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These past few days, Qifeng had been restless day and night—sleeping poorly, eating without appetite, smoking less, and even the thrill he usually got from looting corpses had faded.

He knew the war had already begun. That thing he'd been dreading for so long had finally come to pass, yet instead of feeling relieved, he was even more on edge.

He crushed out his cigarette butt with a hint of dejection.

"The war... it hasn't really started yet. I'm just a small-time Corpse Collector—I shouldn't have to go to the front lines for now, right?"

Qifeng looked up at the sun hanging high in the sky. Its dazzling rays fell on him, but he could barely feel any warmth.

"Tch, is the Morgue's cold air really this chilly?"

Suddenly, his body stiffened. He slowly turned his head and saw a figure emerging from the shade of a tree not far away.

Wearing Konoha's standard green flak jacket, with flowing long hair and a slender build—if you ignored the face, that wasp waist might have belonged to a beauty.

Too bad.

Qifeng let out a wry laugh and called out, "Lord Orochimaru."

Not heading to the battlefield—what was he doing coming here?

Bored?

"Qifeng-kun, you are hereby conscripted into the Advance Force." Orochimaru licked his lips, looking at him with interest.

Qifeng's face fell. "Me? I'm just a Chunin. I'm... not much use, am I?"

"Konoha doesn't have many Corpse Collectors." Orochimaru offered no further explanation, leaving only that one sentence before his form dissolved into smoke. "Half an hour, at Konoha's Great Gate."

A Shadow Clone.

Qifeng wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He finally understood what that nagging sense of dread had been about.

Right. Konoha didn't have many Corpse Collectors to begin with—otherwise, he wouldn't have been the only one willing to guard the Morgue.

Aside from him, who was a full-time specialist, most were Medical Ninja doing it as a side job.

He'd known he'd have to go to the battlefield eventually. He just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

He'd almost forgotten that Orochimaru had his eye on him.

But he still couldn't quite figure out why Orochimaru—one of the Sannin, a disciple of Konoha's Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi—had taken an interest in him.

And not just any interest—the kind that never let go.

"It doesn't make sense."

He grumbled under his breath, but his body was honest. He packed up a few things and headed for the gate.

In wartime, anyone who received a summons had to go, or they'd be charged with treason against the village.

With the battle situation urgent, Qifeng's arrival drew little attention.

The Advance Force was mostly made up of Jonin and seasoned Chunin. Once the front was stabilized and the situation assessed, the rest of Konoha's ninja would gradually head to the front lines.

This first wave had the strongest overall combat power—but also the highest risk.

Soon.

The massive force of ninja departed from Konoha.

Land of Fire.

Border.

Orochimaru led the Advance Force of over a hundred Konoha Jonin and Chunin to the outpost within the Land of Fire's border—Wushi Outpost.

By now, Wushi Outpost was nothing but ruins. The Konoha Ninja originally stationed there had either fallen or managed to evacuate.

Fires still smoldered in some places, and many corpses lay scattered among the wreckage—some Konoha's, some Iwa-nin's.

Orochimaru's face darkened as he raised a hand. Several Jonin immediately appeared at his side.

"Get things in order. Set up camp here."

"Yes, sir!"

"Collect all these bodies and deliver them to—"

He glanced at Qifeng, who was standing at the very back of the group, and pointed at him. "Give him a separate tent. Send all the corpses there."

"Yes, sir!"

The Jonin acknowledged, casting a brief, curious look at the unremarkable Qifeng before setting to work.

Since they were already at the Land of Fire's border and could run into combat at any moment, the Advance Force had already been traveling for over a day to get here.

Though they remained on high alert, pushing forward now—if they were ambushed by well-rested Iwa-nin—could end badly.

Most of the Advance Force's ninja were veterans of the Second Great Ninja War, so the camp was set up quickly.

Inside the command tent at the center, Orochimaru and a group of Elite Jonin leading squads had gathered.

And, of course, one unexpected person.

Qifeng.

To be honest, when Qifeng-kun was called to the tent by the Anbu ninja while handling the bodies, his mind was blank.

Everyone present was a big shot—elite jonin from major Konoha clans like the Uchiha Clan, Hyuga Clan, Nara Clan, Yamanaka Clan, and Akimichi Clan. As a mere chunin, he really stuck out.

But there was no helping it. According to Lord Orochimaru, Qifeng, who was in charge of the corpse collection squad, counted as an independent team and needed to attend this meeting.

Even though the corpse collection squad consisted of just Qifeng alone.

Still, he tried his best to stay invisible and avoid drawing the attention of these big shots.

At that moment, a map of the border area lay in the center of the tent.

Orochimaru looked at the map, pondered for a moment, and said, "Where do you think the first step should be?"

His gaze swept over everyone, his snake eyes revealing a chilling killing intent.

After a brief silence, Uchiha Shin pointed to a spot outside the Land of Fire's border, not far inside the Land of Waterfalls. "Tori Mori Outpost."

He paused and continued, "The Iwa-nin's Advance Force definitely wouldn't just launch one raid and retreat. They've most likely occupied our Tori Mori Outpost and are using it as a base to focus the fighting on our Land of Fire's border."

Orochimaru said nothing. Hyuga Hanjian glanced at Uchiha Shin and said in a deep voice, "There's another possibility: the Iwagakure Advance Force is hiding somewhere in the Land of Fire and hasn't left."

Both were possible.

"Tori Mori Outpost is important, but the first thing our Advance Force needs to do is stabilize the situation, so I think we should first eliminate any potential threats within the Land of Fire." The speaker was Nara Chuichi, his words neutral—neither offending the Uchiha nor the Hyuga—and he clearly stated his view.

Orochimaru still didn't speak. His gaze fell on Qifeng in the corner, and he licked his lips. "Qifeng-kun, what do you think?"

Qifeng blinked.

The eyes of all the big shots in the tent landed on him, making him feel like needles were pricking his back.

What the hell?

Asking me at a time like this?

I'm just a corpse collector!

I'm a chunin!

Are you out of your mind?

Qifeng raged helplessly inside but didn't dare defy Lord Orochimaru's order, even though the others' expressions had started to turn strange.

A chunin corpse collector showing up here was already surprising enough, but now Orochimaru was actually asking for his opinion—that was intriguing.

Being valued so highly by Orochimaru meant no one dared underestimate him.

In fact, many suspected whether this unknown corpse collector was Orochimaru's disciple.

It had to be!

Why else would Orochimaru value him so much?

Orochimaru's disciple!

Thinking that, the expressions of the big shots instantly shifted.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi's most valued disciple, Orochimaru belonged to the pure Hokage lineage and had a high chance of inheriting the Hokage position in the future. That meant Qifeng would also become part of the Hokage lineage, and who knows, many years later, he might even compete for the Hokage position.

That was thinking too far ahead.

But the Naruto World was also a world of connections, especially teacher-student relationships, which were hardly inferior to father-son bonds.

Orochimaru naturally guessed some of what these people were thinking, but instead of denying it, he just smiled and said nothing.

That only made them more certain their guess was correct.

Under the weight of all those shifting gazes, Qifeng could only think for a moment and then blurt out, "I don't know."

But in his mind, he had already answered the question.

If I were the commander of the Iwa-nin Advance Force, I'd launch a sneak attack right when the Konoha Advance Force had just arrived and was preparing to rest, while the Konoha ninjas were exhausted from setting up camp and hadn't maintained a proper formation.

Because he remembered there was an Earth Style Ninjutsu called the "Earth Dragon Burrowing Technique" that could hide deep underground, evading some forms of detection, making it perfect for ambushes.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Before he could finish his thought, a violent roar erupted outside the camp.

A ninja rushed in urgently. "Lord Orochimaru! Iwa-nin... Iwa-nin are attacking!"

"..."

Qifeng silently finished the thought he hadn't voiced.

That kind of success rate is pretty high.

Guess that doesn't make me a jinx, right?

Didn't call it into existence?

Or did I?