The clouds of war gradually loomed over the Ninja World.
Although the Ninja Alliance had captured some of the Akatsuki Organization's Outer Circle members through various means.
However, the attacks targeting them did not end because of this; instead, the conflict between Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning escalated from local skirmishes to a full-scale frontal war due to irreconcilable contradictions.
Konoha felt the threat of war approaching closer and closer, so much so that even Root's old electrician Shisui ended his career as an electrician and threw himself into frontline missions once again.
The death of Hōki, an Inner Circle member, did not cause the Akatsuki Organization to stay their hand; on the contrary, it led them to dispatch more forces to launch attacks against Konoha's important border defense lines.
Takeshi entrusted everything to Sakumo and ran off to an unknown place to continue his training.
Regarding his behavior as a hands-off shopkeeper, Sakumo had no other choice but to feel helpless.
Fortunately, today's Konoha possessed abundant strength, with strong individuals emerging one after another; even when facing artificial humans, they had the power to fight.
At Jiraiya's suggestion, Konoha allocated a portion of funds to be used for the mass production of combat-oriented scientific ninja tools.
Soon, with the scientific ninja tool production line running at full capacity, the first batch of new-style weapons quickly rolled off the line. Only the final step of battlefield testing remained before they could be equipped throughout the army.
"Send this batch of weapons as aid to Kumogakure. We can gain their gratitude and also discover if there are any deficiencies in the weapons through actual combat."
Looking at the pitch-black muzzles and the shells stacked in boxes on the ground, Sakumo was very curious about what role the KY-152 Howitzer, designed and developed by the Konoha Research Bureau, would play on the battlefield.
There were a total of 36 cannons in the first batch to roll off the line.
With a command from Sakumo, this batch of cannons was sent to Kumogakure in the name of humanitarian aid.
Going along with them were some military observers.
Their role was to record the deficiencies existing in the cannons, as well as whether there would be any maladaptation to the terrain on the actual battlefield.
...
"This is... a cannon?"
Hearing that Konoha had provided him with a batch of cannons for free, Dodai, who was suffering from the inability to counter the Land of Lightning's artillery positions, went personally to receive these weapons.
After seeing the Konoha-made cannons, which were vastly different from the Land of Lightning's cannons in both appearance and ammunition, Dodai reached out and stroked the cannon's barrel.
Feeling the cold touch brought by the metal, Dodai began to ask about the specific operation method of the cannons.
The cannons equipped by the Land of Lightning's army were smoothbore cannons, and they fired solid cannonballs.
What Konoha provided as aid were breech-loading 152mm howitzers; both their quality and power far exceeded the cannons of the Land of Lightning.
...
Land of Lightning frontline artillery position.
Behind various defensive fortifications stood the Land of Lightning's artillery position, boasting as many as 60 cannons.
Relying on the cannons in their hands, they had withstood several large-scale attacks from Kumogakure.
The Land of Lightning commander knew the importance of artillery well, so he deployed a large number of infantry here to protect his precious cannons.
On this day, the artillerymen, as usual, brought shells to the front of the position, preparing to fire a few rounds at Kumogakure's position to let this group of ninja see what modern warfare was called.
This group of people was talking and laughing, completely lacking the tension of impending war.
They had been fighting here for some time, and the ninja of Kumogakure had never been able to break through the outer perimeter defense, causing a hint of slackness to arise in all their hearts.
"Sure enough, without the Fourth Raikage, Kumogakure is not worth mentioning at all."
An artilleryman looked at the distant Cloud ninja position and said with a smile to a companion beside him.
The shadow of a person, the name of a tree.
Although the Third Raikage was dead, his reputation of single-handedly withstanding ten thousand ninja had been established.
This allowed his son, the Fourth Raikage, to enjoy some benefits.
In the eyes of many people in the Land of Lightning, the Fourth Raikage was just like his father, capable of charging into an army of ten thousand single-handedly.
"Yeah, what kind of thing is Dodai? He's just a secretary. To put it plainly, he's just an ordinary ninja."
Another companion chimed in.
Just as the two were conversing, a burst of violent noise suddenly erupted from the distant Cloud ninja position.
The sound sounded very familiar, just like the commotion when they fired their cannons.
"Strange, we haven't transported the shells up yet, did they start fighting up front?"
The soldier who spoke earlier raised his head and looked towards his own position.
"Wait a moment, what are those things in the sky?"
Another soldier looked up at the sky and found many dense black dots appearing in the sky, falling rapidly in their direction.
Immediately following that, the Land of Lightning's artillery position underwent a baptism of shells. Flames and thick smoke rose, and after the firelight and the sounds of explosions, there were only the soldiers' faint groans.
...
"This has much greater lethality than the Land of Lightning's cannons."
Dodai originally thought that his side might engage in a hearty artillery duel with the Land of Lightning artillerymen, but the Konoha cannons proved with facts that his thoughts were purely superfluous.
His side had only conducted three rounds of volley fire, and the Land of Lightning's backward cannons were all written off, blown into the sky along with the soldiers defending the position.
Of course, these cannons also had deficiencies.
That was, after three rounds of volley fire, a total of four cannons exploded, taking the lives of 6 Cloud ninja.
"The strength of the steel used to make the cannons is not enough. Tell the foundry and have them hurry up and improve it."
The observers behind Dodai immediately took samples, checking which foundry had produced these cannons.
"Let the Internal Affairs Department go. If we don't show them some color, this bunch of profiteers won't be afraid."
Another observer directly made a harsh remark, wanting to let the Internal Affairs Department invite the factory person in charge in for a cup of tea.
"It's a good thing the Fourth had foresight, letting Kumogakure test the cannons for us."
There was still one observer there praising Sakumo's foresight.
While the few were conversing, the Cloud ninja commander received Dodai's message, knowing that the opponent's artillery position had already been silenced, he immediately ordered the ninja to advance and capture the Land of Lightning's position.
The Cloud ninja responsible for the artillery relied on their physical bodies to forcibly drag the cannons equipped with tires, including the 4 that had already exploded, preparing to transfer them to the rear.
"There are still some problems with mobility. Although ninja who cultivate taijutsu can rely on physical strength to transfer cannons equipped with tires, I think it is an unnecessary waste to require ninja to be dispatched for such a small matter."
"That's right. If it's a long-distance transfer, we can rely on the railway network laid within the Land of Fire, but on the battlefield, we still need some kind of vehicle specifically used to transfer cannons."
"I have an idea. If we combine cannons and vehicles, like a steam car, so that it can move by itself..."
Seeing the soldiers beginning to transfer the cannons, the observers started discussing once again.
The thing about cannons, compared to ninja, was that the biggest advantage was that they were simple and easy to operate. Through simple learning, ordinary people could become soldiers and go to battle to kill the enemy.
The training cost was low; it didn't require investing a large amount of time and money, they just needed to shoot accurately.
Using ninja to operate cannons, in the eyes of the observers, was a very wasteful behavior.
...
Inside the Konoha Research Bureau's Military Industry Division, Ebisu, who was responsible for the design and development of military scientific ninja tools, finished reading the observation report sent back from the front lines and convened his subordinates.
That he could sit in this important position at this age, aside from the Third's appreciation, a more important point was Takeshi's trust.
Although he had similar faults to Jiraiya, the Will of Fire existed in his heart. Such a person could not possibly betray the village, so many people could rest assured entrusting this post to him.
"The caliber of the 152mm cannon is still too large, mobility is unchanging, and it is only suitable for large-scale positional warfare. The observers believe that Konoha should focus weapons on miniaturization and portability, after all, the Akatsuki Organization has always acted with single-digit numbers of people."
Ebisu voiced the observers' thoughts. They believed that small combat cannons with a caliber lower than 100mm should be developed.
"Of course, this isn't negating the Project 50 we developed before. You must know, that steel beast has already started production. No matter what, one unit must roll off the line for actual combat operation."
Hearing that the new research goal would not affect the progress of Project 50, the researchers breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to discuss the production of the new type of cannon.
...
As Konoha's cannons were thrown into actual combat, the stalemate between Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning was instantly broken.
Watching the war reports flying in like snowflakes, the Land of Lightning Daimyo didn't even have the mood to drink wine. He immediately sent people to contact the Daimyos of other countries, while simultaneously condemning Konoha Village's shameless act of aid.
Facing the Land of Lightning's condemnation, Sakumo stated that there was absolutely no such negligence, and continued to discuss the second batch of military aid.
Since such a terrible thing as a barrel explosion happened with the first batch of cannons, the Konoha higher-ups unanimously agreed that the soon-to-be-completed Project 50 should be sent to the front lines, using the lives of Cloud ninja to test its stability.
However, considering the importance and uniqueness of this new-style cannon, while Sakumo agreed to the aid, he also ordered that it must be transported back after the operation ended.
After several months of fierce fighting, the Land of Lightning Daimyo failed to wait for the support of his other relatives; instead, the city where the Daimyo's mansion was located was surrounded by Cloud ninja.
If he wanted peace talks, he could only take this opportunity.
Facing this last chance for peace talks, the Land of Lightning Daimyo fully displayed a stubborn spirit. He didn't believe that group of ninja from Kumogakure dared to take his life, and decided to fight those country bumpkins to the very last moment.
At the same time, he also firmly believed that the wide city walls built by successive generations of Daimyos at huge cost would definitely be able to withstand Kumogakure's attacks and block them outside the city walls.
Just as the Daimyo predicted, the Cloud ninja who fought to the foot of the city did not launch an attack, but chose to set up camp on the spot.
The Konoha cannons they used as siege weapons had all fallen silent because the production capacity for shells was insufficient and new shells were not delivered in time.
Fortunately, Konoha provided aid in the form of a newer giant cannon. Just its massive appearance was enough to make countless people feel terrified.
"What is this thing called?"
Dodai looked at the cannon barrel that could fit a hundred Daimyos inside and subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"The Research Bureau said it hasn't been officially named yet. The current code name is Project 50."
Minato, who was responsible for using Space-Time Ninjutsu to transport this giant object, was also unclear about the specific information of this thing. He only knew that to transport it, he had consumed quite a lot of chakra.
"Next is building the railway tracks. Construct a circular railway track according to this blueprint, and you can adjust the firing angle."
At the same time, he also took out the operating procedures for this cannon.
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