After the two operations in the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain ended, Sunagakure immediately reorganized its defensive posture to prevent a counterattack from Konohagakure.
They believed that Konohagakure couldn't possibly swallow this insult, and since their operation hadn't achieved its predetermined goals, they were very likely to face retaliation.
However, the anticipated retaliation never came.
Instead, Konohagakure adopted defensive measures, just as before, which left Chiyo and other frontline ninja bewildered.
To be able to endure such an insult was simply unbelievable.
Chiyo believed that the matter wasn't so simple, but she didn't act rashly.
Konohagakure's uncharacteristic actions did indeed deter the Sand Ninja, prompting intelligence ninja to gather more information about the reasons behind this anomaly.
A week later, Sunagakure's intelligence personnel finally found some clues from the tightly sealed front lines.
It seemed that Uchiha Kagami, the commander of Konoha's western front, had been betrayed by his subordinates.
Although he survived, he lost an arm and was severely wounded.
Furthermore, Konohagakure had launched a purge internally, arresting and executing all possible suspects.
"Who was the leader of the traitors?" Chiyo asked the Sand Ninja responsible for the report in the tent.
"His name seems to be Uchiha Setsuna," the other party replied.
"Uchiha Setsuna? I remember this person.
He performed very well in the Land of Rivers and the Land of Grass.
He's a very formidable ninja," Chiyo's eyebrows slightly raised.
"Did this person actually assassinate his own clan head?"
"There's nothing strange about that; the Uchiha clan has a tradition of this in the past," said someone with a deep family heritage in Sunagakure.
He knew a thing or two about that period of history.
"People from this clan only care about their immediate interests, sometimes neglecting other aspects.
When Uchiha Madara fell out with the First Hokage of Konohagakure, he left without a second thought, not caring what would happen to the clan left in the village."
Uchiha Madara's actions back then would certainly have made life very difficult for the Uchiha clan.
If it weren't for Hashirama and Tobirama stabilizing the situation in time, the Uchiha clan's situation at that time would have been even more uncertain.
"Heh, that's truly fortunate to have such people on the enemy's side," Chiyo couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Let me hear who else has been dealt with."
Immediately after, the Sand Ninja in front of her reported the intelligence they had gathered, from the adjustments in Konoha's squad formations to the personnel identified as having been dealt with through probing contacts over the past few days.
Most of them were Uchiha clan members, but there were also non-Uchiha ninja.
However, they all shared a common characteristic: they were either in critical departments or possessed formidable combat strength.
When the name Uchiha Ken was mentioned, Chiyo's son, Ryu, who was already qualified to be seated, immediately said, "I know this person.
He's also a very powerful Uchiha clan member, achieving the full Sharingan state at a young age.
I didn't expect even him to—"
Ryu's interjection at this moment was somewhat impolite, but since he was Chiyo's son and possessed strength himself, no one said anything.
Chiyo, however, clapped the table and said, "Excellent! It seems that although our last operation didn't achieve the expected results, it did create instability within the enemy.
With these powerful ninja eliminated, Konoha's forces will definitely experience fluctuations in strength.
This is our opportunity!"
Chiyo appeared very excited.
Throughout the war, Sunagakure had always been on the defensive, and even discordant voices had begun to appear domestically.
She had always persevered, not only because she had reasons to continue but also because she firmly believed that Konohagakure, fighting on three fronts, would eventually face problems.
Now she had finally waited for it.
Under the pressure of war, Konohagakure's internal conflicts had erupted at this moment.
Uchiha clan members assassinated their own clan head; although Uchiha Kagami was not eliminated, it led to a thorough purge of Konoha's forces.
This was undoubtedly good news for Sunagakure.
Everyone's expressions softened somewhat.
To be honest, after the last operation, they had all considered giving up.
Konohagakure was like an impenetrable rock, weathering even carefully planned attacks, and Sunagakure's hope of victory was already very slim.
And as the war progressed, the conflicts within the Land of Wind and Sunagakure were nearing their peak.
If there wasn't a glimmer of hope soon, even if the Sand Ninja could persevere, the capital might not be able to.
With this incident, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind should be able to continue support for a while longer.
And if Sunagakure could achieve a brilliant victory next, then this war would have hope.
They could continue fighting, and in the future, they might even gain benefits.
Of course, Sunagakure hadn't become so arrogant as to think they could do it alone.
They primarily relied on the neighboring Land of Earth.
Currently, much of Sunagakure's food and other war supplies were imported from the Land of Earth.
The Land of Wind alone couldn't sustain itself for too long; they still needed to save emergency rations.
Originally, due to unfavorable operations, Sunagakure had been subjected to difficulties by the other side, who doubted Sunagakure's strength.
Their envoy's words even carried a hint of threat, stating that if Sunagakure was truly ineffective, then Iwagakure shouldn't be blamed for revisiting its policies from the First Shinobi World War.
Everyone understood the meaning of this statement.
What role did Iwagakure play in the First Shinobi World War?
They were allies of Konohagakure!
In other words, if Sunagakure couldn't produce any more valuable battle results, Iwagakure would once again join the alliance of justice and turn to sanction them, the aggressors.
At that point, with both the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth pressing down, what could the Land of Wind fight for?
Surrendering early might still salvage some losses; stubbornly continuing could lead to a war of annihilation!
Chiyo meticulously examined the list gathered by the intelligence ninja, calculating in her mind.
Konohagakure's internal purge seemed very severe, which would definitely affect command at the grassroots level, and even the middle ranks might be impacted.
The probing attacks during these days also seemed to prove this point: Konohagakure had problems with its defense, allowing Sunagakure to gain quite a bit of territory.
"Perhaps we can try to launch an offensive.
Opportunity knocks but once.
If we wait for them to recover and return to the previous situation, we will be slowly dying," Chiyo finally made up her mind and said to everyone.
Everyone was silent for a while; no one raised objections.
Some felt that an offensive might be somewhat inappropriate, as Sunagakure had genuinely gained no advantages from previous offensives.
The only somewhat successful outcome was the previous operation, but that was due to the efforts of a spy.
The problem was that the spy providing the intelligence was not from Sunagakure.
From the current perspective, it was very likely that Uchiha Setsuna and the so-called rogue ninja group were secretly contacting enemy nations.
Based on the information gathered by the intelligence ninja and everyone's recollections, they realized that there had indeed been some Uchiha clan members involved in past wars.
And after the internal purge, it was clear that Sunagakure was unlikely to obtain that level of intelligence again.
Those who dared to step forward had probably already been killed, and they had no doubt about this, because if it were Sunagakure, they would certainly do the same.
And Konohagakure, though appearing merciful to outsiders, would not show mercy in this matter.
That list of executions proved everything.
However, Chiyo felt that while losing Uchiha Setsuna and others was somewhat regrettable, their deaths also left an opportunity for Sunagakure, because the internal purge caused instability at the grassroots level of Konoha's forces.
In other words, it allowed Sunagakure's spies the possibility of infiltration.
"If nothing unexpected happens, we are very likely to obtain a lot of intelligence on Konoha ninja.
Although it won't reach the level of Uchiha Setsuna and others, the intelligence gathered will be more authentic," Chiyo said, her voice tinged with anger.
"Although Uchiha Setsuna was a traitor, he wasn't one of us in the end.
The intelligence he gave last time didn't mention that Konoha's surprise attack force was led by Uchiha Kagami, causing us to lose many lives for nothing and losing the opportunity to eliminate Uchiha Kagami!"
Everyone nodded.
They were mentally prepared for losses among the personnel ambushed in the valley, but they never expected that Uchiha Kagami was leading the team that time.
Not only did all the dispatched ninja perish, but it also made Iwagakure seriously doubt their intelligence gathering capabilities, as Iwagakure was also involved in that operation.
"The intelligence gathered by our own people is the most credible.
Although Uchiha Setsuna had his own ulterior motives, he was still an enemy.
That time was clearly the result of him hedging his bets, wanting to eliminate Uchiha Kagami while also staying in Konohagakure.
But what was the result?
He ended up losing his life, and Uchiha Kagami, the arch-nemesis of both our sides, is alive and well!" Chiyo said furiously.
She was truly disappointed with Uchiha Setsuna.
Earlier, Chiyo had been very grateful to the person who secretly sent her intelligence, but now she no longer felt that way.
She only thought Uchiha Setsuna was a fool.
On this point, both Konohagakure and Sunagakure reached a consensus.
"Lady Chiyo is right.
We may not have this opportunity again.
Last time, it was because the enemy revealed intelligence, and this time is essentially a continuation of the previous operation, and it's a weakness exposed by the enemy themselves.
If we don't make good use of it, we truly have no hope," someone said.
Thus, the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure decided that in the upcoming operations, they would deliver a heavy blow to Konohagakure.
Because of the recent retreat of both sides, Sunagakure had re-coalesced its strength and could completely take another risk.
And as their discussion deepened, they increasingly felt there was hope for success.
The Sand Ninja believed that their side was very united—although it was forged under high pressure, it did indeed yield this result—while Konohagakure, due to the purge, experienced significant internal chaos, with a disconnect in their mutual assistance.
If they utilized this well, they could further expand their advantage.
Wasn't the last operation, due to Sunagakure's efforts, what created the opportunity for Uchiha Setsuna, leading to this internal purge in Konohagakure?
In other words, Sunagakure's risk was valuable and entirely possible.
The more everyone talked, the more excited they became, and the more they felt it was possible.
Of course, war would have risks.
Their decision to fight this war was already a very risky matter, so what was there to be afraid of?
The enemy's internal affairs were chaotic due to the purge, and even if Commander Uchiha Kagami recovered from his injuries, his combat strength would be greatly diminished after losing an arm.
Moreover, he might not even be fully healed.
Such a good opportunity would not come again.
Sunagakure's strength was inherently inferior to Konohagakure's.
If they didn't take some risky measures, there would be no possibility of victory.
Since they could create Konohagakure's internal purge last time, then this time, it might, no, it was very likely.
Under external pressure, the Sand Ninja were eager to open up a new situation.
As soon as they saw a feasible path, they immediately dove in, and they had very optimistic ideas.
If one word were to describe it: the consequences of the last operation had subtly caused Sunagakure to become somewhat overconfident.
Sunagakure quickly formulated a battle plan.
First, they would test the opponent's current coordination ability.
Their previous probing attacks were too focused on stability.
They decided to use elite squads for assault (surprise attacks) to conduct tests.
Once it was confirmed that the enemy's coordination indeed showed signs of disconnect, it would be time for the main force to follow up.
At the same time, intelligence ninja also needed to focus on dispatching spies and gathering intelligence to provide assistance to the troops in obtaining firsthand intelligence and correcting their direction.
When discussing the areas of responsibility, Ryu proactively offered to be responsible for a particular area.
Chiyo understood that this was where Konohagakure's Hatake Sakumo was located.
In the last operation, Ryu's wife, her daughter-in-law, had died—although Chizuru was enveloped by Katsuyu, Katsuyu thoughtfully squeezed out some blood to create the impression of being crushed, in order to mislead the Sand Ninja.
Although Ryu initially believed Chizuru had a chance of survival, he later lost that confidence.
It was true that Konohagakure had a tradition of treating prisoners well, but they hadn't given the other side a chance to take prisoners.
In the Land of Grass, Konohagakure's retaliatory actions also made them feel that Konohagakure might no longer pursue prisoners—although they did indeed capture many Sand Ninja that time, under deceptive methods, they did not learn of this news.
Because of this, Ryu held both new and old grudges against Hatake Sakumo, and he had to personally eliminate him to honor his deceased wife.
They were a loving couple and had a cute son, but Hatake Sakumo had caused him to lose his wife and his child to lose their mother.
This fire of hatred would never be extinguished!
For Chiyo, Chizuru was also a virtuous daughter-in-law, and her death was also something Chiyo deeply regretted.
Chiyo also understood her son's temperament very well and knew that she couldn't stop him at this time.
However, it was also a fact that Ryu couldn't defeat Hatake Sakumo.
Therefore, Chiyo planned to reinforce the forces there to protect her son.
Just as Sunagakure excitedly began to act, Konohagakure quietly waited.
When Uchiha Kagami learned of the Sand Ninja's operational patterns, he discussed it with the senior ninja and came to a conclusion:
Sunagakure had taken the bait.