After a dangerous retreat from the front lines, it took Renzo and his team over two hours to make it back to the third defensive line. There, they reunited with the three remaining Konoha ninja who had also managed to escape.
"Captain! Captain! Are you okay?"
One of Yuhi Shinku's teammates rushed over, his eyes lighting up when he saw Shinku being carried on Renzo's back.
He hurried forward, reaching out, but Renzo instinctively stepped back and warned, "Sensei is badly injured and unconscious. Don't disturb him for now!"
"Ah… I see… That was reckless of me! My apologies! Do we have a medical ninja here? If so, please treat the captain immediately!" the teammate pleaded anxiously.
"Yeah, I am one!" Renzo nodded and turned to Kurenai and Rin Nohara. "Kurenai, come with me—we'll treat sensei together! Rin, take care of the others' injuries!"
He also nodded to Minato, acknowledging his presence, before carrying Yuhi Shinku into a tent within the camp. Kurenai and Asuma followed closely behind.
"Renzo! What should we do?" Asuma asked, his voice filled with concern. For the first time, he felt utterly useless—he hadn't been able to help at all.
"Stand guard at the entrance! Don't let anyone disturb us!" Renzo instructed without hesitation.
"Got it!" Asuma replied, stepping outside and scanning the surroundings warily, as if keeping watch could somehow make up for his feelings of helplessness.
Inside the tent, Renzo let out a relieved sigh after checking Shinku's condition. "Phew! Thankfully, it's mostly surface wounds. The main issue is severe mental backlash. I'll start treating him now."
Hearing this, Kurenai, her eyes reddened with emotion, nodded eagerly. "Okay! I'll help bandage him!"
"Use this spray—apply it to all his wounds. It'll help with healing!" Renzo said as he pretended to reach into his pocket. In reality, he used his Fantasy Creation ability to materialize a bottle of Pokémon-world Panacea Spray in his hand before passing it to Kurenai.
This was the second time he had used Fantasy Creation. The first had been back in the village when he tested it by creating a kunai. Clearly, this ability could work across different worlds.
"I should probably take some time to learn advanced medical ninjutsu like the Ninja Art: Mitotic Regeneration..." Renzo mused to himself.
"Huh? Oh, okay!" Kurenai, momentarily startled, quickly took the spray and began treating her father's numerous wounds.
Meanwhile, Renzo placed a hand on Yuhi Shinku's forehead and activated his Healing ability. A soft green glow emanated from his hand, gently infiltrating Shinku's body, gradually easing his pain.
To further aid his recovery, Renzo used a psychic ability he had developed to help stabilize Shinku's mind. After all, mental backlash wasn't something that could be ignored.
Without intervention, he might recover in ten days to half a month, but given their current situation—where a large-scale battle could break out at any moment—it was best to expedite the process.
Once the treatment was complete, Renzo stepped out of the tent, leaving Kurenai inside to care for her father.
"How is he?" Asuma, still standing guard, immediately asked.
"He's fine now," Renzo reassured him with a wave of his hand. "Keep watch here. I'm going to discuss our next move with Minato-sensei."
Since it would take another one to two days for reinforcements to arrive, they needed a solid plan. Unlike their small elite unit, the main forces couldn't advance as quickly.
Not long after, Renzo found Minato and the other strategists in the command tent.
"Ah, Renzo, you're here! Come in—we were just discussing strategy," Minato greeted him warmly, offering him a seat alongside the three remaining Konoha shinobi who were analyzing intelligence reports.
"The enemy force is led by Azuma Shibito, an elite Iwa jōnin—he's extremely powerful!" one of the shinobi reported.
"They have 35 jōnin, 17 special jōnin, and over 200 chūnin and genin combined."
The exact numbers were hard to determine due to the chaos of battle, but getting precise figures for jōnin and special jōnin was already an achievement.
Minato nodded thoughtfully before turning to Renzo and Kakashi. "What do you two think?"
Rather than presenting his own plan immediately, he wanted to develop their analytical and strategic thinking.
Kakashi merely shook his head in silence. Despite his recent promotion to jōnin, he knew he lacked the battle experience and tactical insight of veterans like Minato.
Minato then turned to Renzo. "And you?"
Renzo sighed, waving a hand dismissively. "Minato-sensei, don't make things difficult for us. We're still too green to come up with anything brilliant. I think this fight depends on you more than anything."
If he remembered correctly, this was Minato's legendary moment—the battle that would make his name echo throughout the entire shinobi world.
A battle where he single-handedly annihilated five to six thousand Iwa shinobi with Flying Thunder God tactics.
Minato chuckled, unfazed. "Alright then! Tomorrow, your only job is to keep throwing these Flying Thunder God kunai at the enemy. Leave the jōnin and special jōnin to me! The chūnin, however, will be up to everyone else."
Numbers didn't mean much to Minato, but since he lacked large-scale destructive jutsu, he couldn't deal with hundreds of chūnin by himself.
His chakra was also limited—killing dozens of shinobi per battle was already pushing it.
"I'll handle the chūnin!" Renzo suddenly volunteered. "I just developed an Ultimate-Level Lightning Release technique, and given the stormy weather, it should work perfectly!"
Minato and the others were surprised. Even with some doubt, there was no better alternative.
After all, whether Renzo succeeded or failed, it wouldn't make their situation worse.
The night passed uneventfully.
At dawn, Renzo, who had been on night watch, suddenly snapped to attention. His expression hardened as he turned toward the west.
In his psychic perception, an enormous Iwa force was approaching from five kilometers away.
"We're under attack! Prepare for battle!"
"What?!" Asuma, who had been dozing off, jolted awake. He quickly ran off to wake Kurenai and Shinku, while Renzo remained in position, steeling himself for the coming storm.