Konoha's Losses

"It's over."

When Jingū Kiraku saw a large number of units suddenly vanish from the map, he knew—

The battle for Graystone Town was over.

"Leader, what happened?"

Sensing the sudden change in the leader's aura, Erika asked in confusion.

Jingū Kiraku did not hide anything from her.

"All the civilians stationed in Graystone Town have perished. Not a single survivor remains."

Erika froze on the spot at those words.

But her expression soon turned solemn.

"They were all heroes."

After a moment of silence, that was what she said.

Jingū Kiraku nodded.

"That's right. They were all heroes."

"They will all become part of the glorious history of the Land of Rain."

With that, he let out a long breath.

He then turned to the other jonin present.

"Are you ready on your end, Amemura?"

At this, Amemura immediately straightened up, gripping the long sword at his waist as he replied:

"Ready at all times, Leader!"

"Good."

Jingū Kiraku slowly rose to his feet, donned a black raincoat, and walked outside.

"The people of Graystone Town have fulfilled their historical mission. Next..."

"It's our turn."

Watching Jingū Kiraku's retreating back, Amemura and Erika silently followed after him, chanting inwardly:

"Offer our hearts for the Land of Rain."

Meanwhile, after dispersing the poison gas blanketing the town, Jiraiya led all the surviving ninja in an emergency search and rescue operation.

"Here! There's someone here!!"

A Hyuga Clan ninja pointed at an earthen mound amid the ruins.

It was clearly an Earth Release Ninjutsu shelter created by ninja who had been unable to escape in time, meant to ward off the poison gas.

After the rescuers pounded on it with all their strength, a response finally came from within.

"Who? Who's outside?"

A muffled voice came from inside the earthen mound.

The rescuers hurriedly shouted back:

"It's us, Konoha ninja!"

"The poison gas outside has been dispersed. Come out quickly!!"

After receiving confirmation, the trapped ninja finally opened the earthen mound.

As fresh air rushed in, they took deep, blissful breaths...

So fresh air could be this wonderful!

Before they could savor the joy of surviving the disaster, a tremendous roar suddenly rang out.

In the ruins not far away, a massive stone slab abruptly rose into the air.

"Damn Amegakure Leader, that bastard nearly poisoned me to death!"

As Tsunade's vigorous voice rang out, the stone slab was violently shoved over and smashed to pieces on the ground.

"Tsunade?"

Her voice swiftly drew over a certain frantic man.

"It's great that you're okay!"

Looking at Tsunade, Jiraiya, who had rushed over in haste, finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"But what's going on behind you?"

Jiraiya pointed to the enormous crack in the ground behind Tsunade.

"Oh, this?"

Tsunade curled her lip and said casually:

"I couldn't find anywhere to hide at the time, so I just punched the ground."

"Then I grabbed a stone slab and covered it over the top. It managed to block that damn poison gas."

As she said this, Tsunade's face was full of displeasure.

Jiraiya and the others beside him quietly wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads.

As expected of Konoha's number one female tyrannosaur...

"Enough chatter. Treating the wounded is what matters most right now."

Tsunade wiped her face with the back of her hand, and her expression immediately turned serious.

The wounded lying on the ground were still waiting for her treatment!

At this, Jiraiya also became serious.

"Then I'm counting on you."

"Don't worry. I'm the number one Medical Ninja in the ninja world."

Tsunade waved a hand, indicating that she had it covered.

She then bit her finger and performed the Summoning Technique.

The next second, a massive pillar of white smoke erupted into the sky.

Under everyone's expectant gaze, a blue-and-white slug dozens of meters tall emerged from the smoke.

This was the master of Shikkotsu Forest, one of the legendary Three Great Sage Regions—Katsuyu Sage.

"Lady Tsunade, may I ask why you summoned me?"

Despite being a "sage," Katsuyu's tone was exceptionally respectful.

Tsunade had long since grown used to this.

So she did not bother with pleasantries and swiftly said:

"Katsuyu, please split off some clones and assist me in treating the wounded."

Hearing Tsunade's words, Katsuyu nodded obediently.

Immediately afterward, its body melted like wax.

It then turned into small slugs the size of arms, which slowly crawled onto the wounded and emitted a faint green glow.

This was a sign that it was using Medical Ninjutsu...

Seeing this, Jiraiya finally felt somewhat relieved.

With Katsuyu Sage's help, at least the number of wounded would not continue to grow.

The search and rescue efforts in Graystone Town continued.

The facts proved that Konoha's ninja possessed a high degree of professional competence.

In such an emergency, many had made the correct judgments and choices.

Rather than blindly trying to break through the encirclement, they used ninjutsu and ninja tools to give themselves the best possible chance of survival.

For example, they used Earth Release to create shelters, used the airflow from Fire Release explosions to disperse the poison gas, and used Water Release to isolate themselves from it.

These proper responses successfully preserved the spark of Konoha's ability to continue the offensive, preventing a total annihilation...

Even so, the casualty figures compiled by evening still made Jiraiya's heart ache.

"This attack resulted in a total of 204 ninja deaths, 23 seriously wounded, and countless lightly wounded."

"Among the dead were 2 jonin, 84 chunin, and 118 genin."

"The 23 seriously wounded are all chunin."

Looking at the casualty report in his hand, Jiraiya could not help pressing his temples.

Including the casualties caused by the Poison Cavalry over the previous few days, Konoha had suffered losses of more than four hundred people since the war began!

These were not over four hundred Ordinary People, but over four hundred ninja!

Even for Konoha, the dominant power of the ninja world, such losses could only be called catastrophic.

Especially when they had not even encountered the enemy's main force.

Not only had Konoha never anticipated such a turn of events, but likely no one in the entire ninja world had either.

At the beginning, Konoha had declared that it would end this war within half a month—before the Fireworks Festival...

"What did the village say?"

Jiraiya looked toward the ninja from the communications unit.

"The higher-ups have already been informed. They hope you will not lose heart and will continue launching fiercer attacks against the Land of Rain."

"They will continue sending reinforcements. We must end this war before Sunagakure and Iwagakure make their move!"