Inside the Konoha frontline encampment, Hoshiyomi had just finished his daily training. After a quick rinse, he returned to his tent to rest, eyes closed in quiet meditation.
Well—"meditation" was a bit of a stretch.
In truth, he was secretly checking his Sword Heart System.
The battlefield truly was the greatest crucible for sharpening one's skills. Hoshiyomi had now been deployed to the Amegakure front for over half a year.
And in those six months, his experience points had skyrocketed.
After all, chances to engage in real combat were endless—slaying jōnin and elite jōnin, multiple direct encounters with Hanzō of the Salamander… Each of those battles had poured vast amounts of experience into his system.
The last time he checked, he was at 305/500 EXP.
Now? He was sitting at a staggering 430/500.
A gain of 125 EXP in just a few months—an astronomical figure. If he were just grinding through daily training, he wouldn't rack up that much XP even by the end of the war.
Saving Tsunade alone had given him 60–70 points.
As for those thirty-seven Iwa shinobi he wiped out? They were practically walking EXP bundles. Not understanding the mechanics of his Oboro Urazuki: Eleven Forms, they died without a clue—serving him fat stacks of EXP on a silver platter.
Then there were his repeated clashes with Hanzō. Each one netted him 10–20 points, which felt ridiculously satisfying.
The system, rigid as ever, still classified him as an "Elite Jōnin," even though he now had enough combat power to challenge a Kage-level opponent when going all out.
That meant every time he went up against someone like Hanzō, the system considered it a "higher-tier challenge" and rewarded bonus EXP accordingly.
Plus, Hanzō—concerned about protecting his underlings—never fought Hoshiyomi with full force. Every fight ended prematurely, denying Hanzō the upper hand.
So the system always registered those fights as Hoshiyomi victories, generously handing him EXP for free.
And on top of that—
"Lord Hoshiyomi, your dinner has arrived."
A "Konoha shinobi" stepped in, head lowered, holding a food tray.
Hoshiyomi glanced at him briefly and said casually, "Leave it there. I'll eat in a bit."
The shinobi's expression seemed to stiffen for a moment, but he quickly bowed and replied respectfully, "Understood, then I'll take my leave."
He began backing away—but as he did, he subtly edged toward the wall where Mikazuki Munechika rested.
Hoshiyomi gave no indication of noticing.
Seeing this, the fake konoha shinobi's heart surged with glee. Suddenly, he lunged forward, grabbed the sword, and bolted out of the tent without a word.
Perfect! He'd actually succeeded in stealing Mikazuki Munechika, Hoshiyomi's treasured sword!
Without it, the famed "Konoha's Silver Moon" would lose most of his strength. He couldn't kill him, sure—but bringing back the sword would still count as mission success.
As the "Konoha shinobi" disappeared into the night, Hoshiyomi simply shook his head and muttered under his breath:
"Another one of these brainless idiots…"
The moment those words left his lips, the thief holding Mikazuki Munechika suddenly felt a scorching heat in his hand.
Instinctively, he looked down—only to see ghostly blue chakra flames erupting from the blade's surface.
His face drained of color. Terrified, he dropped the sword and tried to run.
But it was far too late.
The chakra flames from Mikazuki Munechika had already climbed up his arm.
In the blink of an eye, the blue fire engulfed his entire body—turning him into the shinobi world's own version of Brand, the Burning Vengeance.
But unlike Brand, he wasn't in control of the flames. He could only scream as the ethereal fire devoured him, spreading relentlessly across his body.
He writhed in agony, trying to smother the flames as they clung to him like maggots to flesh, but it was useless.
In the end, he was reduced to a pile of charred remains.
Even in death, he never understood what kind of terrifying being he had dared to provoke.
Hoshiyomi stepped out of his tent, calmly picked up Mikazuki Munechika, wiped it clean, and waved nonchalantly to the subordinates rushing over in alarm:
"Go eat. And when you're cleaning up later, make sure you get rid of that mess too. Kind of an eyesore."
A kunoichi from the Uzumaki clan looked at the scorched corpse and spoke awkwardly:
"Apologies, Lord Hoshiyomi. There are so many people coming and going on the battlefield—lots of new faces every day. Even I can't keep track of everyone. I'm sorry for letting this happen."
Hoshiyomi smiled and waved it off.
"It's a small matter. I can handle it myself. Go eat—cold food doesn't taste good."
With that, he turned and went back into his tent.
"Ahhh!"
The Uzumaki kunoichi stared dreamily after him.
"Lord Hoshiyomi is still as gentle as ever… even though it was my negligence, he's more concerned about whether I've eaten."
Next to her, a teammate also stared at the tent, eyes full of reluctant admiration. She nudged the starry-eyed girl with an elbow.
"Snap out of it. Lord Hoshiyomi already has Lady Tsunade. Give up the fantasy."
The Uzumaki kunoichi pouted at her companion:
"Come on, a girl's allowed to dream, isn't she? You never know—it might come true someday!"
Her teammate rolled her eyes, exasperated. She glanced over the girl's shoulder and sighed toward the figure behind her:
"Lady Tsunade… I did my best."
The Uzumaki girl turned in alarm—just in time to see Tsunade standing there, smiling, a food tray in hand.
She immediately bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
"I sincerely apologize, Lady Tsunade. I was out of line."
Tsunade chuckled lightly.
"It's fine. I trust him.
Oh, by the way—Jiraiya is still single. If you're interested, give it a shot. Might help with all that extra energy he has."
With a grin, she walked into Hoshiyomi's tent, leaving the two girls behind.
Inside the tent, Tsunade glanced at the food tray and remarked:
"That makes what—seven now?"
Hoshiyomi sighed.
"Nine. Has Ōnoki lost his mind? He actually had the nerve to issue an assassination mission on me.
I've had to deal with Iwagakure shinobi and black market mercenaries back-to-back the past few days.
I'm really starting to lose patience."
The reason Hoshiyomi had been able to detect the impostor so quickly was standing right before him—Tsunade. Ever since he rescued her during that previous mission, they'd stopped hiding their feelings.
While they hadn't taken that final step, they shared nearly every meal together in Hoshiyomi's tent.
Pretty much everyone in the Konoha camp knew by now—who else would be delivering his meals?
Tsunade smiled.
"Just wait a few more days. Once we rotate to the next front line, these little annoyances will stop."
Hoshiyomi's ears perked up.
"You mean…?"
Tsunade nodded.
"The antidote is ready. We can finally have our decisive battle with Hanzō."