The Allied Forces this time totaled about ten thousand. Less than one-tenth returned... Even if the Shinobi who got separated during the escape all made it back safely, it would still be an unbearable loss.
One must know, Sunagakure has less than six thousand Shinobi at Chunin rank and above.
If the invading enemy this time wasn't an Allied Force but a single village, it would be almost equivalent to being annihilated.
Even spread across four Shinobi Villages, it's still a major loss that severely damages their foundations.
However, Ryuji didn't feel the slightest bit sorry for them.
After all, they were the invaders, and Sunagakure was the victim.
If he hadn't frightened off the enemy with three shots, allowing events to follow their original trajectory, Sunagakure would have been breached…
Even with the Shinobi who gradually returned fighting desperately, Sunagakure would nearly become history.
"Once the outcome of this battle spreads, our Sunagakure will definitely gain great fame, earn more trust from clients, and receive more commissions." Pakura said spiritedly while chewing on a sausage, not looking like someone who had just experienced a day and night of pursuit warfare.
"What about our losses?"
"Don't know. I was only responsible for leading a twenty-person pursuit team. Six died."
"Six out of twenty died?" Ryuji slightly widened his eyes, full of confusion. "With you leading, why such high casualties? Did you encounter experts?"
"We did encounter an expert, but their deaths weren't related to the expert." After swallowing the food in her mouth, Pakura took a sip of milk from her cup and continued, "We encountered a guy who could use Swift Release. His speed was so fast you couldn't see him clearly."
At this point, Pakura paused, searched herself for a moment, and pulled out a scroll.
"That guy's body is inside. Brought it back for you."
Pakura placed the scroll in front of Ryuji and continued devouring the food on her plate, speaking between bites. "He stayed behind to cover the retreat, relying on his speed and the endless desert, thinking no one could surround him. He was acting recklessly there, but we tunneled underground, circled behind, and surrounded him."
"That's truly asking for death." Ryuji couldn't help but want to laugh.
"There were quite a few idiots like that. We encountered many along the way, all using past experiences to deal with us."
"Ended up blinded by sandstorms, lured into quicksand zones, bitten to death by poisonous insects and snakes... The enemies were mostly killed by tricks; there was little hard fighting."
"If that's the case, then why such heavy losses?"
"Come on, this is war!" Pakura looked at Ryuji speechlessly. "Although we held absolute advantage, the enemies' last-ditch counterattacks also caused casualties. One of my people was killed on the spot. The remaining five didn't die immediately, but since there was no Medical-nin in the team, they couldn't hold on until returning."
"Medical-nin..."
In Konoha, teams usually have a Medical-nin assigned.
But in reality, Medical-nin require extremely high Chakra Control, making this profession very rare.
Aside from Konoha, no other Shinobi Village has such a setup.
And Sunagakure... because planting areas rely entirely on manually built greenhouses, they don't even have enough to grow medicinal herbs for poison, let alone medical herbs. There's simply no environment to nurture Medical-nin.
The entire Sunagakure, all its Medical-nin and medical personnel combined, can only form one small hospital.
Environmental issues indeed exist, but more importantly, the higher-ups didn't place enough importance on Medical-nin.
If they valued this area, they could simply set up a few more greenhouses; it would still be better than the current situation.
The reason Konoha could achieve final victory despite being besieged in the Third Shinobi World War was precisely due to the policy of assigning a Medical-nin to every team.
Although Medical-nin have low combat power, often needing protection during battles and hardly able to help, their presence greatly reduces casualty rates.
It might not be apparent in the short term, but over time, the benefits of having a Medical-nin in a team become clearly visible.
For example, Pakura's team this time.
If her team had a Medical-nin, those five people wouldn't have died.
'It seems I need to find time to discuss Medical-nin issues with the Third Kazekage. Also, the Academy's education system needs reform.'
Although Sunagakure adopted Konoha's Academy education model, they didn't copy it entirely.
Sunagakure's Academy doesn't accept children from ordinary families.
The reason is that Sunagakure already has a small population, and being a Shinobi is a high-mortality profession. Both the Second and Third Kazekage didn't want to further reduce the population.
Secondly, they believed that children from families without Shinobi, lacking exposure to a Shinobi atmosphere, would find it difficult to become excellent Shinobi.
But Konoha would use facts to prove this is all nonsense.
Children from ordinary families might lag behind at first, but later on, they definitely wouldn't be worse than children from Shinobi families.
"Hey, when are you going to make a maid for me too?"
The girl's voice snapped the deeply thinking youth out of his thoughts. Ryuji looked up to see the girl had already finished the food on her plate.
She was now staring straight at him.
"Next time. I've accepted a mission and will be away from the village for a while."
"Next time again? You said 'next time' last time."
"Next time for sure!"
"I don't believe you. That's exactly what you told me last time. When next time comes, you'll still say 'next time for sure'."
"Really, I genuinely don't have time now!"
"I don't care. You made one for yourself. I also want to come home every day to cooked meals and hot baths."
"Then have Aka make one for you?"
"No, I want you to make it personally."
"Next time for sure."
The two argued at the dining table. As they argued, Pakura fell asleep.
Looking at the girl snoring softly with her head on the table, Ryuji turned to the maid standing nearby. "Aka, go wash her up, then take her to the guest room to sleep."
"Understood."
Aka nodded, came to Pakura's side, gently picked her up, and headed toward the bathroom.
The girl mumbled dream-talk in Aka's arms, then slept even more soundly.
Ryuji couldn't help but smile.
The horizon began to lighten with the first hint of dawn. Sunlight shone through the window.
Ryuji picked up the food box Aka had prepared in advance and left.
He didn't leave the village directly but went to the prison holding Bunpuku.
The prison was located halfway up the mountain at the very back of the village.
After showing his pass, Ryuji was directly allowed through and locked inside together.
"Old monk, I've come to see you again."
Ryuji placed the food box in front of Bunpuku and opened it. Chicken, duck, fish, meat, rice… everything was there.
"You're wasting again, benefactor. This old monk can't eat this much."
Although scolding, his tone was very gentle. The old monk's wrinkled face also showed a slight smile.
"If you can't finish, let that tanuki eat it."
"Roar! Does this lord eat leftovers?"