Promoted

After another ten days of stationing there, Konoha's forces began withdrawing in batches.

As one of the first personnel to withdraw, Kaedeji would return to the village ahead of the others for rest and reorganization. He was very satisfied with this transfer.

What he needed most now was time. Cultivating in the village was far better than being constrained at the main camp.

The reason they had not simply pulled everyone back to the village at once was to guard against the enemy suddenly launching another raid.

After all, their opponent was Sunagakure. Compared to the other ninja villages, Sunagakure was clearly at odds with its own country, to the point that it was always looking for chances to start wars and prove its worth to the Land of Wind.

Yet after fighting through the entire Second Great Ninja War, Sunagakure had not gained a thing.

They had invaded the Land of Fire and faced Hatake Sakumo and Tsunade, only to fail to occupy fertile territory, fail to seize valuable ninjutsu, and fail to effectively kill Konoha's prodigies. It had been a catastrophic loss.

On the other front, they had been invaded by Iwagakure. After a major battle, the two sides had fought to a draw. The Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history, had brought the One-Tails Jinchuriki Bunpuku with him and was fully capable of withstanding the Third Tsuchikage's offensive.

After all, Iwagakure's main forces were occupied with Konoha, where they had to face the troops led by Orochimaru.

Led by the Senju Clan, Uchiha Clan, and Hyūga Clan—the Three Great Kekkei Genkai Clans—a large number of major and minor clans with secret techniques had gathered under Orochimaru's command.

This alone showed that Konoha had deployed noticeably different levels of strength against Sunagakure and Iwagakure.

That was not even counting the Uzumaki Clan. Five years ago, at the start of the Second Great Ninja War, the Land of Whirlpools had been besieged by Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and groups of rogue ninja, leading to the country's destruction.

Kirigakure had flooded the Land of Whirlpools with the Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, Kumogakure had destroyed its large-scale barrier with the Thunder Dream Thunder Man Technique, and the rogue ninja groups had kidnapped Uzumaki clansmen to sell on the black market.

"Once I return to the village, I need to learn the One's Own Life Reincarnation as quickly as possible and increase my strength. If I have a choice, I should avoid taking part in the war against Iwagakure as much as possible," Kaedeji mused.

The pressure Iwagakure placed on Konoha was far beyond anything Sunagakure could match.

So long as Kumogakure in the northeast and Kirigakure in the southeast made no major moves, Iwagakure was actually Konoha's strongest opponent.

Sunagakure was already poor, and the puppet forces and poisons it had painstakingly cultivated were completely countered by Hatake Sakumo and Tsunade. That meant Konoha could deal with Sunagakure's attacks without spending too many resources.

Iwagakure, however, was troublesome. It had two Jinchuriki—the Four-Tails and Five-Tails—and both had participated in the war against Konoha.

On Konoha's side, the seventy-five-year-old Uzumaki Mito had not gone to war. Otherwise, if that Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, who scolded the Nine-Tails as though scolding her own son, had appeared on the battlefield, she might have hastened the war's end.

It was worth mentioning that, like Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Mito possessed the ability to sense the good and evil in people's hearts. Such terrifying, all-encompassing perception was practically unsolvable, turning every assault, ambush, and flanking tactic into a joke.

It was only because Uzumaki Mito was old and did not have much time left, perhaps also because the near-destruction of the Uzumaki Clan had dealt a devastating blow to her spirits, that she was now devoting herself to training Uzumaki Kushina and teaching her all kinds of secret sealing techniques.

And that was before adding the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō, who remained in Konoha...

"Konoha in this era really is overflowing with talent... If I remember correctly, the Third Hokage's son and daughter-in-law—Konohamaru's parents—were still alive at this time and serving in the Anbu." Just thinking about Konoha's lineup made Kaedeji sigh repeatedly.

It was simply too extravagant. Kekkei Genkai, secret techniques, total troop strength, number of Kage-level fighters... they held the advantage in every respect!

In a sense, it was quite impressive that the Third Hokage would gradually squander nearly all of this luxurious lineup in the future.

"Whenever a battle involving Iwagakure is concerned, I need to be more careful. The casualty rate will be very high."

By next year—at the end of Year 40—the war would enter its most brutal phase.

"After the Second Great Ninja War officially ends, conflicts between the villages will actually continue until the Third Great Ninja War breaks out..."

Kaedeji recalled the contents of Minato's Story and fell into thought.

Honestly, before mastering the One's Own Life Reincarnation, Kaedeji had no desire whatsoever to participate in such dangerous battles.

"At the end of the day, I still need to master the incomplete One's Own Life Reincarnation as soon as possible. It might take an ordinary person years to learn an S-rank forbidden technique. I have to find every possible way to shorten that time."

Preferably to no more than a year!

By the end of next year, the decisive battle between Konoha and Iwagakure would surely erupt. As a newly promoted ninja with secret techniques, Kaedeji would definitely be sent to the battlefield unless something unexpected happened.

"By then, I wonder whether the Void Realm Technique will let me evade the blast radius of a Tailed Beast Bomb..."

Kaedeji returned to the village with the troops and received an enthusiastic welcome from a large number of villagers.

Cheers and flowers were everywhere, as though the war had already ended completely. But driving back Sunagakure had given the villagers hope of victory, and everyone believed the war would end soon.

"We lost so many comrades, yet the people who survived are enjoying applause... Such matters..."

Kazematsuri Takuya let out a low sigh. Looking at all these faces, he could not bring himself to feel happy for some reason.

He remembered that he had originally been meant to die in the Land of Rain. It was thanks to Kaedeji pulling him away at the critical moment that he had avoided the poisonous mist trap.

How much of these people's cheering was actually for him?

"Don't think so much. Can't you see Lady Tsunade is waving to everyone?"

"But I feel like Lady Tsunade's smile is somewhat forced..."

Of course it was forced.

Senju Nawaki had died on the battlefield, and the key was that his death had been so careless and arbitrary. Even though the war against Sunagakure was over, Tsunade still could not bring herself to feel happy.

Fortunately, Dan Katō was all right. However, without Kaedeji's influence, he would normally die in another two years. That would be when Tsunade truly broke down and developed psychological trauma.

"No one can say what the future holds. What we must do is seize the present, follow the guidance of the Will of Fire, and give everything we have to protect this village."

Like the other ninja, Kaedeji waved to the people around them.

The main purpose of this welcome ceremony was to raise morale. Kaedeji only wanted it to end as soon as possible so he could enter cultivation mode.

But soon, he received a new appointment.

"What? Lady Tsunade, the village actually appointed me as the head of the Corpse Disposal Unit?"

Kaedeji put on a surprised expression. "How can that be? I'm only Lord Morino Ise's assistant."