The Corpse, I Shall Guard (Seeking Collection, Recommendations, and Monthly Votes)

After finishing with the traces on the ground—the bones left behind by Shikotsumyaku—

Qifeng collapsed onto the floor, not wanting to move an inch.

As for the corpse of Tsuchi, the Iwagakure Jonin, he thought it over and ultimately decided to stow it away.

Even though the disappearance of Tsuchi's body might draw Orochimaru's attention and even invite unnecessary trouble, he had no choice but to do it.

Tsuchi's corpse was riddled with bone spikes. Rather than let anyone discover his Shikotsumyaku, it was better to leave no evidence and let the truth die with the dead.

This victory had been far too lucky.

But through real combat, Qifeng had also gained a more accurate assessment of his own strength.

The system rated him as a Veteran Chunin, but in Qifeng's own view, he should have the immediate combat power of an Elite Chunin. If he fully activated his still-immature Shikotsumyaku and Single Tomoe Sharingan, he could roughly be considered a Special Jonin specializing in taijutsu.

With the element of surprise, he could severely wound a Jonin.

At the same time, what Qifeng was most satisfied with was his defensive capability after using Shikotsumyaku.

As long as the opponent wasn't so fast that even his Sharingan couldn't track them, the defensive power of Shikotsumyaku was still quite outstanding.

Defense.

That was important.

With Tsuchi dealt with, Tori Mori Outpost should be safe for the short term. But now that he was the only one left, no matter how exhausted he was, he couldn't afford to fall asleep.

He could only force himself to stay alert, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Fortunately, sharp pains still shot through his body from time to time, so even if Qifeng wanted to sleep, he couldn't.

The moon set and the sun rose.

It wasn't until the sun hung high in the sky the next day that movement finally came from outside Tori Mori Outpost.

During that waiting period, to kill time, Qifeng had no choice but to use up his daily corpse-looting attempts again. Thankfully, the place was littered with Chunin corpses, so spending the attempts wasn't a loss.

What he got wasn't too different from before—9 attempts, 6 successes, and he gained 4 attribute points, which were allocated to Chakra and Chakra Control respectively, along with one not-so-practical jutsu. The rest were either ninja tools or miscellaneous junk.

But even so, the haul was still better than what he got every day at the Morgue.

Just in terms of attributes, at the Morgue, unless there was some special circumstance, he averaged about 1 to 2 points per day.

It was little, but it was steady.

Out here at the border, he got more stuff, but the danger level had also risen sharply.

Each had its pros and cons.

All in all, though, the system Qifeng had was actually better suited for the battlefield.

But suited or not, he didn't really like this kind of risky behavior.

As a keyboard warrior from the 21st century—what others called an "Otaku"—his favorite things were soda and a stable, unchanging daily life. Even though he'd been forced into the Ninja World, this kind of personality wasn't something that could change in just a day or two.

"I just want to be a quiet Corpse Collector," he reaffirmed his ideal silently in his heart.

Sitting among the ruins, surrounded by piles of corpses, he looked utterly exhausted. Combined with the dried blood on his body, he seemed completely pathetic no matter how you looked at it.

Orochimaru and the others frowned as they walked into the command room.

They saw the mess everywhere and Qifeng's state.

When they left, there had been eleven people. Now, only five returned, and aside from Orochimaru, none of them looked much better than Qifeng.

More importantly, one of the three Jonin—Nakamura Kenta—was missing.

Gekko Naoki, supporting a severely injured comrade, looked at Qifeng with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

The command room was already in ruins, but the area around the corpses was relatively clean and hadn't suffered too much damage.

The clean corpses and the disheveled Qifeng formed a stark contrast.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "Not only do you protect the living of Konoha, but you also protect the fallen heroes of Konoha. Well done, Maruyama Qifeng!"

With the scene laid out before them, it was easy to piece together the general course of events.

This was also the essence of the saying, "Give me a picture, and I'll make up the story."

Playing along with Gekko Naoki's words, Qifeng "painfully" lifted his head, clutched his chest, and said with theatrical seriousness, "The corpses of Konoha—I will protect them!"

"Heh."

Orochimaru let out a light laugh, licked his lips, and stared at him with burning eyes.

Feeling Orochimaru's intensely predatory gaze, Qifeng's body stiffened.

"Clean up. Get ready to head back." Orochimaru didn't elaborate, simply giving a brief order.

"Yes!"

Inside Konoha.

At the top-floor meeting room of the Hokage Building, a meeting was underway. The atmosphere was extremely oppressive. Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the head of the table, while Danzo sat at his left hand.

"The Iwa-nin, Suna-nin, and Mist Ninja are all conducting endless probing attacks, and within this past week, they've all increased the intensity of their probing at the same time. I'd like to ask everyone—do you have any good ideas?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, his eyes glinting as he spoke in a low voice.

The assembled ninjas were all elite Konoha operatives. Hearing his words, they exchanged uneasy glances.

With war seemingly unstoppable, it felt like nothing could change the inevitable reality at this point.

"I don't think we should launch a preemptive strike. That goes against Konoha's code of conduct."

An Elite Jonin couldn't help speaking up.

Konoha had prided itself on being a hidden village that pursued peace, and had upheld that philosophy for decades. Many ninjas learned "peace" as their first lesson at the Ninja Academy.

They couldn't violate that principle and code for any reason—it would deal a serious blow to the faith of Konoha's ninjas.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded gravely.

He thought the same way, and had always acted accordingly.

Konoha was strong, but its strength was built on unity. If their philosophy split now, it would only drain Konoha's internal power.

He glanced at Danzo sitting beside him.

There were radicals within Konoha too, but they were a minority.

Between the few and the many, this choice was easy to make.

"But we can't show weakness either—especially now. The more we yield, the more reckless they'll become. We must strike back hard enough to make them think twice, to keep them from daring to start a real war."

"Even if the tide of war can't be stopped, for Konoha, the longer we drag it out, the greater our advantage."

Konoha's advantage lay in its fertile land—something the barren Land of Wind, Land of Earth, Land of Water, and other nations couldn't match.

Even stalling for a single day, just in terms of daily development speed, Konoha outpaced every other Great Hidden Village, and that advantage only grew.

The speaker was Nara Shikaku, head of the Nara Clan, an Elite Jonin, and also a Hokage Advisor—a staunch supporter of the Hokage lineage.

"Shikaku, go on."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded in agreement. As Hokage, he had far more to consider than Danzo did.

Just then, the office door was pushed open.

A figure who seemed to lower the temperature of the meeting room walked in.

Orochimaru!

Seeing Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi broke into a smile.

This disciple of his had never let him down.

"Orochimaru, you're back."

Orochimaru only nodded, pulling a chair from the corner while handing a scroll to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Mission report."

Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly unrolled the scroll. His expression was grim at first, but as he read on, his brow eased slightly.

"In this battle, Konoha lost one Jonin and seven Chunin. Including the original garrison at Tori Mori Outpost, total losses are four Jonin and sixteen Chunin."

Hearing this, the atmosphere in the meeting room grew extremely heavy.

Jonin were Konoha's absolute main force, and Chunin were its backbone. This loss was no small matter.

But no one spoke. Danzo, the clan heads, and department chiefs in the room all wore dark, shifting expressions as they waited for the rest.