Land of Fire.
Kirigakure Frontline Camp.
No matter how much the Konoha's commanders tried to deceive themselves or their subordinates, the current reality was that Kirigakure had completely taken Konoha's first line of defense.
The area from the eastern coast of the Land of Fire to the Tenfu Gorge-Mount Fukyu line was now largely under Kirigakure's control.
As the frontline forces continuously advanced, Kirigakure was also frantically constructing outposts and defensive positions in the rear, already preparing for the subsequent annexation of Land of Fire territory.
Of course, after crushing the Konoha's Ninjas at Tenpu Gorge, the Kirigakure's forces didn't advance too recklessly.
After occupying all the positions related to the campaign, they began setting up camp on the spot and entered a period of rest and reorganization.
This was perfectly normal. For a village with a very small size like Kirigakure, trying to swallow the behemoth that was Konoha in one bite was fundamentally impossible.
After all, Konoha alone had over twelve thousand Ninjas on its official roster. Adding in mercenaries and Ninjas attached to Konoha, its available combat strength reached a truly terrifying level.
Compared to Konoha's strength in numbers, Kirigakure, which followed a high-quality, elite path, was far inferior in terms of Ninja's numbers.
Estimated at full strength, it was only around two thousand five hundred people.
Of these, fifteen hundred had already been incorporated into the Land of Fire's Expeditionary Force and thrown into the Land of Fire battlefield.
The other thousand, besides dealing with Kumogakure's invasion, also had to guard their homeland at the Land of Water. So Kirigakure's available forces were already somewhat stretched thin.
If they rashly pushed the front line further forward, even a simple pincer movement by Konoha's forces could completely annihilate the dispersed Kirigakure's troops.
Few in number…
That's just how helpless it is.
Add to that the elite Ninjas cultivated by Kirigakure's proud Bloody Mist policy couldn't defeat Konoha's Ninjas of the same level.
Inferior in quantity, and also falling short in quality, this further worsened Kirigakure's combat power.
One could say, if not for Sora's existence, the Kirigakure's Expeditionary Force would likely have been completely defeated by Konoha's Ninjas long ago, just as in the original work.
Inside the camp, several large tents were pitched.
The one at the center was the headquarters, while the nearby ones housed Kirigakure's high-ranking figures like Sora, Yagura, and Fuguki.
Of course, Sora's close associates like Mei, Meigetsu, and Yuzuki also lived near the headquarters due to their close relationship with him.
These living tents were quite well-equipped with amenities.
Independent bathrooms, single beds for rest were all available. Especially Sora's commander's tent, which exuded an air of luxury.
The entrance to the commander's tent was hung with a commander's flag embroidered with the character for [Water] made from high-quality silk. The tent flap was made of windproof cashmere material.
The decorations inside the tent were even more luxurious, even including dedicated maids and chefs, like a simple traveling palace built for an emperor on tour.
Regarding this, the usually strict Ninjas of Kirigakure raised no objections. Many Kunoichi of considerable beauty even wished they could kick out those damned maids and serve Sora themselves.
Yuki Sora!
The person residing in the commander's tent was the Sora-sama, the one who single-handedly slew seven hundred Konoha's Ninjas! The Sora-sama powerful as a god!
Now, within the Kirigakure's Expeditionary Force, Sora's prestige and majesty far surpassed that of the Mizukage, almost no different from a god.
The camp was filled with a fanatical atmosphere. Whenever Sora showed his face, even without him saying anything, the morale of Kirigakure's Ninjas would instantly max out, becoming as insane as berserkers injected with adrenaline.
At this moment,
Outside the Kirigakure's camp,
Mount Fukyu.
On a steep mountain peak, Sora stood quietly at the edge of a cliff, his gaze looking down, taking in the scenery for a hundred kilometers around.
After a long silence, he turned around and looked at Yagura, who wore a gloomy expression beside him.
"Don't take it too much to heart..."
Sora said with a light smile: "Yagura, the current war situation is still quite advantageous for the village. Some minor setbacks have little impact on the overall situation, so don't put so much pressure on yourself."
"That's because the village has you, Sora!"
Yagura shook his head, the gloomy expression on his face gradually fading as he said slowly: "No matter how you put it, I still lost the Mount Fukyu campaign. I was defeated by Jiraiya and caused the village to lose a large number of Ninjas. If not for this stain on my record, Sora, your achievements would be even more glorious and dazzling. It might have been a record sufficient to rival the God of Ninja, Senju Hashirama. So..."
"What a pity!"
"Because of my incompetence, you missed the chance to have your name immortalized in history."
After speaking, Yagura still showed a rather self-blaming expression.
"The reason strength is strength is that it needs no external validation. When my name still needs to be placed alongside Senju Hashirama's, it can only prove my capacity has not yet reached its proper limit."
Sora, however, smiled indifferently.
Perhaps in Yagura's eyes, Hashirama was a truly remarkable Ninja. But in Sora's view, who knew all the secrets of the Ninja World, the so-called God of Ninja probably only barely stepped into the threshold of the Six Paths-level!
And even someone as strong as the Six Paths-level, placed within the boundless universe, would probably be as insignificant as a fleeting meteor!
Sora was different from Yagura. He never limited his gaze to the small Ninja World, but instead looked towards the endless starry sky above.
"Furthermore..."
Sora spoke again: "Konoha's Ninjas were never to be underestimated in the first place. Jiraiya is Konoha's ace commander. Losing to him isn't something unacceptable."
"Even if the village cannot completely win this war, it's within expectations."
The starry sky was one thing, reality another. Sora never looked down on any enemy, let alone Konoha's protagonist team members who often used cheats.
Sora had always believed that Kirigakure's Ninjas, whether in terms of numbers, combat power, organization, or even the intangible concept of luck, were far inferior to Konoha. The gap in hard power might even be greater than imagined.
If they wanted to follow the Third Mizukage's plan to swallow whole the entire Land of Fire and win everything at once, the only feasible plan would probably be for Sora to go to Konoha alone, then go on a rampage to erase the Third Hokage, the Sannin, the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, Minato, Danzo, the Uchiha Clan, and so on directly from the map.
But such thing is very difficult!
The current Konoha was not the weak period under the Fifth Hokage Tsunade's rule. The older generation like Hiruzen and Danzo still had considerable influence.
The middle generation, the Legendary Sannin, were in their prime. And the new generation like Minato, Kushina, Fugaku, and the others had already made great names for themselves in the Ninja World.
Add to that the Uchiha Clan, which had not been wiped out yet...
To put it bluntly, excluding the era of the First Hokage, this was probably the period when Konoha's high-end combat power was at its most flourishing.
If the Six Paths of Pain dared to descend upon Konoha during this period, the resulting explosive scene would be simply unimaginable.
Sora also had no intention of soloing Konoha, because the benefits wouldn't be great, but the risks were extremely high. Even the most crazy gambler wouldn't do something so pointless.
'Unable to completely win this war?'
Just as Yagura, having heard Sora's words, was frowning in thought, a figure suddenly flickered to appear beside the two.