Chapter 361: Has Konoha Really Started Treating Sunagakure Like Its Own Home?

At the same time, in a small oasis several dozen kilometers away from Sunagakure, Elder Chiyo and the others who had evacuated from the village were making camp.

“Report! Elder Chiyo, Lord Shira has arrived with five hundred shinobi!”

A Sunagakure shinobi flashed over to the campfire and knelt on one knee as he reported to Elder Chiyo, who was sitting beside the fire.

Elder Chiyo nodded slightly and ordered, “All right. Have Shira settle his men in first, then come over.”

“Yes!”

The Sunagakure shinobi acknowledged the order and vanished.

“Elder Sister, this should be the last group of reinforcements arriving,” Elder Ebizō said from nearby. “Including the shinobi we brought out of Sunagakure, we now have three thousand five hundred men!”

Although Sunagakure had deployed a total of six thousand shinobi along its border, they could not possibly recall every shinobi stationed along the defensive line. If they left the border completely undefended, it would inevitably invite the other villages to take advantage of the situation.

Three thousand was already the absolute limit of the number of shinobi Sunagakure could withdraw from the border.

“That should be enough. Although our opponents are elite shinobi, there are only eight hundred of them. We have plenty of experienced fighters among our three thousand men. It should be more than enough to crush them.”

“It’s a pity Rasa was defeated too quickly. I didn’t even have time to rescue him. Otherwise, our chances of victory would have been considerably better.”

Elder Chiyo nodded at first, but then sighed and shook her head.

Earlier, Elder Chiyo had originally intended to go alone to cover the retreat of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.

Normally speaking, two Kage-level combatants fighting together might not be invincible, but if they only wanted to escape, even being surrounded by more than ten thousand shinobi would not necessarily be enough to stop them.

That was why Chiyo had been so confident when she set out alone.

However, before she could even reach the Shazanji battlefield, she had seen Rasa blasted out of the sky by the Uchiha from a distance and captured in a single strike.

Although Chiyo had been too late, once she saw that the situation was beyond salvage, she could only abandon Rasa and retreat first.

The incident had left a knot in Chiyo’s heart.

Although their side now possessed an overwhelming advantage in numbers, Konoha had more than twice their high-level combat power.

With that advantage, Konoha still had plenty of strength to fight.

Ebizō, however, shook his head slightly.

“Elder Sister, there’s no need to worry too much. In my opinion, whether this battle will even take place is still uncertain.”

“Konoha’s objective this time is clearly to plunder the resources of Sunagakure and the Land of Wind. They will certainly avoid a battle if they can.”

“According to the intelligence we received earlier, the Konoha squads that had been moving throughout the Land of Wind have already begun withdrawing. There hasn’t been any activity from them for quite some time.”

“I suspect the Konoha shinobi occupying our village are simply drawing our attention and buying time for those squads to retreat. They may already be preparing to withdraw themselves.”

Chiyo nodded upon hearing this, and much of the worry in her heart dissipated.

Things had changed.

At the beginning, Chiyo had indeed intended to keep the several hundred elite Konoha shinobi led by the Uchiha in the Land of Wind.

But after Rasa was captured and Shukaku was effectively given away for nothing, the Konoha shinobi had not suffered a mutual defeat with Shukaku. Meanwhile, Sunagakure’s high-level combat power had fallen into a disadvantageous position.

Chiyo had already lost the fighting spirit she possessed at the beginning.

As far as Chiyo was concerned, the issue was no longer whether they could win.

The real question was how much Sunagakure would have to sacrifice even if they did.

If the three thousand five hundred men currently under her command suffered heavy casualties as well, Sunagakure would likely have little influence in the shinobi world for decades to come.

There was even a chance that, if things went badly enough, Sunagakure could fall to the level of a second-rate shinobi village like Amegakure.

Therefore, Chiyo did not want to fight this battle.

“Let everyone rest for a while. After dawn, advance toward Sunagakure and take up positions on both flanks, creating the appearance of encircling the Konoha shinobi. Then we’ll see how Konoha responds.”

After thinking for a moment, Chiyo gave the order.

Although she did not want to fight, they still had to make it look as though they were prepared to do so.

This concerned the dignity of Sunagakure.

If they fought and Konoha managed to escape because of a single miscalculation, that could be attributed to a matter of ability.

But if they did not fight at all, that would become a matter of attitude.

Sunagakure and Konoha had been fighting for many years, and Sunagakure had lost more than once.

Besides, Konoha was publicly recognized throughout the shinobi world as the strongest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Losing to Konoha was hardly disgraceful.

Although Sunagakure had suffered a crushing defeat this time, they were already accustomed to losing. At worst, once the war ended, they could simply seek Konoha’s support again and form an alliance with them.

But if there was a problem with their attitude, and they revealed their weakness to the shinobi world, then the other four great villages would not even need to make a move.

Even ambitious minor villages like Amegakure might be unable to resist the temptation to declare war on Sunagakure.

Based on what Chiyo knew of Hanzo of the Salamander, she knew that he was absolutely capable of doing such a thing.

What Chiyo did not know, however, was that Hanzo of the Salamander was no longer the Hanzo of the past.

And Amegakure was no longer a village where Hanzo had the final say.

“I only hope those Konoha shinobi know when to stop.”

Chiyo muttered under her breath.

She intended to have Sunagakure’s forces approach the village from the front and both flanks, deliberately leaving the Konoha shinobi an avenue of retreat.

If they were smart, they should understand what she meant.

“Report!”

Just then, another Sunagakure shinobi flashed into existence beside the small campfire.

“Speak!” Elder Ebizō said first.

The Sunagakure shinobi immediately reported, “There is an unusual situation in Sunagakure. The Konoha shinobi seem to have released all of the villagers!”

“They released the villagers?” Chiyo frowned. “What does that mean? Have the Konoha shinobi left?”

The Sunagakure shinobi hurriedly explained, “No. The Konoha shinobi haven’t left. But they’ve released all the villagers from the shelters and aren’t restricting their movements. Right now, they’re organizing the villagers to repair various facilities throughout the village.”

“I saw them from a distance. Every single villager looked extremely happy, and they seemed to get along remarkably well with the Konoha shinobi. If I didn’t know better, I’d think those Konoha shinobi were actually villagers themselves.”

Chiyo: “…?”

Ebizō: “…?”

Perhaps realizing just how outrageous his report sounded, the Sunagakure shinobi quickly added, “I swear that I’m telling the absolute truth! I witnessed everything myself!”

“The villagers really are very happy!”

“And there’s no way those villagers were Konoha shinobi in disguise. I even saw my own great-uncle among the crowd. He’s already very old, yet he’s still helping dig out stones!”

Chiyo and Ebizō were rendered even more speechless.

What exactly was Konoha trying to do?

Had Konoha really started treating Sunagakure like its own home?