Only I can make Konoha Village great again.

Cherry blossoms serve as a defensive stronghold for Konoha Village, with a permanent defensive fortress built there.

The top floor of the fortress houses the commander's office, the operations command center, and the highest observation post.

A small snake emerged from the corner of the office. The small snake opened its mouth and spat out a large snake, which in turn opened its mouth and spat out a sticky, gooey Orochimaru.

Upon seeing this unique entrance, Yamanaka Chuku laughed on the spot: "Orochimaru-sensei actually came a day early, how kind of him."

Orochimaru straightened up and asked with a smile, "Oh, what's wrong?"

Shan Zhongchu said, "I know that the teacher has a lot to deal with, and ten days is a tight schedule. It is amazing that you were able to squeeze out one more day."

"You gave up so much more to save me, the student."

Yamanaka Chukyu truly did not expect that Orochimaru would be willing to give up his own interests in order to save him.

This caused a drastic change in his perception of Orochimaru; he now truly respected Orochimaru as a teacher, and his attitude naturally changed.

Orochimaru sensed the change in Yamanaka Hatsuku's attitude and laughed smugly, "Oh ho ho ho..."

After laughing for a while, he exclaimed, "Well done, my good student!"

"Not only can he fight against overwhelming odds, but he can also render the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki completely helpless."

"I knew you were a good commander, but I didn't expect you to be this good."

"If I had known, I would have spent two more days. Not only could I have avoided the losses, but I could have also completed a few more experiments that were abandoned halfway through."

"How can we possibly hold out for two more days?" said Chu Jiu from the mountains.

"In two days I will have to retreat to a place less than a thousand kilometers away from Konoha Village, and the Third Hokage will be furious."

Orochimaru shook his head and said, "Sarutobi-sensei doesn't have that kind of patience. When I left, he was already throwing a tantrum in the Hokage's office."

Shanzhong Chujiu: "..."

"Orochimaru-sensei, how did you manage to win all those battles under the leadership of the Third Hokage?"

Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked his cheek: "There's no other good way but to fight the enemy head-on, to risk the children's lives, to risk my own..."

"Besides, the old Sarutobi-sensei wasn't this impatient."

"Okay, tell me your plans for the future."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sensei."

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

When he got excited, his eyes unconsciously lit up, and he stuck out his tongue and licked his cheek.

Orochimaru was stunned by this action and involuntarily stuck out his tongue.

Just then, Anko excitedly pushed open the door and entered: "Orochimaru-sensei, the information you requested has arrived..."

"what?"

"Teacher, why are you splitting into two... Ah! No, you're not splitting into two!"

"Two, two Orochimaru-sensei."

Orochimaru's eyes flashed with a hint of helplessness: "Sigh, you've had a tough time these past few days, Chu Jiu."

Yamanaka Chujiu shrugged helplessly: "I only need to take care of Hongdou for a few days, which is nothing compared to the hardship of being a teacher."

Mitarashi Anko is cute and quite talented, but she has an extremely awkward personality. She is gluttonous, lecherous, hyperactive, and reckless, and always gets into trouble.

Most importantly, this girl has two personalities, one for day and one for night, and her brain can alternate between sleeping like a dolphin.

The red bean at night can't be called a red bean; it's a cooked black bean. It's timid, prone to crying, extremely clingy, and has endless questions.

In short, they are extremely difficult to take care of.

Orochimaru pointed at Yamanaka Hatsukyu and said, "Anko, this is your senior brother, Yamanaka Hatsukyu."

On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, Shan Zhong turned around and greeted him: "Hello."

As he spoke, he reached out and made a cut between his eyebrows, splitting the large snakeskin covering his body in two and revealing his true form.

Hongdou nodded blankly: "Oh, okay."

Orochimaru shook his head and said, "Anko, give me the information, then go out."

Hongdou handed the information to the teacher, turned to open the door, then turned back again: "Teacher, doesn't he need to go out?"

Orochimaru laughed and said, "No need for Chu Jiu, he's stronger than me."

Hongdou's eyes darted around, and she held out her hand: "Chu Jiu... Senior Brother! Where's the gift?"

Yamanaka Chujiu was stunned by Hongdou's strange logic. He subconsciously touched his body and found that he was only carrying combat equipment and had nothing that could be given as a gift.

But being a second-generation heir, he was thick-skinned enough and had plenty of experience in dealing with people. He immediately smiled and promised, "I didn't prepare a gift, but after this battle, I'll get you something nice!"

Hongdou smiled happily: "Okay, senior brother can't lie to junior sister!"

After seeing off the silly little red bean, the master and apprentice continued to discuss the action plan, making adjustments based on information they didn't know about each other.

For example, Orochimaru had a batch of communication snakes that were being specifically bred to resemble the communication frogs of Mount Myōboku.

Because the communication snake lacked intelligence and could only transmit messages in one direction, Orochimaru deemed it a failure.

But in the hands of Yamanaka Chujiu, this was a magical artifact that could save time in relaying orders, reducing his battlefield delay from several minutes to within 100 milliseconds.

His command precision can be improved from "the machine gun moved five meters to the left" to "the muzzle was pushed down three centimeters"!

In this way, the team responsible for raiding the Cloud Hidden Army's supply center can be reduced from a large battalion of over a hundred people to a company of thirty.

The biggest advantage of reducing the size of the force is that it can infiltrate the Cloud Hidden Army without having to detour hundreds of kilometers.

This would reduce the time it takes to hold off the enemy on the main front by at least one day.

Orochimaru said lazily and confidently, "Just hold out for two days, it's not a problem at all."

"In such a short time, I could easily take down the Eight-Tails, Gyūki. I'm very curious about this tailed beast that's said to be second only to the Nine-Tails."

Shan Zhongchu said nonchalantly, "Teacher, you can do whatever you want. I'll go pick the students."

"..."

"I think I tore the skin. Orochimaru-sensei, you'll have to come with me."

Orochimaru feigned anger as he stood up: "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 specializing in fire and lightning release, and one Uchiha team.

Ino-Shika-Cho was naturally an acquaintance of Yamanaka Chukyu. Although he found it strange, he knew there would be no problem in commanding them.

The Byakugan squad is composed of members of the Hyuga branch family and is highly obedient, so there's no problem with them either.

The mixed reconnaissance team consisted of ninjas from the Hyuga, Inuzuka, and Aburame clans, which meant the three dogs were causing a bit of trouble.

All five combat squads are composed of civilians, who are enthusiastic about carrying out such a crucial mission. They also demonstrate excellent obedience to Orochimaru's student status, so there are no issues.

The only one with a problem is likely the Uchiha squad.

After all, these guys' pride is really troublesome.