"Yes, that's right, that must be it. That suddenly appearing thousand-strong force wasn't new reinforcements from Konoha at all. It was a group of poisoned ninjas who were cured with antidote and then sent back to the battlefield. Otherwise, there's no way to explain Konoha's extra troops. No, we need to gather people now and discuss our next strategy."
The more Chiyo analyzed, the uglier her expression became. If her analysis was correct, then Sunagakure was truly in trouble.
With that thought in mind, Chiyo stopped paying attention to the Sunagakure in front of her and turned to leave.
She needed to quickly gather the high-ranking officers on the front lines to discuss countermeasures.
Soon, Chiyo summoned all the high-ranking officials to Rasa's hospital room. Even though Rasa was injured, he was still the commander-in-chief on the front line. There were some things that needed to be told to him, and some orders that needed to be issued by him.
Looking at the high-ranking frontline officers who had already arrived, Chiyo said, "I called you all here because of one thing: I suspect that Konoha has developed an antidote to our poison."
"What? How is this possible?" Chiyo's words shocked the surrounding executives, and even Rasa, who was sitting on the hospital bed, couldn't help but cough.
There was no way around it; Chiyo's guess was too shocking, and even the high-ranking officers at the front lines, including Rasa, looked completely disbelieving.
"I don't have time to joke with you. There's a high chance that Konoha has developed an antidote. Otherwise, there's no way to explain the sudden appearance of a thousand-strong force from Konoha. Think about it, since we started fighting Konoha these past few days, we've inflicted considerable losses on Konoha. I've done the math, and Konoha has seen about seven or eight hundred poisoning patients in the last few days. The number here is very close to the number of reinforcements Konoha has sent." Chiyo explained directly to the surrounding high-ranking officials, seeing their suspicious expressions.
"But Elder Chiyo, this doesn't mean Konoha has cracked our poison." Although Chiyo offered her explanation, it seemed somewhat far-fetched to the high-ranking officials present.
Chiyo knew her explanation lacked persuasiveness, but she had already sent someone to verify her idea, and they would be back soon. "Wait a moment, I've already sent someone to confirm the information I needed, they'll be back shortly."
Not long after Chiyo finished speaking, a Sand Ninja entered Rasa's hospital room, came to Chiyo's side, handed Chiyo a piece of paper, and then left the room.
Chiyo opened the paper, her pupils contracted, and she looked as if she had known.
After reading through all the contents of the paper, Chiyo finally let out a long sigh of relief.
She seemed to have suffered a blow, and her face looked somewhat weary as she said, "I was right after all; Konoha has successfully developed the antidote."
After saying that, he handed the paper to Rasa. Rasa looked incredulous after reading it, and then handed it to the higher-ups around him.
After reading the contents of the paper, the high-ranking officials all showed expressions of shock. The contents of the paper were simply too astonishing for them.
The document stated that the Konoha camp had a rough estimate of only three thousand ninjas, approaching four thousand.
This seemingly simple and cryptic piece of information made all the high-ranking officials present realize that Chiyo was right.
Konoha really did produce an antidote.
Why were the higher-ups able to reach this conclusion? Because they knew that before the poison tactic was implemented, there were only a little over four thousand ninjas in Konoha's territory.
After more than ten days of battles, large and small, Konoha now has a maximum of more than three thousand ninjas. Apart from the logistics troops and seven or eight hundred wounded who are unable to fight after being poisoned, there should only be more than two thousand of these three thousand Konoha Ninja who can fight.
The problem is that when the Sunagakure and Konoha were fighting this morning, Konoha had already deployed two thousand combat troops on the battlefield, and later a thousand more were sent as reinforcements. So if it really was ninja troops from other places coming to support the Sunagakure Village battlefield, then there should be more than four thousand people in Konoha's positions now.
However, there are still only a little over three thousand people in Konoha's camp, which proves that Konoha has not received any new reinforcements. Otherwise, the number of people in Konoha's camp would only be more, not less.
Therefore, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion that the thousand-strong force that appeared on the battlefield was originally located in Konoha's territory.
This proves Chiyo's guess.
The seven or eight hundred wounded who had been poisoned recovered and then joined the support troops.
This explains why Chiyo believed that Konoha had developed the antidote.
Without the antidote, those poisoned Konoha Ninja would never have appeared on the battlefield.
"So Konoha really cracked our poison tactic?"
Although a conclusion had been reached, some high-ranking officials still found it hard to believe. They simply couldn't believe that Konoha had cracked Chiyo's poison so easily. In their plan, even if Konoha had indeed cracked the poison, it would have taken quite some time. Now, only a little over ten days had passed and their plan had failed. Could it be that Tsunade had reappeared on the front lines? Because, as far as they knew, there was only one person in Konoha capable of cracking Chiyo's poison, and that was Tsunade.
Upon considering this possibility, the Sunagakure's higher-ups asked Chiyo, " Elder Chiyo, do you think it's possible that Tsunade has appeared? Otherwise, how did Konoha manage to break your poison?"
Hearing the higher-ups' words, Chiyo pondered for a moment, then shook her head, denying it, "It shouldn't be Tsunade. If Tsunade really is in the Konoha camp today, then we might not be able to escape from the battlefield smoothly."
Chiyo recalled the scene of facing Orochimaru on the battlefield that morning. If Tsunade had been there, Orochimaru would never have let go of the opportunity to severely injure or even completely defeat Sunagakure. Only without strong support from behind would Orochimaru have retreated so easily.
" Elder Chiyo, what do we do now?" Rasa asked Chiyo, his face pale as he sat on the hospital bed.
He originally thought that this defeat was just Konoha's good luck. With their poisonous tactics, they still had the advantage and could still wear Konoha down.
However, the poison tactic has unexpectedly failed, which means that the Sunagakure has completely fallen into a disadvantageous position.
Without any other changes, it will be impossible for them to pose a danger to Konoha.
"We no longer have the resources to launch large-scale battles; we can only maintain small-scale operations. Ultimately, everything depends on Bunpuku's arrival. I received a message from Ebizo; Bunpuku is already somewhat wavering. If he makes a little more effort, he'll be able to persuade Bunpuku soon. That will be the real decisive battle. For now, let the people of Konoha be happy."
Of course, in the smaller battles that follow, I will also provide different poisons. I want to see if Konoha's ability to counteract the poisons is just luck or if they truly have the skill.
"This is the only way for now."
Rasa sighed. For a moment, he felt that launching a war against Konoha was a mistake. Konoha was not so easy to defeat, and after these few battles, he didn't have any particularly significant advantage.