Orochimaru had clearly noticed that Mikami Yuu was covering for Obito, and that Obito had quite a few objections to his plan.
But Orochimaru did not care.
After all…
A dead-last failure who had barely managed to become a chūnin more than a year after graduating from the Ninja Academy, someone even the Uchiha clan itself looked down on—what gave him the right to criticize a battle plan Orochimaru had devised?
If Mikami Yuu or Nara Shikaku had raised questions, Orochimaru might still have patiently explained, or considered whether he needed to slightly adjust his strategy based on their opinions.
But Obito…
Hmph. The wisdom of an ordinary fool.
Saying even one extra word to someone with such low intelligence would count as his loss.
So Orochimaru turned his gaze toward Nara Shikaku.
"Shikaku, I have carefully considered the uncertainties you mentioned. To ensure the success of the plan, Konoha must first clash head-on with Sunagakure, then withdraw at the right moment…
"I plan to go find Jiraiya later and discuss this in detail. If you have nothing else to do, come with me. We should be able to come up with a plan that is sound in every respect."
Strictly speaking, Jiraiya was also a low-IQ idiot. The same doubt Obito had raised just now might also come from him, and Orochimaru would have to explain it to him.
So Orochimaru planned to bring along a smart person to help persuade Jiraiya.
Nara Shikaku understood this perfectly. After a brief silence, he nodded.
"I understand."
"Good."
Orochimaru nodded slightly, then looked toward Mikami Yuu and the others.
"As for the rest of you… your mission is to set traps on the high ground, passes, and possible retreat routes on both sides of Mount Kikyo, preparing for the ambush that follows.
"Before you arrived, I already conducted a simple survey of the terrain in this area and drew up a map. I'll hand it over to you shortly. You'll carry out a more thorough investigation and choose suitable locations to set things up.
"For this, you may consult Maruboshi Kosuke more often. He has extensive experience."
Maruboshi Kosuke, whose name had been mentioned, smiled and nodded.
As Konoha's veteran genin, Maruboshi Kosuke had personally participated in the First and Second Ninja World Wars, and he had survived both of them. In theory, he could continue living all the way until Naruto reached adulthood. Such rich frontline combat experience was rare even across all of Konoha.
Orochimaru knew this, which was why he had specifically included him in the team. Otherwise, with Kosuke's strength, he could have been assigned to more frontline duties.
After the series of assignments was completed,
Orochimaru waved his hand, signaling Nara Shikaku to stay behind for discussion. Everyone else, including Mikami Yuu, was to take the map and go out to survey and prepare the area.
Only after they left the stone chambers did Obito finally lose his patience. He called out to Mikami Yuu and shouted angrily,
"Hey, Yuu, why did you stop me just now?! That guy's plan clearly doesn't make sense!"
"…First of all, you should call him Lord Orochimaru."
Mikami Yuu corrected Obito's wording, then let out a soft breath and said, "Second, since you think that tactic is unreasonable, do you have a better plan?"
"…No."
Obito shook his head very straightforwardly.
"I just think there's something wrong with this plan. Why do we get to sit here and decide the life and death of our comrades guarding the border with just a few words and some seemingly proper reasons?
"If we switched places with them, wouldn't we also become 'necessary sacrifices' without knowing anything? That's way too unfair!"
"…"
Hearing this, Asuma and Kurenai both turned their heads. They seemed to have similar thoughts in their hearts, only they had not dared say them earlier.
Especially Asuma.
As the rebellious son of the Sarutobi clan, a subtle thought arose in his heart: if he were not the son of the Third Hokage… where would he be assigned right now? Would he be like those ordinary ninja, filling the front line, waiting to be "sacrificed"?
If so, did that count as an abuse of authority?
It felt… kind of unpleasant.
"Don't think too much about it."
Mikami Yuu glanced at them, his expression calm.
"War always comes with death. Since you don't have a better plan, you can only follow this second-best one for now, and think through every step as carefully as possible to reduce potential casualties.
"If you were strong enough to defeat the entire Sunagakure force by yourself, then you could say whatever you wanted, and all of us would listen to you."
In theory, there was currently no one in Konoha who could do that.
Not even Namikaze Minato.
Although the "Spiraling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three" was very powerful and could kill dozens of enemies at once, Minato's chakra was not unlimited. He could not use that move infinitely. If a thousand Suna ninja swarmed him at once, he might not be able to kill them all before his chakra ran out.
Besides, Minato was currently facing Kumogakure at the northeastern border, so he would not be able to come over anytime soon.
Obito was clearly still unconvinced.
But with his genius-level stupidity, he really could not come up with anything to refute Mikami Yuu. He could only shut his mouth gloomily, his face red from frustration, and follow beside Yuu and Nohara Rin as they began surveying the terrain.
Next,
they spent an entire day walking through the main body of Mount Kikyo and the surrounding area, comparing the terrain they saw with Orochimaru's map and roughly figuring out the situation.
"Looks like Mount Kikyo's overall terrain forms an irregular U-shape. What Orochimaru wants to do is lure Sunagakure into the inside of this U-shape, then cut off the entrance. Using the terrain advantage, a small force can block the Suna ninja behind them while the ones trapped inside are eaten up."
Mikami Yuu looked at the map spread out on a rock, now supplemented with additional markings, and pondered.
It was clear that Orochimaru's plan had not been made on a whim. It was the result of careful thought. Overall, there were no major issues, and its chances of success were very high.
Only…
"Yuu, the places we passed earlier seem to have villages, right? And a little farther away here, there's also Kikyo City…"
Nohara Rin crouched down, her fingertip brushing over several inconspicuous ink dots near the edge of the map. She sighed softly.
"These places are too close to the U-shaped battlefield. If we fight Sunagakure's forces here, then the people living in those towns and villages will probably…"
~~~
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