The greatest sacrifice was made by Katou Dan, who fought to the death alone at the rear to enable Orochimaru to lead the Konoha Squad to retreat.
"This isn't the time to blame anyone. Have the enemy identities been clarified?"
Hakushi looked at Sakumo.
Sakumo sighed, shook his head, and said, "No. Their ninja technique styles are very complex. Reportedly, one of them has terrifying power, and seems to have an immortal body, being able to revive after being killed once. Many companions were careless because of this ability, and several Jonin were counter-skilled in an instant."
"Who is he?"
"Don't know."
Hakushi and the others frowned slightly.
Such a powerful figure, possessing a near-immortal ability, couldn't possibly be an unknown in the Ninja Realm.
How could it be unknown?
"Maybe a bounty hunter from the Black Market."
Sakumo wasn't very certain about who led the ninja attack on the Konoha mission, merely guessing the opponent might be a ninja rampant in the Black Market.
That's truly a world of the strong devouring the weak, a dark place housing many formidable yet not very famous ninjas.
This ninja who attacked the Konoha mission fits the image of a high-level Black Market ninja.
"Underground Black Market? Then it's tough to investigate, could they be hired by the Hidden Sand Ninja?"
Hakushi had heard about such dark domains.
Within the shadowy side of the Ninja Realm, bounty hunters rampant in the Black Market are either renegade ninjas or samurai. While many are trash, there are true formidable ones too.
The complex network of the Underground Black Market is deeply rooted in each country within the Ninja Realm.
"Just a possibility, but we don't have evidence to prove it. However, before we returned, the Third Kazekage sent emissaries to accuse us here of not arriving on time, questioning whether we plan to continue this war."
This event angered many Konoha Ninjas.
To many Konoha Ninjas, the ones who ambushed their mission this time were definitely the Hidden Sand Ninja pulling strings in the shadows.
If not for Orochimaru's restraint, that Hidden Sand Ninja emissary might have been torn to pieces by numerous Konoha Ninjas.
Hakushi and his companions, upon hearing this, felt a bit suffocated but understood the Konoha Ninja's anger.
From the current situation, it seems the Hidden Sand is reneging, planning to catch Konoha off guard, the likelihood is very high.
However, these are mere assumptions without solid evidence proving this as the act of the Hidden Sand Ninja.
Truly frustrating.
"What's the village's stance?"
"The village just received the news; due to the gravity of it, the high-level will definitely debate endlessly; an accurate order will probably take three to four days to come down."
It's the most conservative timing.
Now is whether to fight or reconcile, depending entirely on high-level decisions.
Hakushi had no opinions about it; he was already disinterested in war, how Konoha's high-level handles such situations is irrelevant to him.
◎
"Peace talks?"
Three days later, orders from the high-level meeting came down.
To conduct peace talks with Hidden Sand.
This made many ninjas at the Konoha Camp frown.
But the high-level provided an explanation—the ambush on the Konoha mission prevented the signing of the ceasefire agreement between Konoha and Hidden Sand, this was entirely a conspiracy by the Hidden Rock.
The unidentified ninja ambushing the Konoha mission was hired from the Black Market by Hidden Rock.
At this point, continuing the war with Hidden Sand will only lead both Konoha and Hidden Sand into the trap meticulously designed by Hidden Rock.
Therefore, signing a ceasefire agreement with Hidden Sand is crucial while guarding against the Hidden Rock Village.
"What's going on, Orochimaru?"
Jiraiya asked somewhat perplexed.
Orochimaru took out another piece of intelligence and said, "This is crucial information collected by the Anbu. Two days ago, Hidden Sand and Hidden Rock Ninjas had a small-scale conflict in the Land of Bear."
"Hidden Sand and Hidden Rock... Them?"
Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru more puzzled.
Orochimaru answered, "After Sakumo destroyed Hidden Sand's supply materials, Hidden Sand tried to collaborate with Hidden Rock, hoping for supply assistance. Hidden Rock agreed to this request from Hidden Sand, but two days ago, during the transfer of supplies, Hidden Rock provided only one-twentieth of the promised materials to Hidden Sand, ensuing conflict between the two sides."
Jiraiya remained frowning, constantly feeling something was not quite right.
"Whether it's the Tsuchikage of Hidden Rock plotting or the Kazekage of Hidden Sand strategizing, or they're both jointly scheming against Konoha, it matters no longer."
"How can it not matter? Dan sacrificed himself for—"
"Don't shout here; the war saw many deaths; Katou Dan was merely a true ninja, that's all."
Orochimaru didn't want to hear Jiraiya's yelling in front of him, his mood was extraordinarily chaotic now.
"Continuing peace talks with Hidden Sand is unanimously decided by the high-level. Further fighting would involve not only Hidden Sand but also Hidden Rock."
The words 'for one Katou Dan, it's not worth entering simultaneous war with Hidden Sand and Hidden Rock' remained unsaid.
But this was the truth as Orochimaru believed.
The orchestrator behind the ambush on the mission was quite possibly Hidden Sand.
But Orochimaru wasn't sure why, before the war's end, they would ambush Konoha once more, pulling the Tsuchikage into this show, making Konoha hesitant to act recklessly.
"What is that Kazekage truly considering?"
◎
"It's like some warm-up before battle, slowly heating up the atmosphere."