In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 502 Advancing into Iwagakure
Shimizu nodded slightly in agreement with the Third Kazekage's proposal.

Amegakure's forces, at most, number only six or seven thousand. Most of the truly elite troops are the three thousand Amegakure ninjas that Hanzo brought with him. In terms of lower and middle-level combat strength, they are significantly weaker than the previous five great ninja villages. Without sufficient support, they could easily be defeated.

To get Yu Yin to contribute, you not only need to make grand promises and offer benefits, but you also need to ensure they have no major worries.

The ninjas of Sunagakure are of high quality and possess various weapons and ninja tools that other ninja villages do not have. Now, with the addition of puppet armor, even though there are only 1,500 people, they can perform the work of more than 3,000 elite ninjas.

With the addition of the Third Kazekage, bringing the total to 1,500 people, they will have already played a significant role.

Shimizu then made the arrangements:

"I will lead four thousand men to the Land of Earth. Because of my presence, we are certain to win this battle, and there will not even be much loss. We can treat it as a training exercise. I will also bring two newly trained Jinchuriki. We will also select promising ninjas from the genin who graduated in the last two years to go north together with us."

When she said this, Shimizu's tone was full of confidence.

With his strength already at the threshold of Six Paths, there's no possibility of him losing to Iwagakure, a village in the Land of Earth.

If it weren't for the need to train troops and eliminate the remaining forces of Iwagakure in various places to maintain control over the Land of Earth, Shimizu wouldn't even need to bring these four thousand men.

The other high-ranking members of Sunagakure were not actually aware of how strong Shimizu was now, but through Sasori, they knew that Shimizu could easily defeat Sasori, who was controlling a large war puppet, with his bare hands.

With this level of strength alone, victory is assured, not to mention that Shimizu has many more tricks up his sleeve.

Since the establishment of the Five Great Ninja Villages system, many countries have been destroyed. In the last Shinobi World War, Hanzo destroyed several small countries such as the Land of Grass, the Land of Rice Fields, and the Land of Birds, and also divided the Land of Waterfall with the Land of Lightning.

In the last Shinobi World War, the Land of Whirlpools, like the Land of Waterfalls, was destroyed by a coalition of powerful nations, who divided up the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan. The Land of the Sun, where the Kagerou Village was located, and the Land of the Sky, where the Sky Village was located, were also destroyed by Konoha.

However, none of the five great powers have ever been threatened with collapse. Even though several of their shadows have died over the past few decades, none of them have ever been wiped out.

No one in Sunagakure would dare to challenge Shimizu, the current Kazekage, for the feat of being the first to destroy one of the Five Great Nations.

Shimizu continued to make arrangements:
"The threat that could be launched against Kirigakure from the coastline at any time is entrusted to Chiyo-sensei and Yekura. The fourth and fifth detachments of the puppet army, as well as the three thousand men of the second combat battalion, are also in your hands. Ebizo-sensei, you will stay in the village to manage logistics and stabilize the rear. I will leave two thousand men for you."

The war must continue, but the production of new puppet armor and the construction of giant war puppets within Sunagakure cannot be stopped.

Sasori immediately said, "Then I'll handle the rest of the manpower to deal with Konoha?"

Judging from his eyes, Scorpion seemed to have a hint of excitement and anticipation.

He must have wanted to control Sasori of the Red Sand to the battlefield for a long time.

As for dealing with Konoha, Sasori is the most suitable leader at the moment.

Because Konoha has the resurrected Hashirama Senju using the Impure World Reincarnation technique, Sunagakure either has to send a strong ninja of Kage rank or higher, or they have to send three Kage rank ninja to deal with him, just like Konoha did with Shimizu.

When Shimizu was about to use its main force to destroy the Land of Earth, and many Kage-level ninjas were divided to defend against other ninja villages, the only option left was to deploy Sasori, who already possessed the Sasori puppet of the Red Sand.

Just by piloting Sasori, the same Sasori of the Red Sand that was easily crushed by Shimizu two days ago, he was able to suppress Hashirama Senju, who had only recovered more than 40% of his strength.

Of course, Konoha has a larger number of strong individuals. With them as helpers, and considering that the reanimated body can ignore death and injuries, we definitely need to provide Sasori with some helpers as well, and also help him strengthen himself.

"That's right. In the direction of Konoha, I will put you in charge. Sasori, I will assign most of the Jonin equipped with the enhanced Ark Puppet Armor to you, and I will also send Karu and Rasa to be your deputies."

An elite Jonin who was equipped with the enhanced Ark Puppet Armor in just over ten seconds possessed strength approaching that of a Kage.

Even if he can't be considered a true Kage-level powerhouse, he still has the strength to fight. If he doesn't think about winning and only wants to stall the opponent, he won't be defeated so easily and can hold out against him for a long time.

Even without a significant intelligence gap, they at least have the ability to protect themselves against enemy Kage-level powerhouses.

The premise is that the opponent's strength is not too excessive.

Back when Shimizu was just a genin and had just learned Magnet Release, the seventeen-year-old Rasa and Karura, working together, were able to stop Orochimaru, who had just reached his peak. Before that, the three younger ninjas, who had not yet truly reached maturity, could not even manage to fight Hanzo to a draw.

In his prime, Hanzo was a peak Kage-level fighter, far surpassing the strength of ordinary Kage-level fighters.

However, even though Konoha has the most Kage-level ninjas, only a small portion of them are at the peak of the Kage level.

The Sand Village's elite Jonin, equipped with the enhanced Ark Puppet Armor, can hold their own against most Kage-level ninjas if they work together in groups of two or three. Overall, even if Konoha mobilizes its entire force, the Sand Village will not suffer losses in the Kage-level arena.

"In addition, I will repair Sasori of the Red Sand in the next two days, inscribe a new summoning technique on it, and install the Scorch Core. Remember, under the current circumstances, the Scorch Core can be operated at the maximum power it can currently operate at for twenty seconds. After that, it will need to be charged with the Ark Reactor for three minutes to be fully charged again."

Shimizu instructed Scorpion while simultaneously taking out the scorching core.

In the past two days, Sasori had repaired about half of the Red Sand Sasori and adjusted some of its structures to facilitate the inscription of new summoning techniques and the installation of the scorched core.

Currently, the Sunagakure puppet base contains many large war puppet modules prepared for Chiyo's White Sand Sasori and Ebizo's Black Sand Sasori. The components on these modules are interchangeable with Sasori's Red Sand Sasori.

With the speed of the clear water and the cooperation of the scorpion, it would be enough to inscribe the new type of spirit summoning seal on these things within two days.

"enough."

Scorpion smiled and confidently took the scorching core from Qing Shui's hand.

"With it, even Hashirama Senju would be no match for me, and I might even be able to find an opportunity to seal him away."

"Then the remaining five thousand-plus people will be in your hands."

"Don't worry, Konoha is no longer worthy of being our opponent."

…… ……

For a rising power, its internal mobilization capabilities are extremely efficient.

Upon receiving the order, the Sand Village began secretly mobilizing personnel and supplies the very next day, each using their own methods and under false pretenses.

Regardless of whether Iwagakure or other ninja villages will discover it, these things still need to be done. If they really won't be discovered, the enemy will definitely be caught off guard and attacked. If they are discovered, then every day they hide it, the enemy will have one less day to prepare.

Sunagakure did it very cleverly.

With artificial intelligence, even if the server's computing power is not yet fully sufficient due to time constraints, it is enough to make arrangements according to requirements invisibly.

Apart from the Jonin-level upper-class ninjas of Sunagakure, nearly four thousand Sunagakure ninjas who had been secretly selected received mission orders from the Kazekage's office or their own superiors two days ago, requiring them to prepare and carry out the mission within two days.

Whether it's an escort mission, a border or outpost garrison mission, or a mission to wipe out rogue ninjas, ronin, or bandits within the territory of a subordinate small country, everyone's mission destination is a relatively far place.

This allowed these ninjas to prepare for long-distance travel within two days.

As for the reserves of logistical supplies, that's even simpler.

The method of making the Naan has been passed down by Shimizu. Sunagakure now has a few excellent puppeteers who have the ability to create Naan artifacts. Even though the quality of the chakra of the creators is not high enough and the nurturing time is not long enough, making these Naan artifacts relatively low-end, the space inside is still several cubic meters in size, which can store several tons of food, fresh water and ninja tools.

This is far more useful than traditional sealing scrolls.

Whether it was logistical preparation or personnel mobilization, Sunagakure did everything extremely discreetly.
Even though some people discovered some clues through information about warehouses and other inventory, they did not expect that Sunagakure had already secretly assembled a large army to prepare to attack Iwagakure.

It wasn't until an hour before departure, when Sunagakure officially issued a war mobilization order and the four thousand men gathered at Sunagakure's newly built Super-Large Training Ground No. 4, that they realized Sunagakure was already preparing to send troops and start a war.

However, by the time they managed to send a message back to their village through various means, it was already too late.

At this moment, Shimizu stood on a temporary platform erected in front of the training ground, dressed in a shadow robe, his eyes piercing.

Even though he didn't say a word, just his presence here was the best encouragement for the ninjas of Sunagakure.

"Shimizu, everyone has arrived."

Maki walked to the clear water on the high platform and whispered.

He was already seventeen years old at this time, wearing a brown Sand Village Jonin vest, a white turban, and face paint. He looked almost exactly like the image he would have twenty years later.

He is now the jinchūriki of Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast.

As long as he can ensure that he can stably control the power of the Tailed Beasts and exert the strength of a Kage, he will have a place in the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure.

The same applies to Ayane Uzumaki, who became the Four-Tails Jinchuriki. However, compared to Maki, who has been Shimizu's teammate since childhood and was included in the Sunagakure elite training program, Ayane Uzumaki has no foundation in Sunagakure. Therefore, her influence will definitely be far less than that of Maki.

Unless she can compensate by marrying a high-ranking ninja from one of the factions in Sunagakure.

In fact, this young woman, who was once a hopeless romantic, has undergone considerable changes in her knowledge and thinking after living and being nurtured in Sunagakure for several years. She is no longer as infatuated with a devastatingly handsome Sunagakure Jonin as she once was, but instead flirts with a middle-aged Sunagakure elite Jonin who has lost his wife.

Of course, what remains unchanged is that Ayane Uzumaki is still very good-looking. This elite Jonin from Sunagakure, who is nearly forty years old, is also a handsome uncle. He comes from a medium-sized ninja clan in Sunagakure and is currently the clan leader. He has also obtained a set of enhanced Ark Puppet Armor.

Both the ninja clan and Sunagakure themselves were happy to see this.

The ninja clans yearn to advance further, hoping to gain influence at the higher levels through Ayane Uzumaki and also to obtain the Uzumaki clan's bloodline. In this way, there is a high probability that the future Jinchuriki of Sunagakure will come from their clan.

The idea of ​​the Uzumaki clan's bloodline continuing in Sunagakure, and of Ayane Uzumaki, as a Jinchūriki, having a partner and children within the village to forge deeper bonds, is something that the leaders of Sunagakure, and indeed all the leaders of ninja villages in the ninja world, hope to see in their own villages.

Before long, a figure wearing an enhanced puppet armor flew slowly from a distance, landed in front of Qingshui, opened the mask, and revealed a face wearing small round sunglasses.

Miyajo En.

Possessing the Blood Dragon Eye, which he has developed to an extremely high level, he is almost among the top of the elite Jonin in Sunagakure. However, what Sunagakure's higher-ups value most is Miyajo En's talent in business and economics.

His insight and keen sense in these areas were quite impressive, even to Shimizu. He was also very good at logistics management, material and personnel coordination.

In the past, when leading a team, Shimizu would have Kazekami Chiran help him with logistics and personnel allocation. However, this time, Shimizu left the experienced Kazekami Chiran to Scorpion, who was leading a team independently for the first time as the commander-in-chief. So, Shimizu switched Miyajo En to be his housekeeper.

"Fourth Hokage, all logistical supplies and war ninja tools are ready and we can set off at any time."

Miyajo En pushed up his small glasses and said to Shimizu.

"very good."

Shimizu looked at the silent, orderly, and high-spirited Sand Village ninja army, stretched out his finger, casually formed a hand seal, and drew a line in the open space in front of the army.

Bright blue fireworks with spatial properties spun in the air, outlining a huge circular teleportation circle in just a few seconds.

The aperture is large enough to accommodate dozens of people walking side by side.

Opposite is a flat desert that is relatively close to the border of Sunagakure Village.

There was also a shadow clone of Qing Shui there, reaching out to draw another teleportation circle on the opposite side.

With just this one transformation, the Sand Village's 4,000-strong ninja army could cross countless city checkpoints and mountain obstacles in just a few minutes, directly advancing to a place only 20 kilometers away from the Iwagakure Village.

(End of this chapter)