At the border of the Land of Earth, Taiichi stared at the massive stone sphere in the distance. He had zero intention of getting any closer.
He waited. Nothing stirred. Taiichi frowned. Was that really it?
He created a shadow clone and sent it forward despite the clone's resentful glare.
The second the clone got near the sphere, a huge black orb exploded outward and swallowed it whole. Then it violently contracted, erasing everything and leaving behind a perfectly spherical crater.
Four Symbols Seal. Taiichi had known that old snake wouldn't die so easily. He'd kept one last card.
He sent another clone to double-check. Once it confirmed the area was clean, Taiichi approached himself.
A circular hole stood out starkly on the giant rock hemisphere. Taiichi looked at the scene and almost laughed. No need to fake anything—this already looked exactly like the aftermath of an Iwa ambush.
Shame the seal had devoured everything. Taiichi would've loved to see what he could have scavenged off Danzo's corpse.
Still, his mood was excellent. The biggest threat he'd been carrying in his heart was finally gone. For the first time in a long while, Taiichi felt truly light.
Danzo's death would change a lot in Konoha's future. Orochimaru's defection, the Uchiha massacre—Danzo's shadow had touched almost every major disaster heading the village's way.
From today forward, everything was going to slide onto a completely different track.
Taiichi sheathed his short blade. Instead of jumping straight back with Flying Thunder God, he Body Flickered toward the Land of Earth to put distance between himself and the body.
He wasn't underestimating Konoha's sensors. Danzo's death was going to cause a massive stir. The people sent to investigate would be the best the village had. One mistake and they'd find something.
He ran for over an hour, using Earth Clones to muddy his trail and stopping at a small town to wash up. Only after blending into a crowd did he finally use Flying Thunder God to return to the Leaf camp.
Back at camp, Taiichi's shadow clones were still running around the medical tents. With so many people moving, nobody noticed when the real Taiichi slipped in and one clone vanished.
Taiichi eased right back into treating the wounded. There were simply too many.
Preliminary count: out of the original thousand-plus shinobi, nearly five hundred were dead. Over two hundred were critically injured. Almost everyone else had some kind of wound.
The entire western camp was basically finished. Looking at the numbers, Danzo really had deserved to die.
Right now Taiichi's only goal was stabilizing the worst cases. The camp needed to move soon. If they waited too long, Iwa would regroup and they'd be trapped.
Speak of the devil. Just as Taiichi was about to keep working, Mimura Yagami showed up at the medical area.
He went straight to one of Taiichi's clones and said he needed the real one.
The clone pointed him over without looking up.
Mimura walked right up behind Taiichi while he was still healing someone and spoke without waiting.
"Taiichi, how bad is it here? We need to pull out right now. If we don't leave soon we're finished."
Taiichi's healing light flared brighter for a few seconds. A minute later he pulled his hands back and turned around.
"Already? We still have half the critical cases untreated. Moving them now means most won't make it."
The words were calm, but the weight hit hard. Mimura looked at all the comrades lying on stretchers and felt his chest tighten.
But there really was no choice. The longer they stayed, the higher the chance Iwa would catch them.
"Taiichi, is there really nothing else we can do?"
Taiichi looked at everyone watching him with desperate hope and sighed. He checked his condition and the chakra left in the Yin Seal. After a quick mental calculation he figured—maybe it would be enough.
"I'll try."
He moved to an open space, bit his finger, and formed the seals.
Boar—Dog—Bird—Monkey—Ram. Summoning Technique.
White smoke billowed and a slug over five meters tall appeared.
"Taiichi-sama, it's been a while. You've never summoned this much of me before."
Katsuyu's gentle voice carried across the area.
Everyone looked up at the massive creature. Hope flickered back into their eyes.
"Katsuyu, split. I need to treat all the critical cases here."
Taiichi's words stunned the entire medical area, including Katsuyu herself.
"Taiichi-sama, that will put enormous strain on you. Your chakra might not be enough!"
Taiichi didn't argue. He silently released the Yin Seal. Massive chakra flooded his system. Katsuyu's antennae extended and studied him carefully for a long moment. Then, without another word, she began splitting.
Small half-meter slugs peeled off the larger one and crawled toward the critically wounded who couldn't move.
Once the last one was in position, the remaining one-meter slug climbed onto Taiichi's back.
Taiichi sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and started converting his chakra into Yang nature. He fed it into the slug on his back, which then spread it out to every wounded person.
Treating so many at once, Taiichi felt the chakra in his seal space dropping like water from a broken dam. The level fell visibly fast.
Sweat poured down his forehead. It wasn't just chakra loss—it was a warning that his energy was running out too.
Finally, after half an hour, the Yin Seal was empty and Taiichi had burned through half his own chakra. The treatment was finished.
He stood on shaky legs. A hand from behind steadied him. He turned and saw Nonou.
Taiichi shook his head to show he was fine, then looked at Mimura.
"It's done. Their wounds are stabilized. We can move now."
Mimura stared at him for a long second, then gave a deep, heavy bow before turning to organize the retreat.
Taiichi finally let out a long breath. He leaned against Nonou, soaking in the warmth he hadn't felt in what felt like forever. Neither of them spoke for a while.
"That was way too close," Nonou said quietly. "If you hadn't shown up when you did, I don't know how many of us would've made it back alive."
She wasn't exaggerating. Without Taiichi stopping Han, maybe only two or three out of every ten Leaf shinobi on the western front would have survived.
"All because of Danzo's incompetence. A commander who runs first and drags Root with him… dying a hundred times still wouldn't be enough."
Taiichi's voice was cold with hatred. He would never tell anyone he'd killed Danzo. Not even Nonou. That secret stayed buried.
Nonou looked surprised. She'd only just heard what Danzo had done. If he'd held out just a little longer until Taiichi arrived, even defeat wouldn't have been so bad.
Victory and defeat were normal in war. But abandoning your comrades like that? That was a serious crime.
While Nonou was thinking about what would happen to Danzo now, the camp finally finished getting ready. Scouts scouted, guards guarded. Under organized command the group began retreating toward the Land of Grass.
"Mimura Commander, have you reported the situation to the village yet?"
The sudden question made Mimura freeze. His face fell fast.
Right. In all the chaos, nobody had sent a report. The village needed to know so they could send help. Otherwise how were these battered survivors supposed to hold off Iwa's next attack?
"Write up a report scroll right now. I'll deliver it with Flying Thunder God."
"Yes—yes. Taiichi, wait here. I'll go write it immediately."
Mimura rushed off without looking back. Taiichi could only shake his head.
This should have been Danzo and his staff's job. But they were gone. In the panic, everyone had forgotten this critical step.
Good thing Taiichi was here. With Flying Thunder God it wouldn't take long. If they reached the Land of Grass and the village still hadn't responded, they might have to temporarily abandon their interests there.
Less than half an hour later the urgent report was finished. To make it more believable, Mimura had every jonin in the group sign it. He wanted the higher-ups to take it seriously without hesitation.
Taiichi quickly read through the scroll and signed his own name without pause.
Mimura felt a rush of gratitude. The report described something embarrassing. By signing, Taiichi was taking responsibility for it. As someone who had only come to rescue them, he didn't have to.
"Taiichi, you—"
"No need, Commander Mimura. I'm just doing my part."
Taiichi put the scroll away and waved to everyone.
"I'll head out first. I'll come back as soon as there's news from the village."
He disappeared.
It was around 3 a.m. When Taiichi appeared in his house in Konoha the entire village was dark and quiet.
He didn't waste time. He spread his golden wings and flew straight toward the Hokage Tower. From far away he saw the building was completely dark.
Looks like things had been going well enough on the fronts that the Hokage didn't need to sleep in his office anymore.
Taiichi changed direction and flew toward the Sarutobi compound. He knew where Hiruzen lived. Since the office was empty, he'd go straight to the source.
This was an emergency war report. It couldn't wait even a second. It had to reach the Hokage immediately—even if the man was in the middle of something personal.
Taiichi dropped from the sky and landed in the courtyard outside Hiruzen's bedroom.
Four masked ANBU appeared instantly, kunai drawn, surrounding him in a cross formation.
"Who are you? How dare you trespass on the Hokage's residence?"
The lead cat-masked ANBU shouted. It was both a warning and a signal to wake Hiruzen inside.
If Taiichi had moved aggressively after landing they would have attacked already.
"Matsushita Taiichi. Urgent military report for the Hokage regarding the western front."
Taiichi shouted back, easing their hostility while explaining his purpose.
"It's Taiichi. Wait a moment, I'll be right out."
Hiruzen's voice came from inside. Calm and steady, no trace of anger at being woken up. The voice of a real Hokage.
Less than a minute later the door opened. Hiruzen stepped out in a robe.
He waved the four ANBU back and looked at Taiichi.
"What happened on the western front? Why are you the one delivering the report?"
Taiichi didn't waste words. He pulled the scroll from his pouch and handed it over.
Hiruzen took it, opened it, and his heart skipped when he saw it wasn't written by Danzo. After speed-reading the contents his expression darkened.
That damn Danzo. How could he do something like this?
"Taiichi, is everything in the scroll true?"
Taiichi nodded. "I was there for all of it. It's true."
"Immediately summon the two elders to the Hokage Tower for a meeting."
Hiruzen gave the order to the ANBU, then turned back to Taiichi.
"Taiichi, you come too. You'll explain everything in detail once we're there."
"Yes, sir."
Taiichi accepted the order. Seeing Hiruzen had nothing else to say, he turned and leapt over the wall.
Less than half an hour later the previously dark Hokage Tower was brightly lit.
Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen, Koharu, and Homura were already seated.
Taiichi was explaining everything he knew—from receiving Nonou's distress call, to stopping the Iwa attack on the medical camp, to reinforcing the main western forces and driving back Han the Five-Tails jinchuriki, to discovering that Danzo had already fled with Root.
He recounted it all plainly, without adding any personal opinions.
Mimura's report plus Taiichi's account left the office in dead silence. Everyone was processing the sudden bad news.
But they all understood one thing: Danzo was finished. Forget keeping his elder seat. If he even made it back, he'd be held fully accountable. What happened next depended entirely on what Hiruzen decided.
The three elders were old foxes. From Taiichi's story they could already guess Danzo's thinking. He had believed the camp was lost and wanted to preserve his own strength first.
But reality was ironic. Taiichi's arrival had saved the camp—only to push Danzo into the abyss.
"Hiruzen, the priority right now is sending support to the western front. Everything else can wait until Danzo returns."
Koharu spoke up, smoothing things over and reminding everyone what was most urgent.
Taiichi watched quietly from the side. He clearly saw Hiruzen's face relax for a split second after Koharu spoke.
Hiruzen had grown old. He wasn't the same fierce shinobi he used to be.