Uchiha You followed the drainage ditch, walked under the hill, and walked to the end of the ditch, where he found a hot spring swamp with several gurgling hot springs. The air was filled with steam and a strong smell of sulfur.

Obviously, no holes can be drilled here.

Even without using magic to detect, Uchiha You knew that this was a place with abundant water veins. Digging holes here would only create large sulfur hot springs. Judging from the concentration of sulfur in the air, it might even be poisonous.

Changed direction and continued looking for a suitable location.

But the name of Hot Spring Country is very real. There are hot springs everywhere in this country. It is for this reason that this country with flat land is seriously lacking in farmland.

The village of Kubota was built on a hill, and the land on the hill was actually the best farmland, so people gathered together to form a rare large village with a population of over ten thousand.

Unfortunately, this is all in the past. As early as when the one hundred Konoha teams moved in, all the villagers here were driven away to prevent spies from lurking and to prevent these villagers from dying in the aftermath of the battle.

The impact of ninja battles on civilians is indeed smaller, but when a village unfortunately becomes a battlefield, no one will care about the interests of civilians.

It’s okay for people like Konoha Ninja. They will expel the villagers, but they will not kill people indiscriminately or rob civilians of their property.

The ninjas from the other four major ninja villages were also fine. Except for some perverts from the Hidden Mist Village, they would not kill people indiscriminately, but stealing was very common.

As for the small ninja villages such as Kusagakure, Yugakure, Yugakure, and Tsukigakure, their ninjas are much worse, and robbery and murder are very common. They will take the initiative to launch attacks for money, and even rob or massacre the village even if it is not a battlefield.

During the war, the five major powers were all focused on each other. No one maintained basic order. Similar massacres almost had no victims, and in the end they were left unresolved.

Uchiha You didn't like it, but as long as it didn't happen in front of him, he wouldn't feel anything.

He somewhat identifies with the Uchiha clan, and his attitude towards Konoha Village is just coveting the village's safety, prosperity and resources. He has no feelings towards the ninja world, and certainly no empathy.

Now that the village had been cleared, he was just thankful that he didn't have to deal with the hassle of driving people out of their homes.

After walking around the hill in eight directions, Uchiha You smiled. He found a suitable location for digging a hole in the southwest direction. Not only was there no underground water vein, there was even a large underground space. It was not known whether it was a cave or a volcanic pore.

However, based on the feeling of natural energy feedback, as long as the thickness of 300 meters on the surface is broken through, it can be connected to an underground space of unknown size.

Uchiha laughed: "This place is good, very good. Although I don't know how big it is, I can be sure that even if all the ninjas in the Hidden Mist Village die of exhaustion, they still can't fill this underground space with water jutsu."

"The only way is to plug the hole I dug, and then I'll have to make it difficult for them."

Uchiha You smiled and moved his hand to the earth. The natural energy of the earth spirit surged out, and the earth instantly liquefied and became as smooth as a mirror.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on sensing the information from underground through natural energy, continuously extending the scope of the liquefied earth downwards until it touched an empty space.

Uchiha You had no control over the liquefied earth. After touching the hole, the liquefied rock soil rushed into the underground like a waterfall, and soon a large vortex appeared on the ground.

When the circular hole on the ground was big enough, Uchiha Yu even went underground himself, following the flowing rocks downwards, softening the rocks along the way to expand the diameter of the hole, eliminating the turning corners, and making the cave as straight as possible. He kept going down until he was close to 600 meters, when his feet suddenly felt empty and he almost fell down. It turned out that he had opened up a huge underground space.

This space is very strange. It is very large but the highest point is less than 12 meters. Moreover, the space structure is not a hall-like structure, but is composed of more than 30 winding caves of different sizes. There are so many caves, but there is no ups and downs. They extend flat and radially into the distance. It is unknown how far away they are.

Uchiha You didn't care where these caves were connected to. He just muttered, "Strange caves."

After confirming that the underground space was large enough, he began to turn back and spiral upward little by little, continuously expanding the diameter of the vertical cave along the way.

By the time Uchiha You returned to the ground, the cave behind him had expanded into a huge sinkhole with a diameter of more than 350 meters, which was definitely beyond the limit that the Kirigakure ninja could block.

But how could Uchiha be so direct in making things difficult for the Kirigakure ninja? If people could tell at a glance that they had to give up, it wouldn't be considered a big deal.

With a wicked smile on his face, he manipulated the rocks to grow stalagmites, just like when he was a kid digging traps for his friends. The stalagmites connected with each other and expanded to both sides, sealing the huge hole little by little, and finally disguising it as a bowl-shaped depression.

In fact, the bottom is hollow and is supported by six stalagmites, and the structure is not solid at all.

A crack is left in the center of the depression, and the structure around the crack is particularly thin. As long as the water depth reaches half a meter, it will collapse, and the thin crack will turn into a large oval hole.

As the water level continues to rise, when the water level reaches two meters and six meters, it will cause new collapses, eventually expanding the cave entrance to 350 meters, turning it into a sinkhole that makes people despair at the sight of it.

This is a sinkhole that can accommodate an aircraft carrier as big as Eagle Sauce and fall flat on its face. Uchiha You can fully imagine how desperate the Kirigakure ninjas who were trying hard to seal the cave would be when they see the sinkhole after it completely collapsed and revealed its entire appearance.

After the disguise was completed, Uchiha You checked again and again, and after confirming that there were no flaws, he left happily.

After returning to Kubota Village, Uchiha Shigenobu found him and reported the progress in all aspects, as well as the results of the roundup and investigation of the Kirigakure ninja.

Uchiha You nodded and confirmed: "Killed them all?"

Uchiha Shigenobu looked a little unhappy, and shook his head and said, "We didn't kill them, they all committed suicide."

"Brother You, why do so many of us feel so exhausted, and in the end we can't stop these Kirigakure ninjas from committing suicide?"

"Isn't it said that the Sharingan is the strongest bloodline limit?"

Uchiha You patted his shoulder and said, "Battle depends not only on ability, but also on experience and reaction before battle. This is your first time on the battlefield, and your combat experience is basically zero. The fact that you can force all these Mist Ninjas to death is already a reflection of your strength."

"The Hidden Mist Village is known as the Blood Mist Village. The ninja training retains a lot of traditions from the Warring States Period. The training process is very cruel, and the ninjas trained are naturally cruel and cold. They are not only cruel to their enemies, but also to their comrades and even themselves. They kill their teammates when they see the situation is not right, and commit suicide when there is no hope of escape. These are all subconscious and natural behaviors."

"So, it's normal that we can't catch any of the Kirigakure ninja alive. It's enough to kill them all and not let any of them escape."

"Yes, I understand, Brother You."

"Well, work harder and try to finish all the work tonight and go to bed early."

Uchiha You said: "We were able to capture seven Kirigakure ninjas today. This density shows that their main force is close enough. In a day at most, we will face the real enemy."

“We are not afraid!”

"I'm scared!"

Uchiha You's voice was so loud that it scared Uchiha Shigenobu so much that his whole body trembled and he quickly stood up straight.

"I'm afraid of your meaningless deaths in battle, of failure due to negligence, of returning to the village and giving your families corpses instead of living people!"

Uchiha You stretched out his hands, clamped Uchiha Shigenobu's face, and said seriously: "Tell everyone to be serious, don't be proud, don't underestimate the enemy, and don't be timid and afraid of the enemy. Do you understand?"

Uchiha Shigenobu was infected by Uchiha You's emotions, and suddenly felt that the unreal barrier between him and the war was broken. His heart became nervous involuntarily, but not overly nervous.

He stood solemnly and assured Uchiha You: "I will tell everyone right now and make everyone take it seriously!"

"Go ahead!"

Uchiha You watched Nobushige leave with a smile on his face.

[Very good, the illusion technique has improved a little bit.]

People's joys and sorrows are always different. How could Uchiha You convey his feelings about the war to his brother Nobushige?

Of course, illusion played a role in this.

With the help of the trust between the two and the various seeds of suggestion, through increasingly sophisticated illusions, Uchiha You successfully used illusions to project his own mentality into Uchiha Shigenobu's mind.

And this is also the seed of an illusion. It has the nature of being contagious. At least within the range of the Tiger Force, it can be transmitted to each other through the eyes, and it is transmitted repeatedly, cross-reinforcing each other and forming a mentality that is most suitable for war novices.

Uchiha You has completed the last preparation for the war. His confidence in victory has increased to 85%. The rest can only be fought for on the battlefield.

As a commander, he ultimately failed to ensure victory before starting the battle, which was a pity.

…

Kubota Village is less than 80 kilometers away from the coast. The reason why the Kirigakure ninja has not arrived there yet is because the coastline here has complex terrain and many reefs, which makes it difficult for the Kirigakure fleet to approach.

The landing point chosen by the Kirigakure Fleet is a beach in the north, about 350 kilometers away from here. Not only is there no reef, but the sea sand is also thick enough to build a plank road and transport supplies directly from the ship.

But when it is not a large-scale operation, the Kirigakure ninjas do not need to be burdened by logistics and can land from anywhere.

Because of this, even though Kumogakure and Konoha fought semi-jointly for two months, they were not able to eliminate the Kirigakure ninjas from the entire Hot Spring Country. They were like cockroaches and could not be killed no matter how hard they tried.

As the Konohagakure Ninja Army gathered to deal with the attack of the Kirigakure Ninja Army, the infiltration and reconnaissance of the Kirigakure Ninja became more active, and they could be seen everywhere in the Land of Hot Springs.

When the Tiger Unit arrived at Kubota Village, they were discovered by the infiltrated Kirigakure ninjas. The information that the Uchiha were preparing for a large-scale war was quickly passed on to the Kirigakure ninja high-level officials.

Now, the information about the first line of defense set up by Orochimaru has been obtained by the Kirigakure ninjas. They can naturally see that the Kubota hill is the key to this battle.

It may even determine the ownership of the Kingdom of Hot Springs.

If they could arrive within one day and occupy Kubota Village within half a day, they would be able to defeat Orochimaru with great force and directly occupy Yuquan City, an important place on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Spring.

Kizuna Sakutsuki pointed at Tangquan City again and said, "After we take this place and leave a few ninjas here, we can withstand the counterattack of Konoha ninjas, and then we can go back and deal with the Hidden Cloud Village."

"But the best case scenario is that the Hidden Cloud Village sees the disastrous defeat of the Hidden Leaf Village and engages in minor friction with us on the surface, but actually secretly attacks the Hidden Leaf Ninja and secretly takes advantage of the Land of Fire."

Kaguya Ren laughed loudly. He said, "What is Orochimaru thinking? He actually adjusted the troops in key positions today, and reduced them from 300 to 100. Did this stinky snake give up the front line?"

"It's not impossible. After all, there are not many Konoha ninjas, and they have transferred more than 2,000 to guard against Kumogakure. The gap is even bigger. If we retreat as far as possible, we can shorten the distance with the Land of Fire and get reinforcements and supplies from Konoha more easily."

"So we have to act as soon as possible and take down the entire Hot Spring Country in one fell swoop before the support from Konoha Village arrives!"

"In that case, let me take the lead." Kaguya Lian said excitedly, "Such a critical point should be conquered by the hard bones of the Kaguya family."

Without waiting for Kizuna Sakugetsu to speak, Ling of the Snow Clan spoke coldly, "Haha, the Kaguya Clan is really amazing. They even rushed to fight against a place with 100 people. Did they not dare to go up when they faced Orochimaru in Tangquan City?"

"What did you say?"

"I said: You, you bully the weak and fear the strong."

"I'm going to kill you right now, you bastard sissy!"

"Oh, stupid, is this what it means to be a bully in your own home?"

Kaguya was so furious that he was fuming, but he really didn't dare to attack Ling. It was not because he was good-looking, but because this man was an ice-style ninja from the Snow Clan, second only to the Third Mizukage. He mastered ninjutsu such as the Ice Crystal Magic Mirror, and was a very difficult guy to deal with.

Hozuki Sakutsuki was not angry. On the contrary, he was very grateful that Ling took the initiative to take on Kaguya Ren's anger, which gave him enough room to turn things around.

"Well, this is only the first battle against the Leaf Village, let the others go."

Hozuki Sakutsuki gave Kaguya Ren a way out: "How can you play your trump card at the beginning of a war? If you use it now, you'll be hungry. What will you do if you encounter a really strong enemy later?"

He pointed at the representatives of the minor ninja clan who didn't dare to interrupt, and asked jokingly: "Are you asking them to challenge Orochimaru, the leader of the Three Ninjas?"

Because of her bloodline limit, Kaguya Ren was impulsive and irritable, but she still knew what was good for her. After getting the help from Hozuki Sakugetsu, she said, "Okay, I'll listen to you this time. Next time I meet Orochimaru, he will be my prey!"

Ling Mei's eyes turned and she said disdainfully: "Okay, as long as you can beat Orochimaru, I won't fight with you."

The relationship between the three giants eased, and the atmosphere in the command room immediately became relaxed. Soon, the ninjas even started to enjoy their dinner while talking and laughing.

As time goes by, the shadow of encountering mysterious figures at sea gradually fades.

Moreover, since the landing of the Kirigakure Ninja Army, the war has been progressing very smoothly, and they have seen the dawn of a phased victory, which makes everyone in a good mood.

But this good mood completely disappeared at night.

"The Third Mizukage was attacked and seriously injured?"

"Six ANBU members directly under the Mizukage were killed in the battle!"

"The Mizukage Building was damaged and 37 ninjas were killed!"

Kaguya Ren asked, "Who did it? Was it killed?"

The ninja who reported the news replied, "I don't know. We, we didn't catch the enemy. All the ninjas who saw the enemy either died on the spot or lost their memory."

The shocked Hozuki Sakutsuki did not recover easily. He immediately waved his hand to call two ninjas over, pointed at the ninja who reported the news and ordered: "Lock him up, and no one can see him until the battle is over!"

Then he looked at all the other jonin, and asked with a gloomy and murderous look: "Everyone present here knows the gag order, right?"

"We understand!"

"Don't worry, for the sake of the morale of the ninja army, we will never say anything nonsense."

Ling said, "We must end this battle as soon as possible. No matter how tight the blockade is, intelligence will slowly leak out. By then, morale will drop and the battle will be difficult to fight."

"I said before that we would use 200 people to attack Kubota Village tomorrow. To be safe, I suggest increasing the number to 300 to ensure that we can capture it in one go."

Gui Deng Shuo Yue nodded in agreement and said, "What you said makes sense, let's do it."

Kaguya Ren suggested: "Then how about sending out ninjas now? Maybe we can catch the Konoha ninjas off guard?"

Hozuki Sakuzuki immediately shook his head: "Absolutely not. The ninja team below knows that they will launch an attack tomorrow, but they have no idea how many people we have sent, so sending more people will not change anything in their eyes."

"Only by changing the time will they realize that we have changed our plans. We cannot let them know."

Kaguya Ren said sullenly, "I know."

The Bloody Mist Village policy of the Hidden Mist Village not only cultivated exceptionally cruel Hidden Mist ninjas, but also cultivated Hidden Mist ninjas who were particularly fond of overthrowing their superiors.

Just as Mencius said to King Xuan of Qi: If the monarch treats his subjects as his own hands and feet, then his subjects will treat the monarch as their own heart and soul; if the monarch treats his subjects as dogs and horses, then his subjects will treat the monarch as their fellow countrymen; if the monarch treats his subjects as dirt, then his subjects will treat the monarch as their enemy.

If the last sentence of this passage is changed from "君" to "村", it will perfectly fit the situation of the Hidden Mist Village.

When the Hidden Mist Village treated the Hidden Mist Ninjas as non-human beings, cruelly exploited them in peacetime, and arbitrarily consumed them in wartime, the Hidden Mist Ninjas were naturally full of hatred towards the Hidden Mist Village.

When the situation in the Hidden Mist Village is stable, the senior ninjas can suppress the dissatisfaction of the lower classes, but when the situation becomes turbulent, the lower-level ninjas will take the opportunity to rebel.

Even though they cannot defeat high-level ninjas, they will take the opportunity to escape and become free wandering ninjas, which can still cause the situation in the Hidden Mist Village to collapse.