Chapter 76: Passing Directly Through the Land of Hot Water

After crossing the defensive line, the Konoha army did not pause for even a moment, heading north all the way, marching toward the Land of Hot Water.

The Land of Hot Water is situated between the Land of Fire and the Land of Moon; it is a buffer zone between Kumogakure and Konoha, and also the main battlefield where the two villages clash.

This hilly country, filled with hot springs everywhere, is now firmly controlled by Kumogakure; their food has been requisitioned by Kumogakure as military rations, and their Hot Spring Ninja are used as forced labor.

In order to extract resources as much as possible and ensure the safety of their supply lines, Kumogakure has filled the Land of Hot Water with eyes and ears.

Nowadays, these eyes and ears are a nuisance to the Konoha army; they cannot clear out every single one, nor can they keep their own intelligence secret.

Orochimaru asked, "Yamanaka Chujiu, can you not detect and clear out the Kumogakure eyes and ears either?"

Yamanaka Chujiu shook his head and said, "It cannot be done; the eyes and ears arranged by Kumogakure include not only ninja, but even more ordinary people who have been bribed."

"I can distinguish ninja, but I have no way to differentiate ordinary people."

"The number of ordinary people is simply too large."

Orochimaru frowned and said, "This is troublesome..."

Yamanaka Chujiu, however, laughed and said, "Teacher Orochimaru, your thinking is restricted by a ninja's mindset."

"Kumogakure uses a large number of ordinary people as eyes and ears in the Land of Hot Water to save on the demand for their own ninja, which makes it impossible for me to root out all the eyes and ears."

"But looking at it from the other side, with so few Kumogakure ninja, do they have the ability to stop my four-thousand-strong Konoha army?"

"No, it is absolutely impossible; they cannot even launch a guerrilla war or delay our marching speed in the slightest."

"So we don't need to worry about them at all; we will cross the Land of Hot Water at the fastest speed possible, and no one can stop us here."

Orochimaru's eyes lit up, but he had one final question: "The Fourth Hokage, who remained at Sakurahara, will know that we have arrived in the Land of Hot Water."

"This reckless man is actually quite smart; even if he finds it unbelievable, he will guess what we are going to do."

"Therefore, he will catch up at full speed... how do we resolve that?"

Yamanaka Chujiu answered confidently, "Teacher Orochimaru, if pursuers come, we will choose a prime location, set an ambush, and properly 'entertain' them."

"We in Konoha are very familiar with the Land of Hot Water; the terrain is gently rolling, and there are no deep canyons absolutely suitable for setting an ambush."

"Kumogakure ninja are equally familiar with it and will surely think we won't ambush them here, and that is exactly why I want to do the opposite—set an ambush in these hills that are unsuitable for ambushing!"

"How can the tactical advantage of terrain compare to the surprise of psychological warfare?"

Yamanaka Chujiu's smile gradually turned ferocious as he pointed to a spot on the map of the Land of Hot Water: "I want to hollow out this small hill, load it with enough Explosive Tags, and then lure the Kumogakure ninja to gather on the hill and send them all to the sky in one go!"

Orochimaru laughed: "It is not difficult to make them gather here; as long as we set up our defensive positions a little bit ahead and create a pincer movement from two sides and a siege from three, Kumogakure will obediently climb the death hill themselves."

A look of approval flashed in Orochimaru's eyes: "A perfect tactic; let's do as you say."

He couldn't help but sigh again: "Yamanaka Chujiu, my student, you really are the strangest, yet most suitable ninja in the Ninja World to command a large army."

"I feel that even if I were your enemy, my only chance of victory would be to assassinate you in advance."

Yamanaka Chujiu shook his head helplessly (Map-reading old man looking at phone. jpg): "Teacher Orochimaru, why would I ever be your enemy?"

"Even if you failed in your struggle against Sarutobi Hiruzen, I would still become a rogue ninja with you."

Orochimaru suddenly felt a warmth in his heart and stuck out his tongue to lick his cheek.

Then he deliberately laughed strangely: "What a good student of mine; you are worthy of being my final disciple."

Yamanaka Chujiu laughed: "The days ahead are still long; how can you say I am your final student, Teacher?"

Orochimaru laughed: "Heh, do you think I could still encounter a young person as clever, powerful, thoughtful, and loyal as you?"

Yamanaka Chujiu thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Teacher Orochimaru, you probably won't have such good luck again."

"However, I think you could just have a child..."

Orochimaru sneered: "Impossible!"

"Who could I marry and have a child with? Tsunade?"

"... She would probably beat me to death."

"Besides Tsunade, there is no one in this Ninja World that I can even look at!"

Yamanaka Chujiu curled his lips: "That's hard to say..."

Heh, you don't look at others, but could you possibly not look at yourself?

For the next day, the Konoha army no longer hid their tracks; instead, they gathered together, formed a column stretching for several kilometers, and marched openly along the main road.

Although this was not the fastest speed, all the ninja could take the opportunity to recover their stamina.

A small number of Konoha ninja skilled in Earth Style left the main force in advance to head to designated locations to set up ambushes, traps, and hidden positions.

Intelligence of the Konoha army's movements began to spread, reaching the Kumogakure army at Sakurahara first.

The Fourth Raikage was stunned upon hearing the news: "Orochimaru and Yamanaka Chujiu are in the Land of Hot Water?"

"What kind of bullshit intelligence is this? How could they suddenly appear behind us, and they've already run nearly two thousand kilometers..."

The Fourth Raikage suddenly remembered that his current predicament, bordering on failure, was because Yamanaka Chujiu had infiltrated through his front line and raided the Kumogakure army's supply center.

If he could do it once, he could certainly do it again.

The problem is, they ran too far; what target in the Land of Hot Water is worth an attack by thousands of Konoha ninja?

There is absolutely nothing...

Suddenly, the Fourth Raikage jumped up and shouted in horror: "No, I've been tricked!"

"I was wondering why the Konoha ninja have been so quiet these past two days; it doesn't seem like the behavior of Orochimaru and that Yamanaka Chujiu."

"They, they are actually going to attack Kumogakure..."

"What?!"

Killer Bee was so shocked that his Eight-Tails chakra leaked out, and the chakra Wind Storm blew away his own tent.

But no one paid attention to the jinchuriki's loss of control; all the Kumogakure ninja jumped up, clamoring in a jumble.

"That's impossible, right? We are still within the borders of the Land of Fire; how could they dare to leave us behind and go directly to attack Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning?"

"Exactly, we are only twelve hundred kilometers away from Konohagakure, but how far are they from Kumogakure?"

"At least three thousand kilometers, and they have to cross the territory of four countries, one of which is the Land of Moon, which we control."

"This is impossible, this is absolutely impossible!"

"I, on the other hand, think they are going to attack the Land of Hot Water to sabotage our operation of requisitioning supplies from the Tang Country, forcing us into a desperate situation of food shortages even faster."

The Fourth Raikage stood up, his dark face turning pale, and he stated decisively: "No, that is not it!"

"To sabotage our layout in the Land of Hot Water, one does not need an army of four thousand ninja."

"Especially since Yamanaka Chujiu went along as well; you have all experienced his command ability. With just three hundred Konoha Ninja, five hundred at most, he could throw the entire Land of Hot Water into chaos."

"The four thousand Konoha Ninja under the command of Yamanaka Chujiu should be treated as ten thousand Konoha Ninja!"

"Tell me, if ten thousand Konoha Ninja are marching rapidly to the north, what is their target?"

The faces of the Cloud Ninja all turned pale.

The target of ten thousand Konoha Ninja is either a Cloud Hidden Army of the same scale, or—Kumogakure!