Afterward, the Konoha ninja who had finished dealing with the Rain ninja outside all came over to watch the moment the massive barrier dissolved.
As the saying goes, watching a spectacle is human nature.
But some things are better left unseen.
"Ugh."
"Ugh."
"Ugh."
...
Aside from a few individuals, everyone else hurried off to find a place to empty the contents of their stomachs.
After returning with Uchiha Kamito,
Orochimaru remained calm and showed no reaction at all.
Tsunade and Jiraiya, who had only just recovered a little, stared at Aburame Shiken with strange expressions.
Ruthless. Your Aburame clan is truly ruthless.
When Aburame Shiken saw the three of them return, he spoke.
"Orochimaru-sensei, I have fulfilled the mission. Five thousand Rain ninja have been completely annihilated. If we don't count equipment wear and tear, our casualties are zero."
"What? Zero?"
"Kid, you can't joke about something like that on the battlefield."
Tsunade and Jiraiya immediately expressed disbelief.
Since ancient times, in war—especially battles involving thousands—how could there possibly be no casualties?
Only Orochimaru believed Aburame Shiken. In a situation like this, he would never make such a claim without reason.
"Shiken, how did you accomplish it?"
"Is it really that difficult? Precise intelligence gathering, well-prepared traps, mid-range firepower suppression, long-range aerial bombardment, large-scale anti-personnel weapons, enemy ninja who could be turned at any moment, precise battlefield coordination, and organized group combat... Against a group of primitive ninja who only know how to wave kunai and use low-level ninjutsu, it's easy as long as you have hands."
"Easy as long as you have hands?"
Do you even hear what you're saying?
If this is "easy," then what were the massive losses in our first battle supposed to be?
The three of them looked at Aburame Shiken, who had commanded such a large-scale battle on his very first appearance.
An inexplicable feeling rose in their hearts.
Have we already grown old?
But they were only twenty years old.
"Hm? What's this?"
Aburame Shiken handed a slip of paper to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru opened it and looked.
"Over three hundred one-time summoning scrolls, five hundred special barrier scrolls, materials required for cultivating kikaichū... How can there be so many?"
Seeing Orochimaru's disbelief, Aburame Shiken quickly explained.
"Orochimaru-sensei, these are all fair prices. Just look at that large barrier capable of trapping three thousand ninja. After that, the Aburame clan basically emptied our entire reserves. Without those three hundred summoning scrolls, how could I have deployed three hundred million kikaichū onto the battlefield? And those special insects like recording bugs and camera bugs—those are extremely expensive to produce. You know better than anyone how costly each of these items is."
Extremely expensive, huh?
But when you ordered them to self-destruct, you didn't look the least bit heartbroken.
Still, it wasn't coming out of Orochimaru's pocket anyway.
Let Sarutobi-sensei worry about it.
Uh...
"You too?"
Orochimaru stared at the identical white slips of paper held in the hands of Nara Shikaku, Hyūga Hiyasu, Uchiha Kamito, Senju Hideki, and Namikaze Minato.
Sarutobi-sensei could probably... maybe... possibly afford it.
...
"Outrageous! How dare they! This is blatant bloodsucking from Konoha! Hiruzen, this absolutely cannot be approved!"
Even Homura Mitokado—normally known as a mild and good-natured man—couldn't stop himself from cursing after seeing the battlefield expenditure report Orochimaru submitted.
"Fighting a few Rain ninja and they act like they challenged the entire ninja world! This amount of money is absurd. Even the total cost of Konoha during the First Great Ninja War wasn't this high! Over a million Explosive Tags, several million kunai and shuriken, and all these rare scrolls—how dare they demand this much?!"
Homura Mitokado continued venting nonstop.
You really don't understand how expensive things are until you're the one running the household.
As the person in charge of Konoha's finances, Homura Mitokado knew very well where the village's money actually came from.
From missions? Don't joke.
How many ninja in Konoha could actually take on missions? And how many could guarantee success every time?
Then there were the compensation payments for failed missions, the pensions for fallen ninja, the countless research projects draining money, and the maintenance of the village's infrastructure...
Each and every one of these expenses.
All that money had been begged from the Daimyo's court by him and Koharu.
And now they suddenly wanted this much.
This wasn't just draining Konoha.
This was practically asking for his life.
"Homura, calm down, calm down. Look at the battle results. Five thousand Rain ninja completely annihilated, zero casualties. When has Konoha ever achieved a record like this? This money is worth it."
"Besides, with zero casualties, the village doesn't need to pay compensation for fallen ninja. If you calculate it that way, the actual spending isn't that high. Think about the First Great Ninja War—those casualty compensation lists we handled. That was the real financial burden."
Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly tried to soothe Homura Mitokado.
He was worried Homura might collapse from anger.
Seriously—anyone in Konoha could fall, but Homura absolutely couldn't.
If Homura collapsed, who would deal with the people at the Daimyo's court?
Koharu was far too impulsive.
Danzo? When it came to matters like this, he was completely useless.
So Homura—Konoha needs you.
Homura Mitokado took a moment to calm himself.
He knew it too.
If no one died, then no matter how much money was spent, it was worth it—especially for such a decisive victory.
But it was like buying a house.
Even when you know the money must be spent, the moment you actually hand it over, something in your heart still feels uncomfortable.
...
While Konoha's leadership worried about money, the clan leaders had no such concerns.
The Inuzuka clan head was laughing loudly inside the Akimichi barbecue restaurant with Inuzuka Misa.
Next to her sat her close friend—Inuzuka Reika, Ryoha's mother.
"I knew from the time he was young that that brat Ryoha had potential. That tactic—where you chase me and I run, then I run and you chase—what's it called again?"
"It's called guerrilla warfare," Inuzuka Misa added.
"Doesn't matter, the name isn't important. That strategy suits the Inuzuka clan perfectly. In the past, we'd just charge straight at the enemy with Fang Passing Fang. That was stupid. Now we just toss kunai, shuriken, and Explosive Tags, and the enemy suffers like hell. It's ridiculously easy. When we get back, we're adding another throwing class for the kids in the clan. Everything else is optional—but throwing? The Inuzuka clan must score full marks in that."
The Inuzuka clan head drank happily, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Inuzuka Misa and Inuzuka Reika were chatting cheerfully too.
Though their conversation had drifted toward topics like houses, children, and which doctors were best at delivering babies—subjects that didn't exactly match the celebratory mood of the great victory.
...
In a corner nearby, the Aburame clan head was also happily drinking.
Three hundred million kikaichū used in coordinated combat...
And it had actually worked.
That meant the clan still had many more cooperative combat methods.
Next time, would it be his turn?
Such a high-level way of showing off...
Heh heh heh.
The Aburame clan head couldn't help letting out a strange laugh.
What was odd, however, was that no one nearby seemed to notice him.
Could this be the Aburame clan's hidden bloodline limit?
...
Elsewhere, clan leaders were celebrating in their own ways.
The Uchiha clan head was teaching his son Uchiha Fugaku how to be a man who dotes on his wife.
The Hyūga clan head knelt before a pile of memorial tablets, crying that the Hyūga clan had finally been saved.
The old man from the Senju clan burst into laughter repeatedly while chatting idly.
The Yūhi clan...
The Kurama clan...
The Mitarashi clan...