Casualties and Missing Persons

While chasing and being chased, Yuzuru not only separated from Konoha's main force but also got somewhat lost.

Unable to hear the sounds from the Land of Grass battlefield, Yuzuru was very likely in the Land of Rain. The border, was it over there?

Regardless, after dealing with the pursuing Iwagakure enemies behind him, he was temporarily safe.

The enemy's relentless pursuit finally yielded results, though perhaps not the ones he had intended. Yuzuru calmed himself slightly, regaining some stamina, and returned to the enemy he had killed with an explosion. He recovered some usable ninja tools.

"You were blown up pretty badly. It wasn't painless the whole way, but the pain only lasted a moment... You closed your eyes and opened them, and it was over. You didn't need to struggle so ugly."

"Shuriken, Soldier Pills, smoke bombs... you don't have any Exploding Tags left either."

After picking out some usable ninja tools, Yuzuru had no intention of cleaning up the battlefield remnants. He wasn't that leisurely.

Yuzuru worried that the recent explosion might attract other enemies, so he decided to leave the area quickly.

Now he was free from the pursuit of the Iwagakure ninja and also separated from Konoha Village's organization. For a moment, Yuzuru considered the survival probability of becoming a rogue ninja, but after thinking it through, he realized he was overthinking... He couldn't wander in the Land of Rain even if he were rogue.

Returning to the Land of Grass battlefield would also be difficult. Firstly, Yuzuru was in a very poor state. Although he had no serious injuries thanks to Tsunade's previous treatment, continuous combat had left him extremely exhausted, and his chakra was depleted.

Secondly, he couldn't be sure of the situation on the other side. Had Konoha won or lost? The engagement was closer to the Iwagakure side. If Iwagakure reinforced endlessly and eventually repelled or defeated Konoha, Yuzuru returning then would be walking right into a trap.

For a ninja like him, it didn't seem to make much difference whether he returned to the battlefield or not.

Yuzuru wasn't a Konoha native, and he didn't have such a strong sense of belonging to Konoha. If he had nowhere else to go, leaving Konoha while he had the chance would certainly be an option. However, as mentioned before, this was the Land of Rain, filled with Amegakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure ninja. Yuzuru couldn't consider long-term issues. The most important thing to do right now was to return to the Konoha front line.

He appeared to be able to act freely, but in reality, he was still trapped by the entire battlefield environment.

Alright, before taking his next step, Yuzuru needed to find a place to hide and rest for a night to recover some stamina.

So, Yuzuru mustered his strength and moved cautiously in the darkness. He had to be wary not only of enemies potentially hidden in the shadows but also of the various traps set by ninja from all sides, whether they were Exploding Tags or poison mist, which were equally deadly.

However, Yuzuru was lucky. After walking a distance, he found a dry tree hollow. He then carefully concealed the entrance from the outside before temporarily hiding inside.

Without his captain by his side, Yuzuru certainly didn't dare to light a fire in the dark. He simply took off his rain-soaked outer clothing, then huddled in the corner of the tree hollow, covering himself with dry leaves that smelled of decay to avoid hypothermia... After making these preparations, he closed his eyes to rest.

Yuzuru hadn't intended to fall asleep. This was the Land of Rain, and he planned to remain vigilant. However, not long after, he truly fell asleep.

The battle that lasted for half a day had overused his chakra, and the physical exhaustion and mental fatigue made it impossible for him to stay awake.

For a ninja, excessive chakra depletion was definitely not a good thing. The exhaustion it brought, from mental to physical, was hard to dissipate in a short time... A ninja who frequently pushed themselves to their limits without regard for the consequences would almost certainly have a shortened lifespan.

Meanwhile, the battle that had inexplicably broken out was finally coming to an end. The darkness provided an opportunity for both sides to disengage. After nightfall, Konoha and Iwagakure ceased their hostilities. Both sides tried their best to bring their wounded and deceased with them as they withdrew from the battlefield under the cover of darkness... This battle had neither tactical nor strategic objectives. It was simply a case of one side reinforcing, the other side reinforcing, and then it escalated into a fight.

Konoha wasn't without gains. They captured a high-ranking Iwagakure spy, ensuring the security of their intelligence. If things had stopped there and Konoha's fishing team could have withdrawn directly, Konoha would have profited greatly.

Unfortunately, the battlefield does not operate according to individual will.

After a brief post-battle assessment, Konoha's wounded and deceased ninja accounted for over forty percent. That is, after the battle, two hundred out of five hundred people were essentially incapacitated, and the remaining participants were almost all injured... The wars between ninja were truly too cruel.

Iwagakure was no less formidable. Konoha's toad, snake, and slug users, although they hadn't yet earned the title of "Sannin," their destructive power on the battlefield far surpassed that of ordinary ninja.

Torifu Akimichi's squad, the remaining three members, had withdrawn to the eastern section of the Land of Grass.

"Yuzuru? Still haven't found him?" Torifu Akimichi asked, finding it hard to accept that the ninja he had taken a liking to had met his end.

However, war was like this. Many talented and gifted ninja never got the chance to grow; a single war could claim their lives.

"No, at least we haven't found his body," Hazuki Uchiha said.

"Being missing is the best news possible. In this battle, Iwagakure ninja used too many ninjutsu to divide the battlefield... Yuzuru might have been scattered," Kairi Omori said.

"Yuzuru's movement techniques are good, so there's still a possibility," Torifu Akimichi said, wiping the dried blood from his face. He still wanted to believe that Yuzuru had a chance of survival.

Whether it was confidence in his teammate or self-deception, he didn't want to lose hope easily.

At Konoha's front-line command post, Mitokado Homura and Shimura Danzō quickly received the battle report. The casualty figures were shocking, nearly causing Mitokado Homura to lose control of his emotions.

"The spy has been found. We just need to escort and withdraw. Why did it escalate into a battle of attrition?"

"It was probably the atmosphere of the battlefield, blinded by hatred... Both we and Iwagakure have some young ninja who are not rational enough," Shimura Danzō felt the young ninja were too young.

"Atmosphere? We lost so many ninja inexplicably. How are we going to explain this to the Hokage?"

It had to be admitted that the Shinobi World War, restarted after twenty years, was as brutal as ever. However, aside from the brutality, many aspects were like a fight between rookies.

"Homura, we are fighting a Shinobi World War, not playing house. If we acted with absolute rationality, we shouldn't have dispatched Torifu Akimichi's squad in the first place. Once the spy's identity was confirmed, we shouldn't have sent ninja to support them... They should have been ordered to withdraw on their own."

"Danzō, you... that's equivalent to abandoning that squad directly."

"I'm talking about interests, not morality."

Alright, Danzō was indeed like Danzō... Morally speaking, abandoning one's own ninja was despicable, but it could indeed avoid significant losses.

Konoha staged a "Rescue Jonin Torifu" operation, and what was the result?

Of course, on a larger scale of time and space, the ninja on the battlefield were always expendable. If they weren't consumed in this battle, they would be consumed in the next. If the chips in hand weren't used up, the Shinobi World War wouldn't stop.

"Report the situation to Hiruzen. He will understand."