Inside the Sunagakure camp on the southwestern battlefield.
"Matsuda-sama, the poison I developed this time will definitely deal a serious blow to Konoha."
The silver-haired girl spoke, her face marked by heavy dark circles.
Ever since her poisons were twice neutralized, she had spent sleepless nights working tirelessly to create an even stronger toxin.
She had poured her entire life's knowledge into this new creation.
"I underestimated Konoha's detox capabilities before, but not this time." Her eyes gleamed. "There's no way they'll crack it quickly!"
Commander Matsuda didn't show the same trust as before.
The previous two battles had ended in failure, and at the core of it was their blind faith in the girl's poisons, which led to disastrous defeats.
It wasn't that her poisons were ineffective—she was, after all, Sunagakure's genius poison maker. Her skills were beyond question.
The real problem was Konoha's terrifying detoxification capabilities...
They could develop antidotes in an incredibly short time, rendering the poisons useless.
They had to find the one in Konoha responsible for creating these antidotes—and kill them at any cost.
If they didn't, then no matter what kind of poison they developed, it would always be neutralized quickly...
As commander, Matsuda saw the situation clearly.
Their village's genius poison maker had already been completely suppressed.
This time, sending out troops wasn't because he truly believed in the new poison, but rather to take the opportunity to identify Konoha's antidote specialist.
As long as that person was killed, it would all be over.
In the end, the war would definitely conclude with Sunagakure's victory.
The silver-haired girl didn't know the commander's true intentions and still held high hopes that her poison would make a major impact on the battlefield.
She believed that with her new toxin, even Konoha's experts wouldn't be able to create an antidote in time.
As for the two previous failures—those were simply due to her own underestimation of the enemy.
...
On the battlefield.
Renya gripped the hilt of his katana tightly, the blade glinting coldly under the sunlight.
In the distance, a cloud of sand rose as dozens of Suna-nin spread out in a fan formation, eyes fierce beneath their headscarves—but their formation looked rushed.
Renya furrowed his brows at the sight.
Recalling the previous two battles, the Suna-nin had invaded with hundreds at a time.
Now this sparse force felt suspiciously like a deliberate weakness.
But he didn't dwell on it too much—when heads are delivered to your door, you don't ask why.
All he had to do was kill every single one of them.
Renya activated his Sharingan, and his figure shot out like an arrow released from a bowstring.
Behind him, the Konoha shinobi simultaneously drew their blades, the sound of metal ringing out across the field.
Half an hour earlier, Nara Mikage had sent over a newly developed antidote from Renya.
The moment they learned the antidote could counteract most known toxins, the entire unit erupted in excitement!
Without hesitation, every ninja swallowed the antidote.
With it, they no longer had to fear Sunagakure's poisons.
Those once-feared poisoned kunai and iron sand powders were now mere ornaments.
"Danzo, you're still injured!" Koharu tried to stop Danzo from charging into the fight.
But Danzo shook her off roughly.
"Mind your own business! I'm fine!"
"This little wound won't kill me!"
With that, he rushed out holding a kunai.
Seeing this, Koharu quickly followed behind to provide support.
At the center of the battlefield, Renya's blade carved a crescent arc through the air, slicing a genjutsu-confused Suna-nin clean in half.
"So weak..."
He felt like these Suna-nin had come just to die...
Among the dozens in the enemy squad, not a single jōnin could be found.
The Suna-nin holding their poisoned kunai couldn't stop their hands from trembling.
To their horror, they realized that the Konoha shinobi showed no fear at all of their poisoned weapons.
Just days ago, these same shinobi had been so cautious about being poisoned, hesitant to even engage fully in battle.
But now... everything was different. They weren't afraid anymore.
That was bad enough—but what came next was downright terrifying.
When the Suna-nin finally managed to wound a few enemies with their poisoned weapons, expecting the fight to end there—
They were horrified to find that the "poisoned" Konoha shinobi didn't slow down at all. In fact, they attacked with even more ferocity!
"Did they drug themselves up?!" A Suna-nin wielding a poison scythe didn't even finish his sentence before being cut down by one of the "poisoned" Konoha nin.
"Hahaha! Renya-san really developed an antidote against Sunagakure's poisons!"
The already terrified Suna-nin froze upon hearing this.
What the hell?! They had just gotten their newest batch of poison!
And now Konoha already had the antidote?!
Are you kidding me?!
"Antidote! They've got an antidote!"
Someone screamed in panic, throwing down his kunai and turning to run.
Clearly, they had lost their nerve.
This group of Suna-nin had been sent as disposable scouts for intel gathering by their commander.
Now that they'd gotten the information they needed, there was no reason to continue the fight.
With that, they didn't hesitate at all—they immediately began to retreat.
They had arrived dozens strong—but by the time they fled, only a few remained.
Of course, the Konoha shinobi wouldn't just let them escape. They chased after them and slaughtered the fleeing Suna-nin to the last.
Renya sheathed his sword and looked down at the corpses, falling deep into thought.
"What was the real purpose of this?"
There was no way a Suna commander would send troops to die for no reason...
Unfortunately, he couldn't read minds and had no way of knowing what the enemy was planning.
Renya picked up a poisoned kunai from the ground and studied it carefully.
"Suna-nin really did improve their poison."
He could tell that this batch was far stronger than the previous two.
That their poison maker could enhance the toxins so drastically in such a short time... she truly was a genius.
But unfortunately for her—she was up against him.
Even among geniuses, there are levels.
Renya's poison-making skills were practically at the pinnacle of the shinobi world.
It might be a long time before anyone could surpass his abilities in this field.
Renya played with the kunai in his hand, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"I've always been the one making antidotes... maybe it's time for you to start detoxing instead?"
Sunagakure weren't the only ones who specialized in poisons.
He, Renya, did too!
If the Suna-nin could poison their weapons, then why couldn't Konoha?
With that thought, he decided to share the poisons he developed with his comrades.
But before that, he needed the commander's approval.
...
"What?! You can make poison too?!"
Inside the command tent, Nara Mikage stared wide-eyed in shock, clearly stunned by what Renya had just said.
"If I can make antidotes, of course I can make poisons too," Renya explained.
Any medical expert who could analyze the structure of a toxin naturally knew how to reverse-engineer its chain of toxicity.
The two skills complemented each other.
It was just that different people had different strengths—some were better at detox, others at creating poisons.
Renya, however, excelled at both.
After hearing this, Nara Mikage slapped his forehead.
He should've realized this sooner!
If Renya could easily create antidotes, it meant he understood the poisons in full—so naturally, making poisons wouldn't be a problem.
"Renya-san, I approve your proposal!" Nara Mikage said seriously.
"Let's do it your way..."
"Let's use poison on the Suna-nin!"