In Nara Shikaku's original strategy, the real decisive battle wasn't supposed to happen at Lishi Fortress at all—it was meant to take place somewhere in the middle of the Suna-Yue Highway.
The plan was simple: after capturing Lishi Fortress, Konoha would rapidly pivot south. Sunagakure's army would have no choice but to shift their defenses to protect the Yuexi Peninsula, while Konoha's shinobi could conserve their strength and ambush Suna's forces on the move.
This would give Konoha the initiative, letting them leverage their superior roster of elites to deal a devastating blow to Sunagakure's main force. Even if it didn't force Suna into submission, it would at least hand Konoha absolute control over how the war unfolded.
But reality had other plans. No one expected the famously cunning Kazekage, Jinghang, to dig in his heels and draw a line in the sand at Lishi Fortress, choosing a head-on, no-holds-barred slugfest—blade against blade, spear against spear.
Ironically, this move put the advantage in Sunagakure's hands. Beyond the home-field benefit, with both sides fielding similar numbers, Konoha's greatest weakness was water.
According to Minato Namikaze's recon, while Lishi Fortress wasn't large enough to house ten thousand troops, its two wells were intact—enough to supply Suna's entire field army. Meanwhile, Konoha had to haul water for hundreds of miles from the Land of Rivers, requiring a dedicated escort for every shipment.
With this, the scales of victory tipped ever so slightly toward Sunagakure.
When Konoha's main force finally reached Lishi Fortress, they were stunned to find the entire fortress torn down, replaced by sprawling Suna camps. While some Konoha officers mocked Jinghang for destroying his own defenses, Nara Shikaku frowned, seeing right through the Kazekage's ruthless logic.
First, demolishing the fortifications would steel Suna's ninja to fight to the bitter end. This wasn't "destroying the Great Wall"—it was burning their bridges, making retreat impossible.
Second, even if Konoha won and captured the fortress, they'd have to rebuild it from scratch. Lishi Fortress was only the first stop; the real goal was to turn it into a logistics hub for the assault on Yuexi Peninsula and, ultimately, Sunagakure itself. But Suna wouldn't just sit back and watch them build—there'd be endless raids, forcing Konoha's main force to stay behind and defend. In the end, taking the fortress might not matter at all—Konoha's main force would still be pinned down.
At that moment, Minato Namikaze came up with a devious plan.
During his recon, he'd left a subtle Flying Thunder God marker inside one of the fortress wells—nearly impossible to spot. Why not sneak in at night using the Flying Thunder God Technique and poison the well? That would wipe out at least half of Suna's ten thousand troops.
Konoha's officers cheered. For ninja, poisoning the enemy wasn't dishonorable at all. So, as soon as night fell, Minato armed himself with deadly poison and—poof!—vanished.
But he reappeared just as quickly, drenched in filth and reeking to high heaven.
If Jinghang had been there, he would've laughed himself hoarse.
Count yourself lucky, kid—the Suna army hadn't been there long, so there wasn't much "treasure" built up. If you'd tried this later, you'd have drowned in it. And if I'd known you'd really try, you'd have been greeted not just by waste, but by chakra-weakening agents and Dokueki Mountain poison.
"Looks like we'll have to settle this the old-fashioned way. Fine by me—saves me the trouble of hunting Suna ninja down. If we crush Suna's field army here, there's no need to bother with the Yuexi Peninsula—we'll march straight east and take Sunagakure!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi made the call.
Before Lishi Fortress stretched an endless desert—plenty of room for armies to maneuver. At dawn, Hiruzen arrayed ten squads of Konoha ninja in perfect formation. Banners snapped in the wind, voices thundered, killing intent surged—the air was electric.
On the other side, Sunagakure's ranks were equally tight and imposing, their formation unyielding.
The great clash was about to begin!
Whether because he knew his cause for war was shaky, or because he feared Jinghang's infamous silver tongue, Hiruzen Sarutobi wasted no words. He simply pointed at Jinghang standing at the front of Suna's lines.
"Attack!"
With a single command, over ten thousand Konoha ninja in green tactical vests surged forward, roaring as they charged Suna's formation.
"Meet the enemy!"
Jinghang didn't waste breath either. His shout unleashed a tidal wave of fury as Suna's army thundered forward, headlong into the green tide.
On the boundless desert, green and white clashed, steel met steel, battle cries and shouts mingled, blood and sweat filled the air.
"Magnet Release: Binding Curse!"
Jinghang thrust out his hand at the Konoha vanguard—nothing happened.
"Oh? Getting smarter."
He was impressed. After Minato's recon, Hiruzen had ordered all Konoha ninja to abandon their metal forehead protectors, switching to cloth headbands embroidered with the Leaf.
"Magnet Release: Ten Thousand Blades!"
This time, it worked—countless kunai and shuriken shot into the sky, then rained down like a storm. The Konoha front ranks scrambled to dodge and block, but many went down, and the charge faltered.
Suna's side erupted in cheers at the sight of Konoha's setback.
"Don't get cocky, Jinghang! Let me, Hiruzen Sarutobi, take you on!"
In a flash, Hiruzen appeared before Jinghang, wielding a staff as tall as his brows, with Minato right behind.
"Sasori! The blond kid is yours!"
Jinghang barked, then launched himself skyward atop iron Truth-Seeking Orbs, unleashing Iron Sand: Drizzle at Hiruzen.
Hiruzen spun his staff in a flawless defense, blocking every grain of iron sand.
Suddenly, Hiruzen split off a shadow clone. The real one pressed the attack on Jinghang while the clone hung back, building up power.
"Something's up!"
Whatever trick Hiruzen was playing, that clone was up to no good. No hesitation—take it out first.
"Iron Sand: Ascending Dragon!"
Five massive Truth-Seeking Orbs morphed into a snarling iron dragon, tearing up sand as it roared toward the shadow clone.
"Earth Release: Super Earth Dragon Bullet!"
Hiruzen slammed his hands to the ground—a colossal earth dragon erupted, grappling the iron dragon in a titanic struggle. Iron dragon slashed, earth dragon shed chunks, but neither broke free.
Just then, Hiruzen's shadow clone finished charging.
"Lightning Release: Thunderous Roar!"
A huge lightning spear shot from the clone's mouth, arcing straight at Jinghang overhead!
So that's your game—zap me from above!
Jinghang didn't dare underestimate it. The scale of that lightning jutsu was no joke.
In a blink, the iron Truth-Seeking Orbs beneath him fused into a spherical iron cage.
The lightning struck, unleashing a blinding flash. The sheer volume of lightning chakra was staggering.
Moments later, the light faded. The iron cage melted back into orbs.
Jinghang emerged unscathed.
"Hokage-sama, maybe read a book or two—ever heard of a Faraday cage?"
He taunted.
Faraday cage? What the hell is that? Hiruzen was baffled.
"Had your fun? Now it's my turn!"
Jinghang's face turned steely. Instantly, blue-gold light erupted from his body—Sage Mode—and he dove straight at Hiruzen below.
Seeing this, Hiruzen rapidly formed hand seals, splitting into four shadow clones.
"Five Elements: Great Consecutive Bullets Technique!"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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