Chapter 204: The News

"According to the latest intelligence from headquarters, Sunagakure seems to have temporarily halted its offensive against Iwagakure due to logistical issues."

"Did Iwagakure do something?" someone asked.

Nara Shikaku shook his head.

Everyone looked puzzled. "Besides Iwagakure, who else would be interested in Iwagakure's logistics system?"

"No one did anything," Nara Shikaku replied.

"What do you mean?"

People were confused.

Nara Shikaku patiently explained, "It means exactly what it says. No one attacked Iwagakure's logistics system. They simply couldn't sustain it anymore.

"Not to mention the attacks against Iwagakure, even on the western front, where we've been fighting fiercely, Sunagakure has also slowed down its offensive in recent days.

"I'm afraid...

"Sunagakure really can't hold on any longer in this war."

"What?"

Everyone was shocked and couldn't believe it.

They couldn't imagine that one of the Five Great Ninja Villages would lose the war due to logistical problems.

Although logistics were crucial in war, unlike wars between ordinary people, the main deciding factor in ninja wars was still whether there were enough troops.

As for logistics...

Although it was also important, it was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

If they had enough troops, even if their logistics were cut off, they could still plunder supplies from enemy territory through battles.

Only when their own forces were insufficient did logistical problems become a real issue.

But the problem was that Sunagakure still had a considerable number of reserve troops.

Although Sunagakure had the fewest troops among the Five Great Ninja Villages, due to their higher average combat strength and the existence of puppeteer ninja, they had suffered the fewest casualties in the past two years of war.

Therefore, relatively speaking, their reserve forces were still quite abundant.

In this situation, for logistical problems to still become a key factor influencing Sunagakure's decisions, there could only be one possibility.

That is, Sunagakure's logistics had become so dire that a quantitative change had led to a qualitative change, making it a crucial part of their decision-making.

All the Jonin present were not fools and quickly understood this.

Seimei thought even further.

If Sunagakure's logistics were truly in such a terrible state, then...

Their subsequent betrayal of their hero, Pakura of the Scorch Release, to reach a peace agreement with Kirigakure, wasn't just Rasa eliminating dissidents. It was because Sunagakure really couldn't continue fighting and had to agree to Kirigakure's demands.

There was one thing that could indirectly prove this point.

That was when the "Ino-Shika-Cho" trio later represented Konoha and delivered the peace treaty to Iwagakure at the border of the three countries.

Some hawkish Iwa ninja didn't want to cease fighting and planned to sabotage it.

At that moment, Rasa suddenly appeared with his troops, claiming that this was also the Land of Wind's territory, and they couldn't just watch them fight, preventing the Iwa ninja from succeeding.

In the end, Iwagakure and Konohagakure successfully concluded a peace treaty.

This showed that Sunagakure was the one most eager to end the war among the major ninja villages; otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered to intervene.

The more Seimei thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

For the first time since coming to this world, he realized that the war was so close to ending.

However, the darkness before dawn was often the true darkness, and the calm before the storm wasn't true tranquility.

For the war to end, it was impossible without a few more fierce battles.

Therefore, it was still too early to talk about the end of the war.

Collecting his thoughts, Seimei ignored the others and looked at Nara Shikaku, asking, "Even if Sunagakure has slowed down their offensive, there's still Kumogakure, right?

"Shouldn't Iwagakure prioritize sending troops there?"

Hearing this, everyone came back to their senses and thought, 'Yeah, compared to Kumogakure's relentless attacks, what are we?

"We probably don't even deserve their attention.

"In this situation, even if Iwagakure has spare capacity, they should be targeting Kumogakure. Why did they suddenly attack us?"

Everyone looked at Nara Shikaku, waiting for an explanation.

Seeing this, Nara Shikaku said helplessly, "According to the latest intelligence, the competition for the Fourth Raikage position within Kumogakure has entered a heated stage.

"Currently, the frontline troops of Kumogakure have no intention of fighting, and the war with Iwagakure has almost stopped."

Hearing this, everyone was speechless, and at the same time, they understood why Iwagakure had shifted their focus to them.

Perhaps it wasn't just them but the entire Konohagakure.

Sure enough, Nara Shikaku continued, "Ten minutes ago, headquarters just sent a message. It's not just our base that was attacked, but several other bases were also raided.

"Currently, some bases are still holding on, while others have already fallen."

Hearing this, a Jonin sighed, "It seems Iwagakure wants us to give back all the gains we've made in the past month or so!"

Indeed, in the past month or so, they had taken advantage of Iwagakure's inability to send reinforcements and launched an offensive, seizing a large chunk of Iwagakure's territory.

Now that Iwagakure had freed up its hands, they immediately attacked them. Their intentions were all too obvious.

"In my opinion, we can give up the territory. Although the counter-offensive organized by headquarters didn't achieve all its goals, the results were still decent.

"Now, we can completely retreat to our previous bases and wait for the Iwa ninja to attack."

Someone said.

"Yeah!"

Hearing this, someone echoed, "I also think we can retreat. There's another advantage to retreating, which is that our supplies are closer.

"Honestly, after learning that Sunagakure had to slow down its offensive due to logistical problems, I'm also a bit worried about our own logistics.

"If the Iwa ninja bypass our bases and cut off our supply lines, we'll be in trouble.

"Don't forget, this was originally their territory. They know every nook and cranny.

"So, it wouldn't be difficult for them to evade our surveillance.

"Therefore, I also think we should retreat first."

Some agreed, and naturally, some opposed.

For a time, the meeting room was as lively as a market.

Finally, Nara Shikaku spoke, "That's enough!

"These matters are not for us to worry about. Strategic adjustments are up to the Third Hokage and Orochimaru-sama to consider. We just need to do our own jobs well."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent and chatted for a while. After Nara Shikaku announced the end of the meeting, they got up and left.

Leaving the meeting room, Seimei ignored the others and directly used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing why Seimei was in such a hurry.

What was he doing?

Training, of course.

Today's training plan hadn't been completed yet, and Seimei didn't want to waste time here.

(End of Chapter)