Chapter 228: Pre-War Meeting, Joining Clan Representatives
From Konoha to the Land of Rain border, it took about two days for a jonin at full speed. As for genin, who were carrying supplies, it would take about ten days. Most supplies could not be carried in storage scrolls. Not only were they expensive but it was also impossible to equip every ninja with them.
Uchiha Tonan had always used storage scrolls because he was comparatively richer from the beginning. Initially, he obtained a huge sum in death compensation. Not long after, he got Sanbo Motoyoshi’s lifetime savings, which was a net worth of several tens of million. Not to mention he now had a filial student like Naraku.
He just needed to express that his mood was not good due to lack of funds and the money would hit his card the next day. One should know that in the original work, after Orochimaru betrayed Akatsuki, in order to conduct research, he attached himself to the Land of Rice Fields Daimyo.
The person with the most money had to be the Daimyo. Tonan didn’t catch up with the jonin team and leisurely joined the genin team behind. There was nothing urgent for him to rush anyway. Most missions were for guarding to prevent enemy spies from infiltrating the Land of Fire through the Land of Rain’s border.
Nine days later at Kikyo Mountain located at this border, a huge base camp had been built on top, surrounded by big and small tents. Judging from the number of tents, the number of ninjas on the western front was about eight thousand.
In the commander’s tent, Nara Shikaku, the new patriarch of the Nara clan, was sitting on the main seat. On his left were the Hyuga clan’s Hyuga Hizashi and Aburame Zo representing the Aburame clan.
On his right were the Akimichi clan patriarch Akimichi Choza and the Yamanaka clan patriarch Yamanaka Inoichi. This was the main allied force of the ninja clans to resist Iwa and Suna.
These five major clans had transferred most of their combat powers here and their number had reached about two thousand. Sarutobi Hiruzen had transferred most of the Aburame clan members to Kumo’s defense line. After all, Kumo’s threat was the greatest. It was not that Kumo was stronger than the Iwa and Suna alliance. But its defense line was mostly plain land and required frontal resistance. However, on this battlefront, Konoha had a natural barrier blessed by heaven as a defense.
As long as Kikyo Mountain could be defended, the allied force of the two ninja villages wouldn’t be able to break the line. At most a few jonin would be able to pass through. But there was a ninja rule that they couldn’t attack civilians of other countries during the war. They could only attack other ninjas.
Therefore, a few jonin trespassing could only gather information at best. They wouldn’t dare to go to Konoha to cause trouble. That would just be delivering military achievements to the rear personnel.
There were more than ten representatives of the other clans sitting at the table including the Kurama clan, Inuzuka clan, Sarutobi clan, Shimura clan, and so on. It was because each clan had its characteristics, so they sent some members over just in case. Seeing that everyone was in place, Choza said, “Shikaku, everyone is here. Explain the battle plan now.”
Shikaku shook his head and said, “Wait a minute, there’s still someone who has not arrived yet.” Hizashi crossed his hands in front of his chest and looked at Shikaku, “Who is left?”
Choza glanced at the representatives present one by one and then looking confused, he said, “All clan representatives are already here.” Not just him but everyone else present was puzzled as well.
Suddenly, light laughter was heard from outside. “In such a big war, how can Konoha’s number one clan, Uchiha, be missing?” The tent’s curtain was opened and Tonan, who was dressed in a white robe and golden-rimmed glasses, walked in with a smile.
He adjusted his glasses and glanced around at the crowd, “Sorry for the long wait, everyone.” The moment Hizashi saw Tonan, his pupils shrank and he recalled the situation at the Konoha barrier that day.
“Uchiha Tonan…”
“Tonan…”
“Tonan-kun.”
All the representatives nodded in good faith toward Tonan. After all, no one, who could mix in this level would be an idiot and be rude to him. It had been rumored that Tonan’s combat power already rivaled the sannin level. His joining the battle was a good thing for them.
Everyone preferred to have godlike teammates, who could lead them higher. Shikaku stood up from his seat to greet Tonan. Ino-Shika-Cho had advanced and retreated together so when Inoichi saw Shikaku valuing Tonan so much, he too stood up and nudged Choza under the table.
Although Choza didn’t understand what was going on, he stood up too. When others saw this, they all stood up. Shikaku put his hands on his knees and bowed deeply toward Tonan. “Welcome and thank you for offering your strength to Konoha. Please take a seat.”
The other people also bowed toward Tonan. Tonan wasn’t modest. He smiled and sat opposite Shikaku. In times of war, being modest, courteous, and easy-going was of no use. Strength was the key.
The more arrogant you appeared the more confident your teammates would be. After everyone sat down, Shikaku coughed lightly, “Since everyone is here and time is pressing, I’ll tell you about the battle plan.”
He walked to the map behind him and explained, “This is the Ninja World’s terrain map. As you can see, starting from the Land of Waterfall and the Land of Earth border, the terrain rises here and passes through the Land of Grass and the Land of Earth border.”
“When it reaches the Land of Rain, it is slightly lowered. From here, the largest river of the Land of Earth flows into the Land of Rain and enters the sea through the Land of Rivers. The Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers are separated by a mountain chain that stretches for thousands of miles. It extends to the Land of Rain, where the terrain is low. It’s placed in a basin and shaped like a bottleneck.”
“This is also the reason why every ninja war is fought in the Land of Rain. Kikyo Mountain, the place where we are now, is here. Kikyo Mountain just happens to be located at the top of the Land of Rain’s bottleneck, like a cap. As long as Kikyo Mountain doesn’t fall, the allied forces of the two countries cannot attack us.”
“Although it’s like this, Kikyo Mountain is not very steep. There are not many big hindrances to ninjas. Therefore, we can’t just defend here. We must push the frontline forward and to the center of the Land of Rain. It’s this location. This is the other place where the bottleneck is the narrowest. We need to stop the enemy allied force here and make them give up the plan to advance, starting small squad battles with us.”
“But there’s a problem. Our military strength is far behind the allied force of the two countries, so we must hold out in this battle. If we lose, then we have to take the initiative to disperse our troops and start the squad battle mode carrying out guerrilla warfare.”
Tonan suddenly cut in, “How many ninjas are there in the allied force of the two countries this time?” After he spoke, everyone’s gaze focused on Shikaku. Shikaku became silent for a while and said with a solemn face, “It’s close to thirty thousand, and nearly twenty thousand among them are stone ninjas.”
Shikaku had no plan to share this information. The gap in numbers between the two sides was massive. Once it was known, it was very likely that the people on his side would lose their fighting spirits. Sure enough, hearing this, a solemn expression appeared on everyone’s faces.
The atmosphere in the commander’s tent became stifling and Tonan smiled subtly. He tapped on the table with his finger and loudly said, “They have so many people, why don’t we fight quickly? I agree with this plan.”
A hint of surprise flashed through Shikaku’s eyes. He looked straight at Tonan and said, “Is there no need to reconsider?” Everyone’s gaze turned to Tonan. He shook his head indifferently as if the allied force of thirty thousand soldiers was nothing.
“I agree,” Choza too raised his hand and agreed.
Hizashi also said, “I agree too.”
“I believe in Shikaku.”
