Chapter 130: Escalation of War

In the Cloud Village, inside the Raikage Building.

"What did you just say?" The Raikage roared, glaring furiously at Dodai.

"It's a message directly from Konoha," Dodai said with difficulty, wiping sweat from his forehead. "They're saying Seiki Shimaseki ambushed Toroi's squad and eliminated our entire force with minimal losses!"

After he finished speaking, he added cautiously, "But they didn't give us any concrete details."

"Damn it, that brat again!" The Raikage punched the desk hard, livid with rage.

That was a force of three hundred ninja—a military strength sufficient to conquer a weaker small country.

More importantly, there were six Jonin among them. Each Jonin represented an invaluable asset for Kumogakure and was crucial to his ability to wage this war.

Yet the war had barely started a few days ago, and already he'd lost so much. Just thinking about it caused him intense anguish.

"Raikage-sama, we must come up with a response quickly!" Dodai urged anxiously. "If Konoha keeps spreading news like this, it'll deal a serious blow to our morale!"

The Raikage replied coldly, "Then send A and B into battle!"

Dodai looked shocked, hesitating slightly. "Already? Isn't it too soon to deploy them?"

"Coddling produces no strong warriors. Only the battlefield is the truest academy," the Raikage said in a detached tone.

Taking a deep breath, Dodai nodded. "Understood. I'll go make the preparations immediately!"

...

Two weeks later, at Central Command.

To keep the Cloud forces from figuring out their defenses, camps rotated positions regularly—even relocating entirely at times.

"I wonder where we'll be transferred to this time... Hopefully somewhere closer to the front lines!" Obito stood outside the camp, full of dreams.

"You'd better hope not—or I'll end up rescuing you again," Kakashi said coolly.

"Damn you, Kakashi! Who needs your help anyway? Wait—no one even said I'd get captured by the enemy..." Obito snapped back angrily, only to see a flicker of amusement flash through Kakashi's otherwise indifferent eyes.

"Senpai!"

As Kakashi turned away, Obito stood frozen for a moment before excitedly running after him.

"Senpai, I heard you guys wiped out a large group of enemies recently?"

"Seiki Shimaseki, I heard you personally killed Toroi! That guy was an incredibly powerful Jonin!"

"You must be amazing. We still haven't even seen an enemy yet."

Just returning to camp, Seiki Shimaseki found himself surrounded by a crowd hailing him as a battlefield hero.

Of course, they could only act like that because they hadn't seen real combat yet—if they had, they wouldn't have the luxury of feeling impressed.

Seiki Shimaseki raised his hands with an awkward smile. "Sorry everyone, can we talk later? Right now I need to head to the field hospital."

"Hospital? What happened?"

His expression turned serious. "I just got the news myself—several injured ninja have been brought in!"

Hearing how urgent it sounded, none of them dared stop him anymore.

"Then go already, Seiki Shimaseki!"

"This came out of nowhere. How could this happen all of a sudden?"

"Me too! I'm a medical ninja as well. Can I come along to help with the treatment?" Rin raised her hand anxiously.

Seiki nodded. "Sure. We're short on hands over there!"

As if encouraging herself, Rin waved her arm determinedly. "Thank you, senior! I'll do my best!"

The field hospital.

Though called a hospital, it was actually just a large temporary tent.

Even before entering, painful cries could already be heard from inside.

"Aaaaah! Kill me! Just kill me already!"

"Bastards! Where did all the doctors go?"

Upon stepping into the tent, an overwhelming stench of blood and disinfectant immediately hit them. Seiki remained calm, scanning the wounded soldiers with a steady gaze.

There were nearly 170 wounded men, but less than 50 medical ninjas to treat them all.

Each camp had one assigned medical ninja for emergency care, while covert squads would also include a medical ninja to increase survival odds. That's why even the main base can't keep too many medical ninjas on hand.

Rin gasped, covering her mouth. "Goodness! So many people!"

Seiki shook his head slightly. "Nothing can be done. We'll have to call for outside help!"

[Kuchiyose no Jutsu!]

In an instant, a cute, clumsy slug appeared inside the tent.

"Katsuyu, I'm back again!"

"Katsuyu, please split up and start treating everyone."

"Katsuyu, received!"

At these words, the large Katsuyu split into dozens of smaller slugs that then hopped toward the wounded patients.

"Is it Tsunade-sama? Great, we're saved!"

"Fool, it's Seiki-kun!"

"Haha, Seiki-kun is truly amazing!"

Meanwhile, outside, Obito finally asked, "Kurenai-senpai, what exactly happened?"

Asuma, who had been eager to answer, froze in surprise. "Why not ask me first?"

Obito frowned slightly. "I still can't do it. Looking at your face makes it impossible for me to call you 'senior.'"

Kurenai smiled secretly, then turned serious. "They say the Cloud Village deployed a jinchuriki!"

"A jinchuriki?" Obito asked doubtfully. "Do you mean Yugito Nii?"

"No," Kurenai replied with trepidation. "It's Killer B—the Eight-Tails' jinchuriki! They say he unleashed an incredibly terrifying skill called *Tailed Beast Ball* right at the beginning, instantly killing over a hundred ninjas. If Minato-senpai hadn't timely relocated the next Tailed Beast Ball using the Flying Thunder God technique, perhaps none of them might've returned today!"

At the same time, within the command tent at the base, the atmosphere was very tense.

"The damn Cloud Village actually used the Eight-Tails' jinchuriki directly! Do they think we don't have one ourselves?" Jiraiya shouted, pounding Minato's shoulder. "Call out Kushina! To hell with it, let's start a bijuu (tailed beast) battle!"

Minato gave a bitter smile. "Knowing Kushina, she'd probably love to come out!"

Jiraiya laughed loudly. "Then that settles it!"

"It's not that simple," Orochimaru said, narrowing his eyes. "Unless it becomes absolutely necessary, those elders in the village won't want to take such risks."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "What kind of risk could there possibly be?"

Orochimaru chuckled lightly. "For example, what if the Jinchuriki falls on the battlefield? Or what if the Nine-Tails breaks free from its seal and goes on a rampage? Even Kushina seizing the opportunity to escape from Konoha... There are too many such reasons. Do I really need to list more?"

Jiraiya twitched his lips. "Could your thoughts not be a bit more normal?"

Minato spoke seriously, "Kushina would never, ever leave Konoha!"

Orochimaru spread his hands. "That kind of talk is useless coming from you. In some people's eyes, the girl's primary identity will always be as a descendant of the Country of Whirlpools (a land known for its whirlpools and ancient chakra techniques), and as for us in Konoha..."

"Cough cough, both of you shut it!" Jiraiya cut in, "The problem now is how we should deal with the threat of the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki. Remember, the Eight-Tails is second only to the Nine-Tails among the tailed beasts (Bijuu)!"

"Although the Eight-Tails is powerful, it's not invincible," Orochimaru said grimly. "The key issue is how to counter its battlefield threat. For ninjas like us, we can take down at most a dozen enemies at once, but Bijuu are different—they can wipe out our entire army with just one Tailed Beast Ball!"

Jiraiya nodded and turned to Minato, asking, "Minato, do you think you could deflect every single Tailed Beast Ball?"

Minato's gaze was heavy. "If it were just him alone, I could manage it, but he works together with another ninja named A—Their coordination is too perfect. Honestly, I don't have confidence that I could redirect every last Tailed Beast Ball while facing them both."

Orochimaru added, "That A is the son of the Third Raikage. Having inherited the name 'A,' he is practically the next Raikage already, and his strength isn't inferior to ours."

Without hesitation, Jiraiya said, "Well then, leave him to me..."

"You're not leaving!" Orochimaru snapped. "I'm no match for the Raikage by myself!"

"Well then, what should we do?" Jiraiya glared. "Should we call the old man out from the village?"

Minato raised a hand hesitantly and suggested, "I have a proposal… What if we let Seiki work together with me?"

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