After a month away, returning to Fengliu Town gave Qian only one feeling: the place had grown much more desolate.
In the past, though there had been no civilians here, the large number of Konoha shinobi gathered in town had made it fairly lively.
Now, even though many ninja from the outlying strongholds had already withdrawn here, there was still barely any trace of life.
That alone showed just how great their losses had been over the past month.
"No wonder Main Camp contracted the front line!"
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In this situation, if they stubbornly held on, the place would fall in the end anyway. Better to concentrate their forces and hold the defensive line farther back.
Only...
Qian looked at the oppressed atmosphere around the troops and felt that the defensive line behind them probably would not hold for long either.
More than two straight years of war had almost drained Konoha's potential dry. If they kept fighting like this, they would probably end up with a broken line of successors.
Sarutobi Hiruzen—call him indecisive, call him two-faced, but his political vision could not be denied.
Whether it was selecting the Hokage's successor or balancing the interests of every faction in the village, he had done very well.
So if Qian could notice such a simple problem, there was no reason the other man could not.
And that was probably the main reason why, later on, he withstood the pressure from Shimura Danzō and forcibly ended the war.
Shaking his head, Qian stopped thinking about these things, turned back to his residence, and began seizing the time to train.
That night, he still had a meeting to attend.
However, Qian guessed it would most likely just be to divide up assignments.
With so many people moving together, escorts