Tsunade was taking in the sights of Shikkotsu Forest when the air around her suddenly rippled—and out popped two figures: a man and a woman.
The male one was covered in blood and looked absolutely terrible, as if he had been trampled by a full set of bullet trains twice. As for the woman… she looked physically fine, but there were some things about her that Tsunade—a girl still figuring life out—just couldn't quite grasp or put into words.
Tsunade—who definitely wasn't known for her patience—instinctively balled her fists, ready to swing... but before she could move, Chichio had already turned away and started vomiting violently. Then, Haseo finally spoke, "Good thing you're here, Tsunade. Take me back to the village, will you? I think I'm still salvageable."
That voice, dripping from a blood-soaked body, sounded vaguely familiar. Tsunade hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking, "H-Haseo?"
Thankfully, that stopped her fist.
"Yeah."
By then, Haseo could barely even grunt in response. After that single sound, his entire body began to slump down helplessly. At this point, the only choice left to him was whether to fall forward or backward—and honestly, it wasn't much of a choice at all.
Falling forward held promise because someone would catch him. But falling backward... there was nothing but Chichio's vomit behind him. Haseo was already dirty enough; he definitely didn't want to increase the stickiness on his body any further.
Tsunade effortlessly caught the collapsing Haseo. As someone who was studying Medical Ninjutsu, she instantly realized just how horrifyingly bad his injuries were.
What kind of battle did he go through to end up like this?
This question remained unanswered for now—at least not from him. Generally speaking, there's one type of patient doctors always dislike dealing with—the kind whose injuries or illnesses weren't caused by external factors, but by their own damn fault.
Without hesitation, Tsunade transported Haseo back to Konoha using spatial teleportation, rushing him straight to the emergency department of Konoha Hospital afterward.
At the exact moment Haseo arrived at the hospital, Nagisa Nara—having left earlier than the others to deliver urgent intelligence back to Konoha and thus having missed the battle entirely—was still riding a horse back to the village.
Therefore, regarding what happened to Haseo during his surveillance mission on the Second Mizukage's group, the Leaf Village only knew of his initial pursuit. As for how he got injured or what kind of fight he endured, they knew absolutely nothing.
As for the actual witness, Chichio, he'd unfortunately been left behind in Shikkotsu Forest due to Tsunade's urgency. The other eyewitness, Katsuyu—her summoned slug companion—was too preoccupied actively treating Haseo for Tsunade to have time to hear an explanation.
Still, Tsunade had only just begun learning Medical Ninjutsu. Despite her immense talent—which hinted at possibly being the greatest medical genius ever—medical skills are precisely the sort of art that can never be mastered overnight.
Thus, when it came to actually treating Haseo, all she could really do was lend a hand.
"Compared to his injuries, I'm more curious how exactly someone manages to hurt himself like this."
"Mm. He reminds me of one of those steaks people order medium-rare but end up getting well-done inside—charcoal center, soft crust."
"Where did you eat? They've got this kind of grilled meat? Next time, I'll go check it out."
"Isn't this a chakra corrosion problem?"
"Huh, so it's Haseo. That explains things. He's always getting corroded."
"Will he survive?"
"We can try to save him, but first we need to figure out how he got hurt."
Inside Konoha Hospital, medical ninja began gathering around Haseo for an expert consultation. Among them was someone who recognized his identity — the very friend who initially removed fragments of ninja tools from his body.
The doctors sprang into action, moving fast but with clear coordination. After all, they were professionals. But their conversation gave Tsunade a strange vibe.
In reality though, the doctors' exchange was perfectly professional. Whether or not they happened to be chatting had nothing to do with treating injuries and saving lives.
Though anxious, Tsunade felt somewhat helpless at the scene, as if there was no place for her to intervene. That changed when she frowned after hearing what had caused Haseo's injuries — only then did Tsunade remember that perhaps she should have brought Katsuyu or Chichio along to get sufficient information.
Just as she wanted to correct her mistake, she suddenly recalled those research materials on kinjutsu... Could it possibly be...
So she took a deep breath and addressed the seasoned veterans before her, "I think I understand how he got hurt."
... ...
The intensity of rescuing and treating Haseo wasn't any less severe than his battlefield activities. Meanwhile, the Third Raikage in Kumo also noticed that things seemed to be going wrong.
Previously, Kumo's coordinated ambush against Haseo naturally had his tacit approval. Otherwise the jinchuriki wouldn't have taken action... although current jinchuriki weren't yet kept locked up inside villages like they would be later on, their movements still needed greater caution compared to ordinary ninja.
The Raikage had deployed such powerful forces in the form of jinchuriki precisely to ensure mission success. Yet never had he expected tailed beasts becoming the enemy's turning point — it was a textbook case — great on paper, but a disaster in practice.
Putting effort into removing a looming threat ahead of time wasn't unreasonable — especially considering intelligence reports stating this young ninja had one-shot killed Amegakure's leader. The Raikage didn't believe his decision contained errors.
...However after initiating operations, the Third Raikage received absolutely no updates about that elite team led by the jinchuriki, which became problematic. Logically speaking, the mission should have already succeeded by now.
Initially anxious, the Raikage began questioning whether he had been too trusting — was it really wise to simply believe what that spy said? Was there any possibility the spy had actually been turned by the enemy? Was this perhaps a false message from Konoha designed to counter-ambush Kumo's forces?
Could two jinchuriki really be taken down that easily?
After much deliberation without finding answers, eventually he decided to stop thinking about it.
"Move out, head for the Land of Frost."
"Right now, the Third Raikage was stationed at the Front Line in the Land of Grass, locked in conflict with Iwagakure. After waiting too long without receiving news about the jinchuriki, he decided to personally lead a team toward the Land of Frost.
When the Third Raikage's group finally arrived at the battleground, night had already fallen.
Beneath the moonlight, snow continued to fall, but it couldn't erase the marks of the fierce battle. On the vast battlefield, only the raging Eight-Tails Gyuki was left standing.
'Raikage-sama, we haven't detected anyone else on this battlefield except the Eight-Tails,' reported a scout ninja who had arrived ahead of the Raikage.
More accurately speaking, no trace of any living person could be found.
Earlier, they had thoroughly examined every remaining clue left on the battlefield, yet struggled to find the right way to report this situation to the Raikage.
'Where is everyone else? Not even a trace of Nikaido?'
'Yes, Raikage-sama, and...'
'And what? Speak quickly!' The Third Raikage was already barely holding back his anger, for such a scene inevitably triggered some terrible associations in his mind.
'Furthermore, according to signs from the battleground, a large number of our ninja fell victim to the Eight-Tails' attacks.'
The Third Raikage: '...'
He was past the point of fury.
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