Since Sakumo had said that, Hoshiyomi wasn't the type to be overly sentimental, so he naturally didn't dwell on it any further.
Moreover, Sakumo was just taking a break and wasn't leaving permanently, so there was no need to get too caught up in it.
After skipping past that topic, Hoshiyomi took the lead and asked:
"Where's Danzo? Did he already head back to Konoha?"
Upon hearing this, Sakumo smiled and replied directly:
"After that old man heard that neither Ōnoki nor the Four-Tails could get the better of you, his face was as ugly as if a family member had died. He packed up and left first thing the next morning."
"Although that old man is disgusting, I can't deny that he did leave behind something useful. He left his entire intelligence network behind. While he kept sending orders, at least he shared the intelligence with us."
Hearing this, Hoshiyomi was slightly moved. Could it be that Danzo had retreated early because he was afraid of him? That old dog didn't seem like the type to back down. Could it be that he was plotting something behind the scenes?
After thinking it over, Hoshiyomi shook his head. At this point in time, Danzo had no time to deal with the Mangekyō Sharingan. The most he could do was research the Hashirama's cells.
In the original story, it took him and Orochimaru almost twenty years of research to have a successful case like Yamato. Since Orochimaru was still with him, even if Danzo worked himself to death, he wouldn't manage to figure anything out.
Let him be. Two years. This war would likely last no more than two years. After they returned to the village, Danzo would have nowhere to hide. Let him struggle for a bit longer.
With that thought, Hoshiyomi no longer lingered on the subject of Danzo and instead shifted the topic to more everyday matters with Sakumo and the others.
After a hearty meal and some drinks, the topic returned to the current enemy, Sunagakure.
When the topic of Sunagakure came up, everyone's expressions grew serious, and they quietly listened as Sakumo spoke:
"Sunagakure clearly doesn't intend to end this war anytime soon. Although Danzo went back to Konoha, his intelligence network is still operating."
"From the intelligence we have, it looks like Sunagakure has moved over two thousand shinobi to the rear during this rainy season. They will immediately come to support the front line if there's any slight movement."
"According to the current intel, the total number of shinobi in the Sunagakure front, combined with this support force, exceeds five thousand. This is a major operation, and we cannot underestimate it."
Upon hearing this, both Hoshiyomi and Shinku, who had just arrived, furrowed their brows. Even Shinku, who had previously been stationed here, hadn't anticipated such a large-scale mobilization from Sunagakure in just the one year since he'd been gone.
Five thousand was definitely not a small number. As mentioned earlier, the five great shinobi villages each maintained about twenty thousand shinobi, though the numbers varied.
Konoha, being geographically the most advantageous and the wealthiest village, had the largest reserve of shinobi, sometimes reaching close to thirty thousand during times of war. This was one of the reasons Konoha had been able to hold its own in the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure, as the two other major shinobi villages, also maintained forces around twenty thousand.
However, Sunagakure and Kirigakure, due to their geographical locations and resource limitations, were the two poorest villages among the five. Without the resources for large-scale production, they had always focused on elite units.
Their shinobi numbers were also the smallest of the five major villages. Before the Bloody Mist policy, Kirigakure's shinobi count was even lower than Sunagakure's, which only had about fifteen to sixteen thousand shinobi.
At this point, they still didn't know about the high-level strategies of Sunagakure. From their perspective, deploying five thousand shinobi to the front line was already a third of their entire fighting force, showing just how determined and resolute Sunagakure was.
At the same time, Orochimaru spoke up:
"Additionally, Chiyo of Sunagakure returned to the frontlines recently and brought two of Sunagakure's elders with her. This is already confirmed."
"Tsunade, your work ahead is probably not going to be as easy as before."
Hearing this, Tsunade raised an eyebrow and spoke with a proud tone:
"Let that old woman bring it on. Her poisons aren't that impressive. I'll break each and every one of them eventually."
It was clear that Tsunade and Chiyo didn't get along. There were too many points of overlap between the two.
They were both called the "flowers" of Konoha and Sunagakure (back when Chiyo was younger), and both were rare female high-end fighters in their respective villages.
On top of that, they were both skilled in medical ninjutsu.
With all these overlaps, comparisons were inevitable. While one was stationed on the Sunagakure front and the other on the Iwagakure front, it was just two villages' experts exchanging blows from afar.
But ever since Tsunade had arrived at the Sunagakure front, the comparison between these two women had turned into an all-out war. Although neither said it openly, they were both secretly competing.
First, they compared their medical skills, and there was no doubt that Tsunade came out on top. Konoha's shinobis had the highest recovery rate in the shinobi world, and Tsunade played a crucial role in that.
Unable to compete in medical ninjutsu, Chiyo then turned to poisoning as a point of comparison.
As both a puppeteer and a medical shinobi, Chiyo had a deep connection to poison. Her mastery of poison was truly unparalleled.
Tsunade, on the other hand, didn't like using poison, but her expertise in antidotes far surpassed Chiyo's.
Before Tsunade's arrival, Chiyo's poisons had caused a great deal of trouble for Konoha's shinobis, but once Tsunade showed up, she single-handedly neutralized every single one of them.
Tsunade and Chiyo had already clashed countless times in the arts of poisoning and antidotes, with Tsunade winning most of those encounters.
Almost eighty percent of Chiyo's poisons were nullified by Tsunade, which only further solidified Tsunade's reputation as a medical expert and battlefield princess.
Meanwhile, Chiyo, once known for her impressive reputation, now found herself in a rather embarrassing position. If Chiyo were to name her two most hated enemies, the first and second would undoubtedly be Sakumo and Tsunade.
Seeing Tsunade's proud expression, Hoshiyomi couldn't help but chuckle. He gently pinched her cheek, causing her to give him a disapproving look. Sakumo, watching them show affection, didn't get upset and quietly observed their display of love.
After a moment of playful banter, the two of them became serious again. Hoshiyomi summarized the situation:
"Since Sunagakure is making such a strong push, and the village wants to focus on a war of attrition, we definitely can't initiate a large-scale war right now."
"However, we can still pick some small-scale skirmishes. It'll give them a taste of our strength."
Hoshiyomi's desire to initiate a battle with Sunagakure wasn't driven solely by a love for combat. There was a more important reason: his experience points were very close to reaching 250.
Before the invasion by Rōshi and Ōnoki, Hoshiyomi's experience had already reached Master-Level Swordsmanship: 106/500.
Since then, he gained an additional 50 points from understanding the Swordsman's Heart, 85 points from the battle with Ōnoki and the Four-Tails, and 3 points from three months of daily training. (Defeating Ōnoki was considered super-Kage level by the system, earning him 55 points, and the Kage-level Four-Tails earned him 30 points.)
At this point, Hoshiyomi's experience was Master-Level Swordsmanship: 244/500, just six points away from reaching 250.