"Waaaaah!"
Tsunade's cries echoed through the Forest of the Land of Fire.
Orochimaru watched Tsunade's weeping figure in silence.
"Human life is truly fragile!"
He sighed.
A four-person squad consisting of Tsunade, Kunugi Mokume, Dan Katō, and a Jonin, together with a squad led by Orochimaru.
The two squads worked together, relying on Dan Katō's Spirit Transformation Technique to steal the antidote to Ibuse's poison.
They successfully retrieved the antidote, but Dan Katō's body was destroyed, leaving him forever in this forest.
But his sacrifice had been worthwhile.
After obtaining the antidote to Ibuse's poison, Konoha would soon be able to counter Hanzō.
Hyuga Ao opened her eyes in delight. During the month she had spent slacking off at Nawaki's place, she had undone another Caged Bird Chain.
Adding that to the first chain and the one she had undone during her two years of training, three of the nine Caged Bird seals had now been removed. She had already grasped the hem of freedom's skirt; with a little more effort, she could lift it.
Hyuga Ao was drenched in sweat. She slowly slipped off her clothes, revealing her smooth, rounded shoulders. Her pale hand gently stroked down the curves of her body as she felt her smooth skin and the small hills that had begun to take shape, satisfaction showing in her eyes.
Looking beautiful was the best!
Hyuga Ao nodded. Indeed, being a girl meant learning to please herself. Looking at herself was enough.
Unfortunately, she still could not experience the joys of being a girl. Even though she was growing quickly under high-intensity training and abundant nutrition, some places were best left untouched until she was older.
Then Hyuga Ao grasped her already budding conscience, her face filled with worry.
Is this thing really growing so fast? Although Hyuga Ao liked those attractive young ladies who drew everyone's attention, she only liked seeing other people's grow large. She did not want hers to become that big. Looking good was enough; there was no need for them to be useful.
Should I try using Embryonic Breathing to control the flow of nutrients? Hyuga Ao frowned in thought. I don't want to lose sight of my feet in the future.
But she soon heard that Nawaki's squad had returned. Hyuga Ao shook her head. "Forget it. I'll just let nature take its course."
Hyuga Ao took a quick bath, draped her damp hair over her shoulders, and went to join Nawaki's squad.
When Nawaki and the others saw Hyuga Ao after her bath, they froze for a moment. But the news they had just received left them in no mood for jokes, and Nawaki said solemnly, "Something's happened."
A week earlier, Konoha had been fighting squad battles against the Rain Ninja.
Yet without anyone noticing, two Rain Ninja were quietly passing through the edge of the defensive line.
Within the dense jungle, one tall and one short Rain Ninja observed their surroundings and the sky.
The tall Rain Ninja kicked through a small tree as tall as a person. His chakra-infused, furious kick snapped it effortlessly.
The small tree's stark white break seemed to mock the two shinobi who had managed to get lost on a battlefield.
The tall Rain Ninja spat viciously and cursed, "Damn it, why is the Forest of the Land of Fire so hard to cross? It's already been a whole day."
The short Rain Ninja came over to comfort him. "Forget it, forget it. Let's just keep going straight and get out first."
The tall Rain Ninja kicked up a pile of fallen leaves and swept his eyes fiercely across the surroundings, as though searching for an enemy who did not exist.
The two Rain Ninja continued through the dense forest. Around them, white humanoid figures appeared and vanished.
At last, the Rain Ninja finally emerged from the endless forest. A small village in the Land of Fire lay before them.
The villagers working nearby paid no attention to the Rain Ninja who had suddenly appeared, as though they were already accustomed to people appearing out of nowhere.
"What are you doing here?"
The patrolling samurai came over to question them because the Rain Ninja wore uniforms unlike those of Konoha's shinobi.
The Rain Ninja looked at the samurai squad before him with undisguised superiority. But gradually, a smear of blood-red spread from the depths of his eyes and covered his vision.
The Rain Ninja slowly raised his weapon and charged at the samurai before him.
"Rain Ninja passed through Konoha's direction and slaughtered the Minister of the Land of Fire's hometown?" Hyuga Ao asked in astonishment.
Hyuga Ao had every reason to be shocked. It sounded utterly absurd. Konoha's Aburame Clan, Inuzuka Clan, and Hyuga, all first-rate scouting forces, had been stationed here. How could Rain Ninja have crossed the defensive line?
And they were only two Chunin!
"But that is what happened." Shikaku's brows were tightly furrowed. "The Daimyo has ordered Konoha to drive the Rain Ninja out of the Land of Fire within a week. We can't continue this standoff."
Shikaku angrily hammered his thigh. "Damn it, why did this have to happen now?"
Hyuga Ao fell silent.
Indeed, why had it happened now?
Thanks to Nawaki, many of Konoha's high-level secrets were no secrets within the squad.
Thus, they knew that Konoha had already developed a preliminary countermeasure against Ibuse's poison. But the method was extremely costly and demanding, and could only be used on elites.
It could barely suppress Ibuse's poison in battles at the Shadow level and preserve their combat strength, but the method had severe aftereffects.
If Konoha were forced to throw its entire army into battle immediately, it could accept that—but the casualties would be enormous, and the battle would be extremely difficult.
The timing was too strange. Hyuga Ao kneaded the bangs hanging over her forehead, sensing something amiss. The figures of certain white creatures flashed through her mind.
Hyuga Ao shook her head. These were not matters she could consider right now. She asked Nawaki, "How will Konoha arrange the next operation?"
Nawaki shook his head. "I don't know either. This operation is top secret. Only the Hokage, a few advisers, and the commander know about it."
This truly surprised Hyuga Ao. Over the past month, she had finally learned what it meant to be the Hokage's grandson.
Konohamaru really was low-key. Perhaps Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen what happened to Nawaki and did not want his grandson to be too conspicuous.
Nawaki was now recognized wherever he went. Anyone with even a little strength or status knew him.
As long as something was not absolutely classified, they would let him know about it. If Nawaki said he wanted to look at the Scroll of Seals, the Third Hokage might well give it to him after a moment's thought. Nawaki simply had no need for it.
Even the haughty Uchiha Clan did not dare provoke Nawaki now.
Because Nawaki was truly the last known male of the Senju. Although he had not inherited the Senju surname, to the villagers and the shinobi clans, he was the last Senju.
It could be said that the rise and fall of the Senju rested entirely on his shoulders.
Now that Nawaki said he did not know, this next operation might truly be one that determined the course of the war.
Seeing Hyuga Ao and Shikaku Nara lower their heads in thought, Nawaki clapped his hands. "All right, all right. Ao'er, Shikaku, stop overthinking it. Focus on preparing for battle."
"Mm." Hyuga Ao nodded, returned to her tent, and continued practicing breath-holding.
After a long while, Hyuga Ao exhaled the stale air and adjusted her breathing.
On the battlefield in the Land of Rain, Hanzō's poison meant certain death for ordinary soldiers the moment it touched them.
To guard against the possibility that Hanzō might suddenly sneak near her and release poison, Hyuga Ao had been practicing breath-holding.
She could now exchange the air within her body, purifying the breath stored inside her until it was nearly pure oxygen.
Then, by using certain Tortoise Breathing techniques, she could reduce her body's consumption. At the extreme, she could enter a deathlike state for an entire day, losing consciousness completely. During that time, she would not breathe, and her heartbeat would be barely perceptible, but her body would function entirely on instinct, causing her to lose consciousness.
She could also sit still for three hours on a single breath. However, during intense combat, she could only fight for twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, she had to breathe again.
Therefore, if she truly fought Hanzō of the Salamander, she would have to leave herself enough time to escape the poisonous mist if she could not kill him quickly.
Fortunately, twenty minutes was still fairly ample.
"Phew." Hyuga Ao finished another round of breath-holding training and set down the scroll she had borrowed from Nawaki.
Hyuga Ao would definitely focus on taijutsu during the early stage. She had borrowed Minato's and Nawaki's scrolls to lay a theoretical foundation for her future path to becoming the Shadow of Hyuga.
The Shadow of Hyuga needed to experience various fields and different types of chakra, but this was a path for practical fighters.
There was actually another path, one that relied purely on enlightenment: reading books—many books about chakra and ninjutsu—and studying the opinions of different people.
Then, after reading a book a hundred times, its meaning would reveal itself!
Through that, one could comprehend a domain and become the Shadow of Hyuga in a single leap.
Hyuga Ao was walking both paths at once.
After all, since she had come to the world of Naruto, it would be a shame if she could not learn about ninjutsu and the mysteries of chakra, wouldn't it?
Before you continue