Ninjas walk on water, moving much faster than swimming through it.
To avoid being blockaded by the pursuing Sand Shinobi, they naturally needed to improve their underwater mobility.
When Uchiha Gen first encountered Ketsuhan, the snake was resting by a pool.
This giant snake was a good swimmer and moved quickly underwater, enough for them to escape the encirclement.
One hour later.
On the opposite shore of the great lake.
The massive Red-Spotted Black Python emerged from the water and opened its mouth to spit the two of them out.
"Splash!"
Waves surged as two figures fell into the lake, bobbing with the water, which also washed away the slime from the snake's mouth clinging to their bodies.
"Blegh!"
Hyuga Hizashi crawled onto the shore, unable to stop himself from retching.
"Gen, this summoned beast of yours needs to brush its teeth."
"We snakes don't need to brush our teeth," Ketsuhan said gloomily.
Uchiha Gen also followed with a couple of dry heaves.
If he hadn't surfaced for air every now and then to get a break, he would have been knocked unconscious by the stench.
"Phew—Ketsuhan, go back to Ryūchi Cave and find the summoned snakes of Enju and Ruri to notify them."
"Ask for their location."
Uchiha Gen took off his clothes, wrung out the water, and spoke to Ketsuhan.
The latter nodded in agreement and released the summoning.
"We're safe for now, but we still need to leave the shore as soon as possible."
"If the Sand Shinobi find out, they might soon send a patrol with sensory abilities to search the lakeshore."
Hyuga Hizashi nodded steadily, opened his Byakugan again, and observed the surroundings.
"There's no one else around."
"Looking at the terrain, we should be on the west side of the Asuka Mountains."
"To return, we can circle around from the north; this is the shortest route back to our camp."
"Good."
"First, treat our injuries."
"We must recover our mobility and combat effectiveness as quickly as possible; we can't afford any delay."
Uchiha Gen said while looking at Hyuga Hizashi.
White Zetsu is everywhere, and speed is of the essence; they had to hurry.
"Also, I have an idea."
"Hizashi, do you still have all the reconnaissance intelligence from this trip in your hands?"
Hyuga Hizashi pulled out the recorded diagrams from his ninja tool pouch and nodded slightly.
The ninja tool pouch was waterproof, so the intelligence was not damaged.
"I remember the details of the last stronghold from earlier. I can fill in the final bits of information now."
"Excellent."
"This intelligence is the key to whether we can escape smoothly."
"If Lord Orochimaru can coordinate well and seize the opportunity, we might even achieve another great merit!"
Uchiha Gen looked at the diagrams in Hyuga Hizashi's hand and smiled slightly.
Soon after, Orochimaru also received the message sent by Uchiha Gen through a summoned snake in Ryūchi Cave.
"Surrounded and ambushed, even the range of Hizashi's Byakugan was tested out."
Orochimaru listened to the hissing of the small white-scaled snake with a cold gaze, feeling a surge of anger burning in his chest.
He knew nothing of White Zetsu or Uchiha Madara, so his thoughts easily followed the initial assumption made by Uchiha Gen and the others.
A traitor had leaked the intelligence!
But more than finding the traitor, the immediate priority was to rescue Uchiha Gen's team.
"According to Gen's plan, they are heading north—I can't directly arrange for personnel to meet them, lest the spies find out."
"I must arrange for other personnel to attack from different directions to draw the Sand's fire and create space for their withdrawal."
"And these intelligence diagrams—is that the plan?"
Orochimaru held the diagrams, a flash of realization crossing his eyes.
For the Konoha side, Uchiha Gen's crisis could also be an opportunity.
If the Sand's internal defensive forces were indeed affected by Uchiha Gen and they deployed a large number of ninjas to hunt them down, it would inevitably lead to flaws in their defensive lines.
He hoped that while Orochimaru assisted them by drawing away the main Sand forces, he could also use the collected defensive intelligence to seize the opportunity and establish an advantage while the Sand's troops were being moved by Uchiha Gen's team.
"Communications Squad, pass the word: assemble immediately and prepare to launch a surprise attack."
"Also, contact the team on the other side and say the time has come; I need a way to contact their leader in real-time."
Orochimaru opened his tent and gave orders to the ninjas nearby.
The opportunity was now or never.
He had to hurry and assemble all the forces he could to achieve a greater victory!
Therefore, it wasn't just his side that needed to move; he also needed coordination from Konoha Ninjas in another direction.
To take this mountain range, Konoha's front line in the direction of the Land of Wind had also sent a small but elite team to provide support.
That would be their surprise force, and also the most likely direct support Uchiha Gen and his team would receive.
"Lord Orochimaru's side has already moved."
"It's expected that the main defensive forces of the Sand will soon be drawn away."
"However, there's a problem: Enju and the others were a bit unlucky and ran into a Sand patrol."
"We need to lend a hand and regroup the team."
The small snake that had previously appeared beside Orochimaru appeared in Uchiha Gen's palm shortly after.
Orochimaru had a special fondness for white snakes because he had found a white snake's shed skin in his youth, and the Third Hokage told him at the time that it symbolized luck and rebirth.
In Ryūchi Cave, many of these white snakes were related by blood to the White Snake Sage.
They had special lineages, were naturally intelligent, and their intellect developed earlier than other snakes in Ryūchi Cave.
Although they weren't like the giant snakes with hundreds of years of cultivation who had refined their throat bones and could speak human language, their IQ was very high.
They could clearly understand the meaning of human words and express those meanings precisely through hissing snake language.
Without knowing this snake language, even if enemies eavesdropped or caught these small snakes, they wouldn't be able to obtain any intelligence.
To facilitate communication, both Orochimaru and the others had jointly contracted many of these small white snakes.
"Then let's set off. My chakra has basically recovered."
Hyuga Hizashi's face was still a bit pale as he responded to Uchiha Gen.
They needed the Byakugan to scout the path and avoid enemies on the way, but after the battle just now, his chakra was once again insufficient.
Originally, Hyuga Hizashi's chakra capacity wasn't small, but unfortunately, their demand for the Byakugan was too high, and they had just experienced a high-pressure battle.
In that level of combat, Hyuga Hizashi could only go all out with his chakra, using his skills as basic attacks just to barely hold his own and share the pressure with Uchiha Gen.
Combined with his injuries, he was somewhat overextended.
However, after an hour of recovery and the effects of the soldier pills he had taken earlier, his chakra levels were no longer an issue for combat and scouting.