Chapter 142: The Truce
The Second Great Ninja War, which had erupted in Year 29 of Konoha, entered a period of truce due to the temporary withdrawal of the Land of Rain.
Originally, it was a situation where three nations besieged Konoha. With the Hidden Rain Village out of the picture, the other two villages also reached a tacit agreement to temporarily cease hostilities.
They needed to consider whether they could still antagonize Konoha. Moreover, the weakness of the Hidden Cloud Village could no longer be concealed. If the Hidden Rock hadn't lost most of its supplies to the Uzumaki clan, they would have long since abandoned Konoha to attack the Cloud instead.
After giving the Sannin a little help in the Land of Rain and collecting his Witness Points, Masahiko flew straight back to Konoha. He was now more concerned about the "romantic" situation between Kushina and Minato.
However, everything proceeded just like in the original story. Kushina wasn't particularly fond of Minato, whom she considered a "sissy." Masahiko wasn't in a hurry either; once the classic "hero saves the beauty" moment occurred, everything would happen naturally.
"Eh? Wait a minute..." Mentioning the hero saving the beauty reminded Masahiko of something. "In the original story, the ones who kidnapped Kushina were Hidden Cloud ninjas. Do they still dare to do that now?"
After a long while, Masahiko sighed. "I'll just take it one step at a time."
A sudden clamor came from outside, and Masahiko listened intently.
"The heroes who intercepted the Hidden Sand have returned!" Cheers and applause erupted.
"Is everyone back?" Masahiko mused with emotion. Recently, there had already been two similar scenes: one for the Sannin who intercepted the Hidden Rain, and another for the Senju and Hyuga forces who intercepted the Hidden Rock.
"Time to get busy again." Masahiko straightened his clothes and walked out.
He didn't go to welcome the heroes of Konoha but headed straight for the Konoha Hospital.
"Little Tsunade, I'm here to relieve you."
With wave after wave of troops returning to Konoha, the hospital was already overflowing, and there simply weren't enough medical ninjas.
Originally, Masahiko couldn't be bothered to intervene. But seeing Tsunade exhaust her chakra and pass out for four or five days in a row, only to wake up and immediately continue treating patients, he couldn't help but lend a hand.
"Great-Great-Grandpa, you're here." Tsunade smiled, unable to hide her exhaustion.
"Another squad has returned. Go rest."
Tsunade shook her head. "I'll check if there are any critically injured."
Er, this was awkward...
Masahiko's face stiffened. When it came to medical ninjutsu, Tsunade had already pulled ahead of him. The main issue was that this skill didn't appear in his status bar as an independent skill; it might be influenced by various attributes slightly, but Masahiko could only improve it through slow accumulation. As for his talent in medical ninjutsu... well, let's just say it needed time to settle.
Sure enough, not long after, wounded soldiers began to flood into the hospital.
On the streets of Konoha, villagers were still cheering for the return of the heroes. They could only see Konoha's great victory, but few noticed the sacrifices behind it.
Masahiko stepped forward, slightly activating his perception to understand the general condition of several wounded. This was the only advantage he held over Tsunade in medical ninjutsu.
"Just treat these few simply."
"This one too... Hmm? Kagami!" Masahiko was stunned. He hadn't expected Uchiha Kagami, the Supreme Commander of Operations, to come to the Konoha Hospital as well.
"Elder Masahiko!" Kagami responded.
Masahiko pulled his arm and rolled up the sleeve, revealing a large area of abrasion on the surface.
"This injury? Iron Sand?" Masahiko asked tentatively.
Kagami nodded. "It's the Third Kazekage's Kekkei Genkai."
"To be able to hurt you... compared to the Joint Jonin Exam, he has improved quite a lot!" Masahiko exclaimed.
"Uncle Kagami, let me treat you," Tsunade stepped forward and led Kagami aside.
Masahiko continued to "sort" the wounded. Compared to the previous two battlefields, the injuries here were relatively minor.
"Is it because the Hidden Sand's poison is potent, so the heavily injured died? Or is the gap in strength relatively large?" Masahiko muttered. In the end, he selected two heavily injured patients to hand over to Tsunade. As for the others with abrasions and cuts, treating them with Katsuyu and bandaging them up would suffice.
By the time everything was done, the sky had gradually darkened, and the cheers on the streets of Konoha had faded.
Tsunade walked out of the "operating room," covered in sweat and with barely any chakra left.
Masahiko smiled. "Go rest, Lord Sannin..."
Tsunade smiled bitterly. "If it weren't for you back then, maybe none of the three of us would have made it back."
During this time, Tsunade had realized that Masahiko had secretly helped them in that battle. For a while, she had truly thought she had performed supernaturally well.
After saying this, Tsunade left the hospital to go home and rest. Masahiko didn't leave; he made a few turns and arrived at a special ward.
"Great-Grandpa, you're here. Did Tsunade go back to rest?" The person on the bed was wrapped up tight. It was Senju Kenji, returned from the Hidden Rock battlefield.
Masahiko nodded. "She went back."
"You probably heard the ninjas from the Hidden Sand unit return today. The Uchiha clan leader, Uchiha Kagami, only suffered some abrasions, yet you, the Senju clan leader, suffered such heavy injuries. Aren't you ashamed?"
The person on the bed twitched slightly. Although his face was also wrapped in layers of gauze, Masahiko could clearly tell he was smiling bitterly.
"Uchiha Kagami doesn't have a brother twenty-five years younger than him!"
Masahiko shook his head with a smile.
As far as he knew, Senju Dozan had been causing all sorts of trouble for his brother on the battlefield, occasionally creating a huge mess.
"Did he really forget where he buried the explosive tags?"
In general ninja warfare, unless the power gap is overwhelming, traps are indispensable. Dozan was young but became a member of the "Trap Team." As a result, the boy's single-mindedness showed itself.
It wasn't that the explosive tags were buried so well that even his own people couldn't find them—or even he couldn't find them—it was that they were buried so obviously that anyone could see them at a glance.
Surprisingly, this actually caused quite a bit of trouble for the Hidden Rock Village; they had truly never seen anyone set traps like this before.
However, when the troops were retreating... well, let's just say Kenji, who took the lead, ended up wrapped like a dumpling.
"Great-Grandpa, I really embarrassed myself in front of my daughter this time," Kenji continued.
Masahiko shook his head. "Don't dwell on it. There will be plenty more times you'll embarrass yourself in front of Tsunade. Your daughter's strength has already caught up to yours. In another two or three years, you probably won't be her match at all. Just be secretly proud of that!"
Kenji moved his head slightly, seemingly nodding in agreement.
"Alright, I'm leaving. Rest well," Masahiko said, standing up and walking out of the room.
At the door, Masahiko nodded with a smile to three people: Mito, Ayaka, and a drooping-headed Dozan.
Seeing Masahiko, Dozan perked up.
"Great-Grandpa, is there any news of Sister Yuna?"
Masahiko shook his head. "You should worry about your big brother, you brat."
Ayaka held a food box in her hand; she was likely here to bring Kenji a meal.
"You guys go in. I'm going back to eat too!"
This routine of moving between three points had lasted for almost a week, and Masahiko knew it well.
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