The art of war says: If your force is ten, surround it; if it is five, attack it; if it is twice your force, divide it; if it is your enemy, fight it; if it is fewer, flee; it is better to avoid it.

The Tiger Unit of Konoha Village has less than 500 people, the Snake Unit has less than 2,000 people, while the Kirigakure Ninja has more than 5,000 people.

With less than half of the military strength, they dared to implement the tactics of encirclement and annihilation. It was not because the Konoha ninjas were arrogant, but because the level of eliteness and training of these two troops was too high, far exceeding that of the Kirigakure ninjas.

Although the number of Konoha ninjas is not as large as that of Kirigakure ninjas, the combat effectiveness of both sides is the opposite, and they have indeed reached the standard of "surrounding them with ten".

Before the battle started, the Kirigakure Ninjas did not notice the Tiger Unit that had infiltrated from the flank, nor did they notice their two-hour-long ambush.

After the war broke out, the Kirigakure Ninjas were also unable to organize an effective defense or attack, or rather, all their attempts were defeated in advance by the Tiger and Snake forces.

After only 15 minutes, the Kirigakure Ninja organization was completely defeated and fell into a state of disorganized collapse.

The Tiger and Snake troops carried out the harvest in an orderly manner. The efficient killing lasted only 80 minutes before the battle was over.

The Kirigakure ninjas were quite stubborn, and about 3,000 of them were killed and 1,000 were captured.

In addition, there were more than 1,000 Mist Ninjas who were quick-witted. After the complete chaos, they ran away and escaped successfully.

This is the biggest trouble when a small number of elite troops are dealing with a large number of enemies. When the number of people is not enough, they really cannot handle it.

Uchiha Shigenobu complained bitterly: "These Kirigakure ninjas are 100 times harder to deal with when they run away than when they attack us with all their might!"

Uchiha and Tsukasa also complained: "Those who run away are annoying enough, but those who surrender are even more troublesome!"

"Just over 1,000 prisoners have already made us so busy. If I had known this, I would not have accepted any prisoners."

Namikaze Minato smiled and persuaded: "We definitely cannot kill them since they have surrendered. If we capture a Kirigakure ninja prisoner now, we will have five fewer Kirigakure ninjas who will resolutely resist when we attack the Kirigakure Village later."

"Just think of it as us preparing for the next decisive battle."

Uchiha Shigenobu asked in surprise: "Minato Jonin, do you think the Fourth Hokage's next plan is to directly attack the Hidden Mist Village?"

"Yes, they should attack the Hidden Mist Village next."

Namikaze Minato's smile was very bright. Today he killed 19 Kirigakure jonin in one breath. It was a very satisfying fight and he was in a very good mood.

He analyzed to the five commanders of the Tiger Force: "In the past two years, Kirigakure has experienced three major defeats and a serious civil strife."

"Although I don't know how much they lost in the civil strife, they lost more than 20,000 ninjas in the war with Konoha Village alone."

"20,000 people! This number is too scary. The wealth of the Hidden Mist Village has definitely been emptied."

"According to the information obtained during the interrogation, there are at most 3,000 Kirigakure ninjas in Kirigakure, most of whom are old, weak, sick, and disabled."

"Even if all the escaped Kirigakure ninjas returned to Kirigakure, they still wouldn't be able to gather 4,000 ninjas. With our strength, we only need to exert a little force to completely take over Kirigakure."

Uchiha Tadamichi nodded in agreement and said, "What Minato Jonin said makes sense. The Hidden Mist Village is definitely powerless now. We can take it down as long as we attack, unless the Hokage is unwilling to attack."

Uchiha Ikki smiled and said, "Don't worry, the Fourth Hokage is different from the Third Hokage. He has conquered the Sand Village. He will never let such a good opportunity slip away."

Uchiha Shigenobu said: "If that's the case, it's not bad. At least the hard work now won't be in vain."

Uchiha Kazushi asked, "Minato Jonin, do you think so too?"

Namikaze Minato smiled and nodded, "I think so too. The Fourth Hokage will definitely give orders for us to continue our efforts and launch an attack on the Hidden Mist Village."

"Well said!" Orochimaru appeared behind everyone with a smile, and said to the six commanders: "Just as you guessed, I order!"

Orochimaru was extremely satisfied when he saw that all the Konoha ninjas stood up straight, staring at him with bright eyes, with expectations and desire to fight shining in their eyes.

He ordered loudly: "Tiger Force and Snake Force, immediately hand over the prisoners to the follow-up troops, attack in the direction of Kirigakure Village, and eliminate all Kirigakure ninjas who refuse to surrender!"

"Yes! Fourth Hokage-sama!"

The Uchiha members of the Tiger Unit shouted "Long live", abandoned the prisoners on the spot, quickly assembled into an assault formation, and rushed out first.

The Snake Unit created by Orochimaru was more stable. Under the leadership of the equally stable Minato Namikaze, they completed the handover with the subsequent Konoha ninjas, and then followed the Tiger Unit and left quickly.

However, the Fourth Hokage Orochimaru could see that these guys were actually very anxious. They were running very fast and even ignored their formation.

"You're still a little behind the Tiger Force. You're all brats who don't follow the rules. They're very calm when it comes to their lives, but you're so rigid about red tape."

Orochimaru laughed and scolded: "Wait until we get back, and see how I will give you extra training!"

However, the Fourth Hokage did not stay on the battlefield. He called his staff officer and said, "Shikaku, I'll leave the cleaning of the battlefield to you. Don't forget to send more guard troops to the north."

Nara Shikaku and his two companions looked at each other and reluctantly accepted the order, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

After getting rid of the troublesome job, Orochimaru followed the various traces on the battlefield and quickly found the battlefield where the outcome would be decided.

Looking at the traces of battle all over the ground, from the layers of traces covering each other, the Fourth Hokage saw a war more horrific than a war involving tens of thousands of people.

He murmured, "Besides Uchiha Yuu, who are these?"

"Among the seven Mist Village jonin, only two or three are interesting, and the others are insignificant minor characters."

"Wait, these traces of fire aren't actually ninjutsu?"

Orochimaru carefully examined it for a long time before he exclaimed in surprise: "Hiss~~, it's actually a taijutsu!"

"This taijutsu is so powerful, so incredible. When did such a powerful taijutsu ninja appear in the ninja world?"

"The traces of Konoha's powerful whirlwind are actually from Konoha ninjas?"

Orochimaru opened his mouth slightly, and it was hard to tell whether the expression on his face was surprise or joy: "Haha, I seem to be a little derelict in my duty as the Hokage. I have such a powerful ninja under my command, but I don't even know who he is?"

Shaking his head, he looked at the traces on a higher level and exclaimed in amazement: "Incredible, really incredible, this must be the Fifth Mizukage Kaguya Hanemura of the Hidden Mist Village. The Corpse Vein is so powerful that it can compete head-on with the Wood Release Technique. It's incredible."

"I feel like my current strength is not enough to defeat the Mizukage. Fortunately, Uchiha Yu took over as the Fifth Mizukage, otherwise the Tiger and Snake units would be in big trouble this time."

Although he was amazed at the power of the Fifth Mizukage, Orochimaru was still able to make his comments with a smile on his face. But of course when he saw the traces of battle on the last floor, he fell completely silent.

After a long time, Orochimaru stood in the center of a circular trace, carefully observing all the traces around him, and even picked up a little soil and put it in his mouth to taste.

"I don't understand. I don't understand at all. What on earth is going on here?"

There was a gleam of confusion in Orochimaru's eyes, but at the same time, he was also filled with incomparable excitement and excitement.

He complained in an excited tone: "There are so many secrets in the ninja world, and there is so much knowledge that I need to study and learn. How long will it take me to finish studying?"

Orochimaru was so excited that he couldn't help but stick out his tongue and lick his cheek back and forth.

Ever since he became the Fourth Hokage, he hasn't made such a move for a long, long time, not even when he was alone.

The busy and boring paperwork and official duties wore away Orochimaru's energy. He had not felt such excitement for a long time.

He even uttered an indistinct whisper from his throat: "This must be a sign of a higher level of power. Maybe it even involves immortality. This is... great."

This was the first time Orochimaru had seen traces of a higher level of power, and naturally his excitement was hard to contain.

Before this, he had only seen the White Snake Sage and Uchiha You, but these two guys were hiding their identities, making it impossible for him to see them clearly.

Later, Uchiha You demonstrated his Mangekyō Sharingan and Wood Release, and even had a fierce battle with Ryuchido in front of him, allowing him to witness a powerful enough force.

But Orochimaru only felt fear and tension, but not the slightest yearning. What he wanted was never power but knowledge.

Especially when other people's power is incompatible with his power system, he has no interest in it.

He even looked down upon the magic arts of Longdi Cave, thinking them to be too crude, lacking in technical content, and too risky to practice.

What Orochimaru wanted was Uchiha Yuu's secret senjutsu, but this guy was extremely strict and had only taught it to two people and a cat so far.

The Fourth Hokage once openly discussed the price face to face, expressing his willingness to exchange Konoha's forbidden techniques for Yu's sentu.

Who knew that Uchiha You would actually declare that if one could not understand his thoughts, one could not learn his way of immortality, and that even if one tried hard to learn it, it would be impossible to master it. In the end, Orochimaru would definitely suspect that he had deceived him with a fake, and would have wasted the trust between them.

Of course Orochimaru didn't believe this. He thought that Uchiha Yu must have too high standards and looked down on Konoha's forbidden techniques, so he used this kind of illogical reasoning to attack him.

In fact, Orochimaru only guessed half right. Uchiha You was certainly very interested in forbidden techniques, but he had the Second Hokage in his hand, and such a large book of seals was written by him personally, so there was no need to go around in circles to exchange it.

And Uchiha You was not lying. Cultivating immortals is the most scientific and irrational way. It uses logical training methods to complete the most illogical life advancement.

Among the three cultivators, two men and one cat, Sanlun Yashi, who is the youngest but has been greatly influenced by him, has made the fastest progress and will achieve significant results within this year.

Uchiha Shisui is the second best. He has now officially entered the sect and is not far from successfully completing the 100-day foundation building.

On the contrary, Uchiha Bu Shi, who is the oldest and has known each other the shortest, is having a hard time and now can't even get into the game.

Obviously, Uchiha Bu Shi has mastered the three basic methods to perfection, but he just can't understand the principle of being humble and open-minded, and of drawing natural energy into the body, and he has been unable to truly get started.

According to Uchiha Bu Shi's description, he could already clearly feel the five natural energies, especially the thunder spirit's natural energy, but he just couldn't absorb it into his body.

Uchiha You believes that this kid's worldview has already been established, and the ideas of Ninja Way have dominated his cognition, leading to a deviation in his understanding of the Way of Immortal.

When it comes to cultivating immortals, if you believe in it, you will succeed; if you don’t, you will be in danger.

Now all we can do is let him continue to hone the three basic methods, hoping that through persistent practice, this kid's overly firm belief in ninja concepts can be slowly eliminated.

Maybe one day, Uchiha Ayumi will suddenly have an epiphany.

There are many incredible things in the practice of Taoism. The time he spends on the three basic methods will not be wasted. It will be compensated to him the moment he enters the door.

Perhaps, the moment when Uchiha Bu Shi absorbed natural energy into his body was the time when he completed the 100-day foundation building.

Compared to Ryuchido's senjutsu and Uchiha Yu's sendo, Orochimaru discovered that although the last layer of battle traces was more powerful, the source of its power was the chakra he was very familiar with.

The information revealed in the traces was profound and mysterious, but he felt that there was a clue to follow, and he could even deduce many interesting ideas immediately along this direction.

Although it has not been verified by experiments, Orochimaru's intuition cannot be wrong, because the process is so smooth, and such a natural development should not go wrong.

This sense of naturalness gave him a strong feeling that the person who left this mark was passing down the same ninjutsu as the one he learned.

Orochimaru was not unfamiliar with this feeling. He still remembered the first time he read the Book of Sealed Techniques. Although it was the first time he saw the forbidden techniques, he felt extremely familiar with it.

This is because he learned ninjutsu from the Third Hokage and really mastered it, so he indirectly learned the essence of the Second Hokage.

Therefore, after seeing the forbidden technique of Senju Tobirama, a familiar feeling came over him.

Based on this, it can be inferred that these traces can give Orochimaru a strong sense of familiarity, which must be related to the ninjutsu mastered by Orochimaru.

He analyzed this relationship carefully again and found that the inheritance relationship was very clear, but seemed extremely distant, and the connection was almost limited to the use of chakra.

The Fourth Hokage Orochimaru took a deep breath. He already knew the identity of this person.

The founder of ninja, the disseminator of chakra, the creator of the tailed beasts, the savior of the ninja world, the Sage of the Six Paths Otsutsuki Hagoromo.

He laughed hoarsely, "Oh my, I have unknowingly distanced myself from You-kun even further."

"I'm still struggling with the Five Kage, and he's already dealing with the Sage of Six Paths."

"I also want to communicate with the Six Paths Sage. Even if it's an unfriendly fight like this, it's still direct communication."

"Orochimaru, you must not forget your purpose. Your original intention of becoming Hokage was to compete with Yu-kun. You cannot be left too far behind by him."

Holding back his pounding heart, Orochimaru stood up and looked at the surroundings, especially the large trees and bone spurs that were still standing outside.

A great impulse suddenly surged in his heart.

[There is a big gap between me and Yu-kun and the Fifth Mizukage, but how big is the gap? ]

【Let me give it a try. 】

[Come to think of it, ever since You-kun took me to the Ryuchi Cave and helped me perfect this technique, I have never used it. ]

Great Snake Style·Forbidden Technique·Yakitsu

Orochimaru's figure was submerged in a huge amount of white smoke. When the white smoke dissipated, standing on the ruins of the battlefield was a huge white snake with eight heads and eight tails.

The eight white snakes look somewhat similar to the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave, but the feeling between their eyebrows and eyes is more full of Orochimaru's feminine and cold temperament.

Especially the head with the Hokage's hat on top, which is full of vivid pride.

The prototype of this technique is the forbidden technique recorded in the Book of Seals, which was developed with reference to the legendary monster Yamata no Orochi. Although there is no record of who the developer was, the fantastic ideas in this forbidden technique are full of the flavor of Tobirama Senju.

However, the Eight-Headed Technique of the Orochi Style is fundamentally different from the original version. It no longer uses chakra to simulate the Eight-Headed Snake, but uses the broken tail of the White Snake Sage as material to cultivate a real white snake.

Based on the soulless white snake, and with the help of the snake-style transformation technique and the corpse fusion technique, Orochimaru devoured the body of the white snake and eventually developed it into his own Yamata no Orochi.

No, perhaps he should be called the Eight-Headed Orochimaru.

Orochimaru felt the immensely surging power in his body, which was the extremely powerful earth-style chakra, as well as the natural energy of the earth spirit that Orochimaru could not perceive, but he confirmed its existence through calculations.

"Hehe, although I don't know any senjutsu yet, I have already controlled the Ryuchidong and mastered the indirect method of controlling senjutsu chakra."

"Let me see the power of the Great Snake Flow Control Immortal Technique!"

The eight snake heads began to dance, and the chakra surged along with it. Some of it was naturally transformed into fairy chakra, which mixed and filled the mouths of the eight snake heads.

Orochi flow·Yamata no Orochi·Rush and glory flow

The eight huge white snake heads faced in all directions, spewing out thick, gray, sticky liquid with all their might.

The gray liquid quickly dispersed after leaving the snake's mouth, turning into blue-gray smoke, transforming everything in its path.

This is not melting caused by strong acid, but weathering caused by wind and sand erosion. The big trees become dehydrated and dry, and then fall off like grains of sand like bone spurs.

The intensity of weathering is stronger at the bottom. The large trees and spurs towering above the ground quickly become thinner near the ground and soon break off from the roots and fall to the ground.

After falling to the ground, the trunks and spurs weathered even faster, completely decomposing and disappearing in just a few minutes.

However, the turbulent flow is not the burn escape or the magnetic escape, but the evolution of the nature of the earth escape, and it has more than just weathering and destructive abilities.

Under the cover of the blue-gray mist, the weathered sand particles continued to get smaller, and when they turned into dust that was difficult to distinguish, they unknowingly became brown soil.

These soils are united into lumps. Not only are they not weathered, but they quickly cover and absorb the weathered sand.

Some of the soil changed from brown to a hard bluish-white color and became new rocks.

Some of the soil changed color from brown to fertile black, becoming suitable for farming.

But after accumulating to a certain level, the new rocks and soil began to weather, as if entering a new cycle.

In the turbulent flow of the Yamata no Orochi, this battlefield has undergone tremendous changes time and time again.

In the cycle of rebirth and death, the original traces of battle were washed away completely, and in the end only a piece of fertile black soil remained.