For the next two days, Ishiki Kujo continued his routine medical work within the camp, just like before.
However, the number of wounded being sent back from the front lines increased sharply. Something major seemed to have gone down in Kumogakure—large numbers of shinobi were being deployed into the Land of Frost.
Orochimaru made a swift decision: have Konoha forces temporarily pull back.
On the surface, it looked like a strategic retreat. In truth, it meant that more shinobi were being reassigned to intelligence gathering instead of open conflict.
The Land of Frost had grown even more chaotic.
Ishiki knew exactly why.
The disappearance of the Two-Tails' jinchūriki wasn't a minor incident—especially not when the signs of battle were so easy to detect.
He had only dealt with the three corpses; the collateral damage from the fight itself, he had no way of erasing.
Understanding the cause, Ishiki became more attentive to the wounded being brought in.
After all, many of them were indirectly harmed by his own actions.
This change in demeanor made more and more Konoha shinobi take notice of him—a bright, gentle, tall and handsome medic-nin with exceptional healing skills.
Ishiki had a gift for dealing with patients. He welcomed everyone with a warm smile, yet never overstepped into unwarranted familiarity.
He also had a keen memory—he remembered every face and name after just one encounter. Combined with his serious attitude and medical prowess, Ishiki's reputation in the Konoha camp steadily soared.
Some even hoped he'd become the leader of the frontline medical corps. No matter how severe the wound, in Ishiki's hands, recovery came swiftly.
Orochimaru didn't comment on this rising sentiment. In fact, he seemed amused by it.
Ishiki wasn't surprised. If anything, he found Orochimaru surprisingly easy to get along with.
They'd had several recent interactions. While "pleasant conversation" wasn't quite the phrase, they had come to understand each other in subtle ways.
Just how much Orochimaru understood him—Ishiki couldn't say. But he liked to think he'd made a good impression.
Meanwhile, within the camp, whispers started spreading—people were beginning to rally behind the idea of Orochimaru succeeding the Fourth Hokage.
Ishiki didn't voice any objections. Support was easy enough.
He knew how the story ultimately ended, but somewhere deep down, he genuinely wanted Orochimaru to become Hokage.
But if Orochimaru truly desired that title, Shimura Danzō would be the biggest obstacle. Unless that old bastard was dealt with, Orochimaru would never get the seat.
As for the head Shisui had brought back last time—no one knew how that had been handled. But given how silent things had remained, the matter was either never exposed or quickly buried.
If the former, Danzō was more dangerous than imagined. If the latter, it proved that he and the Third Hokage were in bed together to the very end.
Ishiki didn't want to believe Konoha was rotten to the core. But reality had a way of twisting logic into something grim and absurd.
Whenever Danzō was involved, Hiruzen Sarutobi always seemed to shield him somehow, making it hard not to be disillusioned.
Even the rumor that the Uchiha hadn't defended the village during the Nine-Tails' Night was widely believed by civilians, which only deepened Ishiki's suspicions.
After all, he'd been at Konoha Hospital that night—he saw Uchiha clan members among the wounded with his own eyes.
From his investigations, he knew that among the Second Hokage's six disciples, only Uchiha Kagami had died. The rest were still alive and thriving.
Tobirama's disciples: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzō Shimura, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane… and the one always paired with Kagami: Akimichi Tokaze.
Ishiki had even seen Tokaze in the hospital recently—he came to pick up one of his clan's injured.
Only one died. The one "born evil"—an Uchiha.
It was hard not to find the whole setup suspicious. Ishiki didn't like any of Tobirama's remaining students.
As for Orochimaru—he didn't seem very interested in becoming Hokage. He stayed reclusive in the camp, rarely making appearances.
Kumogakure tried to suppress the news, but it was impossible to hide something like the loss of a jinchūriki.
Within just a few days, Konoha had pieced together what happened.
Orochimaru studied the report on his desk with narrowed eyes. "It wasn't Konoha? Then were shinobi from the Land of Water or Land of Earth operating on the battlefield? Any traces?"
The man overseeing frontline intelligence and strategy was Nara Shikaku, recently transferred from the village.
He was accompanied by Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Chōza.
Shikaku's brow furrowed. "There were reports of a mysterious 'house' incident in the Land of Frost. It began around the same time Yugito Nii vanished. After that, the house never reappeared.
From the data, it seems her mission was to investigate this phenomenon.
But no matter how we break it down, we still can't identify who was behind it.
There's no sign of elite foreign shinobi in the region. Anyone strong enough to capture a jinchūriki wouldn't be invisible on the battlefield.
And based on the terrain where she vanished, the overwhelming signs point to fire-style damage. The traces of water-style jutsu likely came from Yugito's teammates, used in defense.
Putting all the intel together, we've ruled out infiltration teams. That leaves a two-person cell as the most likely scenario.
One to lure the jinchūriki with the haunted house curse. One to capture her.
But what's strange is: how did they know Kumogakure would send Yugito? And using fire-style to suppress a fire-using Two-Tails—that's absurd."
Orochimaru nodded. He agreed with Shikaku's deductions.
But only two people? Maybe even one did the job!
Back during the joint ops, Orochimaru had sized up Yugito's capabilities—she controlled about 60-70% of Matatabi's power.
Not perfect, but with the Two-Tails' speed and chakra, if she wanted to escape, even he'd struggle to restrain her.
A flicker of curiosity passed through Orochimaru's eyes, but it quickly vanished. "In that case, we'll have to postpone our plan for now."
Shikaku nodded. "If the Two-Tails is out of commission, the Cloud will lie low for a while. But we should still be ready for retaliation."
Orochimaru sighed, disappointed. "What a shame. I really wanted to test the Eight-Tails' strength next. But now they'll lock it down even tighter."
Shikaku had no response. Only Orochimaru-sama could talk about hunting jinchūriki like it was a casual experiment.