Starting with the Uchiha clan, they began cultivating demonic arts.

Chapter 60 Both Sides Suffer Losses

The Sand Village was defeated, without a doubt, because the Fourth Kazekage was defeated by Orochimaru.

The position of Kage in a ninja village is usually held by the strongest ninja in the entire village, or at least one of the strongest ninjas.

In the eyes of ninjas from various ninja villages, the village's Kage and a Kage-level ninja are two different concepts. The latter's defeat will greatly dampen the morale of the ninjas, but the former's defeat will directly lead to a collapse of morale!

If the Third Hokage had defeated the Fourth Kazekage, the blow to Suna might not have been so great. After all, the Third Hokage was renowned, and it was normal for the Fourth Kazekage to be unable to defeat him after his hasty succession.

However, it was Orochimaru who defeated the Fourth Kazekage. Although Orochimaru was also known as one of the Legendary Sannin, he was not the strongest ninja in Konoha on the surface. The title of Legendary Sannin alone shows that there were two other ninjas in Konoha who were on par with him.

The Fourth Kazekage, the strongest ninja in Sunagakure, couldn't even defeat one of the Legendary Sannin. How could his own village possibly defeat Konoha?

With morale completely collapsed, even though Chiyo initially used poison gas to harm many Konoha ninjas and completely disrupt the battlefield, it only prevented the Sand Ninjas from suffering a humiliating defeat.

At the same time, Uchiha Hiu also learned why Pakura hadn't followed Chiyo. It was said that when the Fourth Kazekage was knocked unconscious by Orochimaru, it was Pakura who stepped forward and barely managed to stop Orochimaru, allowing the entire Sand Village to complete their retreat.

Orochimaru had also used up a lot of chakra in his battle with the Fourth Kazekage, and his condition wasn't very good. Otherwise, this already injured user of the Scorching Release would definitely have been doomed.

After hearing this news, a hint of excitement flashed in Uchiha Tou's eyes. After bidding farewell to the Konoha ninjas, he headed towards the gathering place they had indicated.

Kikyo Mountain's entire defense line was almost completely destroyed. However, when Uchiha Tou arrived at the location, he saw houses built using Earth Release techniques. Some Konoha ninjas, still bearing wounds, were overjoyed to see Uchiha Tou arrive.

"Is this Touyu-kun? Please come in, cough cough cough..."

Orochimaru's deep voice sounded somewhat weak, and he ended up coughing several times.

As Uchiha Touyu entered the gate, he saw Orochimaru, whose face was slightly bluish. Orochimaru sniffed slightly and said:

"Orochimaru-senpai, you've been poisoned?"

"Cough cough, not bad. Rasa's Magnet Release is much weaker than the Third Kazekage's, but the poison coated on the gold sand is more troublesome than the Third Kazekage's iron sand."

With Orochimaru's various life-saving methods and the Orochimaru-style Substitution Technique, ordinary injuries can be healed simply by expending chakra. Only some extremely troublesome poisons from the Fourth Kazekage can give Orochimaru a hard time.

"But in the end, Orochimaru-senpai, you still won, didn't you?"

After hearing Uchiha Touyu's words, Orochimaru's lips curled up slightly:

"Hehe, this is all thanks to you, Feiyu-kun! The silver-scaled venomous snakes I cultivated using the breeding formula you gave me are indeed incredibly effective."

"That Fourth Kazekage was poisoned by the Silver Scale Serpent; he's definitely ten times worse off than me now!"

Uchiha Touyu was slightly taken aback, and said in surprise:

"You've already successfully cultivated that silver-scaled venomous snake! Only six months have passed, that's incredibly fast!"

With a light laugh, Orochimaru casually flicked his wrist, and a burst of silver light instantly erupted from the scabbard beside him. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a rather eerie-looking silver sword.

The sword's appearance was similar to the Golden Snake Sword from the movie "The Sword Stained with Royal Blood," only in silver. However, after a closer look, Uchiha Touyu was immediately startled:

"This is actually a silver-scaled venomous snake? It's truly beyond my imagination!"

Yes, the silver sword in front of him was actually formed by nine silver-scaled venomous snakes intertwined. Judging from its shimmering silver appearance, Uchiha Touya initially thought it was metal.

Orochimaru lightly swung the Silver Serpent Sword, and with a hiss, sliced ​​the corner of the table in two, leaving Uchiha Touya speechless.

Even though Uchiha Touyu already knew that the Silver Scale Serpent's body was impervious to blades and spears, and would become even stronger after being modified with chakra in the Naruto world, he still felt that the performance of these serpents was somewhat exaggerated.

He could even sense a powerful chakra emanating from these nine silver snakes. Each of the small silver snakes, judging solely from its chakra, was almost on par with a typical special jonin.

It seems that the Fourth Kazekage was bitten by this silver serpent sword, which is why he was defeated by Orochimaru. It's truly unexpected that the battle between these two Kage-level powerhouses would end with both of them being poisoned.

"Hehe, now that they've been poisoned by me, the Sand Village will have to get another Kazekage. The war will probably be over soon."

Although Orochimaru's tone was arrogant, Uchiha Tou didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Despite the Sand Village's achievements in toxicology, the Silver Scale Serpent is a highly toxic substance in the world of The Legend of the Condor Heroes trilogy, worthy of being considered the most potent poison in the world. Uchiha Touya really doesn't think the Sand Village can cure it.

"By the way, what about Yokura? How's she doing? And didn't Akimichi Torifu-senpai say he'd help hold one of them off? How did it end up with Chiyo and Yokura ganging up on me?"

Upon hearing Uchiha Tou's words, Orochimaru's pale face revealed a bitter smile:

"I was already poisoned when that Scorching Escape Envoy arrived, but she wasn't in good condition either. We fought for a while, but we were both exhausted and eventually retreated."

"As for Senior Torifu... he was ambushed by Chiyo's puppet and was also poisoned!"

"Well... after a battle, three out of six generals have been poisoned... this is truly speechless."

Uchiha Touyu remarked that what could be used by people like the Fourth Kazekage and Chiyo was certainly not an ordinary poison. Ordinary medical ninjutsu could only barely suppress it, and proper treatment would require slow recuperation.

Unless Tsunade, the medical genius, returns, Orochimaru and Akimichi Torifu will likely only be able to exert about half of their fighting power in the short term.

Of course, the other side might be in an even worse situation. Chiyo lost a hand. Although she might be able to make a prosthetic limb using puppetry in the future, for now she can only control five puppets with one hand. The number of puppets has been reduced by half, and her combat power may only be reduced to 30%.

The Fourth Kazekage is in grave danger; the question shouldn't be whether he can fight, but whether he should attend the banquet.

Only Yekura is left, so it's not a big problem. She can recover to her peak condition in two or three days. The wounds heal very well, but it takes some time to replenish the blood lost.

"Wait a minute... so it seems... the only fully-powered Kage-level character on this battlefield right now is me!"

(End of this chapter)