The battles between Sunagakure and Konoha were not nearly as intense as those against Iwagakure. When fighting Iwa, every clash involved more than four thousand troops, but after each fight there would usually be a gap of one or two months.
With Suna, however, the conflict was more like constant skirmishes between small forces. Although not large in scale, they happened almost daily. Today you might snatch a small outpost, and tomorrow they would assassinate one of your patrol squads. Unlike the open, large-scale clashes with Iwa, this back-and-forth scheming carried its own unique tension.
It was a war of attrition, dragging on slowly but steadily. In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed—the time had moved from the autumn of Year 34 to the summer of Year 35.
During that half-year, casualties on both sides combined didn't even reach one thousand.
In truth, this was the actual norm for wars in this world. The kind of massive battles like Hoshiyomi had with Iwa before were seen as extremely abnormal by most in the shinobi world, merely products of both sides losing their temper.
After all, the total number of shinobi across the Five Great Villages was barely a hundred thousand. If they really fought every day with the same ferocity as the Iwa front, then within five years the profession of shinobi might completely disappear.
In the past six months, Hoshiyomi hadn't made a move. He spent the entire time in the command tent, coordinating with Orochimaru.
He had no interest in personally joining these small-scale conflicts. It would be a bit of an overkill for a Kage-level powerhouse like him to go out and deal with those small squads every day.
These battles weren't suitable for him, nor did they offer much in terms of experience gain. So he simply left all those tasks to Minato and Kuugetsu.
For him it would be like slaughtering weaklings, but for Minato and Kuugetsu, it was excellent training.
The two of them had just broken through to the jonin rank, and it was a great time for them to use a large number of battles to consolidate their rank and gain experience. In three months, the two of them became mission masters, completing more than a dozen large and small missions, and both of them had made significant progress.
Aside from that, Konoha had another piece of good news: during this half-year, Orochimaru finally developed his Orochimaru Style: Substitution Jutsu and Soft Physique Modification Technique.
These two jutsu completely made up for Orochimaru's previous shortcomings.
Before developing these two jutsu, Orochimaru had been stuck at the semi-Kage level for a long time. He had always been a "turret" like Nawaki, focusing on crowd control and large-scale attacks.
His offensive power was not inferior to any Kage-level shinobi, but his close combat abilities were noticeably lacking.
When enemies engaged him at close range, aside from the Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, Orochimaru had almost no effective means to counter. This was the main reason he had been unable to break through to Kage level.
But now things were different. With the development of the Orochimaru Style: Substitution Jutsu and Soft Physique Modification, his defenses—or rather his survivability—had leapt several levels.
Aside from being somewhat disgusting in nature, these two jutsu were nearly perfect.
They completely patched up Orochimaru's lack of survivability. In particular, the Soft Physique Modification greatly elevated his defensive abilities.
From then on, Orochimaru officially advanced to Kage level, becoming Konoha's fourth current Kage-level powerhouse.
Once Hoshiyomi confirmed this, he was thrilled. With him around, it was only a matter of time before Danzō was driven out of Konoha.
Now he looked forward more and more to seeing what kind of Konoha would emerge once Danzō was gone.
While Hoshiyomi was feeling happy about Orochimaru's breakthrough, Ebizō was also excited about his own discovery.
Inside the Sunagakure camp, Ebizō eagerly questioned one of his subordinates:
"Have you really confirmed it? You're certain you've discovered Gekko Hoshiyomi's disciples?"
Kneeling before him was a shinobi wearing a Konoha forehead protector—one of the spies Ebizō had secretly planted within Konoha during the earlier chaos.
After half a year of gradual investigation and intelligence gathering, the spy had finally uncovered the information Ebizō wanted. Only then did he fake his death and return to the Suna camp.
Hearing Ebizō's question now, the spy answered with absolute certainty:
"There's no mistake. I've already gathered all the relevant information about the people around Gekko Hoshiyomi. On the front lines, the one he values most is Tsunade—rumor has it they're lovers. After her, his two disciples, Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Kuugetsu, are his priority.
Both of them seem to be newly risen geniuses of Konoha. Despite their young age, they've already completed multiple dangerous missions on the battlefield.
If we want to lure Hoshiyomi out, the best bait would be his two disciples."
Hearing this, Ebizō couldn't help but laugh loudly:
"So he has disciples, eh? Then we won't need to worry about him not taking the bait this time."
After finishing, he reminded the subordinate:
"You may leave now. Oh, and on your way back, remember to call Elder Chiyo here. Tell her I have something important to discuss with her."
A moment later, Chiyo lifted the command tent's flap and came in.
"What is it? Have you received news about Gekko Hoshiyomi?" she asked, her tone betraying an excitement she could not conceal.
Even after half a year, her hatred had not cooled. She still yearned for the chance to kill Hoshiyomi—so that Sakumo could return to the battlefield, and she could kill Sakumo as well.
But unfortunately, all these months had passed, and she had yet to hear of Hoshiyomi ever leaving the command camp. So now, when she heard Ebizō had summoned her, of course she was excited.
Seeing his elder sister's impatient expression, Ebizō chuckled. He repeated the information he had just received, and then carefully laid out his plan:
"According to the intelligence, Gekko Hoshiyomi deeply values those two disciples. Next, all we need to do is capture either Minato or Kuugetsu.
Using them, we'll send a rescue message to Hoshiyomi. He won't be able to resist coming out.
We won't dispatch too many people. Hoshiyomi is still young—he likely won't bring a large force to rescue them. When he comes, sister, you and the men we've arranged will join the ambush. Won't Hoshiyomi be as good as dead then?"
Hearing her younger brother's words, Chiyo's face finally broke into a smile.
"Good, good, good! An excellent plan. As long as Hoshiyomi dares to come alone, I'll make sure he stays here forever. With one hundred Suna shinobi plus the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets, even if he sprouts wings, he won't escape.
Oh, and I hear Hoshiyomi and Hatake Sakumo grew up together as close friends. I wonder… when Sakumo sees his friend turned into a puppet on the battlefield, what kind of expression will he make?"
Thinking of this, Chiyo tilted her head back and burst into wild laughter.
Neither Chiyo, blinded by hatred, nor Ebizō, basking in his own cleverness, realized one crucial truth: the previous master of Chiyo's strongest weapon—the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets, Monzaemon—had in fact died at Hoshiyomi's hands.