As the sun dipped below the horizon, the first day of the war drew to a close.
The top-tier combatants on both sides had found themselves at a stalemate, unable to gain a decisive edge over one another. Meanwhile, the more numerous Chunin and Genin ranks saw a back-and-forth exchange of minor victories and defeats. Without a game-changing factor, the war was already showing signs of devolving into a grueling slogging match.
This had, in fact, become the primary theme of this Great War.
Aside from Sakumo Hatake's strike team crushing the Suna puppet brigade and Hanzo of the Salamander's legendary defeat of the Sannin—granting Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade their collective title—the past two years of conflict had mostly consisted of these messy wars of attrition. When neither side could overcome the other, the conflict inevitably turned into a test of logistics and manpower: a waiting game to see who would collapse first.
In just a single day of fighting, Konoha had nearly two hundred dead and as many as seven hundred wounded. With nearly a tenth of their force killed or incapacitated, the cost was undeniably heavy.
Yet Iwagakure, which boasted a larger number of shinobi, had fared even worse. They also counted two hundred dead, but their wounded exceeded eight hundred. If one factored in the earlier loss of nearly a thousand border troops, Iwa had suffered nearly two thousand casualties before the first official day of the offensive was even over.
Even for a village like Iwa, whose shinobi numbers were the highest in the elemental nations, these figures were staggering.
It was a pace that neither side could sustain. It was estimated that there would be at most three more major engagements of this scale. If the results remained inconclusive, the war would likely shift into a period of cautious standoff—much like the Land of Rain front—defined by small-scale squad skirmishes and guerrilla tactics.
Unless one side made a catastrophic error—like the Suna camp in the Land of Rain being completely wiped out—the war between Konoha and Iwa would likely drag on for months, or even a year, only to eventually end in a negotiated peace treaty.
For Konoha, this was perfectly acceptable. In fact, it had been their strategy from the very beginning.
For Iwa, however, this was intolerable. Ohnoki hadn't forcibly initiated this war under a mountain of unfavorable conditions just to trade blows and settle for a stalemate.
Since conventional warfare was already pointing toward a predictable conclusion, Iwa had to play a hidden gambit if they wanted to win.
"Roushi, Han... how is your control over the Four-Tails and Five-Tails currently holding up?"
The "masterstroke" Ohnoki had in mind was the power of the Tailed Beasts.
He had no other choice. Though he lacked exact numbers, the reports from the field suggested that in the clashes between the mid and low-level ranks, Iwa was likely the one coming out on the bottom. Relying on the rank-and-file to break the stalemate was an impossible goal. Therefore, the best way to force a breakthrough was to use the Jinchuriki to overwhelm or even kill Konoha's elite Jonin, causing the village's defense to crumble from the top down.
But Tailed Beasts were a double-edged sword.
Everyone knew how sharp they were, but one slip-up and you'd cut yourself instead of the enemy. If a host couldn't perfectly suppress the beast's power while drawing upon it, the rampaging chakra could consume the Jinchuriki entirely. Not only would the village lose a powerful asset, but they would lose the host they had spent years cultivating.
Even worse, Tailed Beasts harbored immense resentment from being sealed. If they lost control on the battlefield, the freed beast would almost certainly prioritize attacking the very captors who had imprisoned them. If that happened, Ohnoki's grand plan wouldn't just fail—it would backfire spectacularly, leaving him with a destroyed army and a lost war.
"If the battle can be concluded in a very short amount of time, I should be able to maintain suppression," Han, the younger of the two, replied after a moment of thought.
"I have no concerns regarding myself," Roushi added. Having been a Jinchuriki for over thirty years, Ohnoki's contemporary possessed a high degree of confidence. "However, if the Five-Tails goes on a rampage, I'm worried it might stir the Four-Tails' own ambitions."
Roushi glanced at Han as he spoke. While he and the Four-Tails weren't exactly friends, thirty years of coexistence had led to a certain level of familiarity. Since he was a Lava Style user himself, the Four-Tails didn't particularly mind him borrowing its power.
But everything was subject to comparison. If the Five-Tails broke free and regained its liberty, the Four-Tails would likely be tempted to follow suit. Furthermore, Tailed Beast chakras tended to resonate with one another, especially for two beasts that had shared a village for nearly four decades. If this war weren't so critical to Iwa's survival, Roushi would never have agreed to deploy alongside Han.
"Han, I need an exact number."
As a veteran shinobi from a legendary lineage, Ohnoki understood Roushi's concerns perfectly. He fell into a heavy, somber silence for a long moment before turning his gaze back to Han and speaking slowly.
"Five... no, three minutes!"
Han thought even longer this time before slowly holding up five fingers. Then, he curled down his pinky and ring finger, giving a more conservative answer. Under normal circumstances, it would be five minutes, but considering the risk of resonance Roushi mentioned, he cut the estimate down to be safe.
"Three minutes."
Ohnoki closed his eyes, his mind racing. The hopes of the village and his own legacy rested on that number. He had to be beyond cautious.
"Fine. Three minutes it is!"
The silence in the tent had become so thick it was almost suffocating for everyone except Roushi. Finally, Ohnoki opened his eyes and spoke through gritted teeth. After weighing every risk, he decided to take the gamble.
"However, we've just finished a major engagement. Konoha has suffered losses, but they aren't exhausted yet."
The Tsuchikage began to outline the second part of the plan. Those three minutes were so vital they would decide the fate of Iwagakure; he had to ensure the conditions were perfect.
"Furthermore, Hiruzen Sarutobi is a cunning old monkey. Right now, he'll be on high alert for any move from the Four-Tails or Five-Tails. We must lull him into a false sense of security first. We will continue to wear them down through attrition until his guard drops and Konoha is bone-weary. That is when those three minutes will have their maximum effect!"