Jinghang's original strategy was simple: repeat the Lishi Fortress or Moon Lake victories—blanket Konoha with a mountain of explosive tags and serve up another "hot pot" massacre. But after Hidden Sand and Hidden Cloud's senior tacticians ran the numbers and simulations, they hit a wall: it just wasn't possible.
Two main reasons. First, terrain.
At Moon Lake, Danzo Shimura trapped himself—he used Earth Release to build a tunnel, trying to shield his forces from puppet arhat attacks. Rosa seized the moment, unleashing waves of flying puppets for a relentless bombardment. The enemy was packed tight, so they got wiped out by the hundreds.
The Lishi Fortress battle was Jinghang's masterpiece—he pushed a temporary puppet control center within five kilometers of Konoha's main camp, then carpet-bombed the whole place from air and ground. It was a new mode of warfare, targeting a dense camp, catching them completely off guard. The result? Eight thousand Konoha ninja obliterated. But the price was insane. Covering that much ground took a ridiculous amount of explosive tags and puppets. Hirai Kangsaburo's accounting team later tallied the cost: 6.875 billion ryō burned in a single battle. (Now you know why Jinghang squeezed every last coin out of the Land of Fire.)
Both victories had one thing in common: the enemy was boxed in, giving Jinghang and Rosa room to work their magic.
But this time, the battlefield was different. The Wind-Lightning Alliance camp was set up at Tsūtatsu Road—a name from Hidden Mist, now adopted by Konoha. True to its name, the terrain was flat, open, and crisscrossed by roads. No way to cover everything. Tactically, both sides could advance or retreat at will.
Konoha, as the attacker, could bail out fast if things went south. Flying puppets and ground bombs would barely scratch them.
Plus, this was Konoha's home turf. No one was getting lost. After two brutal defeats, Konoha's leaders had wised up. Building underground air raid shelters proved they'd learned a lot—adapting and evolving their tactics to meet new threats.
Second issue: explosive tags were running dry. In the manga, tag-wielding legends abound—Tobirama Senju, Hanzo of the Salamander, Kushimaru Kuriarare with his Explosive Blade, and of course, Konan from Akatsuki (six hundred billion tags—seriously!). They all had one thing in common: bottomless wallets.
Tags weren't cheap. Most jonin carried seven or eight in their gear. Chunin and genin had even fewer.
So how did Hidden Sand do it? An old-school wooden "terrorist" puppet carried twenty tags. A flying puppet packed two hundred. Alloy puppets able to use "Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags" carried up to five hundred each!
Moon Lake, Lishi Fortress, Coin Harbor, and half a year of bombing Konoha had nearly wiped out the entire world's supply of explosive tags.
And that's just Sand's consumption. Ninja everywhere needed to keep some in reserve. Konoha's ninja carried tags, so did Cloud, Mist, Stone—every village. Not to mention all the speculators and profiteers jacking up prices.
So tags, already pricey, shot up to astronomical levels—ten thousand ryō apiece at the peak! Even then, it was a seller's market. Rumor had it Hidden Waterfall dumped every last tag into the market and made a killing.
Which meant the next phase of the war would be a straight-up slugfest—no more mass bombings, just conventional, grind-it-out warfare.
Time for new tactics.
Sealing the Nine-Tails required ten Kage-level or near-Kage-level fighters from the Wind-Lightning Alliance, instantly tightening resources. Even before battle, Jinghang and the alliance strategists had run endless scenarios, weighing every advantage and weakness.
Manpower? The Alliance fielded twenty thousand; Konoha, somewhere between fifteen and eighteen thousand. Close, but the Alliance had a slight edge.
Top-tier combatants? Harder to count. The Alliance was led by Third Raikage A, with five Sand Earthly Branch members and five Cloud Alphabet Team elites.
Konoha's numbers were murkier. At home, they threw everyone into the fray—big names like Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, and more. Easily more than ten top fighters. On this front, Konoha had the advantage.
Morale and logistics? Both sides had their strengths—impossible to measure. But one thing was clear: Konoha couldn't afford to lose.
So Jinghang set the rule before the first kunai was thrown: drag it out.
Konoha wanted a quick win? Fine—let's bleed them dry over time. Anger, patriotism, desperation—they all fade as the days grind on.
Rosa put it best: "Be time's friend, not its enemy."
Third Raikage A was a battle-hardened veteran. He understood Jinghang's plan and executed it to the letter.
Three days and nights of brutal combat—no matter how hard Konoha attacked, A used the semi-permanent fortifications built over the last half year to hold the line. Konoha barely gained an inch.
Every alliance ninja killed meant a Konoha ninja went down too. At that rate, Konoha would run out first.
Hiruzen Sarutobi spotted the trap immediately. He tried feigned retreats to lure the Alliance into chasing beyond their fortifications.
Konoha's genius strategist, Shikaku Nara, cooked up plan after plan to bait the enemy.
But Third Raikage wouldn't budge. No matter how clever the trick, he stood his ground. Konoha had no Tailed Beast left—there was no way they could break his camp.
When Konoha attacked, he led the Alliance in defense. When Konoha retreated, he stayed put, refusing to pursue—even when Hiruzen himself joined the fight. He'd spar with Hiruzen, but never left the safety of his camp.
Hiruzen was crushed.
Watching Konoha's numbers and morale dwindle, his outlook grew darker by the hour.
Was Konoha's legacy really about to end with him?
Then someone appeared—and delivered the final blow to Hiruzen.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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