"Hurry, hurry, make way! Where's the head of the medical team? Get him over here, now!" Jiraiya shouted like a stuck pig as he barreled through the camp.
"What's going on? Everyone, get back to your posts! Why is Jiraiya making such a racket?"
Mitokado Homura said as he headed toward Jiraiya. Then he spotted Minato Namikaze unconscious on the ground and jumped in shock.
He was about to speak when he saw Bing San, his face bloodied and his expression dazed.
"Hurry, hurry! Elder Mito, Elder Danzo's not going to make it!"
Jiraiya shouted as he charged inside with Danzo on his back.
After Uchiha Yue gave Danzo emergency treatment, Minato drank a blue potion, gritted his teeth, and used the Flying Thunder God to take everyone away.
Once they reached somewhere relatively safe, he immediately left the others behind and took Jiraiya, Danzo, and Bing San with him to the front-line camp at Amegakure to seek treatment.
When they arrived at the camp, Minato finally let his taut nerves relax a little—and promptly passed out.
Chakra consumption was directly tied to mental strain, after all. Minato had used an enormous amount of Chakra, and the damage to his mind was severe.
The rescue went fairly smoothly, since this was the decidedly unscientific Shinobi World. They used Chakra Scalpels for surgery and the Mystical Palm Technique for healing. For cardiac resuscitation, they just grabbed the heart directly; they performed surgery without disinfecting anything, using ninjutsu instead.
After more than four hours of treatment, Danzo's life was finally out of danger.
However, he remained unconscious due to severe blood loss and damage to his internal organs.
Bing San sat numbly beside the hospital bed. His mind was filled with the image of that gloomy man standing in front of him, while the unfinished last half of his words played over and over in his ears.
Blood seeped from Bing San's clenched fists, dripping onto the floor and sizzling as it corroded the surface.
Autumn turned to winter, and more than two months passed in the blink of an eye.
Orochimaru glanced at the figure furiously pounding a wooden post outside the tent and shook his head. Then he called, "Bing San, it's time to eat."
Bing San hammered away at the post like a madman, thump after thump. He had been doing this every day since returning to the western front that day.
His three clones and Bing San himself had been studying all kinds of knowledge as if their lives depended on it.
Jiraiya had visited once during that time, and Asuma had sneaked over too, only to be caught and taken back by his older brother, Shin'nosuke Sarutobi.
Danzo was still unconscious, with no sign that he would wake up.
Orochimaru quietly walked over to Bing San and took hold of his hand.
Bing San's blood sizzled as it touched Orochimaru's skin. Orochimaru furrowed his brow slightly and said, "Bing San, it's time to eat."
The dullness in Bing San's eyes gradually gave way to a glimmer of awareness. Looking at Orochimaru's hand, he said, "I'm sorry, Sensei. I made you worry."
Orochimaru merely shook his head, his expression cool, then went inside to eat.
He had been just like this as a boy, after burying his parents with his own hands.
That night, a light snow began to fall. The first snow of the year 44 in Konoha drifted softly to the ground.
The war against Sunagakure had been raging for a year and a half. The Sand Shinobi were still attacking. Perhaps at first they had fought for revenge, but now they simply couldn't afford to lose.
The Chiyo Siblings had fallen out with the Daimyo completely, and Sunagakure was now surviving by seizing resources. The siblings had even gone so far as to raid the capital of the Land of Wind.
The Daimyo of the Land of Wind was both shocked and furious, but there was little he could do. After all, no matter how you looked at it, the guards at the Daimyo's Mansion were no match for Sunagakure.
As for Pakura, the Sand Shinobi regarded her as a hero for nearly killing Danzo.
Although she had been badly injured that day, the woman had not only survived through sheer tenacity but had also gained new powers as a result.
Every day, Bing San trained himself while waiting for a special opportunity. And that opportunity had finally come.
That night, everyone gathered for a meeting. Nara Shikano said, "Everyone, as you can see, our opportunity has arrived.
"Every year, this change in the weather brings heavy rain and snow.
"We asked the nearby villagers, and they estimate this snowfall will last three to five days. Meanwhile, the nearby Kikyo Mountain, which we depend on, has already been covered in snow for more than three months."
The jonin nodded, and Nara Shikano continued, "At great cost, we obtained reliable intelligence: the Sand Shinobi have stored the supplies they seized at a camp more than twenty li west of the foot of Kikyo Mountain.
"Now that the weather is on our side, we can use Bing San's Kekkei Genkai to give the Sand Shinobi a very special gift.
"If we succeed, the Sand Shinobi will be unable to continue fighting, even if they don't surrender."
The jonin were all excited. After eighteen months of war, there was finally hope of an end.
Without Bing San's Ice Release, this strategy would have been impossible. He was the key to ending this pointless war.
After the meeting that night, everyone returned to their quarters and began preparing.
Early the next morning, Orochimaru led some of the jonin in a feint against Rasa's camp. He and Rasa fought another chaotic battle that ended without a victor.
By noon, the snow was falling harder and harder, and everyone had to return to their own camps to rest. Yet one Konoha squad took advantage of the night, braved the blizzard, and slowly climbed up the back of Kikyo Mountain.
The wind howled, and snowflakes fluttered wildly through the air. More than fifty people wore the special ice armor Bing San had made. They trudged up the mountain, leaving deep footprints with every step.
Bing San's eyes were red as he trudged forward, one step at a time. Suddenly, a Wind Release jonin missed his footing and went tumbling down. Nara Shikaku formed a hand seal, but the shadow beneath his feet only twitched weakly.
The group silently continued their climb, each driven by their own ideals and goals.
Suddenly, Akimichi Choza's foot gave way, and with a rumble he fell into an ice cavern. The chubby boy reacted at once, expanding his body and wedging himself in place.
At last, when they were utterly exhausted, they reached the summit. They looked down at the sea of clouds below, unable to see how far it stretched or how deep the snow-covered drop was.
Nara Shikaku bit his finger, worked out the time, and said, "Bing San, we have about four hours to rest. Take a break."
Bing San merely nodded, then kept staring with bloodshot eyes, trying to catch sight of the Sand Shinobi's camp below.
His clenched little fists trembled, and drops of black blood fell from them. His nails dug deep into his flesh again, but Bing San didn't even notice.
Four hours later, Shikaku said softly, "Bing San, are you all right? We can begin."
Bing San rolled his shoulders and said, "I'm fine. Better than fine. I feel great." Then he quickly formed hand seals. "Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave! Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique! Water to Ice!"
In an instant, another massive block of ice appeared before them, more than 150 meters long, over 30 meters wide, and more than three meters thick.
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