One month was nearly up.
After this period of steady advancement by Konoha, the various defensive barriers beneath Kikyo Mountain had all been cleared away. At the same time, Sunagakure seemed to be growing restless as well.
"Sunagakure will launch a surprise attack on us."
Inside the Konoha camp, Orochimaru spoke coldly. According to the intelligence he had obtained, the probability that Sunagakure would take large-scale action to annihilate Konoha's entire sensory division was extremely high.
But judging by Orochimaru's usual temperament—since he already knew Sunagakure's objective, he would naturally set a trap in advance and wait for them to walk into it.
Tsunade had long grown accustomed to Orochimaru's secretive mannerisms.
"Since you already know that," she said impatiently, "why don't you strengthen the defenses over there?"
"If we merely defend," Orochimaru replied calmly, "Sunagakure will become wary. That would be boring. What I want is to completely destroy their defensive line—using this opportunity."
Seeing that Orochimaru already had a plan in mind, Tsunade became even more irritated with his deliberate evasiveness.
"Then why did you call me here?"
"I want you to go support the sensory division when the time comes."
Although Orochimaru had already made extensive preparations around the sensory unit, the absence of an individual with Kage-level strength meant it still wasn't safe enough.
Tsunade rejected him outright.
"No. I need to stay with the medical corps."
This medical unit was Tsunade's life's work over the years. Many of its members were elite medical-ninjas, and their presence drastically reduced Konoha's casualty rate. If she were transferred away recklessly, what would happen if something went wrong with the medical corps?
The importance of the medical unit was no less than that of the sensory division. On top of that, there was an overwhelming amount of work at present—Tsunade simply could not leave.
"I'll distribute a ninja card to every squad leader," Orochimaru said.
As the faction with the largest collection of cards in the shinobi world, Konoha primarily used ninja cards for defensive purposes. Orochimaru had borrowed a massive number of these cards from Danzō's Root specifically for this operation—precisely to persuade Tsunade to assist with defending the sensory division.
The brightly colored cards laid out before her were something Tsunade naturally recognized. These items were famous throughout the shinobi world. Though their exact mechanisms were unclear, their incredible defensive power and near-indestructibility made them coveted by all major villages.
With such a card for protection, a ninja's survival rate could be greatly increased—significantly improving Konoha's odds of victory.
Orochimaru was clearly preparing to make a major move at Kikyo Mountain, given that he was willing to allocate all of these cards to Tsunade's forces.
After hesitating briefly, Tsunade finally nodded in agreement.
As Sunagakure and Konoha sharpened their blades against one another, Shiraishi was conducting his own tests on a mountain peak somewhere near Kikyo Mountain.
"The number of cards keeps increasing… Konoha really is something else."
Fully aware that the decisive battle was drawing ever closer, Shiraishi nevertheless continued to execute his own plans.
In addition to cultivation, he remained obsessively devoted to developing new devices—such as the miniature desert pyramid currently spinning in his hand.
Using the techniques he had mastered, Shiraishi gathered sand together to form a triangular sand tower. He injected chakra from both the Sand-Gathering Technique and the Treasure-Aggregation into it.
Almost immediately, the small pyramid began to react.
The sand tower gradually expanded in size, standing upright like a miniature pyramid. As it rotated continuously, it stored a portion of the chakra converted through sand gathering.
Then—
With a loud explosion, the pyramid shattered.
"Another failure."
Yet Shiraishi showed no sign of discouragement. After all, the knowledge he currently possessed was still insufficient to fully realize his design.
In this era, the shinobi world had already developed various industrial technologies—mainly to assist in warfare. From certain household computational devices, Shiraishi had drawn inspiration to create this experimental sand structure.
This was merely a preliminary concept. In the future, he planned to perform further calculations, transforming the sand tower into a multifunctional device that combined computation, chakra amplification, and intelligence gathering.
Although his glasses already possessed extremely powerful processing capabilities, Shiraishi did not entirely trust a single piece of equipment. Preparations for redundancy were already underway.
A strong person could command demons.
A weak one would only ever be enslaved by them.
With that thought, Shiraishi rapidly formed sand into towers once more. Two small triangular sand pyramids emerged, which he projected into the area below using his psychic control.
Within a limited zone, the small pyramids could shoulder only basic functions—but they were still capable of accelerating chakra conversion through sand gathering, forming a localized sensory network.
Once the sensory grid was established, Shiraishi seemed to notice someone approaching.
His figure slowly dissolved into drifting sand.
"Eh? Where did that brat go?"
Yamaji Ryōko arrived at Shiraishi's training site, intending to see what that brat had been tinkering with—only to find nothing at all.
Amid the swirling sandstorm, Yamaji Ryōko's expression darkened. She hadn't expected to lose track of him in a desert environment.
For reasons she couldn't quite explain, she simply despised Shiraishi and was always looking for trouble with him. Having noticed him frequenting this area recently, she had begun monitoring him regularly.
Although Yamaji Ryōko was a special jōnin whose puppet techniques traced back to Sasori of the Red Sand, her true strength lay more in sand-based perception techniques.
Yet today, Shiraishi had vanished completely from her sensory range.
Shiraishi chose to disappear at precisely this moment to avoid a direct confrontation. In his eyes, that woman was nothing but an idiot—someone not worth any interaction at all.
Upon returning to camp, Shiraishi happened to see Ebizo flipping through scrolls.
Sunagakure's strike against Konoha was about to begin, and Ebizo was making his final preparations.
Seeing Shiraishi, Ebizō couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
This boy had far too many ideas.
The entire scheme against Konoha had been conceived behind the scenes by Shiraishi, with Ebizō acting as the executor.
Konoha's strength lay not only in its Sensory Unit, but also in its formidable medical system. Compared to the Sensory Unit—where Hyūga elites were concentrated—the Medical Corps had only Tsunade as a top-tier combatant.
After all the misinformation and pressure applied, Orochimaru would almost certainly conclude that Sunagakure's target was the Sensory Unit, believing they possessed methods to block sensory detection.
He would respond accordingly—possibly even launching a full-scale assault himself—making it impossible for him to disengage.
And the Sensory Unit would require a Kage-level defender.
That meant Tsunade would almost certainly be reassigned there.
Ebizō didn't fully understand how Shiraishi could be so certain—but the logic held. The probability of Tsunade not remaining with the Medical Corps was indeed extremely high.
In truth, Sunagakure's real objective was never the Sensory Unit.
Their true decapitation target was Konoha's greatest pride—the Medical Corps.
Everything was in place.
The countdown had begun.