Only I can make Konoha Village great again.

Yamanaka Chuku and Orochimaru agreed on a ten-day period, and now it is the fourth day.

He silently calculated the speed, and added the time spent delaying the retreat by harassing tactics along the way, and concluded that he would retreat to Sakurahara on the ninth day.

Having made up his mind, Yamanaka Hatsukyu ordered the Konoha Jonin, "Speed ​​up the retreat!"

"Do not fight the enemy for a temporary victory; instead, use space to buy time, waiting for the enemy's strength to weaken to a point where they can be defeated before engaging in a decisive battle!"

The Konoha Jonin responded in unison, "Yes, Lord Orochimaru!"

For the next five days, no further major battles broke out between the two sides.

The Konoha army seemed to have eyes, always managing to retreat faster than the Kumogakure army, leaving them with visible traces but no clues.

The Cloud Hidden Army immediately launched a full-speed pursuit, and at the same time they also launched a large-scale flanking maneuver to encircle and outflank the enemy from both sides.

However, the Fourth Raikage's prediction of the super reconnaissance technique is true. As long as the Cloud Village ninja speeds up and breaks away from the main group, they will inevitably be ambushed by the Leaf Village ninja.

The Konoha ninjas, like ghosts, hid in corners overlooked by the Kumogakure ninjas, launching unexpected surprise attacks.

Sometimes it's a surprise attack by a Jonin squad, specifically designed to burn their provisions and ninja tools.

Sometimes it's a genjutsu team that prepares genjutsu in advance to disrupt judgment and kill the Jonin leading the team.

Sometimes, dozens of Konoha squads would join forces to surround and annihilate the Cloud Village ninjas on their march.

Every action of the Konoha ninjas is precisely targeted in terms of ninjutsu, number of people, and equipment configuration, achieving maximum restraint in terms of attributes.

The devastating casualties and the zero-kill result enraged the Fourth Raikage, but also sent a chill down his spine. He then carefully gathered the Cloud Village army into a group, prioritizing stability while accelerating the march as much as possible.

On the ninth day, a brief ambush broke out on the road a hundred miles from Sakurahara.

Three teams of Konoha ninja lay in ambush underground on both sides of the road, waiting for two whole days until the Cloud Village army's supply train arrived.

The Konoha ninja didn't kill a single person in this ambush. They used Fire Release to set the supply vehicles on fire and then retreated as quickly as possible.

"Damn it! These Konoha ninjas are hiding like rats, they're so annoying!"

The Cloud Village Jonin who rushed to the rescue trembled with rage when he saw the burned supply vehicles.

His subordinate Chunin frowned and said, "Captain, our supply line is getting longer and longer. We've been attacked by Konoha ninjas along the way for over 500 kilometers."

"If this continues, our food supplies and ninja tools won't be enough to sustain Konoha Village."

This is their fifth rescue operation today, and the sheer number of attacks along the entire supply line is staggering.

It is said that the Cloud Hidden Army has lost two-thirds of its supplies.

Not to mention precious supplies such as detonating tags, shuriken, kunai, and medicine, there wasn't even enough rice to supply the entire army.

The higher-ups said it was a rumor, but the fact that the food supply for genin and chunin was reduced was undeniable.

Unable to catch up with the Konoha ninja, and constantly attacked, the Kumogakure army even struggled to get enough to eat, resulting in a severe blow to their morale.

Another elite Chunin frowned: "Orochimaru's command ability is too exaggerated. He can turn guerrilla warfare into an impeccable one. I can't even imagine how much suffering the Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Sand Village endured back then."

The chunin couldn't help but ask, "Then what should we do?"

"If we continue forward, we'll be attacked more frequently, and our supplies will become increasingly scarce. We should stay put and await reinforcements from Konoha."

The Cloud Village Jonin fell silent.

After a long pause, he said, "I don't know, but the Fourth Raikage must have a way."

In fact, Raikage had no choice. He only knew that giving up halfway was more dangerous, so he could only grit his teeth and continue forward.

This elite unit of Cloud Ninja underlings was his effort to strengthen the protection of the supply line.

But that's all the Raikage can do; he and Tsuchida are caught in a dilemma.

The further forward the supply line goes, the longer it becomes, and the easier it is to be ambushed.

However, further strengthening the defense of the supply lines would be tantamount to dispersing the main force.

Not only would it weaken the force that was pressing Konoha head-on, but it would also make it easy for Orochimaru to encircle and annihilate the defense forces.

The reason they continued forward was that the Fourth Raikage believed in the Third Hokage.

Yes, he believed in Hiruzen Sarutobi's cowardice and weakness.

Although the Third Hokage himself was not afraid of death, he was afraid that Konoha would be attacked by the enemy, that the villagers of Konoha would be massacred, and that the village he had fought for all his life would be destroyed by war.

The Fourth Raikage believed that with each step he took forward, the pressure on Hiruzen Sarutobi would increase, and soon Hiruzen would break down and violently interfere with Orochimaru's command.

When a ninja army has two supreme commanders, its combat effectiveness is significantly weakened.

In particular, Orochimaru's combat power, which he forcibly amplified through his superb command skills, could be instantly halved if the Third Hokage's orders interfered with it.

If the Fourth Raikage only needs Orochimaru's command to be less smooth, and if he manages to catch even the slightest weakness, he can completely wipe out these 4500 Konoha ninja within a single day.

As long as we can catch even the slightest trace of the tail, that's enough!

The Fourth Raikage was thinking this, unaware that he was actually afraid; he was terrified by Orochimaru's tactical command.

He couldn't help but be afraid. He had been in command of the Cloud Village army for five days, and his orders had been resolutely carried out, but he just couldn't capture a single Konoha ninja.

Even if he personally led the attack, he would only see the traps and ambush traces left behind by the Konoha ninjas after their advance retreat.

The entire Konoha army seemed to have turned into ghosts; they were clearly just a few kilometers away, but no matter what they did, they couldn't find them or catch them.

In the past two days, the Cloud Village ninjas have been saying that their only chance to see the Leaf Village ninjas is when they fall into an ambush and the Leaf Village ninjas launch an attack.

No one said they were afraid, but everyone knew they were afraid.

It's like when a ninja first encountered Obito Uchiha; he could see him and even get injured by him, but he just couldn't hit him no matter what he did.

It wasn't even fear, but a kind of despair that made you doubt life and whether you were even real.

But the Fourth Raikage had not given up. He was patiently waiting for the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.

However, the opportunity that Yamanaka Hatsukyu was waiting for arrived a step earlier than that of the Fourth Raikage.

Orochimaru, the teacher of Yamanaka Chukyu, arrived from Konoha Village a day early.

In the dead of night, Yamashita Chujiu was reviewing the battles of the past few days and planning several counterattacks when he suddenly heard a familiar laugh.

"Hehehe..."

For a moment, he thought there was something wrong with the giant snakeskin on his body. He hadn't laughed, so why was he making a sound?

But the next moment, Shan Zhong Chu Jiu realized what was happening.

It wasn't that he was using the snake skin to imitate Orochimaru's smile; it was that Orochimaru had actually come.