We met Sakumo at nine o'clock in the morning the next day. Shiraishi and the other two arrived at the Konoha camp on the front line of the Land of Fire.
There is basically no change here from before. If there is any change, it is that the atmosphere here is more tense than before.
However, the last task of cutting off Sunagakure's supply, although Shiraishi and the three of them 'failed' due to the root's trouble, Sakumo completed the task very beautifully.
He single-handedly destroyed Sunagakure's important supply points, causing Sunagakure's offensive strength to decline.
"In other words, as long as it survives this winter, Sunagakure will destroy itself?"
Shiraishi asked.
It is now early October, and the weather is slowly getting cooler, especially in December, when the Land of Fire and the Land of Sichuan enter the harsh winter season.
The Sunagakure ninjas do not have enough supplies to survive this winter. When early spring comes, the situation will become extremely unfavorable for Sunagakure.
"That's generally true, but we're not sure whether Sunagakure will really retreat. We can only say that it's very likely."
Sakumo nodded.
In the case of insufficient supplies, launching a final ferocious attack to open a gap into the Land of Fire is also a way out for Sunagakure.
After all, the Third Kazekage is taking the lead this time, so he must be fully prepared.
The more times like this, the more attention must be paid to not allowing the Sand Ninjas to take advantage of them.
"Then what are the tasks assigned to our team?"
"It's still the same as before, looking for lone Suna ninja troops to annihilate, and reducing the pressure on the frontal battlefield from the side."
Sakumo replied.
He is very aware of his limits as a ninja. He does not have any large-scale ninjutsu attacks. All his strength comes from physical skills and sword skills.
Therefore, he will have a headache against enemies with large-area ninjutsu attacks, but on the other hand, his taijutsu teleportation and sword skills are all at their peak.
If he couldn't keep up with his speed and lacked the defensive means to resist the White Fang dagger, for him, there was only the difference between killing the enemy with one sword or several swords.
Shiraishi and the other three are also very aware of this.
He is a ninja with obvious flaws and strengths.
It is suitable for small-scale battles, but in large-scale battles, it will limit his strength.
Because he had more things to consider on the frontal battlefield, such as avoiding kunai and detonating talismans flying from nowhere. If he encountered many companions in danger, whether to save them or not was also a question worthy of serious consideration.
As a result, his sword skills will become hesitant and dull, and he will not be able to exert 100% of his power.
In this regard, Sakumo has nothing to complain about.
Because of their different abilities and personalities, ninjas are assigned jobs that suit them.
He is only suitable for this kind of action and fighting. Just as the Sannin is not qualified for his job, he is also not qualified for the Sannin's job.
"You have just arrived here today. Let's rest here for a day. We will start the mission tomorrow morning."
"yes."
Before Sakumo left, he said to Shiraishi: "By the way, I forgot to mention, Shiraishi, if you have nothing to do, you can go to the medical camp and have a look. There is still a shortage of medical ninjas on the front line. Although it is only for one day, it is not enough." It can relieve some of the pressure there.”
"I see."
Shiraishi nodded and walked towards the medical camp.
It is true that it relieves the pressure on the medical team, but how much pressure can be relieved? Shiraishi also knows that it is just Sakumo's comforting words.
After all, treating patients is the bounden duty of medical ninjas, and Shiraishi has no reason to refuse.
However, in Shiraishi's view, Konoha still has the shortcoming of insufficient medical ninjas. It is entirely due to problems with his own cognition and execution strategies that lead to such results.
Konoha attaches great importance to medical education because it began to train medical ninjas a few years ago due to the medical reforms proposed by Tsunade.
But in fact, at the beginning, Konoha didn't pay much attention to medical reform.
In their eyes, instead of allocating resources to medical ninjas with weak combat effectiveness, it is better to cultivate more powerful ninjas and strengthen the village's combat effectiveness.
However, after experiencing the extremely brutal Rain Country War, it was discovered that resources were allocated to powerful ninjas and the mortality rate remained high, so medical ninjutsu courses began to be mandatory in ninja schools.
Shiraishi was a member of the first medical ninja experimental class of the medical reform. He knew very well how lax Konoha was in training medical ninjas.
If Tsunade hadn't proposed this reform... Konoha might not have paid much attention to the profession of medical ninja until now.
(PS: I remember it happened in the original work. When Tsunade proposed medical reform, all the senior officials and jounin, including the Third Hokage, were not interested in Tsunade's proposal. Only Kato Suan supported Tsunade, maybe because he was greedy for Tsunade. hand body...)
When we arrived at the camp where the medical team was located, we could hear the painful cries of the injured wailing and crying. The smell of disinfectant and blood also mixed together and penetrated into Shiraishi's nostrils.
Coupled with the limited scope of the camp, some injured people could only lie outside and receive cursory treatment.
It is the rule of Konoha's medical force to give priority to rescuing seriously injured ninjas before treating the moderately and lightly injured.
Here, Shiraishi also saw Tsunade, but he did not go there to reminisce. Tsunade was using medical ninjutsu to treat the injured.
Shiraishi explained the purpose of his visit to the deputy commander here. The other party was very happy. One more medical ninja at this time meant that he could rescue a few more injured people.
Especially the other party is the medical ninja who is specially equipped for Sakumo's team. He is the first batch of students in the medical experimental class of the ninja school. No matter how you look at it, medical ninjutsu cannot be too bad.
Therefore, he immediately assigned more than a dozen moderately and mildly injured people to Shiraishi, as well as some medical supplies, and asked him to get to work quickly.
Shiraishi walked to an open space where there were many injured Konoha ninjas lying on the ground, about dozens of them.
Along with Shiraishi, there were three medical ninjas. The oldest was in his thirties, and the youngest was several years older than Shiraishi.
Even though they are both medical ninjas, there is no communication at all, or there is no time at all.
Shiraishi concentrated on using healing techniques and treated the wounds of these injured people with skillful and standardized movements.
During the treatment process, Shiraishi will also communicate with the injured to reduce the pressure in their hearts and treat them better.
"I'm already fine. I just need to take a good rest for two days."
"I know you. You are a member of Sakumo's Jonin team. You are really powerful in medical ninjutsu."
The healed Konoha ninja praised Shiraishi in a kind tone.
"No, compared to my predecessors, I still have many shortcomings."
Shiraishi just smiled modestly at this compliment.
After all, compared to a medical ninja of Tsunade's level, he still had a lot to improve.
Starting in the morning, Shiraishi ended his medical work until it got dark in the evening.
Because most of the tents were requisitioned by the medical troops, even so, there were still some injured people who were not allocated tents. Therefore, when Shiraishi came back to join Ruri and Ayane, he was only allocated an open space for resting.
At five o'clock in the morning the next morning, the sky was dark, and the three of Shiraishi had already woken up.
Some Konoha ninjas are still sleeping, and there are also many Konoha ninjas patrolling the outer circle of the camp, mainly sensory ninjas and ninjas from the Hyuga clan.
When Sakumo came to find them, the three of Shiraishi were well prepared, including military pills, antidotes, kunai, detonating charms, sealing scrolls, medical kits, etc., all equipped.
As the only auxiliary medical staff in the team, Shiraishi was assigned the task of equipping himself with as many supplies as possible, so he also stuffed emergency food and water in his backpack.
The next mission of Sakumo's team can also be said to have no mission content.
If you encounter enemies, annihilate them, if you encounter companions, support them, and if you are lucky enough to encounter the Suna Ninja's transport convoy, destroy them.
Just like Sunagakure had previously sent elite troops to cause trouble within the Land of Fire, it was used to disrupt Konoha's attention and even make the frontline Konoha ninjas afraid to move casually.
The same goes for Team Sakumo's mission this time.
Go deep into the Kingdom of Sichuan and even into the Kingdom of Wind, carry out sabotage work behind enemy lines, and let Sakumo's team deal with the situation according to the situation on site.
The above gave Sakumo's team considerable freedom, which also meant that this mission was highly dangerous.
Not to mention Shiraishi and Ayane, Liuli is already eager to give it a try.
After experiencing the last battle, her ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu have grown greatly, and her sharingan has also been upgraded to the three magatama form.
This growth is obvious, and Sakumo is very satisfied with it. He thinks that if he wants to deal with Ruri now, he can't just take it lightly.
◎
November, mid-month.
Country of Sichuan, Sunagakure Camp.
The Third Kazekage looked at the information sent by the people below with a gloomy look. In the past month, there had been frequent reports that the Sand Ninja team performing patrol missions in Kawakuni had been annihilated by the enemy.
"Konoha White Fang!"
The Third Kazekage slammed his fist on the table, his eyes burning with anger.
Even without looking at the intelligence information, you know who did such a thing.
Except for Konoha White Fang, no one among the jounin that Konoha can dispatch now has such a terrifying annihilation speed.
The speed was as fast as a tornado, and wherever it went, not a single inch of grass grew, and it was uprooted.
Whether it is a jounin team, a chuunin team, or even a genin team, they will all be cut off without mercy, without mercy.
Apart from the famous White Fang, the Third Kazekage could not think of any other Jounin of Konoha who could do this.
His most trusted puppet army, two of its elites, were also annihilated in the Land of Fire by the team led by White Fang, and even their bodies are still in Konoha's hands.
The power that Sunagakure can mobilize is not much higher than that of Konoha. The only variable lies in his Kazekage and his unused trump card - Shukaku.
The poison attack strategy created by Sunagakure was broken by the Konoha ninja Tsunade.
He would have no problem fighting head-on, but the overall quality of the Suna ninja was worse than that of the Konoha ninja, and coupled with the shortage of medical ninjas in the camp, the mortality rate was a bit higher than that of Konoha.
Now that White Fang is harassing the rear, Konoha's next step...
Sure enough, not long after, a jounin came in and reported that there was something strange happening in the Konoha camp. Nearly a thousand ninjas set out from the camp and headed towards here from the front.
However, the moment they entered the border of Kawanoguni, Konoha's thousand-man troops stopped moving, as if they were just out for a parade.
But the Third Kazekage understood that Konoha planned to press Sunagakure on the frontline battlefield and create opportunities for the White Fang team to attack.
If Sunagakure goes after the White Fang team at all costs, Konoha's large army will press forward from the front.
"Isn't that guy still refusing to agree?"
The Third Kazekage looked at a Sand Jounin with a solemn expression.
"I don't agree. No matter how I try to persuade him, I don't agree to use Shukaku's power. He said that I hope you, Kazekage-sama, will value peace and stop the war, which is for the best of Sunagakure."
The jounin replied.
"Is stopping the war good for Sunagakure?"
The Third Kazekage cast his sight in the direction of the Land of Fire.
The land there is richer than the Land of Wind, and Konoha's talented ninjas emerge in endlessly, such as White Fang, Sannin, Kato Dan...
The Ninja Clan includes the Inar, Deer, and Butterfly Clan, as well as other famous Ninja Clan, including Sarutobi, Shimura, Inuzuka, Aburame, etc.
What's even more frightening is that the most complete ancient blood-stained giants in the ninja world, Uchiha and Hinata, are also in Konoha.
With such a powerful lineup, the Third Kazekage felt heavy at the thought of this.
If we don't take advantage of the fact that Konoha hasn't recovered from the Rain Country War, we can plunder resources in the Fire Country, and wait until Konoha recovers to reap the benefits, it will be extremely difficult.
Because Konoha is becoming more and more powerful, it has put enough pressure on the surrounding countries and ninja villages.
If this continues, as Konoha becomes stronger and stronger, the space for Sunagakure to survive will become less and less.
We can only continue to reduce military expenditures and reduce the number of ninjas. We can only watch the number of ninjas in Konoha increase and increase, and the military expenditures become more and more sufficient, making them unique in the ninja world.
By then, Sunagakure will be completely living under Konoha.
The Third Kazekage didn't want to see Sunagakure like that. No matter how powerful Konoha was, he would still fight it.
As long as Konoha's power can be weakened, Sunagakure can breathe a sigh of relief and see hope of prosperity.
If there is no war, there is not even a glimmer of hope.
Therefore, the Shukaku Jinchuriki's idea of "peace is the most important" in sharing blessings is just from a personal perspective, but between countries, there is no justice and evil, only strong and weak, only gains and losses.
"He is not suitable for this ninja world. Although Shukaku is very peaceful in his body, if he does not take the initiative to stimulate, there is no risk of going berserk. But it also means that Sunagakure will not be able to use this weapon. The weapon cannot be used. This is for The greatest tragedy of war. It seems that a new Jinchuriki is needed..."
Hearing the words of the Third Kazekage, the Jonin was shocked.
"Master Kazekage, this..."
"Don't worry, I just mentioned it casually. After all, the transfer of the tailed beasts is of great importance and must be decided through a high-level meeting."
The Third Kazekage said this, but he could not make the jounin feel at ease.
"So what should we do now?"
This jounin was helpless.
This is the most difficult place for Sunagakure.
Compared with Konoha, not only the overall quality gap, but also in terms of top ninjas, they are not as good as Konoha.
Just one Konoha White Fang gave them a lot of headaches. The Suna ninjas were all frightened by allowing such a dangerous ninja to carry out destruction in the rear.
Recently, many sand ninjas are afraid to take on missions such as patrolling Kawa no Kuni.
Facing that White Fang, many sand ninjas have begun to feel frightened.
"I already have a countermeasure. This is a personal letter from Iwagakure Ohnoki to me. He will secretly help us Sunagakure."
"That Tsuchikage? To be honest, I don't recommend Kazekage-sama to cooperate with that Tsuchikage."
"This is our only chance."
The Third Kazekage said.
As he spoke, he sat down at his desk and drafted two letters.
After writing the letter, he handed it to the close confidant Jonin next to him and said: "A letter is sent to the commander of Konoha, Orochimaru, and a letter is sent to the patrol team to the hands of Konoha White Fang."
"This is……"
The jounin looked at the Third Kazekage in confusion.
"Go down."
"yes."
Despite his doubts, the jounin went down to carry out this mission.
"This is all for the sake of Sunagakure... Konoha..."
The third generation Kazekage murmured faintly, and a sharp aura passed through his eyes.
◎
The western region of Kawa no Kuni.
It is located at the junction of the Kingdom of Wind and the Kingdom of Sichuan.
The Suna ninja who came from the Land of Wind to support the Land of Sichuan would pass by this road.
This is where the four members of Sakumo's team carried out their annihilation strategy.
Destroy every sand ninja you encounter.
After annihilating a team, you will understand how to get away, never drag your feet, find a hidden place to hide, and then continue to annihilate after a while.
Leaving aside Sakumo, a long-famous jounin, Ruri and Ayane are also at the jounin level, and have special blood inheritance limits. The destructive power brought by the three of them is amazing.
Shiraishi only needs some small assistance from behind the team, such as using poisonous smoke bombs and throwing detonating charms.
When not in combat, local materials were used to make medicines, such as Bingliang Pills and antidote. After all, the Suna Ninja's puppet master weapons were highly poisonous, and it was dangerous to accidentally rub them.
In this way, the long-lasting combat capability of Sakumo's team is increased.
This morning, another team of six sand ninjas was annihilated.
It may not seem like much, but since accepting this mission more than a month ago, they have been fighting and fighting every day, and Suna ninjas have been dying in the hands of their team. There are hundreds of Suna ninjas in total.
If you are lucky, you will encounter a convoy entering the Kingdom of Sichuan from the Kingdom of Wind. They will burn Sunagakure's few supplies, and then use your agile mobility to create chaos with Ruri's large-scale fire escape technique. Escape and avoid being surrounded by large troops.
If there are fewer people pursuing them, they will be annihilated by their team in reverse.
If there are more ninjas chasing you, use your super high mobility to lead them around Kawa no Kuni.
Unless Sunagakure dispatches more than a few hundred ninjas at once, including more than twenty jounin, there is no way they can be surrounded and suppressed in the country of Kawakawa.
If the Third Kazekage really had this determination to take away so many effective forces, Sunagakure would have no chance of defeating Konoha on the frontal battlefield, and the losses would be even greater.
Shiraishi was very skillful in rummaging around for things on the corpse of the dead Sunajōnin.
Scrolls that might record ninjutsu and information, detonating charms for fighting, and military ration pills for recovery, all were taken away until the backpack could no longer be loaded.
Shiraishi couldn't help but sigh, following Sakumo, the task was so smooth.
The three of them above faced hordes of Sand Ninja and had no choice but to run around.
Even though they are stronger now, they still don't dare to face off against Sunagakure's large army.
Now that Sakumo is leading the team, small-scale troops, as long as there are no more than a hundred people, go directly to fight.
If there are more than a hundred people, they will adopt a wandering strategy and lead the Sand Ninjas around.
To chase or not to chase, this choice must be very tangled for the sand ninjas.
If they catch up, they will most likely die. If they don't catch up, Sakumo's team will continue to wreak havoc, constantly attacking the Suna Ninja patrols in Kawa no Kuni and attacking their transport convoys.
But with Ayane's Byakugan, you don't have to worry about hastily setting up a battle formation. When encountering a large force, you can just break out from the weakest point.
In terms of breakout ability, with Sakumo leading the charge, it can be said that he can come and go freely within the territory of Kawakuni.
"Okay, the search here is almost done."
The six corpses on the white stone ground were groped cleanly.
There was one jounin, three chunin, and two genin.
In a single encounter, before Sakumo could take action, both Ruri and Ayane were wiped out.
Sakumo had the greatest credit, but without the assistance of the three of them, it would not have been so smooth. At least the problem of continuous supply would have been a headache.
Sakumo nodded and started to move.
Shiraishi and the other three followed closely behind, moving extremely quickly.
Running like this at the junction of the Kingdom of Sichuan and the Kingdom of Wind.
Take a rest when you are tired, eat some dry food, drink some water, and then continue on the road.
Until around three o'clock in the afternoon, a four-person Sand Ninja team appeared in Ayane's Byakugan vision.
Sakumo did not hesitate, and followed his usual rhythm to carry out an annihilation operation against this Suna ninja team.
"strangeness."
Ayane said something.
"What's weird?"
Liuli looked at her.
"There should be one person in this team who is a sensing ninja. He sensed our existence, but he did not escape or prepare to fight..."
Hearing what Ayane said, the other three people frowned slightly.
"It's like they were specifically waiting for us to pass."
Ayane said unsurely.
"Are there any traps and ambush around?" Sakumo asked.
Ayane looked at it carefully and shook her head.
Not to mention traps, these sand ninjas didn't even use chakra and had no intention of using long-range ninjutsu to attack.
Just when they were about to get close, one of the Sand Ninja broke away from the team and rushed towards them.
At Ayane's signal, Sakumo stopped, and Shiraishi and Ruri also stopped.
It didn't take long for the sand ninja to appear in front of them in the form of a teleportation.
He didn't do anything, he just took out a sealed letter from his ninja bag.
"Your Excellency White Fang, this is a letter from our Lord Kazekage to you. Please read it."
The other party looked businesslike.
Ayane nodded to Sakumo. There was no poison or chakra flowing in this letter, it was just a normal letter.
Sakumo walked over, took the letter from the Suna ninja, opened it and scanned it, his eyes slightly narrowed.
"I know, I will confirm this myself."
The Sand Ninja nodded and disappeared from Sakumo.
"Teacher Sakumo, this letter is..."
Shiraishi and the others gathered around, curious about the contents of the letter.
Sakumo didn't hide anything and spread the letter to Shiraishi and the others.
At the top of the letter, there were only three words - reconciliation.
This was the signal for the Third Kazekage of Suna Ninja to stop the war with Konoha.
"Is this letter credible?"
"I don't know, let's see what Orochimaru says. If you agree, the war will end. If you don't agree, we will continue to carry out our mission. The mission will be temporarily suspended until we receive the official order. There is no need to attack Suna Ninja anymore."
After Sakumo finished speaking, he looked into the distance with his deep eyes.
