Not a Single Hair Missing

The valley front.

Kitahara Kaede stood on the gravel slope.

Behind him was the containment line formed by thirty Konoha ninja.

The puppet swarm on the opposite side had already advanced within a hundred meters.

Their formation was clearly layered.

At the very front were heavy-armored melee puppets, their wooden joints clicking under the tension of chakra threads, arms popping out several cold spikes.

Hiding in the rear were the long-range puppets.

Hidden weapon slots were half-open, poison needles reflecting dark glints, and some puppets even had purple toxic mist spilling from their mouths.

Here they come.

Kitahara Kaede pressed his hands together in a seal.

Shadow clones scattered.

Fire Style covered the front passage.

Chidori Sharp Spear precisely dismantled the three melee puppets at the very front.

Before the exploded wood chips could even hit the ground, the second wave pressed forward.

The density was significantly higher than the intelligence reports had suggested.

Chiyo was raising the stakes, attempting to exhaust Konoha's defensive line with this batch of cheap melee puppets before using the poison puppets in the rear to sweep up the remnants.

While dismantling puppets, Kitahara Kaede observed the movement of the chakra threads in the sky by the light of the flames.

She was moving.

The frontal engagement lasted for nearly twenty minutes.

The shadow clones had detonated four times, and the Fire Style had scorched the valley floor black.

The wreckage of puppets was piled everywhere.

Just then, the chakra threads connecting to the puppets on the front line snapped without warning.

All the useless puppets charging at the front lost control simultaneously, clattering to the ground.

But the rear line didn't move.

A dozen imperceptible chakra threads tightened sharply toward the back.

Those long-range puppets, packed with poison needles and containing raw venom, were closer to Chiyo; she pulled them directly into her rear retreat route, vanishing into the shadows.

Kitahara Kaede frowned.

She retreated.

Half an hour later, Hatake Sakumo returned from the direction of the ridgeline.

There was no expression on his face.

But Kitahara Kaede could tell he was not happy.

"The camp was already empty when I arrived," Sakumo said in a flat tone.

"I checked the signs of retreat; it had been less than ten minutes. She fled in advance."

Kitahara Kaede replied from the side.

"Your route was fine, and the timing was correct."

"How did she know?"

"Hard to say," Kitahara Kaede mused. "Perhaps a sensory-type subordinate sent word ahead, or maybe the pressure I applied on the front was too intense, making it look like more than just a defensive containment."

Chiyo had lived for most of her life; her battlefield intuition was sharper than anyone's.

Sakumo didn't speak again.

Failing to catch the commander meant the trip to the front line had been in vain.

"What about next time?" Sakumo asked.

"We'll change tactics next time," Kitahara Kaede turned around. "Let's go back and confirm the casualties first."

Field hospital.

The moment the curtain was lifted, Kitahara Kaede's footsteps faltered.

The situation was worse than yesterday.

Straw mats in the hallway were spread all the way outside the tent.

The newly arrived wounded couldn't even get a spot on a mat and had to lie scattered across the open ground.

He walked through the crowd toward the largest main tent.

Tsunade stood in front of the medicine cabinet.

A dozen petri dishes were arranged on the table, the colors of the liquids a chaotic mess.

Half a stack of notes was scattered nearby, the pages covered in agitated, scribbled ink.

She picked up a petri dish and held it against the oil lamp.

Put it down.

Pick up another.

Put it down again.

"Not this... this isn't it either."

Tsunade didn't even look up as Kitahara Kaede approached, her mouth muttering to itself.

Kitahara Kaede stopped beside her.

Tsunade didn't raise her head: "I wasn't wrong about the base of the Weathered Scorpion Poison, but Chiyo mixed at least three rare ingredients into it."

"I've tried eleven combination schemes just now, and all of them failed."

Kitahara Kaede tilted his head to look at her.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and her lips were chapped.

"Where are you stuck?" Kitahara Kaede asked.

"The sample."

Tsunade's slender fingers pointed to the middle of her notes.

"Everything I have is residual toxin extracted from the bodies of poisoned ninja; it has already denatured through blood metabolism, and the structure is incomplete."

She pressed both hands onto the table.

"To crack the formula, I must get the raw toxin."

"The kind Chiyo applies directly to the puppet weapons. Without the raw liquid, I can only keep trying my luck with one scheme after another here."

As soon as she finished speaking.

The tent curtain was lifted, and another stretcher was carried in by the medical team.

A system notification sounded in Kitahara Kaede's ear.

[Side quest triggered: Assist Tsunade in cracking Chiyo's poison]

[Quest requirements: Obtain a sample of the raw toxin from Chiyo's puppet weapons and deliver it to Tsunade for analysis]

[Evaluation criteria: Completion speed, sample integrity, performance during the process]

[Reward: Settled based on final evaluation]

Kitahara Kaede glanced at the quest panel and closed it casually.

"Raw liquid, right."

"Yes."

"Fine, I'll go get it."

Tsunade's hands, which were sorting bottles and jars, froze in mid-air.

She turned her head.

"What did you say?"

"The raw toxin on Chiyo's puppet weapons. I'll get my hands on it."

Tsunade stared at him.

She laughed in anger, her voice rising sharply.

"You're going to get it? Chiyo is the supreme commander of Sunagakure, she has the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets, and her strength is near the Kage level!"

"I'm not going to raze her camp. I'll just get the sample and leave."

"Do you think Chiyo is stupid enough to leave poisoned puppets on the side of the road for you to scrape? She pulled all the poison puppets back on the front line; not a single drop was left behind!"

Kitahara Kaede did not argue.

Tsunade turned her head away, her fingertips digging into the lab report on the table.

"I'll find another way."

"How long will it take?"

Tsunade's movements stiffened.

Kitahara Kaede glanced at the outside of the tent.

Another body covered in a white sheet had just been wheeled out, and a medical ninja was registering it.

"Every hour that passes, another name is carved onto the Memorial Stone," Kitahara Kaede said in a very faint tone.

Tsunade's lips pressed into a straight line.

"You tried eleven schemes and failed, not because you aren't strong enough, but because you don't have the original sample."

The two stood half a step apart.

Inside the tent, only the weak breathing of the wounded could be heard.

Kitahara Kaede looked into her eyes.

That composure was directly transmitted to her.

Tsunade's tense jawline loosened bit by bit.

She turned her back, pulled open the bottom drawer of the medicine cabinet, and began to search rapidly.

Three metal vials the size of a finger.

A special medical scraper.

A pair of long-handled silver tweezers.

She swept these items into a waterproof black cloth bag, walked back to Kitahara Kaede, and shoved it into his hands.

"I need the coating from the inside of the puppet's core joints."

Her speech was fast, recovering her professional demeanor as an attending physician.

"Don't touch the external hidden weapons; only the toxin inside the joints hasn't been exposed to much air, so it's the most complete."

"Use metal tools throughout the collection process, and don't let a single drop touch your own skin."

Kitahara Kaede wrapped up the cloth bag and tucked it into the innermost layer of his ninja tool pouch.

"Remembered."

Tsunade watched him.

"Come back without a single hair missing."

Kitahara Kaede pulled out the blue amulet with crooked stitching from his inner pocket.

He hooked the lanyard with his finger and swung it in mid-air.

"With your charm, just wait for my good news."

The corners of Tsunade's mouth, which had been tense for hours, finally pulled upward.

"Go quickly and return quickly."

Kitahara Kaede turned and left.

The curtain was lifted, and the night wind blew away some of the medicinal smell inside the tent.

Outside the door, a new team with a stretcher squeezed in immediately.

Tsunade turned around, grabbed the pen on the table, and opened a page of fresh, blank notes.

"Send them to the third clearing."

She issued instructions to the medical team that had just entered.

"Protect the heart pulse and main meridians first, cut off the toxin's path! Do it now!"

The tent was once again busy with activity.