Deaths...

The yellow sand gradually settled down under the soft evening glow and the strong wind stopped with the scattering sand coming to a stop.

Orochimaru stood on the mountain exuding a gloomy temperature as his eyes showed the light of thinking.

Beside him was Sora whose white clothes were covered with blood sitting down in a meditation position replenishing chakra, his face showing signs of fatigue.

Under the mountain, dozens of Konoha ninjas came to support them. They were sweeping the battlefield, counting casualties, and identifying enemy ninjas.

With a soft sound, a ninja in a dark coat was half kneeling in front of Orochimaru, and bugs flew in and out from time to time on his face.

"Master Orochimaru, I'm Towei Aburame. The casualties of our ninjas have been counted. Anbu and the Jonin died, and only Hyuga Aoi and Mitsu Kurama survived albeit in critical condition. All other chunin and genin have perished."

Sora, who was resting and recovering, lowered his head and clenched his hands slightly.

Mitsu is still in critical condition with other medical ninjas especially taking care of him due to his intervention but still showed no sign of waking up. Aoi was also heavily injured.

"Well, I see," Orochimaru said lightly not surprised by the outcome.

He understood from an early age that weakness is the real reason for their death. He has seen the death of countless comrades over the year. Moreover, this ambush could prove fatal enough for even him let alone others.

"Missions are always accompanied by risks and only by being strong can you survive. For example, Sora was the youngest, but he survived. He also beheaded several jonin, chunin, and genin and even supported me to deal with Furui. This is the difference between him and those who died. Only by being strong can you control your destiny."

Orochimaru said lightly, and his tone revealed a lot of appreciation for the white-haired boy.

Sora didn't say anything. The Aburame ninja looked at Sora with admiration.

Originally, when Sora was rumored in the village, he didn't take it seriously, he just thought that it was just a genius who hasn't grown up.

But since lord Orochimaru said so, a feeling of admiration rose in his heart especially when his record was placed there.

"Tell me about the enemy."

The voice of Orochimaru came from the side and the Aburame ninja straightened his back and said quickly:

"Sixty-eight ninjas were killed by the enemy on the battlefield! The others all fled and Jinin Akebino is not found."

The Aburame clan member then hesitated for a moment, then shared a piece of information he had discovered.

"When I was cleaning the battlefield, I found that among the dead ninjas, there were several rebel ninjas wanted by various villages and bounty hunters. However, some of them came from great ninja villages.

"Gondaji, a Thunder-style ninja, born in Kumogakure."

"Junataro, an Earth-style ninja, born in Iwagakure."

...

Orochimaru smiled grimly, "Just as I thought it was a premeditated ambush done by several great villages to damage Konoha."

While listening to Orochimaru, Sora also understood the in and outs regarding the matter.

The purpose of the ambush is obviously Orochimaru. If Orochimaru is killed in this battle then there will be no other ninja except Hokage with the deterrent capacity. White fang is dead, Tsunade lives in seclusion at Konoha Hospital and Jiraiya's whereabouts are unknown.

If Orochimaru is killed, other shinobi villages can stop the growth of Konoha. Especially, the major shinobi village does not want to see Konoha develop steadily.

Moreover, in this matter, Sunagakure did not appear so Konoha couldn't point their fingers at them but,

Did Sunagakure didn't cooperate in this ambush?

Will they be reconciled being under Konoha?

If they unite with other shinobi villages, kill Orochimaru then it will deal a great blow to Konoha.

So far, the context of the matter has gradually been clear.

Orochimaru waved his hand, and the Aburame ninja stepped back.

"We'll talk about this when we return to the village. Sora, how are you recovering?"

Sora sat up and said," It's alright, although chakra was used about 80% just now, it's barely recovered now."

Orochimaru nodded and said, "Then let's set off to return to Konoha."

.

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A/N: Finally the plot can progress ( TOT ), writing fight scenes is quite hard for me.

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