Chapter 156: The Beginning of the Battle, The End of the Slaughter
Not angered by Danzo's attitude, Orochimaru merely let out a cold laugh.
"It seems Tsunade didn't agree to your plan, Danzo!"
If this plan to lure the 'snake' out of its hole was co-planned by Danzo and Tsunade, then Tsunade would never have truly risked Sasuke. After all, Orochimaru was not a lone wolf! Even if he were cornered, he believed that his subordinates, the Sound Five, could still capture Sasuke and bring him back!
Tsunade and Danzo really couldn't get along harmoniously... Orochimaru had a sufficient understanding of his former teammate and his former superior. With just a little probing, he had guessed the truth behind the few words spoken.
"My plan can proceed without her consent," Danzo said. Even though Orochimaru had guessed this, the expression on his face remained as unmovable as a stubborn rock.
He seemed to not care at all that Orochimaru had guessed part of the truth.
It really made one curious, what did he care about? And what was it that could move this man who was shrouded in darkness!
The snake-like man now sneered.
"Without the Anbu, just with your Root, you think you can deal with me? When did you become so naive... Danzo, you old undying thing!"
His killing intent overflowed, as if it had condensed into a physical substance, as if the air itself had frozen.
With a cold snort, without any visible hand seals, he suddenly opened his mouth wide and used a ninjutsu—
"Secret Technique - Ten Thousand Snakes Slaughter Formation!"
An endless sea of snakes, layered upon layered, piled up into a snake wave dozens of meters high, with sharp swords protruding from their mouths, surged towards Danzo and his men!
On another battlefield.
The gleam of blades and sword shadows, human figures intertwining, the sounds of killing shook the heavens.
Swish, swish, swish!
A beautiful figure in the black bodysuit of the Anbu flashed through the crowd. The light of her sword was like a fleeting shadow, like a crescent moon, and like a bolt of lightning!
Fierce, sharp, every strike a killing blow!
The black figure swept through the crowd. Behind her, the ninja let out short and sharp screams as they were slain one by one by the sharp longsword.
Heads flew, and fresh blood gushed from their throats, intertwining into a symphony of death.
"Huff! Huff!"
The Anbu ninja with the white demonic mask landed nimbly on a tree, her hands on her knees, panting heavily.
The blood on the sharp sword in her hand dripped down, drop by drop. The lingering might of the fierce sword intimidated the remaining Sound ninja, making them all take a step back in unison.
"Earth Style - Earth Flow Spears!"
Sharp rock spears suddenly rose from the ground, piercing through all the enemies who were distracted by their vigilance against Yūgao, impaling them on the stone pillars.
Perfect coordination!
"Is it over, Shino?" the long-haired ninja on the tree asked her comrade on the ground, who was still maintaining his hand seal posture, breathing rapidly.
"This wave of enemies has been completely dealt with!" Shino was also panting heavily, sweat soaking his short hair. "Yūgao, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, not injured. And you?"
Yūgao jumped down from the tree and helped Shino up.
"Same here. With the level of these Sound ninja, they still can't do anything to me," Shino said, shaking his head and leaning on the female ninja's arm.
He struggled to his feet, waved his hand, and walked to a clean rock on the side to sit down.
He said wearily, "But there are too many of them."
"The further we go in, the more of them there are," Yūgao said, sheathing her sword behind her back and looking into the distance with a grave expression. "This is good news... at least it means we haven't gone in the wrong direction!"
"Yes, but we have to be more careful from now on. There will be more and more people behind, and they will be stronger and stronger..." Shino said, resting against the rock with his eyes closed. "They've already discovered us and are surrounding us!"
"And on Sasuke's side, I vaguely sensed someone using Kakashi-senpai's Raikiri just now. It seems the fight has started on his side too..."
Shino pondered for a moment.
"The Sound ninja are all rushing towards us. This means they are very confident in the ninja who is fighting Sasuke, which is why they have left Sasuke for him to handle... It seems Sasuke might be in danger!"
Yūgao took out the few remaining energy pills and ate them all in one go. "So we have to rush over immediately!"
"Yūgao, more haste, less speed!" Shino said, shaking his head. He also took out a soldier pill from his pocket and ate it in small bites with water. "Both of our stamina is running low. In this state, we won't be able to break through the Sound ninja's interception net. Even if we barely make it through, we won't have the stamina to fight anymore and will instead become a burden to Sasuke. We must rest for ten minutes first, recover some stamina, and wait for the soldier pill to take effect..."
"Oh right, Yūgao, do you have any more energy pills? This is really too disgusting..." he said with a grimace, chewing a few mouthfuls of the soldier pill and looking at the energy pill Yūgao was eating, and said with a thick face.
"I just finished them!" Yūgao said with her mouth full, shaking the empty bag in her hand and rolling her eyes at Shino from behind her mask. "I thought you weren't interested in sweets?"
"It's better than a soldier pill, right?" Shino said with a bitter face, chewing on the bitter soldier pill.
The soldier pill had perennially dominated the top spot on the list of Konoha ninja's most disliked foods. Its dry texture and bitter taste had been criticized by countless people. That was why the improved version, the energy pill, had come later. It was made by dissolving cocoa powder into it, giving it a chocolate flavor. Its effect of replenishing stamina was not much worse than the soldier pill's, and it was deeply loved by the ninja—especially the female ninja who loved sweets.
Of course, the energy pill also had a drawback—it was several times more expensive than the soldier pill. The latter was a supply that was distributed for free every time they went on duty in the ninja benefits, especially for high-ranking ninja like Jonin, who often couldn't even finish the soldier pills they were given...
It was said, according to a rumor—
Because everyone generally had a big problem with the soldier pill, the Third had once considered improving its taste. Later, he had come up with a chocolate-flavored soldier pill—the predecessor of the current energy pill. Although it was not as delicious as the current energy pill, as a free ration, the taste was already quite good. Everyone was very excited at that time!
And then the plan had been messed up by certain people.
The reason they had given the Hokage was that if the soldier pill tasted too good, some ninja would eat it as a snack, which would put a great strain on the logistics system. In battle, it would be easy for them to run out of soldier pills, leading to a lack of stamina and mission failure. Conversely, if the soldier pill always had this terrible taste, then everyone would save it and only eat it at a critical moment when they had no choice...
In short, a soldier pill is a soldier pill. It should be positioned differently from delicious food!
The reason was very sufficient, reasonable, and convincing... So the Third Hokage, after careful consideration, had agreed to halt this plan!
The Konoha ninja, as long as they were on field duty, from top to bottom, were all in mourning.
And then, as a matter of course, a certain person was once again secretly cursed and had voodoo dolls made of them by countless people...
Of course, it was just a rumor. There was no guarantee of its reliability or truthfulness. In any case, everyone just needed to know that a certain person had taken the blame again...
However, later on, that chocolate-flavored soldier pill was improved into the better-tasting energy pill and sold as a commodity, and in large quantities for export—perhaps they thought this could effectively reduce the enemy's combat power?
Sakura had also bought this kind of energy pill—especially after joining the Anbu recently, her finances had become much more comfortable, and she could afford this kind of luxury.
Taste is something that is greatly influenced by the body. In her previous life, she had hated eating chocolate and was not very keen on sweets. But after changing into a girl's body, she actually found that the taste was not bad.
Yūgao at this time also thought of Haruno Sakura.
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