In a certain town within the Land of Iron, Ōnoki hovered in midair, gazing toward the Land of Fire.
The Third Raikage was a training maniac. He stood on the ground, hefting an enormous dumbbell as he tempered his body.
Uchiha Obito, meanwhile, leaned against a tree in the distance.
Before long, Zetsu emerged from the ground.
The Third Raikage immediately asked, "What's the situation on each battlefield?"
Ōnoki descended. A group of strategists gathered around Zetsu with maps of several battlefields, ready to mark the positions of both sides' forces.
White Zetsu said, "It's mostly the same as the intelligence collected before the war.
On the Land of Hot Water front, Yagura has led the Mist ninja into battle with Konoha.
The coastline of the Land of Hot Water is long, so the Mist's attacks are highly dispersed. But Nara Shikakaku prepared thoroughly. His defenses are airtight. The Mist can only probe along the shoreline and have no way to push inland.
On the Land of Grass front, the Legendary Sannin's deterrent power is very strong. With Kitsuchi serving as commander-in-chief, he doesn't dare make any rash moves for now.
On the Land of Hot Water front, Uchiha Kagen is commanding Konoha's forces in a standoff against the Cloud.
The only difference is that Namikaze Minato has entered the Land of Hot Water. The pressure on the Cloud has increased sharply."
Hearing this, the Third Raikage threw aside his dumbbell and shouted furiously, "We can't keep waiting! We must launch a surprise attack on the Land of Fire!"
Ōnoki shook his head instead.
"What about Konoha's reserve troops? Where is Konoha's fox?"
White Zetsu said, "Konoha's fox hasn't appeared on any battlefield. Either he trusts every unit deeply… or he doesn't care much about Konoha's casualties on the front lines.
As long as Konoha's fox and the reserve troops don't move, they're hard to move too.
If they make the first move and lead their forces in a surprise attack on the Land of Fire, then Konoha's fox can simply wait until they're locked in battle with Sarutobi Hiruzen, trapped by him, then abandon Konoha and rush to one of the battlefields.
With the fox's strength, he would slaughter his way through any battlefield he appeared on.
At that point, Ōnoki and the Third Raikage wouldn't be able to free themselves in time, and one of the fronts would collapse.
If the Mist collapses on the Land of Hot Water front, that's acceptable. They won't feel too pained by it.
But whether it's the Stone collapsing on the Land of Grass front or the Cloud collapsing on the Land of Hot Water front, neither Ōnoki nor the Raikage can accept that."
The Raikage shouted a few more times, but he knew it was impossible. They could not violate the strategy they had already established. In the end, he fell silent.
The current situation had become a contest of endurance between Ōnoki and the fox.
Whoever could no longer sit still because of casualties on the front line would enter the field first—and hand the initiative to the other side.
If the fox stepped in first and appeared on one of the battlefields, then Uchiha Obito would bring Ōnoki and the Raikage to deal with him.
In front of so many Konoha shinobi, the fox could hardly use Flying Thunder God to flee. He would have no choice but to fight them head-on.
Ōnoki had always believed his heart was as hard as iron.
But at this moment, even he began to doubt it.
Was his heart truly harder than Konoha's fox?
"That useless trash Rasa. We told him to attack the Land of Fire and Konoha from the west, and what happened? He didn't even die on the border. He died in some town dozens of kilometers away from it. Trash! Trash worthy of being thrown into the garbage heap!"
The others all felt that Ōnoki's cursing was surprisingly civilized.
If Sunagakure could open a fourth battlefield, the other three fronts would not be forced into such passivity.
At this moment, Yako was bringing Hidan into the Land of Fire.
"Hidan, Sail is responsible for constructing the shrines and temples in the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers.
The Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water will be your responsibility.
You need to train subordinates as capable as Sail. After this, you'll also be going to the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Grass."
Yako spoke with sweeping ambition.
"Every town in the shinobi world with people in it must have either a shrine or temple of our Church of the Three Calamities!"
Hidan twisted his neck. Yesterday, he had sacrificed a noble, cutting open his own throat in the process. It had yet to fully heal.
"Leader, I often can't tell whether many things are your will… or the will of Lord Jashin."
"That's simple. If you want, I can have Lord Jashin send down an oracle."
Hidan gave a bitter laugh.
He used to think the Leader was the one most favored by Jashin.
But later, he slowly realized it might be the Leader who favored Jashin the most.
"Hidan, go first to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water. Spread the faith of the Church of the Three Calamities on both sides of the border."
Inside the Land of Hot Water, deputy commander Yuka was leading a five-hundred-man force toward the southwest of the peninsula.
Another group of Mist ninja had circled around the entire peninsula and appeared in the southwest.
The Uzumaki shinobi within the unit all looked tense.
After passing around several mountains, they would be able to see it—
Uzushio Village.
Standing on a hillside, Yuka signaled for the other shinobi to continue advancing. She herself remained on the slope with the Uzumaki shinobi, gazing from afar at the ruins.
Princess Kushina had remained at headquarters and had not moved with them over such a wide area.
Uzumaki Genchō uneasily gripped his belt. Fastened to it was Konoha's forehead protector.
He was no longer a ninja of Uzushio Village.
His current identity was that of a Konoha shinobi.
The other Uzumaki shinobi wore the same sorrowful expressions.
Nature was merciless.
No matter how many childhood and youthful memories Uzushio Village carried for them, it had long since been swallowed by the wilderness.
The trees had grown very tall, rising higher than the ruins of the buildings.
Through the gaps between the crowns, one could occasionally still glimpse sections of surviving walls.
Not a single roof remained intact.
Uzumaki Genchō could not help murmuring, "Can we still return here and rebuild the village…?"
He had not asked expecting an answer.
They had already joined Konoha. It was impossible for them to leave Konoha again.
And even if they did leave Konoha, with the current size of the Uzumaki clan, forget facing another joint attack from the Cloud and the Mist—even facing the Mist alone would inevitably end in destruction.
However, Yuka said, "It's possible. Perhaps after this war, we'll be able to rebuild Uzushio Village!"
Everyone looked at Yuka in astonishment.
As the clan leader, Yuka had deep ties with the village's higher-ups.
Did Clan Leader Yuka know something?
Yuka recalled what the fox had told her several nights ago.
Fox had solved Sunagakure's problem. Konoha no longer needed to send troops toward the Land of Rivers. For the current Konoha, this was excellent news.
Namikaze Minato had become Konoha's hero. The shinobi on the Land of Hot Water front all knew that Namikaze Minato had completed an S-rank mission, causing internal chaos within Sunagakure and even leading to the Fourth Kazekage's death at the hands of a tailed beast.
Nara Shikakaku cooperated with the village and promoted Namikaze Minato's name across the front line, while also boosting the morale of the frontline shinobi.
This was the first major victory since the beginning of the Shinobi World War.
Fox had also been delighted by another matter.
He was establishing a rapid-response system for shinobi. Once completed, Konoha shinobi would no longer have to be confined within Konoha itself. They could deploy large numbers of troops to any location at any time.
That night, Fox had lain on a sturdy Wood Release bed, enjoying Yuka's movements as he told her that he intended to establish shrines along the Spiral River.
When that happened, they could rebuild Uzushio Village without having to worry about threats from the Cloud or the Mist.
Yuka said to the Uzumaki clansmen:
"Everyone, we will rebuild Uzushio Village.
As for the difficulties of rebuilding it… once the war ends, I have a way to solve them!"