Naruto's civilian cannon fodder starts with the three-body technique

Chapter 448 Encirclement and reinforcements
Konoha also discovered the trouble caused by these caves. Initially, some who didn't believe in the dangers chased after them into the caves, but without exception, they were all ambushed and suffered considerable casualties.

The bloody lesson made these Konoha ninjas finally realize that fighting the Iwa ninjas underground was equivalent to fighting the Kirigakure ninjas underwater, which was extremely dangerous.

After that, when they encountered a cave, Konoha would usually fill it with water or blow it up to seal it, and mark it to avoid going deeper as much as possible.

Fortunately, Konoha possesses an air force advantage that Iwagakure cannot match.

A large number of aircraft produced in the Land of Waves were sent to the front lines. After the air force was re-equipped, they shuttled over the logistics line to conduct reconnaissance, early warning and escort, barely ensuring the fragile smooth operation of this lifeline.

With the addition of supplies looted from towns along the way, Konoha's logistics, though strained, have not yet reached a point of collapse.

Ōnoki and the Daimyo of the Land of Earth also realized the problem and ordered a scorched-earth policy in an attempt to stop the Konoha army.

This did cause some trouble for Konoha, but the reserves from the early raids and the supplies maintained by the air force allowed the Konoha army to still maintain a strong offensive capability.

Finally, with Danzo's relentless advance, the Konoha ninja army besieged the city and reached the core area of ​​the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Earth.

"What a magnificent mountain town!"

When the Daimyo's castle in the Land of Earth came into view, even though he was mentally prepared, Sasuke Umino couldn't help but be shocked.

It's less a city and more a massive fortress embedded in the mountains.

The entire Daming Prefecture is built against the mountain, layer upon layer, from the foot of the mountain all the way to the cloud-shrouded mountain peak. A large number of buildings, temples and fortresses are embedded in the steep rock walls, and only a winding mountain stone road can be passed through.

The mountain itself is the most magnificent city wall.

The city of Daimyo is backed by a mountain range that stretches for thousands of miles. Two rivers, originating from distant snow-capped mountains, converge on the plain in front of the mountains, nourishing the most fertile land in this land of earth. The mountain city is like a huge fortress, guarding the throat of this plain.

"How...how do we fight this?"

Senju Nawaki gasped as he looked at the ingeniously crafted defensive fortifications.

It felt like all the siege knowledge I had learned in the past was useless here. Just looking at the steep mountains and narrow passages made my scalp tingle.

Hatake Sagumo's expression was also extremely solemn. He said in a deep voice, "The terrain is indeed treacherous, easy to defend but difficult to attack. If we want to take it over, we will probably have to pay a considerable price."

Compared to the daimyo's mansion in the Land of Wind, the natural walls of this mountain city are far more formidable.

"The necessary sacrifices are worthwhile. As long as we can take this place and control the lifeline of the Land of Earth, Konoha can bear any casualties! Issue the order to prepare for a full-scale attack!"

Danzo narrowed his single eye slightly, its cold light flashing.

"Wait a minute." Umino Sasuke raised his hand to stop Danzo, his face showing no worry, still confident. "Elder Danzo, Senior Hatake, we are ninjas, why must we stick to the rules?"

"Oh? Sasuke, what brilliant plan do you have?" Hatake Sakunosuke immediately looked at him, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Danzo and Senju Nawaki also cast inquiring glances at them.

Sasuke Umino smiled slightly and pointed to the sky: "Don't forget, what is our greatest advantage? It's air superiority! No matter how high this city wall is, can it be higher than the sky?"
We can utilize our air force to transport elite troops and parachute them to the high mountains behind the Daimyo's castle, or even to the weakest areas within the castle's defenses. Although the rock walls are somewhat steep, it's not too difficult for elite ninjas to attack from above. If there's any danger, we can also have the air force provide support.

At the same time, I can also use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport a commando team directly into the city, allowing for a coordinated attack from within and without, and a devastating blow from the center!
In this way, no matter how treacherous the terrain is, it will be rendered useless, and the defending army will inevitably collapse!
This Daming Prefecture, though seemingly impregnable, is actually poorly equipped internally, and its garrison is out of practice. If we employ the right tactics, capturing it will not be difficult!

Upon hearing this, the eyes of everyone in the command post immediately lit up.

"Brilliant!" Hatake Sagumi couldn't help but exclaim. "In this way, this treacherous terrain has become a prison that binds them."

"Hahaha! Good! That's what we'll do!" Danzo laughed excitedly. "I can't wait to see them kneel down and beg for mercy!"

Everyone was eager to get started and couldn't wait to execute the battle plan.

However, Umino Sasuke waved his hand again, signaling everyone to be patient. His gaze became even more profound: "The Daimyo's mansion in the Land of Earth is already in our grasp. We don't need to rush to take it immediately."

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, he slowly revealed his true strategic intentions: "Daimyo Prefecture is now our best bait. We can completely surround it without attacking, or just launch a feint attack to create the illusion of a siege. What do you think the Iwa ninja will do when they learn that their capital is in imminent danger?"

Senju Nawaki suddenly realized: "They received orders from the daimyo and will have no choice but to come to the rescue!"

“That’s right!” Sasuke Umino’s eyes flashed with a cold light. “This is the ‘encirclement and suppression’ strategy! We can use the Daimyo’s residence to force the Iwa ninja to abandon their guerrilla warfare and gather together for a head-on battle with us! At that time, we can wait in comfort and annihilate their remaining forces in one fell swoop! Once we deal with Iwa ninja’s military strength, the Land of Earth will be like a fish on a chopping board!”

"Encircle and ambush reinforcements? Good! Well done!"

Danzo clapped his hands and laughed, his admiration for Umino Sasuke's strategy growing stronger. "That's it! I'll not only take over the Daimyo's capital, but I'll also bury the last bit of Onoki's wealth!"

Hatake Sagumo nodded deeply, agreeing that the plan was excellent.

With the strategy decided, the Konoha ninja army immediately sprang into action.

The army surrounded the mountain city where Daming Prefecture was located, and sent out troops every day to launch several probing and seemingly fierce feint attacks. The shouts of battle were deafening, but they were always just a little short of breaking through, putting enormous pressure on the defending army and Daming.

Meanwhile, other units of Konoha, with the tacit approval of Umino Sasuke and the orders of Danzo, systematically "cleaned up" the most fertile plains and valleys of the Land of Earth surrounding the Daimyo's residence.

Despite the Land of Earth's scorched-earth policy, the wealth and resources hidden in cellars and secret rooms by nobles and wealthy merchants were unearthed by the ninjas' various escaping techniques and sensory abilities, greatly replenishing Konoha's resources.

The fortified villages built by these ninja clans offered some resistance to ordinary bandits and robbers, but they were completely defenseless against Konoha ninjas.

One after another, strongly worded letters pleading for help were sent out from Daming Prefecture through various clandestine channels.

Konoha's patrols and air force "accidentally" discovered several groups of messengers and launched "fierce" interceptions, but each time one or two messengers "luckily" managed to escape.

……

Inside the hidden temporary command post of Iwagakure, Onoki lay out several letters from the Daimyo's prefecture, each one more urgent than the last, pleading for help.

Below, a dozen or so Jonin from Iwagakure sat on either side, each with a solemn and weary expression on their face.

"Lord Tsuchikage, we can't hesitate any longer! The Daimyo's city is in imminent danger. Konoha's offensive is fierce, and the defending forces have suffered heavy casualties. If no reinforcements arrive, the city will fall in an instant!"

A messenger, still wounded, pleaded hoarsely as he broke through the siege of Daming Prefecture.

A scarred Iwagakure Jonin slammed his fist on the table and growled, “Rescue? How?! Konoha’s main force is surrounded by the Daimyo’s residence. Danzo, Umino Sasuke, and Hatake Sakumo are all easy to deal with. If we go there now, it won’t be a rescue, but a trap, playing right into their hands! I think we should continue to harass their logistics and drag them out until their supplies run out, at which point they will naturally retreat!”

"Bullshit!" Upon hearing this, the messenger's face turned red with anger. He disregarded rank and pointed at the Jonin's nose, cursing, "You cowards who fear death! By the time Konoha's logistics collapse, the Daimyo's capital will probably be a wasteland! Do you know how much Konoha has looted these past few days? They have no shortage of food and supplies!"

Onoki frowned and asked in a deep voice, "Wasn't the scorched earth policy already implemented? Where did Konoha get such a large amount of supplies?"

A hint of embarrassment and resentment flashed across the messenger's face. He stammered for a moment, but finally gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, please understand, it was...it was some nobles and merchants who took advantage of this year's drought and war to hoard a large amount of food and supplies. Because there was so much, it was difficult to transport, so they hid it, thinking they could get away with it. Who...who knew the Konoha ninjas were so uncanny! It's like every squad of them has the Byakugan; they find them every time! Now, it's all benefited Konoha!"

"What?!" Onoki roared in fury, a surge of anger rising to his head. "You bastards! You always complain about being poor and struggling, saying your warehouses are empty and you can't afford to give relief to the disaster victims! And now, to hoard grain for profit, you've piled up so much that you can't even move it all?! Don't you know to burn it down?! Why do you have to feed the enemy?!"

He was trembling with rage. These parasites, who usually leech off the country and the village, were still calculating their own selfish interests when it came to life and death, and in the end, they became supplies for the enemy.

The messenger, huddled in fear after being scolded, dared not reply. He could only reiterate, "Lord Tsuchikage, it's too late to say this now. The Daimyo has issued a strict order that troops must be dispatched immediately to provide aid! This is an order! Is Iwagakure going to stand by and watch the capital fall, bearing the stigma of treason?!"

Finally, the word "treason" struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

Onoki's face turned ashen, sensing that this was yet another of Konoha's conspiracies.

Although Onoki had some suspicions, there was nothing he could do. The essence of besieging a point to lure reinforcements was not in the strategy itself, but in knowingly jumping into a trap.

"Pass on the order." Onoki's voice was filled with endless exhaustion and a hint of determination. "Gather all the troops you can contact and assemble them towards Daimyo Prefecture. We... are going to the rescue."

The order was given, and the Iwa ninja quickly assembled.

Onoki personally led this force of less than three thousand men, which he had managed to mobilize with great difficulty, on a rescue mission.

Along the way, his unease grew stronger and stronger, as if every step he took was on the edge of a cliff.

Less than 300 miles from the Daming Prefecture, in a valley, another disheveled messenger ran into Onoki's group.

"Lord Tsuchikage! Something terrible has happened! The Daimyo's residence... the Daimyo's residence is about to fall!"

The messenger rushed to Onoki, his voice trembling with tears.

"What?!" Onoki grabbed the messenger by the collar. "Didn't the battle report this morning say that Konoha was still locked in a stalemate halfway up the mountain? How could it have happened so quickly?!"

The messenger recalled in horror, "It's...it's Konoha's air force! They used air power to transport a large number of elite ninjas and parachuted directly onto the mountaintop behind the Daimyo's residence! Our towering walls are useless! They launched an attack from the air behind us, and the defenders couldn't hold them off at all! Lord Tsuchikage, if we don't go to support them soon, it will really be too late!"

Ōnoki was struck dumb, abruptly releasing his grip and staggering back a step.

Despite his meticulous planning, he underestimated the strategic airlift capability of the Konoha Air Force, which launched a surprise airborne attack, bypassing all the treacherous terrain.

It's over! Daming Prefecture is truly in grave danger!

"All troops, listen up! Abandon unnecessary supplies and advance at full speed! We must arrive before nightfall!" Onoki roared, disregarding Konoha's strength at this moment; rescuing the emperor was the priority.

The Iwa ninja force rushed forward along the road through the valley. Just as the main force entered a relatively wide river valley, Onoki, who was flying in mid-air, suddenly sounded a sharp alarm with his intuition honed by countless battles.

"Stop!" Onoki shouted sharply, his voice echoing through the valley. "Something's wrong! There's an ambush!"

However, it was too late.

"Boom--!"

The seemingly solid mountains on both sides suddenly emitted a tremendous roar.

Boulder tumbled down, dust billowed, and countless ninjas wearing Konoha-style vests leaped out of the mountain like swarms of ground squirrels. They had clearly used some kind of sophisticated earth-escape technique to perfectly hide in the mountain, avoiding the eyes and ears of the Iwa ninja vanguard.

"Wind Escape·Big Breakthrough!"

"Fire Release: The Art of Fire Dragon!"

"Water Release·Water Crush Wave!"

Various ninjutsu techniques poured down from both sides of the mountainside like a torrential rain, instantly cutting the Iwa ninja team in the valley into several sections and causing them to fall to their deaths.

"Don't panic! Form a defensive formation!" Onoki was both shocked and furious. He raised a huge rock shield to block the incoming wind and fire ninjutsu while trying to stabilize the formation.

"Heh, Onoki, you've fallen for my trap again." A calm voice echoed from the cliff.

Unno Sasuke was now suspended in mid-air, forming a triangle with Danzo and Hatake Sagumo on the ground, subtly sealing off the airspace.

"Umino Sasuke!" Onoki's eyes widened in fury. "It was another trap you set!"

"All's fair in war, Tsuchikage-sama," Umino Sasuke said calmly. "If it weren't for your village's Earth Release technique for concealing troops, it would have been quite difficult to deceive your senses."

"Unfortunately, only a little over half of the fish have come in." Danzo's single eye gleamed with a bloodthirsty light.

"Half is enough! Enough to cripple Iwagakure!"

(End of this chapter)