The Marines' Compromise, Withdrawal from the West Blue
Sengoku raised his head, his gaze sweeping over every face in the conference room, whether silent or resentful.
His voice, hoarse yet steady, dominated the entire room. "The order to retreat from West Blue is to be carried out immediately."
All branches in the West Blue are hereby notified to complete the evacuation of personnel and equipment within the specified timeframe. The evacuation sequence and route will be uniformly determined by the Staff Headquarters, and no unauthorized actions are permitted.
The project to expand the G2 Branch into New Marine Headquarters was overseen by Vice Admiral Hōshō, who was responsible for liaising with the G2 side.
"The specific plan for Global Military Draft will be drafted within three days, spearheaded by Staff Officer Tsuru."
He paused, and the last sentence seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, yet he spoke with unusual composure, "As for the West Blue —the navy is withdrawing today, but one day it will return with its head held high."
at the same time
Origin Island
One after another, beams of light from the barrier shone outside Uchiha Izumi's residence, and dark red Chakra patterns spread along the ground and walls, enveloping the entire house in an impenetrable fortress.
Uchiha Setsuna practically dragged Feihong and Feiyan into the room, their wooden clogs pounding on the floor, showing none of the composure Elder should have.
He waved away the Shadow Guard standing watch at the door and saw Natsu lying on the bed, her face pale. His brows furrowed.
"Don't worry about me," he waved to Izumi, who was kneeling by the bed and desperately trying to stay upright with his Mystical Palm Technique, then pushed the two people behind him forward. "Quick!"
Uchiha Feihong and Uchiha Feiyan are the two best Medical Ninjutsu users in the clan, both Kage Level, specializing in battlefield first aid.
Feihong crouched by the bedside, her fingertips glowing with soft green Chakra, and gently touched the hideous penetrating wound in Natsu's abdomen.
Feiyan then moved to the other side, hovering her hands above Natsu's chest, closing her eyes to sense the flow of Chakra within him.
A moment later, Feihong was the first to stop, exchanging a glance with Feiyan. Neither of them looked too good.
"Elder Setsuna," Feihong turned around, her voice low and heavy with barely concealed concern, "Lord Natsu Yin's injuries seem rather strange."
A dark red energy clung to the edge of the wound; it was neither Chakra nor any kind of Haki we had ever seen.
Our Mystical Palm Technique is instantly obliterated upon contact with it; it can't penetrate at all."
She paused, her tone tinged with confusion, yet also with a hint of cautious relief, "But there's another power operating within Lord Natsu Yin's body, it's Yang Release Chakra."
The Yang Release was continuously surging out from his dantian and meridians, forming a defensive line along the edge of the wound, stubbornly resisting the erosion of the dark red energy.
Frankly speaking, if it weren't for this Yang Release holding him up, given the extent of the wound and the destructive power of that energy, he wouldn't have lasted until we arrived.
He clenched his fist tightly in Setsuna, his knuckles turning white.
He wanted to ask, "Can it be cured?", but looking into the Feihong eyes, he swallowed the words back.
He knew they would do their best.
He cursed Uchiha Natsu, that troublesome brat, eight hundred times in his heart—once he got carried away, he didn't care about his life. It was one thing for him to take on four Admiral-Yonko Level by himself, but in the end, he even went head-to-head with that old monster who had lived for eight hundred years.
He took a deep breath and said in a hoarse voice, "You all do your best to stabilize their injuries first. I'm going to the lab to find Vallen."
The light from the barrier was still swirling outside the window when Vallen burst through the door, carrying a medicine box crammed full.
He ran so fast that the hem of his white coat was stained with mud and water, and his glasses were fogged up, but he didn't bother to wipe them.
Several Research Ninja followed behind, carrying Portable Monitor, Chakra Spectrum Analyzer, and a set of Foldable Sterile Lab Bench, and filed in one after another.
Uchiha Setsuna didn't stand on ceremony with him and gestured with his eyes towards the bed.
Vallen glanced at it only once, and his pupils contracted sharply.
Uchiha Natsu lay there, the gruesome through-and-through wound in his abdomen looking as if it had been ripped open from the front by the claws of some wild beast. The flesh around the wound was rolled up, covered by a thin layer of dark red energy membrane, which was silently eroding the surrounding tissue.
Meanwhile, another stream of crimson-gold Chakra fiercely resisted the spread of dark red energy. The two forces repeatedly tugged at each other beneath the skin, each tug causing the muscles at the edge of the wound to spasm slightly.
"Transfer him to the lab table, be careful not to touch the wound." Vallen's voice was low, yet carried an undeniable coldness.
Several Research Ninja carefully lifted Natsu's back and knees, and moved him horizontally onto the folding experimental table.
Feihong and Feiyan simultaneously activated the Mystical Palm Technique, using gentle green Chakra to support both sides of the wound, preventing the fragile Yang Release defense line from being accidentally torn apart during the transfer.
Izumi stood in the corner, her hands tightly gripping the silver-gray Kunai, her knuckles white, her lips bitten so hard they almost bled, but she didn't utter a sound to disturb her.
Vallen bent down, first using tweezers to pick up a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant, and gently wiped away the dried bloodstains from the edges of the wound.
His movements were very light, but the fine beads of sweat on his forehead betrayed his nervousness.
He had done this procedure countless times, in the laboratory in North Blue, on the operating table on Origin Island, and his hands never trembled. But at this moment, the joints of his fingers holding the tweezers were stiff as if they were frozen.
"Connect the spectrum analyzer and monitor the fluctuation frequency and antagonistic nodes of those two energies within his body," he ordered without turning his head.
A Research Ninja fixed the probes of the Chakra spectrum analyzer to both sides of Natsu's abdomen, and two distinctly different waveforms immediately appeared on the display screen—
A dark red light, its fluctuations sharp and violent;
A streak of crimson gold, steady yet resilient, relentlessly clung to each thrust of the dark red fluctuations.
Vallen stared at the waveform on the screen for a moment, then looked down at the flesh around the wound that was being repaired little by little by the Mystical Palm Technique.
"The Mystical Palm Technique couldn't penetrate that dark red energy, but it also failed to break through the Yang Release's defenses. This indicates that the two energies are currently in a fragile state of equilibrium."
If we rashly increase the output of the Mystical Palm Technique, it might disrupt the balance and allow the dark red energy to backfire.
He took out several vials of different colored medicine from the medicine box and placed them one by one on the edge of the lab table.
"Administer the first nutrient solution to stabilize his basic vital signs. Keep the spectrum analyzer constantly monitoring; call me immediately if the frequency of the dark red fluctuations shows any abnormal peaks."
He took the IV needle from the Research Ninja, personally inserted the needle into the vein on the back of Natsu's hand, then straightened up, looking at the two waveforms still fighting fiercely on the screen, his brows furrowing more and more tightly.