Advance, and Words Left Unsaid

In the Land of Rivers, within the territory controlled by Sunagakure, Taiichi Squad swept through Sunagakure's defenses like a deadly tornado.

Over the course of five days, they traveled from south to north and then from north to south, covering the entire Sunagakure defense line twice, during which they killed as many as eight Sunagakure Village squads.

The only pity is that there isn't a Jonin among them; most of the teams are Genin led by Chunin.

Meanwhile, the Sunagakure's frontline Camp also received news that a small team was wreaking havoc on their side. This team was simply too arrogant. After each battle, they would not even clean up the battlefield, leaving behind a pile of Sunagakure Ninja corpses and a burning sea of fire.

In the largest tent at the Sunagakure frontline Camp, the atmosphere was both intense and solemn, with flickering Kakkou illuminating several grim faces weathered by the sandstorms.

On the central table, a map of the Land of Rivers was spread out, covered with red and yellow flags, with yellow flags clearly dominating the area at this moment.

A Jonin with fresh burn scars Jonin his face held a thin stick, pointed at the map, and looked at the Commander sitting at the head of the table with a vengeful tone.

"Lord Shamon, this is the situation. There is no doubt that Konoha's defenses have a major flaw. Our newly developed poison is highly effective; Konoha's Antidote Pill have almost no effect on them!"

Shamon remained silent, simply observing the situation diagrams on the table and carefully analyzing the current circumstances.

The scarred- Jonin continued reporting, "According to intelligence ninja Scout, Konoha has been transporting poisoned ninjas Land of Fire. Their frontline Camp are completely helpless against our poison."

At this point, the scarred ninja excitedly slammed his fist on the table, "This has resulted in a significant shortage of reinforcements for their frontline personnel, making patrols in many areas virtually non-existent. They can now only barely maintain a defensive posture in key areas."

His words elicited a chorus of approving whispers, and several ninjas present were exchanging pleasantries, looking eager to try it out.

However, not everyone was so radical. A young Jonin sitting on the other side raised an objection. "Gentlemen, please don't just look at the surface! Konoha seems to be retreating and suffering increased casualties. But in the past two days, several elite Konoha squads have infiltrated our controlled areas."

"Their attacks are precise and efficient, their movements swift as the wind. Our attacked ninjas are often wiped out within minutes. Currently, we know nothing about these ninjas, only that there are at least three such groups."

"Do you think this looks like a manpower shortage? They're slapping us in the face, and not just once or twice, they're constantly slapping us across the face!"

The young Jonin angrier and more agitated as he spoke, as if he had been greatly insulted and had an irreconcilable hatred for Konoha.

"Aokawa Jonin, calm down. This is a meeting; everyone is just expressing their opinions." Shamon, seeing the increasingly agitated young Jonin, couldn't help but remind him. After all, those present were all high-ranking members of the village, and they all cared about the village's well-being; they just had different ideas.

Jonin by Shamon, the Jonin named Aokawa took a deep breath, nodded apologetically to everyone, and said, "I'm sorry, the losses at the rear have indeed been quite significant recently. I apologize for the trouble." With that, he sat down and ended his speech.

At this moment, another Jonin with a sinister Jonin and spoke next to the scarred-faced Jonin, "Aokawa, you're still too cautious! I think quite the opposite! This just shows that Konoha has reached its limit, and that's why they sent these elites to harass us and delay our progress."

If we become timid and hesitant because of this, wouldn't we be falling into their trap, giving them ample time to develop an antidote or wait for reinforcements from the rear?

He surveyed the crowd, encouraging them with a confident tone, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We can seize this chance to inflict heavy damage on Konoha, or even drive them out of the Land of Rivers."

The camp was immediately divided into two factions, who argued endlessly, neither able to convince the other.

Gradually, everyone stopped arguing and turned their attention to the Commander- chief sitting in the main seat.

At this moment, the frontline Commander, seated at the head of the table, was also deep in thought, having listened silently the entire time. Apart from stopping Aokawa's earlier impatience, he had not uttered a single word.

As the argument subsided and everyone's attention turned to him, he slowly spoke, his hoarse voice carrying an undeniable determination. "Shaju is right. Aokawa's concerns are also worth noting, but Konoha's current predicament is also a real one."

Those active elite squads were indeed more like the enemy's desperate struggle due to a shortage of troops.

Their actions, far from hindering our advance, have instead exposed their outward strength but inner weakness.

He suddenly stood up and jabbed his finger heavily into the vast area controlled by Konoha on the map.

"Pass on the order!"

All the Sunagakure Jonin stood up in solemn silence.

"First, intensify the attack! All units resting in camps, including reserves, are to be immediately reinforced at the front! Drive them deep into Konoha's controlled territory like wedges, with the primary objective of inflicting heavy casualties on their forces and forcing them to bleed continuously!"

Second, he ordered the Puppet Master Unit, and then Aokawa to choose the men to form an elite hunting squad.

Your mission is to hunt down and exterminate these annoying Konoha rats! Let them know that no rat can escape alive under the sandstorm!

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. "Since Konoha has unleashed their sharpest weapons, then break them one by one! The scales of victory will only tip in favor of the side that applies sustained pressure!"

The command was firm and powerful, greatly boosting the morale of everyone in the tent. Under the Commander's orders, Sunagakure's war machine was crashing even more fiercely into the seemingly crumbling Konoha defenses. But who would ultimately emerge victorious?

Just as Sunagakure was holding a meeting, Taiichi's team finished their mission and returned to Camp to rest.

"Taiichi, shall we continue with the mission?" Yohei asked Taiichi eagerly as soon as the mission was handed over.

"Let's rest for a day first. I need to check on the Medical Camp during this time. As for the mission, it will have to wait until the day after tomorrow—" As he spoke, Taiichi looked at Yohei suspiciously, "Is there something you need to do privately?"

Yohei scratched his head sheepishly and explained, "It's just Obito. I sparred with him a bit last time, and he's become so clingy. We've got nothing else to do, so I thought I'd go teach him a lesson."

"I see!" Taiichi nodded in understanding, also thinking it was indeed a good idea. Minato wasn't there, Rin was at the Medical Camp, Obito and Kakashi were just idling around anyway, so they might as well train with Yohei and Saori.

Thinking about this, Taiichi suddenly felt that this was a brilliant idea, especially since Kakashi and Saori were both lightning-attribute.

"Yohei, take Saori with you when you go, and also bring Obito's teammate Kakashi. That guy is a lightning-style user, and he's quite strong; he can discuss Lightning Style techniques with Saori."

"Oh, is he very good?" Yohei's eyes lit up, clearly showing interest.

In his eyes, Kakashi looked younger than Taiichi, yet Taichi had already commented that Kakashi was Taiichi strong, which meant he could be considered a genius.

"Of course he's amazing!" Taiichi glanced at Yohei, his tone full of provocation. "He's the son of 'White Fang of Konoha,' so you can imagine how skilled he is with his family's swordsmanship. Besides, his Lightning Style and Earth Style are quite proficient. If you didn't activate your Sharingan, you probably wouldn't be able to beat him!"

Now, Yohei's competitive spirit was ignited. He really didn't believe that he couldn't beat an eight or nine-year-old kid.

"Saori, let's go find them now!" Without even taking a break, Yohei immediately called Saori and headed to find Obito and Kakashi.

Saori watched Yohei walk away, then glanced at Taiichi, and finally followed after him at Taiichi's nod. "Go ahead," she said. "Kakashi has developed a Lightning Style technique called Chidori, which is a very promising Ninjutsu. You can have a good talk with him about it."

Watching the two walk away, Taiichi also turned and walked towards the Medical Camp.

Due to personnel shortages, Konoha Ninja currently face greater pressure when going out on missions.

This has led to them getting injured more and more frequently. For example, Taiichi looked at the Konoha Ninja he was treating. This was the second time in the past few days that Taiichi had seen him come for treatment because of an injury.

Fortunately, this was Konoha, where the training and techniques for Medical Ninja were among the best in the Ninja World. If it were any other ninja village, the front lines would probably have collapsed long ago with this level of casualties.

The Medical Camp was overcrowded, filled with the cries of the wounded. This was only because everyone there was a ninja, whose endurance was far beyond that of ordinary people. Otherwise, this place would probably be comparable to hell.

At this moment, Taiichi had also created four Shadow Clones to participate in the treatment of the wounded. Compared to ordinary Medical Ninja, Taiichi's Chakra was now quite enormous, with Chakra Quantity of over 50,000, which was equivalent to five ordinary Jonin.

In addition, his Medical Ninjutsu is far superior to that of other Medical Ninja, and the workload he undertakes is equivalent to that of most of the Medical Team.

It's not fair to blame other Medical Ninja for being incompetent. After all, ninjas who focus on Medical Ninjutsu spend a lot of time learning medical knowledge and practicing Medical Ninjutsu. Not many of them can still focus their attention on other things like him and Tsunade.

With the addition of Taiichi as a fresh force, the number of patients in the Medical Camp decreased at a visible rate. On the second day of Taiichi's rest, the patients in the Camp were finally almost completely cured.

Such intense treatment caused Taiyi, a veteran of Taiichi battles, to sway from the sudden surge of fatigue the moment the Shadow Clone dissipated.

Fortunately, Rin, who was standing nearby, reached out to help him up in time, otherwise Taiichi would have been embarrassed.

"Are you alright, Taiichi!" Director Fujita noticed Taiichi's unusual condition immediately and rushed forward, asking with concern. Taichi was the backbone of their Medical Camp, and he couldn't afford to have anything happen to him.

"It's nothing, it's just that the fatigue from Shadow Clone has piled up, and I'm a little out of sorts. I'll be fine after a rest." Taiichi shook his head, feeling much better, before saying that he was alright.

But Director Fujita clearly didn't believe it. There were quite a few Medical Ninja here, but why didn't they use the Shadow Clone Technique? First, because their own Chakra was only at the level of a regular Jonin; second, they naturally knew how serious the side effects were.

Normally, carrying out a short mission is fine, but if it's like Taiichi, who splits four Shadow Clone into one for a whole day to carry out high-intensity treatment, they'd probably all be lying on the ground foaming at the mouth when the treatment ends.

"There aren't many patients left here, you should go back and rest!"

Seeing that Taiichi was still hesitating, Director Fujita immediately raised his voice, "Immediately, right now, go and rest!"

"Lin, take him back to the camp and supervise his rest!" Director Fujita gave Lin the order directly.

"Okay, okay, I'll go now!" Taiichi also gave in. Menopausal women are really scary, and besides, she was doing it for his own good, so he really couldn't refuse.

Watching Taiichi and Rin leave the Medical Camp, Director Fujita looked at the somewhat empty tents and the equally exhausted Medical Ninja, and sighed inwardly.

Who knows how many more days they'll have to endure this? Hopefully, Jiraiya's plan will succeed soon, otherwise their Medical Camp will be the first to collapse.

On Taiichi's side, he and Lin had just approached the tent when they heard a familiar, hearty laugh.

When the two men lifted the tent flap, sure enough, it was none other than Minato.

At this moment, Obito was probably recounting the interesting things that had happened during his training with Yohei these past two days, leaving Minato completely bewildered.

At this moment, Taiichi lifted the curtain and entered, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

Of course, this doesn't include Obito; his attention is only focused on Rin.

Before anyone else could speak, he had already swiftly pushed past Taiichi and moved close to Lin, offering her words of comfort and concern.

Taiichi ignored the idiot and sat down next to Minato. "Senior Disciple Brother, did you just return from a mission?"

"Yes!" Minato smiled, his warm smile seemingly capable of healing the soul. "I must thank Taiichi and your team for taking care of them these past few days."

"Not at all, they're all my friends. Of course I'd help with something like this. Besides, aren't there two brothers here too?"

Taiichi glanced to the side, where Yohei and Obito were playfully fighting with their Obito's necks, and he was speechless for a moment.

These two are quite a pair. Ever since they got together, Obito has been constantly being lectured by Yohei under various pretexts.

One minute it's for speaking rudely, the next it's for not concentrating on training; basically, whenever Obito does something wrong, Yohei immediately corrects him. Taiichi wonders if Obito has a masochistic streak.

However, since both parties were willing to give and take, Taiichi let them be. Perhaps this was the unique way the Uchiha got along.

Minato looked at them, his smile growing warmer, but then he sighed, "In the end, it's because I, as the Jonin the team, was incompetent. I only led them on low-level missions for a month, and after that, I had absolutely no time to teach them!"

That's true. Since he took on the role of the Jonin leader, it was Minato's responsibility to lead the team well. Regardless of the reason, given their current state of exhaustion, Minato had a lot of responsibility to bear.

Taiichi remained silent, unsure of what to say, because he also believed that Minato had indeed failed in this aspect.

"Taiichi!" Minato hesitated, wavered, and stammered, his eyes scanning back and forth between Taiichi and the person opposite him.

Upon seeing this, Taiichi had a bad feeling, but he still forced himself to ask, "Senior Disciple Brother Minato, is something the matter?"

Minato chuckled awkwardly twice, took two steps forward, and said sheepishly, "You see, your team is short one person. How about we have Kakashi and the others accompany your team on missions for a while?"

Taiichi stared wide-eyed at Minato's eyes without blinking!

Look at this! Is this even human language? He doesn't teach his own students, and now he's trying to shift the blame onto him.

Do you think you're Tsunade?! Do you think you're Jiraiya?!

Taiichi mentally ranted and raved, but as he continued ranting, he started to think that it wasn't entirely unacceptable.

First, they know each other well, so there's no need to worry about them being spies. Also, their strength isn't weak, especially Kakashi, who's at least a Special Jonin level. Thinking about it that way, it seems like he actually came out ahead.

The only concern is their lack of experience, which is something we really need to pay attention to.