When he saw this Konoha Strategist, reputed to possess the greatest intellect in the Original Work,
Shōji raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise appearing on his face.
He truly had not expected Nara Shikaku to be captured alive by his Iwagakure Ninja. It was not that Shikaku was especially powerful, but considering his intelligence and status in Konohagakure, Shōji had assumed he would have retreated alongside the previous Third Hokage.
But the question passed through his mind in only an instant.
The next moment,
when Shōji saw the vacant expression on Shikaku's face, he seemed to realize something. A faint look of understanding flickered in the depths of his eyes.
"Lord Fourth, regarding the results of this battle, we..."
Ogata stepped forward first, arriving at Shōji's side.
He quietly reported the final results of the battle to his Tsuchikage.
As he listened to Ogata's report, Shōji's face showed a trace of contemplation. It was almost exactly as he had predicted. In this battle, their village had held an absolute advantage. Of the more than two thousand Iwagakure Ninja he had led, only three to four hundred had been killed or wounded, and less than half of those casualties had died.
The ones who had suffered the greatest losses were the more than one thousand semi-automated puppets that had served as the vanguard. As many as seventy percent had been heavily damaged or destroyed!
But that price had brought Konoha a complete defeat!
Of Konoha's army of nearly ten thousand shinobi,
only a little over five thousand had successfully retreated. Among the remaining Konoha Ninja, only a little over one thousand had been captured!
Nearly three thousand Konoha Ninja had died!
One had to understand that from the beginning to the end of the battle,
the entire process had been