[send some power stones please]
Sunagakure had lost.
There was no doubt about it—because the Fourth Kazekage had been defeated by Orochimaru.
In any hidden village, the "Kage" was usually the strongest shinobi in the village—or at least one of the very strongest. Among ninja, there was a clear distinction between a mere "Kage-level fighter" and "the Kage of a village".
If it was just a powerful Kage-level shinobi losing, morale would take a hit, yes—but the war could go on.
If the village's Kage lost?
Morale didn't just drop.
It collapsed.
If it had been the Third Hokage who defeated the Fourth Kazekage, Suna's psychological blow might've been weaker. After all, Hiruzen's fame shook the entire shinobi world, while the Fourth Kazekage had only recently taken the hat. Losing to Hiruzen would be… understandable.
But the one who beat Rasa—
Was Orochimaru.
Orochimaru did have the title of one of the Legendary Sannin, but he wasn't officially "the strongest" of Konoha. The very name "Sannin" implied there were two others on his level.
If the strongest shinobi in Sunagakure—the Fourth Kazekage himself—couldn't even beat one of the Sannin…
Then how were they supposed to defeat all of Konoha?
Once that seed of despair took root, Suna's morale shattered completely.
Even though Chiyo's gas attack had taken a toll on Konoha and thrown the entire battlefield into chaos, all it really accomplished was making the defeat a bit less one-sided.
It didn't change the result.
At the same time, Feiyu finally learned why Pakura hadn't been with Chiyo earlier.
After the Fourth Kazekage was poisoned and beaten into unconsciousness by Orochimaru, it was Pakura who stepped up to block him, barely holding the line long enough for the Suna forces to withdraw.
Orochimaru had already burned through a massive amount of chakra in his fight with Rasa and wasn't in great condition. If he'd been fresh—or Pakura less prepared—she absolutely would've died there.
After listening to all this, Feiyu's eyes flashed with interest.
He said goodbye to the Konoha shinobi who'd briefed him and headed toward the rally point they'd described.
Much of the Kikyō defensive line had been smashed to rubble, but when he arrived, he saw an improvised "building" made entirely from Earth Release. Some of the Konoha shinobi standing guard outside were still bandaged, bodies wrapped in fresh medical tape.
When they saw Feiyu approaching, their faces brightened visibly.
"Feiyu-kun, right? Come in," a hoarse voice called. "Cough, cough…"
Orochimaru's voice had always been low, but now it carried a noticeable lack of breath, his words cut short by a ragged cough.
When Feiyu stepped through the entrance, the first thing he saw was Orochimaru sitting on a crude stone bench, his face tinged faintly green.
Feiyu sniffed lightly and spoke up.
"Orochimaru-senpai, you've been poisoned?"
Orochimaru coughed a few more times before answering.
"Kh… yes. Rasa's Magnet Release is weaker than his predecessor's, but the poison laced into his gold dust is far nastier than the toxins in the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand."
With Orochimaru's arsenal of survival tricks—and his personal snake-substitution jutsu—most injuries could be healed with chakra expenditure alone. It took particularly vicious poisons to really make him suffer.
"But in the end, you still won, didn't you?" Feiyu said.
At that, Orochimaru's lips curled into a thin smile.
"Heh… I have you to thank for that, Feiyu-kun. The breeding method you traded me worked beautifully—the Silver-Scaled Vipers perform even better than I expected."
"The Fourth Kazekage was bitten by them," Orochimaru continued, eyes glinting. "Compared to him, my condition is practically comfortable."
Feiyu blinked.
"You already managed to breed the Silver-Scaled Vipers? It's only been, what, half a year? That's really fast."
Orochimaru chuckled softly.
With a casual flick of his fingers, he reached toward the sword at his side.
From the scabbard, a sudden burst of silver flashed out—
At first glance, it looked like an eerie, beautiful silver longsword.
Its overall shape was almost exactly like that "Golden Snake Sword" from an old wuxia film—only silver instead of gold.
Feiyu's eyes narrowed.
On closer inspection, the "blade" wasn't metal at all.
It was nine Silver-Scaled Vipers, tightly coiled around each other to form a sword.
Their tightly interlocked scales shimmered like polished steel. If he hadn't looked carefully, Feiyu would've thought it was forged from some precious metal.
Orochimaru gave the Silver Snake Sword a light swing.
Shhk.
The edge sliced cleanly through the corner of the stone table, the chunk falling aside with barely a sound.
Feiyu clicked his tongue.
Even knowing ahead of time that the Silver-Scaled Vipers' bodies were incredibly tough—resistant to blades and reinforced further by chakra—he was still taken aback.
He could sense measurable chakra surging through each little serpent.
In terms of raw chakra, a single Silver-Scaled Viper was on par with a typical tokubetsu jōnin.
It wasn't hard to picture how the fight had gone now.
The Fourth Kazekage, already battered from the battle, taking one bite from that sword—
And then everything going downhill from there.
He hadn't expected that the duel between two Kage-level monsters would end with both sides poisoned.
"Heh. With my poison in him, Sunagakure will have to change Kazekage again," Orochimaru said lightly. "I imagine this war will be ending soon."
The arrogance in his tone was obvious—
But Feiyu didn't find it unjustified.
Suna's poison expertise was respectable, but in the Condor Trilogy world where the Silver-Scaled Vipers came from, these snakes were contenders for the single most terrifying toxin in existence.
Feiyu honestly did not believe Suna could cure it.
"Right… what about Pakura?" Feiyu asked. "What's her condition now? And didn't Akimichi Torifū-senpai say he'd hold off one of their big guns? How did it end up being Chiyo and Pakura two-on-one against me?"
Orochimaru's pale face twisted into a dry, bitter smile.
"By the time the Scorch Release user arrived, I'd already been poisoned. She wasn't in great shape either. We fought for a bit, but neither of us could keep it up. In the end, we both pulled back."
"As for Torifū-senpai…"
Orochimaru exhaled slowly.
"He got caught by one of Chiyo's puppets. He's been poisoned as well."
"…So out of six major players, three ended up poisoned in one battle. That's… something."
Feiyu couldn't help commenting.
Naturally, anything used by the Fourth Kazekage or Chiyo wasn't going to be ordinary toxin. Regular medical ninjutsu could barely suppress their effects; full recovery would take time and rest.
Unless Tsunade herself returned to the front lines, Orochimaru and Torifū probably wouldn't be able to fight at more than half their usual capability any time soon.
On the other hand, Suna might actually have it worse.
Chiyo had lost a hand. In the future she could maybe craft a puppet prosthetic, but for now she could only control five puppets instead of ten. Her puppet count was halved; her effective combat power was probably down to thirty percent.
As for the Fourth Kazekage…
His question wasn't "can he still fight".
It was closer to "should someone start planning the funeral".
Pakura was the only one relatively intact—though "intact" was generous.
After a couple days of rest and treatment, she'd be back to full strength. Her injuries themselves were manageable; the bigger issue was blood loss and recovery time.
"…Wait."
Feiyu paused.
"If you look at it that way… the only Kage-level still in full condition on this whole battlefield…"
"Is me."
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