Amidst the barely concealed anger in the eyes of all the Sand Ninja, Shin'un led the Konoha Ninja to a safe retreat, heading straight for the next Sand Ninja stronghold.
Halfway there, a Ninja Hawk suddenly flew in from the horizon and accurately spotted Shin'un among the hundreds of Konoha Ninja below.
At the front of the group, Shin'un, who was running wildly, raised his hand to signal the group to stop, then stopped in place and raised his right arm.
Seeing this, the Ninja Hawk in the sky, with great intelligence, swiftly swooped down and landed steadily on Shin'un's raised right forearm.
Shin'un took the letter from its calf, stroked the soft down on the Genin hawk's belly, and then raised his arm to release it into the air.
Watching the Ninja Hawk rapidly ascend into the sky, Shin'un smiled, then unfolded the letter in his hand to read it.
The letter contained few words, but it was very important.
Shin'un quickly finished reading the letter, and his brows immediately furrowed.
He rolled up the letter he had finished reading and handed it to the bald messenger squad leader next to him, signaling him to destroy it.
Lowering his head, Shin'un stroked his chin, pondering to himself.
He initially thought Shikaku Nara had some new idea and was writing to inquire, but it turned out to be something else entirely.
Chiyo has successfully escaped from the One-Tail's body.
Sigh~
Shin'un let out a heavy sigh, feeling somewhat helpless.
"There's nothing we can do about it; it was bound to happen sooner or later."
However, the letter from Shikaku Nara contained more than just bad news.
The good news is that Shin'un no longer needs to painstakingly target each Sand Ninja stronghold and destroy the giant puppet.
This morning, near the border of the Land of Rain and the Land of Wind, the Sand Ninja gathered twenty-three giant puppets and hundreds of Sand Ninja to fight against the One-Tail in its wild state.
The entire battle was witnessed by the Konoha squad specifically assigned to monitor the One-Tail Beast.
The battle ended about an hour later.
In the end, most of the twenty-three giant puppets were destroyed, leaving only five giant puppets intact.
The casualties among the ordinary Sand Ninja on the ground were not high, with only 67 deaths.
Perhaps because the Sand Ninja lacked ninjas proficient in Sealing Jutsu, although Chiyo escaped after the battle, the One-Tail was not sealed and remained in its wild state.
"If we do the math, the Sand Ninja should only have fewer than ten giant puppets left in the Land of Rain."
Shaking his head, Shin'un was shocked by the shortsightedness of the Sand Ninja commander.
After a full hour of fighting, it was impossible for most of the twenty-three giant puppets, no matter how conspicuous they were on the battlefield, to be destroyed.
In contrast, ordinary Sand Ninja suffered fewer than a hundred casualties when facing Tailed Beast.
Such an absurd difference in casualties clearly indicates that the Sand Ninja commander intentionally reduced the number of giant puppets.
"Really... if you don't want it, you can give it to me..."
Shin'un secretly felt sorry for those giant puppets.
Although he understood that with all of the Sand Ninja's supplies cut off, the giant puppet should have become a burden for them.
Even so, Shin'un still couldn't understand the Sand Ninja Commander's thought process.
"That's a unique thought process in the Shinobi World."
Shaking his head, Shin'un stopped daydreaming and frowned as he began to think about Chiyo's escape.
It is foreseeable that once Chiyo escapes, the numerous Sand Ninja on the battlefield will once again have unified command.
Once all the information about the Sand Ninja is unified, Chiyo will likely realize Nara Shikahito's plan to use all the Sand Ninja as hostages.
Once Chiyo sees through Nara Shikahito's plan, she will undoubtedly do everything in her power to organize all the Sand Ninja of the Land of Rain to launch a counterattack against Konoha.
After thinking for a long time, Shin'un gradually sorted out his thoughts.
"If it's really as I think, then this counterattack will probably be the Sand Ninja's last struggle in this war."
He opened his eyes and turned to look at the bald messenger squad leader beside him.
"Turn around and head back to camp!"
At the same time, the largest Sand Ninja camp in the Land of Rain.
"Hmm~"
Slowly opening her eyes, Chiyo gradually awoke from her deep coma. The first thing she saw was the unfamiliar tent roof.
The vigilance cultivated through years of ninja training came into play, and the confusion in Chiyo's eyes quickly disappeared. She then sat up and looked around warily.
"Here it is..."
A young female ninja, who had been dozing by the bed, was also awakened by Chiyo's movement of getting up.
Raising her head, the female ninja's fair cheeks were marked with red marks, and there was a faint glint of tears at the corners of her mouth.
Confused, the female ninja looked up and met Chiyo's expressionless stare.
Opening her eyes wide, the female ninja's last vestiges of sleepiness vanished instantly, and she quickly stood up, bowed, and apologized.
"I... I'm so sorry, you were unconscious all morning, and I stayed by your side the whole time. I couldn't help myself..."
Seeing the young ninja bowing repeatedly before her, Chiyo smiled kindly and then waved her hand.
"It's alright, ninjas are human too, they can take a nap when they're tired sometimes."
Thank you for your understanding.
The female ninja lowered her head, seemingly afraid to look at Chiyo in front of her. After a moment of silence, she said:
"Now that you're awake, I'll go and inform the Sakura Jonin the others."
"Okay, go ahead. Remember to have them bring all the recent intelligence."
The female ninja nodded, bowed, and had just turned around when a voice suddenly came from behind her again.
"There's one more thing."
Chiyo patted her somewhat shrunken belly and said with a smile:
"Bring me some food."
Upon hearing this, the female ninja nodded knowingly.
"OK."
Ten minutes later, in the slightly crowded tent.
Chiyo sat at the round table in the center of the tent, eating simple, cold, and chewy dry rations while reviewing all the recent intelligence on the Sand Ninja. Her face was unusually gloomy.
A dozen or so Sunagakure Jonin, responsible for various affairs, stood before Chiyo with their heads bowed, as if being punished.
The female Sand Ninja was taking care of Chiyo stood in the corner of the tent, feeling a chill in the quiet tent that made the hairs on her body stand on end.
Thump!
A sudden slam of the table made everyone shudder and stealthily glance at Chiyo.
Chiyo closed her eyes, trying hard to suppress her anger.
She couldn't understand it, she really couldn't understand it.
Just seven days ago, everything in the Land of Rain was normal, and the Sand Ninja was still able to hold out for a while.
After enduring seven days in the dark, confined, and oxygen-deprived body of the One-Tail, she barely managed to survive on the small amount of food she carried with her.
However, they discovered that the situation in the Land of Rain had taken a sharp turn for the worse, and the Sunagakure was facing an unprecedentedly dire situation.
A few minutes later, as the Sunagakure Jonin glances in the tent, discussing who should speak first and be the unlucky one, Chiyo's calm voice rang out.
"Alright."
"Since the situation has come to this, I can't be bothered with you anymore."
After saying that, Chiyo closed her eyes and opened her mouth to say:
" The Nara Shikahito in our rear have not only cut off all our supplies, but are also hindering our retreat to the Land of Wind."
" Konoha's constant harassment has caused our supplies to dwindle rapidly, making it insufficient to detour back to the Land of Wind via the Land of Grass and the Land of Birds."
"Meanwhile, One-Tail is in a wild state, freed from its seal, leaving only nine giant puppets."
"We have less than three thousand ninjas left, including over eight hundred Chunin, over Jonin... and over two hundred severely wounded who are unable to move."
"..."
Chiyo closed her eyes and remained silent for Chiyo time, lost in thought.
After a moment of silence in the tent, Chiyo opened her eyes and Jonin the dozen or so Sunagakure Chunin standing in front of her one by one.
Then, Chiyo calmly said without any expression:
"Now, we only have one option left."
"A final, all-out effort... a last-ditch effort!"