The Gap Between Ninjutsu Was as Vast as a Chasm

With Taiichi's protection, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief, and led by Taiichi, they hurried towards the Medical Camp.

On the way, Taiichi finally asked the question that had been bothering him, "What happened to him? How did he get so badly injured?"

Taiyi asked a question but didn't get the answer he wanted. He turned to look at everyone with Taiichi puzzled expression and found that even Rin, who had just been crying, was awkwardly wiping away her tears.

Immediately, a guess formed in his mind: could it be that these guys ignored his advice and were recklessly causing trouble?

"Taiichi, let's save him first. This guy was stabbed through the chest with a sword, and he's still alive thanks to Lin's first aid!" Yohei, who was carrying someone on his back, spoke up, but his words also revealed self-blame.

Thinking back to when the battle had just begun, the five of them followed Taiichi, forming a formation and wreaking havoc on all sides. At that time, the Sunagakure's offensive was at its fiercest, but with Taiichi leading the way, the five of them handled it quite easily.

Taiyi had Taiichi cleared out all the enemies ahead; those that slipped past them were either too weak or had their defenses breached, making them easy to deal with.

But after Taiichi left the group to deal with the Tailed Beast, Yohei, who took on the task of attacking the enemy, realized how much pressure Taiichi under to be able to charge through the enemy lines like before. The five of them had only charged back and forth twice and were already injured, but fortunately none of them were serious, just some superficial wounds.

With that in mind, the group finally arrived at the Medical Camp. Taiichi placed Obito directly on an empty hospital bed, having already ascertained Obito's condition on the way there.

The lung was punctured, resulting in massive bleeding. Although emergency treatment was provided, it was clearly inadequate. Not only was the bleeding not completely stopped, but the wound itself healed haphazardly. This was caused by inadequate medical theory and improper use of the Mystical Palm Technique, which arbitrarily induced cell division.

If he continues to be treated like this, even if Obito recovers, he will still end up with tuberculosis.

When Taiichi explained Obito's condition, Rin's face turned pale. She was the one who performed the first aid on Obito. At the time, she had no other choice and acted rashly without thinking. Now, hearing about the consequences Taiichi described, she felt a wave of fear.

Seeing Lin's expression, Taiichi knew to stop. He just wanted to let her understand his current level, and he didn't want to really scare the young girl into having psychological trauma.

"However, you've done very well. At the time, it was an emergency, and there was no other way to treat it this way. But you must be careful; normal treatment wouldn't do it this way. Correcting this kind of misaligned tissue is not as simple as just cutting it off and having it regrow."

Taiichi advised Rin to accumulate more theoretical knowledge in the future, and then continued to pay attention to Obito's injuries.

This guy not only got stabbed right through, but also had several ribs broken by a kick. Nobody knows how he got injured like that.

After the examination, Taiichi's right hand flashed with a faint light, Chakra Scalpel took shape. He made a cut from top to bottom across Taiyi's chest, instantly splitting the upper body clothing in two. His control was so precise that not a single Obito touched the skin.

After quickly cleaning the wound by pulling aside the clothing, the twisted and hideous scar was revealed. The surface of the wound had healed, but judging from the scar tissue on the outside, it was clear that if left untreated, it would cause a lot of trouble in the future.

Taiichi placed his hands, one on top of the other, on the wound covered in Obito. Normally, he would just use one hand to press lightly when treating patients. He only used this posture in the early stages of his medical studies and almost never used it again afterward, which was enough to prove how much care and effort he was going to put into the next operation.

Both hands simultaneously glowed with emerald green light, the rich vitality of which was refreshing even to onlookers. However, Taiichi's palms contained the opposite destructive power. Mystical Palm Technique can promote cell division, but if used in reverse, it can also silently cause cell death.

What he needs to do now is to destroy those abnormal tissues while simultaneously stimulating the original cells to divide again and fill those wrong places. This requires a thorough understanding of the human body, knowing which cells should grow where, and it takes Taiichi's superb Chakra Control to accomplish this.

This is also the treatment method that causes the least harm to Obito. The only drawback is that it requires a high level of skill from the practitioner and is also extremely tiring. Before long, Taiichi's forehead was covered in cold sweat, something he hadn't done during his fight with Shukaku.

Half an hour later, Taiichi finally withdrew his hands. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked at Obito on the hospital bed, and couldn't help but purse his lips. This guy must have made some mistake again, otherwise Yohei and the others wouldn't be so hesitant. But now is not the time to pursue that.

He turned to Rin and explained Obito's condition to her, "His chest wound has healed, but the bones inside are still broken. He'll need time to recover. I can only help him with the initial healing. He's currently unconscious due to blood loss, but he should wake up soon. You know what to do for the injured, so I won't go into details!"

Lin covered her mouth with joy, not knowing what to say; she had been terrified earlier.

Taiichi then looked at Yohei, Kakashi, and Saori and said, "You guys shouldn't stay here either. We can talk about it after Obito wakes up. I have to go guard the Camp, so I won't stay here. If you have nothing to do, you can take a walk around the Camp. Right now, the Camp is short-staffed and at its weakest."

"No problem, Taiichi, you go ahead and get busy. We'll go on patrol in a bit."

Yohei spoke first, agreeing on everyone's behalf without even consulting them. This made Taiichi even more curious about what these guys had done and why they seemed so guilty.

However, he wasn't one to pry into things. He had important matters to attend to right now, and not even one of his Shadow Clone was free, so he didn't have time to worry about anything else. As for Yohei and the others' embarrassing incident, he would find out sooner or later after this busy period was over.

Next, Taiichi took over from the Shadow Clone and sat in the center of the Camp. He sat there for the entire night until the next morning, when Jiraiya and the other high-ranking officers returned to the Camp with smiles on their faces.

As soon as they entered the gate, the first thing they saw was Taiichi sitting upright in the center of the Camp. Everyone smiled knowingly at this sight. The reason they had been able to fight on the front lines with peace of mind until now was because there was a powerful figure in charge in the rear.

Otherwise, once the outcome of the battle on the main battlefield is decided, they would have to consider sending some high-ranking officers back with a portion of the ninjas. This would undoubtedly weaken the frontline forces, turning what could have been a 90-point victory into only 80 points, or even lower.

"Taiichi, you've worked hard. You just finished fighting on the front lines and had to come back to oversee the rear. You haven't had a rest yet, have you?"

Jiraiya laughed heartily, patting his apprentice on the shoulder, his joy undisguised. Indeed, Taiichi's performance in this battle was remarkable; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was the hero of the battle. He single-handedly withstood Shukaku's attack and even killed him—none of them could have done that.

If it weren't for the need to leave room for others to make contributions, and the fact that a strong ninja was indeed needed to hold the rear, Taiichi's achievements would be far more than what he has now.

Taiichi smiled and didn't take the subject, instead offering his congratulations, "Congratulations to the teacher and all the Senior on your triumphant return! After this great battle, the spine of Sunagakure has been broken!"

"Hahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter. Taiichi was right. After this battle, Sunagakure would definitely not have the strength to fight again in the short term. The rest would depend on how the village would arrange things.

"Let's go, Taiichi, let's go to the meeting first. Although this First Shinobi World War isn't completely over yet, it's time to do a battle summary, and we also need to report the results to the village."

As he spoke, Jiraiya put his arm around Taiichi's neck and led him toward the Central Army Tent.

The other Jonin and remained silent, knowing that Jiraiya intentionally elevating his disciple's status. However, none of them objected, since capable people are always respected wherever they go.

Central Command Tent, everyone smiled and exchanged pleasantries as they took their seats. Taiichi, however, was asked to sit to Jiraiya's right. This seat used to be Minato's, but since he was still at the front lines, it was given to Taiichi.

It took more than ten minutes for everyone to recover from the joy of victory before the meeting officially began.

"Everyone, we've had our share of excitement. Now let's talk about the gains from this battle and set the tone for how to report back to the village."

"Good—" Someone shouted, instantly raising the atmosphere among everyone present. Although everyone knew it was a great victory, they had no idea the exact extent of the victory or the extent of their losses. Everyone was eagerly anticipating what would happen next.

"Shikaku, come and talk to everyone properly, and make them happy again."

A burst of laughter erupted from below, but everyone's eyes were fixed on Shikaku.

Shikaku calmly stood up, first bowing to Jiraiya before turning to face everyone.

"As of this morning, our count of Sunagakure casualties has reached 500, including 24 confirmed Jonin action, and 103 captured. Our losses so far are only 146, Jonin 4 Jonin killed!"

"Boo!" Everyone immediately cheered. It was truly a great victory. Such a casualty ratio was rare in all the wars since the village was founded. Moreover, the battle was not over yet. In the subsequent pursuit phase, the casualties of Sunagakure would only be greater, while the casualties of Konoha would be negligible.

"Of course, the biggest gain from this battle was killing the Shukaku Jinchuriki. This will ensure that Sunagakure will completely lose its trump card of Tailed Beast in the next few years, and we will be more at ease when facing Sunagakure."

After saying this, Shikaku made his graceful exit. However, everyone present looked at Taiichi, who was sitting quietly next to Jiraiya. Their intense gazes made Taiichi's cheeks burn. There was envy, recognition, and praise in their eyes; they all affirmed Taiichi's abilities.

"Everyone is aware of the battle results. We should report the good news to the village based on this information. If there's anything else to add, we'll go find Shikaku afterward. We'll write a detailed battle report and send it back to the village once the battle is completely over."

Jiraiya was also trying to give a brief summary of the battle as soon as possible. After all, the village was still unaware of the situation, and he needed to send the information back as soon as possible to prevent the village from making any misjudgments.

"So, what else do each department have to report? Everyone, speak up quickly. With this good news, the Hokage-sama might just agree."

Everyone chuckled, agreeing that it was indeed a good idea, and soon all sorts of Eight Gates requests came in.

"Our weapons and equipment, especially Kunai, Shuriken, and Explosive Tag, were basically all used up in this First Shinobi World War."

"Our food and Military Ration Pill are almost used up; what's left will only last for another week."

"At the Medical Camp, there's a shortage of various medicinal herbs and equipment, and especially a lack of manpower. We're already providing 24-hour treatment, and many Medical Ninja don't even have time to rest."

Good heavens, truly good heavens! They're all so shameless, all crying about being poor. It's true what they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I may not know about other things, but how could Taiichi not know about the situation at the Medical Camp? Although it has its shortcomings, it's definitely not as bad as they said.

That's an exaggeration. The Medical Camp is clearly operating on two shifts, but he's making it sound like everyone works around the clock.

Jiraiya clearly hadn't expected everyone to need so much, but he smiled and didn't voice any objections. Instead, he had Shikaku write it all down so he could apply to the village later, asking for as much as they could. After all, asking for the sky's the limit is one thing, but settling for less is another, and the village should be given some leeway.

However, Taiichi was not so optimistic. After this First Shinobi World War, Sunagakure was severely weakened and its threat to Konoha was greatly reduced. It was still unknown whether the Southern Front could maintain its current scale, so how could they possibly send more people to you?

Everyone is excited right now and probably hasn't thought of this yet, but once they calm down, they'll all understand.

"Everything else can wait, but the food can't. The food supply was already calculated, but now there are so many more prisoners, and there might be even more later. We're really going to run out of food."

Jiraiya frowned. This was indeed a problem. It wasn't just about the prisoners; there were also a lot of wounded soldiers whose nutritional needs were even greater, making the food shortage even bigger. But there wasn't enough time to transport food from the rear.

Just when everyone was at a loss, Taiichi made a suggestion, "Why don't we go to the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers to borrow grain?"

He remembered that the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers had betrayed Konoha before. Although he had returned to the country after being reprimanded by Konoha, the grudge was still there.

"Is this... okay?" This is for people with higher moral standards who also care about saving face.

"Great idea! We've helped him hold off the Sunagakure's attack, so what's wrong with asking for some food!" This is shameless, making extortion sound perfectly reasonable.

"Can we borrow it? We can pay him back when our grain arrives." This is just a convenient offer; whether or not the grain is actually returned is ultimately up to them.

Jiraiya and Shikaku exchanged a glance, both seeing the excitement in each other's eyes. They didn't have Daimyo relationship with the current Daimyo of the Land of Rivers, and now that Konoha had won a great victory, they could take advantage of this momentum to "extort some money from the local authorities." Of course, they couldn't let anyone find fault with this, so they had to act with method.

Jiraiya looked at all the ninjas present to see if anyone was suitable for the task. First of all, Taichi was not suitable; he was too young, Daimyo was not one of their ninjas, so they wouldn't recognize his strength. If Taiichi were sent, he would naturally be looked down upon.

Looking at the others, some were either single-minded or unsuitable for negotiation. They were there to ask for food, but they didn't want to really strain relations with the Land of Rivers.

Otherwise, it would be troublesome if they tripped us up behind our backs later, after all, this is still the territory of the Land of Rivers.

After looking around, Jiraiya could only turn his gaze back to Shikaku. "You'll have to go and handle this matter."

Reluctantly, Shikaku could only nod in agreement.