"From now on, you're one of Iwagakure's people. I'll send you to school. Once you've caught up on your ninja knowledge and abilities, you can become my disciple."
Didaze spoke to Nanako Uzumaki, who was holding on to him from behind.
"Yes... Lord Didaze!"
Nanako Uzumaki answered with a flushed face.
"Brother Kitsuchi."
Didaze soon arrived at Iwagakure's encampment and entered Kitsuchi's tent.
"Didaze, you're back."
Kitsuchi looked at Didaze and spoke with a smile.
"The girl behind you is...?"
Kitsuchi nodded, then looked hesitantly at the little girl behind him and asked.
He had also noticed her distinctive red hair, which was practically a hallmark of the Uzumaki Clan.
With red hair and powerful chakra, she was almost certainly a member of the Uzumaki Clan.
He just had no idea where Didaze had managed to pick up an Uzumaki.
"Her name is Nanako Uzumaki. Kusagakure captured her earlier. I wiped out Kusagakure and brought her out."
Didaze introduced Nanako Uzumaki to Kitsuchi, including the fact that he had already wiped out Kusagakure.
"You wiped out Kusagakure?"
Kitsuchi found it somewhat unbelievable. After all, wiping out a village was something mostly done by missing-nin.
Didaze said nothing more and simply bared Nanako Uzumaki's arm.
Kitsuchi's eyes instantly widened when he saw Nanako Uzumaki's arm.
The arm was covered in bite marks, with practically no uninjured skin.
"Nanako, go outside. I have something to discuss with Captain Kitsuchi."
Didaze stroked Nanako Uzumaki's hair. Her face slightly flushed, she nodded, then turned and left the tent.
"This is what Kusagakure did. They used an orphan of the Uzumaki Clan as a medical kit."
Didaze spoke to Kitsuchi with a grave look in his eyes.
"Using an Uzumaki with such enormous chakra reserves as a medical kit? Those people in Kusagakure were truly shortsighted!"
Kitsuchi had not expected Kusagakure to squander an Uzumaki with such enormous chakra reserves like this.
"Nanako Uzumaki's actual chakra reserves probably aren't what we think, either. Her actual reserves should be double what she has now."
Because Kusagakure had been draining Nanako Uzumaki's chakra for so long, her chakra reserves had dropped considerably.
Nanako Uzumaki now seemed extremely weak, but even so, her chakra had still reached Chunin level.
And that was her chakra at just eleven years old, after having a massive amount drained and while mentally exhausted.
Had Nanako Uzumaki developed normally until the age of eleven, her chakra would now have been at least Jonin level.
"Double?"
Kitsuchi's eyes widened again.
"You really found a treasure this time. As far as I remember, aside from that Uzumaki princess in Konoha, there aren't any Uzumaki left in the Shinobi World."
"Then that means..."
A peculiar light flickered in Kitsuchi's eyes.
This Uzumaki was far too significant. She could make up for Iwagakure's lack of proficiency in Sealing Jutsu!
With an orphan of the Uzumaki Clan, as long as she could develop normally, she would surely be able to advance Sealing Jutsu throughout Iwagakure in the future!
"I'll take Nanako back to Iwagakure and hand her over to the Tsuchikage first. We can't leave her on the battlefield."
Didaze planned to return to Iwagakure, leave Nanako Uzumaki with Ōnoki, and then depart.
Although she was nominally his disciple, with a genius in Iwagakure, how could Ōnoki not teach her?
Ōnoki truly thirsted for talent. As long as he saw an opportunity for Iwagakure to develop, he would absolutely hold nothing back.
"Then go. We're enough to watch over the front line."
Kitsuchi nodded.
After all, Konoha had also suffered heavy losses. With Kitsuchi and the others having withdrawn, he thought Konoha most likely would not attack.
"Then I'll be off."
Didaze waved to Kitsuchi, then turned and left the tent.
"Let's go, Nanako."
Didaze once again molded a clay Giant Bird, then called to Nanako Uzumaki behind him.
The two boarded the clay Giant Bird once more, this time heading toward Iwagakure.
"Do you want to know the truth behind the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools?"
As the two flew through the sky, Didaze suddenly asked Nanako Uzumaki.
"The Land of Whirlpools..."
Nanako Uzumaki fell into a daze.
She only had memories of the Land of Whirlpools from when she was very young, but Nanako Uzumaki still treated it as an emotional refuge.
She would think of the Land of Whirlpools when she was bullied, and she would think of it when she was sick.
Her memories of the Land of Whirlpools had long since become hazy. She did not even know in which direction it lay.
But the Land of Whirlpools was like the white moonlight in her memories. Having relied on it for emotional comfort for so long, Nanako Uzumaki had already turned it into a perfect country in her mind.
And when she suddenly heard about the truth behind the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools, although Nanako Uzumaki had not raised her voice much, her slightly trembling body still betrayed her.
"I want to know!"
Although Nanako Uzumaki's body was trembling, her words were firm.
"Then I'll tell you..."
Didaze had no intention of hiding it. He also knew that the longer something was concealed, the more resentment it would cause in the person involved.
Sasuke Uchiha was a case in point. Being kept in the dark all along had left him mentally unstable later on.
"Eight years ago, Kumogakure coveted the power of the Land of Whirlpools and wanted to bring it under its control, but the Land of Whirlpools refused."
"So Kumogakure secretly gathered people to attack the Land of Whirlpools. On the day of the attack, countless people from Kumogakure besieged it."
"Although the Land of Whirlpools had powerful Sealing Jutsu, Kumogakure had large numbers. If it had ended there, the Land of Whirlpools would have been gravely weakened, but it wouldn't have been destroyed."
"Afterward, Kirigakure also joined the battlefield. To seize the Land of Whirlpools' Sealing Jutsu, it reached a temporary agreement with Kumogakure."
Iwagakure and Sunagakure, meanwhile, were too far away to get there in time.
Didaze spoke calmly.
He did not try to paint Iwagakure in a better light by claiming that it had actually intended to help the Land of Whirlpools or anything of the sort.
Even if he said such things, Nanako Uzumaki would still find out once she grew up and could judge for herself.
It was better to tell her from the start.
"At the time, the Land of Whirlpools also asked Konoha for help, but the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi refused on the grounds that he couldn't spare any personnel at the moment."
"But in reality, after the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed, Konoha was the village that profited the most."