Mist had deployed heavy forces at the border of Bear Country, while Konoha had also prepared itself for direct confrontation.
Among all ninja villages, if one were to speak of deep foundations, Konoha stood out above all others. It was the only village capable of fighting simultaneously against several rival villages among the Five Great Hidden Villages—and still maintain the upper hand.
Konoha and Mist had already turned the border into a battlefield, with over a hundred battles—big and small—taking place. Two full months had now passed since the conflict began.
Over these two months, battles had erupted nearly every day. Both sides suffered casualties.
Although Mist held an advantage in numbers, Konoha's ninja were of higher quality. The two sides exchanged blows fiercely, locked in non-stop combat.
Today, Mist would set up an ambush on Konoha. Tomorrow, Konoha would strike back with a surprise attack. It was like a game of tag—today they ambush us, tomorrow we strike back.
...
"Tsunade-sama! This is the intelligence report sent by Hokage-sama. Please look it over!"
A Chunin in charge of communication held an intelligence scroll as he presented it to Tsunade.
Tsunade sat calmly behind her desk, focused and composed, while Shizune stood behind her, curiously watching Tsunade accept the scroll.
"Fine, you can go," Tsunade waved him off, then placed the scroll before her and formed a hand seal.
"Release!"
As white smoke dispersed, the seal on the scroll dissolved, and the character "Seal" vanished from its surface.
"Shizune!" Tsunade called out, just as Shizune was stretching her neck trying to peek from behind.
"Oh!"
Tsunade didn't mind letting Shizune see this intelligence—it was normal for her apprentice and assistant to handle many classified documents. She simply found Shizune's posture overly suspicious, looking no different from a sneaky peeping Tom.
Her eyes scanned the scroll quickly, absorbing the information. A thoughtful gleam flickered through her eyes.
"There!" Tsunade directly handed the scroll to Shizune, signaling she could read it now.
"Ah!" Shizune accepted the scroll, swept her eyes across its contents, and her mouth opened slightly in surprise—but quickly realizing how unseemly that looked, she hurriedly covered her mouth with one hand.
"The war between Sunagakure and Konoha has ended?"
After staying there so long, Shizune found the sudden end of the war with Sand difficult to believe at first.
"As clearly stated in the report, the final battle took place at Jiegeng Mountain, where Konoha crushed all of Sand's hopes. In the end, Konoha emerged victorious from this grueling war."
There was a faint sense of pride in Tsunade's eyes, though her tone remained calm, as if she had seen this coming all along.
"Gather all department heads. We need to hold a meeting to spread this news and boost everyone's morale. Shizune, you'll handle the notification."
Once Shizune had fully processed the information, Tsunade gave her first instruction.
"Yes! I'll get right on it!" Shizune placed the scroll back on the table, then walked toward the exit of the tent.
Tsunade didn't call her in so she could do the notification herself. Rather, it was to have her call the guard ninjas outside the tent to carry out the task. Her job was simply to inform the guards, not to take any further action herself.
"Zip!" Shizune yanked open the tent flap and got to work. After delivering all the messages, she prepared to head back.
Standing at the entrance, she suddenly thought of Saitama.
"I might as well stop by — I need to deliver a message anyway," Shizune said, letting go of the tent flap and turning toward the Uchiha district with light steps.
Inside the tent, Tsunade waited for Shizune for quite a while but saw no sign of her return. A flicker of confusion crossed her face, but she quickly picked up an intelligence scroll again, pushing thoughts of Shizune aside.
She knew exactly where Shizune went every time she vanished — either to visit Saitama or on her way to him. The realization made Tsunade feel like all those years of living together had meant nothing at all.
"It seems Saitama isn't keeping her busy enough. Tenten still has too much free time!" Tsunade muttered under her breath before diving into the detailed information on the scroll. Earlier, she had only skimmed through it without reading the specific combat details.
...
"Oh? Saitama hasn't come back yet!" Shizune stood in front of Saitama's tent with a disappointed look, facing Uchiha Mori.
"Then I'll pass along the message. By the way, Tsunade-sama wants all squad leaders to attend a meeting; she has something important to say."
Shizune quickly adjusted her mood and told Uchiha Mori.
"Oh? I see. I understand. I'll inform Tianming-sama later, so you don't have to make another trip."
Uchiha Mori smiled. He could naturally tell Shizune hadn't come just to deliver a message — she came here looking for someone.
"Then I'll report back to Tsunade-sama first!"
Shizune gave a slight bow and turned to leave, her footsteps slower than when she arrived.
"How amusing. It feels like watching my younger self from years ago!"
Uchiha Mori rubbed his chin, arms crossed over his chest, watching Shizune walk away with a smile.
"I wonder what urgent matter Tsunade-sama has now to call a meeting this quickly."
He then turned around and slowly headed toward Uchiha Tianming's tent. At this moment, Tianming was surely still inside, managing intelligence reports about the Uchiha ninja.
...
"Captain, looks like the Aburame clan's ninja unit over there!" Uchiha Yan pointed out to Saitama, indicating a Konoha team slowly advancing from their west.
"Yeah, I see them," Saitama nodded.
"Whoosh!"
In a flash, the Aburame clan's ninja unit appeared before them. Saitama realized the leader was actually someone familiar.
"Long time no see, Saitama!" Shibi Aburame stopped a few meters ahead of Saitama's group.
"Long time no see, Shibi Aburame. Where are you coming from?"
Saitama instinctively placed a hand on the Ninja Sword at his waist, asking the somewhat disheveled-looking Shibi.
"Oh, we just fought against a Mist squad, but we took them down."
Shibi adjusted his sunglasses and spoke calmly. Behind him were two other ninjas, also wearing sunglasses. But Saitama, being perceptive, could feel their eyes constantly fixed on him — curious and watchful.
"Well then, you should head back to rest. We'll continue patrolling."
"Let's go," Saitama waved his hand. They had a mission — no time for idle chat.
"Got it!" Several figures dashed past each other.
"We're close to the border now — stay sharp."
The border with Bear Country was long. Major battles mainly concentrated on the coastal side, but minor skirmishes constantly erupted in other areas too — usually skirmishes where both sides tried to sneak in and ran into each other.
Saitama's team had today's mission to patrol a certain area. Just a few days ago, they were storming enemy lines; now here they were.
Thanks to Tsunade's assignment mechanism, after several days of intense fighting, they received a relatively relaxed patrol task.
Of course, the "relaxed" condition depended on not encountering enemies during the patrol.
Whoosh!
Figures darted between treetops. Saitama and others remained silent, rushing straight toward their mission destination.
After advancing for a while, Saitama caught some sounds near his ear. The chakra sensed in his perception field felt unfamiliar — not like any Konoha ninja's.
"Stop!"
Saitama raised his left hand vertically, transmitting his order. The three-man squad instantly landed on branches, immediately entering an alert state.
"There's movement ahead!"
Once the two beside him also halted at his sides, Saitama spoke out.
"Get ready for battle!" Saitama stated directly without hesitation.
Whoosh!
Confidence stemmed from strength. A streak of electricity surged around Saitama's calf muscles as his figure shot forward.
Swish!
Passing through another layer of leaf cover, Saitama saw both parties locked in combat — three Mist ninjas versus one Leaf ninja barely holding his own, seemingly about to collapse at any moment.
He pushed off with his foot, suddenly accelerating as he joined the fray!
Swish!
A sword slashed outward, instantly unleashing thunderous power!
"Agh!" This enemy hadn't even reacted yet before Saitama's blade cut across his throat, sending blood spraying everywhere.
"What!?" The other two Mist ninja immediately abandoned their offensive and created distance from Saitama.
"The Konoha Lightning Blade wielder?" One of the Mist ninja recognized Saitama, who'd recently dominated the battlefield, surprise clearly evident on his face.
Hearing his companion shout Saitama's name, the other Mist ninja's eyes widened slightly in recognition, his body tensing up instantly.
That Saitama — on the battlefield, he was like a one-man wrecking machine — Mist had no answer for him whatsoever. Fortunately, the supervisors from the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist had been present there to counter Saitama. Even so, during a recent battle, Saitama had seriously injured Mangetsu Hozuki, the reserve member of the Seven Swordsmen. Without Kuma Rokkaku and Jinpa Muri assisting, that day might've seen Saitama kill Mangetsu outright.
In trying to save Mangetsu Hozuki, the other two shinobi were wounded again by Saitama—but Saitama himself had also taken a hit from Kuma Rokkaku's weapon, leaving a deep, clean-through abdominal wound.
Saitama edged closer to the remaining two Mist ninja, each step silent, lightning crackling hungrily along his blade.
"Saitama Uchiha?"
The ninja spotted Saitama as well, and a wave of relief surged through him. Now that Saitama was here, he thought maybe — just maybe — they could make it out alive after all…
Thinking about it, the Konoha ninja glanced at his fallen comrades lying around him, and his eyes darkened.
"Leave it to me!" Saitama quickened his pace, heading straight toward the enemies.
"Let's fight! Otherwise we'll all die!" The ninja who had first recognized Saitama shouted to his teammate. He tightened his grip on his weapon, locking eyes with Saitama.
"Yeah!" His companion felt a few beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. He knew there was no way for them to escape now; they had no choice but to fight.
"Let's go!" Seeing Saitama drawing nearer, the ninja shouted and took an aggressive stance.
His teammate charged forward, biting his lip hard, ready to give everything.
"Shua!" At the exact moment the mist ninja who had suggested fighting stepped forward, the other one suddenly dashed backward in full speed, bursting with chakra, fleeing at top speed.
"Hehe!" Saitama smiled slightly, watching the enemy's reaction.
"Shua!" Planting his foot firmly, Saitama instantly activated his Shifting Body Technique, leaving a small crater where he had stood.
"You…" The mist ninja lunged at Saitama, seeing his teammate abandon him instantly and flee, fury robbing him of words.
"What!" The escaping mist ninja turned back in shock as Saitama caught up in an instant. Desperation flashed in his eyes — then the blue-white blade swallowed him whole.
"Thud!"
The head dropped to the ground as Saitama turned his gaze to the last remaining mist ninja.
"You... p-please don't..."
"Shua!" Without a word, Saitama slashed again, ending the man's life in an instant.
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