"Lord Hokage."
While deep in thought, a Konoha ninja arrived from outside the battlefield to deliver a report.
"What is the situation?" Hiruzen regained his composure and asked in a low voice.
"The situation is somewhat unfavorable for us. Many of our scattered teams are engaged in fierce battles, and moreover, in some of the smaller battlefields, our men have all perished."
The ninja's voice trembled slightly as he delivered the last part.
"What did they report?" Hiruzen remained calm and composed. The men he was asking about were the first officers of the Konoha army's analysis team.
"The Sand Village's scattered forces seem to have a clear understanding of our positions across the entire battlefield. This allows them to provide assistance and rescue to their own comrades after engagements end, and to conduct guerrilla warfare against us along specific routes.
Secondly, there is the matter of the Sand Village's medicine. Some enemies with minor injuries, after receiving treatment, can maintain their fighting capacity immediately. Even some seriously injured Sand Village members are ingesting something to paralyze their nerves and suppress pain."
He continued.
"It functions as a powerful painkiller. Although this method is extreme, it still allows them to remain a threat for a certain period of time, even if it only keeps a few more enemies fighting than would otherwise be the case."
Hiruzen's face tightened.
It still was not enough to fully explain what he was seeing. Even accounting for the Sand Village's strategies and the medicines, relying solely on these things should not have been sufficient to sustain the Sand Village's fight to this degree.
"Next, there are the Sand Village's medical teams moving back and forth across the battlefield. They appear to have occupied one of our strongholds and are using it to treat large numbers of their wounded.
One of our teams successfully launched a surprise attack on one of their positions and discovered a complete distribution of medical supplies along with medical tools we have never seen before."
"Most importantly, the number of their medical ninja, judging from battlefield statistics, is considerably larger than anticipated."
"Every section of the battlefield has these medical squads operating in close coordination with the combat forces. Their efficiency is remarkable, as if everything had been practiced and arranged in advance."
Hiruzen went silent.
Before he could process that, his subordinate continued.
"There is one more thing. That is the matter of Blood Doctor Yuji."
"What?"
Hiruzen's eyebrows raised slightly.
"Blood Doctor Yuji appears to have a genjutsu-inducing ninja tool in his possession. After the battlefield dispersed into smaller engagements, this tool proved extremely lethal to our forces.
Close to two thirds of the comrades lost in those smaller battlefields were casualties attributable to him using this tool.
Because the Sand Village is considerably more familiar with the battlefield layout and routes than we are, they have extremely high mobility throughout the entire area."
"This technique must be the same one the Sand Village used during their operations against the Stone Village on the Wind Country border."
Blood Doctor Yuji. And Akasuna no Sasori.
The level of threat posed by these two, Hiruzen had already understood clearly from Minato's account after the earlier engagement.
After the war broke out, his initial priority had been to locate these two and deal with them first, to prevent them from negatively affecting the overall campaign. Individually, their strength was not sufficient to dominate an entire battlefield. But if the two worked in coordination, they could not be ignored.
The problem was the scale of this war. The battlefield was vast, and the chaotic situation of two large armies in simultaneous engagement across multiple fronts meant he could not devote all his personal attention to just two targets and still maintain command of the broader situation.
Furthermore, he had also come to realize that the Sand Village's army was deliberately protecting these two.
Up until now, whether it was the Sand Village's main force or Sasori's units, they all appeared to be consciously avoiding his location and his section of the battlefield. They were making no preparations to engage him directly.
Even so, as Hokage, relying on his personal combat power, he had been eliminating large numbers of ordinary Sand Village troops. But the enemy would rather sacrifice many of their lower-ranked ninja than allow those two to face him on the battlefield and risk any misfortune.
"Have you gathered the full battlefield locations and intelligence?" Hiruzen pondered for a moment, then asked.
"Yes."
"What are the overall casualties?"
"Our casualties..." The Leaf Village ninja's lips were dry as he reported the figures. "Are comparable to the Sand Village's. And furthermore, the Sand Village appears capable of sustaining their rate of replacement."
"The Sand Village's medical capabilities have already reached this level?"
Hiruzen's heart skipped a beat.
Casualties in a great battle were not measured solely by the number of enemies killed. There was another extremely important factor: medical capability.
Although the Leaf Village's military strength was significantly greater than the Sand Village's overall, the Sand Village still held a home advantage of sorts, having previously laid extensive traps and mechanisms throughout the terrain and having planned their strategic positioning well in advance.
Furthermore, the Sand Village's medical system on the battlefield was now fully operational. A series of compounding factors had led to Konoha suffering heavy losses.
Moreover, the Sand Village's Twin Stars, as Hiruzen had predicted, although unable to dominate the entire battlefield individually, still possessed the power to influence the outcome of engagements at this scale. Especially Blood Doctor Yuji, who wielded that particular ninja tool.
However, the battle was not over yet.
Based on Hiruzen's experience, Konoha still had the potential to turn the situation around. Because the Sand Village had one fatal weakness: insufficient top-tier combat power.
Once the battlefield was properly ignited by Konoha's elite forces, the Sand Village's medical combat system would suffer a devastating blow. Simply by destroying the Sand Village's medical squads, ultimate victory would still belong to Konoha.
At minimum, with him present as Hokage, the Sand Village would have to pay an enormous price in losses just to keep him occupied and away from their critical positions.
"Notify everyone on the battlefield to prioritize targeting the Sand Village's medical squads. Connect the hidden ninja units to the parallel base network."
Hiruzen issued the order.
"We are already moving on that," the young Konoha ninja replied.
Hiruzen let out a quiet sigh. Their village's battlefield experience was still considerable. In some situations, even as Hokage he could not immediately address every problem, but his subordinates already knew how to make the correct response quickly.
"Have the analysis team report the specific locations of all active battlefields and assess the severity level of each engagement. I will personally lead a small team to handle the critical points directly," Hiruzen said.
"First, lock down that one. He must be dealt with as quickly as possible."
The ninja tool in that young man's hands, in the current situation where the Sand Village was deliberately cultivating and protecting him, was simply too dangerous to leave unaddressed.
"Yes."
The ninja acknowledged the order and vanished.
However, it was not long before bad news arrived while Hiruzen was already moving toward another battle zone.
The Sand Village had retreated.
They were clearly pulling back toward the Land of Rivers. One moment they had been fully engaged with the Leaf Village across multiple fronts, and the next they had suddenly withdrawn entirely.
What made even a veteran like Hiruzen feel deeply unsettled was that the Sand Village appeared to have anticipated Konoha's intention to destroy and assault their medical bases. They had already packed up and evacuated before the strikes could land.
Before retreating, they had set traps throughout the base, planting numerous explosive tags throughout the interior. They left behind only a handful of severely wounded but still conscious Sand Village soldiers to serve as bait, luring the Leaf Village's elite squads into a mutual destruction scenario.
While this trap did not completely wipe out the elite squads, it still resulted in significant casualties overall. Another heavy blow against the Konoha army at the moment of what should have been their decisive push.
"Hokage-sama, are you alright?"
Hiruzen stood firmly on a tree trunk, one hand gripping the bark, his head bowed. His other hand pressed against his temple. It felt as though suddenly, the accumulated pressure of the night had caught up with him at once.
One of his subordinates spoke anxiously at the sight.
"It is nothing."
Hiruzen drew several slow breaths, his voice hoarse.
Konoha had won. That much was true. They had driven the Sand Village back and reclaimed the border territory. But the price they had paid for it was severe.
As for the Sand Village, although they had lost from a purely positional standpoint, in reality they had extracted an enormous advantage from this engagement. The exchange had been deeply favorable to them in ways that the simple outcome of retreat versus advance did not capture.