"What if Konoha can't hold back, or the Fire Eight Pillars Trading Association pressures them into leaving the village to fight us decisively?"
Xuechi Gaoao asked.
"That'd be perfect! We'll be well-rested and ready to beat them down again."
Jinghang laughed.
Actually, Jinghang had another hidden trump card. Push too hard, and Konoha's factions would naturally unite completely. But when the pressure wasn't so intense, those same factions would turn on each other instead.
Given the current situation, Hiruzen Sarutobi's Hokage faction had lost most of its forces. However, with Orochimaru's Southern Army added in, their strength still far exceeded Danzō's Intelligence faction.
The problem was that "Aunt Snake" wasn't exactly a pushover either.
This way, once the pressure suddenly decreased, Konoha's leadership would basically turn into complete chaos. That infighting would drag on forever.
Just then, a masked ninja lifted the tent flap and entered—clearly from the Intelligence Division.
"Lord Kazekage, the Cloud army entered the Land of Fire yesterday and has already occupied the Konoha Southern Army's positions."
Great. Here come the opportunists, drawn by the scent of profit.
"How many troops?"
Jinghang asked.
"About ten thousand."
"Who's commanding?"
"It seems the Third Raikage is personally leading them."
Whoa! That's no small move. It's like a village wedding feast—if you're even slightly slow with your chopsticks, everyone else will have bagged everything with their plastic containers.
Jinghang exchanged glances with Hirai Kangsaburo, both nodding knowingly.
"We can't wait until tomorrow. The troops move out now! Chiraku, I'm leaving you two regiments to guard this place as the army's logistics supply station. Everyone else, follow me!"
With that, he pulled Hirai Kangsaburo out of the command tent.
"This needs to be accelerated. Cloud isn't here to play around either. How long will it take you to handle this?"
Jinghang asked quietly.
"Ah, it's hard to say. You know the situation in the Land of Fire—the south is much wealthier than the north. All the prime assets are around Hi no Shiro. Originally, I planned to finish looting everything in six months, but now it's really hard to say."
Hirai Kangsaburo said anxiously.
"Six months?! No way! I can give you three months at most. Here's the deal—auctioning off real estate, immovable property, and farmland can wait, but you must get all the cash and valuables transported back to the Land of Wind within three months. And I mean transported back."
Jinghang said sternly.
He and the Third Raikage had a relationship, but when it came to robbing money, friendship? Ha! How much could that really matter? Besides, this wasn't just a few coins—this was the accumulated wealth of the Land of Fire's eight largest monopolistic enterprises over several lifetimes and generations. A conservative estimate put it at 30-40 billion! Talking friendship in front of such money? That's a joke!
"Three months?!"
Hirai Kangsaburo's mouth fell open, but he quickly closed it, pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth.
"Fine! Three months. I'll strip the southern Land of Fire clean, but you have to give me more people!"
"Who?!"
"The King of Accountants from Yuexi Peninsula—Kakuzu! And his debt collection team."
"Huh?"
Jinghang was surprised.
"What? What? Kakuzu is the King of Accountants? And a debt collection team? Old man, what are you talking about?"
This time it was Hirai Kangsaburo who was surprised.
"No way—you're the Kazekage and you don't even know your own incredibly capable subordinate? The King of Accountants and King of Debt Collection from Yuexi Peninsula! There's never been a single error in any ledger he's reviewed, never a single bad debt he couldn't collect. You don't know such a capable lieutenant? You've got to be kidding me!"
"Ah, Leader Yahiko, I've heard so much about you. Today I finally get to meet you in person."
Rasa warmly extended his hand.
"Sorry, I've changed my name. I'm called Pain now."
"Pain?"
"Yes. With my homeland shattered and loved ones dead, I use this name to remind myself never to forget this pain for even a moment."
"Ah, Pain! With such understanding and determination, how could Konoha not fall? How could your homeland not be restored?"
Rasa grasped Pain's hand, but suddenly felt a chill in his heart.
Why is this person's hand so cold? Like a corpse.
Aotu Tailuo and Kazama Xu stood behind Pain as bodyguards.
"Come, let's enter the tent to discuss matters!"
Rasa courteously invited everyone in.
...
"Everyone should know that Lord Kazekage dealt a heavy blow to Konoha's Eastern Army main force at Lishi Fortress. He's now counterattacking into the Land of Fire territory. The situation has completely reversed. The time to expel Konoha and restore Amegakure has arrived."
Listening to Rasa's introduction, Pain only smiled and nodded, making the atmosphere a bit cold.
"Next, we're facing the remnants of Danzō's Northern Army—about five thousand troops. According to our intelligence, about a month ago, shortly after the Battle of Moon Lake, a group of ninja infiltrated Amegakure. Based on our agents' descriptions, they appeared to be from the Uchiha clan."
"Sharingan?"
Pain raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
Rasa nodded and had someone unfold a map of Amegakure.
"This is a map of Amegakure from when I worked at the Hourglass Group—about seven or eight years old now. The main buildings and terrain probably haven't changed much."
Pain stood up, walked to the map, picked up a pencil, and began making corrections directly on it.
"There have been changes. This street was widened. These buildings were demolished when Kaneshingane was blown up. Here, to connect directly to the Feiyu Group, the road was rerouted..."
As he spoke, Pain's voice gradually became lower. Every inch of this territory had been transformed bit by bit by Yahiko leading them.
"Those are roughly all the major changes."
Pain put down his pencil.
Rasa nodded and continued.
"According to our reconnaissance, Konoha has constructed four defensive lines in Amegakure. Due to the Uchiha ninja involvement, our ninja didn't dare probe too deeply and could only get a general understanding."
Rasa began drawing on the map.
"Danzō has pulled all his forces back into the city. The first line is a ring around the city's perimeter—more like scouts serving as early warning. The main forces are distributed along the second and third defensive lines. The fortifications here are designed very cleverly. Amegakure has many tall buildings, and Konoha's ninja have cleared the streets, using these high-rises to construct fortifications. Once we enter, we'll face crossfire from multiple directions from the surrounding towers. It's difficult to deploy large forces in the city, and if we fight building by building, we'll probably exhaust our troops before even reaching the final stronghold—the Rain Tower. If we demolish the buildings, it could easily cause civilian casualties. That's what's giving me a headache. Leader Pain, your Akatsuki organization has operated here for years—do you have any good ideas?"
Pain carefully observed Rasa's markings. He had to admit Danzō's tactics were brilliant. The entire defense system was three-dimensional—once you entered, you'd be trapped in layer upon layer of ambushes. Even more vicious was that he'd essentially taken all the city's civilians hostage, making it difficult for the Sunagakure ninja to fight freely. (Actually, Sunagakure didn't have much psychological burden about this, but with the Akatsuki organization present, they had to be considerate.)
"Have you considered the sewers?"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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