The sunset's last rays fell over the temporary camp, bathing everything in warm gold.
On a distant hilltop, Shihōin Naraku gazed out over the entire battlefield. Beside him, Jiraiya watched it all in rare silence.
Ninja moved back and forth like ants, busying themselves across the ruined battlefield.
"The war is over. What a relief."
With that sigh, Jiraiya withdrew his gaze and looked at Naraku beside him. "Finished everything on your end?"
"Yes." Naraku nodded. "Everything that needed arranging has been taken care of."
"Have the exact casualty figures been tallied? I heard Tsunade say earlier that casualties seemed to have exceeded half our forces." Regret filled Jiraiya's voice.
This war had been far too brutal.
Such immense casualties would surely leave an indelible mark on the entire shinobi world!
And that was only a rough estimate, not an accurate count.
"Half?"
Naraku's voice was level. "That's only an approximate figure. The tally isn't finished yet."
"Clearing the battlefield will take some time. We'll need to wait until at least the first sweep is complete before we can confirm the exact numbers."
Jiraiya fell silent for a moment. "That should cover the Main Battlefield, then. What about the other battlefields?"
Previously, with the war still ongoing, the casualty figures from each battlefield had not been particularly accurate.
After all, everyone had been focused on defeating the enemy first and dealing with everything else afterward.
So the casualty figures had likewise been only rough estimates.
Now that the war was over, they could conduct a detailed count.
Once things settled down, the Allied Shinobi Forces would certainly have to send people to each battlefield to conduct thorough investigations and searches.
But that would inevitably take a great deal of time.
"We'll deal with investigating and clearing the other battlefields later."