After Chiyu and the Konoha ninja advanced ten kilometers, they temporarily set up camp where they were.
Over the past few days,
Cloud Ninja had continuously come to scout their situation.
However, traps had been set all around the area, and ninja were also patrolling, so no battles broke out.
Chiyu had been fairly relaxed these past few days. There were no trivial matters that required him to handle personally.
So, Chiyu had spent the past few days training.
On the third day after the camp was established, news arrived from the Hidden Hot Water Village.
The Hidden Hot Water Village had returned to its neutral stance. It declared that it would no longer participate in the fighting between Kumogakure and Konoha, and would no longer allow Cloud Ninja to be stationed within the village.
Neither Chiyu, Orochimaru, nor Jiraiya found this outcome surprising.
After all, the battle that had erupted in the Hidden Hot Water Village a few days ago had already severely weakened it.
If Kuroiwa Tatsuji was smart, he would understand that in the war between them and Kumogakure, a small village like the Hidden Hot Water Village had no right to choose a side.
He could only accept Orochimaru's suggestion and return to neutrality.
That way, the Hidden Hot Water Village could still survive this war, which had yet to fully begin.
But those easy days only lasted four days.
On the fifth day,
Orochimaru summoned Chiyu to his tent.
Inside the tent were still only Orochimaru and Jiraiya, with Chiyu now added to the group.
Once he saw Chiyu arrive, Orochimaru said solemnly, "Cloud Ninja have begun gathering two kilometers from our camp."
Jiraiya asked gravely, "How many?"
Orochimaru replied, "Roughly fifty ninja. It seems they intend to thoroughly probe our situation this time. Still,