"If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have lost this war..."
Orochimaru's gaze grew colder. Didaze had undoubtedly added a black mark to his nearly perfect record.
"Then what should we do?"
Shimura Danzō was no longer in the mood to keep arguing with Orochimaru either. He, too, wanted to get rid of this Iwagakure genius as soon as possible.
He could tell that the person on the opposing side who controlled those remote explosions was younger than Orochimaru. In Shimura Danzō's eyes, that undoubtedly made him a genius.
"There's nothing we can do now... Let's ask the village. Perhaps things have already been settled on the Sunagakure front."
Orochimaru's stance was clear: he wanted to ask the village for reinforcements.
Orochimaru would never have asked the village for reinforcements unless he had no other choice. After all, to him, doing so was a sign of insufficient ability.
But if he did not ask the village for help, once Iwagakure broke through the defensive line here, an even larger stain would appear on his record.
Neither outcome was good for him, but Orochimaru could only choose between the two.
In fact, their objective here was to hold Iwagakure back. Once Konoha completely defeated Sunagakure, it would send people to help Orochimaru and the others defeat Iwagakure.
After all, the clearly stronger main force was on the Sunagakure front. Tsunade and Jiraiya were there, along with Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, and most of the main shinobi force was also fighting Sunagakure.
Sunagakure's defeat was only a matter of time. As long as nothing went wrong on Orochimaru's side, Sunagakure was a fish on the chopping block.
"I'll personally write a letter to Hiruzen."
Shimura Danzō had no intention of continuing his argument with Orochimaru either. Instead, he planned to inform Hiruzen Sarutobi of the situation first.
"Then you have my thanks, Clan Head Shimura."
Orochimaru's cold gaze softened slightly, and he nodded to Shimura Danzō.
Shimura Danzō nodded, then began writing his letter to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Before long, Shimura Danzō had finished his letter. Who knew what he had actually written?
Even Orochimaru gave Shimura Danzō a surprised glance.
For no other reason than that Shimura Danzō had written it far too quickly, without giving it any thought at all. This was a letter for the Hokage to read, yet Shimura Danzō had treated it like something written to a subordinate.
He had put no thought into it whatsoever, and judging by how quickly he wrote, his handwriting probably wasn't much to look at either.
"Deliver this letter."
Shimura Danzō seemed entirely unaware of this and handed the letter straight to the Root member behind him.
The Root member bowed respectfully, then left for Konoha with Shimura Danzō's letter.
The next day.
The Iwagakure camp.
"Come on, Didaze! Whatever you tell us to do, we'll do it!"
The members of the Explosion Release Corps had all gathered in front of Didaze, each brimming with fighting spirit.
"Introduce yourselves first. At the very least, I need to know all of you!"
Didaze looked at the members of the Explosion Release Corps. Apart from Gari, whom he knew from watching the anime, Kari was the only one he knew. He did not know a single one of the others.
These people had never appeared in the original story either, so Didaze had no impression of them at all.
"My name is Suna. I'm a member of the Explosion Release Corps."
A rather cold-looking, middle-aged man of average height spoke.
"My name is Iwa!"
A stern-looking middle-aged man spoke.
"I'm Fuku. Thank you for teaching us!"
This was a young man who looked about the same age as Didaze.
"I'm Shi. Please look after me!"
This man looked about the same age as Fuku. Their names went together, and they also looked like twins.
"You two... are you twins?"
Didaze looked at Shi and Fuku and asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Yes. We were abandoned when we were little. As for our names, the orphanage gave them to us. They're only one character each."
Shi spoke.
In fact, most children in orphanages had names of one or two characters, usually just one.
Take Kabuto Yakushi, for example. If Yakushi Nonō had not given him the surname Yakushi, his name would have simply been Kabuto.
"I'm Sajin. I'll be counting on your guidance from now on, Didaze!"
A very sturdy-looking middle-aged man spoke with a smile.
"I'm Sekido, a member of the Explosion Release Corps."
He was the oldest person in the Explosion Release Corps and looked to be over fifty, but his strength was probably the greatest in the corps apart from Gari's.
"Kari!"
Kari simply gave his name. Didaze knew him, so he did not waste words.
"I'm Gari, captain of the Explosion Release Corps. Kari and I are brothers!"
While introducing himself, Gari mentioned Kari as well.
Didaze was not surprised. After all, their names went together, and they looked seventy percent alike. He was not surprised in the slightest that they were brothers.
"Since you've all introduced yourselves, I'll introduce myself too."
"My name is Didaze. I'm sixteen this year, and I was just promoted to Jonin. Before that, I was stationed at the border."
Didaze looked at the members of the Explosion Release Corps as he spoke.
"They sent you to the border with abilities like yours? What a waste!"
Fuku could not help speaking up.
He could not understand why someone with Didaze's abilities would be sent to guard the border. Were the people in the village blind?
"That's not quite it. I only developed my Explosion Release a few days ago. Before that, I was just an ordinary Special Jōnin."
"And as soon as I developed this kind of Explosion Release, Lord Tsuchikage summoned me."
Didaze waved a hand. He was hardly someone whose talents had gone unrecognized. Besides, Iwagakure was not like Konoha, where he would have to engage in scheming and infighting. Ōnoki was probably desperate for someone to succeed him as Tsuchikage.
"Is that so? Then the people in the village aren't blind after all!"
Hearing Didaze say this, Fuku nodded, giving the village's actions his approval.
Didaze smacked his lips at Fuku's words. This fellow really dared to say anything. He looked as though he did not take Ōnoki seriously at all.
Still, he had the right to be arrogant. After all, he looked barely over twenty. With Jonin-level strength in his early twenties, he was certain to become an elite Jonin in the future. Ōnoki would not do anything to him over a little loose talk.
"You need extremely precise control over your chakra. Then, by manipulating your chakra, you inject your Explosion Release into the clay. Finally, you detonate it with Lightning Release!"
Didaze gave only a general answer. He really could not explain exactly how to inject it, but a general explanation was not much use either. It was only because everyone present belonged to the Explosion Release Corps, and would not blow themselves to death even if they failed, that Didaze dared to let them try.
Anyone else who tried would die.
"The better your control, the more varieties of Clay Bombs you can make, and the more powerful they'll be!"
"All right, enough talk. Everyone, give it a try. Mold one based on mine!"
After saying this, Didaze molded a simple Clay Bomb.
This was the simplest Clay Bomb. Anyone with talent would definitely be able to mold one, but if they were not cut out for it, the step of precisely controlling Explosion Release and injecting it into the clay would already spell the end of their attempt.