After Kakashi's group left, the Iwagakure camp was filled with a nauseating medicinal stench mixed with the smell of blood. It resembled a living hell more than a battlefield.
Kitsuchi's rough, massive hand tightly clenched the medical ninja's report. His knuckles turned white, and his bones crackled.
He paced back and forth, his heavy footsteps echoing through the tent like war drums pounding against everyone's hearts.
"How could this happen?! What the hell happened?!" Kitsuchi's roar shook dust loose from the tent ceiling. Veins bulged on his forehead, and he looked like a savage beast on the verge of erupting.
The air inside the tent seemed to freeze. Several medical ninja lowered their heads, barely daring to breathe. They had never seen their commander lose control like this.
The medicinal odor in the air made their throats itch and their stomachs churn.
"Investigate! Investigate it for me! Find out exactly what caused this!" Kitsuchi slammed his fist onto the table. The thick wooden table let out a pained groan, and a distinct fist mark appeared on its surface.
His bloodshot eyes swept over everyone present.
"Reporting to the commander, according to the latest test results..." A medical ninja held out a report to Kitsuchi with trembling hands, his voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. "The ninjas' healthy cells... have been damaged and mutated by an unknown Chakra toxin. Those with mild symptoms will require long-term treatment, while those with severe symptoms... may suffer lasting toxicity for the rest of their lives..."
"What?!" Kitsuchi snatched the report and skimmed through it rapidly, his face turning deathly pale in an instant.
A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, as though he had been plunged into an ice cave.
The report in his hand