"The goals of the Frost ninja village and Konoha align. We also hope you defeat the Kumo ninja and force them back to Kumogakure..."
The two Frost ninja stiffened their necks, gave up any pretense of resistance, and spoke earnestly.
The three Konoha ninja exchanged glances; naturally, they wouldn't easily believe what they were hearing.
They took the two Frost ninja back to the camp and handed them over to interrogation.
Throughout the entire process, the Frost ninja offered no resistance whatsoever.
After a few rounds of truth serum and questioning, the interrogator confirmed—they really did want Konoha to beat Kumogakure and push the Kumo ninja out of the Country of Frost.
Still, the Konoha ninja remained skeptical. "And just how do you two plan to help?"
"Not just us two," the Frost ninja quickly shook their heads. "The Frost ninja village has secretly dispatched twelve more ninja to infiltrate the Kumogakure camp. They'll provide us with intelligence."
"Cloud ninja wouldn't trust outsiders so easily—don't you think?" one of the Konoha ninja countered.
"That's because those twelve have received orders to wholeheartedly assist Kumogakure in winning."
"What?" The Konoha ninja glared at them furiously, nearly losing composure on the spot.
"Don't misunderstand!" the Frost ninja hurried to explain. "This is to fully integrate ourselves within Kumogakure."
"You must fool yourself before you can fool others."
"Those companions aren't aware of the full plan; only we know our village's true intentions."
"We will make periodic contact with them, analyze the intelligence they gather, and thus obtain insight into Kumogakure's inner workings."
The Konoha ninja exchanged looks, and one of them left.
A few minutes later, he returned to the interrogation room and nodded toward those who had stayed behind.
"All right then. For now, you may stay."
...
After resting a full day, headquarters assigned a Chunin named Yuta to assist Hiroki Hyuga, Itachi Uchiha, and Hana Inuzuka with familiarizing themselves with their tasks.
The group of four, each pushing a small cart, arrived at the location where Konoha and Kumo ninja had previously clashed.
"This place reeks badly," Hana Inuzuka, her sense of smell particularly sharp, covered her nose as she said.
"That's what happens when many die here," Yuta replied.
He then signaled everyone to pause momentarily while Hiroki activated his [Byakugan], scanning through the piled corpses scattered across the ground to check if any still lived.
Hiroki shook his head.
Receiving confirmation, Yuta pushed his cart forward, leading the way with practiced ease as he turned the bodies over, searching them for identifying marks—things like forehead protectors, ninja identification numbers on clothing, or standard-issue weapons.
Once confirming they belonged to Konoha, he arranged these corpses one by one onto his cart.
Following his example, Hiroki and the others gradually began performing similar work.
"If it won't fit, don't bother cramming it. We'll come again tonight after this afternoon's round."
Yuta couldn't help but laugh when he saw them stacking the corpses high atop the carts like sacks of grain. He nearly let it go—until they tried making Hana's three dogs each carry an extra corpse. That's when he finally stepped in.
"Tonight?"
"Hiroki Hyuga asked, 'Actually, it's still dangerous, right?'"
"You really think any spot on a battlefield is totally safe?"
"I see. You're worried someone might be lying in wait for us?" Yuta chuckled.
Hiroki didn't deny it.
Yuta explained, "If we got ambushed and killed, the war might even come to a halt. I'm sure plenty of people would try something like that."
"Still, we're only handling cleanup at the end of the battlefield—it doesn't affect the war's outcome much."
"It's not exactly dangerous—just that unexpected things can pop up."
"Like running into someone from the other side—we might have to fight..."
"Sometimes strangers show up hoping to profit from the dead. They check for jutsu scrolls or anything else valuable."
"There might be leftover tools or explosive tags, but definitely no jutsu scrolls. Anyone who had real techniques would've been taken away by their comrades when they retreated..."
Interrupting, Hiroki said, "So the people lying here now are all relatively unimportant?"
Or rather, they were all expendable cannon fodder...
Yuta replied solemnly, "Everyone is important."
"Let's go; we can head back now."
Yuta led the group away.
At the very back of the line, Itachi Uchiha glanced behind at the scattered corpses left on the ground.
"Life..."
"Self-deception..."
Suddenly, he heard Hiroki Hyuga's soft sigh from ahead.
As dusk fell, a faint rustling stirred the grass. A thick, dark-colored giant snake with scales crawled slowly into the area, winding forward.
Smelling blood and flesh, it hissed and flicked its tongue rapidly, then suddenly sped up.
With a sudden lunge, it opened its enormous mouth wide.
Each time it opened its mouth, several corpses vanished inside.
Not fresh enough—it tasted awful, nothing like the fresher corpses it usually devours.
The giant snake stared coldly, continuing its feast.
Whether they were Konoha ninja or Kumogakure ninja, almost all had been swallowed...
Pad, pad...
A faint sound came from afar. The large snake flattened itself against the ground, as if listening. After a moment of silence, it moved forward stealthily, hiding its body within a depression.
"Heh heh, I'll play dead..."
Four figures—Hiroki Hyuga and his team—approached.
"The corpses are all gone..."
"You don't think Kumo took them, do you?"
"The smell's even worse now," Hana Inuzuka frowned. Beside her, the Gray Trio suddenly grew restless.
"Yuki..." Yuta signaled Hiroki to check the surroundings.
At the mention of his name, Hiroki activated his Byakugan.
"There's..."
Before he could finish speaking, a massive dark shadow swiftly approached them.
The huge snake lifted its body and quickly slithered toward Hiroki Hyuga and the others.
"That snake must be about two meters in diameter—taller than I am..."
Startled, the group swiftly drew their weapons at the same time.
Yuta turned to Hiroki Hyuga and asked, "Are there others nearby?"
"No one."
"How could a snake suddenly appear here..."
Hiiissss...
The python opened its enormous mouth and spat out a light purple vapor.
"Everyone hold your breath! Don't inhale—it's probably poison!" Hana Inuzuka's face paled slightly.
She didn't even need to say it. Hiroki had already sensed something was off.
Their bodies seemed to stiffen and slow down.
Yuta and Itachi Uchiha felt it too.
Using its long body, the python coiled around them, looming over the group, its glowing eyes locking onto them with an eerie gleam.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Yuta hurled a kunai wrapped with an explosive tag.
Unfortunately, the kunai couldn't stick into the snake's body and fell straight to the ground.
The explosion couldn't even make a dent in the python's scales.
This half-hearted attack didn't bother the beast in the least.
Suddenly, it lunged forward and swallowed Itachi Uchiha—who stood on the far left—in one bite.
Hiroki Hyuga froze in shock.
No way... Itachi shouldn't die so easily like this, right? Here comes another test of my morals…
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