By evening, Lin Ze finally returned to the vicinity of Kikyo Mountain without any mishaps.
As soon as he approached, a figure swiftly emerged from hiding. It was Fox, who had already been waiting there for quite some time.
Fox looked Lin Ze up and down. Seeing that he had no obvious serious injuries apart from heavy chakra expenditure and somewhat tattered clothes, his tense expression eased a little, and he said in a low voice:
"Good to have you back!"
Lin Ze nodded and asked, "Captain, how are things? The others..."
Fox's eyes instantly dimmed, and his voice grew much lower:
"Our Squad B-5 was one of the lucky ones. Gray Wolf lost an arm, but he can recover after a few months of rest. Night Owl was poisoned by Sunagakure's puppets, too. I'm afraid he won't be recovering anytime soon."
"The other two squads... out of eight people, only the two captains came back!"
Lin Ze fell silent for a moment. Although he had expected it, hearing the casualty figures still stirred something within him.
Of twelve elite ninja, six had been lost in a single mission. That alone showed the cruelty of war.
And Gray Wolf had actually lost a hand, too. Coupled with Night Owl's condition, their squad was no longer strong enough to carry out ANBU missions. Lin Ze figured they would most likely need to be reorganized afterward.
Then Lin Ze and Fox briefly exchanged accounts of what had happened after they broke out. Fox did most of the talking, while Lin Ze gave a brief account of how he had escaped Pakura's pursuit, leaving out the details.
As they were talking, an ANBU messenger wearing an animal mask approached.
"Aoda, Lord Orochimaru wants to see you."
What had to come had finally come.