"Orochimaru! So it really was you! Does that mean Konoha's main force is truly lying in ambush within Jianmen Pass? Are you Konoha's commander?" The Kaguya clan head was covered head to toe in white bone armor. Rather than immediately ordering an attack, he remained fully alert as he tried to pry information from the enemy before him. The situation was still unclear, and he felt it necessary to spend some time gathering more intelligence. After all, there was only one enemy—could he possibly stand against the seventy thousand elite troops under his command?
Seeing that they had not made a move, Orochimaru was more than happy to stall with words. With a sinister smile, he said, "Heh heh heh... who knows? Perhaps I merely happened to discover your trail. As the commander of an army, how could I abandon my troops to personally follow you? Perhaps Jianmen Pass is an Empty Fort Strategy? Would you like to wait for those sword-wielding fellows to return before making your decision?"
Hearing Orochimaru's ambiguous answer, the Kaguya clan head found the situation increasingly strange. If Konoha's main force had truly arrived, Orochimaru was at least a high-ranking commander. There really was no need for him to risk himself alone. So had Konoha's main force arrived or not? Perhaps this really was an Empty Fort Strategy set up by Orochimaru himself?
At that moment, the Yuki Clan head spoke up with a timely reminder. "How could there be such a coincidence? This operation was highly confidential, and the landing site was repeatedly selected for its secrecy. It could not possibly have been discovered by chance. Besides, if there truly were an empty fort ahead, you had already achieved your goal just now. Why would you come out to stop us from retreating? I