Iwagakure Front

Iwagakure Front Camp.

The border's hidden outposts had undergone a complete transformation, becoming camps meant to hold back Iwagakure.

Their constantly shifting locations had also changed into a single place to defend to the death.

Before, they had been meant to scout out ninja entering the Land of Fire.

Now, they were meant to stop them from entering the Land of Fire.

Naturally, the methods were different.

Uchiha Jin entered the command camp alone.

Minato Namikaze and Kushina were still holding the defensive line.

Jin had come mainly to hand over his assignment and have someone else take his place on Team 7's defensive line.

Inside the command tent.

Several jonin were studying a map model and analyzing the routes.

Some suggested taking the initiative to attack, while others proposed holding their ground.

"If we keep defending, we'll be far too passive. We should drive Iwagakure completely back!"

"Then do you know how many traps Iwagakure has set along the routes ahead? Do you know how many losses we'll suffer if we attack rashly?!"

The jonin argued until their faces were red.

But in the end, the one who would make the final decision was still Jiraiya.

Jiraiya stared at the map with a deeply furrowed brow.

His gray armor was covered in scratches and scorch marks, even bearing blackened clumps of dried blood.

Only when he heard someone enter did he look up and see Jin walking in.

The other ninja merely glanced at Uchiha Jin before continuing their argument.

Jiraiya walked over to Jin.

"Teacher Jiraiya, what's going on with the Sunagakure front asking for me?"

Jin looked at the jonin, who were nearly coming to blows, and asked quietly.

Jiraiya recalled the orders sent down from the village.

All deployment orders for the border came from the village.

Jiraiya had also learned that the Sunagakure front was in trouble.

"Sunagakure has developed a complex poison. They want you to develop a ninjutsu that can make people resistant to poison."

"Isn't that Jonin Tsunade's job?"

Jin was confident enough in developing that sort of ninjutsu.

He glanced at the Deduction input box, where quite a few new poison-resistant ninjutsu had already appeared.

But he was not a specialist. This should have gone to Tsunade.

Although Tsunade's proposal for Medical Ninja had been rejected.

That did not change the fact that Tsunade was the strongest Medical Ninja in the entire ninja world.

When it came to medical ninjutsu, everyone had to acknowledge Tsunade's skill.

"You're only the backup option. Tsunade is the main choice. The village has already ordered her to head for the Sunagakure front."

Jiraiya looked at Jin with a smile.

"If you don't want to go, you don't need to force yourself. I'll help you decline."

In truth, he did not want Jin too far away from him. As the disciple of the suspected Child of Darkness, Jin still needed to be guided slowly.

Unfortunately, this time of war was not the right time for guidance.

It would be best to keep him nearby.

Jin rubbed his chin in thought, then raised a question.

"Teacher Jiraiya, if I solve Sunagakure's problem, can I exchange that for the right to read the Forbidden Scroll?"

As long as someone in Konoha had used his Basic Inner Cultivation, their ninjutsu had effectively become his.

But the techniques in the Forbidden Scroll had not.

The only one that seemed to be within the Forbidden Scroll was the Spirit Transformation Technique.

Jiraiya considered Jin's request for a moment.

"I can help you apply, but to read the Forbidden Scroll, you'll need Lord Hokage's approval."

"Is that so?"

Jin pondered it. That old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi might not necessarily let him read the Forbidden Scroll.

After all, once his Basic Inner Cultivation had become a village ninjutsu, Hiruzen Sarutobi had given him nothing but credit.

Other ninja expected no reward for handing over ninjutsu.

But Jin was not that kind of person. If he could not use Basic Inner Cultivation to learn other people's ninjutsu, he would never have handed it over so easily.

Yet on the surface, he was the one who had gotten the short end of the stick. Jin had remembered this grudge against Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Sooner or later, he would get his revenge.

His main reason for earning merits now was to get a glimpse of the Forbidden Scroll's contents.

This might be an opportunity.

He had coveted the Forbidden Scroll for a long time.

"Then leave it to me."

Jin accepted the task.

Sunlight streamed down from the sky. As Jin walked out of the command tent, he could not help raising a hand to shield his eyes.

The camp before him had fewer people than the original outposts.

Most of those here were severely wounded soldiers who had lost their ability to fight.

He headed toward his tent, intending to pack up and leave, but someone familiar approached him head-on.

"Hizashi Hyuga."

"Uchiha Jin."

When Hizashi Hyuga saw Jin, he lowered his head with a despondent expression. He was in a miserable state: one eye was wrapped in bandages, one arm hung against his chest, bandages circled his neck, and his other hand leaned on a crutch.

"You..."

"Surviving wasn't easy, was it?"

Hizashi Hyuga finished Jin's sentence for him. The fingers clutching his crutch had turned white, veins bulging beneath the skin.

Yet he appeared calm on the surface.

"Your eye is all right?" Jin could only change the subject.

The Hyuga clan used their eyes much like the Uchiha. Losing an eye would be disastrous.

"It's fine. It'll heal in two or three days."

Hizashi Hyuga touched his eye.

If the enemy had not discovered his visual blind spot, how could he have ended up this badly?!

His only uninjured hand clenched into a fist.

Why did he seem to be getting angrier?

Jin exchanged a few more pleasantries before hurrying away.

Most Hyuga clan members had rather serious issues.

That reminded him of the little brother he had reserved for the future.

"Kiyoshi Hyuga should have gone to the Land of Rain battlefield, right? I wonder if he can survive."

Then he promptly tossed the thought to the back of his mind.

When he reached his tent, he did not actually have much to pack. It was all ninja gear he needed, which he stuffed into a backpack before using Reverse Summoning to send it to Ryūchi Cave.

Little White would help him keep an eye on his things.

Only then did he leave the camp.

He looked at the lush forest outside the camp. Once he turned around, the camp itself was no longer visible.

In truth, it was still there and not invisible. It was simply that the illusion barrier made people overlook it.

Explosions rumbled constantly in the distance. That was the main battlefield.

All kinds of ninjutsu flashed there, and lights of every color could be seen even from here.

Iwagakure had been trying to break through the defensive line, but the Konoha Ninja held them back without yielding.

Still, Iwagakure had suffered the greater number of casualties.

Konoha had taken fewer losses, but many had still been left behind on the battlefield forever.

"Sunagakure can't be more dangerous than this place, can it?"

The odds of that were actually quite high.

"With my current strength, I probably won't be in much danger of dying."

Having participated in the war for nearly half a year, he had gained a fair understanding of how ninja fought. In terms of strength, he could already be considered a jonin.

At first, what he lacked was experience. He still could not be called experienced now, but at least he would not be caught in one chain of attacks after another until he died without being able to fight back.

He turned, leaped into a tree, and swiftly bounded away from the camp.