Chapter 90: Sore Throat...
"Tsunade-sama, the support from the village over there is about to depart. Here are some supplies we need from this side. Would you like the village to take them along?"
A few days later, in the border camp of the Land of Fire, a Jonin from the Nara Clan held two scrolls and spoke to Tsunade. Tsunade nodded, saying, "Let me take a look."
Tsunade took the scrolls. The first contained information about ninja tools requisition, which she quickly glanced over and found it aligned with the list sent by the village, needing no further reporting.
Then, Tsunade opened the second scroll, which was a bit more chaotic. Besides some obscure ninja tools, there were various peculiar medicines, like ones for treating hemorrhoids.
Though Tsunade could understand these, her brows furrowed instantly when she scanned the list and found "Dragon's Blood Powder" among them. This medicine sounded fancy, but in reality,
It's merely medicine for relieving cough and moistening the throat.
Pointing to the Dragon's Blood Powder, Tsunade looked at the Nara clan ninja and said, "Nara Satoru, who submitted this?! Treating the battlefield as a joke?!"
Upon hearing Tsunade's angry words, Nara Satoru hesitated and said, "Tsunade-sama, um, this... was applied for by Sakamoto Tatsuma."
"Ah."
Tsunade's rage suddenly paused. After all, no matter what, Tatsuma was her disciple. When a disciple did something so absurd, as a sensei, she naturally bore responsibility.
After a moment's pause, Tsunade asked again, "What's the reason he applied for this medicine? Is it a recurrence of an old neck injury?"
Tsunade racked her brain, but could only come up with this lame reason for Tatsuma. After all, Tatsuma's neck had indeed been injured a few days ago. If the old injury hadn't healed yet, it would be understandable for him to prescribe medication for himself, even if he made a mistake!
Nara Satoru's expression became even more peculiar, but he still had to say, "It's said... it's said that he's been talking too much these days, straining his voice."
"Boom!"
Tsunade's fist smashed directly onto the desk, instantly shattering it into pieces. With a dark expression, she said, "What do you mean by talking too much?! Is he going to war, or is he giving speeches on a podium?!"
"I'm not too sure about this, just heard from the people who came back to recuperate, Tatsuma earned a nickname among the Sand Ninja, they call him, they call him..."
"What do they call him?"
Tsunade's expression grew even darker, and Nara Satoru took a deep breath, speaking as if resigned to his fate, "Chatterbox Tobirama."
"Boom!"
Upon hearing this nickname, Tsunade stomped her foot in anger, causing the ground to crack beneath her. She gritted her teeth and growled, "That bastard Tatsuma, and those damn bastards from the Hidden Sand Village!"
This title somewhat tarnished the reputation of her grandfather, and she could roughly guess why the Sand Ninja would use this nickname to refer to Tatsuma.
Because in Konoha, more than one person has said that Tatsuma resembles Tobirama, including Tsunade's grandmother, Uzumaki Mito, the wife of Senju Hashirama. She also mentioned Tatsuma's resemblance to Tobirama.
After all, both of them have white hair and red eyes, and they are both exceptionally talented, far surpassing their peers in ninja skills. Apart from Tatsuma being more laid-back and friendly, with a penchant for laughter, their similarities are strikingly high.
Because of this, Tsunade felt that her grandmother's care for Tatsuma might have a reason behind it. Not only Uzumaki Mito but also the older generation of the Senju clan, although they had few encounters with Tatsuma, clearly held him in high regard.
Including Tsunade herself, sometimes she even wondered if her own grandfather had kept a secret from the family and made mistakes when he was young. However, she never expected that the Hidden Sand Village would use this as a way to mock her grandfather.
"Tell Orochimaru that the main force support will arrive in three days. It's time to close the net! Damned Hidden Sand Village, I will make them pay! And Tatsuma, when he returns, he'll see how I deal with him!"
"Also, for this list, apart from Tatsuma's requirements, report everything else and have them delivered as soon as possible!"
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
Seeing that Tsunade ultimately remained rational, Nara Satoru breathed a sigh of relief, then swiftly left to carry out her orders.
...
"Achoo!"
On the front lines, Tatsuma, amidst another retreat, sneezed. He rubbed his nose and couldn't help but glance at the sky. Despite the warming weather these days, why would he be sneezing? Could it be that the Sand Ninja he defeated today cursed him?
Over the past few days, Tatsuma had fought with different Sand Ninjas almost every day, and his trademark praise had become a tactic that made countless Hidden Sand Village Ninjas feel disgusted.
Because Tatsuma was too young, it was a disgrace for them to be defeated by someone who praised them like their elder.
In fact, calling Tatsuma "Chatterbox Tobirama" wasn't purely derogatory. Many Sand Ninjas believed Tatsuma's talent was too high; his proficiency in Ninja Tool Throwing, Taijutsu combat, and mastery of Ninjutsu surpassed theirs.
Especially since this brat isn't afraid of getting injured; in fact, he gets even more excited when he's injured. As long as he doesn't face a Jonin, this brat can do whatever he wants.
And even if Tatsuma's team encounters a Sand Ninja team with Jonin, the Jonin from the Hidden Sand Village won't go out of their way to make things difficult for him. First, because Tatsuma's team also has Inuzuka Makoto, the Jonin Squad Captain.
Secondly, it would be too shameful. Over the past few days, Tatsuma's identity has also been uncovered by the Hidden Sand Village: a genius Genin from Konoha, Tsunade's disciple.
Being Tsunade's disciple should make Jonins from the Hidden Sand Village pay more attention to him, but he happens to be a Genin. If he were a Chunin, the Sand Jonin wouldn't be so concerned about losing face when encountering him.
The only Sand Jonin who might take the risk to deal with Tatsuma would probably be Hoshi. Unfortunately, Hoshi hasn't encountered Tatsuma's team over the past few days.
Konoha's teams are now heavily divided, much like a team that's been pushed back in a hasty retreat, fleeing in panic.
Just like Tatsuma's team, which now consists of only nine people and a dog, they are easily surrounded by Sand Ninja teams. However, with someone like Inuzuka Makoto, a sensory-type Jonin, in their team, they always manage to turn bad luck into good fortune.
As Konoha's teams keep retreating, after today, they'll probably have to withdraw completely from the Land of Rivers. This excited the Sand Ninjas even more, and they began to pursue them relentlessly, regardless of the consequences.
Tatsuma, having just escaped from the pursuit of the Sand Ninjas, stopped by the riverside. He took out the test paper developed by Tsunade, which is a small tool for testing whether the water is poisonous.
Although it has limited capability to detect certain poisons, some rare or newly developed poisons may not be detectable. However, the Hidden Sand Village wouldn't be extravagant enough to release such poisons into rivers, so the test paper can still be useful.
After testing the river water, Tatsuma nodded to the others. Inuzuka Makoto sent his Nin-Dog to patrol while he hemself sat down to rest.
The others began to collect water for drinking, while Tatsuma helped their injured teammate who had just escaped from the battle. At that moment, the Yamanaka ninja among the team's members noticed the communication device in his backpack lighting up.
He quickly found a spot to answer the call. After a short while, he returned to the group and glanced at Inuzuka Makoto before looking at Tatsuma, who was tending to the injured teammate. After receiving a nod from Inuzuka Makoto, the Yamanaka ninja spoke up:
"Squad Captain, Orochimaru-sama has instructed us not to retreat blindly these days. If we encounter Sand Ninja teams, we should assess both sides' strengths. If we believe we can win, we should go all out to achieve victory. Our team's defense line cannot retreat any further. We can choose not to push back the defense line, but we must not retreat anymore."
"Understood, Naoto. Please inform the others and have them prepare as well."
Inuzuka Makoto nodded. After Yamanaka Naoto left, he whispered to Tatsuma, "Tatsuma, you understand what this means, don't you?"
"As the flank, we're about to encircle and flank them. It depends on how deep the Sand Ninja team can get caught."
Tatsuma answered almost without hesitation. As two of the few people on the team who knew about Orochimaru's plan, their communication was much more frequent than with others.
Inuzuka Makoto nodded, saying, "Once the Hidden Sand Village realizes they're surrounded, as the ones flanking them, we'll face the fiercest attacks. There's also a high chance we'll encounter reinforcements sent by the Hidden Sand Village. If we're not careful, we'll find ourselves in a situation where we're attacked from all sides. Will you still choose to stay?"
Konoha's tactic of encircling with the flanking and support teams can indeed resemble a siege, hunting down the Sand Ninja trapped inside the encirclement. However, the Sand Ninjas are not lambs waiting to be slaughtered; they'll definitely try to break out.
If they're not foolish, they won't choose to break through deep into the Land of Fire but towards the direction of the Hidden Sand Village. This would increase the pressure on the flanking team even more.
Moreover, Konoha understands the importance of sending out support teams. It's unlikely that the Hidden Sand Village would leave these fewer than two thousand Sand Ninjas to fight alone. Do they think these few Sand Ninjas can conquer the Land of Fire?
Therefore, the Hidden Sand Village will definitely send out support teams to reinforce their gains of the past few days and strive for further progress.
Once the breakout team of the Sand Ninja and the support team act simultaneously, the flanking Konoha Ninjas will be caught off guard and become the ones being attacked from both sides.
It now depends on whether Konoha's actions are fast enough, and whether they can complete the mission of exterminating the Sand Ninja before the Hidden Sand Village's reinforcements arrive.
In this regard, Tatsuma still has confidence in Konoha. After all, since the formal declaration of war, Konoha has been the proactive side. Whether it's declaring war or devising tactics, Konoha has been the one making proactive changes.
Engagements between ninja armies are not like missions carried out by ninja teams; there are too many preparations needed. Unless the Hidden Sand Village predicts Konoha's actions, they will definitely be slower.
Moreover, with the Sand Ninja team advancing deep into the Land of Rivers and soon entering the Land of Fire, geographically, the journey of the Konoha support team is shorter, allowing them to reach the battlefield faster.
Unfortunately, Tatsuma can only speculate up to this point with the intelligence he has access to. He doesn't have the authority to access more information yet; otherwise, he's confident he could see things more clearly.
However, it's enough for now. He smiled and said, "Squad Captain, I'm not here to just ride on others' accomplishments."
Upon hearing this, Inuzuka Shinya nodded with a smile and said, "Good job. But in the upcoming battles, you need to be even more careful. Never underestimate any Ninja, even if you've defeated them or even killed them, understood?"
Tatsuma nodded earnestly. In fact, these past few days haven't been very smooth. If it weren't for Shiro Yaksha's special physique and the Medical Ninjutsu he learned from Tsunade, he might have already been preparing for a memorial service.
Although he learned Ninjutsu at a speed beyond ordinary people through unconventional learning methods, and possessed talents in Sensory abilities and Ninja Tool Throwing Jutsu far surpassing the average, he is still just a Chunin.
Even among Chunin, his level is quite good, but in chaotic battles, he cannot easily defeat opponents of a stronger level in certain aspects.
It could be said that many of his victories were achieved through taking risks, but the rewards gained from these risks were also astonishing. Due to the effect of "Growing Through Battle" brought by Shiro Yaksha, Tatsuma's daily progress in his talents is two or three times that of his previous training speed.
The increase in his talent ceiling is also considerable. Although it wasn't as easy as winning against Tsunade in a bet, he can almost improve his talents daily.
Tatsuma also knows that real battles and real victories are the most correct way to use this system, but he is grateful that he worked hard for three years beforehand.
If he had just graduated as a Genin, followed the regular path to become a Chunin, and then entered the battlefield, he would probably have been killed before he could even reap any rewards.
"Rustle, rustle~"
Just as Tatsuma was starting to drift off, Inuzuka Makoto's Nin-Dog suddenly ran back. In an instant, everyone in the team became alert.
"Prepare for battle!"
Inuzuka Makoto shouted loudly, immediately drawing a Kunai and entering a state of readiness. Tatsuma also unsheathed his Chakra short sword with vigilance looking towards the direction where Chakra was sensed.
----
Check out my Patreon for more advanced chapters up to 50 at patreon.com/HellGolt