The Land of Lightning battlefield

The martial Land of Lightning had always been the Battle Maniac of the Shinobi World.

Two fairly sizable countries lay between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire, a buffer zone the two great nations had deliberately left for war.

Shimura Danzō had never paid any attention to those two pitiful little countries, and did not even remember their names.

Frowning at the battle map spread across the table, covered in dense annotations he had painstakingly made himself, Danzo rubbed his forehead and eased his knitted brows. The pressure was immense.

Ever since the Cloud Shinobi began probing the Land of Earth, the Third Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki had taken to the battlefield together!

They wanted to suppress Konoha as quickly as possible and ascertain the situation, leaving ample time to adjust their strategy.

Danzo narrowed his eyes, staring at the plains of one of the small countries. This was not only the main point of conflict between Kumogakure and Konoha, but also Kumogakure's best route to the Land of Earth. If they failed to hold this position, Kumogakure could pass through the Land of Rice Fields and reach the Land of Earth unimpeded.

Konoha's northern front would also come under tremendous pressure from Kumogakure's advance!

The troops currently at Danzo's disposal were nowhere near enough for a fight to the death with the brute on the other side.

They still had to wait! Neither Danzo himself nor Konoha's White Fang was a match for the Third Raikage. Even holding him off was wishful thinking, and a single lapse could leave them seriously injured!

Danzo rolled up the map, tucked it into his robes, lifted the tent flap, and walked out.

He had to steady the troops' morale.

When he arrived at the Field Hospital, the few Medical Ninja and some trained nurses were working without pause.

They called it a hospital, but it was really a dense cluster of tents and an open-air square. Wounded men covered the ground where white-coated staff moved about. Missing hands and feet counted as minor injuries!

For ordinary ninja, facing tank-like fighters with high offense and defense such as the Third Raikage and Takahashi Yū meant injury from a glancing blow and death from direct contact!

Neither Danzo nor Hatake Sakumo had any effective means of restraining the Third Raikage. They could only let him rampage through the Konoha Ninja formations. Danzo had tried devising solutions: traps, combination ninjutsu, genjutsu, seals, encirclement. None had worked. All they had brought were greater casualties.

Top-tier speed, defense no one could breach, and a raging Lightning Release Chakra Mode!

Against those abilities, everything else was empty talk, not to mention the Jinchūriki who could wield the Eight-Tails' chakra.

Every time they went into battle, the troops Danzo led could only see who was lucky enough to escape the Third Raikage's attention. Their morale fell lower and lower as a result.

Fortunately, they had White Fang, an "assassin" who could also rampage through the enemy ranks, forcing the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki to stay within their formation on defense. Otherwise, the stalemate on the Land of Lightning battlefield would have broken long ago.

As things stood, they were trading ordinary ninja's lives to slow the Cloud Shinobi's advance, and Shimura Danzō could not accept that! As a personal disciple of the Second Hokage and one of Konoha's elders, Danzo saw those dying not as Konoha Ninja, but as the foundation of Konoha's future dominance over the Shinobi World!

Gently stroking an unconscious subordinate's severed arm, Danzo fell silent. He remembered this ninja, who had even taken Root's assessment.

His abilities had been outstanding, and he had treated others sincerely. It was only because his emotions were too strong that he had been judged unable to withstand the Brain Seal. Now, while saving a comrade, he had been grazed by the Third Raikage as he raced past, severing his forearm clean off at the elbow. Less than thirty percent of his strength remained. His years of grueling training had ended here, and Konoha's investment in nurturing him had gone down the drain.

This gave rise to a thought in Danzo that went against the "Will of Fire": ninja should be trained from childhood to eradicate their emotions. Then Konoha would not lose a long-established Jonin because he had tried to save a Chunin on his squad.

"Lord Danzo!"

"Lord Danzo! Lord Danzo!"

When the conscious wounded nearby saw their commander-in-chief, Danzo, crouching to one side and visiting the injured with a complicated expression, they immediately shouted in excitement.

Seeing that the wounded had noticed him, Danzo pulled his perpetually cold, aged face into a frightening smile.

But to these men who had been injured on the battlefield and might have to end their ninja careers, their battlefield commander's concern gave them hope to keep living. Konoha would not abandon them.

"Lord Danzo!"

The other wounded also dragged their broken bodies forward, trying to get as close as possible.

Danzo gestured to both sides for them to stay still, lest they aggravate their injuries.

"Everyone, you've all done well! Rest assured, Konoha will not forget you!"

Danzo, who had always preferred action to words, lacked Sarutobi Hiruzen's considerable skill at public speaking. He simply kept moving among the wounded, repeating those words loudly to comfort them.

After making a circuit of the open-air square to ensure every wounded man could hear those words, Danzo entered the large Medical Tent in the center.

His face, which looked even more unnerving when he smiled, turned cold after he lowered the tent flap. It was just as unnerving, but a little more human.

Danzo took the clipboard holding a list from a Medical Ninja and examined it carefully. But after barely two glances, terrifying fury erupted across his icy face.

"The last major battle left 324 wounded, and now only 138 are left!?"

"What are you Medical Ninja doing!?"

"I give you medicine when you ask for medicine, supplies when you ask for supplies! Even the ninja on their rest rotations come to help! And this is what you give me!?"

Danzo roared at the Medical Ninja before him inside the tent. With a death rate this high among the wounded, anyone who did not know better would have thought the Cloud Shinobi had attacked their rear.

The Medical Ninja before him also looked utterly exhausted. The relentless pressure of battlefield medicine had made his hair keep falling out, and he had not slept in a long time.

"Lord Danzo, nearly all the wounded who died had severe disabilities. They wouldn't have been able to be ninja anymore..."

Seeing that Danzo was about to explode, the Medical Ninja hurriedly spoke.

"What I mean is, they had no will to live... none at all!"

At those words, Danzo wilted like an eggplant struck by frost.

Unable to be a ninja in the Shinobi World, and left with a severe physical disability... yes, they might as well die and let their families receive a generous death benefit.

Danzo opened his mouth a couple of times, but could not say anything. He only gripped the clipboard tightly.

"Whatever it takes, you must reduce deaths among the wounded. If they won't take their medicine, pry their mouths open! If they won't cooperate with treatment, have their teammates hold them down! If all their teammates are gone, call their..."

"If all their teammates are gone, call me to hold them down!"

Danzo's voice rose higher and higher, his final sentence turning hysterical.

He slapped the clipboard against the Medical Ninja's chest and, without caring whether he reached out to catch it, flung the flap high and walked out of the oppressive tent.

The wounded lying in the square all struggled to raise their upper bodies. Some propped themselves up with one hand, ignoring the bright red blood on their bandages. Those missing both hands leaned against one another and stubbornly thrust out their chests!

At the sight, Danzo found himself momentarily speechless.

"I, Shimura Danzō, promise you that I will bring you home! And!"

"I will find a way to make your missing limbs whole again! Whatever the means! Whatever the cost!"

With that, Danzo held his head high and strode firmly out under the wounded men's hopeful gazes!

Putting himself in their place, the proud Danzo could not even accept losing an eye, let alone an arm.

Regrowing severed limbs...

Regrowing severed limbs...

Danzo kept turning it over in his mind. When it came to constantly recovering from injuries, he knew of only one person with that ability.

The First Hokage's cells!

A resolute light flashed in Shimura Danzō's eyes!

Feeling the burning gazes on his back, Danzo clenched his fists. Even if it violated humanity! Even if no one understood!