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The former Kikyo Castle Lord's Mansion had been converted into Konoha's temporary front-line command center.
As the Hatake Squad walked, they could see civilian personnel in Konoha uniforms scurrying in and out of rooms as if their pants were on fire.
Normally, a powerful high-level Ninja like Hatake Sakumo, despite being nominally one of the highest Commanders on the front line, would delegate specific command duties to members of clans like Nara and Yamanaka, who would use their command and intelligence transmission capabilities for large-scale command and deployment.
However, this time, things were slightly different.
As soon as the four members of the Hatake Squad entered the temporary conference room, they saw the cold man with long, jet-black hair standing surrounded by others in front of the sand table, pointing a pointer at the mountains near Kikyo Castle and dictating orders to a Nara Ninja beside him:
"...I don't want casualty figures."
"I only want Mount Kikyo!"
Out of an instinctive reaction as an undercover agent, Sawara Kiri subconsciously focused and listened for a few moments.
However, Orochimaru quickly noticed them and handed the pointer to the deputy Commander beside him.
"Sakumo, you've arrived at a good time."
Orochimaru's voice remained cold and hoarse, and when his golden vertical pupils looked at others, it inexplicably made them feel as if they were being licked. His peripheral vision seemed to glance at Sawara Kiri inadvertently, then quickly moved away:
"The general material report from the rear just came in, and it requires the signatures of three front-line Commanders."
"Huh? We're getting right to work, aren't we?"
Hatake Sakumo complained in a casual tone, but his steps didn't falter for a moment as he walked over with Orochimaru.
Yes.
The overall Commander for this counterattack operation on the Land of Wind front line was Orochimaru.
Sawara Kiri looked at the busy staff around him.
At this moment, everyone in the entire command center was meticulously organized, each engrossed in their work, with only the faint rustling of papers in the air.
Since the situation on the Land of Wind front deteriorated to an almost irreversible point a month ago, Orochimaru was dispatched by Konoha's higher-ups as a firefighter, bringing a group of subordinates to reinforce this battlefield.
In just a short month, the front line, which had been continuously retreating under Sunagakure's full-scale offensive, gradually stabilized under his leadership.
Regardless of Orochimaru's identity and stance in the original work, as a Konoha Ninja now, he was impeccable in terms of his 'ability,' a hard metric.
He was an unquestionable genius.
However, even he had things he couldn't achieve.
"Wait a moment, Orochimaru."
Hatake Sakumo looked at the general material report in his hand, and a displeased expression suddenly appeared on his face as he lowered his voice:
"What's with this number?"
Noticing this, Sawara Kiri glanced at the girl by the door and reminded her:
"Megumi."
Uchiha Megumi paused slightly, then nodded knowingly, turning to close the conference room door, cutting off the view from inside and out.
Minato glanced at them but said nothing.
Kiri-kun is truly meticulous.
Orochimaru faced his somewhat astonished voice with an indifferent expression—or rather, a numb weariness that showed no desire to expend any energy on facial expressions:
"That's all there is."
Hatake Sakumo's face immediately turned ashen:
"How can that be?"
"Sunagakure has mobilized their entire village, and they are estimated to be able to deploy between twenty-five and thirty thousand Ninja!"
"We've been preparing for nearly a month, so how have we only gathered twelve thousand personnel? And the number of explosive tags and spare anti-stab vests is so far off..."
A difference of over ten thousand people...
Clearly, his previously relaxed demeanor was merely a facade to reassure his students.
The pressure he was under in this war was by no means small.
Orochimaru still resembled a robot, his voice hoarse and without the slightest fluctuation as he answered Hatake Sakumo's question:
"Firstly, two months ago, our main logistical base on the Land of Wind front was breached, the previous Commander was killed, and a large amount of supplies were captured, which is why we retreated all the way here—that fool lost too much in one go."
"Secondly, in terms of personnel, the pressure on the Land of Lightning front and Land of Earth front is greater than ours."
"The Third Raikage personally led a large force to the border of the Land of Hot Water to hold the line. Jiraiya alone cannot stop him, Lord Third is ready to deploy at any moment, and the Tsuchikage is also negotiating a peace agreement with Hanzo of Amegakure."
"Most of our forces have been transferred to the north."
"Now, this is all the people we can allocate to you."
"..."
Hearing this, Hatake Sakumo was also speechless.
Full encirclement.
Konoha, though strong, was also in the most dangerous four-way war zone.
Therefore, even the slightest hint of weakness would cause the surrounding covetous wild dogs to attack en masse, tearing at their flesh.
Seeing that he had no more questions, Orochimaru turned around and calmly said, "The only good news now is that Sunagakure has launched a full-scale offensive against us. Their material consumption rate is also very rapid."
The Land of Wind was a typical impoverished imperialist nation; they wouldn't be able to sustain such an offensive for long.
Hatake Sakumo nodded deeply.
The Land of Fire was a large and wealthy nation; although currently in a temporary predicament, as long as the war could be sustained, victory would only belong to Konoha.
However, how many hardships would they endure before this war concluded in victory?
Orochimaru and Hatake Sakumo fell silent in unison.
As Commanders, they should neither question their superiors during wartime nor allow their subordinates to lose confidence.
"In any case, I'm counting on you."
"Sakumo-kun."
"...Yes."
Sawara Kiri and Namikaze Minato quietly watched this scene unfold.
To give everything for Konoha.
For a Ninja, this was never an empty phrase.
The rain poured down.
Large raindrops and the sticky, humid air made clothes cling to the skin, giving a sensation of being submerged in water.
The gloomy, damp environment of the quiet forest, the dim sky obscured by dark clouds, the faint smell of blood and earth mixed with water vapor entering their nostrils, and even the subtle breathing sounds of their companions.
All of it created a palpable sense of oppression in their chests.
The occasional corpses of enemies or comrades lying by ancient trees only intensified this feeling.
Ninja, moving in squads, swiftly leaped between the giant trees, no one stopping to collect the bodies—no one knew if an explosive tag, connected to a special trigger wire, might be hidden beneath any of them.
Sawara Kiri led the entire team, using Six Eyes to perceive enemy movements in the surroundings.
Tens of kilometers away, large groups of Sand Ninja were organizing the supplies and personnel needed for their next offensive: food, weapons, armor, explosives, puppet parts... various materials were being transported to the front like ants.
Just watching this scene, a heavy sense of oppression couldn't help but rise in one's heart.
These were all Ninja.
Walking eighty kilometers per hour, throwing Kunai like bullets, unharmed after falling from giant trees tens of meters high, capable of various miraculous Ninjutsu, consuming three bowls of rice daily—Ninja.
Even the Third Raikage, a gatekeeper of the Kage level, could be surrounded and killed by ten thousand Rock Ninja, exhausted to his limits.
So, if he fought to the death now, how many Sand Ninja could he hold off?
And how many people were on the other side of the forest?
Sawara Kiri instinctively wondered.
"Whoosh—"
Before he could finish his thoughts, the three had already reached their destination.
After password verification and token checks confirmed them as allies, Sawara Kiri and his group were allowed into the front-line camp.
Since arriving at Kikyo Castle five days ago, they had first participated in several war meetings as Jonin, familiarizing themselves with the overall process, and then they were dispatched to the first line of defense to participate in the overall defensive counterattack operation.
Hatake Sakumo, however, was left behind.
According to Orochimaru, he had a more important mission to participate in—intelligence reports indicated that the Third Kazekage was not in Sunagakure.
Sawara Kiri looked at the camp.
On the edge of the forest at the border of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire, Konoha Ninja had already cleared a riverside wasteland. From above, it looked like a yellow line drawn through the lush forest.
It was interesting, in a way.
Although both sides were Ninja, to reduce the possibility of enemy stealth attacks, both attackers and defenders, without prior agreement, dug wide, scar-like trenches crisscrossing their camps, much like in the First World War, to conceal their movements as much as possible.
If there was any difference, it was probably that Ninja, to avoid being wiped out by a single large-scale combined Ninjutsu, still arranged themselves in squad units, with extremely wide distribution—however, this also gave elite enemy Ninja opportunities for close-range sneak attacks.
When Sawara Kiri and his group entered the trench from the communication trench, they saw many people gathered, using simple Earth Release or Water Release to drain the rainwater from the trenches, busily moving supplies, covered in mud.
For these 'soldiers' on the front line, most of their daily wartime routine was this kind of downtime.
Eating, sleeping, relieving themselves, digging trenches, anxiously waiting for the enemy, occasionally talking about things from home.
They would talk about their childhood sweethearts waiting at home, getting married after this war, how the car was ready, how there was nothing to fear now, how they would win.
Then, they would die silently under a sudden Kunai or Fire Release.
The actual time spent facing the enemy was a very small part of the war.
As for fighting enemy Ninja in the shadows of the trees?
That was a privilege reserved for 'elites.'
However, Sawara Kiri wasn't concerned about these things right now. His gaze swept around, quickly settling on a small muddy figure in the crowd, and he waved to her.
"Sawara Squad is here."
The muddy figure first paused, then wiped her glasses with an equally dirty sleeve, immediately understood, and quickly straightened up, climbing out of the drainage ditch.
It wasn't until her body was again soaked by the heavier downpour that the girl's flaxen-golden hair and still-childish face were revealed.
Uchiha Megumi suddenly looked at her with a strange, wary gaze, then glanced at Sawara Kiri in front of her.
Stare—!
Although she had seen the photo in the file, it wasn't until she saw her in person that she realized this child was actually quite cute—were ID photos really unreliable?
Also, Kiri always seemed to have a subtle fondness for young girls of this age.
It made one wonder whether to be glad or displeased.
"Sorry, sorry!"
"I've kept you waiting. I'm the medical Ninja assigned to your squad by the front-line command..."
The girl wiped the mud from her face, trotted closer, and smiled somewhat apologetically, her long, wet, sticky hair clinging to her as she bowed deeply to them, her voice soft and weak:
"My name is Yakushi Nonou."
"Please guide me."
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