This is what you'd call deterrence by force.
Honestly, if it weren't absolutely necessary that they not kill the Kazekage, Ruri would much rather have let the Fourth Kazekage fall on the battlefield directly, to intimidate Hidden Sand.
Doing it that way works fast, and the cost is low.
But if the Fourth Kazekage dies in battle, the deterrent effect would be achieved, yet it would also very likely trigger a fierce backlash from Hidden Sand, making them fight the Land of Demons to the bitter end.
So a relatively milder method is better.
Just then, the office door opened and a Jonin of the Land of Demons walked in.
"Lady Ruri, Lord Hakushi has arrived."
Ruri nodded.
"Got it, I'll head over right away."
The fight with Hidden Sand was far more complicated than she'd imagined. Hakushi's arrival could indeed ease a great deal of pressure for her.
When she came outside, she saw Hakushi's figure from afar.
Following behind him was a metal robot, Dominator 001.
At his side were the Wind Clone and the Yang Clone.
The Yin Clone was, as always, probably hiding in Hakushi's shadow.
As for the other three clones, they apparently hadn't come, but even four clones counted as a very strong support force.
Especially the Yang Clone—on the surface he looked harmless to people and animals alike, even a bit slow and clumsy, but his abilities and true nature were by no means harmless.
You could say he was the most dangerous existence among all of Hakushi's clones.
If she put herself in that position, she wouldn't really want to deal with that kind of guy either.
Hakushi came over with several clones and, standing in front of Ruri, asked, "I didn't have time to ask before I came—how are things looking over here?"
"Let's talk while we walk." Ruri led Hakushi toward her office, speaking to him as they went: "Right now Rasa has already gathered around five thousand Hidden Sand Ninja and set up a camp in the desert thirty li to the south. These last few days they've been coming in small squads to harass us, while at the same time searching for our rear supply routes."
For Hidden Sand, finding the covert supply line of the Land of Demons' forces was extremely important.
In war, logistics and supply are a crucial link in ensuring victory.
If the supply line is cut, it will disrupt the deployments on the Land of Demons' side.
Hidden Sand's strategy couldn't be completely ignored by the Land of Demons either.
"They've already started paying attention to it? Well, that was within expectations. I came here with one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Hakushi asked with a smile on his face.
Ruri raised an eyebrow. "The bad news first."
Hakushi's smile faded as he said to Ruri, "Konoha is already planning to join forces with Hidden Sand. They're not sending a large support army, but they've formed a small elite unit to come cooperate with Hidden Sand and try to wipe us out."
"And the good news?"
Ruri wasn't surprised by this.
Konoha's moves were something they'd long anticipated; it couldn't really be called particularly bad news.
"The good news is, I already know exactly who the members of that elite Konoha unit reinforcing Hidden Sand are."
"That second one doesn't really count as good news, does it?"
Ruri rolled her eyes at Hakushi and made a snarky remark.
"At least we can set things up in advance, can't we?"
"I don't think, under these circumstances, there's any effective targeted plan we can carry out. After all, with Konoha and Hidden Sand joining forces—even for me, that's going to be tough."
Ruri let out a sigh.
They'd still ended up in a pretty bad situation.
The mountain in front of them wasn't just Hidden Sand, but also the formidable opponent that was Konoha.
If it were only Hidden Sand, the Land of Demons could completely take them on.
But now that Konoha had stepped in, their grasp on the situation wasn't so solid anymore.
And Ayane obviously couldn't act rashly right now; they needed her holding the rear to guard against the two Ninja Villages, Iwa and Kumo.
"Are you worried?"
"No, I just feel my blood boiling."
Ruri shot back at Hakushi without politeness.
The blood in her veins really was close to boiling.
Just thinking about fighting so many powerful enemies next stirred her spirits; claiming she wasn't fired up would be a lie.
"That really is just like you. But there's no need to worry too much, because I brought more than one killer weapon this time. Though once we use them, there will be a very long cooldown."
Hakushi said meaningfully.
"We have to go that far?"
Ruri narrowed her eyes.
Hakushi fell silent for a moment, then exhaled.
"There's no helping it… But I'll read the situation. Maybe we won't need to use that thing by then. An immature jutsu still carries huge risks, and besides…"
At this point, Hakushi didn't really want to go on. He merely clenched his fist, a flash of resolve flickering in his eyes.
Ruri didn't say anything. No matter what this man was planning to do, she'd already prepared herself to be his 'accomplice'.
◎
"Strange. Where exactly are the Land of Demons' rear supply points?"
In the Hidden Sand Camp, the high-ranking Ninja of Hidden Sand, led by Fourth Kazekage Rasa, gathered in a makeshift tent-turned-conference room to discuss their next tactical arrangements.
For the current Hidden Sand, if they wanted to ensure victory in this war, cutting off the Land of Demons' supply line was undoubtedly the best way.
Driving the Ninja of the Land of Demons out of the Land of Wind as soon as possible and dragging the battlefield into the territory of another Country would also minimize the Land of Wind's losses.
In past wars between Ninja, Hidden Sand had never had the habit of fighting within their own Country; they usually fought in other small nations.
This time, allowing the Land of Demons' forces to take root in the northwest of the Land of Wind was a dereliction of duty on the Kazekage's part.
"If the goal is to ensure the supply line can run smoothly, then directly crossing the Land of Bear or the Land of Shadow isn't very realistic. Because in that case the supply line would be too long, and without protected relay areas, problems would easily occur."