After waiting in the woods for about three hours, Hoshinohara finally rushed back. He arrived at the same time as a three-man ninja squad.
Upon seeing the newcomers, Chiren Chao Yanqian first glanced at Keita Hyūga, who nodded and said, "It's me!"
"Hara, you're back. What did Lord Orochimaru say?"Chao Yanqian asked.
"Those ninjas are definitely suspicious. Orochimaru-sama wants to see you," Hoshinohara said breathlessly.
"Got it!" Chao Yanqian responded, then turned to the three Konoha ninjas accompanying them and nodded. "I'll leave things here to you. Sunagakure might be planning something—stay alert."
"Don't worry! Leave it to us!"
"Let's go back!"
Konoha Camp
Since the battle with Sunagakure began, Konoha had established a unified camp. All frontline shinobi followed Orochimaru's command and received missions directly from him.
But to be honest, at the start,Chao Yanqian thought that the so-called ninja war would be like the Fourth Great Ninja War in the manga—two villages gathering their forces in an open field and engaging in a decisive battle to the death.
However, when the war actually began, it was nothing like that.
There was an unspoken rule among the Five Great Shinobi Nations: they had to maintain their dominance over the ninja world while keeping smaller villages in check. Because of this, the Shinobi World Wars had always been ambiguous in nature.
For shinobi, the so-called benefits of war were more missions and resources.
The stronger a village was, the more trust it gained, leading to more missions and greater financial backing from the daimyō.
Such things were unspoken rules—those who understood them would naturally catch on, while those who didn't would never be told outright.
If two villages clashed openly, the casualties would be too high, and no shinobi village would willingly risk that.
Most wars between villages relied on intelligence gathering, sabotage, assassinations, and small-scale skirmishes. Unless things escalated to a breaking point, full-scale battles to the death were rare.
Meeting with Orochimaru
"Lord Orochimaru!" Upon entering Orochimaru's tent, Chao Yanqian bowed respectfully.
"En!" Orochimaru responded indifferently. "Chao Yanqian, you've worked hard these past days. You've handled the assigned tasks well."
Hearing this, Chao Yanqian felt both honored and uneasy. For someone of his rank, being acknowledged by Orochimaru was a great honor, but the cold sweat on his back suggested otherwise.
Glancing up, he noticed several figures standing beside Orochimaru.
"Master Jiraiya is here too."Chao Yanqian nodded slightly in greeting, then shifted his gaze to the man behind Jiraiya.
Blond hair… it had to be Minato Namikaze!
I didn't expect him to be on the front lines too, Chao Yanqian thought.
"Well! I heard you've been doing a good job," Jiraiya said, grinning.
Unlike Orochimaru, Jiraiya's presence put Chao Yanqian at ease, and his earlier tension faded.
"Let's get to business," Orochimaru said in his usual hoarse voice. "Chao Yanqian, what did you find during this mission?"
Chao Yanqianreplied, "Aside from being attacked by two Sunagakure squads, nothing else seemed unusual. However, compared to previous patrol missions, the number of attackers was noticeably higher today. I suspect Sunagakure is planning something."
"Yeah! The village has also received intelligence suggesting that Sunagakure is up to something," Jiraiya said, placing a hand on Orochimaru's shoulder. "Orochimaru, my dear friend, I'm here to support you—consider it my way of repaying you for saving my life!"
Orochimaru ignored Jiraiya's antics and turned back to Yanqian. "Sharp observation. What do you make of this?"
Rather than answering immediately,Chao Yanqian asked, "What intelligence have we gathered from the three Sunagakure shinobi?"
Orochimaru licked his lips and smirked. "Their mission was to eliminate our patrol squads. After that, Sunagakure planned to send elite shinobi to attack our medical units. Besides your team, several other patrol squads were also targeted."
"Attacking our medical units?" Chao Yanqian frowned. "If that's their goal, we'll be in a dire situation if they succeed. But… if we obtained this information so easily, doesn't that seem suspicious?"
"Why would it be?" Jiraiya asked, rubbing his chin. "Aside from targeting our medical teams, they haven't attacked anywhere else!"
Orochimaru cast Jiraiya a disinterested glance and scoffed. "Only an idiot would take this information at face value."
"What did you say, Orochimaru?!" Jiraiya snapped.
"Where do you think Sunagakure's true target is?" Orochimaru asked, still ignoring Jiraiya's outburst.
Chao Yanqian hesitated. Orochimaru was asking him—a mere chūnin—such a critical question. Was it a test? Did Orochimaru see potential in him? Or was it something else? He wasn't sure.
But since he had been asked, he had no choice but to answer.
"We can't yet determine Sunagakure's true objective," Chao Yanqian said carefully. "However, we also can't dismiss this intelligence as false. Sunagakure might want us to believe the intel is fake so that we lower our guard around the medical units."
This is the fate of cannon fodder, Chao Yanqian thought grimly. Villages didn't care about sacrificing lower-ranking shinobi if it helped achieve a greater goal. Just like now—Sunagakure had sent countless expendable troops to mislead Konoha.
Regardless of whether Sunagakure's plan succeeded, no one would remember the names of those sacrificed. The only ones remembered in history were the elite shinobi who carried out the final mission.
Fortunately, after years of effort, I've left the ranks of disposable soldiers, Chao Yanqian mused.
"See, Orochimaru? Even Chao Yanqian understands!" Jiraiya said smugly. "Maybe Sunagakure wants us to think the intel is fake!"
Technically, that was a valid point… but was it really okay for Jiraiya to agree so readily with what a lower-ranked ninja suggested?
Out of the corner of his eye, Chao Yanqian noticed Minato Namikaze looking slightly awkward after hearing Jiraiya's comment.
"This situation is indeed tricky," Orochimaru muttered. After a moment of contemplation, he turned to Chao Yanqian. "You're dismissed for now. I have a new mission for you tomorrow."
"Understood!" Chao Yanqian bowed and left.