Chapter 65

Akimichi clan, Konoha

The Akimichi clan compound in Konoha was a serene place, and at the moment, Shikamaru and Choji were sitting by a pond, enjoying the snacks prepared by Choji's mother. As Yoshino and Choji's mother engaged in a lively conversation, a new party arrived: Ino, the blonde-haired little girl, accompanied by her mother. The bonds between the Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Nara clans were strong, and the three families often spent time together. Yoshino and the other mothers were naturally close friends.

Despite the familiarity, Ino usually preferred the company of other girls and only occasionally interacted with Shikamaru and Choji. However, with the onset of the war, Ino had been mingling with the duo more frequently. The decrease in the number of girls playing in the park and the increased time their mothers spent together inevitably led to the three children spending more time together.

Upon seeing Ino, Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh. While she was a bold and confident girl, Ino tended to be talkative. Ino noticed the two boys and joined them, declining Choji's offer of snacks with a mention of her diet, which Shikamaru chose to ignore.

"Where is Tenten? I don't see her today," Ino inquired. In recent months, Ino and Tenten have become quite close. Being a year older than the trio, Tenten enjoyed teasing Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto. Ino had quickly developed a fondness for Tenten, especially since Naruto often ended up in arguments with her every time they met, and Ino found Naruto annoying.

"Tenten said she would come to my house later in the evening along with Naruto. If you'd like, you can join us then too," Shikamaru offered, taking a bite out of his snack.

"Shikamaru, you sure are bold. Do you want me to tell her that you addressed her directly by name? Last time I remembered, didn't she specifically ask all three of you to call her big sister?" Ino smirked, catching Shikamaru red-handed in a crime.

Choji, who was peacefully eating his snacks, almost choked at the mention of being at Tenten's mercy after Kazuki Niisan had left for the frontlines. Tenten had taken it upon herself to guide the trio, and because she heard Choji had shown interest in fuinjutsu, she made little Choji suffer. However, what Kazuki forgot to mention was the reward that followed after practicing fuinjutsu. Kazuki always bought Choji all the food if he worked diligently, but Tenten was the devil who made Choji work alongside her with no added benefits.

Just when Shikamaru and Choji were thinking about how to escape this mess, a Nara clan member approached and passed a couple of scrolls to Yoshino before leaving. Yoshino quickly went through the scroll and turned to Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, here. Your brother has sent you a letter," Yoshino called out to her son and then handed over a scroll to him before continuing her discussion with the other mothers regarding various matters.

Shikamaru quickly ran towards the pond, carrying the scroll, and opened it with haste. Kazuki had been sending messages from the frontlines at least once a month, and every time the letter for Shikamaru contained various battle scenarios that had happened on the frontlines, Shikamaru enjoyed forming various strategies based on the scenarios in the letter.

"Is this letter from your brother?" Ino couldn't help but ask as both Shikamaru and Choji were engrossed in the letter, and she had caught a glimpse of it, feeling it only held boring things.

"Ino, don't you know it's impolite to peek at others' messages?" Choji couldn't help but ask, seeing how Ino was peeking at the contents.

"Aren't you doing the same?" Ino quickly countered, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Kazuki Niisan wrote this letter for both myself and Shikamaru. Look, if you don't believe me," Choji pulled the letter from Shikamaru and handed it to Ino to look at so that he could defend himself.

Shikamaru couldn't help but feel dumbfounded at Choji's actions and thought to himself, 'Did he not want her to see the content? Why would he pass the scroll over now?' But he chose not to embarrass Choji, as the scroll didn't contain anything secret.

"Shikamaru! Your brother taught you how to perform a shadow clone." Ino exclaimed. Shikamaru quickly jumped over and covered Ino's mouth, carefully looking to see if his mother had heard Ino's shout. However, as luck would have it, Yoshino was staring at Shikamaru with wide eyes.

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Konoha camp, Iwagakure front

"It's better we send him back to the village. Although I was able to save him, the damage was too extensive. Having him continue will only endanger his life," Kazuki, who had just finished treating a Hyuga Jonin, advised the Hyuga clan leader, who was waiting for his diagnosis.

In the past few months, Kazuki's fame within the Konoha camp has grown at a monstrous pace. Although Tsunade did not let him take on many missions, he was occasionally assigned to patrol duty and was otherwise assigned to the medical camp. The number of Leaf Shinobi lives Kazuki has saved since the start of this war could rival that of their commander herself. Some even hailed that Kazuki might soon surpass his master in the field of medicine.

"Will he be able to recover completely?" Hiashi couldn't help but ask because the man lying on the bed almost lost his life trying to save him during the recent skirmish with the Iwa Shinobi.

Kazuki washed his hands in the solution that lay by the bedside as he listened to Hiashi's query.

"Like I said, Hyuga clan head, he needs at least half a year to recover completely. Most of his organs have been damaged. If he joins the battlefield now, the chances of him crippling himself are very high. As a doctor, I suggest you let the man go back if you really appreciate what he has done for you." Hiashi understood Kazuki's words and nodded, and Kazuki left the tent, proceeding to meet his Sensei as she had called for him.

Tsunade's command tent was a wreck, as if someone had gone through a rampage. Tsunade herself was walking up and down the tent with frustration and anger evident in her eyes. Kazuki had a bad feeling after seeing how his sensei was reacting. Seeing Kazuki enter the tent, she calmed down a bit.

"Kazuki, sit down. I have some news from the Kumo frontlines." Tsunade took a seat at the head of the table and passed a scroll over to her student.

"The Kumo army launched a large-scale offensive on our troops, along with a large number of mercenaries. Kumo deployed both their Jinchuriki and even the Raikage led from the front."

Kazuki was going through the battle report that Tsunade had handed him, not even concentrating on what his master was saying. Kumo and Iwa had launched a joint offensive on the Konoha army fighting on the Kumo frontlines. Both villages had even deployed mercenaries to catch the Konoha army in a pincer attack.

"What were our casualties, Sensei? Is my uncle doing alright?" Kazuki couldn't help but ask because the report only had limited information.

"Shikaku survived; however, the Nara clan took quite some damage trying to stall the enemy and help the Konoha army fall back. However, due to your uncle's quick thinking, most of the army was able to retreat safely towards the secondary defense line." Tsunade shared the additional information she had received on the other battlefield.

"How? How? I am sure Jiraiya-sama should have been able to hold them back, even if both Raikage and their Jinchuriki took to the field at the same time." Kazuki was frustrated and fuming with anger because he knew his sensei was holding some information from him. The scroll she shared had no details about the list of casualties or the parties involved in the pincer attack.

"Sigh, you were right earlier. Iwagakure launched a large-scale offensive at the same time as Kumo from the other side. Iwa had even deployed their four-tail Jinchuriki in addition to numerous large-scale Kinjutsu, along with quite a number of mercenaries." Tsunade couldn't help but sigh in shame, as Kazuki had been sharing his concerns with his Sensei regarding the possibility of Iwa and Kumo joining hands to launch an attack on the Konoha army. He had even written to Hiruzen about the possibility, but the elders were not so worried about the possibility after all; Iwa had attacked Kumo at the start of the war.

"I had told you so, Sensei. You guys just had to ignore my words. Now look where that has brought us. Have they officially declared an alliance?" Kazuki, although fuming with anger, was still able to maintain his rationality, and his mind started racing, working on all possible counterattacks.

"No, there has been no official declaration of alliance; I guess it was more like a temporary ceasefire just so they can target us. Here is the list of casualties from the battle. I am sorry, Kazuki. I should have persuaded Sensei a bit more regarding the possibility you suggested." Kazuki picked up the scroll and started going through it because Jiraiya had called for a timely retreat, and him holding back the Raikage and the eight tails somewhat mitigated the loss. However, the two tails and four tails were only contained because of the Nara clan's shadow puppets and summons. Although they were able to hold them back long enough for the army to retreat, the Nara clan took quite a substantial loss, especially as the two tails Jinchuriki actively hunted the Nara clan members on the battlefield.

Kazuki unknowingly started gritting his teeth as he went through the list of casualties. Among the names was someone very close to him, Jin Nara, a close friend of his uncle and someone he was pretty close to. He couldn't help but unconsciously shed tears at the loss of Jin. Tsunade couldn't help but feel ashamed after seeing Kazuki's reaction because she knew how close some of the people on the list were to Kazuki, especially the people from the Nara clan. Kazuki quickly wiped his tears and cleared his mind because he knew this was not the time for mourning.

"Sensei, has Sandaime updated us regarding the next course of action?" Kazuki asked while he carefully kept the scroll in his pouch. Tsunade understood that although Kazuki seemed calm, she knew how dangerous he could become if someone he cared about was hurt. She also noticed how Kazuki addressed her Sensei as Sandaime and knew that Hiruzen's status in Kazuki's mind must have fallen because of his lack of action.

"Well, Sensei has asked them to stay on defense and strengthen their new defense line because the two villages have not officially declared an alliance. They must still be on hostile terms with each other. He has sent me a letter asking if we can reassign a part of our troops to replenish their numbers." Tsunade took out a new stack of documents and placed them on the table while explaining Hiruzen's plans.

"So he just wants us to sit here and do nothing while both Iwa and Kumo play us for fools? Sensei, I understand he is your master, but acting passively will only harm us in the end." Kazuki had collected himself and read through the scroll that the Hokage had sent. Although he respected the old man, he would not agree with all his methods. The only reason he helped Hiruzen all these years was because it would benefit the Nara clan. But Hiruzen's recent mistake has caused the Nara clan a substantial loss, and Kazuki was not going to be on standby anymore as he had decided to act.

"Fine, I understand. So what do you propose? I am sure you have something on your mind." Tsunade knew that Kazuki had a plan, so she was willing to listen.

"We lost close to two thousand Shinobi, and the old man has asked us to replenish their numbers if possible. I say we send twice that number; that way, they should have somewhere close to eighteen thousand Shinobi. I am sure Jiraiya-sama and my uncle will not repeat the same blunder. I will also write to my uncle personally." Kazuki shared his thoughts with his master.

"Kazuki, that would leave us with only ten thousand Shinobi. Iwa will outnumber us, and this will embolden them to confront us head-on. We will lose the momentum that we have gained, and with their recent influx of mercenaries, there are chances that we will be pushed back even further." Tsunade couldn't help but look at her student with a dumbfounded expression. She was still contemplating how to assign personnel to the Kumo line, as they were already stretched thin with their numbers. However, her student was asking her to send twice the number initially expected.

"Yes, Sensei, you are right, and I hope that Iwa launches a large-scale offensive on us due to the lowered numbers. I hope that they can throw everything at us. And Sensei, please send all the Sarutobi shinobi to the Kumo end as part of reinforcements. I don't want them to take any credit for being part of our battle contributions." Kazuki already felt bitter about Hiruzen's actions, so he didn't want the old man's clan to share the pie for their upcoming exploits.

"Kazuki, are you sure? I know you have been helping me with the strategy since the start, and you haven't gone wrong, but don't you think this is excessive?" Tsunade couldn't help but ask because Kazuki hadn't shared the complete details with her yet.