Chiyo turned her head to look at the Sunagakure elder whose face was twisted in pain, and said calmly:
"What's done is done. What's the point of talking about it now? From here on, we should be thinking carefully about how to stop Konoha's next offensive."
Hearing this, the elder froze and said in disbelief:
"It's already come to this point?"
Ebizō, however, was clear-headed. He bluntly crushed the elder's last shred of wishful thinking:
"Our ambush failed, we lost so many people, and Gekko Hoshiyomi isn't a fool. Of course he'll take advantage of such a golden opportunity to strike back."
"Then what should we do?" the elder asked anxiously.
Ebizō gave him a look as if he were an idiot. "What else can we do? Naturally, we must pull back and tighten our defenses. Avoid battle for the time being. We need to catch our breath before making any further moves.
"Pass the order: SunagakureSunagakure will abandon all unnecessary outposts in the Land of Rain. Consolidate our forces, concentrate on defending a few major camps, and wait for the next step."
Chiyo, who had been silent for a long while, added:
"Also, we should report today's events to Kazekage-sama. You and I are simply not capable of dealing with Gekko Hoshiyomi. And if it comes down to numbers, Sunagakure still can't outmatch the vast resources of Konoha.
"If things continue this way, we might be able to drag the fight out for a long time, but Sunagakure is unlikely to gain any real benefit. What to do next must ultimately be decided by him."
Her tone was calm, and her eyes showed no trace of resentment or hatred. This left the elder of Sunagakure utterly astonished—he couldn't understand why, after suffering such a humiliating defeat, Chiyo no longer seemed as frenzied as before.
Ebizō, sensing his sister's change, felt happy in his heart. At last, she had returned to her senses. Though she now seemed more timid compared to her previously fierce and decisive self, it was still far better to act cautiously than to drag the entire village into a fiery pit.
He had always feared that her hatred would cause Sunagakure to suffer greater losses. Now that he saw she had regained her rationality, he finally felt at ease.
With this in mind, Ebizō quickly nodded and said:
"Elder Sister is absolutely right. How things should be arranged will depend on Ryūnosuke's decision. Matters that determine the future of the village should be left to the Kazekage himself."
...
Sunagakure, Kazekage's Office.
After hearing the report brought back from the front lines, Ryūnosuke's face was heavy with gloom. Even he had not expected Gekko Hoshiyomi of Konoha to be so powerful.
According to Ebizō, he and Chiyo had surrounded Hoshiyomi with a force of seven hundred, only to lose more than three hundred men. In the end, Hoshiyomi simply dusted himself off and left with ease, using a space-time ninjutsu.
Even Ryūnosuke, upon hearing this, couldn't help but feel shaken.
Why does Konoha produce such powerful shinobi one after another? Why is their fortune so good?
He glanced at the sky outside, filled with raging sandstorms, and let out a long sigh. In the end, wasn't it because Konoha had strong foundations—enough to nurture so many talents?
Compared to Konoha's fertile, boundless lands, Sunagakure's endless deserts made the difference clear. The reason Konoha had so many capable people wasn't without cause.
And wasn't it for the sake of gaining more resources for Sunagakure that he had gone so far, joining hands with Ōnoki to start this war?
Thinking of the village's desperate hunger for resources, and of the enormous funds he himself had poured into this war, Ryūnosuke felt completely trapped—like a man riding a tiger, unable to get off.
He wasn't a fool. Of course he could see that, with Sunagakure's current strength, defeating Konoha was almost impossible. But whether they could hold on or not, they had no choice but to endure.
Retreating was easy to say, but in practice, it was anything but easy.
Not to mention whether Konoha would seize the chance to bite at them once Sunagakure withdrew its troops—Ryūnosuke couldn't even fully suppress the voices of dissent within his own village.
It had only been a few years since he inherited the position from his sensei, Shamon. In order to root out the opposition who claimed he was unfit to be Kazekage, he had stirred up considerable turmoil within Sunagakure. Even now, many in the village still had complaints about him. Countless people were waiting for him to slip up—waiting to see the so-called "Strongest Kazekage in History" become "the Kazekage with the shortest reign in history."
Thinking of this, a ruthless glint flashed in Ryūnosuke's eyes. Rather than waiting for those bastards to gossip after the fact, it would be better to use their lives—and the lives of their families—to earn some advantage for Sunagakure. With their "sacrifice," perhaps Sunagakure would even gain leverage for negotiations with Konoha.
With that thought, Ryūnosuke no longer hesitated. His expression hardened as he spoke to his subordinate:
"Pass down my orders. Have the front-line troops restrain their offensive as much as possible. Also, send additional reinforcements to the front. I have a list here—you'll reassign the personnel according to it."
As he spoke, Ryūnosuke picked up his brush and quickly wrote out a long list of names. His trusted subordinate accepted the scroll, but as he glanced at it, he spotted several all too familiar names.
A sharp chill ran down his spine, but he dared not say a word. He bowed and withdrew to carry out the order.
Looking out the window with a cold sneer, Ryūnosuke thought he had found a perfect solution. Yet what he didn't realize was that all he had done was hasten Sunagakure's defeat.
...
Meanwhile, on the road back to camp, Hoshiyomi and Minato encountered a reinforcement team rushing to the front. Hoshiyomi simply redirected them to destroy a nearby Sunagakure outpost instead.
With so many of Sunagakure's shinobi already redeployed, their defenses around the perimeter were bound to be weak. Such an opportunity was too good to waste.
After returning to the Konoha camp, Hoshiyomi went straight to the command tent. Seeing Orochimaru and Tsunade eyeing him up and down as if checking for injuries, Hoshiyomi smiled and said directly:
"Relax, we're fine. Also, no need to keep studying that old battle plan. From here on, we can move forward directly. If we act fast enough, we should be able to seize quite a few of Sunagakure's outposts."
At this, Orochimaru's eyes lit up, and he immediately moved to make preparations. Tsunade, however, frowned in confusion:
"Didn't the village's strategy call for a long-term war of attrition? By mobilizing so many people all at once, aren't you going against the old man's orders?"
Hoshiyomi chuckled and teased:
"Isn't this just me trying to wrap things up early so I can go back to the village with you…"
As he spoke, a sly smile—one every man would understand—spread across his face. Tsunade blushed at his roguish expression and instinctively punched him on the shoulder in annoyance.
"I'm being serious here!" she protested.
Hoshiyomi laughed heartily, pulled her close with one arm, and explained while embracing her:
"We're not planning to pay a huge price to wipe out Sunagakure directly. We're just taking advantage of their troop movements to grab the upper hand. Once we force them out of the Land of Rain, we'll station our forces along the border of the Land of Wind and block them every day. Won't that be far worse for them?"
Hearing this, Tsunade's eyes lit up. She exclaimed in admiration:
"You're right! If we can actually pull that off, then we wouldn't even need to keep fighting. Just starving them out for a year or so would force them to surrender—and it would cut down our own casualties a lot."
"Exactly," Hoshiyomi nodded. "At most, one more year. After that, this war should come to an end."