"It seems the Hokage is taking this war quite seriously. He actually convinced the Hyuga clan to send a member of the Main House to lead their scouts as reinforcements."
Inside the medical tent, Tatsuma's ears perked up at the hushed whispers of the surrounding shinobi. Curious, he looked up from his work, listening intently.
Before arriving in this world, Tatsuma had operated under a common misconception: that the Hyuga Main House consisted of only the clan head and their heir, while everyone else—even the head's younger siblings—was branded with the Caged Bird Seal.
However, after living in Konoha, he realized the reality was more nuanced. While their numbers were few, there were indeed several members of the Soke (Main House). As a civilian-born Genin, the exact internal politics of how one was designated as Soke versus Bunke (Branch House) were far above his paygrade, but one thing was crystal clear:
Every member of the Soke held an incredibly high status within the clan and was a priority target that the Bunke would protect with their lives.
Consequently, whenever a Soke member was deployed on a mission, it was a loud, clear signal of how much importance both the clan and the village placed on the objective.
The arrival of the Soke was something Tatsuma hadn't anticipated. He had been with the main force at the border for a week now. During that time, friction between the Konoha and Suna shinobi had occurred, but it had all remained within "controllable" parameters.
Tatsuma had his own theories about this lull. Sunagakure hadn't made any secret of the fact that Chiyo had been sent to the front. Given her legendary skill as a poisoner, this brief period of calm was almost certainly the "quiet before the storm"—she was likely brewing something devastating.
An idea suddenly struck him: Konoha didn't intend to wait for the hammer to fall. They were planning a preemptive strike.
Over the past few days, the "friction" had mostly consisted of small squads infiltrating the Land of Rivers or the Land of Rain to hunt down Suna scouts. It was a slow game of attrition. While Konoha could afford the cost of such a slow burn, Suna—despite being poorer—could also hold out for a while.
But if Konoha couldn't push forward and gather intelligence on Suna's movements, they would be sitting ducks the moment Chiyo's new poisons were ready for the field. They would be forced into a reactive cycle: Suna attacks with poison, Konoha scrambles for an antidote, and while Konoha is distracted, Suna prepares the next wave.
To break that cycle, Konoha had to advance. They needed to strike before the poisons were finalized. And for that, the Hyuga—whose Byakugan essentially made them natural-born sensory ninjas—were the ultimate vanguard.
Tatsuma realized with a start that the first large-scale conflict was imminent. Konoha needed to create an opening for the Hyuga scouts. The simplest way to do that? A massive distraction.
It was a crude, simple tactic, but often the most effective. This wasn't a hidden plot; it was an Open Gambit. Suna would be forced to engage Konoha's main force on the primary battlefield. If they didn't, the Leaf army would march straight into their territory. If they did, their defensive lines would inevitably thin, allowing the Hyuga to slip through the cracks.
Unless Suna had the manpower to fight on two fronts simultaneously, they would have to choose which hand to lose.
Tatsuma left the medical camp, intending to gather more information. His best source would have been his teacher, but he knew Tsunade wouldn't tell him anything concrete regarding high-level strategy.
Finding the Hyuga contingent was easy. While every other ninja in the camp wore standard flak jackets, the Hyuga were dressed in traditional, formal yukata emblazoned with their flame-crested family sigil. They stood out like a sore thumb.
Before Tatsuma could even get close, he felt the weight of several... well, "White-Eyed" glares. However, the scrutiny vanished as quickly as it came, and a middle-aged man walked toward him with a jovial smile.
"Tatsuma-kun! Long time no see."
"Uncle Kai, it's good to see you," Tatsuma replied with a respectful bow.
The man was Hyuga Kai, the father of his classmate, Hyuga Chinto. Kai had been the one to deliver the Hyuga clan's gift when Tatsuma officially became Tsunade's apprentice.
"Chinto heard you went to the front. He's been throwing a tantrum every day, demanding to graduate early. If I weren't on such an urgent mission, I'd have given that boy a proper lesson. He'd better stay in school, because if he ever shows up here, I'll—"
"Uncle, careful with the words," Tatsuma interrupted gently.
Kai blinked, looking confused, but Tatsuma didn't elaborate. He simply pointed toward the tent guarded by the Hyuga and asked, "A major operation is coming, isn't it?"
Kai nodded. He didn't suspect Tatsuma of deducing this from their arrival alone; he simply assumed the boy had heard the inside scoop as Tsunade's disciple. He answered candidly.
"Yeah. Tomorrow or the day after. My elder brother is inside right now with Lady Tsunade and Lord Orochimaru discussing the specifics."
"As I thought," Tatsuma murmured, a trace of worry clouding his mind.
This move would disrupt Suna's preparations, but it would also escalate an already volatile situation. Regardless of how much Konoha gained from this strike, it was the point of no return. It was the push that would send the world spiraling into total war.
Seeing the frown on the boy's face, Kai reached out and patted his head. "Don't worry so much. We'll win. You just stay in the back and keep the wounded in one piece."
"I will," Tatsuma nodded. "Uncle Kai, I won't take up any more of your time. Get some rest. Once you return in triumph, we'll..."
Tatsuma trailed off, realizing he was about to say something that sounded suspiciously like a "death flag." Kai didn't seem to mind, offering a warm smile. "Right. We'll talk then."
As night fell, before Tatsuma could even settle in for dinner, the camp suddenly exploded into activity. A massive number of shinobi were mobilized. Even the ninjas with minor injuries in the medical camp were requisitioned for duty.
Tatsuma, the de facto second-in-command of the medical detachment, found himself in a camp that had suddenly lost half its patients and nearly all its medical staff.
Under the cover of darkness, Tsunade and Orochimaru led the bulk of the forces toward the Land of Wind. Meanwhile, the Hyuga contingent—led by Kai's brother, a Soke member named Hyuga Miyako—departed in an entirely different direction.
The once-bustling camp was suddenly a ghost town, left with only a handful of medical ninjas, a skeleton crew of combatants, and the communications team to maintain operations.
Tatsuma, still barred from the front lines, spent another night in the quiet camp. The next morning, he headed straight to the communications tent to wait for news.
It wasn't long before a major update arrived:
The main force led by Tsunade and Orochimaru had been intercepted by Suna forces just before crossing the Land of Rivers into the Land of Wind. A massive battle had broken out.
And Chiyo was there.
Tatsuma frowned as he listened to the report. Something about the timing felt... off.