"The air at the camp feels tighter than ever—like a storm's about to break. Who knows when Master Haseo will decide to launch an attack on the Mist frontline… Given his rumored personality, a massive battle is right around the corner."
"Rumored personality? You mean Master Haseo's? What kind of person is he said to be?"
"He doesn't forgive even the slightest slight—he's completely unhinged. Back then, the Mizukage slashed him with a blade once, and Master Haseo chased him all the way to the edge of the Land of Water, cutting off one of his arms before finally stopping, only feeling satisfied once he had achieved psychological balance."
Going even further back, wasn't there a time when he was ambushed by Kumo ninja and refused to stop until he slaughtered all eighty of them?"
"..."
Another ninja thought these rumors were slightly different from what he had heard—perhaps a bit exaggerated—but overall not far off, so he didn't dwell too much on it.
"True enough, the pressure lately feels suffocating, but compared to the Western Front, our Eastern Front can only be described as 'light combat' with relatively low intensity.
Before this, we were only dealing with minor skirmishes, while over on the Western Front, chaos erupted practically from day one.
And the death toll over there? Way worse than what we've seen here—and how they die is just plain horrifying. The enemy attacks are damn near impossible to predict. Whether it's Hanzo of Ame or Chiyo of Suna, both are ninjas especially skilled in poison-based warfare. Their toxins aren't just deadly—they hit hard and cover wide areas without warning.
So… although it sounds disrespectful to say it like this, despite being equally dangerous battlefields, we're already pretty lucky to be stationed here on the Eastern Front."
Speaking of Hanzo and Chiyo's poison attacks—you've heard this, right? Tsunade-sama is facing off against both of them alone—and winning. No matter how novel, strange, complex, or swift their poisons are, she always finds the antidote almost instantly.
It's precisely because of her Medical Ninjutsu that Konoha's Western Front hasn't collapsed under the large-scale toxin assaults... For a medical ninja to single-handedly support an entire battlefield—this is truly unprecedented."
"Oh yeah, I've definitely heard about it. Tsunade-sama is still quite young, yet her contributions and role in this entire war… Well, no wonder she's the granddaughter of the First Hokage."
"Exactly... The blessings bestowed by the First continue to this day... If only Tsunade-sama could come to the Eastern Front. Having such an expert healer stationed here would surely give us more courage every time we charge forward.
Even if we were injured, receiving care directly from that great lady would make this life entirely worthwhile."
Under normal circumstances, considering Lady Tsunade's role on the Western Front, her position should absolutely not be relocated. However, it's not entirely impossible either. Have you heard any rumors? Something about Lady Tsunade and Haseo-sama...
The tension of battle had already settled over the Eastern Front camp, but conversations like this weren't hard to find... In theory, such casual chats and gossip served as one way to relieve pre-battle stress and pressure.
Tsunade's reputation was already spreading across both fronts. Despite the fact she had begun undertaking extremely important missions and playing an irreplaceable role in the war, the previous discussion hadn't exaggerated her contributions on the Western Front. Normally speaking, information shouldn't have spread this fast.
Some rumors just weren't meant to spread that fast. If people praising Tsunade for her achievements on the Western Front made sense, then the spreading of her name on the Eastern Front clearly bore traces of deliberate dissemination.
It could be said that the Third had truly exerted painstaking efforts.
But whenever Konoha ninja spoke about Lady Tsunade, they inevitably brought up the First Hokage... Strictly speaking, it wasn't fair to credit Tsunade's personal achievements and skills—gained through her own effort—to the First Hokage. Yet in reality, Tsunade didn't care about such matters.
She had long grown accustomed to this kind of talk, so there was no need to dwell on it.
The First Hokage's radiance had been too overwhelming, even continuing after his death. As for Tsunade herself, she took pride in being connected with him. Being associated with her grandfather never bothered her at all.
As for the admiration many ninja held toward Tsunade, this phenomenon was both natural and unsurprising. Not only did her Medical Ninjutsu stand out among the best, gradually becoming unmatched across the entire Ninjutsu World, but also carried an air of mystery and grace about them... Her very image perfectly fit people's fantasies and expectations of a medical ninja.
A female doctor possessing looks, personality, and medical expertise—she naturally commanded universal respect.
Her profession alone determined that she would gain much greater support and prestige than a ninja like Haseo-sama, even extending beyond Konoha's boundaries.
Normally, whoever Leaf ninja liked most, ninja from other villages should theoretically hate the most. For example, Haseo was addressed as "Haseo-sama" by Konoha ninja, but in other villages, he became known as "That lowlife Haseo" or worse.
But Tsunade was different. Within Konoha she was known as "Lady Katsuyu," and gradually this honorific title began spreading to other ninja villages as well.
Of course, her beauty certainly played a part in it too. It was precisely because she maintained a gentle and caring image—hiding her violent temper and gambling addiction, secrets only those closest to her were aware of—that she earned such widespread praise.
If Tsunade were instead a muscular brute, even if she still possessed extraordinary medical skills, the outcome might have been completely different.
The world isn't fair—not even among ninjas, where looks still seem to matter more than anything else.
As for how the rumor about "Tsunade-sama and Haseo" started? As the saying goes, "Walls have ears," or more bluntly, "If you don't want others to know, don't do it in the first place."
Though Haseo couldn't stop such gossip, he could certainly shatter these ninja's illusions—Tsunade, stationed at the Western Front, definitely wouldn't come to the Eastern Front.
Judging by Konoha's usual practices, just ensuring the Eastern Front had adequate medical resources would have been impressive enough. There was no way they'd dispatch their best medical ninja to a secondary battlefield.
So everyone could only offer warm thoughts and kind wishes for Tsunade.
On the Eastern Front, preparations and mobilizations had already been completed on the main battlefield when Haseo handpicked the fifty elite ninja he needed.
There were various ways to define what made a ninja "excellent" or "elite," but at this moment, Haseo used only one standard: combat ability was all that mattered.
Those who got more excited the bloodier things became—who fought like rabid dogs—were actually the most ideal candidates.
That's why the Uchiha were definitely included—they practically shared the same nature.
The total number of ninja on the Eastern Front didn't even reach a thousand. Haseo couldn't possibly take away all the key ninja, otherwise the front line would collapse… So within the group of fifty he selected, quite a few of them were merely chunin.
Fortunately, there were indeed a few particularly powerful fighters, including himself, Sakumo Hatake, and Might Duy, who could use the Opening Gate.
After agreeing upon the date of battle and finalizing the details of coordinated operations, Haseo led his fifty-man squad quietly out from the camp.
Not even most Konoha ninja knew that their commander had quietly left the front line—and naturally, the enemy had no clue either.
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