Discord

The new generation, experiencing the slaughter firsthand for the first time, was quietly wrestling with their own worries.

At the same time, Chosokabe Masayuki, firmly seated at headquarters, was hardly idle.

Unlike the combat units, which only had to consider casualties, countermeasures, and how to deploy their forces, the old director had taken charge of every logistical task for the Frontline Support Battalion. What's more, he'd known all along what the Third Hokage had planned.

...Actually, it wasn't surprising when you thought about it.

After all, the plans to establish a temporary Field Hospital and build a semi-permanent Forward Base were inherently at odds.

If the old man in charge of carrying out the plan had been unprepared during the mobilization phase, then even if the guard squad led by Teacher Motochika had successfully completed Sarutobi Hiruzen's orders, the medical staff participating in the support operation wouldn't have been able to conjure supplies out of thin air and "change course on the spot" to start building the base without the necessary materials...

Or to put it another way, this plan to make a show of one thing while secretly doing another had only been possible largely because of Chosokabe Masayuki's exceptional organizational skills and the almost unshakable prestige he'd built up over decades.

"How are we doing on the casualty report?" The old director quickly leafed through the report in his hands and asked Usami Hanbei, who had just entered the tent, without looking up.

Hanbei had already changed into easy-to-move-in clothes and looked dusty and travel-worn from head to toe. "Three with minor injuries. No serious injuries or deaths."

"I'm asking about everyone in the Frontline Support Battalion. What about the Guard Unit?"

"Two with minor injuries. Everyone has recovered, including the Nara Commander." Usami hesitated briefly, but answered promptly.

"How are the major medical devices?"

"Most were moved to a safe place in advance. Almost everything damaged in last night's battle was everyday equipment that's easy to replace.

"However, that rogue who slipped into the camp disrupted Commander Nara Motonari's plans. Before I could intervene, he destroyed two high-pressure steam sterilizers."

Director Usami paused for longer than he had the last time.

Still slightly bowed, he surreptitiously glanced up to gauge the old director's reaction, only to find the other man looking back at him.

The sunken eye sockets and heavy dark circles did make the over-fifty-year-old man look more haggard than usual. But his prominent cheekbones and bark-like wrinkles extending from the corners of his eyes only added to the menace of a "sick tiger"!

The old man's gaze was like two sharp scalpels, slicing through the excuse Director Usami hadn't yet voiced.

"What exactly are you trying to say, Director Usami?"

The old director's voice was hard and cold. Though he phrased it as a question, he left no room for an answer. "If the equipment is damaged, find replacements nearby. If the area can't supply them, file a request for the village to send more! Until then, have all the units pool their resources and make do!"

"But Director, the Medical Team's job is to treat and save lives, not to fight the enemy."

Although Director Usami had personally stepped in the previous night and taken down the Waterfall Ninja assassin who'd infiltrated the camp with a single slash, his words did speak for the feelings of quite a few volunteers.

...As specialist ninja devoted to medical skills, most of the doctors hastily transferred from Konoha Hospital weren't actually capable of fighting on the front lines. People like Yamada Soji and Usami Hanbei were rare exceptions.

Without the protection of the camp and its guards, these "healers" tasked with treating and saving lives had no way to survive for long under the enemy's focused fire.

That was why, although last night's battle had caused relatively few direct casualties, the shadow it left on the medical staff couldn't be dispelled so quickly...

Director Usami had picked up on this subtle shift in mood.

And being as sharp as he was, he immediately thought of a way to address it!

Hanbei knew that when any interest group first emerged, it needed a self-consistent mechanism for distributing benefits: a faction that benefited the majority represented justice and progress, while one that did the opposite represented exploitation and reaction.

No group was naturally inclined to become the latter.

But prolonged conflict often blurred a group's original goals, turning competition between factions from a search for truth into a game of picking sides between "us" and "them." Some would even betray their founding principles for the sake of "victory"!

...That was exactly what was happening now.

The struggle between the hospital's younger generation and the Conservative Faction had grown more intense as war approached.

During this period, the medical staff who volunteered or obeyed orders to head to the border had, to varying degrees, hoped to distinguish themselves and make a name for themselves.

However, nearly a decade of peace after the First Shinobi World War had changed these young people's basic understanding of war.

Quite a few of them seemed to think that being assigned to build the Jingu Forest Field Hospital was no more than a change of workplace...

The gap between theory and reality had led many to lose heart after witnessing the slaughter of the ninja world at close range for the first time. If no one addressed it soon, it would inevitably undermine the stability of the new generation's faction.

To protect his faction's interests, Director Usami had chosen to prepare for trouble in advance. Before the even more brutal struggles ahead began, he would redirect the tensions that were still brewing.

To that end, he had set his sights on the Guard Unit, whose factional leanings were close to theirs!

...Although their positions were similar and both stood beneath the banner of the Third Hokage, if he wanted to keep the "us" formed by the medical staff from being tainted in the struggle for power at Konoha Hospital, then "them," led by Nara Motonari, made the perfect scapegoats.

Hanbei certainly didn't intend to make a big deal out of two damaged machines and a few minor injuries by holding the Guard Unit responsible.

But with this "inoculation" administered in advance, if something more serious did develop later, Director Usami would already have prepared a "treatment plan" for his own people.

He could clear them of responsibility as much as possible in a way most people would accept.

Even Director Chosokabe could follow that prescription and preserve his spotless reputation.

...Yet, contrary to Hanbei's expectations, the old director hadn't gone along with this seemingly win-win plan from the outset.

From his expression to his words, Chosokabe Masayuki showed no desire to absolve himself of responsibility!

He glared fiercely at Usami, like an old but savage fighting dog, ready to sink its teeth into someone at any moment...

"Have you ever fought in a war, Director Usami?"

"..."

Hanbei said nothing. He knew that since he'd already taken the wrong approach, anything he said now would only get him chewed out.

And sure enough, the old director didn't let him off the hook just because he knew enough to keep quiet...

He slammed his veined, bony right hand down on the table in front of him, then immediately let loose. "Every war! Every single one, even before the founding of Konoha, has been the same! Everyone fights with everything they have to survive and defeat the enemies trying to destroy us!

"It's a brutal arena where it's kill or be killed, a struggle for survival where you have to risk everything!

"So I'm warning you: don't bring any unnecessary thoughts onto the battlefield. Anyone who can't tell friend from foe has no right to be anyone's opponent!"

"..."

Director Chosokabe's sudden outburst left the tent in awkward silence.

Usami Hanbei wasn't angry or embarrassed, but simply walking away just like that was clearly asking too much of him.

Fortunately, in the midst of the silence, someone lifted the tent flap once more.

Inoue Reina, a Communications Squad member with a neat short haircut, interrupted the two hospital officials at an inopportune moment.

"I'm sorry, but Commander Nara Motonari would like to discuss the next phase of the operation with you both."