After finishing his meal, Aburame Tetsumaru began the arduous task of organizing the cargo from the two hundred carts. He released the adult insects to let them "air out," buried the pupae in the soil with loose earth for insulation, and spread the soybean-sized eggs across the ground and trees, spraying them with hormones to stimulate hatching.
The workload was immense. Fortunately, Tetsumaru didn't have to do it by hand; he commanded tens of thousands of worker bugs, summoning every insect in the vicinity to assist.
After a night of frantic activity, the last of the eggs were in place by sunrise. The earliest batch had already begun to hatch under the stimulation of the morning light.
This only made Tetsumaru busier. He had to direct worker bugs and ants to carry the larvae to lush trees or thickets, while constantly supplementing the swarm with various hormones and trace elements. He even had the worker bugs collect and grind the discarded eggshells; they would serve as vital nutrients for the larvae's first molt.
Aburame Eiji didn't linger. After a brief goodbye to the preoccupied Tetsumaru, he led the transport team back toward Konoha.
Half an hour later, the convoy began to crest a mountain. Once they crossed the peak, the previous night's campsite would be lost to view. Eiji leaped onto a treetop for one final look at Tetsumaru—and what he saw was a literal natural disaster.
The campsite had been transformed. The leaves, the bushes, the grass—every trace of green had vanished. All that remained were brown trunks, bare blue-grey stones, and ashen soil. Even the surrounding greenery was disappearing at a visible, accelerating rate.
The apocalyptic sight made Eiji's skin crawl. His jaw dropped instinctively, and he suddenly realized his mouth was bone-dry, his saliva seemingly evaporated by pure shock.
So, this is what ten million insects look like. Terrifying.
When Tetsumaru had boasted about ten million bugs the night before, Eiji hadn't truly grasped the scale. What's the big deal about ten million bugs? he'd thought.
He truly had no concept of the scale. The wars ninjas were accustomed to were never large. Since the era of the First Hokage, conflicts had scaled from dozens of people to hundreds, and at most, a few thousand clashing at once.
Aburame ninjas were slightly different; they manipulated Kikaichu by the tens of thousands, or even millions, but because Kikaichu were so small, the visual impact wasn't overwhelming.
Tetsumaru's previous public displays usually involved about a hundred thousand insects. Even his large-scale deployment in the Land of Rain three years ago hadn't reached the million-unit threshold.
This time, the swarm had skipped the million-mark entirely and jumped straight to the tens of millions. Without seeing it with one's own eyes, it was impossible to comprehend the qualitative leap that occurs when quantity reaches such a level.
As a seasoned shinobi, Eiji quickly regained his composure. He calmed the terrified carriage drivers, who were staring at the "disaster" in a trance, and led the convoy back toward the village.
Only after Eiji was well out of range did Tetsumaru dare to integrate a newly arrived batch of roughly 1.5 million large insects into the swarm.
While Tetsumaru went around shouting about "ten million bugs," the reality was that he had prepared thirty million. Aside from the eggs and pupae transported from Konoha, the other twenty million were adults already fully developed within his Broodmothers.
The shipment from Konoha was merely a cover to prevent anyone from suspecting the existence of his hidden hives. That was all.
After all, a bunch of newly hatched larvae had zero combat value. If the Sand attacked within two days, seventy million eggs would be useless. Tetsumaru wasn't the type to make such an amateur mistake.
Besides, for a true swarm, how could a mere ten million be considered "a lot"?
His distant Broodmothers were still churning them out. By the time the Konoha eggs hatched and matured in ten days, the total number of insects gathered in the Land of Rivers would easily reach fifty million.
He was still only halfway to his "small goal," but this number was likely enough for now.
On the afternoon of the second day, the three Genin followed the instructions on Tetsumaru's mission scroll and found their way to the base, where they encountered the rolling tide of insects for the first time.
It was horrifying. Black worker bugs and deep-brown ants carried fat, white larvae, surging toward the remaining vegetation like a dark grey wave.
Wherever this wave rolled, not a blade of grass remained. Small animals were skeletonized instantly, their very bones often vanishing into the maws of the swarm.
Inuzuka O's ninja dog immediately urinated all over him out of pure terror. The three boys were scared out of their wits. Uchiha Hiro instinctively unleashed three Fire Style jutsus in rapid succession, followed by a Great Fireball in his panic, consuming over half of his chakra in seconds.
The four fire attacks slammed into the tide, incinerating hundreds of bugs, but against a wave a hundred meters wide and spanning kilometers across the landscape, the impact was non-existent.
The usually calm Nara Yoshito was nearly ready to drag his teammates and run. He guessed the swarm was the Captain's doing, but what if it wasn't? What if the Captain had lost control?
Fortunately, he hadn't.
Over the next two days, Tetsumaru used Shadow Clones to follow the insect waves across the entire theater of operations. Massive numbers of insects were buried deep into the soil and trees, hidden from view.
It took two full days of frantic work to complete the initial deployment. As more insects continued to arrive, this work would persist until the end of the campaign.
However, the future workload wouldn't be as heavy; a few Shadow Clones could handle it without Tetsumaru needing to intervene personally. He began taking his three disciples through new drills: guerrilla tactics under the cover of a massive swarm, researching how to most efficiently trade insect lives for victory.
Meanwhile, the southern front had already descended into chaos.
Within the Konoha forces, those below the rank of Jonin knew nothing of the broader campaign plan. Consequently, the Konoha southern army's attack on Kumanosugi City was terrifyingly real and incredibly fierce.
In just five days of siege, over five hundred people from both sides had been killed. Including the severely wounded and disabled, the defenders of Kumanosugi lost four hundred men—nearly thirty percent of their strength.
The Hidden Sand could no longer afford to debate whether Konoha was feigning. If they didn't reinforce Kumanosugi, the city would fall. Even if it was a feint, they had to treat it as a full-scale assault.
The Third Kazekage had matured into a ruthless leader during this war. Since the Sand had to move, he decided to launch an all-out counter-offensive, leaving himself no room for retreat. The savage, desperate nature of the desert people was on full display.
Faced with the full might of the Suna army, the Konoha southern forces—numbering only a few thousand—could not hold against an army of ten thousand. The moment they clashed, Konoha's lines shattered. Orochimaru led roughly a thousand remnants in a fighting retreat.
The scale of the Sand's mobilization far exceeded Orochimaru's expectations, resulting in the total collapse of his main force. However, the tenacity of the Konoha remnants also exceeded the Sand's imagination; the ten-thousand-strong army was held to a crawl by a mere thousand retreating ninjas.
Guerrilla warfare in the open was Orochimaru's specialty. He once again proved the sheer deterrent power of a top-tier shinobi.
The Konoha remnants were almost entirely Chunin and Jonin. During the initial defeat, ninety percent of the Genin had died on the spot; any surviving Genin were promoted by Orochimaru on the battlefield.
The trouble for the Sand was that the average level of a Konoha ninja was simply too high. It was one thing for a marching army to miss a pair of Leaf ninjas, but if a dozen Leaf squads infiltrated the rear, the supply lines would be decimated.
Thus, the Sand was forced to advance with painstaking caution, checking every inch of ground.
The bigger problem was Orochimaru and his summon, Manda. This duo could kill a Jonin in a single exchange; a dozen Chunin or Genin weren't even enough to fill the gaps between Manda's teeth.
Wherever Orochimaru went, he could tear a massive hole in the Sand's lines within minutes, leading Konoha ninjas across the front to wreak havoc in the rear.
By the time the Sand diverted enough troops to sweep them out, Orochimaru would simply tear another hole in the opposite direction and lead his men back to the Konoha side.
After two such cycles, Orochimaru had forced the Sand into a corner where they had to concentrate all their manpower on the front line. At the same time, the Sand had to spread their elite Jonin—those capable of resisting Orochimaru—evenly across the entire vanguard so that they could hold out until reinforcements arrived during a surprise attack.
With their elites spread thin and their lines kept strictly straight to avoid gaps, Orochimaru's subsequent raids were finally pinned down and repelled by either the Kazekage or Chiyo.
The Sand was forced into a purely defensive posture, causing their offensive pressure to soften to the point of impotence. Their rate of advance dropped to less than fifteen kilometers a day.
Regardless, Orochimaru's original lure-and-ambush plan was dead. The plan was to bait four to five thousand Sand ninjas; instead, ten thousand showed up.
The meal was too big to swallow, and the "food" had sharp teeth. Orochimaru had no choice but to abandon the plan, retreat toward the border, and transition into a defensive phase as quickly as possible.
Under a shroud of emerald-green medical chakra, a savage wound began to slowly knit together. Tsunade turned her grim gaze toward the next injury; there were simply too many, and they were all too deep.
Orochimaru, pale from blood loss but still wearing a faint smirk, spoke: "It's a good thing you arrived, Tsunade. Otherwise, I would have had to keep retreating."
"How did it get this bad?"
"I accidentally fell into a trap set by that old hag, Chiyo. The toxin she used this time acted too fast; I had to cut the flesh away. Heh heh... I almost died."
"You're becoming more like Jiraiya every day. Careless."
"Baka. How could I be like that loser? I've simply launched too many raids; a slip-up was bound to happen eventually."
"Then stop raiding."
"Hmph. There won't be any more raids for now. The situation has settled into a stalemate. The key to victory has shifted to Senior Hatake."
Tsunade finished healing Orochimaru's wounds and shoved several specialized pills into his hand. Half were for blood replenishment; the rest were for clearing residual toxins, promoting circulation, and boosting his immune system.
Orochimaru took the pills, his long tongue flickering out to pull them into his mouth, and swallowed them with a single gulp.
He dressed and stepped out of the tent. Under the protection of Tsunade, Kato Dan, and a group of elite Jonin guards, he began the tedious work of organizing patrols and setting up barrier seals.
As both sides deployed detection barriers, massive trap fields, and layers of fortifications, the impact of top-tier ninjas was severely limited.
Orochimaru had been the first to suffer from this. His last attempt at a raid had not only failed to break the Suna lines but had resulted in Chiyo's successful ambush, nearly costing him his life.
A few days later, Orochimaru teamed up with Tsunade and Kato Dan to ambush the attacking Kazekage, beating him until he spat blood and fled in disgrace. The Kazekage became the second victim of the new reality.
The supreme commanders of both sides had confirmed it personally: in the current landscape, the one who attacks is the one who suffers. Yet, whoever retreats risks being pursued into a total collapse. Thus, they were locked in a stalemate.
Orochimaru didn't mind. He was backed by the vast resources of the Land of Fire; his supply lines were protected by the Land of Rivers and remained stable and secure. Even with three thousand fewer men than the Sand, he could afford to wait. Time was on Konoha's side.
While Orochimaru sat back calmly to recover, the Sand was in agony.
Chiyo was an excellent medical ninja. She had healed the Third Kazekage's external wounds, and the weakness from blood loss could be managed with drugs. The real trouble was the damage caused by the Spirit Transformation Technique. The damage from that forbidden jutsu wasn't physical; it manifested as intense, unrelenting migraines.
Chiyo had no idea how to treat it. She could only prescribe massive doses of painkillers.
As she watched the Kazekage swallow the pills and his ragged breathing finally steady, Chiyo let out a long sigh. "Third... we have failed."
The Land of Wind was rich in minerals, but its lack of food was a weakness that could not be overcome. This shortage limited the Sand's population and caused their military plans to always fall short. This was exactly why the "all-or-nothing" gamble was always so popular in Sunagakure.
At the start of the war, the Sand had been strong and well-prepared. They should have been able to win through a steady, methodical campaign.
But Chiyo and the Kazekage had chosen the wrong strategy. By simultaneously provoking the Land of Earth, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Rain, they had failed to secure a decisive victory anywhere. Years of war had drained their coffers; by the time this campaign started, the nation was hollowed out. They had no choice but to put everything on one final throw of the dice.
The ten thousand troops they had mobilized were a terrifying power, but also a crushing burden. The Land of Wind could sustain their supplies for three months at most. Failing to crush Konoha's main force in one blow was effectively a defeat.
"No, there is still a chance." The Kazekage wiped the cold sweat from his brow with a cloth. "We strike through the Land of Rivers. Destroy Konoha's supply lines and outflank them from the Land of Fire. We can still win."
"We would have to drive the 'White Fang' out first. We would need at least three thousand men for that. Where do we find that many ninjas, and who would lead them?"
"I will lead them. The headache is fading, and my wounds will be healed in a few days."
The Kazekage set aside the soaked cloth and continued, "We will draw troops from here. I will take four thousand men back; I'll leave one thousand to keep the 'White Fang' occupied, and then take the remaining three thousand through the Land of Rivers to sever the Leaf's supply lines and eliminate Orochimaru."
Chiyo's mouth hung open, speechless.
The Kazekage fell silent as well.
The plan was a gamble from start to finish. Every single step was a question mark: Could they successfully contain the "White Fang"? It was incredibly unlikely; they had almost no confidence. Could they pass through the Land of Rivers? Probably, but it was uncertain. Could they destroy the supply lines? It would be difficult, but there was a chance.
Finally, even if all those steps were completed, they faced the biggest problem: could an isolated army deep in the Land of Fire hold out against Konoha's reinforcements and Orochimaru's pincer attack, while successfully wiping out Orochimaru's forces?
After a long silence, the Third Kazekage spoke: "Chiyo, this is our last chance. The fate of the Hidden Sand and the Land of Wind rests on this one move. If necessary... I will bring Bunpuku with me to the Land of Fire."