This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 118 The Great Defeat of Yunyin (Please Subscribe)

This is a conspiracy, a battle plan.

With Minato Namikaze's suggestion, Shikaku Nara's manipulation, and Danzo and Onoki's conspiracies, the once-powerful Kumogakure was defeated.

It all started with a suggestion made by Minato Namikaze at the Jonin meeting.

Two months ago, the three ninja villages of Iwagakure, Kusagakure, and Kumogakure launched a joint attack on Konoha.

The combined forces of Kusagakure and Iwagakure, numbering 12,000, launched an attack from the direction of the Land of Grass; while Kumogakure, numbering 11,000, launched an attack from the direction of the Land of Rice Fields.

However, due to issues of profit distribution and mutual trust, Kusagakure and Iwagakure are very passive in their offensive actions.

Not only were the 5,000 troops initially deployed as logistical support in the rear, but the 7,000 troops at the front were also essentially in a state of stalemate, making feigned attacks without taking any actual action.

Given this situation, Minato proposed diverting some of the forces that were fighting against the Kusagakure and Iwagakure defense lines and concentrating them in the Land of Rice Fields to launch a decisive battle against the Kumogakure.

After dealing with Kumogakure, we'll turn our attention to the Kusanagi-Iwato alliance.

This is almost the only way to break Konoha's current predicament, but in practice, it is almost impossible to implement.

The Kusanagi-Iwato alliance adopted such a passive offensive posture because they wanted Kumogakure to take the lead and then reap the benefits from the rear.

However, if the enemy's forces cannot inflict losses on them, they would not mind seizing the victory before Kumogakure.

If they want to divert troops from the Land of Grass to concentrate on eliminating the Hidden Cloud Village, they will first face the risk of insufficient defensive strength and being attacked by the Grass and Rock forces all the way to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Secondly, once the Hidden Cloud Village receives intelligence that the Hidden Leaf Village is concentrating its forces to fight against him, it certainly won't be advancing as recklessly as it is now.

Instead, they engaged in a protracted stalemate, waiting for the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure to invade Konoha.

Therefore, Minato proposed a covert operation to prevent the enemy from discovering their movements.

It's easier said than done.

The Land of Grass is located northwest of the Land of Fire, while the Land of Fields is located directly north of the Land of Fire, separated by the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Frost.

Even traveling at full speed like a ninja, it would take a day and a half to reach this long distance.

It's impossible for a large army to march without being detected by enemy intelligence.

If the transfer were to take place within the Land of Fire, it would be a longer route, increasing travel time.

Given enough time, the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure will surely be able to spot the flaws in Konoha's defensive line.

Faced with such a predicament, the plan to deceive everyone, concentrate forces in the Land of Rice Fields, and quickly eliminate the Hidden Cloud Village before the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure could react was almost impossible.

But Nara Shikaku, the man known as the "Konoha Strategist," came up with a solution.

He had the genin responsible for logistics and supplies to the Grassland defense line disguise themselves as regular frontline troops and replace them in frontline defense. He then had the regular troops disguise themselves as genin responsible for logistics and return to Konoha, where they would take the supplies to the Rice Field defense line.

Fearing that too many unfamiliar faces appearing at the front lines would arouse suspicion from the Iwagakure and Kusagakure allied forces, thus uncovering their plan, and due to the disparity in numbers between regular troops and logistical units, as well as the sheer number of people to be transferred, Konoha had no choice but to conduct the transfer in batches.

In order to ensure that the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure could be defeated before they could react, he did not send the first batch of troops to the battlefield immediately. Instead, he arranged for them to wait in the rear for all the troops to assemble.

At the same time, he instructed Danzo to adopt a guerrilla-style strategy to buy time, but due to the large disparity in troop strength, he suffered repeated defeats, thereby provoking an even more ferocious attack from Kumogakure.

Ultimately, it took two months.

Konoha transferred 3,500 men from the Grassland Defense Line.

Meanwhile, due to their continuous victories over the past two months and a lack of intelligence, Kumogakure was lured into an ambush by Danzo.

This is a large canyon, surrounded by mountains on all sides, making it an ideal location for military ambushes.

but.

This place is very large. If we want to set up an ambush here, we would need at least a force comparable to the enemy.

From the perspective of the Hidden Cloud Village, Konoha only had six thousand men defending them, and many of them had died in the two months of war.

Even if the enemy wanted to set up an ambush here, their forces would be insufficient to do so.

Based on this judgment, and the contempt they had developed for Konoha after two months of continuous victories, they pursued them to this place without conducting much investigation.

Therefore, when a considerable number of Konoha ninjas appeared on various hilltops with war machines and bombarded Kumogakure, the village was stunned.

There was even a massacre with zero casualties at one point.

If Killer Bee hadn't transformed into his Tailed Beast form in time and used his Tailed Beast Ball to blast a way out, they would probably have been completely wiped out.

In this battle, Konoha had 9,000 men against Kumogakure (there were casualties during the two-month war). Konoha killed 3,000 enemies and lost less than 500 of their own, achieving a great victory.

However, local victories cannot resolve this crisis; Konoha needs to force Kumogakure to withdraw from the game in order to change its current predicament.

Danzo led his men in pursuit and quickly caught up with them.

Because, behind the retreating Cloud Village, an allied force of Iwagakure and Kusagakure appeared.

A total of 5,000 people.

But these five thousand people from Iwagakure and Kusagakure weren't there to help Kumogakure; they were there to take it down.

Even before the war began, Danzo had told Sarutobi that they were more afraid of the powerful Kumogakure than the powerful Konoha.

If the Hidden Cloud Village wins this battle, it will become even stronger after absorbing the fruits of victory.

No, let's not talk about the future.

The distribution of the spoils of victory in this war will inevitably lead to conflict between the two sides.

Do you really think that Kumogakure can tolerate the efforts of others, with Iwagakure and Kusagakure planning to wait for others to do the work and then reap the benefits?

Stop dreaming.

That was merely a stopgap measure by the Cloud Village to get the allied forces moving.

Both Iwagakure and Kusagakure knew that with Kumogakure's strength, once they truly conquered Konoha, it would be time to go to war with them.

Not only is the Hidden Cloud Village militarily powerful, but its ninjas are also skilled in Lightning Release and swordsmanship, making them a strong counter to the Hidden Stone Village, which excels in Earth Release.

If the two sides were to fight fairly, Iwagakure would have almost no chance of winning.

Although Danzo failed to persuade Iwagakure to withdraw from the Allied Forces operation, his theory of the threat posed by Kumogakure still had an effect.

Onoki's rich experience allowed him to see at a glance that Sunagakure's assistance at the crucial moment was Danzo using Sunagakure's name to gain influence, and he could also see the threat that Kumogakure posed to Iwagakure.

Konoha is known for its gentle nature; since its founding, it has never proactively attacked other ninja villages, and its ninjas on missions maintain a low profile. Their strength, however, merely creates competitive pressure for Iwagakure.

However, Yunyin was very powerful and rapidly expanded its military, making its ambitions obvious.

If Konoha is destroyed, then Kumogakure will become the undisputed strongest ninja in the world, and no one will be able to stop him.

Onoki didn't want to see this happen, nor did the Hidden Grass Village or any other ninja village in the ninja world.

Therefore, the Kusagakure and Iwagakure alliance never intended to genuinely cooperate with Kumogakure from the very beginning.

They feigned a passive offensive, diverting 5,000 regular troops to the logistics department. Their reasons were twofold: first, to reduce the defensive pressure on Konoha, allowing them to focus more on a war of attrition with Kumogakure; and second, to wait until both Kumogakure and Konoha were exhausted before sending these 5,000 men to raid Kumogakure's rear.

But the plans couldn't keep up with the changes.

In order to carry out his plan of secretly crossing the Chencang Pass and deceiving the heavens, Danzo led his troops in guerrilla warfare and suffered repeated defeats.

Ohnoki was also fooled.

He worried that the Hidden Cloud Village would easily defeat the Leaf Village's garrison and seize the spoils of victory, so he disregarded his plan to let both the Hidden Cloud Village and the Leaf Village suffer heavy losses and took action ahead of schedule to help the Leaf Village.

As it happened, the Konoha Plan was in its final stages of implementation, and the Hidden Cloud Village suffered a crushing defeat.

Although there is no prior agreement, the enemy of my enemy can easily become my friend.

The three-way coalition reached a temporary agreement to launch a siege against Kumogakure on the border between the Land of Rice Fields and the Land of Fire.

But the Hidden Cloud Village is too strong.

They have many skilled fighters, and the village's ninjas are generally strong and have very strong wills.

Even in this desperate situation, they did not give up. Instead, their will to survive unleashed a fighting power that surpassed anything they had ever shown before.

The two-tailed and eight-tailed Jinchuriki simultaneously transformed into their tailed beast forms, carving a bloody path through the encirclement.

However, in order to stop the enemy from pursuing, the Third Raikage stayed behind to cover the retreat and was killed by Minato Namikaze.

Unlike the original story where the Third Raikage delayed the enemy for three days and three nights before finally dying from exhaustion and chakra depletion, this Raikage only delayed for half an hour.

Because Minato Namikaze learned the Rasengan shuriken.

In the original work, Minato Namikaze spent three years developing the Rasengan, but ultimately died young without being able to develop an advanced version of the Rasengan.

However, due to Ryuji's time travel, Minato Namikaze witnessed two advanced Rasengan ninjutsu in Roran, which inspired him to develop (or learn?) the Rasengan shuriken.

The Third Raikage possessed unparalleled offensive capabilities, comprehensive and super-strong defense, and speed that ordinary people could not react to.

The Allied Shinobi Forces' area-of-effect attacks couldn't break through the Lightning Release Armor's defenses, and their single-target attacks, which could break through the defenses, couldn't hit anyone. Their attempts to surround and intercept the enemy would be thwarted by the lightning speed and unparalleled attacks that broke through their encirclement.

That's quite shameless.

But Minato is faster than him, and his Rasengan shuriken can break through his defense.

Although he lacked matching defensive capabilities, he possessed far superior reflexes.

The two engaged in a fierce battle on the battlefield, and Minato ultimately emerged victorious thanks to his superior combat awareness.

After this battle, the Yellow Flash became famous throughout the ninja world, and was recognized as the fastest ninja in the world.

……

"What were the losses for all four parties?"

After hearing the information from the intelligence personnel, Long Er quickly asked.

In the original story, because the Third Raikage held off the enemy for three days and three nights, the ninjas of Kumogakure suffered almost no losses and all escaped back to the village.

But now that the Third Raikage has only managed to stall for half an hour, he certainly can't escape back as smoothly as in the original story.

"After the Third Raikage died, Konoha started fighting against the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure."

Upon hearing this unexpected answer, Ryuji was speechless.

This is clearly a golden opportunity to cripple the Hidden Cloud Village and achieve victory, so why are they already fighting amongst themselves before even winning?

Is Danzo up to his old tricks again?

But then I thought about it again and realized that this was quite normal.

The Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Grass Village stabbed each other in the back to prevent the Hidden Cloud Village from becoming too powerful and posing a threat to them.

After this battle, although the Hidden Cloud Village was not crippled, it was severely weakened and could not pose a threat to them for a short period of time.

Konoha's goal from beginning to end was to break free from the predicament of being besieged by an enemy twice its size, and thus win the war.

After this battle, Kumogakure is no longer able to participate in this war. Konoha's priority now is to defeat the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure.

After this siege, the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure had less than 3,000 men left, while Konoha had about 6,000 men left, twice the number of Iwagakure and Kusagakure.

If they can swallow up this force of three thousand men here, then when they return to the main battlefield in the Land of Grass, Konoha's forces will turn from a disadvantage to an advantage.

Any leader with strategic vision would choose to eliminate this 3,000-strong force at this time.

(End of this chapter)