Chapter 36: Reinforcements and Conclusion

"They're trying to escape."

"Block their way."

"Don't let them get away!"

"..."

A series of voices echoed across the battlefield.

Clearly, Seimei was not the only one to notice the intentions of the Rock Ninjas.

Some tried to stop them, but Seimei remained unmoved.

He had already contributed enough to this battle, and with stability in sight, he really didn't want to complicate things further.

However, since the Hidden Rock Village had chosen to retreat, it indicated that Konoha's reinforcements had arrived, or were at least close by.

As Seimei was lost in thought, a colossal figure suddenly emerged from the distant cliffs.

It was a massive poisonous snake, adorned with purple patterns and sporting horns on its head. Its fierce eyes radiated the pressure of a top predator.

"Manda!"

Seimei murmured.

Indeed, this giant serpent was the summoning beast from Ryuchi Cave—Manda.

How did Seimei recognize it?

It was simple; standing between the two horns on its head was a sinister man with golden slit pupils, purple eyeshadow, and pale skin.

Who else could it be but Orochimaru?

Given the giant snake's appearance, it was easy to deduce its identity.

If nothing unexpected happened, this was the first wave of reinforcements.

However, what Seimei didn't expect was that Orochimaru would personally come.

After all, he was the overall commander of Konoha's forces on the battlefield in the Land of Rain, and it was quite unusual for him to leave the main camp like this.

However, thinking about the opponent's strength, Seimei felt relieved.

As one of the Three Sannin, Orochimaru's power was undoubtedly on par with any Kage-level expert.

With such strength, who could hope to contend with him in a rushed situation?

Moreover, they were not far from Konoha's main camp in the Land of Rain; if an ambush were to occur, Orochimaru only needed to delay for a moment, and reinforcements would quickly arrive.

In this light, a brief departure from the main camp didn't seem like a big deal.

Additionally, with Manda present, they could reach the battlefield in the shortest amount of time and assert control over the situation with absolute strength.

This way, they could not only buy time for subsequent reinforcements but also reduce their own casualties.

It was a win-win situation; why not take advantage of it?

After that, the situation unfolded as Seimei had anticipated. The moment Orochimaru appeared, he stabilized the battlefield, effortlessly stopping over a dozen Hidden Rock Jonin with just a few Ninjutsu.

Considering the other Konoha Jonin who had also held back their opponents, almost half of the Jonin from Hidden Rock's attack were effectively neutralized.

In addition, several dozen Hidden Rock Chunin were also held back.

Clearly, Orochimaru's personal arrival caught Hidden Rock Village off guard and disrupted their plans.

Otherwise, with Hidden Rock Village being well-prepared, they shouldn't have retreated so hastily.

Indeed, it was hasty.

How else could so many of them have been left behind?

The earlier whistle must have been an emergency retreat order.

This is why the Hidden Rock Chunin who had been fighting him suddenly changed their expressions and hurriedly fled after hearing the whistle.

This is the impact of a top-level powerhouse; just one person can change the course of a battle.

The Hidden Rock ninja, who had just been imposing, had turned into a headless chicken in an instant, being driven away.

However, Seimei had no intention of kicking a person when they were down. Once he confirmed that the area was safe, he took out some healing ointment and bandages from his ninja tool pouch and began to tend to his own wounds.

Although he hadn't sustained any serious injuries during the earlier fight, he had quite a few superficial wounds, and if he didn't deal with them promptly, they could lead to complications.

Tap, tap, tap...

A series of footsteps approached.

Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko walked over from not far away.

Seimei looked up and saw that both of them had quite a few wounds and their faces were pale.

However, this was not due to excessive blood loss, but rather because they were shocked by the scene before them.

At this moment, there were severed limbs and broken arms all over the battlefield, with blood and pieces of flesh everywhere, and the occasional sounds of pained groans filling the air. Just standing was already a feat.

Seimei took a quick glance and saw that Konoha had about two hundred surviving ninjas left, roughly two-thirds of their original number.

It looked like quite a few, but one must not forget that this battle had only lasted for a little over ten minutes.

Moreover, the Hidden Rock ninja specifically targeted Genin to kill.

Thus, among these two hundred survivors, most were Chunin, and the death rate for Genin was definitely over fifty percent.

Of that fifty percent, the majority were rookie Genin.

Just think about it: a battlefield filled with corpses, most of which were your classmates. What kind of feeling would that evoke?

Seimei was slightly better off, as he wasn't too familiar with these people and thus didn't feel as deeply affected.

But Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko were different.

The former was good at socializing and had decent relationships with many classmates, while the latter was more observant and remembered everyone.

Given this, the psychological pressure they felt was immense.

"Seimei, do you think there will come a day when we die on the battlefield?"

In the midst of silence, Ryosuke suddenly asked.

Seimei initially wanted to say "no," but he opened his mouth and then held back the words.

In terms of the Third Shinobi World War, the level of brutality was no less than that of any previous war.

Right now, it was still the early to mid-stages of the war, and the casualty rate wasn't too high, but when Konoha was pushed to its gates, that would truly be horrific!

Not just the Genin, but even the Jonin would fall in large numbers.

Seimei couldn't even be certain he could survive until the end, so how could he claim to Ryosuke that he wouldn't die?

After a long silence, Seimei spoke again: "Don't think too much, just do your best to stay alive."

"Do your best to stay alive."

Ryosuke murmured this and fell silent.

Time passed second by second.

About five minutes later, the second batch of reinforcements arrived.

This time, not only were there combat personnel, but also a significant number of medical ninjas.

As the first village to establish a relatively comprehensive medical ninja training system, Konoha had more medical ninjas than the other major ninja villages.

As a result, the survival rate of injured ninjas was far higher than that of the other ninja villages.

Just like now, those medical ninjas swiftly moved across the battlefield under the protection of some combat ninjas, using Medical Ninjutsu to treat the injured.

Those with minor injuries could recover almost completely on the spot, while those with more severe injuries could at least be kept alive temporarily.

Watching his superficial wounds heal quickly, Seimei decided that he would learn a few Medical Ninjutsu no matter what in the future.

There was no way around it; Medical Ninjutsu was incredibly convenient.

As long as there was enough chakra, minor injuries and ailments could be easily treated.

Seimei certainly didn't think he would avoid getting hurt in the future, so it was better to be prepared.

Of course, if he could raise his physical attributes high enough to grant his body a certain level of self-healing ability, then he wouldn't need Medical Ninjutsu.

But that was something for a long time in the future; with the battlefield being so dangerous, he definitely needed to learn one or two Medical Ninjutsu for emergencies first.

"Alright!"

The medical ninja moved his hand away from Seimei's shoulder and advised, "Don't come into contact with water in the next few days, and avoid strenuous exercise. You should be able to recover completely in about three days."

"Thank you!"

Seimei sincerely expressed his gratitude.

"You're welcome."

The medical ninja replied and then quickly walked towards another injured person.

***

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