Zombie Sage in Naruto

Chapter 15 Sakumo Hatake did not agree with the Third Hokage's ideas

Kaede Tsukasa's chakra is being rapidly depleted.

Since the start of the battle, he has already killed six zombies and used up more than half of his chakra. If he continues fighting like this, it will be dangerous.

Kaede Tsukasa had already noticed that more and more enemies were paying attention to him, intentionally or unintentionally looking for an opportunity to break through the Konoha ninja's defenses and directly attack him.

Medical ninjas are always a priority target for Sunagakure ninjas, let alone a medical ninja like Kaede Tsukasa who has mastered a unique skill; they are even more of a priority to hunt down.

When Sunagakure deployed a special force to detonate the fourth wave of poisonous smoke on the battlefield, Kaede Tsukasa finally realized it was time to retreat.

A battlefield with tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides cannot be decided in a single battle; many battles are bound to be fought. After calculating the start time of the battle, the amount of chakra of the participating ninjas, and taking a look around at the intensity of the war, Kaede Tsukasa felt that one side would soon have to temporarily retreat.

He deduced that Konoha would not retreat voluntarily. Although many ninjas were poisoned and struggling, and the casualties were high, they would never retreat a single step.

In the war with Sunagakure, Sunagakure was the invader. These sand-eating creatures coveted the fertile land of the Land of Fire and had the strongest motivation to wage war against Konoha, and they fought the fiercest.

Originally, the Land of Rain was sandwiched between the three countries of Fire, Earth, and Wind, and was the battlefield tacitly agreed upon by Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure. It would be more worthwhile to bring troops to the Land of Rain and fight it out, even if it destroyed the Land of Rain's economy and environment, than to fight within the territory of the three countries.

Not to mention, World War II was instigated by Hanzo the Salamander from Amegakure.

However, since last year, after Hanzo defeated the Sannin and announced his withdrawal from the war, the three sides reluctantly accepted it, fearing that they might push Hanzo too far, after all, he was a top ninja in the ninja world who was known as a demigod.

Unable to wage a large-scale war in the Land of Rain, the only option was to engage in close combat. Sunagakure deployed its troops to the border of the Land of Fire to fight against the blocking force led by Sakumo Hatake.

"Is that so? Another forty-seven ninjas died from poisoning today?"

In the rear camp, Hatake Sakumo sat solemnly, eager to take command. He knew it wasn't the right time yet and had to wait for the Sand Village's army leader to make his move first.

Hatake Sakumo was undoubtedly the mainstay of Konoha's fighting force during World War II, achieving countless victories, and his name "Konoha's White Fang" resounded throughout the ninja world.

Most importantly, Sakumo Hatake's major achievements were all earned from the Sand Village.

Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law, two top-tier puppeteers at the height of their fame, should have become star ninjas of Sunagakure. Perhaps in a few years, one of them would become the Kazekage of Sunagakure.

Faced with such top-notch puppeteers, Hatake Sakumo, carrying a short sword, personally launched a surprise attack on the battlefield, killing both of them in a single battle.

This astonishing victory shocked all nations, dealt a heavy blow to the morale and manpower of Sunagakure, and even directly altered the course of the war between Konoha and Sunagakure.

This is also another major achievement for Konoha after the Legendary Sannin ended the war between Konoha and Amegakure.

Right now, Hatake Sakumo is not happy at all. He sits in the camp, feeling the loud noise of various ninjutsu clashes coming from the front line and listening to the screams of the wounded in the rear camp. His heart is breaking.

He does not agree with the idea of ​​prioritizing tasks above all else, and is more willing to do his best to help as many of his comrades as possible.

He was the strongest on Konoha's side, with extremely high killing efficiency. In theory, he could kill a large number of Sand Village ninja in a short time, indirectly helping more comrades. However, as the supreme commander, he couldn't do that. He had to implement the Third Hokage's cautious and conservative grand strategy, and could only watch as many comrades died, waiting for Chiyo to take action.

"This is the fourth round of poisonous smoke, but we have prepared enough gas masks and organized wind-style ninjas to use 'Great Breakthrough' to reduce the harm of the poisonous smoke to us in the shortest time. The medical unit has also delivered a newly manufactured batch of antidote to the front-line ninjas, which can play a certain role."

As Sakumo Hatake listened to various reports and processed a large amount of intelligence, he couldn't even create a few shadow clones to help him share the workload. All of this was to conserve chakra and ensure that he was in peak condition and ready to strike at any time.

Chiyo remained silent.

“Chiyo has gone mad; she won’t be able to endure this for long,” said Sakumo Hatake. He didn’t really agree with the Third Hokage’s orders, finding them too conservative in terms of tactics.

According to the Third Hokage's thinking, even if the casualty ratio with the enemy is 1:1 or even 1.5:1, Konoha will still win.

There's no other reason than that Konoha Village controls the largest number of ninjas, has the most top-tier bloodline clans and secret technique clans, and the Land of Fire has the most abundant finances, so there's no need for them to take any risks.

Furthermore, Konoha Village has no interest in the barren or dilapidated lands of other countries and has no need to expand its territory. Especially in the war against Sunagakure, expansion is the most meaningless thing to do. What use is it other than taking a bunch of sand that can't grow food and herbs?

Do we really need to train a whole group of Magnet Release ninjas to spend all day panning for gold in the desert?
All we need to do is wear them down. With Konoha's resources and the fastest recovery ability, not losing is winning, and even if we suffer some losses, it's still a great victory. So there's even less reason to take risks.

To the east, Kumogakure and Kirigakure have not yet sent large armies to participate in World War II; to the west, the war with Amegakure ended last year, leaving only Sunagakure and Iwagakure, and Sunagakure and Iwagakure are also at war, with the Third Kazekage even leading an army into the Land of Earth.

All we need to do is drag it out; victory can be achieved without taking any risks. The Third Hokage loved this kind of war, preferring to concede some minor losses in order to drag the enemy into this rhythm of war.

Sakumo Hatake knew with his eyes closed how the Third Hokage would extract benefits from other countries after the war—demanding reparations was one aspect, but more importantly, he would demand more mission quotas.

That is, villages that fail to win on the battlefield must sign a contract with Konoha Village, ceding a certain percentage of their domestic mission quota to Konoha Village to complete.

In peacetime, the main way for ninja villages to earn money is by completing missions assigned by employers to obtain funds and train new ninjas.

With a large workload, the village's ninjas get more training opportunities and grow stronger faster; the village becomes richer, and with money comes the ability to develop new ninjutsu, spread compulsory education more quickly, and produce more ninjas in large numbers. Ultimately, this situation is consolidated with stronger military force, forming an unsolvable virtuous cycle.

Once Konoha wins the Second Shinobi World War, its prestige will skyrocket, and wealthy people from all over the world will certainly be more willing to issue missions to Konoha, which means that the number of missions that other ninja villages can receive will be drastically reduced.

On this basis, each ninja village also had to sign a humiliating contract, ceding a portion of the few remaining missions to Konoha.

It can only be said that the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War was inevitable. Konoha fought against all four other great ninja villages during the war, and even when the pressure was at its lowest, it was a one-against-two situation. There was a reason for this.

No major ninja village could tolerate this situation going on forever. Once they recovered a little, they would definitely launch another war with Konoha to seize more mission quotas and settle the grudges accumulated during World War II.

Sakumo Hatake suppressed his inner turmoil and gathered information from the front lines.

(End of this chapter)