Orochimaru, He Actually Discovered

An hour later, the group set off to continue their journey to the front lines.

Crossing the border and stepping into the Land of Rivers, they finally arrived at the front two days later.

The journey was far from peaceful; the group was frequently ambushed by Sand Ninja, and by the end, even Rock Ninja had begun to get involved.

Fortunately, they suffered no further casualties.

Moreover, this reinforcement mission was an immense success.

Although they lost over a dozen Chunin, they had successfully drawn the attention of the Sand Ninja, significantly easing the pressure on the Leaf's front lines.

The moment Orochimaru arrived at the front, the Sand Ninja immediately relocated their camp, retreating twenty kilometers overnight.

Such was the deterrent power of the "Legendary Sannin," Orochimaru!

At the Leaf base camp.

After verifying their identities and handing over the mission, Orochimaru commanded, "Having successfully reached the front, the squad is now officially disbanded. You may all go and rest; subsequent assignments will be issued by your respective departments."

"Yes!"

The group acknowledged the order and dispersed on the spot.

Orochimaru then took Sen Chisato with him toward the command headquarters.

As soon as they entered the command tent, they heard someone say, "You've finally arrived, Lord Orochimaru."

The speaker looked exhausted, yet he wore a smile.

Orochimaru's arrival clearly allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.

"You've worked hard, Shikaku," Orochimaru nodded.

"It's all for the Leaf, but it's truly great that you could come," Nara Shikaku laughed. "Though I am about to be transferred to another battlefield."

Nara Shikaku, head of the Nara Clan, possessed an incredibly high IQ and was a member of the Leaf's brain trust, as well as the captain of the Leaf's Jonin squad.

After the war began, he was appointed as the commander of the Land of Wind front.

It was precisely due to his command that the battlefield here did not collapse and even managed to steadily suppress the Sand Ninja.

However, his personal strength was still too weak; he simply could not deliver a decisive blow on the battlefield.

Furthermore, with the constant reinforcements from the Sand Ninja—Chiyo, Ebizo, and even the Fourth Kazekage arriving at the front—he could no longer hold the line.

Fortunately, Orochimaru had come.

Thinking of this, Nara Shikaku recalled something. "By the way, we have leads on Lord Jiraiya."

Jiraiya, like Orochimaru, was one of the three Sannin.

Ever since the end of the Second Shinobi World War, he had left the Leaf Village to embark on a journey to find the "Child of Prophecy." Even the people of the Leaf could not track his whereabouts with certainty.

Orochimaru did not expect to receive news of him at such a time.

"Jiraiya, huh... Where is he now, and how did you find him?" Orochimaru asked calmly.

Hearing news of Jiraiya so suddenly, Orochimaru's first reaction was not joy, but suspicion.

He feared the enemy was spreading false information to target the Leaf.

"Lord Jiraiya is currently rushing toward this location. We received word of him three days ago... He was the one who initiated contact with the village," Nara Shikaku explained, then added, "The village has already verified the authenticity of the message."

"Understood." Orochimaru nodded, still showing no signs of great joy.

It was obvious that even if Jiraiya returned, he would not stay here.

The Leaf was currently facing not just the Land of Wind, but also the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning; even the Land of Water had begun sending vanguard squads to probe them.

No matter how one looked at it, Jiraiya would go to other battlefields to command and provide deterrence, just as he himself would.

"It's still because there are too few high-level combatants," Sen Chisato, who had been listening the entire time, muttered.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at him.

"This must be the new disciple Lord Orochimaru took in, the one the Hokage mentioned?" Nara Shikaku smiled.

Orochimaru nodded and reached out to pat Sen Chisato on the head.

Sen Chisato immediately lowered his head. "My apologies, I was just speaking out of turn."

"No, you are quite right. The Leaf is indeed experiencing a gap between generations and lacks high-level combatants," Orochimaru stated the current situation of the Leaf calmly, his tone even carrying a hint of criticism toward the higher-ups. "If Sakumo hadn't died back then, the war wouldn't have been this difficult."

Nara Shikaku offered a bitter smile.

He was not Orochimaru, who had the Third Hokage as his teacher; he dared not respond to such a remark.

The Sakumo mentioned by Orochimaru was Hatake Sakumo, known as the "White Fang of the Leaf." He was one of the Leaf's top combatants and had once struck terror into the hearts of the Sand Ninja on the battlefield.

In particular, his peerless swordsmanship was the absolute bane of the Sand Ninja's puppeteers.

Yet, he died.

He did not die on the battlefield, but in the village, inside his own home.

The reason was that he had chosen to save his teammates, causing the mission to fail and resulting in massive losses for the village and the Land of Fire. He faced accusations from everyone, including the very teammates he had saved, and eventually took his own life.

But such an important mission should have been top secret—how did it become common knowledge?

Thinking of the reason behind Hatake Sakumo's death, Sen Chisato's eyes were filled with mockery.

"Did Jiraiya say when he would arrive?" Orochimaru pulled the topic back.

"He should be here within the next two days," Nara Shikaku replied with a calm expression, though he secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

He truly did not want to get dragged into such topics.

Orochimaru lowered his head and fell into deep thought on his own.

After a long while, he smiled slightly, "In that case, let's maintain the status quo for these two days. There is no need to take the initiative to attack; we will wait until Jiraiya arrives to discuss everything."

If Jiraiya hadn't come, he wouldn't have had any other options.

But since Jiraiya had delivered himself to his doorstep, he certainly wouldn't be polite.

"Chisato, there is nothing left for you to do here. You may go and rest," Orochimaru instructed, not even sparing Sen Chisato a glance as he picked up a file and began to work.

Sen Chisato's mouth twitched.

What did he mean by "nothing left for you to do here"?

There was never anything for him to do here in the first place.

"In that case, Lord Orochimaru, Senior Shikaku, I will take my leave," Sen Chisato bowed slightly and prepared to depart.

But after taking two steps, he stopped again.

Turning back to look at the two of them, Sen Chisato asked sheepishly, "Um... by the way, where am I staying?"

This question stumped Orochimaru.

As the commander, Orochimaru had originally planned to eat and sleep in the command tent unless his intervention was required.

As for Sen Chisato, because he had been following him around, he had subconsciously neglected to make arrangements.

After a moment of thought, Orochimaru said, "Staying here all the time is a true waste of your talents. Since that is the case, I will assign you to Sarutobi Hakuba's squad."

"Lord Orochimaru, are you serious?" Nara Shikaku's eyes widened. "Sarutobi Hakuba belongs to the Ninjutsu Corps; that is a large-scale combat unit on the front lines!"

Sen Chisato's eyes widened as well.

Lord Orochimaru, this isn't right!

You are actually sending me to a position like that—aren't you afraid I'll die on the battlefield?

Sen Chisato wanted to come to the front lines, but that didn't mean he wanted to go out and fight to the death!

After all, his system was responsible for burying the dead, not for killing people to gain points.

Fighting for his life on the battlefield offered absolutely no benefits; after all, the one thing the battlefield never lacked was corpses, so there was no need for him to do the killing himself.

Then, he received a written order that Orochimaru had just finished drafting: "Rest assured, it is not yet time for us to engage in an all-out war with the Sand Ninja. In the meantime, your squad will be responsible for patrols and surveillance."

"And what if an all-out war breaks out?" Sen Chisato looked at the order in his hand and asked tentatively.

"Naturally, you will participate in the battle."

Sen Chisato looked up and saw Orochimaru watching him with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

"Chisato, your body has actually recovered quite well—at least, it's no worse than an average ninja's, right?"

Sen Chisato's heart skipped a beat, and his body instantly tensed up.

Orochimaru had actually discovered it!