Chapter 125: Everyone, Act Well! Don't Blow the Cover!
"Hehe... listen carefully, in a moment... you're going to die!"
[??!!!]
Before that Iwa Ninja could even react, a faint light had already appeared before his eyes.
Immediately... [Who am I? Where am I? What was the captain about to do just now?]
[Eh~ that headless figure ahead looks so familiar...]
Finally, as his vision blurred, that Iwa Ninja didn't understand what had happened until the moment he died.
"Hehe, Lord Mirage's ability is truly useful."
"Next, who's it going to be? Hehehe!"
...Above the stronghold.
"Release!"
As Orochimaru finished the last hand seal, the scene ahead changed once again.
The true stronghold recorded in the intelligence was revealed.
But the two sentries were missing.
Perhaps they went out on a mission.
After all... what Ninja would be a sentry for their entire life!
Then... as the stronghold officially emerged.
"Kill them!"
"Charge! The first kill belongs to us Kumo Ninjas!"
A group of Kumo Ninjas rushed out impatiently.
"Hey! You bastards, it was clearly us..."
When this scene fell into Nawaki's eyes, it naturally caused his dissatisfaction, and he immediately wanted to rush forward to compete for the first kill.
But he was grabbed by Orochimaru.
"Ouch! Teacher, why are you holding me back?"
"Hehe... there's nothing wrong with being a little late; at least it's safe! Life is quite fragile, after all!"
"No way! Master! This Barrier has already been released, what danger could there be? They wouldn't put exploding tags at their own front door, would they?"
Boom! Ah! Boom boom boom! Ahhh!
Nawaki's words were neither fast nor slow, spoken just as the Kumo Ninja at the very front reached the entrance of the stronghold.
And at that exact moment, the roar of exploding tags rang out, accompanied by waves of screams.
"You see, isn't this the danger arriving!"
Nawaki: [!!!]
[Am I that psychic?]
... "Damned Hidden Sand Village, to be so cunning as to place exploding tags at their own front door!"
"Someone, take the brothers down to recover!"
"Yes, Captain."
Once the situation at the door was cleared, the Kumo Ninja Captain turned his attention back to the interior of the stronghold.
[What's going on? Wasn't this supposed to be a large stronghold? Why haven't I seen a single Suna Ninja yet?]
Gazing into the dim and silent depths of the stronghold, the Kumo Ninja Captain's brow furrowed tightly.
Something's wrong! Very wrong, twelve out of ten wrong!
"Everyone, stay alert! Watch out for an ambush below!"
"Yes!"
After speaking, he finished his hand seals, prepared for the Suna Ninjas to strike at any moment, and then was the first to walk inside.
But when he reached the end of the corridor, a scene he never expected appeared before his eyes.
After his wide eyes retracted back into their sockets, he shouted loudly.
"Eh~, why are you here!"
"Oh~, it's you guys. You're late; the Suna Ninjas in this area have already been wiped out by us."
What! Aren't you supposed to be staying underground! Who told you to come out!"
Tch! Then aren't you supposed to be guarding the outside? Why did you appear here! And who let you in!"
Fool! Does this great one's business need your concern!"
"Then does this great one's business need your concern!"
"What did you say, you bastard!"
"I'm talking about you!"
"You..."
"Enough, follow orders!"
Just as the two were about to fight, a cold and raspy voice came from the direction of the stronghold's entrance.
"Hmph!"
Seeing that the newcomer was Orochimaru, the two of them stopped their hands.
There was no other way; they couldn't beat him.
After ending this little interlude, Orochimaru finally focused his attention on the Suna Ninja corpses on the ground.
Judging from the wounds on the bodies, they were all killed with a single fatal blow.
However... the position of this wound... why is there one that pierced through the backside?
"Tell me how you killed them!"
"Yes, Lord Commander."
"After we went underground, we were originally following your instructions to lie in wait. But then one of my subordinates reported that they found no Barrier or sensing formula in the stronghold's underground.
So, I thought this was an opportunity to see if we could set up an ambush inside the stronghold, so we could provide timely support when you charged in.
Thus, I led my subordinates toward the interior of the stronghold.
Then I discovered that the people from the Hidden Sand Village were very lax inside the stronghold, even eating melon seeds."
After finishing, he pointed indignantly at the melon seed shells on the ground.
"So, I thought this was an opportunity. Since there weren't many Suna Ninjas in this area, I arranged for my subordinates to infiltrate the ground beneath each Suna Ninja, and then... it became what you see now, Lord! Everything was just that coincidental and smooth."
"Hehehe..." Hearing Higurashi's report, Orochimaru let out a meaningful laugh.
"What a simple and smooth assassination!"
"To think that the Suna Ninjas who had been suppressing us for a week would actually die in such large numbers so inadvertently. Hehehe, Captain Higurashi, you truly are an elite Ninja of Hidden Stone Village!"
"Hah! Thank you for the praise, Lord Commander!"
Orochimaru: [...]
"Alright, let's continue moving forward. I believe there are still many Suna Ninjas inside."
"Yes."
Hearing Orochimaru's words, the Hidden Cloud Village Captain was the first to lose his patience and took the lead.
There was no choice; Hidden Stone Village had already taken the lead in gaining merit. If Hidden Stone Village took the lead again next time, it would be hard to report back.
They would say Hidden Cloud Village was just a bunch of slackers who only knew how to scavenge during the chaos.
What! You're saying there's still Konoha!
Well, Konoha belongs to the commander; how could any achievement not be credited to him?
Watching both the Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Stone Village sides enter the interior together, Orochimaru did not move for a long time.
Instead, he looked toward the Ninjas of his own side.
"How is it?"
"Reporting to Lord Orochimaru, no traces of genjutsu were found on the Hidden Stone Village people.
The Suna Ninja corpses on the ground are also fine.
No signs of disguise were discovered."
Hearing his subordinate's report,
Orochimaru couldn't help but wash his face with his tongue.
"Hehehe... interesting. To think the Hidden Sand Village, which was clearly suppressing the Allied Forces, would become so careless. I'm getting more and more curious! Hehehe... I'm really looking forward to the Hidden Sand Village's next performance! Hehehe!"
As Orochimaru's voice fell, sounds of fighting and shouting could be heard faintly in the distance.
"Who are you! Where are the external guards! How did you break in!"
"Jie jie jie... want to know? Then go ask them yourselves down below!"
"Ah~ Lightning Release! Take this!"
Five minutes later... under the sudden attack of the Kumo and Iwa Ninjas and the Suna Ninjas' lack of preparation, the battle quickly reached its end.
Only a few Suna Ninjas were left putting up a fierce resistance, but as they were surrounded by more and more enemy Ninjas, death was only a matter of time.
"Ah!!! Lord Kazekage will avenge us!"
As the last Suna Ninja finished his final words... this Hidden Sand Village stronghold was officially captured by the Allied Forces, and not a single person escaped.
It could be said that the mission assigned by the Allied Forces was completed perfectly.
"Hehehe... very good!"
"Everyone, clean up the battlefield, gather any useful intelligence, and then we will leave this place."
"Yes!"
After arranging for everyone to get busy,
Orochimaru also secretly surveyed the surroundings, and his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
All of this was seen by Nawaki, who was standing to the side.
"Teacher, why do you have such a worried look? Haven't we already finished the mission?"
Listening to his disciple's words, Orochimaru didn't know how to complain in his heart.
[As expected! I really shouldn't have let him stay with Jiraiya.]
"Nawaki! What do you think of the Ninjas of the Hidden Sand Village?"
"Emmm..."
Although he didn't know why his teacher was asking him a question here, Nawaki still thought carefully for a long time before saying,
"Teacher, the Ninjas of the Hidden Sand Village are all very strong. Any one of them could serve as a regular Chunin captain in other Ninja villages."
"Hehe, yes. Any one of them is at the level of a Chunin captain; they should be experienced and of no small combat power.
Yet, such a group of people were dismissed as a bunch of arrogant fools, and the majority were killed by us in just ten minutes, and in the end, not a single person escaped!
Nawaki! Don't you find it strange?"
"Uh..."
Hearing Orochimaru's words, Nawaki was suddenly startled.
"That's true! Teacher, could there be a trap here? Should we warn them?"
"Warn them? With what? These corpses all over the ground?"
"All we can do now is stay alert and be ready to run for our lives at any moment!"
... "Um. Teacher, I understand."
"Very good, remember to stay close to me."
... Half an hour later.
"Reporting to the Lord Commander, the stronghold has been completely organized. All useful information has been packed up; it's all in these boxes."
Gazing at the dozen or so large boxes that had been packed, and seeing that no ambush had appeared in the stronghold so far,
Orochimaru for the first time felt doubt about his own judgment, but his expression remained unchanged.
"Mhm, then let's set out."
After speaking, he moved aside, revealing the exit.
"Yes, Lord Commander."
[Strange! Could it be that I really thought wrong!]
Orochimaru took one last look at the dilapidated state of the stronghold and the scattered severed limbs.
He had even secretly summoned a snake to take a bite, and found that they really were corpses.
[Forget it, maybe I'm overthinking it!]
[Hehe, how truly boring!]
Immediately, he turned and walked out of the stronghold.
Little did they know... inside the stronghold, a change was quietly occurring... the severed limbs remained the same... the only change was that the symbols on the clothes were no longer those of the Hidden Sand Village... Outside the stronghold.
Seeing that Orochimaru had still not come out, a group of Iwa Ninjas were gathering together, but they weren't speaking.
Of course, from an angle where others couldn't see clearly, two people's eyes were blinking furiously.
[Blink... blink blink...]
[Lord Yahiko... why hasn't Orochimaru come out yet? Could he have discovered something?]
[Impossible! All the fighting traces and corpses are real; I only had Mirage change the clothes on them, everything else is unchanged!]
[Then why hasn't he come out yet?]
[Maybe he's just cautious. After all, it's our first time acting; there are bound to be some omissions. It's normal for him to be a little suspicious.]
[True! There were indeed many flaws this time, like how we died too quickly. To be honest, I almost didn't believe it myself, hahaha.]
[Also! Not a single one of us escaped! Whose idea was this script! Are we Suna Ninjas really that weak!]
[Uh... Lord Yahiko! This really isn't our fault!]
[We also wanted to hold back and let a few people escape before killing them.]
[But... those Iwa and Kumo Ninjas were too weak.]
[Ah... no! It's that those Kumo Ninjas were far too good at killing their own people, it was so clean and efficient. Before we could even react, they were all dead!]
Yahiko: [...]
[Sigh! Forget it, let it be. Remember, our target this time is Orochimaru and his disciple Nawaki!]
[The rest... don't matter!]
[Damn it, if the old man hadn't said this Orochimaru is especially good at running, I wouldn't have bothered with all this trouble!]
[Eh! He's out, he's out! Everyone act well, don't blow the cover! Remember to remind the brothers playing the Kumo Ninjas to be more arrogant!]
[Yes! Lord Yahiko!]
... Looking at the Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Stone Village Ninjas sitting in their respective groups, Orochimaru was relatively satisfied.
At least... they hadn't started fighting outside again.
"Alright! We set out..."
"Wait!"
Just as Orochimaru was about to give the order to depart,
A voice coming from the Hidden Cloud Village direction interrupted Orochimaru's next words.
"Oh~, is something the matter?"
"Hehe, nothing, just congratulations to the Lord Commander."
"Oh~, congratulations on what?"
"Congratulations to the Lord Commander for getting the top credit so easily without even having to lift a finger!"
Orochimaru: [???? Hehe!!!]
Everyone else: [!!!]
Yahiko: [You're the death of me! I didn't tell you to be that arrogant!]
... On the way back, Orochimaru and the Konoha group walked at the very front, followed by the Hidden Stone Village team, and then the Hidden Cloud Village team.
Only now, in the Hidden Cloud Village team, a person was lying on a stretcher, looking utterly despondent.
For no other reason than Yahiko was cursing him out through Mirage's Mental Communication!
... "Strange!"
"What's wrong, Teacher?"
Nawaki, who was walking behind Orochimaru, asked after hearing Orochimaru's self-muttering ahead.
"Nawaki, don't you find this whole journey very strange?"
"Strange? Teacher, do you mean..."
"The environment!"
"The environment?"
Hearing Orochimaru point it out specifically, Nawaki also began to survey the surroundings seriously.
"Emmm..."
"I don't see anything!"
Orochimaru: [... It's all that idiot Jiraiya's fault!]
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