Living in the World of Naruto, Marrying Tsunade

In Hanzō's plan, the idea had always been simple:

Let the three great nations fight each other first—then step in and clean up the aftermath.

So far, everything was proceeding smoothly.

Although the Land of Rain had suffered considerable casualties, the shinobi of Amegakure all believed that victory was close at hand. As long as they endured a little longer, the outcome would be theirs.

Meanwhile, although Iwagakure and Sunagakure appeared united on the surface, conflicts had already begun brewing beneath that alliance. Three days earlier, despite holding an overwhelming advantage, they had halted their advance against Konoha.

The moment Hanzō heard that news, he knew the opportunity had arrived.

After all, the two nations had never truly cooperated before—and historically, they had been mortal enemies. Under such circumstances, friction was inevitable.

Hanzō had been waiting precisely for this moment.

Once conflict emerged between them, their cooperation would inevitably collapse. Even if they wished to restore their previous coordination, it would take time.

At that point, they would be too busy guarding against each other to continue focusing on their war against Konoha.

And this was only natural.

Both nations had entered the war with the same goal: seize control of the Land of Rain and carve off portions of the Land of Fire.

Their interests were fundamentally incompatible.

Even if they initially agreed to split territory evenly, land was not something that could truly be divided so easily.

Thus, from the very beginning, their alliance had been destined to fall apart.

Sure enough, once victory seemed within reach, the two nations temporarily abandoned their weakened enemy—Konoha—and began competing for territory instead. It might even escalate into a new war between them.

Hanzō naturally had no intention of letting such an opportunity slip away.

So he immediately launched an interception against Konoha's main forces.

Now, all Amegakure needed to do was wait for Hanzō to finish off Tsunade and the other two. Once he was free, no one on the battlefield would be able to stop him.

As for Iwagakure and Sunagakure—

They would already be fortunate if they could avoid fighting each other. Neither would dare provoke Hanzō, whose poison was equally troublesome for them.

Even though Chiyo of Sunagakure had developed an antidote to Hanzō's poison, production was extremely limited. It could only protect a handful of high-level fighters.

If Hanzō released his large-scale poison mist, Sunagakure's only option would still be to retreat and avoid confrontation.

At that moment, the shinobi previously sent to monitor the Land of Wind returned to camp.

Seeing the chaos within the camp, the leading jōnin's expression grew heavier—but then he noticed a familiar face.

His mission had not been an isolated one.

Since they were monitoring Sunagakure, it was only natural that scouts were also sent to monitor Iwagakure, their ally.

Although the plan predicted that Iwagakure and Sunagakure would begin distrusting each other and likely withdraw from battle, proper precautions still had to be taken.

Now, seeing that the team monitoring Iwagakure had also returned, the jōnin in charge of observing Sunagakure immediately approached.

"You're back too? Did something happen on Sunagakure's side?"

The other jōnin looked equally puzzled.

Could it be that both sides had encountered the same situation?

After all, according to protocol, if something unexpected happened, only the jōnin leader should return to report while the rest remained behind to continue surveillance.

But now both teams had returned together.

That meant both sides had encountered situations completely outside the plan.

Though full of questions, the jōnin monitoring Iwagakure knew this was not a place to discuss confidential intelligence.

"Let's report to Akamatsu-sama first," he said quietly. "This information can't be leaked casually."

The other jōnin nodded in agreement.

The two of them entered the largest tent at the center of the temporary camp, leaving their subordinates outside.

Inside, a man sat behind a desk piled high with documents.

He looked around forty years old, utterly ordinary in appearance—the kind of person one would forget at a glance.

Yet his chakra presence was substantial, already at the level of an elite jōnin.

This was Akamatsu, the man both jōnin had mentioned.

Aside from Hanzō himself, he was one of the few high-level combatants in the Land of Rain.

Though he possessed elite jōnin strength, his primary role was logistics and ensuring that the war proceeded according to Hanzō's overall strategy.

Rather than fighting on the front lines, he remained in the rear, coordinating the bigger picture.

Both surveillance missions had been assigned by him under Hanzō's direct orders.

Seeing both jōnin return at once, Akamatsu immediately stopped his work, surprise flickering across his face.

"Why are both of you back?" he asked. "Did Sunagakure and Iwagakure launch an attack at the same time?"

In his view, if those two nations made a move, it would most likely be an attempt to join the battle and seize advantages—something Hanzō had already anticipated.

That was why he wasn't overly alarmed.

Besides laying traps along the routes both nations would have to take, Amegakure had prepared another strategy.

Once they learned either nation was advancing, they would immediately leak the information to the other side.

Once each nation knew its former ally was moving, they would stop thinking about how to steal victory—and instead worry about not becoming the prey themselves.

Each side would want to be the "yellow bird" that profited in the end.

As a result, the two nations would naturally fall into a standoff, neither willing to move first and let the other reap the benefits.

This would buy the Land of Rain precious time after the battle concluded.

The plan was not particularly sophisticated, but it perfectly exploited the cautious natures of Ōnoki and Shamon.

Both were master schemers—but perhaps too cautious.

Compared to Hanzō's boldness, they lacked that final step of daring.

Hanzō's strategy was a true gamble.

If any part of the plan failed, Amegakure could face total destruction.

If Iwagakure and Sunagakure had simply charged in recklessly, the Land of Rain would have been crushed without mercy.

And yet, so far—

Akamatsu felt that the gamble was still going in their favor.