Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 10: The Chaotic War in the Grass Country

As expected, Aburame Shisei sighed inwardly, knowing that completely escaping the pursuit would not be so easy.

His defection was completely unprepared, unplanned, and without any prior planning; in the rush of his actions, he inevitably left some oversights.

Especially those parasitic insects sent out to scout; if they die unexpectedly, their corpses will become clues.

It's not surprising that Konoha has ninjas skilled in tracking, who can find the general direction by following the chakra trails of insects.

This is why he completely put away all the insects.

In this light, suddenly changing identities and hiding all the insects was a wise move.

However, sometimes it is this kind of unprepared defection that is most likely to succeed.

After all, even he himself didn't know where he was going. He had no route and no plan, so how could anyone predict his whereabouts from his movements?

After breaking the hypnosis, he cleanly and efficiently dealt with the middle-aged Kusanagi Shinobu.

They then searched the three men, taking all valuable supplies: ration pills, explosive tags, shurikens, and a small amount of money.

This time he didn't use insects; he simply dragged the three corpses deep into the forest and covered them with fallen leaves.

He wanted to give others the illusion that the three of them had died at the hands of a master of martial arts. That way, even if someone investigated, they wouldn't suspect him.

Aburame Shisei donned his straw hat and, without altering his route, continued along the main road towards the Land of Waterfall. The rain intensified, washing away any remaining traces.

Half a day later, on the eastern border of the Land of Grass.

Orochimaru stood before the waterfall pool, several dead parasitic insects in his palm.

The ANBU ninja pursuers found this place a day ago, but from here on, they completely lost their trail.

That's why the search area was expanded from here to a radius of two hundred miles. Even with the assistance of the Grass Ninja Village, it was still like finding a needle in a haystack.

"He's no longer using insects. It seems he's changed his identity. Clever." Orochimaru crushed the insect corpse in his palm into powder, immediately seeing through Aburame Shisei's intentions.

"Lord Orochimaru, we've discovered a burned-down mountain stronghold nearby, which may be the only clue. However, we don't know why he attacked the stronghold or set it on fire, leaving such a flaw. So we suspect that this might not have been his doing." The pursuing ANBU ninja stepped forward to report, his head bowed low.

"No need to blame yourself, the opponent is cunning."

Orochimaru's interest in him grew stronger.

To be fair, based on his understanding of the number of Aburame people, he didn't initially take Aburame Shisei seriously.

The Aburame clan's secret techniques are distinctive, but their weaknesses are also obvious: they are vulnerable to fire-style techniques, not adept at direct combat, and have poor endurance. These abilities suggest that they can only serve as support or scouts for intelligence gathering on the battlefield.

This time he realized that the other party was actually very clever, and the people from Konoha had actually lost track of them.

Just then, three whooshing sounds rang out simultaneously from three directions.

Almost the instant the sound reached him, Orochimaru began to lean back, bracing himself with his hands on the ground, his body curving into an eerie arc, as three shuriken grazed past his head.

"Enemy attack!" the Konoha ninja shouted.

But it was too late.

The assassination squad from Iwagakure emerged from the forest, underground, and even from the pools of water. Their camouflage was flawless, indicating they had been lying in wait for quite some time, clearly anticipating the arrival of the Konoha members.

Kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags rained down. Three Konoha pursuit team ninjas were pierced through vital organs before they could even form hand seals.

Orochimaru emerged from the shadows, his hands forming hand seals: "Summoning Jutsu!"

White smoke exploded, and three giant snakes appeared out of thin air, knocking away the Iwagakure ninjas who rushed at them.

However, the opposing side had a numerical advantage, consisting of two complete elite squads and one battalion, with a total of eight Jonin and thirty-two elite Chunin.

"The Tsuchikage has given the order," the Iwagakure captain said coldly, "capture Orochimaru alive, or kill him on the spot."

The battle escalated rapidly.

Orochimaru fought eight opponents single-handedly, weaving through the swarm of snakes and ninjutsu. His Wind Release technique shattered Earth Release techniques, sending dust billowing out before dispersing it. Only two members of the Konoha pursuit team remained alive, barely managing to hold on back to back.

But Iwagakure's preparations were too thorough.

They had clearly studied Orochimaru's fighting style, and every attack targeted his weaknesses.

Three minutes later, a giant snake had its head smashed by Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique and disappeared in the white smoke.

Orochimaru clutched the wound on his arm, his face contorted with unprecedented rage.

Their intelligence about Konoha Village has clearly been leaked.

The Iwagakure ninjas came prepared this time, their intentions were too obvious, their purpose was to assassinate him.

Who leaked the intelligence about this operation in advance?

Orochimaru quickly came up with a name: Danzo. He couldn't think of anyone else who would do such a thing.

"Retreat!" Orochimaru shouted decisively at the remaining two Konoha ninja.

The remaining two Konoha ninja detonated all the explosive tags they carried, temporarily forcing Iwagakure to retreat. Orochimaru seized the opportunity to summon a burrowing snake, and the three of them disappeared underground.

The Iwagakure ninja did not pursue, but instead stayed where they were and cleaned up the battlefield.

They also suffered losses in this surprise attack.

Despite having the advantage of a sneak attack, two of the eight Jonin were killed, two were seriously injured, two were slightly injured, and seven of the remaining Spirit Ninjas were killed or injured.

"Clean up the scene," Captain Akano Sawa ordered. "Dispose of the Konoha corpses and erase all traces of the battlefield. This place is too close to Konoha; we must be careful."

"Captain, should we still go and capture that rogue ninja from Konoha?"

"It doesn't matter. The main purpose of our mission is to hold Orochimaru back and prevent him from returning to the battlefield too quickly. Ideally, we should finish him off here. As for that Konoha rogue ninja, if we encounter him, we'll capture him while we're at it."

"Captain, what about Kusagakure..."

"Don't worry, Onoki has already made arrangements with them. They will cooperate with us to ambush Orochimaru and help us hold off some Konoha ninja to prevent them from connecting with Orochimaru."

The Land of Grass is inherently fickle.

This time, Amegakure declared war on the five great nations, but Konoha was caught in the crossfire and found itself surrounded by enemies.

The current enemy of Iwagakure is Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Their military tactics are superb, and Iwagakure has suffered many losses from the very beginning.

This time, a "kind-hearted person" deliberately revealed Orochimaru's whereabouts in order to get Iwagakure to send in elite forces.

On one hand, it prevents Orochimaru from completing his mission and delays his return to the battlefield; on the other hand, it can also restrain dozens of elite Iwagakure ninjas, weakening Iwagakure's high-end combat power on the battlefield.

Who did it? It's so hard to guess!