Taiichi the Outlier

The attack on Rousha wasn't just because of the Chakra Enhanced Strength that countered the Puppet. The situation on the field was now clear: the defeat of Sunagakure was only a matter of time. If Rousha, now unattended, saw the situation was turning against him and abandoned his comrades to escape, then Konoha's assassination attempt would be completely ineffective.

Just as Taiichi had thought, seeing the situation on the field, Rousha also had the idea of escaping. He wanted to take the news back with him. Konoha had actually sent someone to assassinate the Sunagakure delegation, which was a serious act of provocation.

As long as I can return alive, I can use this information to incite the village's Militant Faction to join forces with Iwagakure to give Konoha a hard time.

However, while the idea is good, implementing it is quite troublesome.

"Damn it, how can this kid be so fast!"

Using his Chakra Enhanced Body Flicker Technique, Taiichi approached Rousha at lightning speed. Facing the several Puppet thrown out by Urasuna, Taiichi easily defeated them one by one with his speed advantage.

This is not only because Taiichi is powerful enough, but also because the Rousha don't have any good Puppet left. So far in the battle, not counting the Puppet that Taiichi destroyed, Sakumo's side has already taken down several.

With so many losses, his inventory is obviously almost gone, and what he's offering now are just some defective products.

Seeing Taiichi closing in, Rousha was also helpless. He had to keep deploying Puppet to restrain Hatake Sakumo, and he also had to deal with Taiichi's attacks. All his energy was tied up in this, and now he didn't even have a chance to escape.

"White Fang of Konoha, you Konoha have broken your alliance and come to attack me. Aren't you afraid of Sunagakure's revenge?"

With escape hopeless, Rousha made a final struggle, attempting to intimidate the Konoha ninja with words. It's unclear whether he was foolish or thought the Konoha ninja were foolish, but even at this point, he still uttered such words.

Sakumo didn't answer. He wasn't in a hurry to finish off the Puppet in front of him. As long as he kept them occupied, he could keep Rousha's attention occupied and create opportunities for Taiichi.

At this moment, Taiichi lived up to expectations and successfully advanced to Rousha's side. What blocked his way was only the last and largest Scorpion Puppet that had been guarding Rousha at all times.

Having learned from its previous experience, the Scorpion Puppet gave Taiichi no chance to get close. All sorts of mechanisms on its body were activated, and poisoned Senbon were sprayed at Taiichi as if they were free, forcing Taiichi to constantly dodge.

Even more deadly was the Puppet's tail, a long tail composed of dozens of nested broad blades that could extend and retract freely, and could even stab and strike like a real scorpion's tail.

For a time, Taiichi was forced to stay outside its attack range.

Just then, Taiichi, who was dodging attacks, suddenly felt a pain in the sole of his foot. A tingling sensation spread rapidly upwards from the sole of his foot. Although it was not enough to affect his movement, it was clearly a sign that the toxin had entered his body.

Taiichi turned around and looked at the ground. He realized that he had just stepped on a Senbon that a Puppet had shot out. Looking around, he saw that the ground was covered with such Senbon.

As expected of a veteran Jonin, the Senbon attack has this other use. Taiichi's actions are now greatly restricted.

Seeing that his plan had succeeded, Rousha no longer hesitated and slowly moved away from the battlefield, his intentions quite obvious.

Seeing the Rousha preparing to escape, Taiichi held back no longer. He took out an Antidote Pill, put it in his mouth, and quickly Hand Seals, Fire Style Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

A roaring fire dragon burst forth, softening all the Senbon along its path into molten iron. As Taiichi increased his Chakra output, the already golden flames instantly turned bright white, and the temperature suddenly soared.

The Puppet Master's Puppet are made of specially treated materials to prevent fire, but this only protects against ordinary flames.

Faced with Taiichi's Fire Style, the confident Sand was initially not too concerned. However, when the flames turned bright white and the high temperature could be clearly felt even from such a distance, it was too late to control the Puppet to dodge.

The moment the fire dragon struck, all the Puppet's joints caught fire and softened. Without the support of the joints, such a massive Puppet could not be moved by just a few Chakra Threads.

When the Ninjutsu ended, the once majestic Puppet had vanished without a trace, leaving only a pool of molten iron and a few scattered supports still struggling to hold it up.

Such exaggerated Fire Style power not only startled the enemy, but even their own people were taken aback. Hizashi, who had just finished dealing with the swordsman ninja and was rushing towards Taiichi, instinctively stopped in his tracks.

Taiichi clearly wouldn't give his opponent a chance. With a thought, he covered his feet in flames and, using the path opened by the fire dragon, quickly approached the location of the Rousha.

At this moment, Rousha was truly panicked. Faced with Taiichi's sudden attack, he could only stop his retreat and take out his Puppet again to fight back. However, these defective Puppet could only slightly slow down Taiichi's pace.

At that moment, taking advantage of the moment when Rousha's attention was diverted, a Kunai was shot towards the area behind him. Because it was not aimed at him, it did not attract his attention. But following the Kunai was a sneak attack from Minato Namikaze.

This was the second time Minato Flying Thunder God in this battle. The first time, he killed a Chunin; the second time, he directly killed his target.

Just moments ago, Minato had also defeated his opponent. When he saw that Suna was fully engaged in dealing with Taiichi's attack, he knew that this was a good opportunity to Flying Thunder God Slash above.

With the death of the Rousha, the three Puppet that had been entangled with Sakumo also lost their power and collapsed to the ground.

"Quickly, clean up the battlefield; we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Before anyone could speak, Hatake Sakumo immediately gave the order, and the group didn't delay. They collected the body and cleaned up the scene, all in an orderly manner.

Taiichi then approached the corpse of Rousha. He hadn't forgotten that they were all still poisoned. Although his Antidote Pill could suppress the toxin, he still needed the real antidote.

After a careful search, Taiichi found a bottle with the words "antidote" written on it in the pocket of Rousha's shirt. However, he did not take it immediately. Instead, he continued searching until he found all the medicine-related items on Rousha's body before he stopped.

"Something's not right." At this moment Sakumo, who was standing to the side, also noticed something amiss and couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Just to be on the safe side, we should test it first. We can't be too careful with those who are skilled in using poison."

As he spoke, Taiichi picked up some more poisonous Senbon from the ground and carefully put them away.

"Hurry and find a place, I need to test the poison."

A few minutes later, the group, having mostly finished cleaning up, gathered in front of the Glazed Ground scorched by Taiichi's Fire Style. Looking at the large expanse of black and red crystalline glass, they all scratched their heads, wondering how to deal with it—it was too conspicuous. Anyone who had seen it even once would remember it vividly.

"How about using Earth Style: sinking underground?" Hizashi offered his suggestion.

Everyone turned their attention to Hizashi, anticipating his next move.

Hizashi, looking embarrassed, said, "Don't look at me like that. There aren't many people in the Hyuga Clan who are proficient in the five elemental Ninjutsu."

Everyone then turned their attention to Hatake Sakumo, who was the Captain.

"I only know Lightning Style, and I don't have Earth Release myself." Sakumo shrugged, indicating that he couldn't help.

Before anyone could even look at Minato, he said directly, "I do know some Earth Style, but I don't have any Ninjutsu that can handle this situation."

Just when everyone was disappointed, Taiichi stepped forward. Actually, he didn't want to show off, after all, it's better to hide your strength as much as possible. Those ninjas who jump around too much often die very quickly.

However, the current situation does not allow it. In fact, Taiichi has quite a few Ninjutsu now. Ever since Tsunade gave Taiichi all her best-kept secrets, Taiichi has been practicing constantly, especially those functional Ninjutsu, which he has mastered quite a few of.

Although it is less than satisfactory in actual combat, it is more than sufficient to perform well in such a stable environment.

At this moment, Taiichi arrived in front of the Glazed Ground he had created and began to Hand Seals. Because he was not proficient in Ninjutsu, the Hand Seals rather slowly. It took several breaths before Taiichi completed the Hand Seals and Earth Style Release: Swamp of the Underworld.

The land in front of them reacted immediately. First, a small area softened and turned into a bubbling swamp. Then, with the injection of Taiichi's Chakra, the swamp rapidly expanded, slowly covering the entire area, while the Glazed Ground slowly sank into the ground.

A minute later, after ensuring it sank deep enough, Taiichi changed his hand seals again. This time, the Hand Seals were formed quickly enough, and the seals were completed in an instant: Earth Style: Earth Style: Earth Splitter Palm.

Taiichi gathered Chakra in his palm and struck the ground with it. A muffled boom echoed from the earth, accompanied by the crisp sound of shattering glass. It seemed he was about to smash the entire Glazed Ground into pieces.

Finally, Taiichi changed his hand seals once again. The hand seals were slow, but the Chakra he gathered was enormous. Earth Style: Earth Style: Earth Flow River Release.

The land before them rapidly turned into mud, and the area was expanding quickly, soon exceeding the previous area of Swamp of the Underworld. Under Taiichi's control, this mud flowed in all directions like a river, stirring up the entire swamp into chaos.

Once the Ninjutsu's effects wore off, the mud, deprived of Chakra, returned to the earth. Taiichi then stood up, letting out a long sigh of relief; the Chakra consumed in this post-battle cleanup was no less than that used during the battle itself.

When Taiichi turned around again, he was met with the way the others looked at him as if he were a monster. Just as Taiichi was about to explain, Sakumo stepped forward and gently patted his shoulder, interrupting him. "No need to say anything more, you did a good job."

Then he said to everyone, "Now that everything is settled, let's get out of here!"

Yes! *3

More than half an hour after the Konoha team left, the four-person team that had acted as scouts had completed their mission and started to return. However, it was not hard to tell from their hurried demeanor that they were not in a very good mood.

The reason was simple: the delegation that had agreed to meet them at the designated location had not appeared on time. Even after they waited for another half hour, there was still no sign of the delegation.

They were truly panicked. Such an important alliance was severely damaged if one side broke their promise without cause, regardless of the reason.

Realizing the crucial point, the four-man team disregarded everything else and rushed towards the outpost. They needed to immediately relay the message back to the village and await the village's latest instructions.

It was precisely because of their haste that they missed the battle scene that was only a hundred meters away from them on their way back, which bought the Sakumo squad ample time to withdraw.

Meanwhile, in a cave deep within the Land of Birds, Taiichi was busy at work.

Never readily believe anything about a dead ninja, especially if he was a skilled Puppet Master used poison.

The antidote that Taiichi found on Rousha was indeed problematic. To be more precise, it wasn't the complete antidote; it was only a semi-finished product. The real antidote needed to be mixed with the other medicines on his body to be effective.

If an ordinary ninja had encountered this, they would have been Taiichi? Moreover, Taiichi personally tested the poison and was the one who was most severely poisoned.

Observing the mechanism of the poison's effects within his body, and after conducting several experiments and harming several small animals, Taiichi finally completed the preparation of the antidote within an hour of its effects taking hold.

Looking at the dark, sticky pill in Taiichi's hand, Sakumo, Minato, and Hizashi exchanged glances, none of them wanting to be the first to try it. It wasn't a matter of life and death; just the appearance of the pill was enough to deter them.

Taiichi seemed to notice their hesitation. Without waiting for their reaction, he put the pill in his mouth and closed his eyes to quietly feel the pill taking effect in his body.

Seeing this, Sakumo and the other two breathed a sigh of relief, but thinking that they would have to take the medicine sooner or later, they couldn't help but frown again.

Five minutes later, Taiichi opened his eyes with satisfaction and said happily, "That's it, this is the recipe!"

As he spoke, he took out three more pills that he had just prepared and handed them to Sakumo and the other two.

Seeing them hesitate even after receiving the antidote, Taiichi frowned and urged them in a more forceful tone, "Eat it quickly, time is almost up. If you wait any longer, the poison will damage your body, and even with the antidote, such damage is unavoidable."

Taiichi's words became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Sakumo and the other two gritted their teeth, picked up the antidote, and threw it straight into their mouths.

Fishy, bitter, and astringent.

The three completely unrelated flavors were mixed together in this tiny pill, Sakumo the three of them immediately turned into bitter faces. They struggled to swallow the antidote.

"Taiichi, you cook so well, how come the pills you make taste worse and worse?"

Minato finally managed to calm the bitterness in his mouth, and now, thinking of the food Taiichi had made, he realized the difference was like heaven and earth. He couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

Taiichi stared at Minato with an expression that said he looked like an idiot, making Minato question his very existence.

"Could it be that I misspoke? Or is there something wrong with my sense of taste? That shouldn't be the case," Minato thought, glancing at Sakumo and Hizashi, only to find that they, like him, looked constipated. He realized that the problem wasn't with him, but with the instigator of this whole mess— Taiichi.

"Good medicine tastes bitter, but it's good for the disease. This medicine isn't meant to be eaten, so of course the more it helps the medicine to work, the better!" Taiichi said confidently, but then muttered under his breath, "Besides, it tastes pretty good too."

Everyone present was a highly skilled ninja, and although Taiichi spoke softly, everyone heard him clearly.

That's it, the case is solved! It wasn't that everyone's sense of taste was off, but rather Taiichi Taiichi's own sense of taste was faulty; he actually called that flavor delicious! Sakumo, Minato, Hizashi all broke out in a cold sweat, simultaneously making a firm decision:

I will never take Taiichi's medicine again unless absolutely necessary.

After being detoxified and cleaning up the scene, the group immediately headed towards the Land of Rain. At this point, it was impossible for them to approach the border of the Land of Wind. Their plan was to cross the Land of Birds directly, then travel through the Land of Rain back to Konoha.

Leaving aside the Sakumo Squad's journey home, the Sunagakure Border Outpost was already in an uproar.