Chapter 56

"Hmm, once we reach the frontlines, make sure to send a few Shinobi to keep an eye on the Rain borders. Don't encroach on their borders; we don't want to disturb them if they want to remain neutral," Tsunade ordered because she didn't want to be caught off guard by neglecting the Rain borders. The ANBU nodded and continued on with their journey.

Tsunade had picked a strategic place right near the Fire Country borders, almost at equal distance from both Takigakure and Kusagakure villages. This way, the Leaf troops could attack Iwa's command fortress in Takigakure or reinforce their allies in Kusagakure. The grass village had held a longstanding relationship with the leaf village, so they were obliged to help their allies. Although the grass village may not be able to field a large number of troops, deploying close to two to three thousand Shinobi would not be a problem.

Tsunade and her team took a whole three days to reach their main command post, even with their top speed. This showed how truly vast the Shinobi world was. The moment Tsunade reached the HQ, she delegated all the work while she personally worked on setting up the main medic camp for the Iwa front. Normally, one would set up the main medical camp much further inland within the Fire Country.

However, Tsunade chose an aggressive approach because, with her being the chief medic and commander, she couldn't fall back to a secure location. However, she was not foolish enough to leave the injured Shinobi exposed within the confines of the HQ. She intended to use her Trump card for her prodigy student, Kazuki. Once everyone was delegated with their tasks, only Tsunade, Shizune, and Kazuki were left within the command tent.

"Kazuki, I intend to keep the main medic camp within the HQ. I want you to secure the entire HQ with your barriers as much as possible. Both of you will be working with the medical team. Shizune, I want you to keep an eye on the kid; don't let him run around. Is that understood?" Tsunade intended to use Kazuki's expertise to change the Leaf's headquarters into a killing field if any enemy Shinobi dared to approach. With Kazuki's barriers, she would have leeway to assign more Shinobi towards the frontlines rather than keeping them back to secure the camp.

"Yes, Sensei, I will make sure the defenses are so grand that even if the war were to end, Iwa will not be able to find our location unless one of our own betrays the location. And even then, they might only be able to look from afar," Kazuki confidently said. Although he would not be actively allowed to participate on the frontlines, he would make sure to contribute in the best way possible. Expecting such a scenario, he had also packed many resources to lay multiple large-scale defensive barriers. He was planning to stack barriers so that they could even survive multiple full-powered Bijudama at the same time. Shizune by the side simply nodded, agreeing to keep an eye on her junior.

"How long will you need to deploy the primary defenses? That way, I should be able to redeploy a part of the Shinobi from the security team," Tsunade questioned her prodigy with expectations.

"The primary defenses should be up within a week. As for the full defense system, I will try to complete it in under a month," Kazuki immediately gave an approximate timeline as requested by his master.

"Good, Shizune, I want you to take an inventory of all the medical scrolls at hand, specifying the exact numbers of each type. Some Leaf clan Shinobi might be carrying the low or medium version of the medical scrolls, which the clans must have purchased and provided to their family members.

Inform them to give us an exact count; let them know it won't be retrieved; it's just a precaution to keep them from falling into enemy hands. Also, inform the ANBU to keep track if any of these clans lose these scrolls. I need to be notified immediately." Tsunade passed down a series of orders and quickly moved to check on the medic camp.

Kazuki followed Shizune to complete their sensei's instructions. After relaying the information, the two students made their way to the perimeter of the camp, where the perimeter defenses were already completed, and under the security of an elite team, the barrier team was upgrading the basic defenses. However, Kazuki planned to cover a larger range, enclosing the previous defenses.

Kazuki quickly transformed; he now looked like a full-grown adult hidden behind a cloak. After a few moments, an elite ANBU team approached. Before the ANBU could inquire about the cloaked ninja, Shizune stepped forward with a scroll, passing it to the team. Tsunade wanted to keep Kazuki's identity a secret for as long as possible.

Normally, one would not allow such a conspicuous person to loiter near their base, but earlier they received direct instructions to assign the best elite ANBU team to escort the cloaked individual who accompanied Tsunade's apprentice Shizune. The ANBU made sure that the scroll was authentic and chose not to question it further. Kazuki immediately moved to work on the new defenses while being protected by Shizune and the elite ANBU team.

The week following the day Kazuki started laying the defenses, there were multiple small skirmishes between the Leaf Ninja and the Iwa Ninja. Most of these skirmishes involved only a few ninjas, up to close to two dozen Shinobi. These were mostly probing attacks from each side. On the other battlefronts, the situations were similar. Kirigakure had officially declared war on the Leaf village, and there were a few minor skirmishes like the other fronts.

The battle was most intense on the Iwagakure and Kumogakure battlefields. The Cloud Ninja were fighting with hatred against the Stone Ninja because they suffered quite a substantial loss on the first attack. Every village was setting up their pieces on the board. Hiruzen had tried to send an envoy team to Kirigakure before they declared hostility; however, the envoy team was brutally murdered.

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Kumogakure Main Camp:

"Any updates, Dodai? Has there been a response from the Water Daimyo?" The Raikage's mood was grim, fueled by lingering anger from Iwagakure's recent attack on their homeland. Upon returning from their sneak attack on Konoha, the Raikage was met with the distressing news of Iwa's assault on Kumo. If it weren't for B holding the lines, aided by the sacrifices of numerous Kumo Shinobi, the enemy would have breached further into their territory.

Dodai, with a respectful nod, began his report. "Raikage-sama, as of now, there's no response from the Water Daimyo. Our forces are regrouping, and the wounded are being tended to. B's efforts on the front lines were instrumental in preventing a complete breach, but casualties were heavy."

"Has Elder Karai sent any updates regarding the status of Yugito? If we are to handle both the Iwagakure and Konoha fronts, we will need her to participate. If, by any chance, Kiri changes their minds and attacks us, we would be in trouble. Also, who are the commanders leading the enemy troops on each battlefront?" Raikage was questioned while planning a counter strategy to force Iwagakure out of Takigakure.

"Onoki's son, Kitsuchi, is leading the enemy camp as the commander on the Iwagakure side. On Konoha's side, it's the Sannin Jiraiya who is leading them as their commander, and Nara Shikaku is serving as his deputy. As for Elder Karai, he has stated that he will try to find a solution for Yugito's situation at the earliest," Dodai shared. When he heard Shikaku's name, his anger couldn't help but flare one notch higher. If it weren't for the Leaf village's Jonin Commander, Yugito would still be in a fighting condition, and he wouldn't have to stay so passive.

"Tsk, have B harass the Iwagakure lines until we find a solution for the seals that hurt Yugito. It's better to keep B away from the Leaf battlefield for the time being. Send a letter to the Daimyo to allocate more resources to the battlefield." Raikage passed down his orders. Originally, the Kumo army amounted to forty thousand Shinobi, but during the recent attack from Iwagakure, they lost close to a tenth of the original numbers, and this was a huge blow. So, the Raikage is currently maintaining a stalemate unless he has a better position and then launches a counterattack on both the Fire Country and Earth Country.

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Konoha main camp.

"Tsunade-sama, here is the latest report from the frontlines. There have been more than two dozen skirmishes and a medium-scale conflict. The medical scrolls have been surprisingly effective on the battlefield. We have only lost sixteen Shinobi, while the enemy has lost multiple times our numbers," Hiashi happily shared the intel from the recent report delivered by the ANBU troop. Tsunade was checking on an injured Shinobi while Hiashi was sharing the report. This has become the norm because Tsunade, even though she was the commander, mostly stayed in the medical camp unless she had to attend important meetings.

Tsunade continued working on the patient and responded, "Has there been updates from the other battlefronts?"

Hiashi pulled out another scroll. "Yes, Tsunade-sama. The Kiri have started aggressively attacking the Konoha defense lines. The battle there seems to be much more intense, but the Uchiha, along with the other Leaf Shinobi, have been actively pushing back the enemy. As for the Kumo battlefield, Jiraiya-sama has mentioned that the war there has only involved a few skirmishes, as the Kumo are concentrating much more on the Iwagakure side for now."

"Hmm, it seems like everyone wants to establish a solid foothold before they launch large-scale attacks. However, Iwagakure took the lead in this matter. They should be planning something. Make sure all our Shinobis are alert. Call for a meeting right away; I need to address all the captains that are available." Tsunade finished treating the patient, so she wanted to discuss further actions on how they would proceed in the war.

"Tsunade-sama, the robed person that your student Shizune is escorting around the camp, is that the Fuin Grandmaster? I have seen the person working on some kind of barrier around our camp, and an elite ANBU team is protecting him."

Tsunade, who was washing her hands in a medicinal solution, suddenly paused and turned to face the Hyuga clan head. "Hiashi, there are some things that you will know in due time. Don't try pushing your luck by trying to approach the man. The order was passed directly by Sensei, so I hope that you understand the consequences if you were to end up displeasing the person by trying to approach him without authorization." Tsunade warned Hiashi because she somewhat knew what went through Hiashi's head. Getting acquainted with such a person would help prosper the Hyuga clan by a large margin, considering the recent status of the Nara clan within the village.

Originally, Hiashi wanted to approach the man and request that he take Hinata as his disciple if possible. But after Tsunade's words, he understood that doing so at such a stage would only end up angering the man. "Don't worry; maybe in the future, you will have your chance. Now go and call everyone for a meeting." With that, Hiashi quickly left the tent, and a clone of Kazuki, who was standing tending to the injured within the camp, approached Tsunade.

"Keep an eye on the incoming patients. Have Kazuki come and meet me after he has finished the day's work on the barrier. I might need him to start working on the medical scrolls because we might start seeing a surge of incoming patients." Kazuki's clone simply gave a nod and returned to working on taking care of the patients.

The real Kazuki, however, was disguised and diligently working on the barrier that was going to defend them from most of the threats in the upcoming war. He had already completed setting up the primary defenses and was now working on completing them. The elite ANBU team was watching over the person's safety with the utmost diligence.