The Shadow of Fear Descends

After crushing the ambush, Duanmu Ci's team delivered the supplies without incident and quickly returned to the main medical station. Regarding the attack, Duanmu Ci only gave Tsunade a brief report, concealing the evidence of Root. He merely said that unidentified enemies had disguised themselves to launch an attack and had been driven off. After hearing this, Tsunade's gaze deepened. She did not ask further questions, only patting his shoulder. "Well done. You didn't disgrace me."

Duanmu Ci knew that Tsunade understood who was behind it. Between master and disciple, an unspoken understanding had formed.

The days seemed to return to their tense medical routine. Duanmu Ci trained even more desperately in secret within the Forest of Death. His control over Wood Style grew increasingly refined, and he could now create small wooden shields and sharp wooden stakes for defensive and offensive practice. Though Sage Chakra guidance was still painful, both the amount of Sage Chakra he could sustain and the duration steadily increased. His passive use of the Rinnegan also became more proficient.

Yet the shadow of war had never gone away. One evening several days later, the sky was as gloomy as a block of lead. Muffled thunder rolled through the clouds, heralding the approach of a storm.

Amid this oppressive atmosphere, a piercing alarm tore through the medical station's calm like the shriek of a vengeful ghost!

"Emergency casualties! A large number of emergency casualties! Get ready!"

Chaotic shouts and heavy footsteps came from outside the medical station, accompanied by a nauseatingly thick stench of blood that instantly spread everywhere!

Duanmu Ci and the other medical ninja rushed out of their tents, and the sight before them made everyone suck in a sharp breath!

Dozens of stretchers were carried in without end! The people on them... could only be described as "shattered."

Severed arms and mutilated limbs were everywhere! Casualties whose flesh had been burned black over large areas by Fire Release, leaving them unrecognizable, let out inhuman screams! Ninja struck by massive Earth Release boulders, their chests and abdomens caved in and blood spraying from their mouths and noses, struggled to breathe! Warriors slashed by Wind Release, their wounds deep enough to expose bone and even reveal writhing organs, convulsed in agony! Blood soaked through the stretchers, dripped onto the ground, and gathered into glaring crimson streams! The heavy scent of blood mingled with the rotten stench of wounds, creating a suffocating aura of death!

This was a disastrous defeat after an unexpected encounter! Hell projected onto the human world!

"Quick! Sort them! Critical cases first! Stop the bleeding! Clean the wounds!" Tsunade's authoritative voice rang out, though it carried a trace of barely perceptible tremor. She stood at the forefront like a stabilizing pillar, directing the chaotic scene. But Duanmu Ci keenly noticed that the instant she stepped into this bloody hell, her face had turned deathly pale, and her fingers were trembling faintly.

The medical station instantly became an Asura field. Painful groans, desperate cries, the hurried orders of the medical staff, the clatter of instruments... all intertwined into the cruelest symphony. Suppressing the churning in his stomach and the heaviness in his heart, Duanmu Ci immediately threw himself into the rescue effort. Using the Rinnegan's perception, he swiftly assessed injuries and treated wounds with precision. The light of the Palm Immortal Technique shone steadily in his hands as he fought to hold onto each fading life.

Yet the carnage only escalated.

A young mother—perhaps a logistics worker—rushed in carrying a little girl no more than five or six years old. The girl's abdomen had been torn open by shrapnel from an explosion, her intestines spilling out. Her tiny face was white as paper, and her breath was weak.

"Doctor! Save my child! Please!" the mother screamed heartbreakingly, dropping to her knees with a thud.

This scene was like a red-hot branding iron, fiercely searing Tsunade's heart!

Nawaki! Dan!

Her younger brother's body, blown to pieces by Explosive Tags... the sight of her lover Dan Kato, his chest pierced through by an enemy, breathing his last in her arms... Those horrifying memories buried deep in her heart, numbed by alcohol and avoidance, were utterly detonated at this moment by the identical carnage and despair before her!

Bzzz!

Tsunade felt her mind go blank! The blood stench, so intense it seemed tangible, gripped her throat like countless icy hands! Everything before her was instantly stained with a sticky, swaying crimson! The mother's desperate cries, the little girl's faint breaths, the agonized groans of the wounded around them... every sound warped and magnified, becoming the cries of her brother and lover in their final moments!

"No... don't..." Tsunade staggered back a step and crashed into the equipment rack behind her with a loud clatter. Her face was white as paper, and her entire body shook violently like a fallen leaf in a cold wind! Those hands that had once been as steady as stone, capable of performing exquisite Medical Ninjutsu, now trembled so badly that she could not even hold a cotton swab! Her amber eyes were filled with uncontrollable fear and pain, her pupils unfocused as her vision began to blur and distort!

Hemophobia! In such a brutal, devastating scene, it had erupted completely!

"Lord Tsunade!" Shizune was the first to notice Tsunade's abnormal state and cried out in terror.

But Tsunade seemed unable to hear her. She clamped a hand over her mouth, her stomach churning violently as an overwhelming urge to vomit rose within her! Leaning against the equipment rack, her body slid uncontrollably toward the floor. Her hollow eyes stared at the bloody hell before her, as though her very soul had been torn away!

The collapse of their central pillar spread like a plague! The medical ninja, already under enormous pressure, saw that even Lord Tsunade had fallen, and the support in their hearts crumbled in an instant!

"Lord Tsunade!"

"Even Lord Tsunade..."

"It's over... there's no hope..."

Panic and despair, like an icy tide, instantly submerged the entire medical station! The wounded seemed to howl even more miserably, the smell of blood became even more pungent, and the shadow of death had never been so clear!

The chaos worsened! Some lightly wounded casualties deteriorated because they could not receive prompt treatment, the critically injured grew weaker still, and the mother holding her child let out a despairing wail...

Duanmu Ci had just barely stopped the bleeding from a casualty's femoral artery using the Palm Immortal Technique when he looked up and saw the sight that made his heart stop!

Teacher Tsunade was slumped against the equipment rack, her eyes unfocused and her body trembling as boundless fear devoured her! The entire medical station had fallen into even greater chaos and despair because of her collapse!

An indescribable fury and fierce urge to protect surged explosively through Duanmu Ci's chest! He could not let her fall! He could not stand by and watch these people die!

"Don't give up! Follow standard procedure! Leave this to me!" Duanmu Ci suddenly straightened and let out a thunderous roar! Chakra infused his shout, instantly drowning out all the noise and cries and carrying clearly to everyone's ears!

Under the astonished, bewildered, and even faintly despairing gazes of everyone present, Duanmu Ci slammed both hands onto the ground! He no longer hesitated, no longer cared about exposing himself!

Wood Style: Forest Domination!

Rumble—!!!

The earth let out a muffled roar! Centered on Duanmu Ci, countless thick, incredibly tough dark-brown vines burst from the ground like giant pythons! They grew, intertwined, and coiled wildly! Their speed was like a surging green tidal wave! In the blink of an eye, a massive circular barricade several meters high and incomparably thick, formed entirely from living vines, firmly enclosed the surgical areas where the wounded were most concentrated and the stench of blood was strongest, along with the mother holding her child!

This vine barricade not only cut off the possibility of physical attacks; more importantly, it was like a heavy green curtain, completely blocking the most brutal and bloodiest scenes from Tsunade's fear-filled sight—completely.