At the edge of the camp.
Sarutobi Asuma appeared, but the battle had already ended, with two bodies on the ground.
"Asuma, Kakashi went to pursue the Sand Ninja who escaped,"
Yūhi Kurenai said quickly upon seeing Sarutobi Asuma.
"Stay alert, I'll go take a look!"
With that, Sarutobi Asuma vanished.
While tracking the trail left by Kakashi and the others, Sarutobi Asuma also cast the Ink Dyeing Sky Dizziness Technique to spread out his senses.
Under the Lightning Style Chakra Mode, at his speed, he quickly sensed Kakashi's chakra.
However, Kakashi wasn't pursuing alone; another Konoha ninja was with him, which put Sarutobi Asuma more at ease.
Still, he increased his speed.
He had just upgraded his Lightning Style Chakra Nature Transformation to level 10, so now he could boost the power of his Lightning Style Chakra Mode.
Thus, the electric light surrounding his body grew increasingly dense and solid, gradually changing from blue to white, then slowly to a pale purple.
Sarutobi Asuma distinctly felt his cellular activity surge once more, and his neural reflexes were also skyrocketing.
His short-distance movement speed, in particular, was climbing steadily.
A moment later, he heard the sound of Chidori from ahead.
He had caught up!
A purple electric light flashed past in the darkness.
Sarutobi Asuma descended from the sky, appearing on a tree branch, intercepting the Sand Ninja who had just managed to escape Kakashi and the other two.
"You are..."
The Sand Ninja was greatly alarmed. As soon as he spoke, before he could finish his sentence, he let out a piercing scream.
Purple electric light erupted from Sarutobi Asuma, engulfing the Sand Ninja and electrocuting him unconscious.
"Asuma!"
"Lord Asuma!"
Kakashi and another Konoha Chunin landed, their faces filled with pleasant surprise.
Sarutobi Asuma nodded and asked, "Are there any other Sand Ninja?"
"No!"
Kakashi shook his head and explained, "This Sand Ninja squad must have stumbled upon the camp by chance. There were only three of them."
"Then let's head back."
Sarutobi Asuma frowned. "A squad managed to infiltrate this far. It seems the Sand Ninja reinforcements have arrived, and they've dispersed and infiltrated."
"This Sand Ninja squad has been missing for a while; the Sand Ninja will definitely track them here,"
Kakashi and the other ninja nodded in unison.
The three of them then took the still-alive Sand Ninja and returned the way they came.
After handing over the prisoner to the special interrogation personnel, Sarutobi Asuma bid farewell to Yūhi Kurenai and the others and returned to his tent to continue accumulating chakra.
There were no further incidents.
The Sand Ninja squad dealt with earlier had simply stumbled upon the medical camp by chance.
By six in the morning, the second wave of reinforcements from Konohagakure finally arrived.
This time, there were also 500 people.
What surprised Sarutobi Asuma somewhat was that the one leading them was none other than Orochimaru.
Two of the Sannin had gathered!
But what about the other ninja villages that were stirring?
Sarutobi Asuma mused, but then he understood.
To deal with the Sand Ninja, Orochimaru was actually more suitable than Jiraiya.
After all, Orochimaru was undoubtedly a master of poison and antidotes.
"Lord Orochimaru!"
Upon seeing Orochimaru, Sarutobi Asuma bowed respectfully.
Compared to Tsunade and Jiraiya, he wasn't as familiar with Orochimaru.
However, at that moment, Orochimaru looked at Sarutobi Asuma with great interest.
It wasn't just Orochimaru; the eyes of the reinforcements from Konoha all fell upon Sarutobi Asuma.
Before they departed, the news of the great victory on the front lines had already been sent back.
Therefore, they all knew that this son of the Third Hokage, a Chunin at the young age of 11, was the key figure in this great victory.
A young genius, the Konoha Ninja Academy's top graduate.
At the age of nine, he created an S-Rank Wind Style Ninjutsu.
Now, not yet eleven years old, he has developed the Scorch Release Bloodline Limit and played an absolutely crucial role in a battle where less than six hundred Konoha ninja fought against over eleven hundred Sand Ninja.
Furthermore, he killed five to six hundred Sand Ninja in a single battle, achieving an unprecedented great victory.
Such an experience is truly legendary.
It has even surpassed Namikaze Minato, who earned the title "Yellow Flash."
Many Konoha ninja, looking at the calm, confident, and gentle Sarutobi Asuma, couldn't help but secretly sigh: "As expected of the Third Hokage's son!"
"If I had a son like that, I'd consider my life well-lived even if I died!"
"The Third Hokage is truly amazing, raising two such outstanding sons!"
...
Sarutobi Asuma was unaware of the inner thoughts of many Konoha ninja, but Orochimaru's intense gaze made him a little uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Orochimaru wasn't as perverse as he would become, at least not yet. He wasn't sticking out his tongue.
"To have mastered a Kekkei Genkai at this age is truly astonishing."
"Asuma, the surprises you bring are just getting better and better."
Orochimaru watched Sarutobi Asuma with great interest.
"Lord Orochimaru, you flatter me. My achievements are nothing compared to the Sannin."
Sarutobi Asuma said humbly.
"Heh, there's no need for you to be modest. At your age, even the First Hokage and the Second Hokage wouldn't have been more outstanding than you."
Orochimaru chuckled but didn't elaborate, instead ordering the camp to be dismantled.
Nine in the morning.
The army rendezvoused with Jiraiya and others at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers.
And Sarutobi Asuma's guess from last night was correct.
The Sand Ninja reinforcements had arrived, so they quickly returned from the Land of Rivers.
Even with powerhouses like Namikaze Minato, Hatake Sakumo, and Jiraiya present, they were forced to retreat to the border when facing nearly fifteen hundred Sand Ninja.
However, this time, even though they had a numerical advantage, the Sand Ninja did not gather a large army to assault Konoha's defenses.
Instead, they resorted to scattered ambushes and infiltration, returning to the conventional mode of ninja combat.
When Sarutobi Asuma and the others arrived, Jiraiya and the others were actually surrounded by Sand Ninja in a vast forest.
Small squads were engaged in constant battles.
If they didn't dismantle the camp today, the medical camp would also soon be surrounded by Sand Ninja.
After the two armies joined forces, Sarutobi Asuma remained at the medical camp.
Not just him, but also Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, Rin, and several other genin and chūnin from the same graduating class were assigned the task of guarding the medical camp.
Konoha's troop strength was not yet so strained that newly graduated genin and chūnin had to be sent to the front lines.
However, Sarutobi Asuma knew that soon Konoha would have to send many children who had just graduated, around ten years old, to the most brutal battlefields.
"If we want Konoha to retain more of its vitality in this war, we must end the war as quickly as possible!"
As Sarutobi Asuma thought, he focused wholeheartedly on consuming Ration Pills to accumulate chakra and simultaneously attempted to research his own bio-electrical system, preparing to develop "Telepathy" (Mind Reading).
Time passed day by day, while the skirmishes between Konoha and the Sand Ninja grew increasingly fierce.
The medical camp saw an increase in casualties daily, as well as casualties recovering and returning to the battlefield.
And Orochimaru's arrival had indeed significantly reduced the chances of Konoha ninja dying from poisoning.
The third day.
Konoha Village sent over an antidote personally developed by Tsunade, specifically for Chiyo's potent poison.
This resolved a major problem for Konoha.
Time ticked by, with reinforcements continuously arriving from Konoha Village, and the Sand Ninja forces growing in number. The battlefield expanded and intensified with each passing day.
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