crisis.
However, in the period that followed, the dynamic between the Sand Village and Konoha shifted noticeably. The Sand Village's squads had occasionally managed to defeat Konoha in their engagements, but with the Sand Village's medicinal supplies now in Konoha's hands, Konoha seemed to operate with a new level of resilience.
They demonstrated superior sustained combat strength in the smaller engagements. The medicine that had been the Sand Village's exclusive advantage was now benefiting the enemy as well.
The most obvious effect was a reduction in the severity of Konoha's battlefield injuries, preventing wounded soldiers from being taken off the front lines prematurely. This created a noticeable disruption in the Sand Village army's combat power balance.
Compared to how seriously this might have shaken another commander, Yuji remained calm.
Because he had designed his broader strategy against Konoha with a hidden trump card from the beginning.
"The Hidden Stone Village has also sent troops."
That day, another piece of village intelligence arrived.
Upon learning this, Yuji immediately sent word to the senior officials who had previously led the clandestine detachment into the Land of Fire.
The order was given: launch an attack on the Hidden Stone Village.
The Hidden Stone Village's fate had been decided the moment they entered the war.
This meant Konoha was now fighting on a third front simultaneously.
Their village's defensive capabilities were at their weakest point. Launching a more aggressive attack against Konoha at this moment, with Hiruzen having been on the front lines for this long, meant the Third Hokage could not possibly remain in his current position much longer.
Konoha's enemies now included the Hidden Cloud Village, the Hidden Stone Village, and their own Hidden Sand Village.
The Sand Village itself was only fighting on two fronts. The Hidden Stone Village's deployment extended not just against the Land of Fire but also toward the Land of Wind and the Land of Lightning.
The familiar pattern of a large-scale ninja war was beginning to reassert itself fully. From the current situation, the Hidden Sand Village was bearing the least battlefield pressure of any of the attacking parties.
A few days later, news arrived from within the Land of Fire.
The detachment that had hibernated within the Fire Country's borders and launched their raid against the Leaf Village had sent word back.
The letter did not describe the specific details of the battle in any depth. Instead it urgently requested that the front line forces tear open a gap through the Land of Fire's border defenses and attempt a rescue operation.
According to prior planning, after the detachment completed their raid mission, the main force was supposed to find every possible means to break through the Leaf Village's front line and reunite with them at the border area, bringing these people back safely regardless of cost.
The senior officials within the detachment had not doubted this arrangement when they had accepted the mission, despite knowing it was the most dangerous assignment in the entire campaign.
They did not believe the village would abandon them. Their status was different from ordinary ninja. They were current decision-makers of the Sand Village and important combat assets.
Battlefield missions were mandatory, but as team leaders they could adjust mission records as long as they were not caught doing so.
The more Yuji read the contents of the letter, the more his suspicion deepened.
Judging from what he knew of those senior figures and their general disposition, they most likely had not gone into this mission with any genuine willingness to die.
They had carried out the attack on Konoha Village with determination, but upon encountering an unfavorable situation, they had almost certainly turned and fled rather than pressing to a decisive conclusion.
It did not matter.
"The more I consider it, the more I am content to let some of them be sacrificed. Even if they fail to inflict effective damage on Konoha Village itself, at minimum I want the tactical objective to be achieved."
"What do we do now?" Shimizu's expression was grave after receiving the news. He immediately wanted to begin planning a rescue operation.
Yuji stopped him.
"Give it up. Judging from the current battlefield situation, attempting a rescue would cost us even more casualties than we would be saving."
"They are all heroes of the village. The village will remember them."
Yuji delivered this with an expression of genuine heartbreak.
Shimizu stared at him, somewhat stunned.
He had assumed Yuji had already worked through the specific details of a rescue plan and the tactical arrangements required.
Now, standing here with him, he was saying this. This person had probably never seriously considered a rescue at all, or had already decided to write off these senior officials entirely.
Because given his intelligence and his understanding of the overall strategic picture, he would not be this decisively willing to abandon his own people unless that decision had been made long before the letter arrived.
"Taking advantage of the fact that they are currently still operating within the Land of Fire's borders and are still alive, they certainly know what needs to be done," Yuji continued.
"The Konoha front line will certainly exert a restraining effect on any movement toward them. The Third Hokage will most likely dispatch a specialized interception team."
"We must seize this opportunity. In the next phase of battlefield operations, we must launch more effective attacks against the enemy, kill as many Konoha soldiers as possible, and bury them alongside our own fallen. We cannot let their sacrifice be in vain."
Yuji's eyes were slightly red as he stared directly at Shimizu, the battlefield commander, his voice carrying unmistakable weight.
Shimizu's eyelid twitched.
Yuji was treating him like an outsider and playing him completely. It was one thing for others who did not know Yuji well to be taken in by this. But Shimizu had a certain understanding of this young man's character by now.
"Send a message back to them. Tell them to hold on and prolong their situation for as long as possible. Our army is also fighting alongside them against Konoha, sparing no expense to open a lifeline for them at the Land of Fire's border."
Shimizu took a deep breath and wiped at the corners of his eyes, where no tears existed.
Yuji said nothing.
Shimizu said nothing either.
...
BOnus @400 pS
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