Chapter 872: , A very, very big game of chess

By the time Tsunade returned to the Konoha camp, the high-level members of the Konoha force fighting the Rain-nin had already arrived, and the other two of the three commanders had also been waiting here for a long time.

Tsunade lifted the curtain of the command tent and stepped into the tent where many high-level Konoha ninjas were gathered.

In an instant, dozens of eyes shifted to Tsunade, which made Tsunade's expression inevitably somewhat embarrassed.

After all, being late for so long and making everyone wait for such a long time was indeed somewhat embarrassing.

But regarding this, not a single person had any objections.

Because everyone knew that last night, Tsunade had been busy treating the wounded until dawn; Tsunade was not an iron man after all, so it was understandable to be late after resting too much.

Seeing this, Tsunade did not delay and came to her seat.

Orochimaru, who was presiding over the meeting, saw Tsunade arrive and also stood up unhurriedly to prepare to start the meeting.

It was just that at this moment, Orochimaru's expression looked exceptionally serious, as if some major event had occurred.

"Everyone, before discussing the battle from last night..."

"I have two urgent matters to announce."

Orochimaru's face was serious and stern; his naturally hoarse and gloomy voice also carried a rare touch of seriousness.

Seeing this, everyone became serious, prepared to listen attentively.

"News just arrived this morning: on the Sunagakure side, the battlefield Hatake Sakumo is responsible for has achieved breakthrough progress."

"It won't be long before good news comes from the Sunagakure side."

As Orochimaru's voice entered everyone's ears, everyone showed expressions of joy.

Konoha achieving victory in the war against Sunagakure was also rare good news for them; this meant that Konoha would soon be able to free up its hands, and there would be a steady stream of reinforcements rushing from the Land of Wind battlefield to support them here.

Pulling one hair affects the whole body; the victory in the Land of Wind war would inevitably further influence the situation on the Land of Rain battlefield.

Hearing this good news, coupled with the victory in last night's battle, the double happiness made the Konoha ninjas feel joyful.

"There is one more thing, also news that just arrived."

Orochimaru paused in his tone and spoke again.

"News came from the Land of Lightning."

"Kirigakure sent troops to intervene in the war between Iwagakure and Kumogakure, and Iwagakure has already been defeated and retreated."

"It is said that the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure took action personally and routed Iwagakure."

Compared to the previous piece of news, the Konoha ninjas were clearly not very interested in this news.

After all, this matter happening thousands of miles away had nothing to do with them; even if these three major ninja villages broke each other's heads, it was none of their business.

Of course, except for one person.

When she heard the two words "Kirigakure" from Orochimaru's mouth, Tsunade had already pricked up her ears, afraid of missing even a shred of news.

When she heard that Kirigakure had routed Iwagakure, and that Mizunuki Ryosuke had taken action personally, Tsunade felt that something was not quite right.

Because given her intimate relationship with Mizunuki Ryosuke, she actually knew nothing about this!

In a daze, Tsunade seemed to think of something else; could it be that what Mizunuki Ryosuke had been hiding from her all along was this matter?

But after only a moment of deep thought, Tsunade concluded that it was definitely not that simple.

Because if it were just this, Mizunuki Ryosuke would have no need to hide it from her.

The Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure—this title sounded somewhat mysterious to everyone, because this Fourth Mizukage had always been obscure in the Ninja World, and most people only knew that this Fourth Mizukage was not old and seemed extremely young.

It was just unexpected that he would not make a sound until he made a big splash, suddenly leading Kirigakure to do such a major thing.

Others might not know Mizunuki Ryosuke, but how could Tsunade not know?

She knew very well that as early as ten days ago, Mizunuki Ryosuke had already arrived in the Land of Rain.

If Orochimaru's intelligence was correct, this meant that more than ten days ago, the war in the Land of Lightning had already been settled.

Then why was this intelligence only learned by Konoha ten days later?

There was only one answer: Mizunuki Ryosuke was deliberately hiding the news of Iwagakure's defeat and hiding his own whereabouts.

As Ryosuke's bedfellow, Tsunade knew very well that with Mizunuki Ryosuke's wisdom bordering on the demonic, he would never do meaningless things.

Then why did he do this?

Tsunade was absolutely certain that Mizunuki Ryosuke must be playing a big game of chess!

"Forget it, let him be."

Thinking without results, Tsunade simply stopped thinking about it; thinking of that handsome face that always carried a gentle smile, a trace of helplessness flashed in her heart.

Having experienced what happened yesterday, Tsunade now had nothing but trust for everything about Mizunuki Ryosuke.

And after Orochimaru finished reading these two pieces of news, he turned to talk about the battle situation yesterday.

In general, it ended with Konoha's complete victory.

According to post-battle statistics, Konoha exchanged hundreds of ninja casualties for the record of killing nearly five thousand Rain-nin.

This battle situation could be called a hearty victory!

If Jiraiya had strictly implemented Tsunade's strategy, yesterday's record could have been increased by at least another third.

Five thousand Rain-nin—this was a fairly large combat force; according to Konoha's estimation of the troops in Hanzo of the Salamander's hands, this combat force accounted for at least one-fourth of the combat power in Hanzo's hands.

That is to say, in this one battle alone, one-fourth of the Rain-nin's combat power was completely annihilated.

"The situation is roughly like this; next, I will state some of the main purposes for gathering everyone here."

"The form of the war situation has changed again; I propose to change the strategy again, from defense to active offense."

After finishing the battle situation from last night, Orochimaru put forward a controversial proposal.

Hearing this, the Konoha ninjas at the table had different expressions, their faces changing; even Tsunade, who was sitting beside Orochimaru, could not help but frown slightly.

After all, anyone who wasn't stupid knew that the reason Konoha could achieve the current results was inseparable from Tsunade's "defensive" strategy.

As long as this tactic was consistently implemented, Konoha's victory was only a matter of time; after all, no matter how powerful Hanzo of the Salamander was, he couldn't conjure food or drink.

The Rain-nin would sooner or later be dragged down by the war; it was foreseeable that as long as Konoha did not move, similar "moth-to-the-flame" style active attacks by the Rain-nin would not stop.

Because Hanzo of the Salamander simply had no other choice.

So what the Rain-nin feared now was not Konoha taking the initiative to attack, but Konoha not fighting him.

And once Konoha changed its tactics and took the initiative to attack, it would be exactly what Hanzo of the Salamander wanted.

Although Konoha had gained the upper hand through two beautiful battles and eliminated a large number of the Rain-nin's vital forces, taking action at this time looked like actively taking advantage of the victory to pursue, not giving the Rain-nin a way to live.

But this was actually equivalent to Konoha directly abandoning the advantages it had already occupied and returning to the same trenches as the Rain-nin to fight.

In other words, this was a strategy of actively seeking consumption and accelerating the war process.

Tsunade could not understand for a moment why Orochimaru would put forward such a suggestion. ===== CHAPTER 874 =====