Chapter 48: The Assault Team Selected by Orochimaru

Sakura is the defensive fulcrum of Konohagakure, where a permanent defensive fortress has been built.

The top floor of the fortress is the commander's office, which also serves as the combat command room and the highest observation post.

A small snake crawled out from a corner of the office, opened its mouth to spit out a large snake, and the large snake opened its mouth to spit out a slimy Orochimaru. For book tracking, look for Tiantiankan Novels, ᴛᴛᴋs. ᴛᴡ, it's awesome.

Seeing this unique entrance, Yamanaka Chujiu laughed on the spot: "Teacher Orochimaru, you actually arrived a day early; how gentle of you."

Orochimaru stood up straight and asked with a smile: "Oh, how so?"

Yamanaka Chujiu said: "I know you have many things to handle, Teacher, and ten days is a very tight schedule; to think you could still squeeze out another day."

"I don't know how much you had to give up just to rescue me, your student."

Yamanaka Chujiu truly had not expected that Orochimaru would be able to abandon his own interests just to save him.

This caused his perception of Orochimaru to change drastically; he truly began to respect Orochimaru as a teacher, and his attitude naturally shifted.

Orochimaru also sensed the change in Yamanaka Chujiu's attitude and laughed triumphantly: "Oh hehehe..."

After laughing enough, he remarked: "You've done a great job, my good student."

"Not only are you able to fight against superior numbers, but you've even left the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki with no temper at all."

"I knew your command skills were strong, but I didn't expect them to be this strong."

"Had I known, I would have spent two more days; not only could I have avoided losses, but I could have also finished a few more of my half-abandoned experiments."

Yamanaka Chujiu said: "How could I have held on for two more days?"

"Two days later, I would have had to retreat to within a thousand kilometers of Konohagakure, and the Third Hokage would have flown into a rage."

Orochimaru shook his head and said: "Teacher Sarutobi doesn't have that much patience; when I left, he was already losing his temper in the Hokage Office."

Yamanaka Chujiu: "..."

"Teacher Orochimaru, under the leadership of such a Third Hokage, how did you manage to win before?"

Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked his cheek: "There was no other good way; we could only fight the enemy head-on, risking the lives of the children, risking my own life..."

"Besides, the Teacher Sarutobi of the past wasn't as impatient as he is now."

"Alright, tell me your plan for what comes next."

"Yes, Teacher Orochimaru."

Yamanaka Chujiu recounted the entire plan without reservation, including the key strike against the Cloud Hidden Army's supply transport center.

When he spoke with excitement, his eyes shone unconsciously, and he stuck out his tongue to lick his cheek.

Seeing Orochimaru's own mannerisms reflected in this way, Orochimaru was momentarily stunned and couldn't help but stick out his tongue as well.

Just then, Anko pushed the door open excitedly: "Teacher Orochimaru, the intelligence you wanted has ar—"

"Ah?"

"Teacher, why are you using a Clone... Ah! It's not a Clone!"

"T-two Teacher Orochimarus."

A flash of helplessness crossed Orochimaru's eyes: "Sigh, you've worked hard these past few days, Chujiu."

Yamanaka Chujiu shrugged helplessly: "I only had to look after Anko for a few days; compared to you, Teacher, it's not hard work at all."

Mitarashi Anko was cute in appearance and possessed excellent talent, but her personality was extremely difficult—gluttonous, lecherous, hyperactive, and reckless; she was always getting into trouble.

Most importantly, this girl had two personalities that alternated day and night, and her brain could sleep in shifts like a dolphin.

The nighttime Anko couldn't be called Anko, but rather "boiled black bean"—timid, prone to crying, extremely clingy, and full of endless questions.

In short, she was very difficult to take care of.

Orochimaru raised a finger and pointed at Yamanaka Chujiu: "Anko, this is your senior brother, Yamanaka Chujiu."

Yamanaka Chujiu turned his head to greet her: "Hello."

As he spoke, he reached out and slashed his brow, splitting the snake skin he was wearing in two and revealing his true face.

Anko nodded blankly: "Oh, okay."

Orochimaru shook his head: "Anko, give me the intelligence, then get out."

Anko handed the intelligence to her teacher, turned to open the door, then looked back: "Teacher, doesn't he need to leave too?"

Orochimaru smiled: "Chujiu doesn't need to; he is even more capable than I am."

Anko's eyes rolled, and she reached out her hand: "Chujiu... Senior Brother! Where is my welcome gift?"

Yamanaka Chujiu was stunned by Anko's strange logic and subconsciously patted his body, only to find that he was carrying nothing but combat gear, with absolutely nothing that could serve as a gift.

But having lived two lives, his skin was thick enough and his experience in improvisation was sufficient, so he immediately promised with a smile: "I didn't prepare a gift, but after this battle is over, I'll get you something good!"

Anko smiled happily: "Okay, Senior Brother, you mustn't lie to your Junior Sister!"

After sending off the silly little Anko, the teacher and student continued to discuss the action plan, making adjustments based on intelligence the other was unaware of.

For instance, Orochimaru had a batch of Communication Snakes, which were developed to target the Communication Frogs of Myoboku Mountain.

Because the Communication Snakes lacked intelligence and could only transmit messages one-way, they were deemed failures by Orochimaru.

But in Yamanaka Chujiu's hands, these were artifacts that could save time on issuing orders, capable of reducing his battlefield delay from several minutes to under 100 milliseconds.

His command precision could be improved from "move the machine gun five meters to the left" to "lower the muzzle by three centimeters"!

In this way, the force responsible for the raid on the Cloud Hidden Army's supply center could be reduced from a battalion of over a hundred people to a company of thirty.

The greatest benefit of a smaller team size was the ability to infiltrate through the Cloud Hidden Army without having to detour for hundreds of kilometers.

This would reduce the time needed to hold the front line against the enemy by at least one day.

Orochimaru said lazily and confidently: "Only needing to hold for two days is not a problem at all."

"If it's only that much time, I can completely take action against the Eight-Tails Gyuki; I am very curious about this Tailed Beast that is said to be second only to the Nine-Tails."

Yamanaka Chujiu said nonchalantly: "Do as you please, Teacher; I'm going to go pick the people."

"..."

"It seems I tore the skin; Teacher Orochimaru, you'll have to come with me."

Orochimaru stood up, feigning anger: "What a waste of my time, let's go!"

The thirty spots were quickly filled: one Ino-Shika-Cho Team, one Byakugan team, two mixed reconnaissance teams, one Genjutsu-specialized team, four combat teams skilled in Fire Release and Lightning Release, and one Uchiha Squad.

The Ino-Shika-Cho Team were naturally acquaintances of Yamanaka Chujiu; although he found it strange, there would be absolutely no problems commanding them.

The Byakugan team was composed of the Hyuga Branch Family; their obedience was extremely high, so they were likewise no problem.

The mixed reconnaissance teams were composed of ninja from the Hyuga, Inuzuka, and Aburame clans; the only issue was that the three dogs were a bit rowdy.

The five combat teams were all of commoner origin and were full of enthusiasm for executing such a decisive mission; they also had excellent obedience regarding Yamanaka Chujiu's status as Orochimaru's student, so they were even less of a problem.

The only ones who might be a problem were likely the Uchiha Squad.

After all, the pride of those guys was truly troublesome.