In the blink of an eye, nearly two hours had passed.
The Mist ninja from Flying Fish Town finally reached the outskirts of Black Stone Base.
Without wasting any time, both sides immediately launched into battle.
Unlike the last major conflict, where the battlefield was concentrated within a radius of a few kilometers—primarily in the eastern part of Black Stone Base—this time the battleground spanned over ten kilometers in all directions, encompassing the eastern, southern, western, and northern perimeters of the base.
From midday to evening, the sounds of explosions from paper bombs and ninjutsu filled the air without pause.
Within Black Stone Base, Konoha teams bustled back and forth, either heading out for reinforcements or returning to rest. It was a scene of constant activity.
This was where the advantage of fighting on home turf became apparent.
In contrast, the situation for the Mist ninja was far more dire.
Despite their efforts to shift the battlefield away from the base as much as possible, their logistical support still fell short compared to Konoha's.
After all, the ability to dictate whether to engage in battle rested with Konoha. If the distance grew too great, they could simply choose to avoid fighting.
Thus, the Mist ninja had no choice but to engage in combat under Konoha's continuous supply chain and reinforcements.
Both sides fought in small, tactical teams, allowing individual ninja to maximize their experience and intelligence to mitigate the disparity.
Otherwise, the Mist ninja's casualties would have been significantly higher.
It must be said that in terms of individual capabilities, ninja from the "Village of the Bloody Mist" were indeed a notch above Konoha's.
Even under such unfavorable conditions, they managed to achieve a nearly 1:1 casualty ratio.
Nightfall.
Within Black Stone Base's meeting room, Aomei scanned the battle report in his hand, his expression unchanging.
The other attendees shared similar stoic expressions.
It wasn't that they were indifferent; after over two years of war, they had become accustomed to life and death.
To put it bluntly, most of the casualties today were lower- to mid-ranking ninja. Once the war ended, a few years would be enough to replenish their numbers. There was no need to dwell on it.
Indeed, the majority of the fallen ninja from today's battles were low- to mid-ranking.
This was the key difference between small-scale skirmishes and large-scale battles.
In major conflicts, even jonin like them couldn't leave the battlefield without direct orders from higher-ups, often forcing them to risk their lives.
However, in team-based skirmishes, they had much greater autonomy. If the situation turned unfavorable, they could retreat preemptively.
As a result, unless surrounded, they faced little risk of death when fighting evenly matched opponents.
Throughout the day, only a handful of jonin perished—and those were primarily weaker special jonin.
It was foreseeable that as long as the Mist ninja refrained from initiating an all-out assault, the casualties among Konoha's jonin would remain minimal.
The meeting room was silent, punctuated only by the occasional sound of papers being flipped.
After a long pause, Sano Nobuhisa cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention.
Once everyone had turned their gaze toward him, he spoke:
"You've all seen today's battle report. While the results were decent, our teams still suffered significant losses."
Hearing this, the others remained silent, patiently waiting for what he would say next.
True to form, Sano Nobuhisa continued, "What do you think about shrinking the battlefield tomorrow?"
Shrinking the battlefield...
The suggestion made everyone ponder.
Undoubtedly, this was an effective way to reduce casualties.
A smaller battlefield meant closer proximity to the base.
This would expedite both material support and reinforcements.
On the battlefield, survival often hinged on mere moments. Faster reinforcements and supplies would increase the safety of every individual, significantly reducing casualties among the lower- to mid-ranking ninja.
However, for jonin, this was less favorable.
A smaller battlefield also meant a higher density of enemies.
Consequently, encounters with enemy jonin would become more frequent.
In such cases, the risks involved in retreating would increase.
Nevertheless, the risk was still acceptable.
After some discussion, everyone agreed to the proposal.
Seeing no objections, Sano Nobuhisa visibly relaxed.
As a civilian-born strategist, his influence within Black Stone Base was somewhat limited.
As such, he always held meetings before implementing any decisions, striving to balance the interests of all parties.
Fortunately, the jonin present this time did not oppose his suggestion.
With this, more lower-ranking ninja might survive.
After composing himself, Sano Nobuhisa shifted focus to assigning night shifts and delineating tomorrow's defensive zones.
The meeting concluded an hour later.
As Aomei prepared to leave, Sano Nobuhisa suddenly called out to him.
"Aomei Jonin, wait a moment!"
Stopping in his tracks, Aomei turned and asked, "What is it, Captain Sano?"
"Well..."
Without wasting time, Sano Nobuhisa quickly explained his request.
Due to the high number of injured following today's battles, the base's medical ninja were overwhelmed. He wanted Aomei to help treat some of the wounded.
Hearing this, Aomei frowned slightly.
While he currently had a sufficient chakra supply thanks to the Mist ninja's presence, every bit of chakra was precious to him.
Moreover, his chakra was already allocated for specific purposes. Using it to heal others now would undoubtedly disrupt his plans.
After a moment of thought, however, he ultimately agreed.
It wasn't out of compassion or inability to refuse, but because he saw it as an opportunity to practice for the surgery he planned to perform on himself to transplant the Byakugan.
Having a chance to refine his techniques beforehand would undoubtedly improve the surgery's success rate.
To be clear, he didn't intend to experiment on the wounded. He wasn't that callous.
As the saying goes, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Since he despised the behavior of people like Kimura Kazuhiko, he couldn't afford to repeat their mistakes himself.
What he wanted was to observe the physiological changes in the injured while treating them, thereby indirectly expanding his medical knowledge.
At the same time, healing these wounded individuals would also enhance his medical ninjutsu proficiency.
While it might not be enough to raise his techniques to the next level, every bit of progress counted.
When operating on himself, precision and skill were paramount.
After weighing his options, Aomei agreed to Sano Nobuhisa's request.
Sano Nobuhisa, visibly relieved, thanked him with a smile.
Aomei bid him farewell and headed straight to the hospital.
For the next few days, his routine became a mix of training, battling during the day, and assisting in healing at night. His schedule was as packed as could be.
During this time, he assigned a shadow clone to study the books and scrolls left behind by Kimura Kazuhiko tirelessly.
Eventually, his diligent research paid off. Combining his mastery of medical ninjutsu with the knowledge he had acquired, he developed a body-modification technique.
This procedure was specifically designed to integrate an additional visual system into a person.
This was the foundation for transplanting the Byakugan.
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