After listening to Orochimaru and Genji's conversation, Kōki finally gained a general understanding of the current situation at the medical camp.
However, he still quietly inquired about the details of the poisoning incident from the medical-nin beside him.
He learned from the medical-nin around him that all the patients present, including those he had treated the day before, had been poisoned by Chiyo of Sunagakure.
Two or three hours before he woke up, Genji came here to treat the Konoha Ninja. However, he was no match for so many patients on his own, so he told Orochimaru about the situation and hoped that Orochimaru would give him some advice on how to solve the problem.
That's how Kōki saw the scene when he woke up in the morning.
After learning about the current situation, Kōki quite troubled. The person he had painstakingly cured yesterday had developed new problems, wasn't this a complete waste of his efforts? The key was that he didn't have any solutions, which made him feel extremely frustrated.
Meanwhile, at the Sunagakure camp, Rasa, who had been poisoned by Orochimaru's snake venom, had recovered after Chiyo's treatment. However, his pale complexion showed how much damage Orochimaru's snake venom had caused him the previous night.
"I'm so grateful to Elder Chiyo this time, otherwise I would have been in serious trouble."
Rasa knew that his recovery from Orochimaru's snake venom was entirely thanks to Chiyo. Without Chiyo, given the medical capabilities of Sunagakure's medical unit, he would have likely been bedridden for a long time, or even faced a life-threatening situation.
Although Orochimaru's mixed snake venom only affects the body, it can still be fatal if not treated in time.
" Rasa, I hope you'll be more careful in the future. Facing a renowned ninja like Orochimaru, even the slightest carelessness can easily lead to defeat. You reacted quickly this time; any later, and this battle between Sunagakure and Konoha wouldn't even need to be fought—we might as well have surrendered."
Chiyo's tone was filled with anger; she was very dissatisfied with Orochimaru's unwitting fall into Rasa's trap.
Because of Rasa, the raid failed, causing considerable losses to Sunagakure.
If Rasa had been more careful and cautious when facing Orochimaru, it wouldn't have been Sunagakure that suffered, but Konoha.
"It was my carelessness, Elder Chiyo. I never expected Orochimaru's method of poisoning to be so unique."
Rasa, feeling ashamed after being reprimanded by Chiyo, lowered his head. The failure of yesterday's plan was indeed his responsibility.
He never expected that the renowned Orochimaru would resort to such underhanded tactics instead of a fair fight. He was confident that he would be no match for Orochimaru in a straightforward confrontation.
Seeing Rasa's ashamed expression and remorseful demeanor, Chiyo didn't dwell on the issue.
Rasa is indeed the most outstanding new generation figure in Sunagakure, and the one who will succeed as Kazekage.
She was simply disappointed in him; Rasa, who was about to become the Kazekage, couldn't afford to make such a foolish mistake. She wanted to remind Rasa not to repeat similar errors, otherwise he wouldn't be so lucky next time.
"Alright, now that you've recognized your mistake, that's good. You need to understand that your image no longer belongs to you personally; you are destined to succeed the Fourth Kazekage. Your every action represents the face of Sunagakure. Therefore, I hope that you will only make this mistake once—this is the first and the last time."
Chiyo looked at Rasa with a serious expression. She could allow Rasa to fail once before he became the Fourth Kazekage, but she would absolutely not allow it to happen a second time.
If a second such incident occurs, she will have to consider a new candidate for the Fourth Kazekage.
The common people of Sunagakure could not accept a loser who had repeatedly failed as their supreme leader, and the Sunagakure leadership was even less willing to accept it.
"I understand, Elder Chiyo. I will be more careful from now on." Rasa also understood the hidden meaning in Chiyo's words. He knew that this was a warning from Chiyo, but also a chance to start over. He would definitely remember this lesson.
"Good that you understand." Chiyo nodded in response, glanced at the clock on the wall, and continued, "Judging by the time, the people in Konoha should have already taken the poison. You will continue to lead the attack on Konoha and inflict as many casualties as possible. Yesterday, Konoha had too few wounded; it was far from enough for us to launch a full-scale offensive."
It's been about ten hours since the attack started last night. Her specially designed poison should have already started to take effect.
Once the poison takes effect, it will be time for Sunagakure to continue their attack. Using poison to wear down Konoha is her prepared plan.
But then she saw Rasa's pale face and shook her head helplessly. "Forget it, your body hasn't recovered yet. You don't have an advantage against Orochimaru. Let's wait until you're almost fully healed before we start attacking. It'll also be good for those poisoned Konoha Ninja to wail for a day and weaken Konoha's morale."
Chiyo originally intended to take advantage of Konoha's instability to further expand her gains, but seeing Rasa's listless and weak appearance, she had to abandon this plan.
She couldn't possibly let the weakened Rasa face Orochimaru again; doing so would be sending Rasa to his death.
As for why she didn't personally lead the attack on Konoha's camp, the reason is quite simple.
One of the purposes of this war was to create momentum for Rasa so that he could smoothly succeed as Kazekage. If she intervened, it would only cause Rasa's reputation to suffer, making him unable to meet the requirements for succeeding as Kazekage.
To become the Kazekage, one must make significant contributions to Sunagakure, and Rasa lacked such merit.
On the other hand, she was also getting old, and she wanted to keep her old body to see her grandson Scorpion one last time.
Of course, this doesn't mean Chiyo won't make a move; it's just that now isn't the best time for her to act. She plans to wait until Bunpuku arrives, then, together with Bunpuku, Rasa, and herself, combine the power of two Kage Level and the One-Tail Jinchuriki to kill the Wood Release user in one fell swoop. This is her ultimate plan.
"Yes, Elder Chiyo."
Rasa nodded with some annoyance. He hoped he could step up and bring victory to Sunagakure, but his current condition was indeed not suitable for going to the battlefield. Although Orochimaru's poison had been cured by Chiyo, it still left his body very weak.
If you were to go to war and face Orochimaru, you would likely be defeated again.
After seeing that Rasa understood her good intentions, Chiyo left the place where Rasa was resting.
She still has a lot to do. Yesterday's raid failed, and many seriously injured ninjas need treatment. She also needs to calm the panic among the Sunagakure troops below.
After all, yesterday's losses were too great, with nearly half of the raiding force's ninjas dying on the battlefield, causing the Sunagakure who escaped to develop a fear of Konoha's ninjas.
Therefore, they also need someone to re-encourage them.