Chương 24: Shifting Tides of the Ninja World

A Great Shinobi War is fundamentally different from the pitched battles of ordinary armies. Shinobi do not cluster together for a mass charge; to do so would only invite a coordinated, large-scale Ninjutsu strike to wipe the field in a single "wash." Instead, battles between Hidden Villages are typically fought in small squads, dispersed across vast borderlines to intercept enemies attempting to penetrate the nation from any direction.

It is a game of reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, infiltration and counter-infiltration, tracking and counter-tracking, hunting and counter-hunting. It is a contest of raw strength, mobility, and intelligence. A shinobi is a high-speed, high-mobility professional. In their small cells, they scout for every trace left by the enemy, flushing them out for elimination. If outmatched, they retreat to seek cooperation with nearby allies.

Encountering a large force of shinobi indicates the enemy has chosen that location as a breakthrough point; in such cases, a scouting squad's primary duty is not to block the advance, but to transmit that intelligence back to headquarters. Unlike the civilian armies of the Warring States Period, which numbered in the tens or hundreds of thousands, shinobi can hold a border with only hundreds or thousands of men.

They rely on movement speeds far beyond ordinary humans and the ability to transmit information with ease. Squads scattered across the front maintain tight communication, forming layers of defense. Meanwhile, elite squads are organized to cross the lines of engagement to find the enemy's hidden encampments. Once located, these bases are either destroyed or reported back so that a main force can be mobilized to crush them. This is the shinobi mode of warfare.

If an ordinary army encountered a shinobi force, they would likely be annihilated by focused fire from ninja closing in from all directions before they even realized they were under attack. Even the finest civilian armies have no way to retaliate against shinobi. A traditional army might march dozens of kilometers in a day, forced to detour for mountains or rivers; a shinobi can push hundreds of kilometers in a single day, ignoring terrain entirely while maintaining full combat readiness.

Thus, when the "One State, One Village" system was established and the Hidden Villages became the military might of nations, ordinary armies lost their purpose. Since then, the ruling Daimyo of each nation have drastically cut their standing armies, keeping only enough forces to maintain order in towns and cities. The surplus military budget was redirected to support the growth of the Hidden Villages. However, this created a new paradox. The rulers of nations essentially lost their grip on military power.

While the Daimyo and the Kage are subordinates in name, the reality is that their status is equal. A single nation effectively has "Two Jades" (Two Kings). A split in supreme authority usually means war, but how could an ordinary human oppose a shinobi? Only a shinobi can deal with another shinobi. The Hidden Village system has only existed for half a century, yet three Great Wars have already erupted. This has, to an extent, masked the friction between the Nations and the Villages.

If the Shinobi World remained at peace, it is hard to say how long this deformed system could endure. Initially, the Kage was a nominal subordinate to the Daimyo, but in truth, it was a partnership. It is not hard to imagine a future where the Daimyo becomes a subordinate to the Kage, and the Hidden Village evolves into a Shogunate. Analyzed from this perspective, the Great Shinobi Wars are actually something the Daimyo are pleased to see.

Only when trapped in endless combat and hatred will the shinobi overlook the fact that they are ruled by a Daimyo who possesses little strength yet holds all political and economic power. Simultaneously, these wars drain the strength of the Hidden Villages. By the time they recover, they are often forced to face a new war. It is quite an interesting dynamic. As time flowed on, the situation in the Shinobi World shifted like changing winds.

After the New Year, Dongye Zhen was seven years old, and the Academy entered the third semester of its first year. After the spring break, he would become a second-year student. During this past year, the shinobi of Sunagakure and Konohagakure clashed within the borders of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire. Countless shinobi fought bloody battles—one side desperate to invade for resources, the other fighting to keep the enemy outside their borders. The unfortunate Land of Rivers became a slaughterhouse.

Civilians caught in the crossfire suffered heavy casualties and displacement, yet no one cared for them. The Shinobi World has rules against harming civilians, but in the heat of a chaotic war, who follows them? Casualties mounted on both sides, and hatred deepened. Survivors of the previous war carried old grudges into this new conflict, seeking to slaughter every "bastard" on the opposing side. The unfortunate catalyst for the war, the Third Kazekage, had long been forgotten.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Both sides continuously scouted for intel, uprooting outposts and searching for the enemy's main encampment. Iwagakure of the Land of Earth watched for its opportunity. The shrewd Tsuchikage, Ohnoki, dispatched shinobi forces to cut through the Land of Birds and the Land of Rain to invade the Land of Wind's borders, aggressively plundering resources.

Simultaneously, they invaded the Land of Grass, directly threatening the northwestern security of the Land of Fire. They also moved into the Land of Rice Fields, positioning themselves as a deterrent to Kumogakure just to irritate those "muscle-heads." His objective was simple: force Sunagakure to commit everything to a decisive battle with Konoha to weaken the Hidden Leaf. As for whether Sunagakure would retreat to deal with him? Impossible.

It was the sunk-cost fallacy; they had invested too much time and too many lives against Konoha to retreat without a satisfactory result. Ohnoki would not directly invade the Land of Fire before Konoha was weakened, but once they were, he believed the war-hungry "black savages" of Kumogakure would not miss the opportunity. That would be his moment. As for Kirigakure, Ohnoki didn't factor them into his calculations. If they joined, fine; if not, it didn't matter.

God only knows how badly those internal-strife-loving lunatics had crippled their own village. It was questionable if they even had the strength to invade the Land of Fire. Facing the threat from Iwagakure, the Sand grew desperate. Although the Land of Wind had the largest territory among the Five Great Nations, it was also the poorest. The land was mostly desert; aside from a few oases, the economically developed cities and arable lands were almost all in the north. They could not afford an incident there.

Consequently, Sunagakure, desperate to end the war with Konoha, fell straight into the trap set by the Leaf's Western Front Commander: Orochimaru. The ruthless Orochimaru had a razor-sharp instinct for war. When he learned of Iwagakure's deployments through certain channels, he realized his chance had come. At the cost of a portion of his own shinobi and wounded soldiers, he successfully leaked false intelligence, leading the Sand to believe the Leaf's headquarters was located at Kikyo Pass on the border.

There was indeed a base there, but it was a trap of indistinguishable truth and lies. By the time the Sand amassed a heavy force and pushed forward, they were encircled by the Leaf. The result was a massacre, with only a small fraction of the force managing to escape. This single battle shattered Sunagakure's offensive against the Leaf and resolved the threat on the Western Front.

Seeing that the situation was irrecoverable, Sunagakure decisively surrendered, sending out signals for peace while mobilizing their forces northward to resist Iwagakure's invasion. Konoha had secured its first major victory, and Orochimaru was the primary architect of that success. However, the Third Hokage was deeply dissatisfied. His disciple, Orochimaru, had used his own comrades as bait. Although they won, the majority of the shinobi and wounded who had drawn the Sand's fire had fallen beneath Kikyo Pass.

This absolutely did not align with the Will of Fire. Shimura Danzo sneered at this. His old friend was becoming senile. To end the war with the Sand as quickly as possible and maximize the destruction of their effective strength, how could one not pay a price? It was Danzo who had provided Orochimaru with the intelligence regarding Iwagakure. For all his flaws and darkness, the "Darkness of the Shinobi" was top-tier when it came to gathering intelligence. Orochimaru similarly felt dissatisfied with his teacher.

The old man was truly muddled; trading a small price for victory while preserving the vitality of the main force was an obviously efficient trade. A compassionate man cannot lead an army. As the commander of the Western Front, he had to take responsibility for everyone's lives. If the war remained at a stalemate and they continued to slaughter back and forth with the Sand, more shinobi would die in the long run. If they fought for another year or two, how many of the Western Front troops would be left?

He had achieved a great feat, yet all he received was his teacher's reprimand. Can the Will of Fire bring victory? Can the Will of Fire bring back the fallen? At a certain moment, standing atop Kikyo Pass and looking down at the busy shinobi units below, Orochimaru felt it was all meaningless. It was dull. If he had known, he shouldn't have come; he should have let that idiot Jiraiya take the lead. This victory wasn't half as interesting as a minor technical breakthrough in the laboratory.

Disillusioned, Orochimaru no longer focused on the war. Following his teacher's instructions, he quickly finalized the alliance treaty with Sunagakure and released the prisoners. He let them go back to fight to the death with Iwagakure, while he intended to continue his research into the art of immortality. The situation on the Western Front suddenly became detached. After the Sand departed, the Leaf shinobi began cleaning up the mess. Inside a tent beneath Kikyo Pass, several young children were huddled together.

The oldest were seven or eight, the youngest only two or three. These were orphans gathered by the Konoha shinobi—some from the Land of Fire, some from the Land of Rivers. Their parents and families had all died in the war between the Sand and the Leaf. Beside this group of children, a small boy stood alone. He seemed like a stray pup separated from the pack, his eyes filled with a hollow confusion, unable to see the world clearly. After a moment, several adults entered to distribute food.

One of them, a beautiful young blonde woman wearing glasses and a miko-style outfit, noticed the lonely child. After asking a few questions, she took off her own glasses and placed them on the child's face, then gently stroked his silver-white hair.