Gathering intelligence, determining enemy activity ranges, familiarizing themselves with the environment... formulating combat plans, executing... killing.
For the following period, this was almost the daily routine for Yubi and Sasori.
They were constantly on the move across the battlefields of the Land of Grass, attacking Konoha's vital forces.
Although the number of people killed each time wasn't many, and it wasn't considered a major achievement, the Konoha Ninja who died at their hands over time added up to no small number.
Gradually... it wasn't just Konoha that knew Sunagakure people were ambushing their various units throughout the Land of Grass.
Even Iwagakure had heard rumors... that a three-man Sunagakure squad was quite active in the rear of the Konoha battlefield.
Among them, there seemed to be two outstanding juniors who were quite young.
On the battlefield, age isn't everything when measuring a Ninja... although Yubi and Sasori were very young, as enemies... whether it was Konoha or Ninjas from other Villages, they would not be underestimated.
Strength... is what represents everything.
Before they knew it, half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
During this half-year, Yubi truly experienced the hardships of fighting on the battlefield for a long time.
Because they had to avoid Konoha's entrapment plans... they had to be extremely careful with every move, only acting after confirming safety multiple times.
It could be said that no matter the difficulty of the mission to kill a target, they were constantly facing danger.
Even though they kept moving their combat zones within the Land of Grass to prevent Konoha's local forces from reacting, the Land of Grass wasn't large to begin with. As their activity time increased... the potential crises they faced also grew. If Konoha wanted to invest resources to deal with them, it wouldn't be difficult.
Therefore, the three-man squad had to be extremely sensitive to intelligence and rumors on the battlefield... even the slightest disturbance would put them on alert.
Additionally... the supplies they could carry were quite limited. With time and combat consumption, their private lives became very difficult... In the early stages, things like Soldier Pills and Ninja tools could still be looted from corpses or seized.
But later on, going hungry became a common occurrence.
Their minds also had to remain under high pressure... Inside a camouflaged cave.
Yubi leaned against the wall, boredly playing with his scalpel.
Beside him, Sasori was performing maintenance on puppet parts.
As they spent more time together, Yubi gained a deeper understanding of Puppeteers.
For an outstanding Puppeteer, besides the basic skills—namely the ability to control puppets—even more important is the talent for crafting them.
For the same puppet, while other Puppeteers might only be able to load or design a few types of mechanisms, Sasori could arm a puppet to the teeth with them.
Furthermore, the'strength' of the puppet itself and its effectiveness in battle would not be compromised by installing too many mechanisms.
Sasori truly deserved to be called a genius among Puppeteers.
From a large component to a small wooden plank... Sasori knew them all like the back of his hand.
The materials for designing and constructing puppets... items available on the market suitable for puppets, as well as... the combat styles and roles of different puppets he planned in his mind beforehand and perfectly realized—all these additional abilities were displayed to the fullest.
Simply perfect.
On some level, Yubi also felt that... it was indeed art.
Just like a Medical Ninja, besides being able to use Medical Ninjutsu and demonstrate its great power... profound medical knowledge is also essential.
Of course, for Sasori to make Puppet Jutsu so unique on himself, his 'talent' as a Ninja was the key.
What was mentioned above... only concerned the puppets themselves.
Otherwise, even if he could create extraordinary puppets, it would be useless if they were difficult to apply.
This was why Yubi thought so.
It was because, as a Medical Ninja, Sasori had intentionally consulted him during this time about knowledge regarding 'human anatomy'... Clearly, Sasori wanted to apply this knowledge to Human Puppets.
Although he could create Human Puppets now, they only differed in appearance and lacked'specificity'.
What Sasori wanted... was a 'core' that could drive the puppet to perform the Ninjutsu it used while alive.
This inevitably involved the mysteries of 'life'.
In this regard, Yubi was an expert.
Even though Sasori had built some foundation because of Chiyo, he still wasn't on the same level as Yubi.
Yubi was naturally happy to help Sasori create the 'puppet core' ahead of time... so the two would discuss and experiment privately whenever they were free.
Of course, all of this was done behind Arai's back.
"I've never been away from the Village for this long before..."
Yubi lamented.
Beside him, Sasori remained indifferent upon hearing this, assembling the puppet parts one by one and sealing them into a scroll.
"Judging by the recent momentum on the battlefield, Iwagakure probably doesn't intend to fight Konoha to the end; they'll likely withdraw their troops."
Having finished packing, Sasori slowly stood up, maintaining his usual expressionless face, and spoke indifferently.
"I really want to eat the vinegar rice balls made by Uncle Masao... I've almost forgotten what they taste like."
Yubi licked his lips.
"..."
Sasori.
Sasori couldn't even be bothered to retort to Yubi anymore.
"In the blink of an eye, we're both ten years old. Time really flies..."
Yubi sighed again.
"What is inside your head? Don't forget... you're still on the battlefield."
Sasori said coldly.
"I know."
Yubi grinned.
Just then, both of their expressions changed simultaneously.
A bird's cry came from outside the cave.
Hearing it, Yubi knew Captain Arai had returned and responded with a whistle.
A moment later, after confirming everything was fine, Arai walked in from outside.
"The Village received news that several front lines in the rear of the Iwagakure battlefield have already withdrawn."
Arai said.
Over the past half-year, the reason their three-man squad's activities were relatively'smooth' was mainly due to the intelligence sharing between several Villages against Konoha.
Information from just Sunagakure and Iwagakure alone wouldn't have allowed them to last this long.
This included some intelligence purchased from the underground black market.
These are common occurrences on the Ninja World battlefields.
While this Ninja World War appeared brutal on the surface, it also sustained many organizations that made a living by selling intelligence.
This was one of the reasons why there were so many Ninjas and Rogue Ninjas from other countries appearing in the Land of Grass right now.
"Is it about to end..."
Although Yubi had expected it, he still spoke up.
With this, the open warfare between the Ninja Villages...
...would only leave Kumogakure and Konoha.
In the end, Iwagakure failed to gain any advantage over Konoha.
It also showed that Orochimaru, as one of the Sannin, was not only personally powerful but also extremely outstanding in military strategy as a battlefield commander.
It could be said that looking solely at the contributions to the Village during this Second Great Ninja War, Orochimaru must have played a monumental role.
"In the future Third War, Orochimaru also put in effort... It's a pity..." A thought flashed through Yubi's mind.
This might be one of the reasons why Orochimaru left Konoha.
Even after doing so much, he still wasn't recognized... it seemed that even the common people at the bottom of Konoha had no favorable impression of him.
Yubi's strategic planning in Sunagakure was, to a large extent, based on the case of Orochimaru's failure to compete for the Hokage position.
Besides achievements... gaining a good reputation is also very necessary.
Minato Namikaze, Naruto... they were all like this.
"Let's go... erase our tracks, the mission is officially over."
"We need to leave ahead of time; otherwise, once the two Villages withdraw their troops and Konoha has resources to spare, they will definitely target us!"
Arai said.
"Okay."