Moral High Ground

As Princess Tsunade's subordinates, Seigetsu Senju's squad followed her to the Land of Rain.

More than three hundred shinobi walked silently through the curtain of rain.

The heavy rain quickly filled the pits left by their feet, leaving the ground covered in a dense mesh of footprints.

Kawadera Uchiha said to Tobirama Senju within the Sea of Consciousness:

"Second, my eyes have seen a scene from the future.

This time, Konoha sent three hundred shinobi into the Land of Rain. In the end, the battlefield was strewn with corpses.

Only Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya survived.

Mitokado Homura's judgment had been mistaken. Demigod Hanzo's strength far exceeded his estimation.

Even Tsunade and the other two had nearly died at Hanzo's hands.

Hanzo slaughtered all the Konoha shinobi. Believing it wasn't worth fighting three juniors to the death, he left satisfied to collect the reward Ōnoki had promised him."

Tobirama Senju no longer doubted the accuracy of the prophecy. What worried him more was that Kawadera Uchiha might be using a half-true, half-false prophecy to trick rewards out of him.

"I'll assess your performance and give you a corresponding reward."

Kawadera Uchiha asked, "Isn't this mission worth an S-rank mission reward?"

"As long as you can save two hundred Konoha shinobi, I'll give you an S-rank mission reward."

Kawadera Uchiha fell silent.

That was pure fantasy. If he could save two hundred people in front of Demigod Hanzo, then even if he said he wanted to become a Hokage advisor, Danzo would have to swallow whatever objections he had.

Rain pattered against the cloaks, growing denser by the second.

Seigetsu Senju's squad now belonged to the medical company. Seigetsu Senju herself was a trainee medical ninja, while the other squad members had joined the Medical Department's guard unit.

Among a force of more than three hundred people, one company was equipped with sixteen medical ninja. That ratio was unusually high because Tsunade was there.

On other battlefields, a three-hundred-man force would usually have six to eight medical ninja.

Serving as guards for the medical company had the advantage of keeping them from entering battle immediately. Unlike the reconnaissance squads, they had not already engaged the Cloud Ninja reconnaissance squad in close combat.

The disadvantage was that once the enemy found them, they would face a storm of attacks.

Medical ninja were extremely important tactical targets—the people a war demanded be eliminated first, regardless of the cost.

Kawadera Uchiha glanced over the medical company. Seeing nothing unusual, he turned and leaped onto a boulder. Facing the direction he had been observing, he slowly swung his short blade.

Senju Style: Willow, like the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, was a genjutsu performed with Yin Release chakra.

This kind of genjutsu was less efficient than dōjutsu, but it could serve as a supplement when dōjutsu failed.

Everyone who saw the Uchiha Clan knew to avoid eye contact. That was common knowledge in the Shinobi World.

The opening of Senju Style: Willow required swinging a ninja blade in place for two or three seconds, creating a regular pattern of afterimages like numerous willow leaves.

This opening was somewhat sluggish. In battles where life and death were decided in an instant, it was impractical.

Against an evenly matched powerhouse, who would have time to brandish a ninja blade like that? Two or three seconds was enough for the enemy to kill you two or three times.

Fortunately, Konoha's forces were advancing slowly, giving him plenty of time to study his newly acquired secret technique.

With ninjutsu, mastery mattered more than quantity. Konoha's technician, Kakashi, had mastered more than a thousand ninjutsu, but he only used a handful of them most often.

Kakashi had fixed signature ninjutsu for both offense and defense. He used Chidori for offense and Earth Style Wall for defense. Most of his other abilities had been designed to work around those two techniques.

How could he turn Senju Style: Willow into his own ability? That was the question.

At dusk, when the troops stopped to rest, Seigetsu Senju leaped into a large tree and came to Kawadera Uchiha's side.

"I specifically found the largest cloak prepared for the Akimichi Clan."

She undid Kawadera Uchiha's cloak and pulled him inside her own.

She said, "It's time for today's muscle recovery."

The cloak was indeed enormous. Even with the two of them inside, it still had room to spare.

The standard Konoha vests of this era had a strong Warring States Era style. They were not the green canvas vests seen later in the manga.

Kawadera Uchiha's vest consisted of iron shoulder guards, a breastplate, back armor, arm guards, and a skintight suit. It was the same kind of vest worn by the Sannin during their battle against Hanzo in the anime.

Speaking of which, entering the Land of Rain this time should let him witness the birth of the Sannin's title.

Kawadera Uchiha removed his iron armor and wore only the skintight suit, letting Seigetsu Senju perform muscle recovery for him.

Green medical chakra entered his lower back and slowly nourished his muscles from there.

Lower back, upper back, shoulders, arms, chest, abdomen, and legs—going through the entire set took at least twenty minutes.

"Captain Xingyue, you're too good to me."

"It's only right. To the clan, you saved Young Master Nawaki. To me, you saved my life by covering my retreat. And the reason I can become Princess Tsunade's disciple now is also because of you." Seigetsu Senju said:

"I'm willing to keep performing muscle recovery for you."

Kawadera Uchiha felt a warmth in his heart at her words.

He schemed against this person and that person. What he feared most was someone treating him sincerely.

If someone offered him their genuine heart, what was he supposed to do?

It was difficult. Far too difficult.

Still, with Seigetsu Senju's help, his physique would continue to improve.

Taijutsu was the foundation of every ability a ninja possessed.

As Kawadera Uchiha enjoyed the treatment, he chatted with Seigetsu Senju:

"Xingyue, I've noticed that the proportion of Senju Clan members among the wounded in the Medical Department is very high."

"Yes. Take this operation, for example. We're following the main force, and everything seems calm, but the reconnaissance squads have already clashed with the Rain Ninja reconnaissance squads repeatedly.

One-third of the wounded in the Medical Department are Senju Clan shinobi.

The Senju Clan always appears in the most dangerous missions. They have many wounded, and many deaths as well."

Hearing the heaviness in Seigetsu Senju's voice, Kawadera Uchiha stopped pursuing the subject.

After the muscle recovery ended, he left the tree with Seigetsu Senju. Next, Ken Aburame was responsible for reconnaissance in this direction.

When they reached the ground, Kawadera Uchiha escorted Seigetsu Senju back to the Medical Department's tent.

Outside a medical tent, two shinobi were welcoming a Senju Clan shinobi.

The Senju Clan shinobi was named Takashi Senju. His face was deathly pale, and thick bandages covered his shoulder and abdomen, with blood seeping through them.

Squad member Tombo Sarutobi said, "As expected of our captain! We thought you'd need to rest for two or three days because of your injuries. We never expected you to finish treatment so quickly.

My father always says that the Senju Clan is a model of the Will of Fire.

Captain, I think I'll be just like my father and tell my son everything I've seen!"

Takashi Senju smiled and said, "I don't want to occupy precious medical resources. With my physique, I can rest in our tent and resume the reconnaissance mission by noon tomorrow."

The group slowly walked away, with Tombo Sarutobi continuing to praise Takashi Senju's Will of Fire.

Watching Tombo Sarutobi's back, Kawadera Uchiha said to Tobirama Senju within the Sea of Consciousness:

"Second, birds of a feather really do flock together. I understand him. I know why Tombo Sarutobi keeps praising Takashi Senju.

He wants to place Takashi Senju on the moral high ground of the Will of Fire, so that Takashi Senju can continue charging ahead during the next mission.

That way, Tombo Sarutobi can hide behind Takashi Senju and increase his chances of survival."

Tobirama Senju said, "If you were him, you'd do the same thing. That's why you understand him, isn't it?"

"Heh heh."

Just then, three explosions from Explosive Tags appeared in the distant sky.

The explosions sounded somewhat muffled in the rainy night, but everyone's expression turned grim.

Enemy attack! That was the Konoha forces' enemy-attack warning!

The Rain Ninja had arrived!