The Commander Who Cheats is Awesome

Yamanaka Chujiu offered no explanation, merely narrowing his eyes to release the distinct, murderous aura of Orochimaru stored within the Great Snake Skin.

The killing intent, nearly condensed into a physical form, instantly suppressed the Konoha Ninja.

The doubts in their hearts dissipated along with it.

This killing intent, this malevolence, and that damned, familiar, intelligence-based disdain...

Tsk, there was no mistake; it was Lord Orochimaru!

Lord Orochimaru's brain was so brilliant that simpletons like them shouldn't bother guessing; they should just honestly execute his orders!

With no one left in doubt, all the Konoha Ninja quickly relayed the commands.

The messengers who had seen Orochimaru in person and felt that disdain for their intelligence had discarded their skepticism, but the Konoha Ninja on the front lines were different.

They had not seen "Orochimaru" with their own eyes and could not help but doubt the bizarre orders they received.

Chunin Squad Leader: "(⊙o⊙) What? (⊙o⊙) What! What kind of nonsense is this!?"

Messenger Ninja: "These are Lord Orochimaru's orders: launch an attack on the Kumogakure Ninja squad to the front left, then retreat to the woods on the left side of the camp and await further instructions..."

Chunin Squad Leader: "These are Lord Orochimaru's orders?"

Messenger Ninja: "Yes!"

Chunin Squad Leader: "Isn't this the kind of order I, as a squad leader, should be giving?"

Messenger Ninja: "Are you questioning Lord Orochimaru?"

Chunin Squad Leader: "I'm not questioning Lord Orochimaru, I'm questioning you, you idiot!"

The messenger ninja hurriedly pulled out a stack of proof: "The cipher, the seal, is there something wrong with the paper?"

Chunin Squad Leader: "No, the cipher is fine, the seal is fine..."

Messenger Ninja: "If there's nothing wrong, then execute Lord Orochimaru's orders, or I will execute you for insubordination!"

Chunin Squad Leader: "Yes, strictly execute Lord Orochimaru's orders!"

The Konoha squad leaders were full of misgivings, but military orders were like mountains and could not be defied.

Moreover, everyone trusted Orochimaru; this lord had led the Konoha army to win so many battles that if an order seemed unreasonable, it must be because they were too stupid to understand his profound thinking.

The Konoha Ninja grumbled in their hearts but honestly carried out the orders, resulting in a outcome that shocked everyone.

From a macro perspective, one could see that depending on the strength of the Kumogakure Ninja squads, three to five Konoha squads would group together to launch simultaneous ninjutsu attacks.

The saturated ninjutsu barrage blocked all space for the enemy to dodge.

Fragile human bodies faced the immense power of the ninjutsu head-on; whether they were powerful Jonin or weak Genin, there was no difference.

The Kumogakure Ninja didn't even make a sound; entire squads died at once, their bodies torn apart and incinerated.

Yamanaka Chujiu's tactical goal was clear: it is better to cut off one finger than to injure all ten.

Using saturated attacks that exceeded the limits of what a ninja could withstand, he caused massive casualties in an instant, shattering the morale of the Kumogakure Ninja.

There were as many as six thousand Kumogakure Ninja concentrated on the front lines, and their personalities varied wildly.

But faced with hundreds of deaths occurring simultaneously, whether they were decisive, reckless, cautious, or steady, they all fell into an inescapable state of shock.

This was the consistency of emotion that Yamanaka Chujiu needed.

He could use thousands of threads of consciousness to entangle thousands of Kumogakure Ninja, but he could not split his focus thousands of times to apply targeted suggestions to each one.

He couldn't even manage to multitask three ways!

Only when thousands of Kumogakure Ninja maintained the same emotion could Yamanaka Chujiu use the same method to sink his threads of consciousness into their minds.

The Kumogakure Ninja's shock was quietly amplified, extending its duration as much as possible.

It was an anomaly that looked perfectly normal; at least for the moment, no one would notice.

Because: everyone else was the same as them!

The Konoha Ninja were shocked by their own results, but Yamanaka Chujiu's operation followed immediately, doing the exact opposite to break their shock and stir up awe for Orochimaru.

The Konoha Ninja inexplicably felt a tightening in their chests, remembering Lord Orochimaru's orders.

No one dared to neglect the commands; they immediately acted according to them, retreating in an orderly fashion by squad.

The retreat of several hundred meters was completed in an instant, and the 4,500 Konoha Ninja broke free from the entanglement and reformed a more complete defensive line.

Immediately after, the second wave of orders was delivered to every squad.

Having gone through one battle, Yamanaka Chujiu had roughly grasped the characteristics of the thousands of Konoha squads: some executed orders resolutely, some hesitated until the very last moment, and some were impatient.

There were even squads that were at a loss, stumbling and crawling—clearly pure cannon fodder led by new Chunin with novice Genin.

The squads that performed brilliantly were all veterans who had fought for years during the Third Shinobi World War, possessing excellent combat power, experience, and resilience.

Next were the Root ninja who had not yet been converted into living puppets; they were fierce in battle, fearless of death, and executed orders with absolute determination.

The flaw of being inflexible became the greatest advantage in the hands of the micro-management master, Yamanaka Chujiu.

Only after the Konoha Ninja disengaged from the battle did the Kumogakure Ninja finally react.

"The Konoha Ninja are retreating!"

"Pursue! We cannot let them escape!"

"We cannot pursue!"

"The previous attack was too bizarre; something must have changed on the Konoha side!"

"We cannot surround and annihilate the Konoha ninja army here. Even if we had twenty thousand ninjas, let alone eight thousand Kumogakure troops, it would be impossible to wipe them out in the vast Land of Fire!"

"The Konoha ninjas' movements are strange. How do you know there isn't a trap ahead?"

"It is precisely because it is strange that they must be fleeing!"

With everyone insisting on their own logic, the Kumogakure Ninjas with differing opinions could not convince one another, and they all fell into chaos.

It was not until the frontline commander of the Kumogakure army, Killer B, arrived at the front line and directly ordered the pursuit that the turmoil in the ranks was brought to an end.

The frontline strategist Samos asked in confusion, "Lord Killer B, how did you determine that we needed to attack?"

Killer B began to rap excitedly, "Yo yo, I don't know what's right or wrong, but I know this: hesitation~~ is the worst, and not deciding is the worst decision!"

From a conventional standpoint, Killer B's decision was undoubtedly correct.

But war knows no logic or common sense. When one side is cheating, a correct decision can turn into a foolish one that leads straight into a trap.

Yamanaka Chujiu sat in command at the Konoha camp, clearly sensing the movement of every Kumogakure squad and perceiving the disordered chaos within them.

He immediately issued a series of targeted orders, adjusting the newly formed defensive line of the Konoha ninjas to adapt to the formation of the advancing Kumogakure army.

The Kumogakure army's offensive did not strike a steel plate; instead, it ran into a giant net.

Ninja squads acted like hooks, advancing and retreating in unison to weave a grid.

Under the real-time coordination of Yamanaka Chujiu, the giant net formed by the Konoha army was as flexible as silk, clinging to the Kumogakure army like maggots on bone, tightening the more they struggled.