Danzo walked the streets of Konoha for the first time in ages.
Feng Bai's promotion to jōnin was already settled, and tales of his exploits were spreading through every street and alley. Yet Danzo's expression was far from pleased.
Not only did his lips fail to curl upward in joy—they seemed to be trending downward instead.
By the time Danzo had walked from one end of the street to the other, his expression had morphed into this: "ΛB"
As for the reason...
Villager A: "Did you hear? There's this genius named Feng Bai who's incredibly powerful—he single-handedly fought three Cloud jōnin!"
Villager B: "Really? That's amazing! By the way, who exactly is Feng Bai?"
This exchange momentarily lifted Danzo's spirits.
But the next words completely shattered his composure.
Villager A: "You don't know Feng Bai? He's the Third Hokage's new disciple!"
Villager B: "I see! No wonder he's so formidable—he's Lord Third's student!"
After hearing this, Danzo's expression dropped two degrees lower.
Eventually becoming that look.
Unable to vent his frustration on the street, Danzo returned to the Root base before finally releasing his pent-up resentment: "Feng Bai is my son, MY son! The blood of the Shimura clan flows through his veins—what does this have to do with Hiruzen?!"
Meanwhile, the Konoha leadership, having also heard the village rumors, immediately recognized Danzo as the mastermind behind them. However, they didn't object; instead, they allowed the rumors to spread throughout the village.
This wasn't because Feng Bai was Hiruzen's disciple, but because during wartime, creating a heroic figure helps stabilize military morale—especially since progress on the Kumogakure front wasn't proceeding smoothly.
The most obvious evidence was that Konoha had already deployed genin to the front lines to handle logistics and supply transport missions.
...
"Secret Technique: Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors."
Bursting from the ice mirrors, Feng Bai eliminated a Cloud ninja who appeared to be a jōnin, then slipped back inside and reemerged from another direction.
In large-scale ninja warfare, those charging at the front were mostly chūnin or genin, making the combat rather monotonous—primarily close-quarters weapons and taijutsu exchanges.
For chūnin and genin with severely limited ninjutsu reserves and chakra capacity, only when their lives faced serious threats would they consider using escape techniques to survive.
But for Feng Bai, who could precisely assassinate individual targets, the absence of widespread ninjutsu bombardment allowed him to easily locate his intended victims.
Enemy jōnin naturally harbored similar objectives. While commanding from central positions, they also searched for high-threat targets on the opposing side.
After eliminating three suspected jōnin, the Cloud ninja finally noticed Feng Bai darting across the battlefield and immediately summoned jōnin reinforcements from other areas.
However, for Feng Bai with his high mobility, this posed no real threat. After all, not everyone possessed young A's terrifying speed. If he couldn't win a fight, he'd simply retreat.
Ducking beneath a menacing punch, Feng Bai dove straight into an ice mirror and escaped to another combat zone.
The battle raged from dawn until dusk, with both sides leaving behind comparable numbers of corpses before withdrawing to their respective camps.
Inside Orochimaru's tent, the commander convened a jōnin meeting—excluding Feng Bai and other Root-affiliated ninja.
"The casualty ratio isn't ideal. If this continues, we'll struggle to maintain our current battle lines."
Seated beside Orochimaru, Hyuga Hizashi reported the branch family's losses with a heavy heart. Branch members, lacking access to the main family's secret techniques, not only faced direct enemy assaults but also risked their lives protecting the precious few main family members—a truly frustrating situation.
Orochimaru paid no attention to Hyuga Hizashi, instead directing his gaze elsewhere. The seat that should have been occupied by Sarutobi Suka, the jōnin responsible for this sector's patrols, was now empty. This meant...
"Suka and his three chūnin subordinates have been killed. The perpetrator was Kumogakure's Storm Release user Kurke."
Nara Fangyuan, who had witnessed Suka's final battle, spoke through gritted teeth while clutching his wound.
"I see..."
Learning that Suka had also fallen, Orochimaru's brow furrowed slightly, his expression finally showing some change.
Just yesterday, Shimura Kazama, another patrol jōnin, had encountered the Magnet Release user Troy, who had recently recovered from serious injuries. Kazama led several Shimura clan ninja to meet the Sage of Six Paths. Now, the few remaining Sarutobi clan members in this area had also been eliminated by Cloud ninja...
After months of warfare, the original border ninja had been completely wiped out—hardly good news for Konoha.
Compared to reinforcements subsequently deployed to the battlefield, these veterans who had fought on the borders for years far exceeded other ninja in both combat effectiveness and terrain familiarity. With them present, Orochimaru could formulate more aggressive strategies without worrying about morale issues.
With fewer resources available, he'd need to adjust his tactics.
Turning to examine the map behind him, Orochimaru mentally eliminated several salients and conceived new defensive positions.
With the current number of jōnin, they should be able to hold the optimized lines.
Thinking of the numerous hastily promoted jōnin who lacked qualification to attend this meeting, Orochimaru still relied primarily on the small number of veteran jōnin within the tent.
Battlefield promotions—only a fraction of those newly elevated jōnin would survive until war's end.
"Logistics pressure is also severe. For unknown reasons, the enemy has suddenly begun extensively harassing our transport convoys. Many recent Ninja Academy graduates have fallen victim."
As Orochimaru conceptualized new defensive lines, Akimichi Tōdō, the jōnin responsible for logistics, complained to the group.
Throughout the extended conflict, Kumogakure had never targeted transport convoys. But recently, they'd begun massive infiltration operations, slaughtering isolated supply teams at every opportunity.
Newly promoted jōnin, Danzo's son...
Hearing Akimichi Tōdō's words, Orochimaru seemed to realize something, focusing his attention on the map where Cloud positions were marked.
"So that's how it is..."
Orochimaru murmured softly, then began assigning tasks to everyone.
"For now, we'll adopt a defensive posture. I'll handle the remaining matters."
Orochimaru distributed assignments to each person. The jōnin present didn't question his decisions—after this period of cooperation, they'd grown accustomed to Orochimaru's command style. He never explained his reasoning, and even if directly asked, he'd simply busy himself with other matters, completely ignoring inquiries.
Unless something managed to capture his interest.
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