You Come, You Too Are Like Throwing An Egg Against A Rock

"What? You are the reinforcements?"

Tsunade could hardly believe her eyes. She had assumed the reinforcements were sent by the commander-in-chief, Mitokado Homura, but the soldiers before her were either wrapped in bandages or missing limbs.

"Heh, truly daring." Orochimaru discovered something intriguing and remarked:

"If the ruse of posing as reinforcements succeeds, as it has now, it scares off the Rain Ninja.

If it fails, a single battalion of Rain Ninja could have left you all dead or severely wounded.

Who decided to let you take such a risk?"

Everyone turned their gaze toward the captain of the medical unit, Mei Senju.

Before the operation, Mei Senju had delivered a passionate, stirring speech.

That Will of Fire was simply too pure.

He had claimed there would be no danger to their lives, that they were merely acting as a diversion, and that their very presence would be a victory.

The wounded felt that if they didn't go, they would be failing the ancestors of Konoha and would be unworthy of looking up at the Hokage Rock.

Those with severe injuries popped pills to pretend they were only lightly wounded.

Those with minor injuries ripped off their bandages, afraid of falling behind.

Once they reached the vicinity of the battlefield, just as Mei Senju had promised in his speech, they watched from afar without closing in.

This diversionary force truly changed the course of the battle.

There were over 90 surviving ninjas on the battlefield, plus the 50 or so wounded.

With only a little over a hundred ninjas, they had managed to stall Hanzo's forces, far exceeding the expectations of the command headquarters.

When they first set out, Mitokado Homura had believed that even if this unit were wiped out, as long as they could hold back Hanzo, the strategic objective would be considered complete.

Mei Senju whispered, "Lady Tsunade, Lord Orochimaru, it was I who ordered the mobile wounded to act as a diversion.

However, it was Kawadera Uchiha who persuaded me to make the final decision. He said that his eyes and his surname made his words lack persuasiveness, which is why he asked me to issue the order."

Tsunade looked at Kawadera Uchiha, wondering why he would take such a risk and how he had managed to convince Mei Senju, an experienced captain.

Kawadera Uchiha said, "Lady Tsunade, when the Rain Ninja attacked the medical station, I noticed a phenomenon.

The proportion of rogue ninjas among the Rain Ninja was very high, and very few possessed the secret techniques of Amegakure.

Judging from these details, the Demigod Hanzo does not want a fight to the death with Konoha; his will to fight is not firm.

He only needs to clash with Konoha to put on a show for his ally, the Tsuchikage Ōnoki, and that would suffice; he does not want to commit too much."

Tsunade nodded repeatedly.

In the battle with Hanzo just now, the three of them had been at a disadvantage, but Hanzo's desire to attack was low. In the end, he left behind some harsh words, bestowed upon the three of them the title of Sannin, and then hurriedly departed.

They were all old foxes; Hanzo would not let himself be crippled for the sake of Ōnoki and Konoha.

"Although the result is perfect, the medical unit must never again greedily seek merit or advance rashly. If Hanzo had changed his mind at the last moment, even with only a few hundred rogue ninjas, he could have slaughtered everyone except the three of us."

Hearing Tsunade's reprimand, Mei Senju quickly lowered his head.

He had only accepted Kawadera Uchiha's plan because he saw that Kawadera Uchiha was a trusted aide to Tsunade.

Had it been anyone else, no matter how eloquently they spoke, Mei Senju would have simply stuck to his own duties.

Jiraiya, however, chimed in: "Hey! We won, and it was a great victory that far exceeded Uncle Homura's expectations. Shouldn't we be happy? Shouldn't we register the rewards?

Don't dwell on these details. I think Mei Senju and Kawadera Uchiha did a fantastic job—truly excellent.

When I saw the reinforcements earlier, I really felt a weight lift off my chest."

Tsunade had no choice but to say, "Mei, I didn't realize you were such a gambler. You gambled and saved over eighty people, but if you had lost, you would have sent fifty to their deaths. Very well, it was indeed a gamble worth taking; I would have tried it myself.

Both you and Kawadera shall receive an A-rank mission reward."

The unit returned to the Land of Grass.

At one moment on the road, Kawadera Uchiha suddenly jolted awake.

On the way back from the Land of Rain, the Sannin were about to encounter a major event.

During the march, the medical unit was close to Tsunade, so he quickly sought her out.

Every day, in addition to treating the severely wounded, Tsunade had to handle many official duties as the deputy commander.

What about Jiraiya?

He quickly noticed that Jiraiya was not in the unit.

When Seigetsu Senju was performing muscle repair for him, Kawadera Uchiha asked around and learned that Jiraiya had stayed behind in a town in the rear.

Upon hearing Kawadera's inquiry, she mentioned it to Tsunade, and as a result, she was assigned a mission to go to the town in the rear and notify Jiraiya to return to the unit.

Seigetsu Senju said, "The teacher said that Lord Jiraiya needs to show some restraint with his peeping. If he doesn't return to the unit, what will happen if he or the main force encounters Hanzo?"

"Exactly," said Ken Aburame. "The women in the Land of Rain aren't even as pretty as the ones in the Land of Fire."

The others all stared at Ken Aburame.

Ken Aburame was very frank: "I like bugs, not female bugs. I have the normal aesthetic sense of a man."

Arriving at the town in the rear, the group staked out the bathhouse all night, but did not see Jiraiya.

Ken Aburame sighed: "As expected of Lord Jiraiya, his peeping skills are so superb that my bugs didn't notice a thing."

Kawadera Uchiha said: "Perhaps Lord Jiraiya is tired of peeping. After all, you said that the women here are not as good as the women of the Land of Fire, and even less so than the women of our Konoha.

Let's change our approach and search around the outskirts of the town; perhaps there are other clues."

The group found Jiraiya in a secluded hut outside the town.

Jiraiya was in the pouring rain, teaching three children how to refine chakra.

Yahiko, Nagato, Konan...

This time, the Sannin had preserved quite a bit of their strength, so they had not encountered the three of them together.

Seigetsu Senju and the others looked at each other, not knowing what Lord Jiraiya was trying to do.

In the sea of consciousness, Kawadera Uchiha said: "Lord Second Hokage, do you see those three? Those three will destroy Konoha in the future and raze it to the ground."

"Hm? Didn't you say the Uchiha Clan would destroy Konoha? Are you trying to maliciously deceive me?"

"Lord Second Hokage, who said Konoha would only be destroyed once? In the future I saw, Konoha was destroyed and rebuilt, then rebuilt and destroyed again, cycle after cycle, becoming weak and suffering heavy casualties."

Tobirama Senju fell silent.

He could not understand why Konoha would end up like that.

"I'll give you a mission: kill those three children!"

"I refuse."

"Are you going to haggle over the mission rewards again?"

"Of course it's not a question of rewards. Even if you gave me forbidden techniques, I wouldn't do it."

"Then why?"

Kawadera Uchiha said: "Because I don't want to throw an egg against a rock."

"Are you afraid of little Jiraiya? He is a Konoha ninja; why would he attack you?"

"It's not Lord Jiraiya. Don't talk about me; Second Hokage, even if you were resurrected at your peak, trying to kill those three children would be overestimating yourself. If you went, you would also be throwing an egg against a rock."

"What?"

Tobirama Senju carefully observed the three children and said: "Is it because that child possesses the legendary Rinnegan?"

"No, it's because Madara Uchiha is still alive! It's because these three children are Madara Uchiha's people!"

The soul fire atop Tobirama Senju's head flared violently. He felt once again that the situation was too absurd, which meant it was likely true.

"Uchiha... Madara? Still alive?"

Jiraiya turned his head and looked toward Seigetsu Senju's squad.