In Konoha, I collected corpses on the battlefield for ten years

When they went, there were eleven people, but when they returned, only five were left. And apart from Orochimaru, each of them looked no better than Qifeng.

More importantly, Nakamura Kenta, one of the three Jonin, was gone.

Tsukikage Naoki supported his severely injured companion, a hint of admiration in his eyes as he looked at Qifeng.

The command room was already so dilapidated, but the area around the corpse's location was relatively clean and had not suffered too much damage.

The clean corpse contrasted sharply with the disheveled Qifeng.

He couldn't help but sigh: "Not only must we protect the people of Konoha, but we must also protect these fallen heroes of Konoha. Well done, Maruyama Qifeng!"

Based on the scene before them, it was easy to piece together the general process.

This is also the essence of the so-called "start with a picture, and make up the rest of the story."

In coordination with Tsukikage Naoki's words, Qifeng "struggled" to raise his head, clutching his chest, and said in a chuunibyou manner: "The corpses of Konoha shall be protected by me!"

"Heh."

Orochimaru chuckled, licking his lips as he stared at him with burning eyes.

Feeling Orochimaru's extremely aggressive gaze, Qifeng's body stiffened.

"Clean up and prepare to go back," Orochimaru didn't elaborate, simply issuing the order.

"Yes!"

......

Inside Konoha Village.

The conference room on the top floor of the Hokage Building was currently holding a meeting. The atmosphere of the entire meeting seemed very oppressive. Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the seat of honor, while Danzo sat on his left.

"Iwa, Suna, and Kiri are all conducting endless probes, and in this past week, they have all increased the intensity of their probes in unison. I want to ask everyone, are there any good solutions?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, with a pipe in his mouth, opened his mouth in a deep voice, his eyes flashing.

The ninjas present were all the elite of Konoha, and upon hearing his words, they looked at each other.

Seeing that war was already inevitable, it seemed that nothing could be done at this time to change the impending reality.

"I think we can't take the initiative to attack. This goes against our Konoha's code of conduct..."

An elite Jonin couldn't help but say.

Konoha prided itself on being a hidden village that yearned for peace, and had been implementing this philosophy for decades. The theme of the first lesson many ninjas learned at the Ninja Academy was "peace."

They couldn't violate this philosophy and code of conduct for various reasons, otherwise it would be a significant blow to the faith of Konoha ninjas.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded solemnly.

He thought so too, and that's what he was doing.

Konoha was strong, but the premise of its strength was built on unity. If there were disagreements in philosophy at this time, it would be a drain on Konoha's internal strength.

He glanced at Danzo, who was sitting upright beside him.

But there were also radicals within Konoha, but only a minority.

In the choice between the minority and the majority, the choice was easy to make.

"But we can't show weakness either, especially at this time. The more we show weakness, the more unscrupulous they will become. We must give them a strong counterattack so that they will be afraid to truly provoke a war.

Although the trend of war is already unstoppable, for us in Konoha, the longer we delay, the greater our advantage will be."

Konoha's advantage was built on fertile land, which the barren Land of Wind, Land of Earth, Land of Water, and other countries could not compare to.

Even if they only delayed for a day, in terms of the speed of development in a single day, Konoha was stronger than the major hidden villages, and the advantage would be correspondingly greater.

The speaker was Nara Shikaku, the head of the Nara clan, an elite Jonin, and also served as a Hokage advisor, and was a staunch supporter of the Hokage lineage.

"Shikaku, continue,"

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded in agreement. As the Hokage, he needed to consider far more than Danzo.

At this moment, the door of the office was pushed open.

Someone walked in who automatically lowered the temperature of the conference room.

Orochimaru!

Seeing Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled.

His disciple had never disappointed him.

"Orochimaru, you're back."

Orochimaru simply nodded, pulling a chair from the corner as he handed Hiruzen Sarutobi a scroll.

"Mission summary."

Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly unrolled the scroll, his expression initially appearing somewhat grave, but his brows relaxed slightly as he read on.

"In this battle, Konoha lost one Jonin, seven Chunin, including the original guards of the Torimori Outpost, the total loss was four Jonin, sixteen Chunin..."

Hearing this, the atmosphere of the conference room became extremely heavy.

Jonin were Konoha's absolute main force, and Chunin were also the backbone. This loss was not small.

However, no one spoke. Danzo in the conference room, as well as the heads of the various clans and department heads, waited for the following text with gloomy expressions.

Chapter 30 Chunin Exam Proposal (Seeking Collection Recommendation Monthly Pass)

Hiruzen Sarutobi continued to read.

"Iwa elite ambush squad, a total of eight Jonin, twenty-four Chunin, of which seven Jonin were killed, one seriously injured, twenty Chunin were killed, three seriously injured..."

Hearing this, everyone's expressions eased slightly.

Although Konoha suffered heavy losses, Iwa's losses were clearly greater. They severely underestimated Orochimaru's strength.

The incorrect assessment, coupled with the failure to anticipate Konoha's determination, led to Iwa's heavy losses in this probe. It was estimated that Onoki would have to lick his wounds silently for a long time before he could recover.

"Orochimaru did well." Danzo, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke, expressing his recognition of Orochimaru's abilities.

This time, the heavy damage to Iwa really helped Hiruzen Sarutobi's plan a lot.

However, the content of the mission summary had not been completely read.