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The next day, Hiruko left the Village with Aburame Ryoma, who had been subjected to a Sealing Technique. Everything that happened tonight would no longer concern Sawara Kiri.
Waking up the next morning, Kaguya Ren, who was ruthless, once again became the sunny and cheerful Sawara Kiri.
As for what Hiruko would do next, Sawara Kiri didn't actually care that much. All he needed to do was to give him a slight reminder through some pre-arranged small tricks when Hiruko tried to undo the seal.
Sawara Kiri's main goal was still to divert Danzo's attention away from him and those around him.
Soon, the day of departure arrived.
"Well, I'll leave Yuki to you then."
"Lady Tsunade."
Sawara Kiri stood in front of the Senju Residence's main gate, politely thanking Tsunade, who was wearing slippers and a bathrobe inside the door.
Yuki stood inside the door, looking at him with pitiful, deer-like eyes.
"Noisy!"
Tsunade let out a big yawn, clearly not a morning person.
She turned her head and glared at the brat in front of her: "You're making a fuss over nothing, always causing me trouble—I never agreed to let you use my house as a daycare, did I?"
"What can be done about it?"
Sawara Kiri sighed dramatically, looking quite troubled, and said, "In the Village, the only important person I can trust is Lady Tsunade, you know."
"So, consider this my one and only request!"
"Please!"
He clasped his hands together, his tone incredibly sincere.
"Hmph."
"Childish tricks to coax little girls."
Although she said that, Tsunade had already unconsciously crossed her arms, slightly turning her head, looking like, 'This princess is only agreeing out of consideration for you.'
However, under his direct gaze, her emotions inexplicably became annoyed, and she said discontentedly:
"I'm telling you, the time limit for this little one to stay at my house is only until the war ends!"
"Even if you die in the Land of Wind, I'll kick her out when the time comes!"
Seeing this, Sawara Kiri, instead, smiled:
"Lady Tsunade, I trust you!"
"You brat—!"
Her fist hardened, Tsunade's fist immediately hardened!
"Ah, time's up, I need to go gather!" Sawara Kiri found an excuse and quickly ran out the door.
Before leaving, he leaned against the doorframe and instructed his sister, "Oh, Yuki! Remember to listen to Lady Tsunade… but if her demands are too excessive, you don't have to pay attention to her."
"Eh?" Yuki was stunned by his words, turned to look at Tsunade, "I understand."
"Thud!"
One of Tsunade's slippers immediately flew off, hitting the doorframe.
However, Sawara Kiri had already flown away like the wind.
Leaving her with one bare foot on the stone pavement.
"That guy!"
Tsunade gritted her teeth, glaring outside the door.
Just as she was speaking, she saw the little girl next to her looking at her with a very subtle gaze.
"What are you looking at? Go make breakfast!"
Should it be said that she was indeed Tsunade? When it came to ordering children around, she was completely on a level of inhumanity.
However, after much hesitation, Yuki still mustered up her courage and whispered tactfully:
"Lady Tsunade."
"Actually… Kiri prefers younger girls!"
"Huh?"
Tsunade was momentarily stunned, looking at her in confusion.
The next second, she suddenly realized, her eye twitching slightly.
Even Tsunade herself couldn't explain how this little one, with just a single sentence, managed to hit both her 'older age' and 'liking younger boys' sore spots at the same time.
This big sister, with her ○-shaped breasts, lowered her head and looked at Sawara Yuki with an extremely 'kind' gaze, smiling gently:
"Your name is Yuki, right?"
"That brat said your dream is to learn my Medical Ninjutsu?"
Sawara Yuki shook her head, confused:
"No, it's not."
"That's alright, now that's your dream!"
Tsunade waved her hand domineeringly, then her expression suddenly turned grim: "Since you like your brother so much, then today's medical lesson will start with orthopedics!"
"Do you know how many types of bone fractures there are?"
"Eh?"
Sawara Kiri, carrying his backpack towards the battlefield, had no idea what kind of hell his dear sister would experience under Tsunade's kind guidance.
However, it was certainly much better than other peers her age going to the brutal battlefield.
Just as he was experiencing now.
"Here, your wire coil fell."
"Th-thank you!"
Sawara Kiri handed the wire coil that had fallen to the ground to the young boy in front of him. The child looked about twelve or thirteen years old, roughly the same age as Yuki, but he was already a Genin accompanying them to the battlefield.
He was clearly on the battlefield for the first time. When he took the wire coil, his face was visibly pale, and his eyes were red.
It wasn't until he was called by a teammate that he immediately hurried to catch up, disappearing into the crowd.
The large-scale movement of Ninja troops is different from that of ordinary people.
With their extraordinary physical abilities, they constantly stepped on thick tree branches, dispersed in squad units, and advanced towards the battlefield in a very loose formation.
Reconnaissance squads were responsible for sensing and vigilance in the front, middle, and rear sections of the main force.
Dozens or hundreds of Ninja moving together were like locusts flying through a giant forest, forming a dark, oppressive mist.
The Hatake Squad was among this large force, but they were not its Commander.
On the contrary, they even concealed their names and covered their faces to avoid being recognized by their comrades.
Even though most of the march route was within the Land of Fire's own territory, the number of Sunagakure harassment squads along the entire route was countless, and occasionally, large Sunagakure units that had infiltrated the Land of Fire would launch surprise attacks.
The Hatake Squad was the main counter-attacking force to deal with such surprise attacks.
Namikaze Minato looked at Sawara Kiri, who had picked up the Ninja tool for the young Genin, and a sunny smile appeared on his face:
"Kiri-kun, you are indeed a very gentle person."
"I think so too."
Uchiha Megumi moved a few steps closer to them, inexplicably glancing at Namikaze Minato with some vigilance, and quickly added, "Always have been!"
"I've only seen him before."
Sawara Kiri waved his hand indifferently.
However, when he turned to look at the dark, oppressive figures around him, a hint of sorrow couldn't help but appear between his brows.
"This batch, there must be at least two hundred people, right?"
"If the other large units are also this many, what scale has the war on the Land of Wind battlefield reached?"
It should be known that all the Ninja in Konoha, including both Ninja clans and civilians, totaled only about twenty to thirty thousand, and this was for the Land of Fire, which maintained combat readiness on multiple fronts simultaneously.
"A war between nations is like this."
Hatake Sakumo, walking at the very front, slowed his pace slightly and spoke earnestly.
At such a time, even he was not in the mood for jokes.
"It had to be kept secret in the Village before, but now it's more or less okay to say."
"Sunagakure has basically committed over ninety percent of its military strength to our front line. They've reached some kind of agreement with the Earth Country and are simply throwing caution to the wind."
"The Third Kazekage is simply a lunatic who's gambled everything away."
"So…" Hatake Sakumo said with a grim face, looking at the crowd around him, calmly, "What we're going to fight next is a genuine war of annihilation."
Upon hearing this, even though the three people present were all Jonin with exceptional experience and strength, a chill couldn't help but rise in their hearts.
Just as they were silently imagining how many of the people around them would survive after this war ended.
An Inuzuka Squad from the side suddenly shouted:
"Disperse!"
Almost at the same moment they issued the warning.
Several dark figures suddenly shot out from the distant river. The surging Chakra, almost at the moment of their appearance, suddenly poured out in the form of Ninjutsu towards the unsuspecting front formation.
With a roar, several people simultaneously unleashed a giant fire dragon formed by a mixture of Wind Release and Fire Release, which in a brief instant engulfed the squad where that boy had been.
Flames spread across the land, red light filled the sky.
That was the color of fire, the color of blood, and also the color of the battlefield.
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