"You aren't the enemy, right?!"
Obito, keenly aware of Manoshi's "flaw", held Rin Nohara behind him, with three shurikens in his hands.
"Rin, run. I'll stop him!"
In his opinion, Manoshi was able to solve his enemies; he was definitely not something that the three of them could compete against, so he needed to sacrifice himself to keep the girl he loved alive.
"Stupid," Manoshi stepped forward and pressed his dusty hand on Obito's head, "If I were the enemy, you would be a corpse by now."
"What an idiot," Kakashi added.
"Ouch ouch ..."
Ignoring Obito, who squatted on the ground and shouted in pain, Manoshi took the bandage from Rin's hand, "Have you discussed the route out of the border?"
"There have been results."
"Then, Kakashi, lead the way. Let's not waste time and start right away!"
"Yes!"
Although Manoshi feels a little strange, the others didn't make much of it; they were more focused on the task at hand.
Covering his eyes with bandages again, the feeling of being bound rose spontaneously from the bottom of his heart. Manoshi just thought it was the discomfort caused by the bandage being exposed to the air for too long -- a feeling he often had in his previous life when he cut his finger and used a band-aid.
He didn't take it to heart and put away the remaining bandages into the ninja bag strapped to his waist, taking a 'Kaoru Uchiha brand Military Rations Pill' from it to replenish his strength.
Manoshi, who had finished cleaning up, attached chakra to the soles of his feet and followed the three who were moving at high speed.
Going through the ashes of the forest, running on the vast plains. After two days of sleeping in the wild, an ancient city with magnificent walls finally appeared in front of a group of four people.
"Is this Kikyo City?" Obito, who had never seen the world, exclaimed, "What high walls! "
In addition to a country's capital, there were some magnificent cities in the shinobi world, but it would be difficult to see such towering walls in other towns.
It seemed that only an ancient city like Kikyo City had such magnificent walls.
Because it was only in the bygone samurai era that cities needed the protection of walls.
And nowadays, in this era of ninja, walls? Sorry, with one attack of Earth Release - Mountain Jutsu even the city would be buried within the walls!
Therefore, the countries weren't going through the trouble of building walls to defend against the enemy.
However, in the ninja war, only a few people had the ability to destroy the city walls instantly, so the ancient city walls were preserved since ancient times and had become a cornerstone for the war.
It was also the place where countless shinobis lost their lives.
The huge Kikyo City, where most of the civilians had long since evacuated elsewhere, acted purely as a military base. Countless green waistcoat shinobis were constantly coming in and out, busy with their work, as orderly as an ant nest.
"Orochimaru-sama, new reinforcements have been sent from the village; it's just ..."
The dilapidated house was monotonously undecorated, with only a single table. A sand table in the middle. Orochimaru, who was discussing tactics with Shikaku Nara, looked up at the ninja standing in the doorway and said in a hoarse voice, "Tell them to report to me."
"Ah, by the look on his face, I'm afraid the village reinforcements have had the opposite effect." Shikaku reclined his whole body against the back of the chair with his arms as his pillow, "It's really nerve-racking."
"Then it's time to decide quickly."
"Orochimaru-sama, is it really necessary to carry out that plan? It's a big blow to your reputation."
"Shikaku, fame is not important to me. I only want to end the war." Orochimaru's slender golden snake pupils stared at Shikaku. "It is the right choice to deter other countries by sacrificing a small portion for the maximum amount of vital manpower. Konoha can't wait any longer."
At that moment, a knock on the door interrupted the exchange between the two.
"Come in."
Pushing through the door, a dusty Manoshi walked in.
Orochimaru and Shikaku were inevitably dismayed for a moment. The two of them, who had been stationed at the front line, naturally hadn't heard of Manoshi Uchiha's information.
'New reinforcements, a blind teenager without a ninja forehead protector with three other teenagers?'
"Manoshi Uchiha is temporarily taking over as Minato Namikaze's team leader, leading Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara for reinforcements."
'The real reinforcement is Jiraiya's disciple?'
Orochimaru also had an understanding of the strength of his teammate's apprentice. After all, he was the only person in Konoha village who had the talent to practice the space-time jutsu - Flying Thunder God Technique developed by the Second Hokage.
Now, however, he was more interested in the teenager in front of him.
His teacher wasn't a troublemaker; that is to say, the Third Hokage and Minato had recognized the young man's strength.
'An Uchiha without eyes? Interesting.'
Being watched by Orochimaru, Manoshi felt the "enthusiasm" of the ninja scientist -- it was inevitable that those who had fought in the battlefield would carry some murderous aura.
'You don't want to dissect me, do you?'
Manoshi thought Orochimaru's defection was because he was caught using people from the village for human experimentation.
Because of Danzō's ambush, he reminded himself to be careful of Orochimaru.
However, at this time, Orochimaru hadn't really used his fellow villagers to conduct experiments. Didn't he smell so many enemies on the battlefield?
Manoshi stepped forward and delivered Hokage's handwritten task document to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru looked at the profiles of several people and had an idea of how to arrange this reinforcement. His eyes lingered on Manoshi's profile for a while longer before giving the orders:
"Minato Namikaze's team, listen to orders - For the time being, your mission is to patrol around Kikyo City and annihilate the infiltrating Suna spies. As a medical ninja, Rin Nohara is responsible for treating the wounded in the field hospital."
"But, for now, you can go rest."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
Several people responded and were led to their resting quarters by a Chūnin, who received them.
"Orochimaru-sama looks cold and icy."
Obito spat out, and Rin grabbed him by the ear.
"Obito, don't talk about people behind their backs!"
The Chūnin, who walked in front, turned back and smiled, "It's okay, in fact, we all feel that Orochimaru-sama is a bit unapproachable, but don't look at Orochimaru-sama as a stranger; he is still very reliable as a leader."
"We've been able to hold out thanks to Orochimaru-sama!"
As mentioned earlier, ninja warfare was incredibly destructive.
So, most wars were conducted in the "buffer zone" -- between the big countries, there were several small countries. In the event of war, these small countries would become the battlefields of the big countries.
For example, in the Second Shinobi World War, the Land of Rain became the battlefield of fire, wind, and earth before the rise of the shinobi Hanzo, the Salamander.
And now, Suna had broken through the border of the Land of Fire, which was situated between the two countries, harassing the Land of Fire.
In other words, being beaten to the doorstep, and the door would soon be pried open.
Without Orochimaru to bring up the rear, one of the Sannin, it was feared that Suna was about to make that steady march to attack Konoha village.