It was already the next morning when Chao Yanqian woke up again.
"Thousands, you're awake! Great!" Seeing Asakuji waking up, Hoshinohara shouted immediately.
"What's the matter?" Chao Yanqian asked with a frown.
Just waking up, Chao Yanqian still felt a little groggy in his brain and a little confused.
"You fainted yesterday, Keita and I carried you back. You have been in a coma for eight hours," Hoshinohara said.
"Where is Keita?" Chao Yanqian asked.
"Hey! Over there! Keita also suffered a serious injury, lost too much blood, and is now in a coma." Hoshinohara pointed to the bed beside him and said.
"Huh! It's okay!" He let out a sigh, finally relieved.
"Are you all right?" Hoshinohara asked, concerned.
Chao Yanqian shook his head and said, "It's okay, my chakra is just exhausted."
While speaking, he made seals with his hands and attempted to use the Mystical Palm Technique (Shōsen Jutsu) to treat the wound on his left shoulder.
The Mystical Palm Technique is an advanced Medical Ninjutsu that accelerates cell regeneration and heals wounds within minutes. During battle, if a medical ninja proficient in this technique is present, it is like having an extra life.
Unfortunately, Chao Yanqian's current chakra reserves were too low—not enough to fight, let alone use Mystical Palm to heal his companions.
"I'm going to see how Keita's injury is." After healing his own wounds, he walked over to Keita Hyūga, who was lying on another bed. "Yes, last night... How did it go? I remember that the Sand Shinobi was very strong. What about our casualties?"
"The casualties were manageable. Luckily, Lord Orochimaru arrived just in time last night and wiped out the group of Sand Shinobi. Otherwise, we might have been annihilated," Hoshinohara exaggerated.
"Orochimaru?" Chao Yanqian was startled and frowned. "How did Orochimaru get information to come and support us? Even if he learned about the situation, it shouldn't have been possible for him to arrive so quickly."
"I don't know either. Maybe Lord Orochimaru had received intel beforehand!" Hoshinohara said blankly.
Forget it. Judging by his expression, he clearly doesn't know anything.
After giving Keita Hyūga a basic wound treatment, he turned to Mizuno and asked, "Are there any other wounded in the camp?"
"Yes!" Hoshinohara nodded, then suddenly exclaimed, "Oh right! Sensei Ueno was poisoned by a Sand Jonin. He might need to be sent back to the village for treatment."
"Damn! You idiot! How could you say it like that?"Chao Yanqian scolded before adding, "I have some antidotes in my ninja pouch. They might be useful. Let's go check on him!"
"Okay!" Hoshinohara nodded, then said, "But don't push yourself too hard,Chao Yanqian."
"It's fine. I feel much better now…"
"Ah! Ah…"
Before reaching Ueno-sensei's tent, they could already hear screams from inside. Sand Shinobi poisons were never easy to endure.
Walking into the tent, Chao Yanqian first noticed four or five injured shinobi writhing on their hospital beds, groaning in pain. A few other ninjas stood nearby, discussing the situation.
"Hey kid, what are you doing here?" A ninja suddenly shouted as he saw Chao Yanqian rushing in.
"I'm a medical ninja. I'm here to check on their condition," Chao Yanqian replied as he approached Ueno.
"A medical ninja? You? A kid?" The ninja sneered and moved to block his way. "Get lost! This isn't a place for children to play!"
Smack!
With a swift motion, Chao Yanqian tapped the ninja's thigh using the Chakra Scalpel (Chakra no Mesu). The ninja immediately collapsed to the ground, crying out in pain.
"What are you doing?!" the others exclaimed.
"Relax. I'll treat his injury later. Let me check on the poisoned ones first," Chao Yanqian said nonchalantly, disregarding the arrogant chūnin as he walked to Ueno-sensei's side to examine his poisoning.
After a while,Chao Yanqian wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought to himself, "Good, this is manageable."
Thankfully, I brought the antidote in advance. Otherwise, they really would have needed to be sent back to Konoha.
By evening, after successfully detoxifying Ueno and the others, there was nothing more to do. Chao Yanqian slipped into the nearby forest, pondering the strange events of the previous night.
It made sense that twelve Sand Shinobi had infiltrated the Land of Fire before Konoha's borders were sealed. But how did Orochimaru arrive just in time to intercept them?
Orochimaru's camp is far from here. Even if he received intel the moment the attack happened, he shouldn't have made it so quickly!
"Yanqian, what are you thinking about?" Ueno-sensei approached and praised, "I heard you performed very well. You managed to take down three Sand Shinobi, one of whom was a Jonin. That's impressive."
"It's nothing,"Chao Yanqian replied indifferently. "I just feel like we were being used."
Since it was Ueno-sensei, he felt safe discussing his doubts. The entire operation felt too convenient, and it unsettled him.
After all, this directly involved him. If this happened multiple times, he wouldn't survive, no matter how many lives he had.
"This was a strategy devised by the village. I only learned about it afterward," Ueno admitted.
"Oh? Never mind then." Hearing that it was a Konoha strategy, Chao Yanqian lost interest in questioning further.
There were some things a mere chūnin like him wasn't meant to know. Though it felt like being used, at least it meant he had value. Being valuable was better than being insignificant.
Everything comes down to power.
"Now that it's over, I can tell you." Ueno continued, "The village sent false intel to Sunagakure, claiming that the Third Hokage would be meeting the Daimyō of the Land of Fire to discuss war preparations. In response, Sunagakure dispatched three squads—thirty-six shinobi—to assassinate the Hokage."
"But this was all a trap. The moment the Sunagakure ninjas entered the Land of Fire, Konoha sealed the borders and dispatched Lord Orochimaru to eliminate them."
Now it makes sense.
But this wasn't something the Third Hokage would have planned. Judging from his nature in the original timeline, Hiruzen Sarutobi preferred diplomacy, delaying war as long as possible while secretly preparing defenses. This was definitely Danzo Shimura's doing.
Danzo must have reasoned that war was inevitable, so eliminating a squad of Sand's elite forces beforehand would be advantageous.
However, there was no way the Third Hokage wasn't aware of this. Even if he outwardly opposed it, he must have cooperated behind the scenes.
Damn. Those two old schemers really knew how to play the game.
"But this isn't over," Ueno said gravely. "Sunagakure won't let this go unpunished. We need to remain at the border to prepare for retaliation. More reinforcements will arrive from Konoha soon."
"Chao Yanqian," Ueno added, "the real war starts now."