After speaking, Pakura returo her room without hesitation.

  Her meaning was clear to Masashi.

  Having sacrificed everything for Suna only to be betrayed, she didn't care much for the cept of a ninja vilge anymore, regardless of what it was called.

  She wouldn't actively betray Suna's secrets, but that was merely out of the professiohics of a seasoned ninja. Her loyalty wasn't to Konoha, but to survival.

  Her arrival in Konoha stemmed partly from its reputation in the shinobi world as a retively stable enviro where she could settle down. Additionally, she could afford more trust and goodwill toward the man who had saved her life.

  Although in Konoha, she was often teased as being romantically involved with him, from Masashi's perspective, befriending Pakura was great, and the idea of a romantic retionship wasn't out of the questioher.

  After all, she matched his preferences in many ways.

  Pakura's mature attitude toward retionships was evident in how she hahe teasing from others in Konoha.

  She clearly uood what they were implying.

  As for the age gap...

  It didn't matter. Ninjas, as long as they pursued excellence, had a very long "shelf life."

  But those thoughts were far off iure.

  Teasing was just teasing. Turning it into reality was a different matter.

  Masashi cast aside these distras, finished his meal, and begaing his injuries with mediinjutsu.

  As he had said, his wounds were mostly superficial. They looked severe but weren't serious.

  In terms of mediinjutsu, while he wasn't on the same level as Tsunade's family, he had learned a few tricks during his previous experiences.

  So, w in the medical division or leading a medical team wouldn't be an issue.

  After treating his wounds, he prepared for his enter with the Kumo ninjas.

  He didn't have to wait long.

  After days of silen the Land of Hot Water, the main forces of the Kumo army finally arrived.

  Led by the Fourth Raikage, about 13,000 Kumo ninjas ehe Land of Hot Water, apanied by the Two-Tails jinchūriki.

  Ohe Kumo main forces ehe advaroops, who had been eluding the Konoha ninjas, resurfaced and regrouped with the main force.

  Quite adept at hiding, it seemed.

  With the advaroops rejoining, the Kumo forces swelled to over 14,000.

  It was clear they had brought out a signifit portion of their strength.

  However, before the 2,000 remaining Konoha ninjas in Yu could start panig, Konoha's main forces also arrived.

  Slightly smaller in han Kumo but still over 10,000, the Konoha army advanced directly into Yu.

  This force was anded by Jiraiya, who, upon learning about the war, hurried back to the vilge, putting his search for the Child of Prophe hold to support his student.

  He looked to be in good spirits despite the ret tension.

  Ially, the first volume of his Icha Icha Paradise had already been published before the outbreak of the war.

  Being a man of his word, Masashi bought a copy on the release day and gave it to Kakashi. The boy initially pyed it cool, but Masashi insisted.

  Later that evening, Masashi discovered that his father had also bought a copy, though unfortunately, it was fiscated by his mother.

  The day, spotting Kakashi with dark circles under his eyes, he felt the entire ordeal had been worth it.

  The csh between a tea and food enthusiast and a light novel fanatided in victory for the former.

  Ohe Konoha forces entered Yu, they fortified its defenses even morously than the Kumo forces.

  Jiraiya gathered the jonin for a strategy meeting, spreading a map across the and table. Gone was his usual grin, repced by the stern look of a war ander. "What's the current situation with Kumo's forces?"

  "The Hyūga has been trag their movements," Hizashi reported. "Three main bases established in a triangle formation around Yu's tral region. They're rotating troops every six hours through these points." He marked the locations on the map. "Total force estimate remains at 14,000, including their advaeams that rejoined."

  "And their bat formations?" Jiraiya asked.

  Masashi stepped forward. "They're not setting up for a prolonged flict like Iwa or Suna would. These supply lines..." He traced the routes with his finger. "They're built for quick resupply. The terrain works against us here - there's no natural barrier to slow their advance."

  Jiraiya absorbed this information, his expression thoughtful. "Hizashi, what about their high-value targets?"

  "Both Jinchūriki firmed present. The Two-Tails has been spotted heir eastern base." Hizashi's pale eyes narrowed. "And the Raikage is personally leading the front lines."

  "Two Perfect Jinchūriki and A himself..." Jiraiya studied the map. "We'll o adapt our usual tactics. Masashi, you've faced their advaeams. Your assessment?"

  "These valleys give us one advantage," Masashi poio the narrow passages. "Their lightning teiques lose effectiveness in fined spaces. If we force close bat in these bottlenecks, their numbers won't matter as much."

  Jiraiya and the jonin decided to test the waters with a head-on csh in the narrow territory of the Land of Hot Water.

  The main forces advaeadily while hundreds of smaller units scouted and ehe enemy.

  This was the kind of warfare Masashi relished. The Uchiha , as a whole, e.

  The deployment of personnel followed a simple pattern: four-person squads prising one in and three genin, assigo specific operational areas, were dispatched.

  The jonin were divided into two groups: oayed with Jiraiya to guard the tral and and ter Kumo's jonin; the other formed indepeeams to join the scouting missions.

  The oute of these skirmishes would determine which side gaihe upper hand by f the other to retreat and lose intelligence.

  Unsurprisingly, Masashi aired with Pakura.

  This was to be expected, as jonin could freely choose their partners, and their "retionship" was well uood by the former advaroops' jonin.

  No oerfered.

  Both Masashi and Pakura were fih this arra. They were familiar with each other and worked well as a team.

  "Alright, the's move out as soon as possible," Jiraiya cluded the meeting. "Protect yourselves areat if necessary when fag overwhelming enemies."

  He paused.

  "And leave the Raikage to me. A o learn that losing to Minato wasn't a fluke."

  Regardless of his musings, the meeting ended, and everyo off to carry out their assigs.

  Masashi and Pakura, needing no additional preparations, immediately left the vilge to begin their mission.

  The two ninja armies moved in parallel, with hundreds of small units from both sides engaging in intense skirmishes ahead of the main forces.

  ---

  Masashi pulled his sword from a fallen Kumo ninja and wiped it on the oppo's clothing.

  He was already a seasoned jonin and uood the value of serving resources.

  Around him, three other Kumo ninjas y dead in grotesque positions. One had been caught mid-jutsu, his hands still frozen in the final seal. Another had tried to retreat, only to find Masashi's bde waiting. The third had barely mao draw his on.

  Not far aakura stood beside a scorched corpse, her fmes just dissipating.

  Her trol is impressive. Different from my approach, Masashi noted as he observed her teique.

  As a hero of Suna, Pakura certainly had her skills. Although her Scorch Release teique was a single move, she wielded it with impressive versatility.

  For example, her Scorch Release fireballs could split apart, expand, explode, and move with uable trajectories. They could accelerate or decelerate, catg enemies off guard.

  Her teique was based on Scorch Release's nature transformation at its core. While it looked like fire on the surface, it was actually shaped chakra ed in a fiery form.

  Uhe target could release chakra externally to create a shield, any tact would result in disaster.

  Masashi, oher hand, ied the principle of the Scorch Release nature transformation directly into the Uchiha 's Fire Release teiques.

  Where Fire Release could go, so could Scorch Release.

  Both methods had their strengths.

  This was the sixteenth Kumo ninja squad they had entered. This squad also included a jonin, clearly with an objective simir to Konoha's.

  Unfortunately for them, they ran into Masashi and Pakura.

  As a ruthless judge of enemy jonin, Masashi admitted that this jonin's fuals were solid. The way he'd coordinated his team's movements, the timing of their attacks—all showed proper training.

  But still...

  "I am iable," he stated ftly to the dying Kumo jonin, immediately regretting how the words came out. It had sounded way cooler in his head.

  "What was that line you just said?"

  Pakura approached, looking puzzled. The battle had been proceeding smoothly—systematic elimination of threats with minimal waste of energy—until Masashi suddenly blurted out that lih an expression that was ridiculously smug.

  Maybe practig Lightning Release fried his brain, Pakura thought.

  This was no joke—during wartime, there couldn't be any risks like that.

  "Oh, that? It's a famous quote from a strong individual," Masashi replied nontly, waving it off.

  To Pakura, this only firmed her suspis. It was clearly a symptom of something wrong.

  Obsession with training, getting stronger while losing on sense... This wasn't her first time seeing cases like this.

  She wasn't a rookie. She'd seen her share of "brilliant but broken" ninjas who ended up stro dumber than rocks.

  Pakura decided it wasn't worth arguing with him. "So, where to ?"

  "Let me think…" Masashi sidered carefully, his eyes sing the terrain.

  They had been moving from the southeast to the northwest. But now, traces of Kumo ninjas were thinning out. More than half of their enters had been along the way.

  He deduced they were he outer limit of the Kumo ninjas' activity range.

  Farther out, any ehey entered would likely be in enin, who cked the ability to detect them.

  They were in a good position.

  "Let's head into the mountains and go north," he said, expining his reasoning to Pakura. His firaced an invisible map in the air, pointing out key locations.

  Pakura nodded repeatedly. Alright, not pletely brain-dead yet. Still salvageable. "I have no objes."

  The two adjusted their dire and moved northwest.

  On the map, the Land of Hot Water extended in a northwest-to-southeast trend. Elevation rose as one moved northwest, with dense, high mountains marking the region. These mountains were part of the same range as those in the Lands of Frost and Lightning.

  The Land of Frost, dominated by mountainous terrain, had most of its popution along the eastern coastline.

  The Kumo ninja army had ehe Land of Hot Water from this coastal area.

  As in the real world, in this chakra-infused world, lower-altitude areas offered better living ditions. High altitudes meant less arable nd.

  Exceptioed, but this was the norm.

  From a strategic perspective, lower-altitude regions also facilitated rge-scale troop movements and supply s.

  The Kumo ninja invasion adhered to these natural rules.

  Masashi's target wasn't the main Kumo army. His goal was the Kumo army's supply corridor.

  Due to its mountainous terrain, the Land of Frost's coastal area formed a narrow, hilly corridor between the mountains and the sea. This corridor was the main route for the Kumo army's invasion and included a fortress at the Frost-Hot Water border—a crucial logistics hub.

  In his previous life, he had died his fortress. He'd left a "stash" in the nearby mountains back then.

  He hadn't used it then, but if it remained undiscovered...

  This time, I'm going to top the merit rankings! His heart quied at the thought.

  The top ten on the list even received bonus rewards.

  The first-pce prize was 50 million ryō.

  It would take at least a dozen S-rank missions to earn that much otherwise.

  Even Minato's annual pre-Hokage ine wasn't far off from this amount.

  This prize is as good as mine!

  With excitement in his heart, he led Pakura through the terraiually reag the silhouette of a sprawling mountain range in the distance.

  Using the forest as cover, they entered a mountain region and followed the range northward. Their movements were ghost-like, leaving barely a trace of their passage.

  Along the way, they entered several more Kumo squads, but with his chakra sensory activated, Masashi detected them from afar and evaded them.

  The squads were of lower rank, with no jonin among them, allowing the pair to avoid them smoothly.

  Familiar with the terrain, Masashi found a "safe" route that bypassed the Kumo's main search areas.

  As they advaime passed, and the sun dipped below the horizon.

  When darkness fully fell, the air grew heavy with the rumble of distant thunder.

  The two slowed their pace, deg to find a pce to rest. Pakura's eyes never left Masashi's back as he led them with surprising fidehrough the darkening terrain.

  They hadn't stopped to rest since leaving Yu.

  With his guidahey located a suitable cave. His movements were too sure, too familiar for someone who cimed to have only scouted the area before.

  The path was well-hidden; few people knew of it now. Masashi himself was following old marks he had left behind, eae triggering memories of his previous life.

  After a thh iion, he firmed the area had been undisturbed for years.

  They lit a campfire, id dry grass on the ground, and sat down.

  Thanks to Yu's provision for Konoha's jonin, they had high-quality rations and didn't need soldier pills.

  After a meal, rain began to pour outside, creating a natural sound barrier.

  Seeing this, Masashi rose to the cave entrao reinforce sensory teiques, not wasting the cover the rain provided.

  Wheurned back, Pakura was sitting by the fire, watg him with a strange look.

  "What are you staring at?" Masashi asked.

  "You seem unusually familiar with this pce."

  "I've done missions in the Land of Hot Water before. While I was at it, I did some scouting." irely a lie, just from a different lifetime.

  "Makes sense," Pakura hough her eyes remained watchful. "e sit a for a bit."

  "Almost done."

  After finishing his sensory setup and adding a barrier, Masashi returo the fire and sat down.

  The workload had been heavy, and he was tired. Each missiht its own kind of exhaustion, but this one carried the weight of past memories.

  Stretg tentedly, he loosened his stiff muscles.

  "Tired?" Pakura g him.

  "Manageable. Finding this route was exhausting, but thankfully I left those marks." He caught himself too te—that st bit had slipped out too naturally.

  "Defiough work," Pakura said, eyeing Masashi's head for a while. Suddenly, she patted his shoulder.

  Masashi turo her, surprised by the sudden shift in atmosphere.

  "Lay your head here," Pakura said.

  She patted her p seriously.

  "I o check it."

  Check what?