"Who asked you about that?" Kushina said, her tone tinged with displeasure.
"I'm asking how your first real battle felt."
Honestly—did her disciple really lack this much mutual understanding?
Hagoromo thought for a moment before answering.
"I'd say I'm fairly satisfied with my performance. My sensory abilities gave me an advantage at night. From start to finish, the fight lasted less than two minutes. In fact, I only attacked each of the four enemies once."
He continued calmly,
"It was a lightning-strike tactic. Judging by the results—three dead, one injured—it was effective. The Sand jōnin whose arm I severed probably won't be able to leave the Land of Fire safely either."
"Objectively speaking, I held all the favorable conditions. If the enemy had a sensory-type ninja, I definitely wouldn't have won so easily. And in a direct confrontation, the gap between myself and a jōnin is still obvious—both in combat experience and raw strength."
Through this battle, Hagoromo had also clearly identified his biggest weakness.
Insufficient chakra reserves.
The high-powered jutsus he favored all required massive amounts of chakra, and it was obvious that at his current age, he simply hadn't grown to that level yet.
"I'm extremely satisfied with you, Hagoromo," Kushina said seriously.
"You need to understand—shinobi aren't samurai. There are no 'what ifs' on the battlefield. I knew you were outstanding before, but now you've proven it."
What Kushina had actually wanted to ask wasn't any of that.
She had been worried about his mental state—his first real battle, his first time killing. Yet Hagoromo had conducted a perfectly rational post-battle analysis without the slightest hesitation.
That alone told her everything.
His psychological state was rock-solid.
Hagoromo nodded.
He understood completely.
Shinobi weren't samurai, much less knights. They didn't pursue honorable duels. What mattered was killing with a single decisive blow.
It didn't matter whether the method was a blade, poison, or a trap.
If you could kill a chūnin, you possessed chūnin-level capability.
If you could kill a jōnin, you had jōnin-level lethality.
The method was irrelevant. The result was everything.
If Hagoromo had known that Kushina was worried about post-kill psychological trauma, he would have told her there was no need.
Those who aspired to become shinobi were taught from almost the moment they were born:
How to kill.
How to kill accurately.
How to kill efficiently—while preserving themselves.
For someone like Hagoromo—a perfect academic prodigy—battlefield scenarios had already been rehearsed countless times in his mind.
Kushina's concern was unnecessary.
"Still," Hagoromo added with a bitter smile,
"I used up a huge portion of my chakra."
He'd gone all-out.
Especially Chidori Sharp Spear—forcing chakra to extend five meters outside the body was absurdly inefficient. Even with his precise chakra control, the consumption was brutal.
"Hahaha!" Kushina burst out laughing.
"That's what you get for only having eyes for A-rank and S-rank jutsus. Now you finally realize your chakra reserves are lacking."
As she laughed, she slapped his shoulder hard.
That only made Hagoromo more depressed.
Of course you Uzumaki and Senju types wouldn't understand—every one of you was a chakra monster. You'd never know the frustration of having too little chakra.
Meanwhile, the ANBU were still cleaning up the battlefield.
First, they needed to extract any useful intelligence from the Sand shinobi corpses.
Second, they had to erase all traces of the fight.
By now, everyone in the camp was awake.
After all, a battle had just occurred very close by—and shinobi didn't lack basic vigilance.
Hagoromo's black cloak was splattered with blood, but fortunately, the dark color made it hard to notice.
After another sweep confirmed there were no remaining enemies, the camp finally settled back down.
However, the number of ANBU on watch was increased—from one squad to two.
Hagoromo returned to Kushina's tent, spread out his bedding, and lay down to rest and recover his chakra.
That intense fight had left him exhausted.
About ten minutes later, he fell asleep.
When he woke again, it was already six in the morning.
Hagoromo picked up the Leaf forehead protector beside his pillow and tied it around his head.
Today, they would be entering Konoha's main command headquarters on the Sand front. Without a forehead protector, there was a very real chance he'd be mistaken for an enemy and attacked.
Looking around, he realized Kushina was already gone.
He'd slept in.
Sure enough, once outside the tent, he saw everyone gathered by a nearby stream, washing up and preparing.
He quickly joined them.
After that came breakfast.
Everyone ate with furrowed brows.
To be honest, Konoha's field rations were terrible. Hagoromo seriously considered stuffing a few soldier pills into his mouth instead of chewing on food that felt as hard as stone.
Once the meal was finished, the ANBU carefully erased all traces of the camp, restoring the area to how it had looked before they arrived.
Only then did the group of nearly forty set out once more.
This was to prevent enemies from tracking them by their traces. Medical-nin were far weaker in combat, and the ANBU had no intention of fighting while protecting them at the same time.
For escort purposes, Konoha's forces adopted a swastika formation:
One ANBU squad advanced at the front
Two squads guarded the flanks
Kushina, Hagoromo, and the final ANBU squad brought up the rear
The twenty medical-nin were protected in the center
To accommodate the medical-nin, they moved at roughly thirty kilometers per hour, heading straight for Konoha's frontline command post.
The two hundred kilometer journey would require nearly seven hours of nonstop movement.
It wasn't particularly fast—but for some members of the team, it was still a serious test of endurance.
Those with weaker stamina had no choice but to grit their teeth and keep going.
This was no longer the heartland of the Land of Fire. It wasn't a place for leisurely travel.
The events of the previous night had made one thing painfully clear:
This was a border war zone, where combat could erupt at any moment.
The faster they passed through this stretch and reached Konoha's command headquarters, the safer they would be.
Fortunately, they encountered no further enemies along the way.
By early afternoon, they finally began to approach Konoha's frontline command headquarters.
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