Three days after the major battle, in the Land of Lightning, Kumogakure.
"A, I hope this defeat will allow you to reflect. As the commander of a nation, you took it upon yourself to charge into battle, repeatedly venturing into dangerous territory and provoking the enemy… You've paid the price for your overconfidence. The root cause of Kumogakure's heavy casualties lies entirely in your recklessness."
Inside a hospital room in Kumogakure's ninja hospital, an elder advisor was lecturing the young Raikage.
Whether the advisor's criticism was justified or merely a case of hindsight bias was debatable. Regardless, for these old men, the opportunity to lecture someone and showcase their wisdom and relevance was, in their own minds, a good thing.
It could be said that while advisors in different ninja villages were distinct individuals, they were all fundamentally the same.
"This setback isn't irreversible. We can reorganize our forces and launch another offensive into the Land of Rice Paddies," the Fourth Raikage said. He was still somewhat young, and his failure to directly address the advisor's reprimand indicated a degree of guilt.
"Raikage-sama, please don't move," a medical ninja nearby said.
The Fourth Raikage, seeming agitated, tried to sit up while speaking, causing the array of medical equipment attached to him to clatter noisily.
The medical ninja promptly and unceremoniously slapped him back down.
"What's the point of invading the Land of Rice Paddies again? At this stage of the war, it's clear to everyone that we have nothing to gain. Even if we were to re-enter the Land of Rice Paddies, what purpose would it serve other than adding to our casualties? A, don't mobilize the nation's forces for your personal desires. You're just trying to vent your frustration. Kumogakure's ninja cannot pay for the Raikage's mistakes a second time…" the advisor continued.
"Are we to end the war in defeat?" The Fourth Raikage wasn't just acting out of personal desire. He knew this defeat would put Kumogakure at a disadvantage in the upcoming negotiations, which is why he wanted to organize another counterattack. However, the advisors disagreed with his assessment.
The Fourth Raikage was about to jump to his feet again, but he was practically pinned to the bed by the medical ninja, who seemed to have him in a chokehold.
This medical ninja signaled to the Raikage to calm down, indicating that she would handle the situation.
She looked up at the advisor and said, "Advisor-sama, the Raikage-sama is in a critical condition. We must remove the heavy metals from his body as soon as possible. Although the dosage is small, it's extremely lethal… This is a hospital, not the Raikage's office. So please, leave immediately."
Then, she pointed towards the door and repeated, "Immediately."
Advisor: "…"
The old man opened his mouth, then obediently closed the door behind him as he left.
Doctors were the most important people in the world, and skilled medical ninja didn't care about so-called political figures. This was a hospital; who did he think he was putting on airs for?
Seeing this, the Fourth Raikage, for once, quieted down…
He couldn't afford to offend her. He really couldn't.
...
Konoha had driven Kumogakure's forces out of the Land of Rice Paddies, gaining greater strategic space for themselves. And then? And then, nothing. Konoha didn't have the resources to push through the Land of Frost and attack the Land of Lightning's mainland. Even if Konoha still possessed that level of combat power, they wouldn't do it.
Kumogakure wasn't Sunagakure, and Konoha wasn't the Konoha of forty years ago. If the battle were to take place on the Land of Lightning's soil, realistically, there was no reason for Kumogakure to lose.
After this battle, the military demarcation line between Konoha and Kumogakure shifted north to the border between the Land of Rice Paddies and the Land of Frost. Having achieved victory, Konoha didn't adopt an aggressive posture. Instead, they were the first to begin withdrawing troops. Soon, Konoha's forces in the Land of Rice Paddies were reduced to just over a thousand personnel.
This was a very pragmatic approach, essentially signaling to Kumogakure: "Yes, we bullied you earlier, but we can still negotiate."
The victor was the first to reduce its front-line forces. As long as Kumo wasn't completely insane, and the Fourth Raikage possessed even a shred of basic political acumen, they wouldn't send reinforcements to the front lines. What, were they going to force Konoha to redeploy its troops just after they'd withdrawn them?
In short, military superiority allowed Konoha to adopt a more favorable political stance. Logically, both sides should have been able to begin negotiations to end the war. Unfortunately, the Land of Lightning was a major military power, and they were having a hard time swallowing their pride. Thus, the situation remained deadlocked for a while.
And by "a while," we mean six months.
Another major war was unlikely. However, minor skirmishes continued to occur sporadically during these six months. Habara, having been assigned to the front lines, hadn't returned to Konoha during this entire period.
This was his first time being stationed at the front lines for such an extended time.
However, he had no complaints about this arrangement. For one, it wasn't uncommon for Konoha ninja to spend several years in a row on the battlefield, so his situation was normal. Secondly, he'd had a rather fulfilling six months.
While Habara's current strength might seem decent, if we were to break down his power progression, it could be divided into three simple stages. Initially, there was the "rookie" stage. Then came a period of sudden growth when he mastered the Rokujin techniques and his own unique Kekkei Tota. Following that was a period of minor improvements and relative stagnation… or, to put it bluntly, after the second stage, it became much harder for him to achieve significant power boosts.
Habara didn't have fancy eyes, and his tattoo wasn't legit, so he needed to carefully consider how to improve his strength in the future.
But more important than future plans, Habara lacked a "consolidation period." Rapid power surges weren't always a good thing. Although Habara always boasted about being self-taught with an elementary school education, he was definitely not a ninja with a solid foundation.
He used these six months to solidify his foundation. His specific method was…
Grinding.
After that major battle, Habara quickly mastered a new form of natural energy sensing. This elevated him to the status of a skilled sensory ninja. He subsequently named this new sensory mode "Mina-shiki Kyūgen." With this large-scale sensory jutsu, Habara could engage in precise "grinding."
One afternoon, Habara and Tenzo's two-man squad were hidden within a dense forest in the Land of Frost. Habara began manipulating a specific type of natural energy, entering his "search mode."
"Are they around today?" Tenzo asked.
Habara sensed carefully for a moment, then located the specific chakra signature. "Found them. Northeast direction, still a two-man team… Let's go."
With that, Habara took the lead, and Tenzo followed closely behind. It was clear they were pursuing a specific target, and Habara adjusted their course twice during the pursuit.
Twenty minutes later, the two intercepted a pair of Kumogakure ninja.
"Why is it you, again? So annoying. Can't you just let me, escape?"
Yep, judging by the way he was speaking, the Kumo ninja Habara had found was the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, who was relatively active in the Land of Frost.
Bee wasn't afraid of Habara; he just found him as annoying as a sticky piece of gum. He'd encountered Habara numerous times over the past six months, and none of their battles had ever reached a conclusion. Naturally, Bee didn't want to face such an opponent, but the other side seemed to enjoy it.
Bee couldn't transform into his Tailed Beast form every time they met. If he did, he'd have to be wary of Habara's Rasengan. But if he only used Lightning Release and swordsmanship, it was difficult for him to defeat Habara. In terms of pure Taijutsu, Bee could probably beat Habara even if Habara had two extra hands. The problem was, despite consistently having the upper hand, Bee couldn't secure a victory.
After several encounters, Habara's techniques were pretty much exposed. Therefore, having lost the advantage of surprise, the idea of him taking down the Eight-Tails was even more ludicrous.
Another reason Bee didn't want to encounter Habara was that he knew what Habara was doing… He was using him for practice.
This was easy to deduce. Habara could have directly seized control of the weapons held by Bee's opponents, but he had never done so in their previous encounters. Instead, he preferred to engage in a serious, methodical sparring match. As a result, Bee was forced to become a "training partner," helping his Konoha enemy solidify his foundation and improve his ninja skills.
And Habara didn't even pay him.
After a few rounds of this "grinding," while it couldn't be said that Habara had suddenly become a Taijutsu master, his control over his own body during combat had noticeably improved. His opponent was benefiting, while he got nothing. Thus, Bee really wanted to just run away whenever he encountered Habara… Fighting was simply pointless.
Of course, the main reason Habara dared to play this game was that the A-B combo had been split up. After A became the Fourth Raikage, he could no longer frequently accompany Bee on field missions as he had in the past. He had to stay in his office and deal with various matters. With only the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki on the battlefield, things were much simpler. Even if something unexpected happened, Habara could at least escape.
However, this time was different. Although Bee still expressed his annoyance at seeing Habara, his teammate this time was unusual… In a sense, this teammate wasn't very susceptible to Habara's attacks.
"Bee-sama, is this the ninja?" the middle-aged ninja asked Bee.
"Yeah," Bee nodded.
Then, just as Habara launched an attack on Bee, brandishing his mercury sword and preparing to challenge the Eight-Tails Style once again, the Kumogakure ninja stepped forward first.
"Hmm?"
Habara slashed with his sword, and he struck something exceptionally difficult to cut. The blade of the mercury sword only penetrated a short distance before it was completely stopped.
This was because the ninja teaming up with Bee this time was named Dodai. He was a Lava Release user from Kumogakure, and his method of using Lava Release was unique… not for offense, but primarily for defense and control, using his Kekkei Genkai.
Habara's mercury sword seemed to have struck a lump of high-polymer rubber.
This was bad. The guy who played with metal had run into the guy who did chemicals.
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