Only I can make Konoha Village great again.

The sealing squad ninja roared, "How dare the Hidden Cloud Village infiltrate the Land of Fire? How could they dare?"

Orochimaru, played by Yamanaka Hatsukyu, let out a hissing laugh: "It seems that the Fourth Raikage has become completely uninhibited by the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice."

"Then let him know that even if Konoha loses the Fourth Hokage, it is still the strongest ninja village in the ninja world."

"Because Konoha still has me, Orochimaru!"

"Come with me!"

Upon hearing this, the ninjas following Yamanaka Chuuji all quickened their pace.

As the group entered the central camp of Konoha, the morale of the Konoha ninjas who saw Orochimaru was clearly boosted, and cheers rose and fell.

"Lord Orochimaru will surely win!"

"Konoha will win!"

The Konoha ninjas were greatly encouraged by Orochimaru, their ever-victorious commander, but the balance of power between the two sides would not change immediately.

After confirming the death of the Fourth Hokage, the Fourth Raikage immediately assembled a large army to invade the Land of Hot Water and broke through the border of the Land of Fire at an extremely fast pace.

From the start of the war until Yamanaka arrived at the front lines on the ninth day, the two sides fought six major battles in just 12 days. The Konoha ninja suffered heavy losses, and now only 4500 ninja remain.

The Cloud Village ninja increased their total strength to 8000 by mobilizing reinforcements, hiring nagakure ninja, and coercing kusa ninja.

Even without considering the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, they had already established an absolute advantage on the battlefield.

Every Konoha ninja who came to report eventually couldn't help but say to Yamanaka Hatsukyu, "Lord Orochimaru, please be sure to defeat the Fourth Raikage."

In the end, even Yamanaka Hatsukyu laughed, in Orochimaru's classic laugh: "Hmm~ Hehehe, the Cloud Village army's offensive is quite fierce, it's scared you all half to death, hehehe."

"Are you still Konoha ninja?"

"Is this still the Konoha Village that once dominated the Four Great Ninja Villages?"

"But you're right."

"The Cloud Village army is too powerful. The Konoha Village's reinforcements have gone to the eastern front. I, Orochimaru, only brought ten ninjas as reinforcements."

Orochimaru said with a cold laugh, "That's the truth. Then I won't fight them head-on. Let's retreat."

On the ninth day of the mountain, using the camouflage of a giant snake skin, he perfectly replicated Orochimaru's form, aura, and chakra. Even though Mitarashi Anko had been with him all the way, she didn't notice anything unusual.

The other Konoha ninjas were completely unaware of this and treated Yamanaka Hatsugu with the same respect as Orochimaru, but the tactics he proposed caused an uproar among the Konoha ninjas.

"retreat?"

"How can we retreat?"

"He's right, we can't back down an inch, Lord Orochimaru!"

"We must defend the Land of Fire, we must defend Konoha!"

Yamanaka Hatsugu ignored the Konoha ninjas' objections, his eyes fixed on the map.

The Hidden Cloud Village invaded while the Fourth Hokage was demoralized, taking advantage of the Konoha army's low morale and betting that Konoha was easily defeated.

The Fourth Raikage was a mad gambler, but he won. The Cloud Village army easily swept through the Land of Hot Water and even invaded the Land of Fire.

Moreover, Konoha Village was truly leaderless. With the Fourth Hokage sacrificed and the Third Hokage hesitant, there was no unified command across the entire northern front.

The Fourth Raikage could attack however he wanted, pushing Konoha's defenses to their limit, and was less than two kilometers away from the camp where Yamanaka Hatsukyu was located.

The Konoha ninja reacted fiercely, not only because they were frustrated, but also because the Cloud Village army had already pressed in front of them.

Retreat in front of the enemy is the most dangerous situation in military affairs. Even if the commander has not made a mistake, but it is just an accident, the retreat can turn into a rout and eventually lead to a complete failure.

The Konoha ninjas only saw the possibility of failure, but Yamanaka Hatsukyu saw the opportunity for victory.

The Fourth Raikage was having such a smooth run that he overlooked the fact that he was unprepared for the war.

According to intelligence gathered by the Konoha ninja, the Kumogakure army is short of food, weapons, and medicine, and is currently making up for the shortfall by seizing spoils from previous victories and plundering the Land of Hot Springs.

What was even more scarce than supplies were vehicles, livestock, and people to transport them.

As the Cloud Village army penetrates deeper into the Land of Fire, their supply lines are noticeably stretched. The Cloud Village army, which is now in dire need of supplies, is already weakened due to shortages, and if the supply lines are stretched further, they will inevitably decline drastically.

Shan Zhongchujiu's fingertips slid across the map as he quickly calculated the distance and time in his mind.

All the data was mapped onto two curves in his mind, representing the power of Konoha and Kumogakure respectively.

As the pre-set battlefield continued to move towards Konoha Village, the two curves rapidly converged.

When the battlefield moved to a village called Sakurahara, the two curves in Yamanaka Hatsuyu's heart intersected.

He pointed to the spot and, in Orochimaru's characteristic hoarse voice and cold tone, said to the noisy Konoha ninja, "Have you had enough?"

"Shut up when you've had enough, and obey my orders!"

What to do if they haven't argued enough? Yamanaka Chukyu didn't say, and the Konoha ninjas didn't dare to ask either. They all obediently shut their mouths and stood up straight.

This is Orochimaru's prestige among the Konoha ninja.

Once he makes up his mind and issues an order, no Konoha ninja questions it anymore and carries it out without hesitation.

This is the first time in his two lifetimes that Yamanaka Hatsukyu has wielded such power, deciding the life and death of 4500 Konoha ninja with his orders.

Tension is unavoidable.

He subconsciously wanted to lick his lips, but his tongue ended up licking his cheek and even moistening his eyes.

Damn it, if I keep playing this role for too long, will I turn into a disgusting worm too?

At this moment, Yamanaka Chukyu was both nervous and excited. His Heart Severing Boundary Sensing Range had reached a radius of four thousand meters, and his spirit could distinguish all the ninjas within that range.

The location of every Konoha squad, the movements of every Cloud Village enemy, and every noteworthy strongman were all clearly presented in my mind.

It's like entering a cheat code in a real-time strategy game to remove the fog of war from the map.

Beyond the large circle with a diameter of eight kilometers, there were Root ninjas, who he had transformed into living puppets, acting as relay signal stations, illuminating circular areas over a thousand meters in diameter in the mist.

Although it cannot sense specific ninjas, it is enough to monitor the overall movements of the Cloud Village army.

What is this? This is omniscience!

Omniscience is omnipotence!

With dragons flying over his face on the ninth day of the lunar month, how could his confidence not increase greatly?

This is not all!

The subtle threads of Yamanaka Chukyu's thoughts had already spread throughout the entire battlefield, gently entangling every Konoha and Kumogakure ninja, capable of exerting slight psychological suggestion at any time.

Hehehe, this, this is real cheating!

Suppressing the urge to chuckle, Yamanaka Chujiu calmly issued the orders.

His orders were full of "I don't understand" style, not only directly issued to each Konoha ninja squad, but even specified the attack angle of the ninjutsu, the direction and speed of the retreat after the attack, and the location to receive the next order.

The Konoha ninjas were shocked and couldn't understand such detailed orders.

This isn't the Orochimaru we know!