The rumbling sound was incessant. The commotion of half a mountain peak collapsing was not small. It was estimated that even if there were any treasures below, they would likely never see the light of day.
However, Otonashi was in no mood for treasure hunting. He was precisely afraid that this loud noise would attract the attention of the pursuing troops outside. He led the three of them forward towards the north, almost draining the last dregs of their strength.
Mechanically swinging his legs, he didn't know how far he walked before his knees gave way, and his whole person lost consciousness like a robot shutting down.
Consciousness was enveloped by darkness. Pain, fatigue, worry—all were no longer felt. Otonashi only felt as if he had entered a psychedelic and long dream, fragments of memories from his two lives flashing continuously in his mind.
He flashed past a burning residential building, flashed past a blood-stained knife and a bald, fleshy fat man. After a while, he flashed past the long escape route, and the blood-stained octagonal cage and the African desert.
Sounds and images flashed scene after scene, just like watching a movie. This movie played back and forth randomly, and soon after, it turned into the white-haired teenager practicing ninjutsu by the river.
So strange...
He wondered in his unconscious state, thinking about whether something would pop up after experiencing his life flashing before his eyes, like the 'system' cheat he had long thought about. Then, his ears heard a hazy voice.
"Senpai! Senpai!"
Not 'Host' but 'Senpai'. Along with it, a violent shaking startled him awake.
Otonashi struggled to open his eyes, vaguely seeing a messy ponytail swaying. He couldn't help but feel full of regret.
"Anko? Whose funeral are you crying at?" Ignoring his disappointment, he cursed with a smile through dry lips, but felt himself moving on the road. His eyes scanned around, seeing two unfamiliar Konoha ninjas carrying him.
"Senpai, you're awake?" The girl wiped the tears from her face and sniffed back the snot that was about to fall on Otonashi.
"Nonsense, I couldn't be pretending to be dead, could I?" Otonashi snorted ill-humoredly, but his body completely relaxed. He saw the Uzumaki swirl on the back of the ninja in front, confirming they were Konoha's own people.
"Where am I? What time is it now?"
"On the way back to Konoha! Senpai, we won!"
"Oh." Otonashi showed no joy. He had already pushed himself to the limit. Remembering something, he asked, "What about the bridge?"
"The bridge is still standing, but under Minato-sensei's leadership, we routed the main Iwa-nin force!"
Anko began to talk incessantly, mostly about how awesome the Yellow Flash was, and how much she and Hiashi Hyuga had contributed.
It turned out that the flanking Iwa-nin were completely held back by Otonashi and the others. They, however, appeared as reinforcements on the main battlefield. The nearly thousand Iwa-nin were caught off guard by Minato. When Hiashi Hyuga and the others charged into the battle group from behind, the confusion turned into a complete collapse.
No one knew how many enemies had appeared behind them, but after a dozen or so were killed unprepared, the entire force collapsed.
Otonashi listened blankly, without making a sound, only cursing inwardly.
Damn, so what was the point of us painstakingly infiltrating behind enemy lines!?
"Where's Kakashi?"
"He's being carried behind. He probably woke up already. Only you, senpai, were in the most danger." Anko paused, then said with a serious face, "Senpai, you've completely drained yourself!"
Drained? Oh, right. But why does that sound so strange.
No matter how severe Kakashi's injuries were, they were external wounds. He truly had no chakra left. Without chakra, he was like a fish out of water, potentially in life-threatening danger at any moment.
This couldn't be replenished at will like internal energy in wuxia novels, which was why the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique was classified as a forbidden jutsu.
Otonashi felt completely weak, unwilling to move even a finger. He was clearly utterly exhausted, and his head was groggy, making it difficult to think.
'That's good. That unlucky guy really dropped the ball at a critical moment. How dare he use an incomplete ninjutsu.'
Chidori was indeed powerful but incomplete. Kakashi, being surrounded, rushed it out in a fit of desperation, but because his eyes couldn't keep up with his body, he was instantly defeated.
"Sorry, Anko." He looked at the girl and said slowly.
"What's wrong?" Anko panicked for a moment, thinking he might be about to give his last words.
Otonashi stared at the morning clouds overhead, his eyes unmoving, and said, "The dango you gave me was destroyed before I could eat it."
"Just that?" The girl paused, then started laughing again. But she seemed to remember something, a slight blush appearing on her face. Fiddling with the corner of her clothes, she said shyly:
"Th-then as compensation, after we get back to Konoha, senpai, you... you treat me once?"
Having finally mustered the courage to say this, she received no response for a long time. Quietly shifting her gaze upwards, she saw a sleeping face.
Snore, snore...
Watching Otonashi snoring, Anko was suddenly speechless.
.....
Otonashi wasn't the only one lying on a stretcher. Looking down from the sky, hundreds of wounded were heading towards Konoha. Even the least injured among them leaned on crutches.
The accompanying medical ninjas' skills weren't great, but after emergency bandaging, they could turn death into disability, and disability into serious injury. After returning to Konoha and staying in the hospital for a while, in a few months, they would be another group of experienced killing machines.
Logistics aside for now, at the very end of the procession, two Jonin who had rendered outstanding military service were chatting.
"Is the front line okay now?" Hiashi Hyuga walked with a limp, uncharacteristically holding a cigarette in his mouth.
"The Ino-Shika-Cho trio are pursuing the victory. Driving the Iwa-nin out of the Land of Grass is only a matter of time." As the one with the primary merit, Namikaze Minato's face showed no joy.
Having cooperated many times, Hiashi, whose relationship with him was quite harmonious, glanced at him and asked lightly, "Still feel responsible?"
This battle was almost a complete victory, and this 'almost' lay in the fact that Team 7 member Uchiha Obito hadn't returned. Rin had reported the entire process before passing out.
"A little regretful for not being able to make it in time, but this is war, a war where tens of thousands of lives are lost. Kakashi and the others returning was already beyond my expectations." Minato shook his head gently, long past the age of naivety.
Under the name of the Yellow Flash, he didn't know how many disciples and grand-disciples of others he had killed. Conversely, his disciples could also die in battle at any time. Besides, hundreds died from Konoha in this battle; Obito was just one of them.
There were no protagonists on the battlefield. If there were, its name was Death.
Hiashi didn't speak, thinking for a moment before replying, "Is it those strange things underground? Or those Cloud and Mist ninjas?"
"More worried about the alliance of the three villages. Those strange things can only be slowly researched after the war, but the matter of the three villages' alliance is urgent." Minato appeared both cold-blooded and sentimental, his concerns having long expanded from Team 7 to the entire Konoha.
Could the Cloud ninjas, who held a grudge for the killing of their Kage, ally with the Iwa-nin? Is this cold-blooded? No, this is just giving meaning to the lives lost, and this meaning can only be bestowed by the victor.
"Yes, after this complete victory, this trend will become more and more obvious. Even harsher battles await us." Hiashi stubbed out his cigarette, stopped, and looked up at the sky.
The green mountains were like the sea, the morning sun like blood.
How many lives must this land absorb before it is satisfied?!