At this moment, the Konoha camp on the other side was in a similar situation.
"Kokushibo went to stir up trouble in the Iwagakure camp too?"
Nara Shikaku scratched his head in confusion as he looked at the intelligence report in his hand.
"Could it be that Iwagakure deliberately released false intel? Maybe Kokushibo has already defected to them and is planning to wipe us out in one move?"
"No, that doesn't seem right. Han, the Five-Tails jinchūriki, is an honest man. I've dealt with him before. Schemes are one thing, but using the lives of hundreds of his own village's shinobi as the price? He would never allow himself to get involved in something like that."
Shikaku muttered to himself for quite a while but still couldn't make sense of it.
Faced with such a crazed opponent who refused to follow any conventional logic, this Konoha strategist felt completely at a loss for the first time in his life. Even in the future, when his intellect would become well-known throughout the ninja world, he would still avoid even mentioning the name Kokushibo.
"Enough overthinking. Time's almost up. No matter what, we need to move."
Orochimaru calmly pulled Shikaku back to reality.
"You'd better hope that madman really did this. If so, we might actually have a chance to join forces with Iwagakure and eliminate him once and for all."
"True…"
Orochimaru turned his head to look at the Konoha forces, whose morale was low, many of them pale and dazed. He sighed inwardly.
Just a single attack had already terrified these Konoha shinobi.
Heading to the location Kokushibo designated wouldn't lead to anything good—but he had no choice but to follow those instructions.
Once they arrived, they could only adapt on the fly and do their best to preserve the lives of these Konoha shinobi—most of whom would serve as little more than cannon fodder.
It wasn't that Orochimaru particularly cared about their lives. His earlier loss of composure had simply come from the fact that he was their nominal commander. Akashō's actions had dealt quite a blow to his pride.
Aside from that, before leading this squad to the Iwagakure battlefield, his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had instructed him to earn as much fame and merit as possible. After all, with the Third Great Ninja War now nearly in full swing, the selection for the Fourth Hokage would soon take place.
The position of Hokage…
Orochimaru's gaze swept over the Konoha forces, his expression complicated.
It didn't seem as appealing as it once had.
Compared to the Hokage seat, Kokushibo's strange body seemed far more intriguing.
Orochimaru shook his head, pushing aside those distracting thoughts. For now, he needed to focus on the task at hand.
"All units, assemble! Move out!!"
...
On the other side, Akashō stepped out of the cave where he had been hiding, rubbing his full stomach as he let out a long breath.
"Alright, time for me to get there early and prepare."
He first transformed into Bertholdt Hoover, then quickened his pace and headed toward the location he had mentioned to Han and Orochimaru.
Not long after, Akashō arrived. There were less than twenty minutes until three o'clock, and neither Konoha nor Iwagakure had reached the location yet.
Logically speaking, under normal circumstances, they would have already sent out advance scouts to hide nearby and observe the situation.
But Akashō knew that both Konoha and Iwagakure had spies within each other's ranks.
One day was enough for last night's intelligence to be relayed back to their respective villages.
Now that both sides knew they had been summoned, sending advance scouts was no longer the correct choice.
More importantly, in such a short amount of time after receiving the intel, they simply couldn't calmly devise any effective strategy.
Just as Akashō had said before, one day wasn't enough for them to come up with anything beyond his expectations. Even if they broke decades of unspoken rules and risked everything by returning to their villages to bring both the Hokage and Tsuchikage here—would they make it in time?
No.
So, everything...
"...is within my control."
A faint smile curled at Akashō's lips as he stood there with his hands in his pockets, quietly waiting for both forces to arrive.
Before long, someone appeared.
The first to enter Akashō's field of vision was Han, leading the Iwagakure forces.
From a distance, Han noticed the unfamiliar figure and hesitated, stopping about a hundred meters away.
"You all stay here. Don't move unless I give the order."
Han gave a command to his direct subordinates before walking alone toward Akashō, who was smiling at him from not far away.
He stopped ten meters away, sizing Akashō up from head to toe.
"Who are you? Where is Kokushibo?"
"Hey now, no need to rush," Akashō said, glancing at the setting sun in the distance. "The Konoha side hasn't arrived yet, has it?"
At this time of year, night fell early—often, the sun would be completely gone before five.