Leads and Awakening

While Yohei, Kakashi, and the others were being hunted down by the Sand Village Ninja, Taiichi was also fighting on the battlefield where he belonged.

As the number of poisoned ninjas continued to increase, more and more samples were sent to Taiichi's Laboratory.

A day has passed, and he has only been able to concoct four Antidote Pills for the original eight symptoms. But what is frustrating is that two new toxins have been discovered among the newly admitted patients.

This gave Taiichi, who had been working non-stop all day, a headache.

From the latest characteristics of the toxins, Taiichi could easily see that Chiyo of Sunagakure was constantly improving the poison to counteract his detoxification progress; if you could detoxify, she could simply re-poison you.

However, your detoxification process can never keep up with the speed at which she replenishes her poisons. Moreover, these are all Konoha ninjas who are injured. No matter how high their morale is, it cannot withstand such constant blows.

Another day passed, Taiichi had deciphered all eight of the original poisons, but this did not make him happy at all, because on his right side were seven new samples of poisons.

"Taiichi, how's it going on your end?" Director Fujita's voice rang out from behind, carrying a hint of concern and urgency.

Upon hearing Taiichi turned to look in the direction of the voice. "Director, it's not difficult to concoct an antidote for the poison that has already been discovered, but we're still too passive."

Taiichi picked up the manuscript paper on the table and handed it to Director Fujita.

"These are the recipes for the antidotes to the initial eight poisons, but as you can see, in just two days, seven more have been added."

They need to develop new types of poison. If we keep following in their footsteps, when will it ever end?

When Director Fujita first heard that Taiichi had so quickly figured out how to make antidotes for eight poisons, he was overjoyed. This speed was comparable to that of Lady Tsunade back in the day.

But upon hearing Taiichi's next words, she couldn't help but feel troubled. Her expertise lay only in treating external injuries; while she wasn't completely ignorant of pharmacology, she only had a superficial understanding of it.

But she was an old woman after all, and she was used to encountering such difficult situations. If she couldn't handle it herself, of course she would ask someone who could to help, just like when they asked Taiichi for assistance before.

"Taiichi, isn't Lady Tsunade your teacher? Can you contact her and ask her for advice? Chiyo is her old rival. They clashed over poisons during Second Shinobi World War, and in the end, Lady Tsunade was the one who came out on top."

Taiichi lit up, and he slapped himself across the face, startling the Director Fujita in front of him.

"How stupid of me! There was such a great master here, and instead of asking him for advice, I just kept fiddling around like this." Taiichi excitedly grabbed Director Fujita's hand and shook it vigorously. "Thanks to your reminder, Director! You should go now, I need to continue my research."

As he spoke, he shook Director Fujita out of the Laboratory door.

With a "bang," the door was locked from the inside, and only then did Director Fujita realize that he had been kicked out by Taiichi.

What an ungrateful brat! But thinking of Taiichi's bloodshot eyes and the manuscript paper filled with data in his hand, I decided to let it go. I'm a magnanimous person, and I'm not one to hold grudges.

Inside the Laboratory, Taiichi was rapidly organizing the data. This included not only the previous eight poisons, but also all the pathological and toxicological analyses of the remaining seven. Only with more data could they uncover more clues.

But Director Fujita's reminder not only gave Taiichi a way out of the problem of detoxification, but more importantly, it reminded him that he hadn't contacted Tsunade for a long time.

This is why Taiichi hurriedly kicked Director Fujita out; he felt quite ashamed.

He had been so confident that he would find a way to persuade Tsunade to return to Konoha ahead of time, and Tsunade had even given him her inheritance and a house. Thinking about it now, he felt incredibly guilty.

However, this also presents an opportunity for Teacher Tsunade to become deeply involved in the war, thereby strengthening her increasingly distant relationship with the village.

After organizing all the information on poisons, Taiichi Tsunade.

In the letter, Taiichi first briefly introduced his recent situation, then sincerely admitted that he had neglected to care for his teacher during this period, and finally said that he had recently encountered trouble and needed his teacher's help.

Once everything was ready, Taiichi formed a Hand Seals and summoned a small Katsuyu.

"Hi, Taiichi, it's been a long time!"

The Katsuyu remained gentle, but her words made Taiichi feel ashamed. Even the Katsuyu said it had been a long time since they last met, which showed how negligent Taiichi had been.

"Haha, it's been a while!" Taiichi awkwardly scratched his head, then handed the thick letter to Katsuyu. "I'll have to trouble you again, Katsuyu, please deliver this to Teacher Tsunade as soon as possible."

"No problem, leave it to me!" The Katsuyu wrapped the letter inside its body and, seeing that Taiichi had nothing more to say, decisively canceled the summoning and returned to the Shikkotsu Forest.

Watching the Katsuyu disappear, Taiichi away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead and couldn't help but sigh, "Katsuyu so much better. They're neither as arrogant as the giant serpent of Ryūchi Cave, nor as mysterious as the Toad of Mount Myoboku."

Looking at the messy papers on the table, Taiichi decided to put everything down for the time being and take a good rest on the sofa in the Laboratory. After all, he hadn't slept much during this period of research on the antidote.

Now that he has a reliable backer, he can finally put down some of his burdens and rest peacefully.

Within minutes, soft snoring could be heard in the Laboratory, showing that Taiichi was truly exhausted.

The second hand of the clock on the wall ticked forward, one hour, two hours, until the hour hand pointed to 5 o'clock, and it was already 5 pm.

--

A memory quickly flooded Taiichi's mind, jolting him awake from his slumber. He abruptly opened his eyes, a chilling light flashing within them. He then reached for the Short Sword lying on the wall and vanished in a flash.

Rewind one hour, to a forest in the Sunagakure region of the Land of Rivers.

Yohei and Kakashi were currently running on an unknown road. The long and tense escape had completely disoriented them. All they knew was that they were running north, but they had no idea where they were.

The group of five was all present, but they were all injured, their Chakra was almost depleted, and they had exhausted all their supplies.

With a series of "whoosh" sounds, seven or eight Kunai one side of the forest, another Sunagakure Ninja squad attempting to intercept them.

Kakashi, who was walking to the side, swung his sword to block the Kunai attack. At this moment, they didn't dare to use Ninjutsu too much and could only try their best to fight with Taijutsu. Fortunately, apart from Rin, the others here, although they all had their own preferences, were all good at Taijutsu.

At this moment, four ninjas rushed out from the side. Yohei took the initiative and stepped forward to take down the leader of the Jonin Captain. The two fought like ping-pong balls and were evenly matched for a moment.

At this point, Yohei could only maintain the Three-Tomoe, and dared not even activate the Mangekyo Sharingan more, as he simply did not have any more Chakra.

Kakashi, who was a step behind, glanced at the six people— Saori, Obito, Rin, and three Chunin Sunagakure Ninja —who were already locked in combat behind him. He knew how powerful Saori was; she was a formidable ninja whose strength was no less than his own, so he wasn't too worried about them.

So, if we want to get rid of these Sunagakure Ninja as soon as possible, we can only help Yohei deal with this Jonin first.

With this thought in mind, Kakashi's eyes narrowed, and he held his Short Sword in a thrusting position. Seizing an opening, Jonin charged towards the Sunagakure Jonin.

Behind them, although it was a 3 vs 3 situation between Konoha and Sunagakure, it was actually just Saori and Obito fighting against the three Sunagakure members. Rin was just a Medical Ninja; when her Chakra was plentiful, she could use Ninjutsu to provide support, but now, she could barely even protect herself.

Sunagakure had clearly seen this as well, and they kept using Rin as a starting point to lure Saori and Obito to their rescue.

The key is that this move is particularly effective, especially on Obito. It's incredibly accurate every time it's used, and Obito has already gotten several more bloody scratches from it.

"You despicable Sand Village Ninja, if you have the guts, fight me one-on-one!" Obito roared in frustration, but his voice was utterly powerless.

However, this was clearly not what Sunagakure wanted. Obito was good, but at most he was a Chunin. Saori was their main target.

If Saori weren't currently depleted of Chakra, and both her physical strength and energy weren't at their lowest point, these Chunin to directly confront her.

But at this moment, Sunagakure clearly had a new plan. One of them tied up Obito and slowly forced him away from Rin's side.

The other two intentionally moved closer to Rin and Saori's battle, and although the three from Konoha saw all of this, they were powerless to change anything.

When the Sunagakure Ninja felt the time was right, the two Sunagakure Ninja launched a fierce attack on Rin simultaneously.

At that moment, Obito was not far away, let out a grief-stricken roar. In his eyes, a Sunagakure Kunai about to pierce Rin's chest, but he was powerless to stop it.

A sharp pain shot through his eyes, and two Tomoe appeared in his eyes, one on each side. These newly appeared Tomoe were spinning rapidly, as if they were about to split off into the next Tomoe.

A surge of new energy coursed through his brain and Obito throughout his body. Obito was overjoyed and lunged towards Rin, completely Kunai that Sunagakure Ninja were already thrusting at him from the side.

But clearly, he was still too far away from Rin. By the time he arrived to rescue her, it would be too late. Besides, the Sunagakure Ninja's ultimate target wasn't him.

In that critical moment, Saori Body Flicker moved in front of Rin, her Kunai deflecting the Sunagakure Ninja's attack.

But at that very moment, another Sunagakure Ninja seized the opportunity and Kunai stabbed Saori in the heart with a kunai.

"Saori, watch out!" This was Rin's warning. She had just been kicked away and had only just looked up when she saw the sneak attack.

As the Kunai pierced through Saori's outer garment and pressed against her skin, a triumphant grin appeared on the face of the Sunagakure Ninja.

But in the next instant, that sinister smile suddenly froze on his face, and the Kunai in his hand became completely immobile.

At this moment, a massive sealing array unfolded beneath his feet; it was the Multi-Light Array Sealing Talisman Taiichi had given to Saori to save her life.

At the critical moment, Saori activated this life-saving technique without hesitation. While one Sunagakure Ninja was trapped and another was in shock, she quickly swung her Kunai, first taking care of the shocked Sunagakure Ninja, and then effortlessly slit the neck of the trapped Sunagakure Ninja.

This sudden turn of events immediately altered the course of the battle, surprising not only the Sunagakure Ninja Obito and Rin, who were caught off guard.

However, Saori's combat experience was clearly far superior to that of Obito and Rin, two rookies. She quickly pounced on the Sunagakure Ninja behind Obito and, with Obito's help, killed him in just a few moves.

Meanwhile, Yohei and Kakashi were besieging the Sunagakure Jonin and had already gained the upper hand, but Obito's cry of pain drew their attention. Then they saw Saori Kamui, quickly defeating three Sunagakure Ninja.

Now it was the Sunagakure's turn to Jonin off guard. What was going on? The battle had changed so abruptly. Taking advantage of Yohei and Kakashi's Jonin lapse in concentration, the Sunagakure immediately retreated, then turned and fled. He knew his own limitations; he was no match for five Konoha Ninja.

Here, the five members of Konoha reunited. Yohei immediately noticed the change in Obito's eyes and a bright smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Not bad, you've actually opened your eyes!"

Only then did everyone notice Obito's change. At this moment, the rotation of the Tomoe in Obito's eyes had slowed down, remaining at the level of one Tomoe in each eye.

Obito, reminded by Yohei, realized that when he witnessed Rin nearly being killed, he did experience a sudden surge of power, which was clearly when he awakened his Sharingan.

But before he could even rejoice, a real crisis interrupted him.

"Let's get out of here! It's not safe here!" Yohei reminded everyone, this was not a place to linger.

"Go? Do you think you can still leave?" A domineering voice came from afar and reached everyone's ears.

Yohei and the others suddenly turned around and saw a group of five people emerging from the depths of the winding road, one of whom was the Jonin who had just escaped.

He was now following behind the person who had spoken, his face full of shame, head down, not uttering a word.

This made Yohei and the others even more horrified. What kind of person could make a Sunagakure Jonin act like this?

When the group finally saw the newcomer's face, they all felt a chill run down their spines and their bodies tense up. Even someone as ignorant as Obito recognized the newcomer as the Fourth Kazekage Rasa.

To be honest, Rasa didn't come here specifically to ambush them. As mentioned before, Rasa often participates in battles against Konoha in order to relieve the pressure on Sunagakure.

This time, Rasa and his guards were on their way back to Camp after completing their mission when they happened to pass by this place and encountered the fleeing Sunagakure Jonin.

This piqued his curiosity. He knew that Sunagakure was hunting down the Konoha squad that was causing trouble in their territory, but he never expected that he would happen to be there.

But now that he'd run into them, he couldn't just ignore it, especially since his side had been defeated.

After Jonin the situation from the Jonin, he couldn't help but feel a surge of killing intent. Konoha Ninja who could severely damage a blocking squad after two days of pursuit was not to be allowed to live!