Uchiha's personal opinion

Apart from the Uchiha clan's main attack on the sixth and seventh northern outposts, where they achieved a major annihilation, most of the other attacking forces, after breaking through Iwagakure's defensive fortifications, lacked sufficient means to encircle and annihilate Iwagakure, who were slipping away using the Fish Reflection Technique in the Water.

The 1,000-strong Grass Ninja Squad, responsible for the main attack on the seventh and eighth outposts, couldn't even break through the outer defenses of the Iwagakure outposts. If the Iwagakure inside the outposts hadn't seen the situation was bad and taken the initiative to retreat to their main camp, the Grass Ninja might have even been defeated.

It should be noted that the Iwagakure troops stationed on the outskirts are merely the southern border defense forces of Iwagakure, a notoriously weak ninja army throughout the Land of Earth.

Although Uchiha Tokumitsu and Hatake Sakumo had anticipated the fighting strength of the Grass Ninja, they did not expect it to be this weak.

At night, when the various ninja forces that had been engaged in raids gathered together, the results of the battles were particularly troublesome for Uchiha Tokumitsu, Hatake Sakumo, and Uchiha Himon.

The obedient advisor, Nara Yukihira, sat below, bowing his head in service.

According to the count of the corpses left on the battlefield, the combined forces of Konoha and Kusagakure killed 770 Iwagakure ninja and captured 32; their own side suffered 968 casualties, including 12 from the Tokuko Red Guard, 132 from various border defense units, 2 from the mobile force, and the rest were Kusagakure ninja...

In particular, the Grass Ninja who attacked the seventh and eighth bases of Iwagakure did not leave behind even a single Iwagakure corpse, but nearly two hundred people died in battle...

Uchiha Tokumitsu began to regret agreeing to increase the compensation for the Kusagakure ninja.

Although the plan was to use the grass ninjas to fill the trenches and withstand fire, they turned out to be so vulnerable.

Faced with such a casualty ratio, Uchiha Tokumitsu and his two companions were speechless.

Such a victory is something the Konoha and Kusanagi alliance can't achieve many times over.

"Tokuko-kun, Himon-kun, do you have any good strategies?" Hatake Sakumo, holding the battle report, was also somewhat worried.

As a Konoha ninja, he didn't want to force his Konoha comrades to fill the trenches.

"First, send a report of victory to the village," Uchiha Hamon said after a moment's thought. "Then, request the village to send more reinforcements."

“Even if there are no reinforcements, it doesn’t matter. Just have the village send another batch of supplies as soon as possible.” Uchiha Tokumitsu stroked his chin. “If we really just sit and wait for the village to conscript ninja, Onoki will probably have already led his troops over.”

Sakumo Hatake and Himon Uchiha both raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance.

That's actually quite possible.

As one of the five great ninja villages, Iwagakure, which emphasizes collectivism, has the largest number of ninjas among all the major countries. However, its biggest drawback is that Iwagakure's training system is too formulaic, resulting in ninjas with relatively simple skills and very few who are as famous as Sakumo Hatake.

If Iwagakure is truly determined to crush the Konoha ninja army led by Uchiha Tokumitsu and his two companions, the most likely scenario is that Onoki or a Jinchuriki will lead an attack.

"Time is of the essence!" Thinking of the potential attack from Onoki or the Jinchūriki of Iwagakure, Sakumo Hatake disregarded casualties. "We must completely capture the Iwagakure camp within three days at the latest, or we must retreat immediately!"

“Three days…that’s probably too optimistic.” Uchiha Himon estimated the time it would take for Iwagakure to make a decision, react, and mobilize. “One and a half days, two days at most; otherwise, if Iwagakure’s reinforcements arrive before the village’s ninja army, headquarters will be completely on the defensive, and there’s even a possibility of total annihilation…”

Sakumo Hatake also fell silent.

The advantage in elite combat power is still not enough to make up for the fatal flaw of insufficient manpower.

"Send a battle report to the village."

Uchiha Tokumitsu said calmly, "Just tell them that headquarters has surrounded the Iwagakure camp and urgently needs the village's support..."

Nara Yukihira immediately began to write furiously.

"As for the results..." Uchiha Tokumitsu scratched his chin, "Just write that the headquarters annihilated more than 900 Iwagakure soldiers at the cost of 146 lives... Don't write the specific casualties of the Grass Ninja, just write the compensation plus 30%."

"Yes……"

Nara Yukihira, trembling with fear, quickly finished writing the battle report and handed it to Uchiha Tokumitsu and the other two for review.

"No problem, hurry up and send it back to the village." After Hatake Sakumo and Uchiha Himon had reviewed it and had no objections, Uchiha Tokumitsu said to Nara Yukihira.

"Yes, sir..."

Nara Yukihira felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly left.

"What's wrong with Staff Officer Yukihira? Am I that scary?" Uchiha Tokumitsu was somewhat surprised by Nara Yukihira's reaction.

Sakumo Hatake chuckled twice.

Uchiha Himon, being a member of the same clan, didn't mince words: "Tokuko-kun, your killing intent is too intense; Yukihira might not be able to handle it..."

"baffling……"

Uchiha Tokumitsu clicked his tongue and continued, "Are there any mission funds that need to be transferred to the village for the border defense forces?"

"Yes."

Although Uchiha Himon did not know the intention behind Uchiha Tokumitsu's question, he still answered directly.

The garrison camps of border defense forces are not only military presences stationed in vassal states, but also need to monitor the movements of other major powers, and are responsible for receiving and assigning tasks.

According to the common bounty mission profit-sharing rules in the ninja world, all mission rewards are to be divided between the village and the ninja who performs the mission. Therefore, the Northwest Border Defense Force still has a portion of the mission rewards that have not been escorted back to the village.

"If... we use the reserved mission funds as collateral, could we buy a batch of explosive tags on credit from the Ninja Cat Clan of the Void?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu's idea caused both Hatake Sakumo and Uchiha Himon to momentarily lose their minds.

Is this even possible??

The two looked at each other in bewilderment.

Ignoring the stunned expressions of the two bumpkins, Uchiha Tokumitsu continued, "If we were to borrow 100,000 explosive tags from the Void, how much capital would we need?"

"It will probably require a year's worth of funds..." Uchiha Himon estimated, then said hesitantly, "However, the number of missions and bounties in the Land of Grass have always been unstable, so I can't guarantee that we'll have that much money every year..."

“Then let’s use the income from two years of missions as collateral. We’ll buy 100,000 explosive tags on credit from Ninja Cat.” Uchiha Tokumitsu made the final decision. “The payment period is five days. If there is a delay, interest will be added, up to the amount equivalent to two years of mission income.”

As a ninja, Hatake Sakumo had never seen such financial methods before and was still in a state of astonishment.

Although Uchiha Himon also felt that something was somewhat inappropriate, he couldn't find any reason to refute it; moreover, the purchase of explosive tags was for the purpose of attacking the Iwagakure base, so it didn't count as corruption, and he didn't say anything further.

"I'll ask Ninja Cat... but I don't know if Granny Cat has that many in stock..."

After saying that, Uchiha Himon slipped out the door.

His ninja cat was too enthusiastic, and he was too embarrassed to summon it in front of the two of them.

"Sakumo-kun, do you think... having genjutsu ninjas control those Iwagakure prisoners to sing songs from the Land of Earth, and then having wind-style ninjas amplify the sound to Iwagakure's headquarters, would that be useful?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu's words left Hatake Sakumo somewhat stunned.

After thinking for a while, Hatake Sakumo roughly understood Uchiha Tokumitsu's intention: "It would be best to have the prisoners sing some songs about homesickness, as this would be a greater blow to Iwagakure."

Uchiha Tokumitsu nodded in agreement, then summoned an Uchiha ninja and gave him some instructions.

Soon after, under the control of the Uchiha ninja's genjutsu, the dull and wooden singing voice drifted towards the Iwagakure's position with the wind release.

Immediately afterwards, a series of shouts and curses came from the direction of the Hidden Rock position.

The Konoha ninja and the Grass Ninja laughed it off, not taking it seriously.

The victor is naturally more tolerant.

"Seventy thousand explosive tags." A moment later, Uchiha Himon returned to the central command tent. "They can be handed over in four hours. This is all of Granny Cat's inventory."

“That works too.” Although the number of explosive tags was reduced by 30%, Uchiha Tokumitsu didn’t care too much. “How about launching the attack tomorrow at noon? I still need to prepare the hand seals for the mutual summoning of the explosive tags.”

"No problem at noon..." Hatake Sakumo hesitated, "but how should the main attack tasks be allocated?"

"The first wave of attacks will consist of three thousand-man squads of Grass Ninja, all of whom will be sent forward." Uchiha Tokumitsu's words seemed to carry endless bloodshed. "We will draw one squad as a rear guard to oversee the operation."

"But that's still not enough..."

Sakumo Hatake shook his head.

Given the Grass Ninja's abysmal combat strength, even if they were all sent in, not only would they be unable to break through the Iwagakure's defenses, but they probably wouldn't even be able to deplete much of the Iwagakure ninja's chakra.

“…We still need you to take the risk, Sakumo-kun,” Uchiha Tokumitsu said, looking at the cup in front of him.

"Oh?" Sakumo Hatake became interested.

"Please have Sakumo-kun and the mobile unit disguise themselves and hide among the Kusagakure ninja, waiting for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Iwagakure's position," Uchiha Tokumitsu stated his plan. "Then I will lead the Red Guard in an assault, followed by the border defense forces."

"However, after the mobile force breaks through the Iwagakure position, it needs to quickly penetrate the enemy's lines to disrupt them, especially by staying away from the Kusanagi... otherwise, I won't be able to use the Mutual Explosion Tags technique later."

"No reserves?" Uchiha Himon was somewhat surprised.

"No reserves!" Uchiha Tokumitsu repeated firmly.

“A desperate gamble…” Uchiha Himon’s mood was somewhat heavy.

"Instead of that, we should withdraw now." Uchiha Tokumitsu knew that such an offensive tactic was too cruel, but he had no choice. "If we continue to besiege Iwagakure and wait for the village's reinforcements, the only outcome will probably be total annihilation."

Sakumo Hatake sighed.

"One general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand..." Uchiha Tokumitsu lowered his head, avoiding Hatake Sakumo's gaze. "This is the fate of a ninja..."

“I understand…” Hatake Sakumo naturally knew the cruelty of war and the necessity of sacrifice, and he didn’t complain about being assigned the most dangerous infiltration and attack mission by Uchiha Tokumitsu. “But even so, I’m afraid we won’t be able to completely annihilate Iwagakure…”

"Try to pursue and kill Iwagakure as much as possible after defeating them," said Uchiha Himon. "Just maximize our gains, and we'll see if Iwagakure is really as resilient as the legends say, like a rock."

"Even the most solid rock will be burned to ashes by the Uchiha's fire!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu licked his lips, the bloodlust in his eyes intensifying.

……

The next day at noon, the Konoha and Kusagakure allied forces, having eaten a sumptuous meal in advance, secretly entered the attack position.

Upon learning of the mission, the Grass Ninja turned pale with fear, but dared not offer any resistance.

The Uchiha ninjas were eager to try, while the other Konoha ninjas were either expressionless or somewhat nervous.

Uchiha Tokumitsu found a taiko drum among the supplies he had seized from Iwagakure and personally beat it to signal the start of the attack.

"Thump, thump thump, thump thump thump..."

With a metallic quality, the drumbeats grew increasingly rapid.

"kill!"

As the first drumbeat sounded, the captain of the Grass Ninja 1000-man squad led his troops out of the position and charged toward the Iwagakure position.

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"

The Uchiha ninjas used a combination of Wind and Fire Release techniques to strike first and provide cover for their attack.

"Earth Escape: Earth Current City Wall!"

Iwagakure continued to use their old Earth Release ninjutsu to deal with the situation.

Earth Release: Earth Grappling Bullets!

Then, a large pile of rocks came hurtling towards the Grass Ninja's attacking formation.

Uchiha Tokumitsu handed the drumsticks to an Uchiha ninja, took a deep breath, and slowly turned his neck.