Chapter 341: In the End, the Times Have Changed!

Time quietly slipped by, and before long, more than ten hours had passed.

While the entire Hidden Sand Village was working at breakneck speed in preparation for the impending war, Uchiha Ren had quietly led several hundred elite Konoha shinobi to a position less than twenty kilometers from Sunagakure.

“Stop! Everyone rest where you are. Drink some water, eat something, and recover your strength!”

Uchiha Ren spotted the figure of Hyūga Hizashi, the captain of the reconnaissance team, appearing atop a sand dune several hundred meters away. He immediately halted the march and ordered everyone, who had been traveling all day, to stop and rest.

This was a signal Ren and Hizashi had agreed upon beforehand.

As long as Hizashi personally returned to relay intelligence, it meant they were already very close to Sunagakure.

Although Ren was pressed for time, necessary rest was still indispensable.

After all, people were not machines. If they wanted to maintain their combat strength, they had to rest.

Once Hizashi arrived, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade also gathered around.

The battle was about to officially begin, so naturally, the strongest combatants needed to discuss the details of the operation.

“How is it? Sunagakure should already know we’re here and have made the necessary preparations, right?”

Once everyone had arrived, Ren did not waste any time with pleasantries. He immediately turned to Hizashi and asked.

“Yes.”

Hizashi nodded, unfolded the map, pointed to a location, and said, “Sunagakure has established a defensive position at Shashan Temple, ten kilometers from here. There are approximately a thousand shinobi stationed there.”

“Their forces are spread out quite widely. They should be preparing for the possibility that we might attack and completely destroy their stronghold in the Land of Rivers.”

“They’ve also established a defensive line at the entrance to Sunagakure, with roughly five hundred shinobi stationed there.”

“Based on their chakra signatures, those five hundred appear to be newly graduated genin from the Ninja Academy. Most of the thousand or so shinobi at the forward position are genin as well.”

“They’ve already evacuated the civilians from the village. It seems they’ve prepared for the worst-case scenario.”

“The chances of success for our operation are very high!”

There was a hint of excitement in Hizashi’s voice. The results of this reconnaissance mission had greatly boosted his confidence.

It had to be said that Ren had seized this opportunity perfectly. With Sunagakure’s current deployment, there was no way it could stop several hundred elite shinobi of jōnin caliber!

Ren pondered for a moment before speaking.

“If that’s the case, then there’s no need for us to bypass Sunagakure’s first line of defense.”

“We’ll first wipe out the thousand men they’ve stationed outside, then take Sunagakure in one decisive push!”

Ren made the final decision, establishing the broad outline of their operation.

“Don’t get careless.”

Tsunade frowned.

“Although the quality of the Sand shinobi gathered at Shashan Temple isn’t particularly high, given Sunagakure’s usual methods, they’ve definitely laid a large number of traps throughout the defensive position.”

“Most of those traps are undoubtedly poison-based. Even a jōnin could suffer badly if they aren’t careful.”

“This was exactly how Sunagakure arranged its positions and defensive lines during the Second Shinobi World War. We suffered quite a bit because of it.”

Tsunade’s concern was not unfounded. It came from firsthand experience.

The shinobi of Sunagakure were indeed experts in the use of poison. Their various poisons greatly increased the consequences of even minor injuries to enemy shinobi, often turning what would normally be a manageable wound into a near-fatal one.

The principle was simple.

A normal senbon piercing your hand might only cause you some pain. But a poisoned senbon could kill you even if it didn’t strike a vital point.

That was precisely the problem.

During the Second Shinobi World War and the early stages of the Third Shinobi World War, had Konoha not possessed Tsunade, the village might still have emerged victorious—but the price it paid could easily have been several times greater.

“It’s fine.”

Uchiha Ren casually waved his hand.

“When we launch the assault, we’ll first use Fire Release Cannon Type-3 shells to bombard their position and thoroughly churn up the battlefield. That’ll trigger all those traps for us.”

After a pause, Ren looked toward Orochimaru and asked, “Orochimaru-senpai, we brought enough shells this time, right?”

Orochimaru nodded.

“Enough to blow the entire Sunagakure into the sky. I’ll bombard the Shashan Temple defensive line with three volleys first.”

“Hiss—”

Tsunade couldn’t help drawing in a sharp breath as she listened to Ren and Orochimaru’s conversation.

She had already witnessed the power of the Fire Release Cannon Type-3 shells at Sunagakure’s stronghold in the Land of Rivers.

When Orochimaru said three volleys, he meant a total of 450 Fire Release Cannon Type-3 shells.

Such firepower might not be enough to kill every Sand shinobi stationed at Shashan Temple, but it would certainly be enough to turn the entire defensive position upside down—and trigger virtually all of its traps in the process.

Thinking of this, Tsunade wisely kept her mouth shut.

In the end, the times really had changed.

“Hmm. For a defensive position manned by a thousand shinobi, three volleys should indeed be enough…”

Ren thought for a moment and nodded.

“However, Sunagakure has spread its forces out quite widely this time, and they’ve already made preparations. It’s impossible to kill all of them with just those three volleys.”

If he could, Ren would have loved to bombard the Shashan Temple defensive position with thirty volleys—or even three hundred.

After all, exchanging artillery shells for human lives was profitable no matter how you looked at it.

Unfortunately, they had been given too little time to prepare. The Fire Release Cannon Type-3 was also only the Konoha Research Department’s first mass-produced weapon, and Orochimaru had brought just over a thousand shells this time.

Some had to be reserved for emergencies, so firing three volleys at this point was already the absolute limit.

Ren shook his head, clearing his distracting thoughts, and continued.

“After the bombardment, I’ll personally lead the main force in a frontal assault.”

“Jiraiya, take one hundred men and attack the left flank of the Shashan Temple defensive position. Hizashi, take another hundred and attack its right flank.”

“Tsunade, remain in the rear and provide support wherever necessary.”

As Ren issued his orders one after another, everyone except Orochimaru received a specific assignment.

Orochimaru’s situation was somewhat different. His task was to operate the new weapons while recording various battlefield performance data from their use in actual combat.

Therefore, Ren gave him no additional combat assignment and simply allowed him to act as he saw fit.

Finally, Ren reminded everyone:

“Make sure you all remember this. Our true objective this time is Sunagakure. The defensive position at Shashan Temple is nothing more than an obstacle in our path.”

“So don’t get bogged down in a prolonged fight. Don’t let them slow our advance. Once you’ve broken through them, drive straight for Sunagakure!”

After a pause, Ren turned toward Orochimaru.

“Orochimaru-senpai, immediately move forward after you’ve finished bombarding the Shashan Temple position. Then conduct one volley against the defensive line at Sunagakure’s entrance, followed by another against the interior of the village.”

“Understood!”

Orochimaru extended his long tongue and licked the corner of his mouth, smiling.

“I’ll use those two volleys to crush every last bit of Sunagakure’s will to resist!”