No one knew about the secret contact between Uchiha Setsuna and Zetsu. Uchiha Kagami and Masaki only thought that Setsuna was lucky to have survived the ambush. Following Zetsu's orders, Uchiha Setsuna did not make any suspicious moves but instead observed the situation carefully, waiting for the right moment.
At this time, the war was still ongoing. With the logistics lines destroyed, even though there had been some rescue efforts, the impact on the army was severe. After consulting with the leader of the samurai army, the Second Kazekage decided to launch a full-scale assault. Before cutting off logistics completely, they hoped to establish a stable situation within the Land of Rivers.
In the following days, the samurai forces of the Land of Wind launched fierce attacks on key towns in the Land of Rivers. The ninja forces of Sunagakure were dispersed among the samurai troops in small teams, searching for opportunities to disrupt the deployment of the Fire Nation's army and create openings for the samurai.
After Tobirama personally arrived in the Land of Rivers, he changed the defensive strategies that Uchiha Kagami had been employing and launched a counterattack. This time, Tobirama did not opt for a defensive stance. Although the confrontations between Konoha and Sunagakure were mostly skirmishes and small in scale, the intensity of the mind games far exceeded those in larger battles involving the samurai forces.
Fumori Masaki's worst fears finally came to pass. At a critical moment, when victory was needed most, Sunagakure's tactics became even more brutal. Chiyo's poison, which had been carefully developed, became a key factor, used with even greater subtlety than before. As a result, many samurai and even some Konoha ninjas were inadvertently poisoned.
Chiyo was one of the few true masters of poison in the ninja world, and her toxins were deadly. Once someone was poisoned, they would either die quickly or lose their ability to fight. Moreover, the poison Chiyo used this time was newly developed, completely different from her previous creations, rendering past experiences useless.
Wars are never won by a single ninja village. Although ninja villages provide elite forces, they still need the support of larger armies like the samurai. Unlike ninjas, samurai troops are composed of hundreds or thousands of soldiers, who had no means to resist Chiyo's poison.
Faced with this situation, the Konoha forces had no choice but to retreat and adopt defensive measures in the towns of the Land of Rivers. Rather than letting Konoha ninjas fight head-on, they fortified themselves within the city.
Even Chiyo's poison had its limits in this scenario, but Sunagakure wasn't about to give up. The Second Kazekage sent Sunagakure ninjas to infiltrate and sabotage the cities. However, for these Sunagakure ninjas, who specialized in stealth combat, Konoha had an answer.
During the Warring States Period, aside from large-scale clan battles, ninjas conducting assassinations often worked alone. However, after the establishment of the ninja villages, the way ninjas were trained changed, and the number of stealthy operations decreased.
Tobirama had created the Anbu to revive this type of ninja, and over the years, it had proven to be highly effective. To deal with the infiltrating Sunagakure ninjas, Konoha relied on the Anbu, and the person in charge of this operation was Shimura Danzo.
Although history hadn't unfolded exactly as it originally did, Shimura Danzo was still leading covert operations, and he had a natural talent for such work—likely connected to his insidious personality.
While the Sunagakure ninjas were elites, Shimura Danzo's Anbu team were elite among elites. Time and time again, the Sunagakure ninjas ran into walls, as Danzo and his team consistently outmaneuvered them. If lucky, a few managed to escape, but most were forced to take their own lives to avoid capture.
The Second Kazekage hadn't expected such resistance but did not give up. Instead, he became more cautious, complicating his strategies and requiring Danzo to focus even more on his work.
To combat these infiltrators, Shimura Danzo relied heavily on intelligence. Outside of pursuit operations, he was almost always in the intelligence analysis room, sifting through reports and trying to anticipate enemy moves.
Fumori Masaki would also come by, looking through information. He wasn't trying to take over Danzo's job, but he was deeply concerned about the looming threat of the Third Kazekage. While he had anticipated Chiyo's actions, the Third Kazekage remained hidden, and that put significant pressure on Masaki.
The age of the Third Kazekage was never explicitly mentioned in the original manga, but logically, he should have already been an adult. Fumori Masaki couldn't indulge in the fantasy that the Third Kazekage was still young and inexperienced.
"Masaki, what are you hoping to find? You come here every day—don't you have other tasks?" Shimura Danzo asked, glancing up from his reports.
Masaki couldn't reveal the story about the Third Kazekage. Without a solid reason, it would only raise suspicion, especially with Danzo, whose eyes had grown increasingly suspicious due to his work. It was true—constant exposure to secret work had a noticeable impact on one's psyche.
"If Danzo could spend more time in the sunlight, maybe he wouldn't become so paranoid in the future," Masaki thought, realizing how much secretive work could affect someone's mentality.
"I'm worried there might be a greater conspiracy coming from Sunagakure," Masaki said, choosing his words carefully.
"A conspiracy? What do you think they're doing right now?" Danzo tapped the scroll in front of him. "I found a Sunagakure ninja just yesterday. Unfortunately, I couldn't take him alive."
These kinds of ninjas often knew valuable secrets. While their brains were usually sealed with jutsu to prevent leaking information, the Yamanaka clan could sometimes bypass such seals.
"I'm talking about the front lines," Masaki clarified. "While Chiyo's poison has been causing trouble, this stalemate isn't in the Land of Wind's favor. They're going to try to break through soon. Sending spies to infiltrate hasn't worked for them, thanks to your efforts. They must be planning something else."
Danzo chuckled. He was confident in his work, but Masaki's concerns weren't entirely unreasonable. Although Sunagakure might attempt another infiltration, they would likely consider other strategies as well.
"If they do have a secret weapon, it won't be easy to deal with. Have you noticed anything unusual on the battlefield?" Danzo asked, as he had been focused on internal matters.
"No," Masaki admitted. So far, there had been no signs of the Third Kazekage in the war. What kind of strategy was he planning?
"Then what do you propose? We can't just sit and wait. Of course, we could also bet that they don't have any secret weapons," Danzo said.
"Would you take that kind of gamble?"
"Of course not," Danzo replied without hesitation. Masaki's concerns had sparked a genuine worry in him. Perhaps the infiltration was a mere distraction to lull them into a false sense of security.
"Maybe we should take the initiative instead. Rather than waiting for them to attack, we should strike first. What do you think?" Masaki suggested.
"Maybe, but we need to deal with Chiyo's poison first. Without resolving that, the Hokage won't agree to any offensive actions," Danzo responded.
Chiyo's poison was incredibly potent, and developing an antidote was no simple task. Even Konoha's best medical ninjas were struggling to find a solution.
Masaki had no talent for medical ninjutsu, and while he could package medical concepts from another world as ninja-world knowledge, the hard work of creating an antidote fell on the medical ninjas. So far, they hadn't succeeded, though they had created some palliatives to mitigate the effects. However, this was far from a solution.
"Yeah, without neutralizing the poison, we can't make any rash moves," Masaki sighed, regretting that he hadn't been able to eliminate Chiyo in the previous battle.