"Hurry, hurry, hurry..."
In the silent forest, Aburame Seiku, his body horribly corroded, leaned against a large tree, gritting his teeth against the pain as he forced the mother insect that had survived the potent poison to multiply.
The symbiotic insects had taken the fatal hit for him, but they couldn't heal the damage he had sustained.
His physical condition was no longer sufficient to support a return to his comrades for treatment, so he had hidden in a nearby grove to force-breed the mother insect.
As long as he could create insects with an antibody to the poison, then even if he died, the insects would fly off on their own to find other Aburame Clan's members.
At that time, his comrades would avenge him.
However,
To accelerate the breeding of the insects required the use of an Aburame Clan's secret technique.
But his physical condition was now extremely poor; even moving his body caused excruciating sweat. Attempting to channel Chakra to use the secret technique would be torture no less severe.
Yet.
Relying on hatred for his fallen comrades and his belief in protecting the village, Seiku had held on until now.
But gradually, he felt his body growing heavier, his breathing more difficult, his vision increasingly blurred.
Tap, tap, tap...
Suddenly, footsteps sounded in the quiet woods.
Seiku raised his head with effort. In his blurry vision, a figure appeared, walking slowly from a distance.
'Who is it?'
A sense of crisis rose in Seiku's heart.
He shook his head, feeling his mind clear a bit, then focused his gaze again… it was a figure clad in black. Black hair, black eyes, wearing black clothes, even the aura emanating from him matched the heaviness of black. A middle-aged man entirely wrapped in black.
'Kuro!'
Seiku's mind flashed with information about that member of the Sunagakure's delegation. He immediately tried to push himself up against the tree behind him.
But his terrible physical condition left him powerless.
He had barely stood up when darkness filled his vision, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!"
Seiku looked at the mother insect wrapped in a cocoon, nurtured by his Chakra, and pounded the ground in frustration.
Thud.
Kuro stopped two meters away from Seiku, looking down at him expressionlessly. He said calmly, "It seems my senses were correct. There really is an escaped rat here."
Worried that Karura might not hold out until their rescue arrived, Ryuji had ridden the mechanical bird ahead first, leaving the rest to follow on foot.
On their continued advance, they were frequently harassed by Konoha's Shinobi. To avoid ambushes, Kuro often kept his sensory abilities active.
As a result, after traveling some distance, he detected a weak Chakra Signature in the forest near where they had repelled Orochimaru.
If it were just a regular survivor, it wouldn't matter much. After all, they were rushing to save people, not to kill every Konoha's Shinobi; there was no need for total annihilation.
But the group Orochimaru brought had all been killed by Kana's potent poison.
If there was a survivor among them, he might have found a method or antibody to counter Kana's poison.
While it was more likely he had just narrowly escaped, the possibility of finding an antibody or a solution wasn't zero.
Kuro didn't know that Kana's body contained over ten thousand original viruses capable of random combinations. But he knew Kana played a crucial role in this plan.
If her poison was cracked by Konoha, it would create a significant obstacle for this operation, perhaps even lead to failure.
So, after informing Aka, he had turned back alone.
Looking at the insect chrysalis protected under Seiku's body, Kuro took a deep breath.
'It seems my trip back wasn't wasted effort.'
Ryuji had told them about the characteristics of well-known Shinobi Clans in the world.
Therefore, Kuro was also well aware of the Aburame Clan's secret techniques and their insects' ability to adapt and evolve according to the environment.
Seeing this situation and combining it with the context, he easily analyzed what was happening.
Without further ado, Kuro drew a kunai and coldly, mercilessly threw it at Seiku.
Facing this thrown weapon, which he could have easily dealt with before, Seiku now had no strength to resist. He could only roar inwardly with frustration.
"Damn it!"
Snap!
The kunai was caught by a jade-like hand in front of Seiku.
Both men were startled, then followed the arm to its owner... a woman with an impressive figure, golden hair, golden eyes, and a beautiful face.
"Tsunade!"
Kuro's face darkened.
Seiku couldn't help but feel relief.
"Tsunade-sama..."
He was about to say something but was stopped by Tsunade raising her hand.
"Shizune, check his condition, then treat him," Tsunade said while keeping her eyes on Kuro.
Behind her, a girl with ear-length bobbed hair timidly approached Seiku and, with skill belying her age, began examining his physical condition.
Kuro glanced at her, then focused his gaze on the woman who had somehow positioned herself between them. "Tsunade, weren't you deliberately avoiding this farce?"
"Yes! I thought it was just a farce, which is why I specifically hid in this suburban forest, planning to emerge after it was over. But now it clearly doesn't look that simple," Tsunade stated resolutely.
Just as Ryuji had thought, Tsunade, wanting to potentially seek his help in the future to resurrect Dan and Nawaki, and herself despising dirty political maneuvers, had deliberately hidden away before the incident.
But there was another, more important reason she did this: she didn't want to become a perpetrator.
Her view, along with Hiruzen and all Konoha's higher-ups, was the same; she also didn't believe Ryuji would resist.
Don't be fooled by the fact that this Sunagakure's delegation had already shown at least four Kage-level combatants, and the student group included Karura, fifty elite puppeteers, and four elite guard squads, while most of Konoha's elite experts were still at the frontlines.
The disparity in combat power was still vast.
Hiruzen, Danzo, Koharu, Homura, Orochimaru, the Anbu Commander and Vice-Commander, herself, plus the elite clansmen left in the village and nearly two thousand other Shinobi.
With such a lineup, the top experts of the Sunagakure's delegation might manage to break out and escape Konoha. But to take a delegation of over a hundred people with them, let alone fight against Konoha? That was simply laughable.
And in Tsunade's impression, Ryuji wasn't much different from the old men in Konoha's leadership… everything was based on interests first.
With the power gap so large and open conflict offering no chance of victory, she didn't think Ryuji would choose mutual destruction.
But she, along with the entire Konoha, had underestimated Ryuji.
Not only was Ryuji himself powerful, he could also enhance his comrades.
The weapons and equipment he created not only freed the low-ranking Genin from being dead weight but gave them, when gathered, combat power surpassing that of ordinary Chunin Teams.
Even the elite police force led by Fugaku had been wiped out.
His hidden trump cards, Kana and the two giant poisonous salamanders, disrupted Konoha's entire troop deployment.
And the strategic plan and various war machines provided to those elite puppeteers left even Orochimaru and numerous elite Shinobi helpless.
The situation had now spiraled out of control.
Konoha was the legacy of Tsunade's grandfather. This village held the dreams her dearest ones had desperately pursued, reasons countless people had given their lives to protect.
Tsunade couldn't sit idly by and watch Konoha be burned to the ground.
She and Shizune had been fishing and barbecuing by a lake in this suburban forest earlier.
It wasn't until continuous tremors and explosions echoed from outside that she finally realized something was wrong and headed out.
Then she happened to witness this scene.
She didn't know the specifics, but she guessed the higher-ups' plan had gone awry.
Konoha was now at war with this Sunagakure's delegation.
Kuro didn't know the details, but hearing Tsunade's words, he understood her resolve.
He said calmly, "More words are useless. If you intend to stop me, then make your move."
"Tch!" Tsunade couldn't help but scoff. "Don't think that because you found a substitute who beat me once, the one I knocked out with one punch wasn't you!"
In the duel half a year ago, after switching with Aka, Kuro had displayed a completely different level of skill, personality, and fighting style.
Tsunade initially thought Kuro might have something like multiple personalities.
But during Kuro's hospitalization, while observing the neural-link technology, she often visited his room for check-ups and gained a deep understanding of this taciturn man.
His mind was perfectly normal; there was absolutely no possibility of multiple personalities!
Back then, Tsunade suspected that the one who defeated her might be someone else.
Until she met Aka... Although the appearance and voice were completely different, those wine-red eyes, and the disdain they inadvertently showed towards others mixed with respect for Ryuji… all these overlaps made Tsunade certain that the opponent who defeated her back then wasn't Kuro, but the one who killed Hanzo of the Salamander… Aka.
"The past, glory, victories, defeats, life, death... these external things, I don't care about any of them," Kuro said, pulling out two kunai and holding them in his hands, his black eyes showing no emotional fluctuation. "All I care about is the mission at hand."
Tsunade's brow furrowed slightly.
Although Kuro's expression and tone were devoid of emotion, she could indeed sense that Kuro had feelings; he wasn't someone who had trained to erase his emotions.
He was sealing off his own emotions.
'This was really…'
"Annoying!"
Almost roaring the word, Tsunade stomped, cracking the ground beneath her. Her figure shot out like a cannonball, arriving before Kuro in an instant. Her right fist, raised high, swung down towards Kuro's face. "Stop putting on that brooding act all the time!"
Thud!
The fist missed; the sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh rang out.
Kuro leaned his body to the side, maintaining a posture that dodged the punch, using his shoulder to brace Tsunade's body. His lowered right hand held the kunai embedded in her abdomen; blood dripped down.
But...
Bang!
As if unharmed, Tsunade raised her right hand and punched Kuro, sending him flying.
"You really have gotten much stronger!"
She looked at Kuro, who only stopped after crashing into a tree over ten meters away, and casually tossed aside the kunai that had pierced her left hand.
That punch of hers seemed reckless, but in reality, she had noticed every detail.
Kuro's reaction timing, the subtle movements of his shoulders… all far exceeded his level from half a year ago.
If they fought head-on, they'd probably need a good while to determine a winner.
But Kuro had deliberately tried to appear weak, then strike a fatal blow when his guard was down.
Tsunade saw through it.
She played along, using her left hand to block her abdomen and take the kunai thrust, then seized the moment when Kuro thought he'd won and relaxed to punch him away.
Kuro wasn't the tough, resilient type of Shinobi. This was proven both in the duel half a year ago and during subsequent physical checkups while he was hospitalized.
So, one hit should be enough to end the fight.
However,
To prevent Kuro from pulling another switch with Aka, after tossing the kunai aside, Tsunade quickly ran to where Kuro lay. Only after confirming he was unconscious did she relax.
She turned back to Seiku. Looking at the man on the brink of death, she then looked at Shizune beside her, who gave a slight shake of her head.
"I see."
Tsunade sighed, then looked at Seiku and asked, "Do you have any last words?"
Seiku tremblingly presented the insect chrysalis, his voice weak. "I have already completed the Aburame Clan's secret technique for breeding insects. Now, just keep supplying Chakra to complete the incubation. This mother insect possesses an antibody to Kana's poison!"
'Insects...'
Tsunade's eyebrows twitched.
While she wasn't afraid of insects like some women, as a woman, she certainly didn't have much fondness for them either.
The thought of holding the chrysalis and continuously supplying Chakra to incubate it made her somewhat resistant.
But the mention of an antibody to Kana's poison... She didn't know the specifics, but anything involving potent poison was no small matter.
Otherwise, this Aburame Clan's member wouldn't have risked his life to incubate the chrysalis.
"I will definitely incubate the insect. You can go in peace," Tsunade said, then looked at the young girl beside her. "Shizune, what are you standing around for? Take the chrysalis!"
"Huh?"
Shizune couldn't help but widen her eyes.
'Wasn't this for you to incubate?'
'Why push it onto me?'
"What are you waiting for?"
Hearing Tsunade's urging, Shizune reluctantly took the chrysalis and began carefully incubating it with Chakra.
Seeing this, Seiku smiled and let his hands fall.