Rescue and Reckoning

When Taiichi regained consciousness, four hours had passed, and it was already dark. Campfires were lit everywhere in the Camp.

Looking around, his Companions were still fast asleep. Yohei and Obito were huddled together. It was a pity he didn't bring a camera, otherwise, recording this scene and showing it to them later would have been extremely interesting.

Sensing that his Chakra had mostly recovered, he realized that much of it was still within him.

Taiichi smiled confidently. With this Chakra, he could easily keep those seriously injured people alive using his Medical Ninjutsu.

Without further hesitation, he immediately got up and headed towards the medical tent.

The Camp was still bustling with people, and everyone was busy.

At the main gate, ninjas went in and out, and those who returned occasionally carried wounded soldiers on their backs.

Judging from the situation, the rescue operation outside the Camp is not yet over.

Taiichi didn't delay any longer and followed the ninja carrying the wounded, running quickly towards the medical tent.

The medical tents were already overflowing with people. At the entrance, two nurses were classifying the patients as they entered.

"Arm fracture, no blood vessels punctured, minor injury, awaiting treatment in Zone 1."

"Fire Style attack, minor internal bleeding, minor injury, awaiting treatment in area 2."

"Explosion injury, severe internal bleeding, critically injured, in emergency care in Zone 4!"

"You were just Kunai a kunai, what are you doing causing trouble? Go out and get a bandage to bandage yourself."

When Taiichi arrived, this was the scene he witnessed: busy yet orderly, but there were simply too many wounded, far exceeding the Medical Team's treatment capacity.

"Tai- Taiichi- ichi, you've finally arrived." The nurse at the door clearly recognized Taiichi, and tears welled up in her eyes as she saw Taiichi.

In those few hours, she had witnessed far too many people die because of delayed medical treatment.

The nurse's words were like a thunderclap, greatly boosting the morale of the Medical Ninja in the tent. In fact, they had long wanted to find Taiichi. In this situation, if Taiichi were present, many seriously injured ninjas could be saved.

But in the end, it was Director Fujita who stopped everyone. She knew that Taiichi was different from them; he wasn't just a Medical Ninja.

He is also a combat ninja, always fighting on the front lines from the start of the battle in the morning until its end in the afternoon. Taiichi's personality, if he were to come, he would definitely be at the Medical Camp as soon as the battle ends.

If they haven't arrived yet, it must be because they've exhausted themselves and are no longer able to come to the Medical Camp to help. As for whether they've already sacrificed themselves, Fujita absolutely refuses to believe that.

Now that Taiichi has arrived, the lives of these seriously wounded can be saved.

Taiichi nodded to the nurse and said nothing more. He walked straight into the tent and looked around. In the northwest corner, there were more than twenty seriously wounded people lying there, but only five Medical Ninja were treating them.

He said no more, and Hand Seals, Hai-Xu-You-Shen-Wei, Summoning Jutsu.

With a "bang," the Katsuyu, which hadn't appeared for a long time, came out.

"Lord Taiichi!"

"Slug, the situation is urgent! Please help keep these seriously injured people alive and buy them time for treatment!" Taiichi pointed in the direction of the seriously injured and pleaded with the Katsuyu.

The Katsuyu's antennae circled above its head, quickly understanding the situation. "Yes, Taiichi, I'll do my best."

After saying that, its body, which was originally more than a meter long, quickly collapsed and deformed, splitting into small Katsuyu that were only about 20 centimeters in size. Then, these small Katsuyu crawled towards the seriously injured patients and climbed onto their bodies.

A pale green light emanated from the Katsuyu, enveloping the remaining patients, whose faces, which had been enduring pain, suddenly relaxed.

"This must be Lady Tsunade's Summoning Animal — Katsuyu!"

"I'd heard long ago that Taiichi was Lady Tsunade's disciple, but I didn't really believe it until now."

"That's good! I knew that if Taiichi could come, the lives of these seriously injured people could be saved. It's a pity that Taiichi couldn't come sooner, otherwise Yujiro would also—"

Discussing voices arose around them, some in amazement, others with regret.

But Taiichi no longer cared about these things. He came to the side of a wounded patient who was about to die. His right hand lit up with green light, Yang Release Chakra covered the patient's body, both to stabilize his vital signs and to Scout his injuries.

The patient suffered a fracture of the right anterior rib, with the broken rib fragments piercing the lung tissue, resulting in lung injury and respiratory dysfunction; massive pulmonary hemorrhage.

Seeing the patient whose trachea had been cut open and who was temporarily breathing with the help of a ventilator, Taiichi knew that if he didn't receive treatment soon, internal bleeding would also take his life.

Moreover, all the blood is now pooled in his lungs, compressing them and preventing them from expanding properly. Even with a ventilator, he cannot breathe.

After assessing the injury, Taiichi gathered Chakra Scalpel in his left hand and swiftly made a small incision in the injured person's side chest. The wound precisely avoided numerous blood vessels and nerves, minimizing secondary damage to the injured person.

The blood and air trapped in the chest cavity gushed out through the wound, and the injured person's chest visibly receded, indicating that breathing was about to return to normal.

Taiichi also wielded Chakra Scalpel with his right hand, but this time it did not materialize into the form of a scalpel. With his superb Chakra Control and Shape Transformation, the Chakra Scalpel in Taiichi's hands could transform at will.

Just like now, it seemed to transform into a hand, without Taiichi cut open the muscles at the broken bone, the Chakra directly condensed and took shape in the injured person's body, pulled the broken bone out of the lung, placed it in the correct position, and then used the Mystical Palm Technique the bleeding and stimulate tissue regeneration.

It sounds simple, and it's not complicated to operate, but if you put a Medical Ninja on the field, even if he's a Jonin, he still won't be able to handle it. In the case of Shiki, just one surgery, removing bone, and then setting the bone will keep them busy for half a day.

This is the principle behind the saying that what is easy for those who know how is difficult for those who don't.

One seriously injured patient after another passed through Taiichi's hands, but due to the limited Chakra Quantity, he was unable to heal them all.

We can only treat the fatal wounds first, turning serious injuries into minor ones, and then let the other ninjas in the Medical Team take over.

This would both conserve Taiichi's Chakra and increase the number of people Taiichi could treat, allowing more seriously injured individuals to receive care.

Even so, when the last seriously wounded soldier was pushed away from Taiichi, he was covered in cold sweat, pale-faced, and looked like he had exhausted himself.

"Director Fujita, I'll leave the rest to you. I need to rest for a bit!" Taiichi's voice sounded weak and listless, and he swayed as if he would fall over with a gust of wind.

"Go and get some rest. Leave the rest to us," Director Fujita said with concern. This scene was so similar to Tsunade's, who had once single-handedly supported the entire medical department.

They truly are a master and disciple!

Taiichi slowly walked away from the medical tent amidst the respectful and grateful gazes of everyone.

It was already late at night, but the Central Army Tent was still brightly lit. Judging from the people coming and going at the entrance, they probably wouldn't be resting tonight.

But seeing the shadow cast on the tent, Taiichi knew that Jiraiya had not yet returned, and that Nara Shikaku in charge of Camp affairs.

Taiichi glanced at it once and then looked away. His most important task at the moment was to go back to sleep and try to recover his Chakra as soon as possible, so that he could be of help in both combat and medical matters.

Back at their previous resting place, seeing his Companions still fast asleep, Taiichi smiled contentedly, "Thank goodness they're all here!"

I found a comfortable place to lie down, and just before sleepiness washed over me, another thought popped into my head: Once I'm done with this busy period, I must learn how to use the Yin Seal.

Then, with the last vestiges of consciousness, he drifted into a deep sleep under the tide of drowsiness.

The next morning, sunlight shone into Taiichi's eyes. He groggily opened them and realized that it was already bright daylight; another night had passed silently.

Looking around, Yohei and Kakashi were no longer there; it seemed he had been the last one to get up.

He checked his body's condition and a satisfied smile appeared on his face. After a night's rest, his Chakra had been fully restored, and even his physical fatigue had vanished.

After quickly washing up and having breakfast, Taiichi was about to report to the Medical Camp when he saw a Chunin hurrying towards him.

"Lord Taiichi, we've finally found you!" The person who came was clearly looking for him for quite some time, as his breathing was somewhat rapid.

"What's wrong? Has another seriously injured patient been brought in?" Taiichi's expression became tense. At this time, most of the times someone would call him, it was because of injured patients.

To everyone's surprise, the visitor shook his head blankly. "No, it's because there's a meeting about to be held in the Central Army Tent, Lord Jiraiya specifically asked me to inform you that you should also attend."

"I see!" Taiichi breathed a sigh of relief; at least there weren't any seriously injured. He then said to the person who had come, "Okay, thank you. I'll be right there."

Watching the ninja who had given the notice walk away, Taiichi changed direction and headed towards the Central Army Tent. It seemed that Jiraiya- sensei had returned. Was this meeting for a post-battle debriefing? He wondered how the ambush had turned out.

Thinking this, Taiichi had already entered the Central Army Tent.

Inside the tent, most of the Jonin were currently at the Camp were present, and most Jonin them were still injured. However, the atmosphere was lively, with everyone chatting and laughing.

Clearly, the resounding victory greatly boosted everyone's morale.

Although Jiraiya, sitting at the head of the table, looked exhausted with bloodshot eyes, clearly having not slept all night, his excited state suggested that even if you asked him to sleep, he wouldn't be able to.

At this moment, everyone noticed Taiichi entering and nodded to him in a friendly manner.

Everyone has heard about Taiichi's performance in this battle. If we were friendly to Taiichi before because of his Medical Ninjutsu, then from today onwards, we will add another reason to our goodwill towards him: his strength!

Jiraiya, Jiraiya that it was almost time, didn't wait any longer and coughed lightly.

The Jonin in the tent, all sharp-witted and quick-witted, stopped their banter, returned to their seats, and stared intently at Jiraiya at the head of the table, awaiting his words.

"First of all, congratulations everyone! We have achieved a final victory in this ambush and successfully captured Shamon, the frontline Commander of Sunagakure, driving Sunagakure out of the Land of Rivers!"

"Victory!"

Someone shouted first, followed by a chorus of shouts, finally culminating in a unified cry of "Victory!"

Jiraiya smiled and raised his hand to calm everyone down before continuing, "Now, let Shikaku explain the details of this battle."

"Everyone, after a day of statistics, we have roughly tallied the results of this battle. As Jonin of Konoha and participants in this battle, you have the right to know this information!" Shikaku stood up from his seat and addressed all the Jonin, speaking eloquently.

Taiichi awkwardly touched his nose; he was the only Chunin there.

"In this ambush, from the morning's resistance to the afternoon's decisive battle, Sunagakure suffered heavy losses."

According to our own statistics, a total of 773 ninjas were killed or captured! This is almost half of the total number of troops that Sunagakure deployed to the front lines in the Land of Rivers, including 35 elite Jonin- level ninjas. In reality, Sunagakure's losses were likely even greater.

Their losses were undoubtedly a heavy blow to Sunagakure's strategic standing. With this strategically vital location in the Land of Rivers back under Konoha's control, Sunagakure was severely weakened in the short term and could no longer pose a direct threat to the Land of Fire's mainland. The situation on Konoha's southern front was temporarily stabilized.

A huge round of applause erupted, everyone was delighted by such a great victory.

But Shikaku's report didn't stop; instead, his expression turned serious. "To achieve this result, we made enormous sacrifices."

In this battle, we suffered a total of 338 casualties, Jonin 12 Chunin, 124 Chunin, Genin 202 Genin.

Upon hearing this, all the ninjas present fell silent. The joy of victory was overshadowed by the real and enormous price they had paid. They could almost still hear the clanging of Ninja Tool and the shouts of their comrades.

Among these dead were their friends, their subordinates, and possibly their relatives.

Yesterday they might have been laughing and chatting together, but now they are separated by death.

Jiraiya keenly sensed the change in atmosphere. He stopped smiling and his voice became deeper, breaking the suffocating silence.

"Alright, I'm telling you this not so you can wallow in grief! The war is not over yet. The sacrifices were made to protect what is being protected, for the victory of this moment and for peace in the future!"

His sharp gaze swept over every Jonin present.

"This victory was hard-won, and each of you knows its significance perfectly well. Our next task is to consolidate this victory and ensure that the blood of the fallen was not shed in vain!"

He steered the conversation back to Shikaku: "Shikaku, tell me the specific plans!"

Nara Shikaku bowed to Jiraiya, Jiraiya immediately resumed the capable demeanor of a strategist, unfolding a more detailed map of the war zone.

"The primary task at present is to consolidate the defense. Frontline troops will continue to hold the newly captured positions and build outposts, especially the main strongholds of the former Sunagakure in the Land of Land of Rivers, which must be firmly controlled by us, by—"

He quickly and clearly assigned tasks and target areas to each unit, down to the squad and the person in charge. With each instruction, the person in charge of the corresponding area responded firmly, "Yes, sir!" An efficient and tense atmosphere was once again established in the camp.

After outlining the defense and reconstruction tasks, Shikaku changed the subject. "The treatment of the wounded remains the top priority. The Medical Team is under immense pressure; hundreds of wounded, some lightly and some seriously, still require proper treatment and care. Director Fujita is also under considerable pressure—"

His self-illumination naturally fell on Taiichi in the corner. Feeling everyone's gaze, Taiichi immediately straightened his back.

Shikaku nodded slightly. "Taiichi, you are still an indispensable main force in the Medical Team. Please continue to assist Director Fujita in receiving the wounded and handling the emergency treatment of critically ill patients."

"Understood, Shikaku." Taiichi immediately replied, his voice clear and firm, his sense of responsibility as Medical Ninja guiding him without hesitation.

"Furthermore," Jiraiya's voice rang out again, carrying a hint of barely perceptible fatigue, but more so an undeniable determination.

"Shamon's value must be utilized as soon as possible. The Interrogation Division must act quickly to extract as much information as possible about Sunagakure's defenses and their potential counterattack plans. We need intelligence to anticipate and prevent such attacks."

The ninja in charge of intelligence nodded solemnly.

At the end of the meeting, the deployment of tasks was extended to reconnaissance and stabilization of the rear.

"Minato!" Shikaku looked at Minato, who was deep in thought on the other side, "Organize a small team. You can choose the members yourself. They will be responsible for guarding and patrolling key areas within a five-kilometer radius of the Camp."

Although Sunagakure has retreated, there's no guarantee that there aren't any stray ninjas wandering around or attempting to rescue Shamon. We must ensure the safety of the Camp and the important prisoners.

Minato looked up, his eyes also bloodshot, but his smile remained bright. He calmly replied, "Yes. Leave it to me!"

After the deployment was completed, Jiraiya gave his final summary. "Everyone, this victory is the result of the bloody battle fought by all the Konoha Ninja. We held our ground and dealt a heavy blow to the enemy. But the war is not over yet, Sunagakure will not accept defeat."

The next period is crucial for rest, consolidation, and development! Everyone, give it your all and fulfill your responsibilities!

The details of this battle and the minutes of this meeting will be submitted to the Hokage-sama later. The village will also decide on everyone's rewards. Meeting adjourned!

Everyone responded in unison and stood up. The previous tense atmosphere vanished, and everyone left, their steps hurried but full of energy.

Taiichi watched the ninjas quickly get to their posts. The smoke of war had not yet dissipated, and new challenges had already begun. He clenched his fist, recalling the thoughts that had flashed through his mind last night, and immediately headed towards the tent where they were resting.