Chapter 107: Casualties
"How good!" Sasuke thought as he picked up one of the small shield armor plates, marveling at its quality. It was much more sophisticated than the one he had used for his first mecha. With this and Tessai's other three puppets, he could build an even more powerful second mecha puppet, perhaps even equipped with a five-color scroll turret to enhance its capabilities.
'The mechanical shield puppet master is truly hard to kill,' he sighed.
It was a narrow victory. Tessai's defense was formidable. Without Yeshan's insight to create that opening, without the brute strength of Fūjin and Raijin, and without his own almost infinite recovery ability, the outcome could have been very different. An elite jonin, even cornered, was incredibly dangerous. This reinforced his determination to accelerate the development of his rapid healing ability.
"Brother, the fight's over, let's eat!"
"Roar, let's eat!"
Fūjin and Raijin interrupted his thoughts, demanding food. Sasuke, regaining his composure, took out a box of energy blocks to replenish everyone's strength.
"Just eat the Hyōrōgan Pills. Don't waste this luxury," Yeshan said, declining the high-cost energy block. "Besides, there are still two Sunagakure teams out there."
"We just won a battle and amassed a fortune. Why worry about this little money?" Sasuke replied, stuffing a handful of blocks into his hand. "And don't worry, the other two teams are already dealt with. Ebihiko and the others will arrive soon."
According to the clone's memory, the other two Sunagakure teams had been surrounded and annihilated. One of them was almost completely wiped out by Sasuke's clones before reinforcements arrived. The other resisted a bit longer but couldn't survive the siege of Ebihiko's more than thirty ninjas. The pursuit was a complete success; the only significant casualty was Hyōzō's thigh injury.
Soon after, Ebihiko and "Die" squad leader, Iwazō, arrived with the rest of the troops. No one had died.
"Sasuke, I didn't expect your transformation technique to be so powerful. And how do you know Sunagakure's puppet technique?" Ebihiko asked, full of excitement.
"Hiko, stop pretending, I'm a genius," Sasuke joked. At his friend's insistence, he superficially explained that the key was the Seduction Technique and Harem Technique. Ebihiko, hearing this, began to imagine things and was distracted.
"Hiko, why are you still standing there? If you don't go back, Utane will snatch all the good stuff," Sasuke urged him.
"Ah, here we go!"
Thus, Sasuke led the troops back to Gourd Mountain Pass, ready to collect the loot. On the way back, they rescued the wounded genin. They were 69 people when they left, and 69 returned. Miraculously, no one had been lost.
Soon, they arrived at the pass. But before entering, they heard many laments.
It turned out that, to get the loot, Maki Utane had forced her men to clear the battlefield, activating mechanisms left by the Sunagakure ninjas, killing and wounding many of her own men.
Sasuke's men, who had pursued the enemy for one hundred kilometers, returned without a single casualty. Utane's men, who had stayed behind for "support," lay dead and wounded amidst the very loot their greed had cost them.
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