"Lord Orochimaru." Seeing Orochimaru look over, Dosuke stepped forward to greet him.
Orochimaru waved a hand, his voice a low, hoarse rasp. "Dosuke-kun, tomorrow we will have a preliminary confrontation with Sunagakure. I expect your medical department to do its utmost to treat the wounded."
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. The medical department will be fully set up by tonight. We will go all out to treat the wounded," Dosuke replied succinctly.
Receiving a satisfactory answer from Dosuke, Orochimaru's tongue flicked out to trace his lips. He showed a faint smile.
He turned and picked up several small wooden markers, each painted with a leaf symbol, and began placing them on the sand table. "Shikaku, order the troops to begin occupying these positions." Orochimaru pointed to the locations he had just marked.
"Lord Orochimaru, won't this spread our forces too thin?" Shikaku voiced a different opinion, looking at the scattered markers. The points were indeed very dispersed.
Shikaku and the other strategists exchanged glances. As ninja who had also survived the Second Great Ninja War, their experience in judging battlefield situations was undeniable.
The locations Orochimaru had marked were in the north of the Land of Rivers. There was a significant gap between the current position of the Suna army and the heartland of the Land of Rivers, which they predicted would become the main battlefield. In their view, stationing troops at these outposts would not play a major role.
Orochimaru glanced at everyone present with his cold, serpentine eyes. "My objective is to direct the main theater of battle northward. Firstly, to prevent a potential pincer movement from a combined force of Sunagakure and Iwagakure."
"If Iwagakure cannot resist crossing the border from the Land of Rain into the Land of Rivers, these outposts will serve as ideal observation points." Orochimaru's words stunned everyone.
He was essentially using the lives of the ninja at those marker points as an early warning system. If Iwagakure did infiltrate, the ninja at those positions would be the first to fall, becoming cannon fodder.
Thinking this, Dosuke looked up at Orochimaru, the man known as one of the Legendary Sannin alongside his teacher. The Orochimaru before him now gave off an aura of one who controlled the battlefield with a violent indifference to all else. This is really a dangerous and mysterious figure. No wonder Orochimaru later defected from Konoha and established the Sound Ninja Village, with followers like Kimimaro who fought to the death for him.
"Shikaku, go and assign the personnel. Let us execute the plan!" Orochimaru's slightly hoarse voice cut through the silence.
After the plans for the next day's battle were finalized, the various leaders began to disperse.
Dosuke, Ayase Asami, and Yamamatsu Taihe returned to the medical tent with heavy hearts.
Yamamatsu Taihe sat heavily on a stool. "Should we assign some medical ninja to the front lines tomorrow?"
Dosuke thought for a moment. "No. Orochimaru did not give us a specific task for that. Tomorrow, we just need to ensure that the wounded brought back to camp receive timely treatment."
"Uncle Yamamatsu, please work on a simple triage plan."
"Aunt Ayase,please relay tomorrow's tasks to the rest of the medical department."
"I will go to the supply division now to confirm the medical supplies we might need tomorrow."
"Understood," Yamamatsu Taihe and Ayase Asami agreed immediately.
Seeing their compliance, Dosuke breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Fortunately, the people Tsunade had assigned were all familiar to him. If there had been one or two difficult individuals, given his age and official rank, he would likely have faced dissent.
Stepping out of the tent and seeing the ninja patrolling outside, Dosuke felt slightly more at ease. Having determined his course, he headed towards the supply depot not far away.
---
Just after dawn the next day, Dosuke, who had slept in his clothes, was awakened by a sudden commotion. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he stepped out of his tent.
The medical tents, empty the day before, were now filled with the sounds of pained moans. The medics of the medical department hurriedly shuttled between them.
"Why are there so many wounded?" He stopped a nurse rushing past him.
"Ah! Dosuke!" The nurse, Yukino, exclaimed, then covered her mouth after seeing who had grabbed her arm.
"Sister Yukino, what are you doing at the front line?" Dosuke was speechless; he hadn't expected to randomly grab someone he knew.
Yukino repeatedly patted her chest, calming her startled heart. "You can come, why can't I? You know I'm a multi-time winner of the Hospital Excellence Award!" She rolled her eyes at him.
"Ah..." Seeing her like this, Dosuke decided not to press the question of her presence. "Sister Yukino, why are there so many wounded all of a sudden?"
"I heard from the wounded that Sunagakure launched a sneak attack this morning. Well, I can not talk anymore; I have to deliver this." Yukino held up the medicine in her hands and trotted off towards another medical tent.
"A sneak attack by Sunagakure?"
"Dosuke!" Yamamatsu Taihe called out, his portly frame moving towards him as quickly as he could.
"Uncle Yamamatsu, what is the condition of the wounded?"
"Most of the injuries this time are burns.I have already triaged them. A significant number of the injured are Jonin."
"Who led the attack,Uncle Yamamatsu?" Hearing that the wounded were mostly handled, Dosuke relaxed a little.
"I am not sure.I heard it was a woman leading a small team. Fortunately, they were discovered early, so there were not too many casualties. Lord Orochimaru has already led a team in pursuit."
"I see. Then I will go check on the wounded." Dosuke was taken aback to hear that Orochimaru himself had given chase.
With Orochimaru's abilities, it was impossible that he had not anticipated a potential Suna sneak attack. Therefore, Orochimaru must have been certain someone would attack the Konoha camp and had planned to eliminate the attackers.
Generally, the ninjas performing such tasks are elite ninjas in the village. Those who are not capable enough will not only fail to scare the enemy but may also be captured and leak their own village's information.
If you come to attack the enemy camp, but the methods are very rough, you will be caught as soon as you come. One's own side should be careful; this may be a team specially sent by the other side to be caught, in order to feed the enemy false information.
Inside a medical tent, Dosuke looked at a ninja lying on a cot, a young man roughly his own age. 80.00% of his back was severely burned. The combined assault of fire and poison had affected his heart, and his face was flushed an unnatural, feverish red.
A medic-nin beside him was repeatedly cleaning the wound with disinfectant. The moment it was cleaned, new pus and blood would ooze out. The dripping blood and water under the simple bed mixed into a stream that meandered outwards.