A Ninja World in Turmoil

While Taiichi was leisurely enjoying his life of going to work, slacking off, and teaching in Konoha, things were far from peaceful in any of the Ninja World's nations.

The Land of Wind.

The Cloud Ninja and Sunagakure Ninja were still locked in a tug-of-war. During this time, the Cloud Ninja attacked three more mines, and their spoils were considerable. In order to deal with these huge gains, Ai specially sent an elite squad to take all the spoils back to the ship first.

But luck won't always be on the side of the Cloud Ninja. In yet another sneak attack, the squad led by the Fourth Kazekage finally intercepted the Cloud Village Ninja.

It was in this First Shinobi World War that the Fourth Kazekage first demonstrated his dominance on the battlefield. Taking advantage of the opportune moment, the terrain, and the Rasa stirred up towering Magnet Release Gold Dust, instantly destroying the defenses of the Cloud Ninja organization.

Earth Style, Fire Style, Lightning Style —as long as there's enough Magnet Release Gold Dust, I'll extinguish them all.

If Killer B hadn't risked Complete Tailed Beast Transformation form at the crucial moment, using the Tailed Beast's massive size and the threat of the Tailed Beast Bomb to open an escape route, the Cloud Ninja would have been completely wiped out in this First Shinobi World War.

Even so, after this First Shinobi World War, the Cloud Ninja group lost one-fifth of its members, and the rest were all wounded.

It was this First Shinobi World War that made the entire Ninja World truly realize the strength of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa.

Although he suffered defeats in previous battles against Konoha, this does not mean he is not powerful. At least in the desert region, he can unleash 200% of his fighting strength. Otherwise, how could the new generation of the Cloud Ninja's AB Duo have been defeated by him?

In the central part of the Land of Wind, in an underground cave carved out by Earth Style.

The remaining Cloud Ninja were treating their injuries here. Apart from Killer B, who was unharmed thanks to the Tailed Beast, everyone else had suffered serious injuries.

To save his trapped comrades, his left arm took the brunt of Rasa's Magnet Release: Sand Tsunami Burial. It was only thanks to A's Lightning Release Chakra Armor that he withstood the pressure of the Magnet Release Gold Dust; otherwise, the future Fourth Raikage would have become a one-armed ninja.

Even so, his left arm was so compressed that many capillaries burst, and now his entire arm is covered in bruises, making it impossible for him to exert any strength for a short period of time.

"My dear brother, is your left arm alright? Should we go back now?" Killer B swayed his hips and waved his hands wildly in front of A, completely unconcerned about A's increasingly dark complexion.

"Go back? How can we go back? We haven't achieved our goal yet. What about the revenge for those dead ninjas?" Ai's lips twitched involuntarily, as if aggravating his wound.

"Those beasts from Konoha, no wonder they're holding back in the Land of Rivers. They won a battle but didn't attack the Land of Land of Wind's mainland. It turns out they know how powerful the Fourth Kazekage is in the desert."

According to the original plan, they should have been the ones holding back the main force of Sunagakure, but unexpectedly, they are now standing by and watching us Clown of ourselves.

Damn it, they'll pay for this one day!

At this moment, another Jonin who was less seriously injured Jonin up. "Lord Ai, what should we do next?"

Ai glanced at the wounded scattered all over the ground, and her eyes twitched. Although none of their injuries were very serious, it would still take time for them to recover.

"Let's stay hidden for now. Notify the ninjas outside to send another batch of medicine. We'll continue our operation once our injuries have healed."

"Yes!"

The Land of Grass, the front-line camp of Konoha.

Danzo and his Root elite troops have been stationed at the camp for two days now. This time, they not only brought ample manpower, but also, due to the overall easing of Southern Front, the Western Front is now quite well-supplied with various logistical personnel and supplies.

Unlike Mimura Hamaki, who favors a conservative, defensive style of play, Danzo is a highly aggressive player.

Therefore, under his leadership, the entire Western Front became aggressive.

In just one day, Danzo made the latest personnel arrangements, placing his trusted subordinates from Root into various important departments. The next day, he organized a surprise attack on Iwagakure.

Although the people at Root can all be described as emotionless humanoid machines, they are ruthless and unscrupulous in their actions, only seeking to complete their missions.

They completed the task successfully, but it must be said that their abilities generally surpassed those of ordinary Konoha Ninja.

On the first day of the attack, under Danzo's orders, Konoha launched a full-scale attack on Iwagakure, mainly using Root ninja. Root infiltrated and raided various strongholds and outposts, especially Iwagakure's rear Resupply points and troops.

After a day of fighting, the results were significant. Perhaps they were caught off guard by Konoha's sudden change in tactics, or perhaps the previous battles had gone too smoothly, but Iwagakure was unable to react immediately.

After being Danzo, although it wasn't exactly crippling, the casualties previously inflicted on Konoha were completely wiped out by Danzo in this First Shinobi World War.

That evening, after each squad returned to Camp and reported their results, the morale, which had been suppressed by Iwagakure, finally rebounded. The entire Camp was no longer oppressive, and even the patrolling ninjas had smiles on their faces again.

Inside the Central Army Tent, Danzo sat at the head of the table, with former Commander Mimura Hamaki, Root member Terai, and several Jonin standing below him.

After all the results of the day were reported, the Konoha Ninja present felt a sense of pride and satisfaction, especially those who had been active here before.

"Danzo, we caught Iwagakure off guard today and managed to turn the tide on the battlefield. Shall we maintain this offensive momentum tomorrow?"

The question was asked by Mimura Hamaki, who has now been demoted to deputy commander and is now assisting Danzo in maintaining the front lines.

Danzo expressionless, as if the victory in this battle was a matter of course. He glanced calmly at Mimura Hamaki and said decisively, "Of course we must continue the attack. Only by seizing the initiative on the battlefield can we attack wherever we want. Otherwise, if we only defend, won't the battle situation return to what it was before, where we are controlled from all sides?"

There's a saying that goes, "Don't hit someone in the face, and don't insult someone by revealing their weaknesses." Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Camp's opening remarks left Mimura Hamaki extremely embarrassed. Mimura Hamaki's original subordinates in the Danzo could only watch helplessly, as her battle record spoke for itself, and they had nothing to say.

"Terai, tomorrow intensify the sabotage operations against Iwagakure's logistics. Iwagakure is not like Konoha; their logistics are not as abundant as Konoha. Every loss is a loss. I don't expect you to destroy all of their logistical Resupply, but at least one-third of them."

"Yes, Danzo!" Without hesitation or bargaining, Terai agreed without a second thought. This was typical of Root's style of doing things.

Danzo satisfaction, then looked at the others present, "Maintain the offensive tomorrow. You must keep the enemy's forces tied down at the front lines. This will allow the ninjas who have infiltrated behind enemy lines to operate more safely and efficiently. Konoha's strength is unmatched by Iwagakure. We can wear Iwagakure down even if we just drag it out."

"Yes, Danzo!"

Everyone obeyed the order. Although Danzo showed them no respect whatsoever, as long as he could lead them to victory in this war, such small gestures of respect were of no concern.

After everyone else left the tent, only Danzo and Terai remained inside.

After a long silence, Danzo silent, and Terai stood there like a wooden figure, not moving an inch.

"I heard that Yakushi Nonō is also at this Camp." A sinister voice came from the head of the table, devoid of any emotion.

"Yes, Danzo, he's at the Medical Camp."

"That's wonderful! I never thought that after all these years, she would still end up under my command!"

Unlike the other Three Great Shinobi Villages on the continent, the Third Raikage is currently in a state of confusion. The incompetence of Sunagakure has caught him off guard, and the inaction of Konoha has caught him even more off guard.

This series of chain reactions has put Cloud Village in a rather awkward situation.

The Cloud Village raiding force, which originally intended to take advantage of the chaos, now has to face a full-scale encirclement and suppression by the entire Sunagakure.

Fortunately, Sunagakure is also severely weakened and can only send out a very limited number of people. Otherwise, he would have personally gone to support the Cloud Ninja, after all, that is his son and the future AB Duo of the village.

The Raikage, who had been pacing around the office all morning, finally angered someone.

"Lord Raikage, either retreat, or let them carry the mission through to the end. Your indecisiveness is completely unlike your usual style."

Karui, clutching the documents, shouted loudly from the side, the Raikage's actions that morning had seriously affected her—

Work.

The Raikage froze, a rare hint of embarrassment appearing on his rugged face. "Karui, you're right. I was overthinking it. With A and Killer B's abilities, even if they can't win, escaping shouldn't be a problem. Besides, Sunagakure might not even have the ability to stop them."

The Raikage abruptly changed the subject, revealing a hateful expression, "It's those bastards from Konoha who deserve to die! They used our Cloud Village ninjas as scapegoats, dumping what should have been their enemies on us! I really want to wipe them all out."

"Lord Raikage, please calm down. Iwagakure has already declared war on us. Provoking Konoha too much at this time will not benefit us. Maintaining the status quo with Konoha is the best course of action, and I believe they share the same view."

Raikage grew angrier the more he thought about it, and slammed his hand on his desk. With a loud crash, the heavy desk shattered into pieces. Karui, standing nearby, frowned. How many desks had this been today? She'd lost count.

"And that old bastard Ōnoki, what's wrong with him? He was fighting Konoha just fine, why did he have to provoke us at this time? Did I kill his wife or stab his ass? It's utterly incomprehensible."

It seems the Raikage is unable to handle official business today. Karui observes coldly from the sidelines. She can understand the Tsuchikage's motives; he's simply worried that if the Cloud Village becomes stronger, it will cause trouble for the Iwagakure. This isn't just needless worry; it's inevitable, which is why he's striking first.

The chaos in the Ninja World won't affect Taiichi, who is in Konoha for the time being. He just saw Kurenai and Asuma off and is now enjoying this rare moment of peace.

--

Asuma's excitement upon returning home was impossible to hide, which immediately caught Hiruzen Sarutobi's attention.

He knew that even though he had made it very clear to Asuma yesterday, Asma was still reluctant. He never expected that just one afternoon together would lead to such a huge change in his attitude.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was genuinely curious about what kind of magic Taiichi had used to cause such a drastic change in Asuma.

"Asuma, you look so happy, you must have had a great day!" Hiruzen Sarutobi called out to Asuma as he ran towards the Training Ground as soon as he entered.

"Ah, Father, I'm sorry I didn't notice you just now." Upon hearing this, Asuma immediately stopped and bowed to Hiruzen Sarutobi in apology. At this time Asuma still respected his Hokage father.

"Father, I never imagined that Taiichi would become so powerful. Thinking back, I am truly ashamed of my past ignorance. Don't worry, I will definitely learn from Taiichi and strive to become a powerful ninja like him as soon as possible."

Asuma was full of confidence and not discouraged at all by the gap between the two.

Hiruzen Sarutobi everything else aside, Asuma's current mindset alone made it clear that sending him to learn from Taiichi was the right thing to do, but he still wanted to know more details.

"Could you tell me about what happened today? Let me see Taiichi is, and how he can make my Asuma truly convinced?"

Asuma felt a little embarrassed. He had indeed been too arrogant and ignorant before, but he wasn't an ungrateful person. He understood the principle of admitting his mistakes.

So he started by sparring with Taiichi, then Taiichi used the Flying Thunder God to take him outside the village to see what real Ninjutsu was, and then came back to teach him how to train his Nature Transformation, explaining everything to Hiruzen Sarutobi in great detail.

From Asuma's words, he could roughly deduce Hiruzen Sarutobi 'Taiichi current level, and he had to admit that Taiichi not only had a unique way of training himself, but also had many methods for teaching others.

First, suppress his arrogance; then, make him believe and aspire to be like him; and finally, teach him according to his aptitude. Even if he were to do it himself, this is the best he could do.

Asuma was speaking, he suddenly paused. He had been too excited and seemed to have said something he shouldn't have. He cautiously glanced at his father and found him looking at him with a half-smile. He immediately panicked.

Did I accidentally screw Taiichi over?

"Well—Father, it was Taichi who asked me to Taiichi me outside the village to test my Ninjutsu. You can't blame Taiichi for leaving the village without permission!" Asuma was quite responsible this time, taking the blame upon himself.

This is exactly what Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to see; a responsible Asuma would be more gratifying to him than an Asuma who shirks responsibility when things go wrong.

Moreover, the fact that Taiichi was able to take Asuma out of the village using the Flying Thunder God Technique shows that he wasn't afraid of Asuma finding out. After all, rules are rules, but people are flexible. The "unjustified" reason why Asuma can't leave the village is ultimately up to Asuma's opinion as the Hokage.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru have left the village quite often, and Tsunade is still out there and hasn't returned yet. Does this mean they're going to be labeled as Rogue Ninja?

Those people in other villages would be laughing in the middle of the night.

"Don't worry, Taiichi got permission, but I'm glad you took responsibility for your friend!"