Chapter 209
2-in-1-chapter
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That godforsaken, damp, miserable dump known as Amegakure—Orochimaru had never even been interested in building a base there.
But now, it seemed he may have missed a good opportunity.
Still, Orochimaru didn't feel the least bit of regret over the trade. Each party had gotten what they needed—nothing more than mutual benefit.
"Akatsuki… Pain… and Uchiha Madara… now that's interesting," Orochimaru muttered, giving his sleeve a slight shake. A large serpent slithered out across the snowy ground, winding its way up to Rēn and opening its massive jaws.
And then—
Rēn saw it. From the snake's mouth, a fan emerged.
It was red and white, shaped like the spread tail feathers of a peacock, and over a meter in length.
"Couldn't you have cleaned it up a little first?" Rēn muttered as he looked at the fan, now dripping with snake saliva. He formed a hand seal and used a Water Whip to coil around the weapon, dragging it out of the snake's mouth and tossing it onto the snow. Then he summoned clean water to rinse it thoroughly.
With a puff of smoke—Puff!—the snake vanished, returning to Ryūchidō.
"By the way, Orochimaru, leave me a way to contact you. It'll be easier to arrange deals in the future." As he saw Orochimaru preparing to leave, Rēn quickly called out.
The man had plenty of valuable items on him, and this certainly wouldn't be the last time they'd cross paths. Rather than leaving it up to luck and searching aimlessly next time, it was better to establish a line of communication now.
"Interesting."
Orochimaru smiled at Rēn, then pulled a scroll from his sleeve and tossed it over. "You can summon a messenger with this to contact me." With that, he wasted no further time and immediately released the Shadow Clone Technique.
In the vast, snow-swept wilderness, Rēn was left standing alone.
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"Lord Raikage? Lord Raikage?"
The voice of Mabui, his secretary, stirred Ai from his dazed state. He opened his eyes, pushing away the suffocating, painful images in his mind and let out a faint breath.
"What's the situation? How heavy are the losses?"
He had returned to the Kumogakure forward base in the Land of Hot Water.
Of course, he hadn't come back alone—he had led the entire army back through the wind and snow. But compared to the spirited and determined departure, their return was so worn-down and defeated it was almost hard to believe. The morale had sunk so low that many of the shinobi stationed at the base stood speechless as they watched them return.
"Lord Dodai has finished accounting for the entire force. The casualties… are not heavy. Total dead and wounded doesn't exceed two hundred." Mabui responded cautiously. As the newly appointed secretary to the Raikage, she didn't yet have the same understanding of his temperament that her predecessor had.
"But most of them were Jōnin, weren't they?"
Ai's expression darkened.
He didn't know the exact losses under Dodai's command, but he clearly remembered how many elite Jōnin had set out with him—and how few had returned. The part that tore at him the most was the fate of his younger brother. The Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Killer B, had stayed behind to cover the army's retreat and had fallen into Konoha's hands.
Though he couldn't say it aloud, the truth was: He would rather have lost two or three thousand soldiers than lose B.
A perfect Jinchūriki's value on the battlefield far exceeded that of several thousand shinobi. Even a hundred Jōnin could not tip the scales compared to him.
Mabui held her breath, not daring to speak.
Thankfully, Ai was not the kind to take his anger out on others. In the past, whenever something upset him, he would vent with his fists—on walls, boulders, anything solid. And whenever he got like that, B would always come by to calm him down with his strange, offbeat speech style.
It was irritating enough to make anyone frown, and sometimes Ai would lose patience and throw a punch or two just to shut him up.
But now—He realized that even if he wanted to hear that ridiculous voice again, it wasn't there. That sense of loss hit him like a knife to the chest.
"I wonder how B's doing now…"
When Mabui heard the Raikage muttering to himself, she instinctively lowered even her breathing to near silence.
"Where's Dodai? Why isn't he here yet?" Ai asked, shifting the topic.
"Lord Dodai went to visit Troy with the medical ninja. He asked me to come report to you first," Mabui answered quickly. But as she was speaking, a knock came at the door—knock knock—and Dodai's voice followed from outside.
He wasn't alone when he entered.
Following behind him were C and Troy, both visibly drained and worn out.
C, who had been prepared to die in battle, hadn't managed to fulfill that wish. As a talented all-round Jōnin proficient in both sensory and medical ninjutsu, he was widely respected in the village. His comrades had believed that keeping him alive would serve the village better.
And so, C had not died. He had survived and retreated with the main force.
As for Troy, he hadn't exactly left the battlefield of his own will—he had been knocked unconscious by Ai during the retreat and forcibly brought back.
"Dodai, I heard from Mabui that our army didn't suffer many losses?"
"Yes. Those who died in battle were mostly Jōnin. The dozens of injured Genin were hurt during the retreat—most of them slipped in the snow. The snowfall was too heavy, and they couldn't tell whether the ground ahead was flat or uneven, so they fell and got injured. But none of the injuries are serious. The worst case was a fractured bone, which will heal in about twenty days. The others just twisted ankles or suffered abrasions…"
Dodai rambled on about a pile of small matters, and Ai , standing across from him, didn't interrupt. He simply listened patiently.
Normally, Ai , as the Raikage, would handle troop morale personally. But today's near-defeat, though it couldn't be called a total collapse, had clearly shaken him. On top of that, the prolonged, intense battle with Uchiha Fugaku had drained his strength. Maintaining Lightning Release Chakra Mode at full power for such an extended period took a toll even on him.
After returning, Ai truly didn't have the energy to make his usual rounds through the encampment and could only entrust the task of morale upkeep to Dodai.
Dodai dragged things out for a while, and when he finally ran out of things to say, he looked at the silent Fourth Raikage.
"This time... we lost."
After a long silence, Ai finally spoke. His words made Mabui's eyelid twitch, and C, standing behind Dodai, looked completely ashen. As for Troy, his expression had already turned so grim it couldn't possibly darken further.
"It was a harsh loss. Konoha's strength exceeded what we anticipated."
Mabui stared in disbelief as Dodai openly agreed with the Raikage's assessment of their defeat. But naturally, a statement like that always came with a "but."
"But our battle with Konoha isn't over yet. Raikage-sama, is there really any need to sigh in defeat here? Are you planning to deliver a surrender letter to Konoha? If you've made up your mind, I can help you write it right now."
"…I lost my composure."
Ai straightened his back. The sense of frustration and weariness that clung to him seemed to loosen slightly. Maybe the brief rest had helped somewhat—there was a bit more focus in his gaze now.
"B... Ever since he fully mastered the Eight-Tails' power, I honestly never believed anything could happen to him."
"The situation still hasn't reached its worst point. Overall, we still hold the advantage in strength. This defeat was mainly due to bad intel. If we had known the Uchiha had two Mangekyō Sharingan users, we definitely would have taken Yugito along with us..."
"It's three."
Ai cut him off.