Chiya looked at the familiar place before him and let out a breath of relief.
He had finally returned to the front lines of the Konoha camp.
However, the scene inside the camp made his steps slow for a moment.
The once disorganized camp was now orderly. Three-colored tents were arranged neatly by injury level. Medical ninja wearing green armbands moved between them, and every face carried calm focus.
These medical ninja, judging only from their condition, had changed considerably compared to when they first arrived.
As expected, only war could be the "shortcut" for a person to grow quickly.
A young medical ninja finished his report and turned around. He caught sight of Chiya and his eyes lit up.
"Chiya-sama! You're back!"
Chiya nodded in acknowledgment.
"Where is Sakumo-sama?"
"Sakumo-sama is in the command tent."
Chiya nodded and moved quickly toward the command tent.
He lifted the tent flap. Hatake Sakumo was at the sand table, discussing tactics with several jonin.
His silver-white short hair was touched with morning dew, and faint dark circles sat under his eyes. He was clearly exhausted.
When he saw Chiya arrive, surprise flashed across his eyes.
He had not expected Chiya to return this quickly.
"Did the mission go smoothly?"
"Yes, smoothly."
"Good. By the way, what is the situation on the Kumogakure side?"
"They have their own problems to deal with. They will not trouble Konoha in the short term."
Chiya walked closer to the sand table and looked toward the edge of it.
"However, before I came here, I spotted Iwa-nin. They have most likely already infiltrated the border."
Sakumo lightly tapped a spot on the sand table with one finger.
"As expected. I have already reported this to the Hokage. The Hokage's intention is to have the Root operatives make contact."
"Iwagakure is not something we need to handle."
After Sakumo finished speaking, a faint smile passed through his eyes.
"You just completed a mission. Go back and rest properly first."
Chiya glanced at him with a small look of surprise.
He nodded, bowed, and stepped out.
He passed through several tents.
He arrived at the medical area.
What met his eyes was the white tent at the center. Even from the outside, it was clearly twice the size of the surrounding ones.
Seven or eight smaller tents were set up around it in a surrounding arrangement.
The moment he lifted the tent flap, a heavy smell of medicinal herbs hit him.
More than ten injured soldiers lay quietly on temporary beds. Five or six medical ninja were performing healing jutsu, and the pale green glow of chakra filled the tent in a continuous sheet.
"Next."
Tsunade wrote in a medical record without lifting her head. Her hair bun was slightly loose, and a strand of golden hair hung beside her cheek.
Chiya deliberately made his footsteps heavier as he walked to the treatment table.
Tsunade frowned and raised her head. When she saw it was Chiya, her eyes went wide at once.
Her pen dropped onto the desk with a clatter.
"You..."
She shot to her feet. The chair scraped across the ground with a harsh sound.
In the blink of an eye she was right in front of him.
She reached out and ran her hands over him at once.
"Are you hurt? The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Fukai..."
"Completely unharmed."
Chiya took hold of her hands, which were trembling slightly as they moved across him, and then pulled Tsunade into his arms.
Tsunade struggled for a moment and then buried her face against his shoulder, taking in the familiar scent.
Several restrained laughs sounded through the tent. The medical ninja exchanged a look and turned their eyes away with quiet understanding.
"You idiot... people are watching."
Tsunade muttered against his shoulder. When she pushed Chiya away, the tips of her ears were red.
"Let them watch! Who cares about them! Let's keep going!"
She heard those words and, unusually, did not argue back.
The two held each other for a brief moment before separating.
"Come with me."
The rear of the tent was stacked with medicinal herbs and scrolls. Tsunade took a sealed water flask from the cabinet and poured a cup of water.
"That Chiyo of Sunagakure is nothing special..."
As she spoke, she suddenly laughed. The corners of her eyes lifted with a proud arc.
"Do you know how fast I broke through her poison?"
Her face was bright with excitement.
"From the first poisoned ninja being brought in to me finishing the antidote, it only took half a day."
Her eyes glittered in the morning light.
Seeing her with that proud look, a smile came onto Chiya's face as well.
"Tsunade-sama, it seems that beyond the title of one of the Three Legendary Ninja, your medical skills are going to become famous across the ninja world too!"
"What Three Legendary Ninja. That is a title for losers. What is there to be proud of!"
Tsunade gave a cold snort.
She had no interest in the title of one of the Three Legendary Ninja.
"That fight against the Amegakure shinobi last time made me much more clearly aware of many shortcomings, especially regarding medical ninja."
"Right now, the moment anyone says 'medical ninja,' people get the impression of someone who can only heal, someone who lacks strength and ability in combat."
"Medical ninja have the ability to recover and precise chakra control."
"Using those two things, I want to develop a new jutsu."
"A jutsu that can bring medical ninja to the front line, one that makes them unafraid of battle!"
Hearing Tsunade raise this idea, Chiya fell into a slight daze.
'Was this the original reason Tsunade began developing medical jutsu?'
'It seems that the Amegakure shinobi, that figure called a demigod, had a strong effect in pushing Tsunade forward.'
Chiya then thought of the other two.
Orochimaru had been active on the battlefield before, but after being defeated by that Amegakure shinobi, he seemed to have already begun to change.
His figure was almost nowhere to be seen on the front lines anymore.
Thinking back to the matter of Orochimaru and Danzo...
'Orochimaru has most likely made some kind of deal with Danzo and is temporarily stationed within Root.'
'Once inside Root, what else would he do there but conduct experiments?'
As for Jiraiya, he had already been assigned to the battlefield against Amegakure, where the situation was becoming increasingly clear.
'That was probably a battlefield Jiraiya requested for himself.'
'After all, on the Amegakure battlefield, he could look after those three small ones at the same time.'
"Developing a jutsu is not so simple. Take it slowly."
Looking at the serious expression on Tsunade's face, Chiya patted her soft shoulder.
"Yes, I think so too. I will start developing it once the war is over."
Sudden urgent footsteps came from outside the tent.
"Tsunade-sama! New critically injured patients!"
Tsunade straightened up at once.
She grabbed her medical pack and walked out. She paused for a moment at the tent entrance.
"Come to my tent tonight."
Her voice was so quiet it was barely audible.
Sunagakure front lines.
Inside the dim camp, a group of senior figures sat around a long table. The atmosphere was so heavy it was almost suffocating.
Chiyo and the other Sunagakure senior figures sat at the head of the table.
She tapped her fingertips lightly against the table surface. No emotion could be read from her stern face.
"The latest battle report: Hatake Sakumo led his unit and killed one hundred of our Suna-nin combat forces. The poison jutsu deployed earlier has been confirmed to have been fully broken by Tsunade. The losses to the puppet corps have also now exceeded projections."
When they heard this battle report, the room erupted at once.
"What?! Chiyo-sama's poison was broken that quickly?! That is a deadly toxin that even the Amegakure demigod was wary of!"
"Tsunade... worthy of being a descendant of the Senju clan. She is truly difficult to deal with. Is there really no way for us to target Tsunade?!"
"..."
The meeting room fell into a brief uproar.
The Sunagakure advisor let out a sigh and then dropped another heavy piece of news.
"The most troublesome thing is that the daimyo has already sent down an order, demanding that we reach a ceasefire as soon as possible."
"The daimyo?"
The Sunagakure advisor nodded.
"The war has gone on too long. The economy of the Land of Wind can no longer bear it. The daimyo is unwilling to commit any more resources."
Hearing this explanation, one elite jonin could not hold back and spoke up.
"But are we just going to admit defeat like this?! Konoha's morale is high right now. If we retreat, they will certainly take advantage and strike back!"
Chiyo, once called the goddess of Sunagakure and adored by countless Hokage fans, spoke up now and no longer stayed silent.
She drew a deep breath and said:
"The question now is not whether to retreat. It is whether we can still win."
Originally, Sunagakure's greatest advantages had been Chiyo's poison jutsu and the puppet corps.
Now the poison jutsu had been broken, the puppet corps was being suppressed by Konoha's combat forces on the open battlefield, and there was also the news that the daimyo was cutting back expenditures at this stage.
"Our earlier plan to raid Konoha's medical camp also failed. Now Tsunade's Medical Corps has become Konoha's most solid defensive line."
"Is there truly no way left?"
"No. There is still one last path."
Everyone raised their heads. All eyes focused on Chiyo.
"Concentrate all forces and launch one final all-out assault."
Everyone was stunned.
"Chiyo-sama, that is far too risky. If it fails..."
"If we do nothing, Sunagakure will truly be finished."
She swept her gaze across everyone present. Her voice was low and resolute.
"Right now, we have no choice but to gamble."