After taking the first city with swift and decisive precision, I, as the Tsuchikage, gave only one command—advance.
There would be no pause. No time to catch our breath. No time to celebrate.
Konoha had been wounded, yes. But they were not broken. If we allowed them even a moment to regroup, reorganize, and reinforce, the window we had carved out with the blood of our shinobi would slam shut.
I would not allow that.
The reports flooding into my hands were growing more concerning. At first, we believed the Konoha forces to be more dispersed—scattered and stretched thin across too many battlefronts. But intelligence suggested otherwise. Their forces were closer, tighter, more prepared than we had anticipated.
And yet… Iwa had no choice but to push forward.
If only we weren't burdened with the need to protect our borders from Sunagakure and Kumogakure. Were it not for those two shadows lurking on the horizon, I could have committed more shinobi—more elite operatives—here on this front. More importantly, I could have sent additional ANBU squads to infiltrate, scout, and sabotage.
And above all, I could have brought Han, the Jinchūriki of the Five-Tails.
With him, we could've crushed Konoha's resistance in a single day.
But to bring a Jinchūriki to the battlefield is a risk I could not take lightly. If we were to lose him in the chaos… the cost would be beyond catastrophic. Not just to this war, but to Iwagakure itself.
Han was needed on the Suna front. His presence alone was enough to deter their leaders from testing our patience.
And Ōnoki… he remained in the village, by my own request.
There are always whispers—quiet murmurs in the dark halls of clans, those who see my injuries and wonder if the time has come to replace me. I cannot risk internal instability. Onoki's strength, his legendary Jinton, is still enough to silence any foolish ambitions. Facing him is death—even for elite jōnin.
Still, I wish I had more to work with.
Yusu. Azora. Two of my most trusted ANBU operatives—personal acquaintances. Powerhouses in their own right. But they too had been assigned to other tasks of critical importance across the other fronts. Without them here, I was left with only the units deployed for this war: nameless squads, strong in number, yes—but unfamiliar.
And that's the curse of war, isn't it?
Numbers may win battles… but cohesion wins wars. Fighting alongside shinobi I don't know makes adjustments in real-time harder. Plans begin to splinter. Command slows. And when that happens… people die.
Still, I pressed forward.
We had no other choice. Delay would only embolden Konoha. Our momentum was our greatest weapon. To stall now would be to throw away everything we had bled for.
But I was not blind.
The second city would not fall as easily as the first.
Konoha would fight tooth and nail to hold it. They'd lost the first already. Another defeat of that magnitude would tear holes in their morale and stretch their lines to the brink of collapse.
I had no illusions. Taking it would come at a cost—another river of blood. But even against a well-fortified position, Iwa had the advantage in numbers. Even if Konoha's defenses were strong, we would break them.
We had to.
And that is why this war had to end quickly.
Every step we took into this cursed forest cost us dozens of ninja. Konoha's traps. Their ambushes. Their psychological warfare. Each move was calculated to bleed us out—bit by bit.
The fall of the first city had come with staggering casualties. Konoha wasn't trying to hold territory. They were trying to drain our strength before we even reached the heart of their defenses.
Would it be enough?
I wasn't sure. But I couldn't let it be.
At the first light of dawn, the day after our victory, I gave the command: "Push forward. Engage the next defensive line."
Our shinobi moved cautiously through the dense forest, nerves sharpened by the knowledge of what lay ahead. Traps lined the paths—pressure seals, exploding tags, camouflaged pitfalls.
But curiously… we didn't encounter many Konoha shinobi along the way.
That only meant one thing.
We were close.
The traps began to intensify. And just as predicted, our scouts finally caught sight of the next Konoha defensive formation—a heavily fortified position hidden in the forest's embrace.
As Tsuchikage, every fiber of my being ached to join the fray. I had crushed countless enemies in my youth. I knew that my presence could tilt the battle in our favor in an instant. If I were to step onto that field and confront their foot soldiers, I would tear through them like a storm.
But I held back.
Because Konoha had an ace of their own.
Minato Namikaze—the Yellow Flash.
With his teleportation jutsu, he could appear at any moment. At any location. Strike a vulnerable command post. Annihilate a supply caravan. Assassinate a commander.
If I revealed myself too early—if I entered the battlefield recklessly—he would strike.
And we would suffer.
So instead, I waited.
Should he appear, my ANBU had clear orders: report directly to me. The next time I crossed paths with Minato… it would be different.
No more mistakes.
No more surprises.
That cursed Rasengan—he would not land it so easily again.
By midday, the pressure mounted. Our forces collided with Konoha's line. A wall of chakra, steel, and unrelenting will. It was a brutal grind—hundreds of Iwa shinobi sacrificed to pierce their defenses. Waves of jutsu clashed between the trees, explosions shaking the earth.
And slowly… cracks began to form.
By nightfall, the Konoha line fractured—shattered in several key locations. Our vanguard seized the moment, flanking their position and striking from behind.
The forest itself, thick and treacherous, became both a curse and a blessing. It shielded us from certain retaliation, but also made reinforcement difficult.
But it didn't matter.
Because now… we were winning.
Konoha was being pushed back. Their second city loomed just beyond the trees, no longer protected by their outer line.
Once it fell—as the first had—Konoha would have no choice but to retreat again. And then…
Then we would do it again.
One more time.
The third city.
The final blow.
And once we seized it… the road to Konoha itself would lie open.
Victory, at last, would be within reach.