On the battlefield of the Land of Rivers, everything was chaos and devastation.
The Sand forces that had once advanced with overwhelming momentum were now like startled birds, fleeing wildly in all directions.
Their eyes kept darting back in terror, as if some horrifying monster were chasing them from behind.
At last, when they realized that the towering, heaven piercing, fear inducing Susanoo figure was no longer pursuing them, their hearts finally settled a little.
Only then did these shaken Sand ninja begin to slow their steps, gathering in small groups of two or three, leaning on one another to seek a bit of reassurance.
"Kazekage-sama!"
"Kazekage-sama!"
Urgent and anxious calls rang out from within the crowd.
It turned out that Rasa, the usually imposing Kazekage, had also suffered severe injuries in the earlier battle.
He had been viciously kicked away by the enemy and slammed heavily into the ground, his wounds quite serious.
At this moment, his clothes were already torn to shreds, stained with blood, and he looked utterly miserable.
Yet even while badly injured, the dignity and responsibility of the Kazekage still supported him, allowing him to grit his teeth against the pain and struggle to his feet.
Rasa slowly turned his head and looked toward the direction where the Konoha forces were.
Pain and despair filled his eyes as scenes of the brutal fighting replayed again and again before him.
He knew all too well what this battle meant for Sunagakure. The consequences of defeat would be catastrophic.
Even so, he could not allow himself to fall. Because he was not just a ninja, but the leader of the entire Sand Village.
He had to lead these surviving Sand ninja safely back to the village.
Taking a deep breath, Rasa forcibly calmed the surging emotions in his chest, then shouted loudly to his subordinates beside him, "Send up the signal! Immediately gather the scattered personnel!"
At the order, a Sand ninja quickly pulled a signal flare from his clothes and fired it into the sky without hesitation.
In an instant, a dazzling beam of light shot straight upward, blooming into brilliant colors in the air.
This was the signal to assemble, meant to guide those Sand ninja scattered everywhere to find the main force as quickly as possible.
As the first signal flare rose, more flares soon shot up from nearby areas, responding to Rasa's call.
Clearly, Sand ninja elsewhere had also seen the signal and answered it in turn.
Thus, over the next stretch of time, one signal flare after another lit up the sky.
As the minutes ticked by, it took roughly four to five hours before Rasa finally managed to regroup the Sand ninja who had fled in all directions.
From afar, a large mass of figures could be seen slowly moving toward Rasa's position.
Everyone's steps were heavy and sluggish, and fear still lingered on their faces.
This cruel war had cast a deep shadow over them, and recovering their mindset would not be easy.
Rasa's gaze swept over the Sand ninja before him. One by one, they looked dispirited and demoralized. Some still had fresh bloodstains and wounds on their bodies, while others stared around in terror, as if still trapped in the fear of that recent brutal battle.
With just this single glance, Rasa already knew: This war had come to an end, and Sunagakure had unquestionably become the loser, and in an extremely humiliating way.
Faced with the Hokage of Konoha, whose power inspired sheer dread, Uchiha Rengoku, Sunagakure had been utterly incapable of resisting.
The opponent alone had routed the entire Sand force.
Worse still, even the personnel responsible for gathering intelligence had been so terrified that they only cared about fleeing for their lives, not daring to look back at the situation.
The current Sunagakure was like a blind man who had lost his eyes, completely ignorant of the enemy's movements.
"Immediately count the dead. Everyone rest in place. And the reconnaissance teams, set out at once to check whether Konoha has any pursuers coming."
Although his heart was filled with frustration, as the leader of Sunagakure, Rasa knew that at this moment he had to stay calm and respond quickly.
He methodically directed his ninja to gather together, so they could better tally the casualties and prepare for the next actions.
Because many of the wounded had relied purely on sheer willpower to keep moving during the retreat, they had not realized how serious their injuries were.
If they could not receive treatment in time, these wounded would likely die soon.
Taking this into account, Rasa decided to let everyone rest briefly to adjust their condition before continuing the withdrawal.
Sunagakure's military organization had always been strict and orderly. When they set out, they were already arranged into squads, companies, and battalions.
Each battalion consisted of a full thousand ninja, so accurately calculating the number of deaths in this operation was not difficult.
Even so, when the final numbers were reported, Rasa's heart still sank heavily.
"Kazekage sama, after careful inspection, more than two thousand people are missing in this operation."
"Adding in the losses from earlier fighting… our remaining force now numbers only a little over six thousand."
Hearing this figure, the surrounding ninja could not help but suck in a cold breath. The already gloomy atmosphere instantly grew even heavier.
According to the report sent by Sunagakure, the wording was rather euphemistic, only stating that some personnel were "missing."
In truth, some people had indeed vanished, but most of those who saw the signal flares had already returned safely.
If someone went missing in the Land of Rivers, there might still be a chance of survival; but if they disappeared on the battlefield of that fierce engagement just now, the odds were grim indeed.
Rasa's face was ashen, drained of all color.
Losing so many people in a single battle was undoubtedly an extremely heavy blow to Sunagakure.
Just as his mood was sinking further, another piece of news arrived, "In addition, Elder Chiyo was unfortunately captured by Uchiha Rengoku. Her current condition is unknown."
It turned out that Rasa had been kicked away during the urgent fighting and knew nothing of this at the time.
However, Sand ninja nearby who had witnessed the scene quickly reported this crucial information to Rasa.
Upon hearing this, Rasa's eyes flickered slightly.
Although he had long had many conflicts and disagreements with Elder Chiyo in the past, at this moment, her capture by the enemy was clearly not a good thing.
First, there would be no way to give the daimyo a proper explanation; second, the council of elders would certainly seize this opportunity to attack him with endless accusations.
At that moment, the reconnaissance squad hurried back. One of them reported to Rasa, "Kazekage sama, Konoha's forces are not pursuing us. They are currently busy cleaning up the battlefield."
Hearing this, Rasa let out a small sigh of relief, yet the gloom in his heart still refused to disperse.
"Rest in place. Recon squads will conduct rotating surveillance."
"Yes!", The reconnaissance team members were exhausted, but there was no helping it.
Earlier, the main force had chased after Konoha's people with very little rest, and everyone was carrying heavy fatigue.
The original plan had been to seize the momentum and swallow up Uchiha Rengoku and the thousand men he brought, then advance straight through.
Who could have imagined it would end up like this.
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