The Big Picture and Freedom

While Konoha was busy preparing to intensify its attack on Sunagakure, Rasa led the remaining five Jonin back to the Sunagakure Camp.

Fortunately, not many people in Sunagakure knew about this sneak attack mission. So, with just a little concealment, none of the Sunagakure Ninja realized that their Lord Kazekage had returned defeated.

Otherwise, just based on the losses from this defeat, the entire Sunagakure front would probably be shaken to its core, and morale would likely plummet even further.

But there were always people who knew about the sneak attack.

After making arrangements for the remaining five ninjas, Rasa returned to the Central Command Tent and found that Chiyo and Ebizo were already waiting there.

"Did it fail?" Ebizo asked tentatively.

Rasa plopped down in the main seat, looking utterly exhausted, like a deflated balloon.

"Yes, only five Jonin returned." Rasa straightened up and said through gritted teeth, "Konoha knew about our plan beforehand and had people lying in ambush there. We walked right into their trap."

With just a few words, Chiyo and Ebizo could imagine the arduous battle that Rasa and his group had endured to force their way out of a group of Konoha Ninja.

"How much did Konoha suffer? With your strength and the effectiveness of the Magnet Release Gold Dust Ninjutsu, their losses must have been considerable, right?" Chiyo asked at this moment. Sunagakure suffered such great losses, but as long as Konoha suffered equivalent losses, it wouldn't be a loss.

To his surprise, Rasa's face darkened even more upon hearing this question.

"Very negligible."

"How is that possible!" The two elders looked over simultaneously, their eyes full of scrutiny. "Were you intercepted by Jiraiya?"

This was the only possibility they could think of: only if Rasa was entangled Jiraiya and didn't have time to unleash wide-range Ninjutsu could this First Shinobi World War have been so frustrating.

But reality turned out to be even more surreal than they had imagined.

"It wasn't Jiraiya." Rasa's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. "It was Taichi Matsushita, the Medical Ninja we were supposed to kill. He's the one who got me involved."

As he spoke, even Rasa himself found it hard to believe, let alone Chiyo and Ebizo.

Then, without pausing, Rasa recounted in detail all the experiences of his team, including the specific details of his First Shinobi World War with Taiyi.

Chiyo and Ebizo looked at each other, finding it hard to believe that this was the outcome.

"19 Jonin, more than 100 elite Chunin." Ebizo muttered to himself. Such losses, especially so many Jonin, were something that even a direct confrontation with Konoha might not have resulted in such a loss of elite troops.

Ebizo, the most famous strategist of Sunagakure, earned his nickname "Desert Fox" for a reason. He immediately considered the consequences of this battle.

If those in the village who were interested were to learn the truth about this battle, the village, which had just begun to stabilize, would definitely descend into chaos once again.

Chiyo wasn't stupid; she quickly realized the same thing that Ebizo had thought of.

At this moment, Sunagakure absolutely cannot afford to fall into chaos. If Sunagakure, which has finally managed to unify its internal opinions, were to descend into disarray again, it would be the first to be defeated, even without Konoha's intervention.

Not to mention Konoha, even Iwagakure, with whom they had previously reached an agreement, might abandon their attack on Konoha and instead target Sunagakure, the easier target.

"This battle is mine—" Kazekage began.

"It's my fault!" Ebizo interrupted Kazekage abruptly, taking the blame upon himself.

"It was my oversight in intelligence gathering that failed to Scout the presence of such powerful ninjas in Konoha. This not only nearly put Lord Kazekage in grave danger but also resulted in the deaths of so many ninjas. If Lord Kazekage hadn't risked injury and unleashed his full power at the last moment, this mission would have been a complete failure."

Rasa stared blankly at Ebizo, who was expressionlessly recounting his "crimes," a mix of emotions Ebizo inside him.

To become the Kazekage, Rasa was undoubtedly a top figure among the Sunagakure Ninja, second to none in both strength and intelligence.

He naturally understood the meaning behind Ebizo's actions. In order to preserve his reputation as the Kazekage, solidify his Kazekage, and prevent the village from falling into another civil war, Ebizo was willing to bear all the blame.

"Little brother, have you really thought this through?" Chiyo couldn't help but ask, her tone calm but revealing a hint of concern.

A smile bloomed on Ebizo's aged face as he calmly said, "I'm already quite old, I've enjoyed life to the fullest, so this is my final contribution to the village!"

Rasa was filled with respect. He stood up and bowed deeply to Ebizo, expressing both gratitude and admiration.

On that very day, news spread rapidly through the Sunagakure Camp: the Lord Kazekage had led a raid on the Konoha Camp, but was ambushed due to a leak of intelligence and a lack of Scout about the enemy, resulting in heavy losses for the ninjas on the mission.

Fortunately, in the critical moment, the Lord Kazekage unleashed his full power, managing to bring all the remaining ninjas back to the Camp with great difficulty.

This news report cleverly downplayed the severity of the situation, taking advantage of the fact that most of the information from the Sunagakure Ninja was incomplete. It did not specify the exact extent of the losses, but instead attributed all the blame to intelligence failures. At the same time, it highlighted the Kazekage's performance in this battle, further solidifying the Kazekage's reputation.

The five Jonin who returned wouldn't speak carelessly. After all, they were saved by the Kazekage and escaped death, so they would keep the Kazekage's secret out of both compassion and reason.

Needless to say, those who didn't return were no match for anyone except their families and friends. On this battlefield where people died Tenten, no one cared what mission they were on when they sacrificed their lives.

Such a major failure was quickly overshadowed by other matters under this news.

Of course, this only applies to ordinary ninjas; the village's higher-ups naturally knew the truth. But soon, a letter of apology from Ebizo was delivered to the Village Higher-Ups.

In this instance, Ebizo voluntarily admitted that his intelligence failure was the main reason for the defeat and was willing to bear all the consequences.

Well, what else can we do? Even Rasa's opponents have nothing to say. One of the elders has already stepped forward to take responsibility. If they still don't know what's good for them, they might be accused of disrupting the overall situation of the village.

Unfortunately, we have no choice but to accept this outcome.

Soon, a notification from the Sunagakure Council of Elders was delivered to the front lines.

Due to his work error, Ebizo caused significant losses to the village. Now, the elders have decided to remove Ebizo from all his posts and allow him to remain on the front lines to atone for his mistakes.

When Rasa, Chiyo, and Ebizo received the message from the elders, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, they had only lost all their positions, which was not an unacceptable punishment for Ebizo at this point.

Of course, these are all things to come later. Let's move forward to the day the battle ended.

Taiichi was very happy after leaving the Central Command Tent. Although the days in the Medical Camp were much more leisurely and safe, he would get bored after a while.

Moreover, lacking practical experience, Taiichi felt that his recent progress had slowed down.

Looking at the Mission Scroll in his hand, Taiichi opened it and read it carefully. It contained a lot of content, but Taiichi summarized it into just two words: cause trouble.

That's right, this is a mission without a clear objective; it's probably designed specifically for Elite Jonin.

Its sole purpose is to cause trouble for Sunagakure by any means necessary. Whether you sabotage their Resupply, ambush their key figures, or even infiltrate Sunagakure to cause sabotage, it doesn't matter. As long as you can cause trouble for Sunagakure, you can do whatever you want.

Of course, with such a high degree of freedom, you also have to be responsible for your actions. If you do something that is outrageous and heinous, Konoha will not bail you out.

Therefore, this type of mission is usually assigned to Jonin who are Jonin good character, reliable, and powerful. The fact that Taiichi has received this mission fully demonstrates Jiraiya's recognition of his strength.

Taiichi was overjoyed. He returned to the Medical Camp with a beaming face to continue his medical mission for the day. Although the casualties from the previous battle were not significant, the injuries caused by the Magnet Release Gold Dust were quite troublesome to treat, and he still needed to provide some guidance from the side.

Inside the Central Command Tent, Shikaku watched Taiichi leave the tent cheerfully before speaking, "Is giving him that kind of mission alright?"

"Are you referring to strength or character?" Jiraiya asked nonchalantly.

"I'm not worried about his strength. Taiichi was able to hold off the Fourth Kazekage, and even I am no match for him. But he's still too young, and his experience might not be enough. If things escalate, the village might not be able to protect him."

Shikaku expressed his concerns, and he wasn't being overly pessimistic, especially regarding ninjas of Taiichi's age. Although they possess great strength, their lack of experience might not be enough to support them in making the right choices.

In this way, if something goes wrong, it's often a major incident, one that even the village might not be able to handle.

"Haha, Shikaku, don't worry about that. Taiichi, despite his young age, is very mature. He might even give us some surprises!"

Shikaku Jiraiya said the same thing and didn't say anything more. He was just fulfilling his duty as an advisor. In reality, he trusted Taiichi completely.

However, when he heard Jiraiya mention a "surprise," for some reason, his right eye twitched involuntarily twice, and a thought inexplicably popped into his head, "A surprise! I hope it's not a shock!"

The following day, Taiichi made all the necessary preparations, leaving Shadow Clone, each containing 20,000 Chakra points, at the Medical Camp before Camp in a carefree manner.

He had thought it through clearly. Yesterday's meeting said that the attack on Sunagakure would be intensified starting today, so today he would cooperate with other Konoha Ninja to wipe out those isolated Sunagakure.

Then, they would gradually penetrate deeper into the rear of Sunagakure, seeking an opportunity to disrupt Sunagakure's Resupply lines, thereby relieving the pressure on Konoha's side.

After leaving the Camp for more than ten kilometers, Taiichi activated his Chakra Perception, and gradually everything within a two-kilometer radius appeared in Taiichi's perception.

This place is still too close to the Konoha Camp. Taiichi searched all the way but found no trace of Sunagakure. However, he did see quite a few Konoha ninja squads, and everyone was rushing towards Sunagakure.

Upon seeing this, Taiichi no longer hesitated and sped up to reach the front line first.

Meanwhile, the Konoha ninjas had already formed close ties with the Sunagakure patrolling ninjas. Sunagakure probably also knew that yesterday's failed sneak attack would inevitably lead to a fierce retaliation from Konoha today.

Therefore, today the number of patrolling ninjas from Sunagakure has not only doubled, but their vigilance has also increased significantly.

But as Taiichi approached the area where the Sunagakure Ninja usually patrolled, he could see distress Signal Flare rising into the sky from time to time.

It seems that the battle between the two sides has reached a fever pitch, with Konoha launching a fierce attack from the outset, completely overwhelming Sunagakure.

This can be seen from the fact that most of the Signal Flare in the sky belonged to the Sunagakure side, indicating that they were having a very difficult time dealing with them.

Taiichi's eyes lit up, and a plan came to mind. It was not advisable for him to interfere in the battle that was currently taking place, since those were other people's achievements, and Taiichi went there now, it would be suspected of stealing their kills.

But he could try to take advantage of the ninjas who came to his aid after seeing the distress signal.

Since these ninjas dared to come to provide support, they must have a certain degree of confidence in their own strength.

He eliminated these supporting ninjas, which helped his own ninjas while also achieving his own objective—a win-win situation.

Having made up his mind, Taiichi immediately rushed towards the location where a distress signal had been raised. From afar, he sensed that the Sand Village Ninja on this battlefield were in dire straits and might be wiped out in just a few minutes.

Seeing this, Taiichi did not linger, but crossed the battlefield and headed south.

Sure enough, after running for a short while, a four-person team entered Taiichi's perception range. Judging from their direction of movement, they were the rescue team.

Taiichi grinned, revealing a cruel smile, and slightly adjusted his direction, charging straight towards the group of Sunagakure Ninja.

Two kilometers is only a matter of two or three minutes for the two teams of ninjas running towards each other.

As they were about to enter Taiichi's field of vision, he had already drawn his Short Sword and quietly hid behind a large tree in front of them, disappearing from sight. However, Taiichi could sense that he was keeping a close eye on them.

50 meters.

20 meters.

10 meters.

2 meters.

Suddenly, Taiichi slashed horizontally towards the tree, and just then, a Sunagakure Ninja happened to be passing by and ran right into the blade of Taiichi's sword.

A huge head shot into the sky, and before the other three Sand Ninja could react, Taiichi instantly appeared and, using the momentum, plunged his short sword straight into the heart of another Sand Ninja.

Only then did the other two Sunagakure Ninja realize what was happening, draw their weapons, and charge at Taiichi while cursing loudly.

"Truly fearless, daring to charge at us." Taiichi remarked, but his movements were swift. He turned and drew his Short Sword, and at the same time, Bright Gold flames began to appear on the blade. With his next slash, the Flame Blade Qi that slashed towards a Sunagakure Ninja rushing towards him.

As the blade energy approached, a flicker of panic crossed the man's eyes for the first time, but it was too late to dodge. He could Kunai in his hand in an attempt to defend himself.

However, he clearly overestimated himself and underestimated Taiichi's slash. The Flame Blade Qi broke through the Kunai's barrier without any hindrance, and the remaining force even passed through the ninja's body.

The ninja never understood why his Kunai was so bad until his death. Could it be that he bought a defective product because he tried to save money?

As for Taiichi, after unleashing that Flame Blade Qi, he no longer looked at the person. He simply adjusted his stance slightly and charged towards the last ninja once again.

In just a few seconds, he killed three people. Such a ferocious record completely terrified the ninja. When Taiichi rushed up, the terrified ninja didn't even have time to put up a proper defense before Taiichi swiftly killed him.

Thus, the Sunagakure squad's failed attempt to provide support backfired, marking First Gate for Taiichi today.

And this is only one corner of this battlefield. As you look up, similar things are happening every few dozen kilometers around this area: it's either you killing me or me killing you.