Chapter 220
Faced with the expectant eyes of everyone present, Taichi didn't hesitate for even a second before giving them the answer they longed to hear most.
"We won. A complete victory."
For a single heartbeat, the entire camp fell silent.
Then—
Thunderous cheers erupted.
The celebration spread outward like wildfire, starting from the command area and sweeping through the entire temporary camp in moments. Before long, the whole place had become a sea of joy.
Several emotional young kunoichi hugged each other tightly, jumping excitedly as tears streamed down their faces.
Some shinobi quietly wiped at the corners of their own eyes.
But no one mocked them.
Because everyone felt the same.
After more than ten minutes, once the excitement had calmed somewhat, Taichi finally relayed Jiraiya's orders:
"All logistics and medical personnel are to return immediately. Prepare for the selection of a new frontline camp and begin treatment for incoming casualties."
The moment the order was given, Director Fujita and the logistics supervisors sprang into action.
Commands flew one after another.
Subordinates rushed off in every direction.
The previously jubilant camp instantly transformed into a machine of organized efficiency.
Everyone moved with urgency.
After all, such a massive battle undoubtedly meant huge numbers of wounded. If treatment was delayed, some shinobi might survive the battlefield only to die afterward from untreated injuries.
That was something none of them could accept.
Even after delivering the message, Taichi couldn't leave immediately.
The route back to camp still required protection.
The frontline battle had only just ended, and defeated Sand shinobi were scattering everywhere. There was no telling whether some panicked enemy ninja might stumble into Konoha's rear lines.
For safety's sake, Taichi escorted the returning force personally.
Director Fujita's people moved quickly—or rather, they had already been prepared to redeploy at a moment's notice.
In less than half an hour, the entire temporary camp was packed and ready to move.
After confirming everyone's condition, Taichi gave the order, and the convoy set off immediately.
By evening, they finally arrived back at the former frontline camp.
Fortunately, the journey had been peaceful.
No wandering Sand shinobi appeared, and no desperate enemy survivors accidentally crossed paths with them.
Even before entering the camp, Taichi noticed people already moving around inside.
Only after approaching did he realize—
They were wounded shinobi evacuated from the frontlines.
Since the overall battle situation had stabilized, Jiraiya and the other commanders had already arranged for lightly injured ninja to escort the severely wounded back ahead of time, ensuring they could receive treatment the moment the medical corps returned.
"Move! Half the medical teams start setting up equipment! The other half begin emergency treatment for the critical patients! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
Director Fujita immediately stepped forward and took command.
As the highest-ranking medical officer present, her authority was absolute.
The medical division, already seasoned by war, responded instantly without the slightest delay.
Some carried wounded into treatment tents.
Some organized equipment and supplies.
Others began emergency healing on the spot using medical ninjutsu.
The entire camp snapped into motion.
Naturally, Taichi couldn't stand around watching.
He was a medical ninja too.
With a quick hand seal—
Four shadow clones appeared beside him instantly.
Without wasting a single word, the clones dispersed immediately and joined the rescue efforts.
The other logistics personnel weren't idle either.
The first priority was restoring the medical camp's full functionality.
After that came the reconstruction of all the major operational facilities. The command center had to be rebuilt, for example—after all, the high-ranking commanders couldn't return from battle only to discover they didn't even have a place to hold meetings.
Then there were the barrier formations.
Many of the camp's defensive barriers had been dismantled earlier when the personnel withdrew, and now all of them needed to be reestablished.
Thanks to everyone's combined efforts, the frontline camp rapidly regained its original functions.
During that time, more and more shinobi returned from the battlefield.
Most came back because of injuries, but some had received orders specifically to reinforce the camp's defenses.
From this alone, it was obvious that Jiraiya and the frontline commanders had remained perfectly clear-headed despite the overwhelming victory.
They hadn't allowed success to cloud their judgment.
Even after winning, they still remembered to guard against surprise attacks from hidden enemies.
A few hours earlier, however, the situation at the front had been far from smooth.
The Sand Village forces had indeed collapsed into retreat, but after the initial chaos, Chiyo and Ebizō quickly reorganized the surviving elite shinobi.
The defeat itself was irreversible, but the majority of Sunagakure's jōnin-level combat strength had survived intact.
Fighting while retreating, they eventually regrouped with the Fourth Kazekage, who had withdrawn from the skies.
If not for Shikaku assigning a large number of elite Konoha shinobi to keep this force pinned down and prevent them from causing trouble elsewhere, the Sand might even have managed a desperate counterattack.
High in the air, Rasa looked down at the orderly withdrawal of the Sand shinobi below.
Only then did his expression ease slightly.
But the moment he remembered that nearly two thousand shinobi had marched into battle… and barely over three hundred now remained at his side…
His face darkened again.
No one knew how many Sand shinobi had died on that battlefield.
Rasa forcefully suppressed those thoughts and slowly lowered himself toward the ground atop his floating gold dust platform.
The gesture was deliberate.
His men needed to know their Kazekage had returned alive.
Sure enough, the effect was immediate.
The Sand shinobi below quickly spotted him in the sky, and waves of cheers broke out among the retreating forces.
Their morale rose noticeably.
The moment Rasa landed, the first people he saw were Chiyo and Ebizō coming to meet him.
Seeing both siblings alive allowed him to finally relax a little.
It wasn't that he didn't care about the others.
But these two were simply too important.
To the village, they were senior elders with enormous influence.
To Rasa personally… they were his political foundation.
This defeat had been catastrophic.
If either of them had died as well, then the moment he returned to the village, he would likely be stripped of his title as Kazekage. Being allowed to redeem himself afterward would already be considered merciful.
"Elder Chiyo, Elder Ebizō," Rasa asked heavily, "what exactly happened on the main battlefield? How did the collapse happen so suddenly?"
That was what he couldn't understand.
When the two battlefronts split apart earlier, the Sand forces had been at a disadvantage, yes—but not to the point of complete defeat.
How had everything suddenly crumbled?
Chiyo and Ebizō exchanged helpless glances.
The truth wasn't something that could be explained in a few short sentences.
And with so many people nearby, this definitely wasn't the place for such a discussion.
"Lord Kazekage," Ebizō said seriously, "we should withdraw first. There are many Konoha shinobi hidden nearby. Staying here too long risks being surrounded."
Only then did Rasa fully realize the situation.
They weren't merely retreating.
They themselves were still being hunted.
Extending his senses slightly, he could clearly feel hostile presences tracking them from all directions.
The reason those shinobi hadn't attacked yet was obvious.
No one wanted to bite into this particularly dangerous chunk of prey while countless scattered Sand shinobi were still fleeing everywhere else.
Compared to attacking elite survivors gathered around the Kazekage, hunting isolated stragglers was far easier.
"Move," Rasa ordered decisively. "Send the signal. We retreat to the Land of Wind."
There was no hesitation in his voice.
A loss was a loss.
There was no point dragging things out any further.
Retreating to the Land of Wind and rebuilding their defenses was far preferable to continuing a pointless struggle with Konoha here.
Besides, he was absolutely certain of one thing—
Konoha would never invade the Land of Wind.
That wasteland held no value for them, and its environment was hostile to outsiders.
But for Sunagakure, it was the perfect battlefield.
Both Chiyo and Ebizō looked at Rasa in surprise.
Neither had expected him to make the decision so cleanly.
Yet they also had to admit—
It took real courage to shoulder responsibility at a moment like this.
And unquestionably, this choice would minimize Sunagakure's losses.
"Understood. I'll arrange it immediately."
Soon, three crimson signal flares shot into the sky.
Even in broad daylight, they were impossible to miss.
The moment the fleeing Sand shinobi saw those signals, all hesitation vanished.
There was only one thought left in their minds—
Escape back to the Land of Wind.
Five hundred meters away from this retreating Sand force, four Konoha jōnin and fifteen chūnin lay hidden in wait.
Minato was among them.
And despite his age, he was clearly the one leading the group—not because he was Jiraiya's disciple, but because he was unquestionably the strongest among them.
"Minato-sama," one jōnin asked excitedly, "that was the Fourth Kazekage just now, wasn't it? Should we gather reinforcements and strike?"
Minato sighed helplessly.
It was obvious this man had become drunk on victory.
He clearly no longer understood who they were dealing with.
Jiraiya could pressure the Kazekage because he was Jiraiya.
That didn't mean the rest of them could.
Especially against someone like Rasa, whose attacks excelled at large-scale devastation.
Charging recklessly at him in a packed formation would simply be suicide.
"No," Minato said calmly. "Our mission is to monitor them and prevent them from supporting other battlefields. As for attacking directly… forget it. We don't hold the advantage here."
His tone was patient and measured.
At this stage, Konoha had already achieved a decisive victory.
There was no need to push the Sand shinobi into a desperate last stand.
Doing so would only increase Konoha's own losses.
After all, Sunagakure wasn't Konoha's only enemy.
Fortunately, Sunagakure still had rational leaders.
After Rasa arrived and released the retreat signal, the Sand shinobi no longer tried to entangle themselves with Konoha forces.
Their withdrawal speed immediately increased.
It was an unspoken understanding between both sides.
The scattered outer forces?
Kill as many as you can.
But if you insist on attacking the gathered elite core?
Then both sides would fight to the death.
Minato led the Konoha shinobi while shadowing the retreating Sand force from a distance.
Only after the enemy crossed out of the Land of Rivers and fully entered the Land of Wind did they finally turn back toward camp.
Meanwhile, the main Konoha force spent the remainder of the battle relentlessly hunting down fleeing Sand shinobi.
There was no mercy.
No sympathy.
Only cold, efficient slaughter.
Anyone wearing Sunagakure's forehead protector became a target.
That was war.
Human lives reduced to numbers.
Everything sacrificed for victory.
As for Jiraiya—
After finishing his clash with the Kazekage, he never directly joined another major battle.
Of course, casually swatting aside a few unlucky enemies along the way didn't count.
Throughout the war, Jiraiya's true role had been that of supreme commander.
Now, together with Shikaku and the other strategists, he calmly directed the battlefield from behind the lines.
Some units were ordered to pursue.
Others were tasked with encirclement operations.
Wounded Konoha shinobi were immediately evacuated and treated.
The severely injured were prioritized and sent to the rear camp as quickly as possible.
Because Jiraiya trusted that Taichi would bring the medical teams back in time.
And his efforts paid off.
With centralized command maintaining order, injured shinobi received emergency treatment immediately after being evacuated.
Simple bandaging and blood-stopping procedures might not seem important—
But on real battlefields, blood loss was one of the leading causes of death.
Now, because of those quick treatments, the post-battle fatality rate would likely drop by at least ten percent.
And during wartime, that ten percent was invaluable.
Especially now, when Konoha was desperately short on manpower across every front.
Back at the Konoha camp, more and more wounded shinobi were carried into the medical tents.
The pressure on the medical division grew rapidly.
Taichi had no choice but to summon two additional shadow clones to help with treatment duties.
Meanwhile, his real body sat cross-legged at the very center of the camp, directly facing the main gate.
His chakra perception remained fully activated, covering the entire area while he monitored for possible enemy infiltration.
Every shinobi entering or leaving the camp could see him sitting there silently.
His eyes were closed.
Chakra pulsed steadily around him.
Everyone understood immediately—
Taichi was personally standing guard over the entire camp.
And for some reason, just seeing him there filled people with reassurance.
After all…
This was the man who had defeated Shukaku.
If someone like that was protecting them, what was there to fear?
Late that night, under the light of the moon, Taichi still hadn't seen Jiraiya or the senior commanders return.
Instead—
He saw Yōhei, Kakashi, and the others approaching.
The moment he noticed them, his heart sank.
Coming back at this hour was not a good sign.
And seeing that there were only five of them…
It almost certainly meant someone had suffered severe injuries.
As he focused more closely, his expression immediately changed.
Yōhei was carrying Obito on his back.
Kakashi and Rin supported him from both sides—partly to reduce Yōhei's burden, partly to keep Obito stable.
Every few moments, Obito coughed up blood.
A serious lung injury.
The instant Rin saw Taichi approaching, relief overwhelmed her.
Tears streamed down her face as she hurriedly leaned toward Obito.
"Obito, hang in there! Taichi's here now! You'll be okay—he'll definitely save you!"
Obito forced out a weak smile, seemingly wanting to comfort her.
But the moment he opened his mouth, another large mouthful of blood came spilling out, frightening Rin into silence.
By then, Taichi had already reached them.
With a single glance, he assessed everyone's condition.
Aside from Obito, the others only had superficial wounds.
Even Rin merely had a cut along her arm.
Which only made Taichi even more confused.
How had Obito ended up in such terrible condition?
Seeing Obito on the verge of death, Taichi stopped hesitating.
He immediately created another temporary shadow clone to continue guarding the camp while his real body stepped forward and placed a hand on Obito's chest.
Dense Yang Release chakra surged outward instantly, enveloping Obito's body.
First things first—
Keep him alive.