The Stalemate
The destruction of the camp and the supply routes, coupled with the fierce resistance of the rebels in Sakon, forced Commander Furan to halt large-scale offensives and maintain a precarious balance with the enemy forces. The initial clashes resulted in a large number of dead and wounded, especially on the rebel side, with numbers approaching half a thousand. However, the ninja also suffered considerable casualties, with nearly 90 dead and over a hundred wounded, although most of the deaths were due to the destruction of their camp. The participation of forces loyal to Chikara was greatly reduced, after a first wave that ended completely annihilated when trying to take the three rebel positions in Sakon, so they took on a more supportive role for the Kumogakure ninjas.
Faced with the stalemate in the siege of Sakon, the Raikage acted much more swiftly this time, dispatching a new contingent of 1,000 ninja, who arrived directly at the besieged city on February 17. Furan was relieved of his duties as commander and placed in charge of a new logistics division of over 400 ninja and medical personnel. The commander role this time was taken by Muson, an elite jounin and strategic specialist from Kumogakure.
On the rebel side, while the ninja siege was imperfect and there were still ways to enter the city, significant reinforcements arrived to replace losses and reinforce positions. Shugo, the rebel commander, knew it was only a matter of time before the Kumogakure ninja would launch a new offensive with the arrival of the new army, so he ordered the evacuation of all civilians from the area under his control, an action that fortunately the ninja did not prevent, in order to avoid innocent casualties.
Commander Muson's strategy was different from that of his predecessor, giving immediate priority to the complete siege of the city, preventing all physical communication with the outside world. He then began a slow but steady process of isolating the three rebel strongholds within the city. The rebels immediately confronted the ninjas' actions, using barricades and large quantities of explosives to turn every street under their control into a veritable death trap.
At first, Kumogakure's advances were rapid, using their rare earth jutsu specialists to remove barricades and sweep away booby traps, but then the trouble began when elite snipers began to appear among the rebels, armed with more specialized versions of the hand cannons, with much greater range and this time using projectiles made of chakra metal and adamantite. While the snipers were far too few in number, behaving like ghosts and appearing completely randomly, they managed to take out many of the specialist ninja and terrorize all those who formed part of the front line.
Meanwhile, outside the city walls, another problem began to arise. Kumogakure patrols began to be attacked by unknown enemies, and supply lines fell victim to attacks by ninjas identified as belonging to Kirigakure. This set off alarm bells in Kumo, who demanded an explanation from the Mizukage. However, Yagura denied any involvement of his village in the conflict and blamed rogue ninja groups.
Adding to the tensions between Kumogakure and Kirigakure, Konohagakure finally decided to intervene in the conflict, militarizing the entire border between the Land of Noodles and the Land of Fire, as well as intervening in the defense of the city of Omiya, near the border. By the end of February, the escalation of fighting inside and outside of Sakon, as well as the intervention of other villages in the conflict, provoked the ire of the Raikage, who made a personal visit to Chikara, where he finally convinced the Daimyo to lift restrictions on his ninja within the cities.
Kumogakure's Wrath
February 25th was the day Commander Muson unleashed the strongest attack yet on the rebel positions in Sakon. Without restraint, Kumogakure's strongest ninjas freely used B- and A-rank jutsus on the city's infrastructure. The disaster for the rebels was immediate, collapsing their entire first line of resistance in a matter of minutes and losing hundreds of fighters. The governor's residence was the first fortification to fall, due to its smaller size, burying all its defenders inside, including Commander Shugo, while the hotel and the garrison managed to withstand the initial ninja assaults.
The rebel resistance couldn't do much against the force of Kumogakure's attack, but the snipers made a final appearance in much larger numbers than usual and managed to kill more than 10 Kumo jounin as they prepared to perform their jutsus, then simply vanished without a trace.
In just four hours of a relentless offensive, the ninjas ended up destroying more than half of Sakon City, wiping out almost all of the rebel resistance. The remnants of the defending forces finally surrendered at dusk on the 25th, with fewer than 500 survivors, marking their heaviest defeat yet.
Rebel Revenge
News of Sakon's destruction spread rapidly. Within 24 hours, international condemnation of the use of high-level jutsu on cities descended on Chikara and Kumogakure, causing serious diplomatic consequences. The Land of Iron and many other smaller nations immediately withdrew their support for Chikara and its efforts to retake his nation. Two days later, the Daimyos of the Land of Fire and the Land of Water imposed economic sanctions on the Land of Lightning, demanding that Kumogakure's actions not be repeated.
On the other hand, the rebel backlash was felt just days after the disaster at Sakon, when on the night of February 27, unknown individuals infiltrated the capital and caused the largest known massacre of noble and military figures to date. Without anyone noticing, nearly 60 nobles, ministers, and military figures were murdered in their sleep, along with more than 200 bodyguards, most of them beheaded. On the 28th, the city awoke virtually without authority and in complete chaos, and it wasn't until March 2 that new authorities managed to restore order. However, a large number of high- and low-ranking nobles, as well as merchants, had already fled the city, leaving Chikara with a greatly diminished authority base.
But the real answer came the moment the Kumogakure ninja army abandoned what remained of Sakon City to return to the Capital with Chikara's forces, leaving a contingent of 200 ninjas along with another 300 common soldiers as a garrison. It was on the night of March 4th that a dense fog fell over the entire city, leaving all occupants unable to even see beyond a few meters. At first, the ninjas paid little attention to it, thinking it was a natural phenomenon, but half an hour after the fog appeared, explosions began to be heard everywhere the garrison members were located. The chaos was great, but no one could do anything about the inability to see the enemy, no matter how hard the strongest ninja tried to use wind jutsus to dissipate the fog, as it simply recovered immediately.
The morning of March 5th revealed tragedy in the city of Sakon. With only 20 ninjas surviving and fewer than 40 Chikara soldiers, the city was abandoned to its fate, becoming one of the most incredible and bizarre examples of what a ninja war can cause…
Excerpt from the book, "Anatomy of Modern Warfare," by Chikayoshi Koshikawa (historian), Konoha Library.
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