After a full month, the forward lines along the Fire–Rain border were reinforced with a large number of newly promoted chunin, effectively easing the manpower shortage on the front.
—Within the country, the primary frontline camps facing the battlefield each housed at least a thousand ninja.
Excluding medical ninja stationed at medical camps and those temporarily retained due to village duties, everyone else was at least chunin-level.
At the same time, work at Konoha Hospital slowed down. After the frontline defeat, the battlefield entered a brief cooling-off period. Missions issued by the front became more cautious, and the number of wounded returning from the front steadily decreased.
August 2nd.
A special day.
—It was Tsunade's birthday.
At the Senju compound, Tsunade enjoyed a rare day off. In the morning, she went shopping and cooked with her younger brother. In the evening, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Baixing, Might Dai, and Yakushi Nono—
even Hiruzen Sarutobi, who made time using a shadow clone—
all arrived with birthday gifts representing their own intentions.
Inside a Japanese-style living room, three layers of exquisite birthday cake were now reduced to less than a quarter. Paper plates, plastic forks smeared with cream, and general chaos littered the table.
One more thing—
A custom high-end cake of this size, at this time, would cost no less than 100,000 ryō.
Baixing skipped dinner entirely and used the opportunity to eat several extra slices, only stopping when he was completely sick of it.
"Let me see what everyone gave me~" Tsunade said excitedly, opening the Third Hokage's gift.
Moments later, her expression stiffened into a dead-fish stare.
Inside was a thin New Year's envelope.
She opened it—10,000 ryō.
"The old man still treats me like a kid. Ten thousand ryō—can't even last me a few hands at the tables."
Nearby, a full Nawaki happily rubbed his bloated stomach.
"So full~ hic!"
Tsunade continued opening gifts.
—Nono gave her a bouquet and a vase, now placed by the shoe cabinet.
—Orochimaru gave her a piggy bank, nearly getting it smashed on the spot if Nawaki hadn't stopped her.
—Jiraiya gave her a self-written "inspiration piece," which Tsunade immediately tossed aside in disgust.
"And Dai gives me a doll? I'm not a little girl anymore. At least the old man gave money~"
She shook the box, and a teddy bear—bought by Dai for 3,000 ryō—flew out and was tossed at Nawaki.
Whoosh—bang!
The plush landed squarely on Nawaki's overstuffed stomach, nearly making him vomit the extremely expensive dinner.
"Ugh—"
He covered his mouth, carefully removed the doll, and placed it on the tatami, silently cursing his violent sister in his heart.
"Eh?!"
Suddenly, Tsunade let out a surprised cry.
From a long gift box, she pulled out a premium bottle of shōchū, about 600 ml.
"Baixing really gets my tastes!"
Aside from gambling, Tsunade's other hobby was drinking a little alcohol to ease the pressure of facing patients every day.
Judging by the brand, this was easily worth 100,000 ryō.
She hugged the bottle and rubbed her cheek against it.
"Hehehe~ I get to drink good booze on my birthday~~~"
Baixing, meanwhile, had been frequenting the medical department's library lately under the pretense of learning emergency treatment, using his relationship with Nono and Tsunade to secretly absorb comprehensive medical knowledge.
During breaks, he even memorized the Palm Sage Technique scroll provided for Nono's study while chatting with her. He had basically memorized it already—only practical application was lacking.
So—
An A-rank medical ninjutsu for 100,000 ryō?
Worth it.
The village didn't strictly prohibit learning medical ninjutsu, and a bottle of shōchū was cheap compared to covert access to that level of knowledge.
Tsunade and Nawaki usually celebrated their birthdays together, but Nawaki's gift was given on the 8th as usual. This time, Baixing only gave him tips on Earth Release stealth movement.
—Baixing's Earth Release, even just the D-rank Earth Dragon Concealment, was nearly on par with the C-rank Earth Submarine Voyage.
Earth Submarine Voyage allowed faster, quieter underground movement.
Earth Dragon Concealment caused faint sounds and required distractions.
In chakra cost, difficulty, duration, and combat practicality, Earth Submarine Voyage was clearly superior.
At the lookout platform above the Hokage Monument behind the Hokage Tower—
Orochimaru informed Nawaki that he would soon undertake a C-rank mission to retrieve frontline intelligence at the Fire–Rain border.
And so, Nawaki began waving flags at full power, perfectly syncing with Tsunade.
"Big sis.
I've decided.
I want to become Hokage!
I want to grow stronger—strong enough to change this shinobi world.
No more terrible wars.
No more people dying on the battlefield!
Then—
everyone in the village, everyone in the world…
will live happily, right?!"
"You'll definitely do it, Nawaki."
"So moving… sob sob…"
"..."
Baixing glanced sideways at Might Dai, who was inexplicably emotional, then looked back—
Even Orochimaru was smiling with quiet satisfaction.
Great. Flags fully raised. Next up—Danzo?
Meanwhile, in Root headquarters—
Danzo was indeed preparing to act.
But his target wasn't Nawaki.
It was Uchiha Keishin, the jōnin who had gained fame on the battlefield—
Enemy codename: Blood-Eyed Flame Demon.
"Too arrogant," Danzo muttered.
"Just a mere Uchiha jōnin, yet lucky enough to awaken the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan. Even Kagami never—"
He stopped.
A flicker of shame and remembrance crossed his shadowed figure, quickly erased.
—From the moment he took Uchiha Kagami's eye when Kagami lay gravely wounded during the First War, Danzo had discarded mercy.
His gaze hardened.
"For Konoha,
such instability cannot be allowed.
Especially not a trusted subordinate of that old bastard Setsuna."
Otherwise—
The Uchiha would push Keishin higher and higher.
Fourth Hokage, even.
"Someone!"
Whoosh—
A Root operative appeared, kneeling on one knee, cow-faced mask gleaming coldly.
"Danzo-sama."
"How are the three from the Uzumaki group?"
"They are undergoing 'Vulture's' training as scheduled. Their talent is quite good; soon they should—"
"Not enough.
Far from enough."
Danzo sighed deeply, cutting him off. The operative lowered his head, sweat forming.
"Recently—
any special individuals heading to the battlefield?"
With Keishin wielding eyes once possessed only by Madara—
and Madara having dominated the ninja world save Hashirama—
Danzo wasn't foolish.
He needed another approach.
To destroy Keishin's path of promotion.
The Root intelligence captain thought carefully.
"…Orochimaru.
Orochimaru's Team One departs at noon today for the Fire–Rain border to carry out—"
He recited every detail: mission type, content, participants.
—A C-rank battlefield routine mission.
Critical intelligence was never sent by summons unless death was imminent.
"There's that trash Nawaki too?" Danzo scoffed.
To Danzo, anyone without talent was equally worthless.
Even Might Dai, who had submitted the Eight Gates technique, was no exception.
—The physical requirements of Eight Gates were absurdly high.
Opening one or two gates was easy, but no sane ninja would use it.
Chakra enhancement alone was faster, safer, and had no side effects.
As for the Third Gate?
Most couldn't reach it. Even Kakashi later only managed the First.
That was why taijutsu specialists were often called trash.
Ignoring the insult, the Root ninja nodded. "Yes, Danzo-sama."
"What a pity.
If only that trash were already chunin."
"Continue collecting intelligence on the Rain front—especially Uchiha Keishin."
"Yes!"
Noon. Team One officially set out.
Outside the village, four figures moved swiftly through forest paths and rocky terrain.
Orochimaru in front.
Nawaki behind him.
Baixing third.
Dai last.
It was Orochimaru's first time leading this team, and he finally understood why Dai was disliked by other squads.
—Endurance purely from physical stamina.
After crossing a forest, Orochimaru landed and halted.
Soon after, Nawaki caught up, crouching and scanning the surroundings.
"Sensei, what's wrong?"
"Too slow," Orochimaru said calmly.
"At this rate, it'll take over three days to reach the border."
Normally, with Orochimaru and Nawaki, two days was enough.
Baixing at full power—one day.
But Dai's physique made rations useless.
Nawaki fell silent. After Uzushio missions, he understood Dai's weakness. Even back then, Shikaku's group had looked at Dai oddly.
"Well… Dai's doing his best."
"I know."
"But objectively, his talent isn't suited for long-distance missions."
Orochimaru's words weighed heavily.
"Perhaps staying in the village doing D-rank missions…
isn't a bad choice."
As the air grew heavy, Baixing emerged from the forest, landing beside Nawaki.
He already knew what was happening but asked anyway.
"Did something happen?"
Nawaki stood and scratched his head. "Same problem."
"I see," Baixing said evenly.
"In missions, even a youthful beast can be unreliable and inefficient."
Translation:
Dragging the team down.
On the battlefield, where intelligence expired in seconds, this was fatal.
A minute later, Dai finally arrived, leaning against a tree and gasping.
"So—so—so fast…"
Orochimaru had deliberately slowed down to test Dai's limits without opening the Gates.
—And the gap was still enormous.
Seeing Baixing and Nawaki stopped, Dai allowed himself a brief rest.
Unseen by him, Orochimaru flashed a subtle hand sign.
"Scatter."
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The three vanished using chakra-enhanced D-rank Body Flicker, disappearing instantly.
Standard genin and new chunin could only use it briefly; jōnin could sustain it.
D-rank Body Flicker and D-rank Genjutsu: Binding were academy basics.
Even Sasuke used it against Zabuza in canon.
"Huh?! Wait—don't leave me!!"
Too exhausted to focus, Dai thought they'd simply continued forward and rushed out of the forest.
It was around 4 p.m.
The sun still blazed overhead.
As his vision cleared—
A steep cliff.
Below, a clear stream.
Dai slowed.
Because in the forest near the river below—
A Konoha squad stood there.
"Ah—
Isn't that Ryūun? Long time no—"
Whoosh—thunk!
A kunai flew past his hair, slicing off strands and embedding itself in a tree behind him.
The leader wasn't Yūhi Kurenai—she was still recovering.
It was an unfamiliar jōnin.
He had thrown the kunai.
"Password."
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