War Ignites

"Tsk, tsk. Just as I thought. The Land of Grass has done so many shameless things—how could it possibly be short on strife?" Watching the battle in the distance, Hyuga Gen clicked his tongue.

Hyuga Gen had planned to take advantage of the night to stir up some trouble. He hadn't expected the Rain Ninja to start fighting the Grass Ninja before he could even get started.

Their little clash made Hyuga Gen feel a bit upstaged. He'd already made up his mind and come up with a plan. He was just about to put it into action when they beat him to it. He felt just a tiny bit dejected.

Of course, he was mostly happy. Things were unfolding exactly as he'd hoped, without him having to lift a finger. For someone who wanted nothing more than to laze around, it couldn't get any better.

Watching the battle in the distance, he saw that it didn't seem all that fierce. That wasn't what he'd expected. He'd have to fan the flames a little. Hyuga Gen's eyes shifted as an idea came to him.

The cover of night suited Hyuga Gen perfectly. First, he disguised himself as a Grass Ninja and pulled a few strings. Then he transformed into a Rain Ninja and did the same. Thanks to his meddling, the fighting grew more and more intense.

After a bit of careful meddling, Hyuga Gen left the battlefield. He planned to find somewhere to rest and save his energy for tomorrow. He figured that at least one of Karin and her mother would show up at the battlefield then.

He kept mentioning Karin's mother, but Hyuga Gen wasn't sure whether she was still alive at this point. Deep down, he hoped she was, because if she was, Karin probably hadn't been hurt or bitten yet.

A young girl in the bloom of youth, covered from head to toe in bite marks—just thinking about the immense physical and psychological trauma made Karin seem so pitiful. Since he was here, Hyuga Gen didn't want her to suffer that kind of inhuman torment again.

Right. If anyone's going to bite her, it'll be me. And if anyone's leaving bite marks, they'll be mine. Hyuga Gen shamelessly thought to himself.

But none of that mattered much. Whether she'd been hurt or not, Hyuga Gen was determined to rescue her and get her out of there. Even if she refused, he planned to knock her out and carry her away. He couldn't come all this way for nothing—he absolutely refused to do something that took effort without offering any reward.

Meanwhile, at the Kusagakure camp, a group of people were discussing something.

"We suffered quite a few casualties today. We were already short on medical supplies, and tomorrow will be even worse. We need to request aid from the village as soon as possible," one of them said gravely.

The day's outcome had been completely unexpected. Their previous clashes had never resulted in so many casualties. Today, the losses were significant. Fortunately, few had died; most of them had only been injured.

Of course, all of this was deliberate on Hyuga Gen's part. When dealing with people from the Land of Grass, he hadn't aimed for vital spots. Most of the time, he'd only wounded them.

He'd treated the Rain Ninja differently, killing more of them. That made the fighting even fiercer. Naturally, he'd used kunai to hit them.

In the pitch darkness, he'd kept his distance. The others had probably only seen a blurry silhouette. Taking advantage of the chaos, he'd started launching sneak attacks. It was also a good chance to practice throwing kunai.

"I've already sent a request for help. Reinforcements should arrive tomorrow. We don't need to worry too much about medical care, either. That woman will be coming with the reinforcements," another ninja replied. He seemed to be their captain.

"That's great! Tomorrow, we'll make the Rain Ninja pay!" The others were visibly delighted by the captain's words, and one of them exclaimed excitedly.

They all clearly knew who "that woman" was and understood her value. They'd all experienced the benefits of having a human medical kit firsthand. Anyone who'd used her knew just how effective she was.

At the same time, a similar discussion was taking place at the Amegakure camp.

"The people from Kusagakure are awful. They killed so many of our brothers today. Tomorrow, we have to make them answer for it," one of them said indignantly.

"Exactly! Tomorrow, we'll show them what we can do," someone beside him chimed in.

The man sitting at the head of the table frowned. Their casualties today seemed wrong. They'd usually held a slight advantage, but today had gone far worse than they'd expected.

"Make them pay? Then why did we suffer so many casualties today?" he asked sternly, glaring at the people seated below him.

Hearing their leader's question, which seemed to carry a hint of blame, the others immediately fell silent.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongues? You were just shouting about getting revenge," he snapped when no one answered.

"Captain, they may have had a skilled sensory ninja hiding in the shadows and firing sneak attacks. That's why so many of our brothers got hit. If it had been daytime, they wouldn't have stood a chance against us," one of them said, breaking the silence. The standoff would only make the captain angrier.

"That's right, Captain. Someone was launching sneak attacks. The Grass Ninja would shoot and then run. If I hadn't been quick, I'd have been hit too," another person added hastily.

"Then why didn't you say so earlier?" The man at the head of the table glared at him, displeased, then fell into thought.

"All right, that's enough for today. I've already requested help from the village. Reinforcements should arrive tomorrow. Leave some people on night watch. The rest of you, get some rest and be ready to avenge our fallen brothers tomorrow." After thinking it over, he agreed with what they'd said. To avoid affecting the next day's battle, he ended the meeting.

He knew the fighting would only grow more intense tomorrow.

Hyuga Gen had found a place to rest by then. Xiaojin really was convenient to have around. Hyuga Gen couldn't help wondering where his parents had found Xiaojin—or the egg it had hatched from.

What Hyuga Gen really wanted to know was where Xiaojin came from and whether it had a clan. His home was Xiaojin's home too, of course, but since it was a summon, it would probably feel more at home with its own kind.

Hyuga Gen had also noticed that Xiaojin seemed to have hit a bottleneck. To improve, it would need to break through somehow, but Hyuga Gen had no idea how to help.

After all, training was different for humans and summons. Hyuga Gen knew nothing about how a summon could advance its training. Humans and beasts were different, after all.

He remembered how Xiaojin used to bully him all the time, but now it was no match for him. Hyuga Gen could use Rotation, Rasengan, the Ten-Pulse Divine Sword, and Fire Style against it, while Xiaojin still only had its claws, beak, and wings. That was why it couldn't beat him.

Hyuga Gen wanted to make Xiaojin stronger. The stronger Xiaojin was, the stronger he would be, since a summon was part of a ninja's strength and shouldn't be underestimated.

But he really had no good ideas at the moment, so he could only leave it for another time.

Meanwhile, Might Guy and the others had stopped to rest as well. They had entered the Land of Fire, and with no ordinary people in the group, they were moving much faster.

At this rate, they'd reach Konoha in about a day and a half. The trip to the Land of Waterfalls had taken nearly half a month, but the return journey would only take two days. That was the difference between ordinary people and ninja.

The only downside was that their group was now missing the warmth of a campfire and the smell of roasting meat.