After meeting with Hiruzen Sarutobi and explaining the situation to the other high-ranking shinobi, Fumori masaki quietly left the camp without drawing much attention, heading instead to the medical outpost.
The medical outpost, already located in the rear, didn't encounter any major trouble during the enemy's counterattack. Everyone safely retreated to the designated location, closer to Konoha Village, where they could receive more stable assistance.
Fumori masaki's purpose for this trip was to meet Tsunade, the highest-ranking person in charge of the medical outpost. As the war expanded, this rising star of the medical department would sooner or later enter the battlefield.
Therefore, when battlefields elsewhere were in a stalemate, Tsunade was assigned to the still-active Eastern Front.
Given Tsunade's medical expertise, the losses on the Eastern Front were not severe enough to require her direct intervention. Of course, Tsunade was also unwilling to stay in the village and conduct research as usual. The village also intended for her to gain some battlefield experience, which would save her adaptation time when she was transferred elsewhere later.
Tsunade truly lived up to her reputation as a shinobi who could be called one of the Sannin—though in this timeline, that future might not exist. In a short time, she adapted to the work at the medical outpost, and relying on her prestige and skill, she quickly became the backbone of the outpost.
Even older medical shinobi had no objections to her being the highest-ranking person in charge.
However, just as the village had anticipated, the losses on the Eastern Front were manageable for the other medical shinobi. During this time, Tsunade hadn't encountered a single surgery that required her full effort.
Even when Kirigakure dispatched the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, which temporarily increased Konoha's casualty rate, it ultimately did not exceed the medical outpost's capacity.
Ultimately, the Medical Department was one of the important departments that received heavy investment early on. Thanks toFumori masaki's foresight, a medical system had begun to be established over twenty years ago.
In the original timeline, Konoha Village possessed the strongest medical power among the Five Great Nations, and in this timeline, Konoha's medical power was even greater than it was then.
These days, Tsunade was in a somewhat bad mood. On one hand, she had almost no opportunity to showcase her skills at the medical outpost—after all, others were sufficient to handle all the casualties, and her presence would at most be icing on the cake, not a lifeline.
On the other hand, she was very dissatisfied with the defeat on the Eastern Front, feeling that the commander had been too careless and allowed the enemy to exploit a weakness.
She wished she could go to the front lines to command herself, and the essence of this idea was related to the first reason.
Tsunade, as expected, was not one to stay idle. In the past, she had tasks in the medical department and could solve problems through medical research, but after coming to this relatively quiet medical outpost, her workload significantly decreased, forcing her to pay attention to the battlefield situation.
In her heart, she truly hoped to show off her skills on the battlefield, and she also believed she had the ability to do so—in the original timeline, Tsunade's command ability had also been proven.
However, according to the regulations of the medical department, she was not allowed to go to the front lines.
According to Fumori masaki, if the village needed medical shinobi to personally fight, then the other combat shinobi might as well go find a place to die. In a sense, it was like sending children to the front lines.
Even if some medical shinobi had combat power not inferior to combat shinobi, those were just a few exceptions.
Tsunade carefully read today's front-line situation report—of course, not the confidential intelligence circulating within the shinobi forces, but the news report issued by the propaganda department.
Although she couldn't go to the front lines herself, Tsunade had simulated more than once how she would command if she were there.
"Tsk, the situation in the Land of Water has improved quite a bit. However, with the First and Third Divisions fully assembled, the strength of the Eastern Front has become even stronger, and with Cloud Shinobi nearby, the pressure on the Land of Water hasn't decreased much," Tsunade said thoughtfully.
At this moment, Tsunade was in her tent, with no one else around, and her posture was a bit more casual.
If the shinobi who saw her as their dream girl were to see this, they would probably have a feeling completely different from what they imagined.
Tsunade didn't think it was worth caring about. She was a shinobi by nature. Even with her high birth, she had never been constrained by noble etiquette, which had angered her mother for a long time, who eventually let her live life her own way.
Just then, Tsunade's deputy requested to see her at the entrance. Hearing this, Tsunade adjusted her posture and called her in. The deputy entered, immediately walked to Tsunade's side, and whispered something.
Tsunade paused slightly, then stood up from her chair and walked out.
Tsunade walked outside for a while, then entered a tent where Fumori masaki was already present. He was looking at the recent data reports from the medical outpost. Hearing footsteps at the entrance, he closed the reports and set them aside.
"Sensei Fumori masaki, why did you come without a word?" Tsunade greeted Fumori masaki openly.
Although she was Fumori masaki's student, she had always been informal, and even now in her twenties, she had only matured a little in her address, unlike when she was a child and simply called him Fumori masaki.
"Because some matters require an incognito visit. I went to see Hiruzen first, and I also have something to tell you, so I came by,"Fumori masaki said.
"Honestly, no wonder you're sneaking around like this. You have to be like this to get me to come over," Tsunade chuckled.
"I just didn't want to cause a commotion,"Fumori masaki shrugged.
"Is it also because you wanted to inspect privately, to see if I'm doing a good job here?" Tsunade asked.
"What are you talking about?"Fumori masaki denied it. Of course, he did have that thought in his mind, but it was mainly to observe the operational status of the front-line units, and it had little to do with personal management.
As it stood, everything was running smoothly, and the managers were naturally dedicated.
"Really?" Tsunade looked atFumori masaki suspiciously. "Never mind, do you have something to tell me? I don't think I've done anything wrong here."
"Of course, it has nothing to do with what you're doing here, but if you want to say it does, then there's a little bit,"Fumori masaki said. "Are you feeling a bit unable to fully utilize your skills here?"
"So you were inspecting after all," Tsunade heard this and immediately assumedFumori masaki had heard it from her deputy, and she couldn't help but pout.
"I know you too well. The workload here is relatively small. For the foreseeable future, the Eastern Front should be in a phase of mutual probing. Large-scale counterattacks won't be easily launched, and there won't be a need for you here.
So, we're going to move you to where you're needed soon,"Fumori masaki said.
"Huh? Where?" Tsunade immediately looked atFumori masaki, her face full of curiosity.
"You do feel unable to fully utilize your skills, don't you?"Fumori masaki smiled gently, then said, "Just a few days ago, the rainy season in the Land of Rain finally ended. And Sunagakure immediately launched a large-scale invasion, clearly having prepared for a long time.
Sunagakure shinobi have entered not only the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain, but also the Land of Grass."
"That's to be expected, isn't it? According to SenseiFumori masaki's strategy, by avoiding battles with high exchange rates and utilizing the terrain, we should be able to block them, right?" Tsunade asked. "Logically speaking, the losses shouldn't be too heavy. There are explosive tags there, unlike on the Eastern Front, where explosive tags would be greatly limited against Kirigakure, who use Water Release."
"Yes, if it were just that, there wouldn't be much trouble. But the problem is, Sunagakure used some very unconventional methods in this battle,"Fumori masaki's tone became serious.
"What is it?" Tsunade asked.
"Poison,"Fumori masaki replied.
"Poison? Indeed, the deserts of the Land of Wind are home to many rare poisonous creatures, so they can create some potent poisons," Tsunade said thoughtfully. "I heard that person named Chiyo in Sunagakure is apparently a very skilled medical ninja and poison expert."
"Hmm,"Fumori masaki nodded slightly. "The poison they use is very potent. More importantly, the medium for the poison isn't ordinary metal, but released in gaseous form." He said, his voice tinged with disgust.
"Poison gas?" Tsunade couldn't help but be startled. If poison were used in gaseous form, the affected area would far exceed ordinary methods. Not to mention the enemy, even one's own side could be affected. She hadn't expected Sunagakure to use such a terrifying method.
Upon learning of this, Tsunade immediately realized the seriousness of the situation and nervously asked, "Are the troop losses severe?" As far as she knew, Konoha Village didn't have many means to defend against poison gas.
"Fortunately, Kagami followed my instructions and did not easily engage Sunagakure in large-scale battles. Moreover, Hanzo provided us with the masks from Amegakure, which prevented Sunagakure's gas warfare tactics from achieving their intended results. Of course, there were still sacrifices,"Fumori masaki sighed.
Although he hadn't anticipated Sunagakure would use gas warfare tactics, the Land of Rain, which had become an ally early on, played its role at this time.
Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure, was a poison user; his breath was poisonous in daily life, which was very similar to poison gas to some extent.
Therefore, he often wore a mask, and to prevent accidents, he also made every shinobi in the village wear a mask.
It was thanks to these gas masks provided by Amegakure that the Konoha shinobi forces endured the initial gas attack, significantly reducing the number of poisoned individuals.
Amegakure itself also had experience with poisons, which alleviated the symptoms of the poisoned, but Hanzo stated that he was unable to cure them, so most of the poisoned still died, with only a few barely clinging to life.
After all, although Hanzo was a master of poison, he mainly relied on the highly toxic salamander venom, which had a very small scope. He couldn't solve the potent poisons meticulously developed by medical experts like Chiyo.
In this situation, only Tsunade could research an antidote; otherwise, relying solely on Amegakure's masks wouldn't be enough to save all of Konoha's shinobi forces, and the Cloud Shinobi who joined as allies couldn't be ignored either.
Hearing the symptoms of those poisoned, their hoarse voices, and scratching their bodies, Tsunade couldn't help but feel compassion.
She quickly nodded and said, "Okay, I'll pack my things immediately and then head to the Western Front."
"Then I'll leave it to you. For now, the masks can still block the enemy's poison gas, but as time goes on, I don't know to what extent they will use the poison gas,"Fumori masaki said.
"The specific adjustment orders are already on their way. I'll give you the order first, and you can start preparing immediately." Saying this, he handed the scroll with the Hokage's order to Tsunade.
Tsunade solemnly accepted it, nodded toFumori masaki, and said, "Then, SenseiFumori masaki, I'll go prepare now. Please tell the Western Front to hold on."
"For a short time, yes, otherwise I wouldn't be so calm; I would have rushed to call you away,"Fumori masaki said.
"When I first heard about it, I was really startled. Thankfully, Hanzo was there. Because of this, the village's original dissatisfaction with the Land of Rain disappeared; no one can deny the role of the Land of Rain."
"That's Sensei's foresight," Tsunade complimented him slightly, then said no more and left the tent.
MasahiroFumori masaki turned his head slightly and said, "Let's go." He had no other business, and behind him, the figure of an Anbu appeared.
The Anbu bowed slightly toFumori masaki, then disappeared. At the same time,Fumori masaki also formed a hand sign, dispelling his Shadow Clone, and he too disappeared.
Meanwhile,Fumori masaki in Konoha Village immediately received this information, knowing that his Shadow Clone had finished informing Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tsunade, and he felt a little relieved.
This incident with Sunagakure once again told him that the enemy would not be as easy to deal with as he imagined.
Compared to Kirigakure, the methods used by Sunagakure were even more terrifying.Fumori masaki had always had a bad impression of gas warfare.
Even in this world, he was sure that Sunagakure's actions would further tarnish their image. He had already decided that after this war, those inhumane decision-makers in Sunagakure must be sanctioned, otherwise, justice could not be upheld.
"The Western Front will be the main battlefield of the Second Shinobi World War, and it will also be the turning point,"Fumori masaki murmured to himself, looking at the map laid out before him, his finger slowly tracing the routes of each unit, calculating where the upcoming battle would take place.