"Failed again, Kakashi?" Obito sneered, watching Rin carefully rewrap Kakashi's hand with bandages.
"Obito, Kakashi is already strong! The reason the fight ended so quickly was because he was up against Minato-sensei!" Rin puffed her cheeks and defended Kakashi.
Hmph! Obito gritted his teeth and shot Kakashi a fierce glare.
"What about you two? How are you doing with the Blood Armor Jutsu?" Minato quickly intervened to change the subject before more arguing broke out.
"I've already mastered the Armor Mode," Rin raised her hand. She was well aware of her role in the team: a medical ninja!
According to Lady Tsunade's rules for medical ninjas, during battle, a medical ninja's priority is their own safety and not engaging in combat.
That's why Rin focused on mastering Armor Mode first, not Blood Mode. She believed this was the jutsu she needed to master most.
The defensive capabilities of Armor Mode helped solve the problem of medical ninjas being vulnerable and often the first target.
It could even be used strategically to anticipate the enemy's intention to target the medical ninja first.
Minato gave Rin a praising smile, then turned his attention to Obito, whose gaze was avoiding his.
"The jutsu is too hard!" Obito exclaimed, pulling at his hair in frustration, making his hairstyle messier than ever.
He swore he'd been trying his hardest, but the jutsu had high basic requirements. It was very unfriendly to someone like him, a more rough-and-tumble type of ninja.
"Leave it to me, Minato-sensei. While you teach Kakashi, I'll work with Obito. The Blood Mode and Armor Mode techniques are indeed difficult. They require fine chakra control, some knowledge of the human body, and ideally, medical ninjutsu as well. I'll teach him step by step until Obito masters it," Rin quickly offered.
"Rin!" Obito looked at Nohara Rin with tears in his eyes. The sadness in his heart disappeared instantly, replaced by the drive Rin's encouragement gave him.
"Idiot!" Kakashi's quick remark was immediately caught by Obito.
"Who are you calling an idiot?" Obito pushed up his goggles, rubbed away the tears that had formed, and glared angrily in Kakashi's direction.
"This is a technique only a smart person can master. For someone like you, an idiot, it's going to be hard," Kakashi responded honestly.
"Bastard!" Obito felt his sanity snap for a moment. He couldn't bother putting his goggles back on. With a rush of anger, he lunged at Kakashi.
But Kakashi smoothly sidestepped and raised one leg, tripping Obito. Obito lost his balance, falling face-first onto the ground with his body in full contact with the floor. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the Nove1Fire.net
Seeing this usual chaotic scene, Minato stood by with Rin, each holding one of them to stop the situation from escalating, while awkwardly scratching his head.
In the end, Minato treated everyone to a meal to settle the commotion.
At the Hokage's Office.
"Look at this, the latest intel," the Third Hokage said as he puffed on his pipe, his face clouded with worry. He passed a report around for everyone to see.
In the meeting room, all the Jonin and clan leaders who weren't out on missions took the intel from the Hokage and began reading.
"Iwagakure finally made their move?" one of them asked.
After reading through the report, many of the Jonin and clan leaders breathed a sigh of relief.
Bad news: Iwagakure had finally joined the fight.
Good news: They weren't attacking Konoha... for now.
"The cloud village is going to fall," some of the Jonin speculated, considering the information they had.
Although the Cloud Village was one of the most powerful in the ninja world, capable of battling tailed beasts, and the Third Raikage's reputation was known across the ninja world, this couldn't hide the fact that the Cloud had sent nearly all their forces out but had failed to secure any easy victories so far.
The resilience of Sunagakure (the Hidden Sand Village) surprised the entire ninja world, especially after the disappearance of the powerful Third Kazekage. To everyone's shock, a new leader emerged—Rasa, a user of Magnet Release, along with Pakura, a ninja with Scorch Release.
Even though Konoha had secretly redirected some of Kumogakure's forces, Sunagakure managed to hold its ground against the Third Raikage and his army for over a year, something no one had expected.
This was partly due to Rasa's Magnet Release being a strong counter to the Third Raikage's Lightning Release, as well as Sunagakure's Wind Release having an advantage over Lightning Release.
Kumogakure's surprise attack didn't succeed in quickly defeating Sunagakure. Instead, the Sand Village managed to drag them into a prolonged war, something the Third Raikage and his advisors didn't anticipate.
After more than a year, Kumogakure was getting stuck in the war and couldn't retreat easily.
This long duration also led other villages to prepare for war.
For example, Iwagakure (the Hidden Stone Village)?
Tsuchikage Onoki had been watching the situation for a long time, but now he was ready to act and join the war to claim the current victory.
During this time, there was constant communication between Sunagakure and Iwagakure.
With the consent of the Chiyo siblings, Rasa, who had been on the front lines, leading the charge against the Third Raikage's assaults, became the main figure in the diplomatic relations between the two villages.
Everyone who knew this information was aware that Rasa was only one step away from officially becoming the Fourth Kazekage. Once the war with Kumogakure ended, Rasa could return to the village and take the position. In fact, his influence and power on the battlefield were already equal to that of a Kage.
The only person who could potentially challenge Rasa's position was Pakura, the Scorch Release ninja, who had also gained recognition for her efforts in the war.
Rasa even felt lucky that it was Kumogakure invading the Land of Wind, as his Kekkei Genkai and ninjutsus were effective against them. If it had been Kirigakure from the Land of Water, it would have been Pakura who was seen as the future Kage.
With the alliance between Sunagakure and Iwagakure, no one thought Kumogakure could continue. In this ninja war, the once powerful Kumogakure might soon be the first to be pushed out.
"Iwagakure has gathered a large number of ninjas surrounding the battlefield of Sunagakure and Kumogakure. If nothing unexpected happens, the only way Kumogakure's ninjas can ensure their retreat is by cutting off their own arms to survive.
If the Kumogakure forces are completely surrounded and wiped out, Kumogakure will be expelled from the Five Great Shinobi Countries." Nara Shikakichi waited until all the Jonin in the room had read the information before he began leading the meeting.
"We don't need to focus on Kumogakure; their defeat is already inevitable. What we need to focus on now are the movements of Iwagakure and Sunagakure.
The Tsuchikage Onoki wouldn't have mobilized so many ninjas just to defeat Kumogakure. His next target will likely be us, Konoha.
Additionally, according to intelligence from the Roots, Kirigakure also has the intention of joining this war. They have already sent a team of elite ninjas, led by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, to infiltrate the Land of Fire."
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