[Sunagakure]
The atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy.
After all, the process of dying slowly was anything but pleasant.
"Kazekage-sama, Konoha is still repeating what it was doing before."
"And when the temperature is high during the day, both Konoha and Iwagakure stay inside the new greenery."
"When the temperature drops at night, they keep nibbling away at the territory of our Land of Wind."
"At the current pace, they'll reach the edge of the Demon Desert in about half a month."
"And Iwagakure has already sent another three thousand people, while Konoha has sent another thousand."
"We still haven't found out where they're headed."
"Our reconnaissance team has suffered heavy losses. They can no longer get close to Konoha's and Iwagakure's forces, and the intelligence we're getting is becoming less and less."
Holding the document in his hand, Maki reported to Pakura. Of course, he was also reporting to the elders around them.
The places where the Land of Wind bordered other countries were basically all desert.
Coming from Konoha's direction, after crossing the outer desert came the Demon Desert.
It was also Sunagakure's most important barrier.
Once someone crossed the Demon Desert, they would gradually approach the central region of the Land of Wind.
These areas were no longer entirely desert, but rather stretches of relatively barren land.
Some places had groundwater, and settlements or cities had been built wherever that groundwater was found.
Because of the wind and sand, the farther out the location, the higher the city walls had been built.
If Konoha's people crossed the Demon Desert, they would be able to face these settlements and cities directly.
If it were any other country, it would be enough to evacuate the civilians from the battlefield.
After all, they could live anywhere as long as they stayed alive.
But the Land of Wind was different. It lacked water, lacked land, and severely so.
Every place had limited water sources, and other resources were limited as well.
Once people left where they originally lived, they would most likely all die outside.
Sunagakure had never considered this problem before because even if another village attacked Sunagakure, they would never stop in these places.
They would bypass these barren villages altogether and attack Sunagakure directly.
But they had never imagined Konoha would use this kind of steady occupation.
It might look slow.
But once those oases spread to the ordinary people of the Land of Wind, it was hard to say whose side those people would support.
On one side was a migration with almost no chance of survival.
On the other was surrendering and immediately gaining an oasis.
It wasn't a hard choice.
Once all the villagers of the Land of Wind surrendered to the Land of Fire, would the Land of Wind still exist?
This wasn't just boiling a frog in warm water, it even had the lid on.
Pakura had always held a pessimistic view of this war. By pessimistic, she meant that she knew Sunagakure alone definitely could not defeat Konoha.
She slowly said, "Have the people we sent to Kumogakure for aid arrived?"
Elder Fuji stood up and said, "Our people have already reached Kumogakure, but they're still waiting and watching."
"Kazekage, don't trouble yourself over it. If Konoha attacks Sunagakure directly, I may not have a solution."
"But Konoha's current plan is to swallow the entire Land of Wind, so they must pass through the Demon Desert."
"That is where our sensory barrier is the most complete. No matter where they enter from, they will be detected."
"Over the years, I've also developed a formation called the Wind Prison Sandstorm Grand Formation. It can strengthen and draw in the sandstorms of the Demon Desert."
"It should be able to hold Konoha back for a while."
The sandstorms of the Demon Desert were already formidable. Being able to strengthen and guide them with a formation was indeed a good defensive method.
But Konoha's people weren't fools. Naturally, they wouldn't force their way through.
Still, how the war developed afterward would depend on whether Kumogakure intended to send reinforcements.
"Elder Fuji, go make arrangements for your formation. Everyone else, prepare to gather the village's top combat forces."
"Be ready to go into battle at any time."
———
[Kumogakure]
Sunagakure's envoy asking for aid had arrived several days ago. Aside from meeting Dodai on the first day, he had never seen any of Kumogakure's higher-ups again.
He had tried to ask for news many times, and every time Kumogakure's answer was that they were still considering it.
Starting a war with Konoha really was an extremely serious matter and required careful thought.
But for Sunagakure, the crisis was already at hand, and its people were anxious beyond measure.
At this moment, the atmosphere inside the Raikage's office was equally grave.
All of Kumogakure's senior officials were gathered here.
Each of them held a document.
It contained intelligence on everything Konoha had done, from its formal declaration of war against Sunagakure until now.
"Konoha is advancing step by step, gradually turning the Land of Wind into an oasis. If the entire Land of Wind falls into Konoha's hands, within ten years they'll completely leave us behind."
"We can't wait any longer."
Previously, Kumogakure hadn't been in a hurry because they thought Konoha attacking Sunagakure was a losing deal.
Even if Konoha had Wood Release and could green the desert, it would still take at least forty or fifty years.
That wasn't just a matter of spending chakra to use Wood Release. It would also require pouring enormous resources into the Land of Wind.
But now things were different. After Nawaki's bloodline evolved, the efficiency of his Wood Release had increased by far more than ten times.
Combined with Tsunade constantly supplying chakra, if Sunagakure offered no resistance, the entire Land of Wind could be greened in at most two years.
Once they occupied the Land of Wind, Konoha would only need to keep developing, and its strength would soon explode.
The greened land, even if used only to grow melons, fruit, and crops, would generate enough profit for Konoha to pull even farther ahead of Kumogakure.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The Raikage's fingers, as thick as carrots, kept tapping on the table.
When it came to matters like this, the Raikage would not oppose Dodai.
He still had a sense of the bigger picture.
"Sending reinforcements to Sunagakure is certain. The key is how we do it."
At present, the main forces of Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure had not even begun to clash.
If Kumogakure intervened and Konoha immediately withdrew from Sunagakure, then turned around and joined Iwagakure in attacking Kumogakure, Kumogakure would be caught in an impossible position.
Kumogakure couldn't even be sure whether Konoha had already anticipated that it might reinforce Sunagakure and prepared a backup plan.
It couldn't be helped.
From Uchiha Rengoku's rise to Minato taking control of Konoha again after Rengoku's death, Kumogakure had never managed to gain any advantage.
Its national strength had even been surpassed by Konoha.
Now that Konoha had declared war on Sunagakure, they naturally had to be cautious again and again.
But Konoha's chosen method had left Kumogakure dumbfounded.
If they didn't send reinforcements, the Land of Wind would slowly be eaten away.
If they did send reinforcements, Konoha's main force hadn't even gone over yet.
"Any news from Black Zetsu?"
The Raikage looked at Dodai. Earlier, they had wanted to ask Black Zetsu whether he had any way to counter the Flying Thunder God Technique.
After all, they had no knowledge in that area.
Dodai shook his head, "We haven't been able to contact him."
The Raikage frowned. There was nothing they could do about it, but they couldn't place all their hopes on someone else.
Dodai added, "Under the current circumstances, if we send troops, we'll at least need a force capable of standing against Namikaze Minato."